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readingloveswounds · 8 months ago

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Hi! What's your abstract writing process for cfp?

Good question!

I'll say that right now I'm trying to only send in abstracts based on work I've already done (which is somewhat common advice for people who are dissertating), but I think I followed a pretty similar process for the paper that I did a little more 'out of thin air'.

I'm going into detail - this does take me a bit of time. I'm sure there's other people who can do it better and faster, but I'm meticulous to a fault and also definitely still not an expert on this, so I like to take my time when I can.

This is so much longer than I expected, so it's all under the cut. (Despite concision being needed for abstracts, I am only concise when I need to be.)

Let's say I've identified a cfp that interests me- or someone I know has sent me one that they think I'd have something for.

For a completely random example, let's say the call is about listening or hearing and the ways in which it does [something] in an early modern context.

Identify what primary material I want to work with

I start thinking about which text I work with that says something interesting about listening in some way - it doesn't have to be anything big, because a 20 minute paper isn't a place you can really get into every single detail, but I want to find something that raises questions or seems strange/interesting.

I'd think oh hey, this poet has talked about the importance of an audience and privileges the aural over the visual, I could do something with that.

2. Double check the text

I like to be sure I'm not operating just on old notes/recollections and give things a glance to make sure I'm not misinterpreting.

It also helps me to re-read with a specific target in mind - I'll sometimes notice things I might have missed before.

This is usually pretty quick - if it seems viable, I'll come back when I'm writing the paper.

3. Give a quick glance at secondary work - including my own

It's not strictly necessary especially if you're very familiar with critical literature (or if there isn't much), but it can be worth it to see if this has come up before - that way you either know you're taking a new(ish) angle or will need to be responding to existing material. That all may come in the paper itself, but sometimes it's good to be aware before embarking on the journey.

I also like to find what I've already written on the work (notes, term papers) and see if there's anything I can use in the abstract - it's pretty much a guarantee I'll use material in the paper itself.

4. Identify an initial "In this paper I will" statement

What do I actually want to talk about? I've identified what you're interested in when it comes to the text, but what do I want to say? how does that align with the angle of the call?

This often takes several tries and may change as I start writing.

Continuing the example, I might write something like 'In this paper I will discuss how Author leans on aurality in order to emphasize [some aspect] of the narrative he's creating'

It's around this time that I also make a quick outline of what a potential paper could contain - I want to talk about x passage and y passage and be sure to include z details.

5. Copy and paste the call into the document and start writing

This means that I stay within the goalposts of the call itself and have it as easy reference. I also have the word limit on the page to refer to.

6. When writing, I:

try to think of what background information might be needed for the audience and provide as succinctly as possible: "In the 1600s, [this genre and the intersection of the aural aspect] were thought of in x way"

identify the specific work. "Author writes in y way in Work (date), which has x effect"

go on to give a concise example/hint at why this is important or effective: 'by making us listen, Author moves us from the page to the stage in order to make us watch the drama before us'

finish with my "in this paper..." statement - it may have changed, but I've had something to work with.

I do not strictly follow the word limit in the first draft, but I do try to keep it a reasonable length.

7. Rewrite it. Again. and again.

I do a page break, copy-paste the existing paragraph, and then hack it to bits where needed. I have a multipage document for a couple abstracts I've sent in.

My criteria for my rewrites are: does this answer the question in the call? is it on theme? does this fit the word count? is this clear even to a non hyperspecialist?

I edit till I can edit no more and then I send it in.

tldr:

I identify a text/angle that fits the theme/approach of the call

make sure I know what I'm talking about

write a draft of the abstract, being sure to touch on the approach of the call and the angle i'll be working on

rewrite a million times

#my answers #no idea if this is clear or helpful but that's the process #am i doing too much? absolutely. and i think i have just sat and Wrote one #but then went back a million times to make sure it was actually good

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ohlympns · 1 year ago

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ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʀ ɪꜱ ᴡᴏɴ, ʙᴇꜰᴏʀᴇ ɪᴛ'ꜱ ʙᴇɢᴜɴ

Hello and welcome all to ohlympns! This is an independent, private, and selective Percy Jackson and the Olympians & The Heroes of Olympus multi muse. I’ll be combining sources from the books and my own headcanons. Please see any information about this blog down below. Rules will be under the cut. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to message me! I promise I am very friendly!

AJ. She/her. 25. muses. interest tracker. promo. headcanons. leo.

ʀᴇʟᴇᴀꜱᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴏᴠᴇꜱ, ꜱᴜʀʀᴇɴᴅᴇʀ ʟᴏᴠᴇ

Rules to follow! I'll keep it simple: Mun: My name's AJ! I love characters, love talking about them all the time. I love to read and write. I mostly read horror, and recently found it's actually a favorite genre of mine. I'm a nerd, a dork, hella shy, and would love to be your friend!

Please be kind and respectful! If there are any issues with me, please come to me in an appropriate manner. I don't bite, I promise. We all know we can't read each other's minds!

The Gods and Goddesses. As someone who is a devotee to one of the Greek Gods, I may have a different approach with how the children interact with their parents. I'll try to balance canon and how I view it.

Muses. As it goes, my primary muses are ones I probably will have most muse for, and will be my go to muses for starter calls or unspecified memes (but pretty please specify muse). Primary & Secondary muses can shift position or be removed depending on interaction. I may add muses as I see fit in the future. I will make any posts indicating any updates.

NS.FW. Will not be present on this blog. Even though my main verses are post the book events when all of them are a little older.

Shipping. I love to ship. I'm opened to it as long as we both are good with it, and talk about our muses to see if they click. Annabeth, Nico, Clarisse, Frank: They will be hinted to be in a relationship with their significant others, however that doesn't mean I will automatically ship with their significant others unless a partner wants to or if I'm shipping with another character. Piper: Same thing applies somewhat but with Jason. However, the time during TMOA my Piper won't be in a relationship with Jason unless my partner wants them to be. Leo: I don't ship Leo and Calypso, so he won't be in a relationship with her.

Controversial characters. Totally down to write with any type of character. I won't limit myself. If this bothers you, please do not follow.

Triggers. I'll tag what I can/remember. I will NOT write with drunk muses. This doesn't need to be tagged for your threads, I just don't want to deal with it one-on-one.

Formatting. If there is anything about my formatting for writing that bothers you, please feel free to message me. I'll be happy to change it for our threads.

OCs/Fandoms. Totally chill with OCs, just have some type of an about page. I can try and fit my muses into anything, and will follow blogs I can see working (even if I don't know the fandom).

Be patient! I have a full time job and a few other blogs I hop on. I usually go with the flow, see what muse I have. Plus please be aware that I struggle with depression. Some Days are good and others not so much.

OOC. I love to chat ooc. Through IMs or discord. Whatever works for you. Although, discord is only open to mutuals.

Icons. I don't use icons as of right now since I'm slow at getting FCs. However, if I ever find FCs I like to make icons- just know we don't HAVE to use them. That being said, if you use icons feel free to use them as you wish.

Movies & Show. I'm opened to discussing a way to flow them together since I base most of my blog around the books. Don't feel as though you can't approach me!

MUTUALS ONLY!!!!

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ctlightner · 2 years ago

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Storygraph Wrapped 2022

Went on Storygraph today and found my wrap-up for 2022

It's hard to believe I only read Iron Widow a year ago. I know it's new(ish), but it's been on my mind all year, so it feels like I first read it 5 years ago. It's one of the few YA books I've been able to get through and be excited about in a long time, and of course I've pre-ordered the sequel!

I'm less surprised that something TMNT related is my last-read book. Statistically speaking, TMNT had the best chance at being either first or last or both, given my brainworms

Not surprised Fantasy is my most-read genre. I've been trying to branch out a little more over the last few years, but old habits die hard. Banger year for comics, though, and I don't see that changing any time soon. Need to try and work a few more Horror into my diet this year.

I admit, I don't go out of my way to seek out queer books. By that, I mean that I try to read diversely, so queer books are definitely something I seek out deliberately, but I tend to see it as a bonus rather than the whole reason to go into something. Then again, I rarely read Contemporary anything, so there's a reason why I don't read issue-focused queer fiction as often. I've been reading more Non-fiction lately, so if I see a spike in queer lit, it'll probably be from a non-fiction angle.

I've been slowly acquiring a taste for romance books. Most of these pictured are probably there as a secondary genre, but I've read a few that were primarily Romance. The issues I'm having run parallel to me not enjoying a lot of Contemporary (which is a good portion of primarily Romance books), and also having been burned many times when I try to read Fantasy Romance. FanRo tends to lack in either of the genres while favoring the other, so I'm very, very wary about it. Recommendations appreciated.

More stats below the cut.

I've been tending towards shorter books lately. I used to be able to devour 800 pages epic fantasies, but my tolerance for high page counts has dropped significantly. The last super long books I think I read were Mistborn Era 1 seven years ago. Frostheart also doesn't feel like a tome to me because it's Middle-Grade, and MG books actually have lower wordcounts overall, and sometimes bigger font and illustrations that can pad things out. If "Escape" had been formatted like and adult book and had zero illustrations, it probably would have been closer to 250-300 pages at most.

Novellas are my recent loves, especially the Singing Hills Cycle. Into the Riverlands was not my favorite (that still remains The Empress of Salt and Fortunes), but it was pretty good. I think I'll try to reread the three books sometime this year.

Along with reading more books in general, I've been using my library more. The reason why it took me over a month to read Tender is the Flesh is because like 5 holds came in and I was suddenly given Deadlines.

Very interesting to see that over 50% of my 5 star reads were comics. I knew I read a lot of them this year, but it's nice to know I really liked a good portion of them, too. Unsurprised that the prose fiction I gave 5 stars were on the more literary and stylistic side of SFF.

I read Evelyn Hardcastle for a reading club. I'd heard of it before, but hadn't heard anything about it that would have made me pick it up otherwise. It's a very weird book. I like the time loop structure of the plot. It's pleasantly confusing and I honestly love how the constant body-jumping kept me on my toes. However, the gimmick did start to wear out its welcome a bit the longer it went on.

I grew very disillusioned by the ending, however. Up til about the last quarter of the book, it's designed as a time loop whodunnit. Very interesting. However, by the end it starts to turn into a weird, sudden exploration of the futility of the prison system. as someone who's been digging into prison abolition/restorative justice lately, I was at first intrigued by the idea, but the final few reveals ended up severely clashing with the story that came before hand. I think it ended up generating exponentially more questions about the world of the novel than it answered, and it didn't present these questions in a way that was looser, softer, less important to question due to the themes being explored.

For contrast, I also read Thistlefoot last month, and though I have a few complaints, they're not complaints about the worldbuilding. Thistlefoot is a fairy tale, a book of magical realism, filled with soft magic. and it doesn't pretend otherwise. Evelyn Hardcastle, starts out in a way that let me go along with it; I didn't feel the need to question why this guy was trapped in a body-jumping time loop. By the end, when the author tries to give answers for questions I didn't really have, it made the whole thing unravel now that the author was shifting into harder worldbuilding.

As for the TMNT actor autobiography... it's not very good. I could only ever recommend it to hardcore TMNT fans who would get something out of reading a self-published autobiography by an obscure actor in the 90s films. It's clear he wrote the book himself, though, so I have a deeper appreciation for the effort put into it than whatever Evelyn Hardcastle was trying to do.

I don't care about keeping track of the series I'm reading. I don't read 200 books a year (only 56 in 2022... a lot higher than non-readers but still nothing compared to some Booktubers), and I try to DNF when I know I'm not going to like something.

I am going to try rereading more books this year. I Am Not Immune To Consumerism, but I am trying to inoculate myself a bit. Going to not buy any more books from now til June, and try to reread a few of my top favorite books. I miss the days when I used to reread books over and over and get something new out of them.

I've already decided that Hogfather is going to be my Christmas read every year, and the Collector's Library edition is probably going to be the first book I get on July 1st.

I'll be honest: could probably stand to DNF even more. Some of the books I actually marked back onto my TBR rather than as a DNF. Often it's because I know I wanted to read it, owned it, and just wasn't feeling it. Other times it was because I'd barely gotten 10% into it and therefore didn't consider it even as something I was really reading.

That being said, ACOMAF has one more chance for me to try and read it at the behest of my friend or else I'm just gonna give up. Maybe if I borrow their physical copy I'll have better luck (I don't read a lot of ebooks, and if the library makes me give back a slow-going book before I'm done, I won't fight that hard.)

Speaking of physical books, I have a shitton of them. I primarily read physical books. I'm going to try and read down my physical TBR this year so that I can clear up my shelves a bit. 35/56 owned books in 2022 isn't bad though!

And that was reading for 2022. Lots of interesting insights for myself. Here's to a great 2023!

#reading #books #bookblr #storygraph #book review

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deathvsthemaiden · 4 years ago

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Do you have any advice for ppl who’ve been in a reading slump since... 5 ever ? i love reading somehow it’s just harder to get into it these days :(

Omg for sure!! Here is a scrambled little list, I hope at least some of it helps:

📖 read in any format (ebook, physical book, audiobook) bc they’re all valid and make reading more accessible for people which is I think part of why ppl get hoity toity abt it. Ignore them. Also, I assume that if you wanna read, at least a large chunk of why is because you wanna have fun and consume stories yes? 😳 you can do that w/ any form of book, and any other reasons you might have to want to read, like expanding vocab or broadening ur horizons or learning to analyze books should be secondary. Focus on making it a fun and near-effortless/painless thing again and then u can graduate to those (I think that’ll come naturally tbh as long as you read semi-consistently) Fun comes First and I say that as a terrible English major 😗

📖 And with that in mind, read whatever you want, even if it’s simple or cringe or a reread or whatever because after completing the first few impulsive reads that you find engaging enough to finish completely, you can worry about reading what you think you “should” or what would benefit you specifically if that makes sense. Like I’m completely pro reading new things and not limiting urself to 1 genre but there’s no harm in taking your time moving onto things that don’t immediately pique ur interest. Get into the groove of things first, the criticism of ppl who are well past the target age market for YA but still exclusively consume it doesn’t apply to people who are trying to rediscover their love of reading imo.

📖 keep books nearby all the time! (All!!! The time!!!!) You might not actually read them 45/50 times that you bring them with you to places/keep them near you wherever u spend time at your house, but those 5 times will be bliss and you’ll thank yourself! Do it! Especially if ur open to ebooks and can read them on ur phone!

📖 put your phone somewhere far away on mute and force yourself to read for a specific chunk of pages or time. Very old person-ish advice but like. They’re onto smth when they tell us to do stuff like that, but they’re also way too smug and holier-than-thou about it so no need to tell any of them that! 🤫 but seriously be honest w/ urself if u have a compulsive notification checking problem and challenge yourself to overcome it long enough to meet a very small teensy tiny goal 🥅

📖 I juggle a lot of books at once and I’m constantly planning ahead in my brain when I do it, without consciously meaning to (library deadlines for digitized books are so strict 💔) And often I don’t end up following these plans perfectly, because following them perfectly isn’t the point, especially since life happens all the time and isn’t often very receptive when we wish we could forget everything and read for several straight hours. Reading shouldn’t be a burden, but the vague guidelines help. I think stuff like “tomorrow I’ll finish this poetry collection before bed” or “I’m gonna study and then read 2 chapters of this novel I’m rlly digging as a treat before continuing,” “I’m gonna listen to 4 chapters of this audiobook while I take a walk or do chores” etc etc. and usually I end up reading at least a little! And the best thing is when I read more than intended because the book is just that fun. I don’t write these plans down, but if it helps you to do so I urge you to anon :0 !! Just remember ur writing them on paper/a screen and not in stone, so you can always be flexible and change things around and you’re not by any means a failure for doing so. To be flexible w/ urself is most likely to ensure long term progress imo!

📖 speaking of juggling it’s absolutely fine to cycle through a ton of books and sometimes abandon them for months and come back when the whim strikes! If your memory is good enough and you prefer having a bunch of variety at all times, jump from book to book with reckless abandon! It legit doesn’t matter. Also don’t ever hesitate to drop a book if you’re not vibing it’s not worth it. Time is precious life is precious you’re doing this for fun, yes? Drop the book if you can’t bring yourself to care theres sooooo many more where it came from! Be merciless and picky!! It will pay off I promise, and to be that way is not antithetical to challenging yourself or stepping outside of your comfort zone unless you make it that way.

📖 buddy read/have an impromptu book club w/ someone. It doesn’t have to be official, and I’ve done this multiple times with people and sometimes we just don’t finish the book/meet our set goals and that’s a-okay! It’s still worth it to have someone to talk abt the book w/ and you guys can always pick up where you left off or try another book. Literally no stakes at all as long as everyone involved is chill and understanding <3

📖 set a reading goal you think you can manage by the end of the year! You might surprise yourself 😳 and if you don’t oh well! You’ll still have read at least a page in pursuit of said goal 🔎

📖 read short stories! The internet is full of them, and short story collections by multiple and singular authors are everywhere 📚

📖 do some searching and make a list of books that you’re extremely excited to read or really wanna revisit. And then pick your next reads from there! If you want recs for books or short stories you can always shoot me another ask or look at my goodreads (or goodreads in general)

#like the reason I read so much is bc I’m EXCITED abt so much of the stuff on my list! and bc I get very miserable when I’m forced by life #circumstances to not read for a while #so I read in bits and pieces even when I can’t afford to and part of how I deal w stress is stress c #hecking out books ahsjshs #anon if any of this ever helps you I would /love/ to know!#def feel free to talk books w me in my ask box even if on anon and even if I don’t know/personally like the books! I’m rooting for u #asks

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tlbodine · 3 years ago

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Reverse-Outlining Revision Method with Plottr

So in my editing guide, I give a step-by-step method for structural editing that I find really useful, and I wanted to do a visual follow-up to kind of show what that process looks like. I’m using Plottr for this, because I was gifted a copy of the software in exchange for them using my horror-writing beat-sheet as one of the templates, but you could just as easily do this with Scrivener, scrap paper, or any other organizational system you like.

Whether you’re a fellow pantser who struggles with story structure (hi!) or you’re an outliner who needs to make sure your draft matches up to your vision (or the second draft has a good structure), this will work for you!

Step One: Write a one-sentence log-line of the story + jot down the major themes

There’s space for this in Plottr. I’m doing Neverest.

Premise: A woman’s search for her missing husband’s body on Mount Everest sends her into the grip of ancient forces that don’t want her to leave.

Themes: Putting your name on something doesn't make it yours; colonialism and the urge to conquer and codify; relationships as a form of control and change vs understanding

You’ll also want to write a one-page overview summary of the story, similar to what you’d put in a query letter. Here’s mine:

One year ago, Sean Miller -- journalist and mountain climbing enthusiast -- reached the summit of Mt. Everest, and was never seen again. Unable to move on without knowing the truth of what happened, his wife Carrie flies to Nepal to meet with Sean’s best friend and former climbing partner, Tom. They assemble a small crew and begin an expedition up the peak in search of Sean’s body and a better understanding of what might have happened in his final days.

Guided by a travel journal left behind from her husband's expedition, Carrie ventures into the frozen, open-air graveyard of the world's tallest peak. But as Sean’s diary and Carrie’s experiences reveal, climbing the mountain is more than a test of endurance; it’s a battle of wills with an ancient and hostile force protecting the mountain — and the dead do not rest easy at the summit.

Doing this helps you to identify the core elements of your story -- the characters, the conflict, and the stakes. You should be able to answer the questions: who is the main character, what do they want, what’s stopping them, what happens if they succeed/fail.

In this case:

The main character is Carrie, the wife of a journalist who disappeared while summiting Mt. Everest (character)

She wants to find his body and get closure about his death/understand how and why he died (what does she want)

But there are supernatural forces at work that led to his death and now have the same in store for her (conflict/stakes)

Step Two: List out every scene in the book

Plottr is an outlining software, so it makes this step really easy (and conveniently color-codes things for me at the same time!). There are multiple views this can take, but this one screenshots well so I used this one for the example.

Basically what you want to do is write down everything that happens, scene by scene. You can color-code them however you want -- in my case, I have three narrative threads, so I made a timeline for each one. Then I just mapped out all the scenes -- across 24 chapters, each dot is a scene, and you can see that some chapters have multiple scenes and also that the primary and secondary plot alternate chapters.

When you look at it this way, you can tell really clearly that the tertiary plot needs some work -- it’s only there for four scenes in the first third of the story. I either need to cut it completely and incorporate any essential information into the other plots, or I need to expand it.

In this particular case, I decided to expand because 1.) my word count is low, and I’d like to fill in more story and 2.) a big theme I want to explore in the story is what it’s like to love someone who’s deeply passionate about something you don’t understand -- so this tertiary plot is a great place to explore that and fill in more characterization that should add some depth to the primary and secondary stories.

I can also see at a glance that I have a variable number of scenes in each chapter. Sometimes that makes sense (the green ones are diary entries, so it’s logical that one chapter = one entry) but sometimes it hints that those chapters could be a little thin and need more content. If I’m looking to add additional conflict, I should do it in those blue chapters that only have one dot as opposed to the ones with multiple dots!

Step Three: Look at the overall shape and adjust for pacing and genre

Plottr has a bunch of templates pre-loaded into it that make this easy, but you can also just google various different story structures and beat sheets such as Save the Cat or the 3 Act Structure etc. But just look at the overall map of story beats and see how they line up with the outline you’ve made:

This is just a small snapshot view, but you get the idea -- when you look at the scenes side-by-side with the beat sheet, you can see some things. For example, it sure would make more sense if the flashback scene where Carrie decides to embark on this journey got its own chapter and lined up better with the “putting the players in action” plot point rather than being smooshed into the first chapter with the introduction to the world! The fact that I’ve got it smashed into that first chapter is probably a sign that my opening scenes/chapter itself is a bit thin and needs to be fleshed out a little more.

Step Four: Figure out what you need to adjust and make the changes accordingly

So after looking at everything mapped out this way, I’ve got a little list of things I need to do:

Come up with more scenes for that red plotline

Rearrange some things a little bit to better fit the structure I want

Figure out some more blue scenes to fill in the gaps caused by rearranging things and smooth over the pacing/amp up the conflict/alleviate some areas where critique partners hae expressed confusion

I also moved around the categories in Plottr (you can drag-and-drop storylines and chapters) to make it a bit easier to see everything all at once. Basically you can edit the story’s outline first, to save you the confusion of manually moving around whole paragraphs/chapters in your actual story document.

Now, I haven’t finished that step yet for this particular project (there’s a lot of brainstorming to do re: filling in those gaps!) BUT I did want to skip ahead to show you the next step (let’s pretend this is a TV cooking show where the finished pie is pulled right out of the oven).

Step Five: Re-Type everything based on your new scene list

This is a really neat thing about Plottr. If you swap from the “Timeline” view to the “Outline” view, you get these editable text windows where you can type whatever you want, and it’ll keep it organized into chapters and scenes.

So, just pull up your original in one window, and the Plottr screen (or other outlining/drafting device) in another. Dual monitors are great for this but we make due. Now, retype the original document into the new document, making changes as you go to fit the new outline and also cleaning up language and so forth as you go. For example, this time around I’ll be changing Carrie’s blue timeline scenes to present-tense instead of past, so I’ll rewrite them in present tense in the new window.

Once all that is said and done, in Plottr you can export the file directly into Scrivener or Word. (If you’re not using Plottr, you’ll have to figure out for your own self how to transfer the final product into a final document -- I trust you can sort through that). From there you’ve got a fresh clean copy of a second draft all ready to go for the final copy-edit/proofread/polish/formatting and then you’re off to the races!

I hope this was helpful for you! I talk more about editing in my Gumroad guide here: https://tlbodine.gumroad.com/l/jkLpr

If you’d like to receive all of my existing + future guides and support me in making more content like this, consider subscribing to my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tlbodine

And you can pick up a copy of Plottr here: https://plottr.com/

This post isn’t sponsored or anything, but I did get a free copy of the software from the developer and I think it’s pretty neat. It’s still in beta so new features keep getting added, and the team that makes it are very nice and responsive to feedback.

#writing advice #writing tips #outlining #editing #how to edit #editing advice #writeblr #writing #share to save a writer

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hyucksong · 5 years ago

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afraid.| lee jeno

summary: Jeno asks you if you’re afraid to die. You lie twice, and tell the truth once.

genre: angst and fluff

word count: 2.0k

warnings: sad and there’s definitely imperfections in the representation of hospital stays. also possible misunderstanding of metastatic brain tumors, please tell me if it’s so bad that i need to edit it.

a/n: wrote this in one go, as an apology for not updating in like a month! i’ve been in the haikyuu hole :)

Jeno asked you if you were afraid to die the first night he met you. It was on a dirty park bench at three am. As a newly admitted patient, the sterile white walls and the digital beep of the alarm clock every hour drove him crazy. He knew hospitals were supposed to help him, but he hated the confined feeling. The nurses and doctors would ask if he wanted anything, but when he said he wanted to leave, they'd glance at each other and wince, asking if he'd like anything else.

After they'd make an awkward exit, you'd always laugh in your bed. He'd glare at you and shift in his bed, muttering about how you would never understand.

"What're you here for, anyway? Got a bad headache?" Was the first thing he spitefully said, and he'd meant it with his whole heart. He didn't wish illness on anyone, but God, sometimes he wished that they could just understand. His terrible guess made you laugh even harder, he was close. "Hmm, close. I've got a brain tumor." And then he fell silent. A few minutes later he meekly whispered, "Sorry."

He made up for it by waking you up to go outside with him, "Just for some fresh air." He'd said. It was cold, and he shivered in his jacket the whole walk to the park. But you never shivered once despite goosebumps trailing up your arms. Your eyes were distant, and your mouth had a small, sad smile resting upon it.

"How long have you been admitted?" He asked, sitting on the opposite side of the bench from you. "About three months. I usually stay in my own room, but there was something wrong with the lights so I'm elsewhere until they fix it." Jeno nodded, uncomfortable. "...Can it be removed?" You sensed his hesitance and laughed, shaking your head. "I wish. It's too dangerous. I mean -- they could, technically. But there wouldn't really be a point." His confusion was written on his face, and it almost made you giggle. "It's cancerous. It's a secondary brain tumor. I've actually got a few up in there," You gently knocked your fist against your head, unbothered.

Jeno was confused -- weren't you scared to die? Would you die? How long did you have left to live? Why were you so happy?

"Are you...afraid of dying?" The question stilled you. The words tore at you, they pricked at your skin and your heart. You wished he hadn't said them. Shrugging, you turned your head and focused on an empty swing set that blew around from the wind. "I'm not afraid, I guess. I mean, it's inevitable for me. It's not 'are you of dying' for me, it's 'are you afraid to die.' It's not ''will you die' it's 'when will you die." You glanced at Jeno one last time, noticing his glimmering eyes that were so full of hope and want. They were full of determination to get better. You were sure yours were just tired. You just wanted to sleep the days away.

"I've got a few months left. At least, that's what the doctors say." The boy nodded, fists clenched in his pockets. He didn’t know you, but he knew you didn’t deserve only a few more months.

Jeno asked if you were afraid to die after you had a seizure his second month there. You didn't tell him you’d been getting worse, but he'd overheard a few nurses talking about your worsening state. One of them said that you might as well just die; it'd make no difference. Jeno almost hit her.

"No, I'm not afraid." Your voice came out scratchy. The soup in front of you was barely touched, the steam coming off of it having stopped a while ago. "Why would I be? I've got the most awesome roommate." He'd been slightly flattered when you'd said that, but the next week you were moved back into your own room. Jeno thought about how much of a bummer that was, but he also remembered that he could just visit you.

He walked into your room one sunny afternoon after one of his treatments. Jeno's heart almost exploded when the nurse told him how much better he looked. Honestly, he'd almost cried. Going home seemed tangible, like a light at the end of the tunnel that he was running closer to.

The second he stepped past the door frame, he noticed something was off. You were facing the window with a pencil gripped in your hands, paper scattered around you. Jeno kept quiet as he slowly made his way to you, shaky lines and unfinished drawings plaguing the pages beneath him.

"W-What's wrong? Y/n?" Heavy breathing was all he got in response before you turned towards him, tears in your eyes. "My arms are really weak. It's hard to even lift them up, Jeno." He said nothing; just sat beside you and rubbed your back carefully. "I know, I know. It'll be okay." But it wasn't going to be. Jeno hated that he lied, and he hated that you knew he lied, but said nothing. He hated that he was getting better, but you weren't. He hated that he could left weights to stay strong but it was hard for you to even lift a bowl. He hated it all. He wanted to get better, but he wanted to get better with you. But you weren't getting any better. You were getting worse.

"Did you know that a symptom of the metastases can be changes in my behavior and personality, Jeno?" He shook his head, biting his lip.

"Would you love me if I changed, Jeno? If I wasn't who you know now?" He nodded, tears pricking at the corner of his eyes. And he meant it. "I'd love you no matter what."

The third and final time he's asked if you were afraid to die was three months after that. He'd checked in to take you out for a while, "For some fresh air," he said to you through the phone. He'd been released a month and a half ago. He'd gotten better, and quickly, too. It made you happy that he left the overly-sterile walls of the grim hospital. You felt mixed about him visiting you: you wanted him to visit you in your apartment, in your home. Not here.

It was late, and the nurses almost denied his request to take you out. But you were already dressed, hands in pockets and all. They’d shared looks with each other before letting you go.

The park was empty again, the stars were bright, and your head was cold, mostly because of the lack of hair, but also because the air was biting at you. "You've got a thing for late night walks, don't you?" You teased, sitting on the slightly damp grass next to him. He laughed and nodded, "Only if those walks are with you." There was no denying the flush that rose to your cheeks. His hand gently slid into yours, fingers intertwining.

"Well, you'll have to get used to coming on these walks alone." You'd meant it lightheartedly, but Jeno's grip tightened. "...You're not getting any better?" He lowly asked. A humorless laugh left your lips, "Of course not, Jeno. I haven't been getting better for the past five months. Why would I start now?"

"You can get better at any time--"

"Well I'm not. That's not going to change, Jeno -- we've talked about this already. I'm going to die in that hospital." Jeno couldn't help but raise his voice, "Don't say that!"

"It's the truth! Stop lying to yourself!"

The silence was heavy and tense. It felt like the weight of the world rested on your shoulders. You hated it. But it was the truth. Jeno knew better than to argue any more. Instead, he kissed your shoulder softly before laying his head on it. He wished you were okay. He wished you'd go on another walk with him in three years from now, in fifty years from now, and when you both are readmitted into the same hospital on your deathbed.

But he couldn't stay blind to the truth. You needed to hold onto his arm the whole way here because your legs were wobbly. You grip was so weak compared to what it used to be. Your breaths were shallow. You were on the brink. And he couldn't pull you back from it.

"Are you afraid to die?" The familiar question rang in your ears sharply. There was no malevolence towards it. No hatred. Nothing. Just...acceptance. There was no denying your death. But there was a strange okayness with what was happening. You were happy with your life. You'd met Jeno, the love for the remainder of your life, You'd kissed him, held hands with him, and cherished him. He snuggled his head in the crook of your neck, kissed your chapped lips gently, and introduced you to the rest of his close friends.

You were okay with dying now. Things would be okay. He'd be okay.

"You know, Jeno," You sighed and leaned back on your elbows, "you ask me that question a lot. And I must admit, I've lied to you the first two times. I was scared. I didn't want to die. I wanted to live and soar and graduate college and have kids and a dog with an ungodly green lawn that would make my neighbors mad. But now," You nodded, squeezing his hand. "I'm okay with it. I don't want to die -- but I'm okay with it. I've lived a dream. I've kissed you and petted dogs, gotten bitten by cats, snuck out, and thrown tantrums. I'm okay now. And I know you'll be okay with out me."

A sob left him, and he took a deep breath in. You accepting death was a bittersweet medicine to him. He wanted you to say with vigor that you'd live with him, that you'd be okay, that he'd see you on the opposite of a wedding aisle from him. But the calmness of your voice, the gentle understanding, the happiness -- it all made him realize that you were okay, It'd be okay. He'd be okay.

But he still wished for a miracle. He'd pray to any god for it to happen.

There was no miracle. You died a month later in the same bed you'd met Jeno in. The light in your room went out again, and you'd been moved to a different one temporarily, and died there.

The funeral was simple, too simple for Jeno's tastes, but perfect for yours. You wanted your death to be quick, your funeral to be quick, and your burial to be quick. You just wanted people to move on after your death. You wanted them to go back to smiling and laughing and dancing and kissing and living. But Jeno could never move on that quickly from the enigma that was you.

He wished there were more to say. But that was it. That was the end of you. It had all happened so quickly, everyone seemed to move on so quickly. Your life had been so long in comparison to your death. You death had been so gray in comparison to your colorful self. Jeno was left with his memories. Left with his sorrow. Left with sitting at the bench he'd first asked you if you were afraid to die at.

Jeno was left behind. He was alone.

But every time he sat down on the dirty wooden slabs, he felt a sense of peace. It was as if someone was holding his hand and gazing up at the sky with him. It was as if everything was okay. As if nothing was wrong.

Jeno remembers the way your lips felt on his, the way your weak grip made his heart race, he remembers the way you'd lived. He remembers your casual relationship with the hospital staff, he remembers your favorite soup, your favorite band, he remembers it all. His memories of you were tangible -- he could almost touch them. He could relive those moments with you anytime he wanted. He memories were infinite, his memories always felt more vivid on that bench.

Jeno knows you weren’t afraid to die when you did. Jeno remembers you. Jeno misses you. Jeno loves you. And he always will.

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diyeoracha · 5 years ago

Text

IwaOi Master Fic Rec List (50+ Fics)

Hello! In celebration accumulating over 190+ bookmarks on my AO3 account featuring IwaOi and Iwaizumi coming back into the manga (and for his (almost) birthday), I decided to create a masterlist of all of my favorite fanfictions in order to keep myself organized as well as contributing to more traffic on those works! I decided to split the works up by my own self-imposed genres, such as angst, coming-of-age (or the childhood-friends-to-lovers trope that we all love which depicts how their relationship changes as they grow up and will mostly be canon-compliant), and alternate universe. With the revival of Iwaizumi in the manga, alternate universes will be broken down into adulting AU where he and Oikawa’s diverge differs from in canon and actual, legit AU where there’s basically no volleyball.

I’ll include the title, link, word count, fic summary, and my own commentary (mostly for my own personal entertainment). While the AO3 fandom has been going strong since 2014, I personally have only been reading IwaOi fics for about 3 months, so I will most likely be recommending some cult-favorites, especially since I’ve been reading my fics by sorting through the tag with the most kudos.

My absolute favorites (or the ones where I personally push onto my IRL haikyuu friends) will be denoted with ♡ in increments of 1-3 with 3 ♡ being an absolute must-read. Fics marked with a * indicate that Iwaizumi or Oikawa or both are professional athletes because that’s honestly my Favorite Trope. This is incomplete as I got distracted while re-reading a lot of these and have only gone through half of my bookmarks, but feel free to check my own page here for the rest of them! This took me about 9 days to compile (aka this was in my drafts for about 9 days) but I do hope you guys enjoy reading these and leave comments and kudos!

Adulting AU

*♡♡Thirty Years and Change (the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad)

Word count: 19k

Summary: It’s July 10th, 2024, and Oikawa Tooru is an Olympian. His smiling face airs on an NHK promo every 45 seconds. He’s captain of the national men’s volleyball team, reigning star of the professional leagues, and he hasn't spoken to Iwaizumi Hajime in two years.

Thoughts: THIS IS IT. THIS FIC IS GOD TIER. They’ve been separated but now are falling back into old habits and there’s a confession on the line? Akaashi is in here and he’s pretty funny. I reread this all the time.

*♡♡♡the courtship ritual of the hercules beetle

Word count: 66k

Summary: Tooru is pretty sure he could manage the mating habits of a mosquito. It’s the mating habits of people he can’t seem to get right.

Thoughts: Absolutely the best IwaOi fic I’ve ever read. I’ve reread this about 4x and I always pay attention to a new sentence or detail that leaves me breathless. The characterization is pretty spot on, and I have to admit that this fic made me appreciate IwaOi a little more. I’ve cried countless times too. A cult-favorite but it doesn’t have nearly as many hits as it deserves.

♡days fall away

Word count: 17k

Summary: Except now he’s back home, so close to his old haunts and to Oikawa himself, and it's—weird.

Thoughts: They’ve separated for a bit but now they’re back in the same city and learning to be around each other again. Cue teasing from the biological and Seijoh family

it's been so long (nobody knows me the way you do)

Word count: 8k

Summary: Tooru hums, only half-listening. Somewhere along the way, Hajime’s palm has settled itself over the curve of Tooru’s cheek, thumb tracing over the line of his jaw.

Thoughts: They’re living together post-college feat. snapshots from their lives before getting together and their Seijoh team! It’s really soft but it manages a humorous tone as well.

Time

Word count: 5k

Summary: When they're twenty-three, their story only begins.

Thoughts: A piecewise fic told from Oikawa’s point of view. The tone is almost chatty but it really fits the pacing of the work as you get snippets and sentences of their relationship throughout the years

♡Almost a Stranger

Word count: 16k

Summary: Iwa-chan's leaving Japan. Tooru's not sure he can forgive him, but he's not going to admit his long-held feelings, either. A trip to Miyajima complicates everything.

Thoughts: They go on vacation right before Iwaizumi leaves Oikawa for a year. Oikawa ponders their relationship.

where fireflies never die

Word count: 4k

Summary: >>Oikawa: Hey Iwa-chan >>Oikawa: Did I ruin it?

Thoughts: Oikawa is a mangaka and basically writes his best selling series based off of him and Iwaizumi. This was pretty angsty ngl with a lot of introspection and second-guessing.

In the Business of Love

Word count: 22k

Summary: Meet Oikawa Tooru: He's a best-selling shoujo manga artist, a hardcore romantic and you won't believe where he's getting his lovey dovey fodder from...Enter Iwaizumi Hajime: He's Oikawa's best friend, a realist who also happens to be a wedding magazine writer despite not believing in romance...

Thoughts: Mangaka Oikawa but this is basically a rom-com lmao

Alternate Universe

Even Heroes (have the right to dream)

Word count: 20k

Summary: Oikawa Tooru, ace reporter of the superhero beat of Asahi Shimbun, hates superheroes. Or maybe he just hasn’t met the knight one yet.

Thoughts: Superhero-hiding-his-identity-Iwaizumi and begrudging Oikawa? Sign me up. This fic spent a little more time on worldbuilding than eventual romance, but it is still absolutely unique and entertaining

The secret omega

Word count: 17k

Summary: Iwaizumi’s annoying as fuck best friend. Who absolutely, definitely, no matter what, cannot find out that Iwaizumi is an omega.

Thoughts: A/B/O dynamics where Iwa is the omega and Oikawa is the alpha. 90% plot building which is pretty nice.

Conquering the Great King

Word count: 105k

Summary: Oikawa's lips twitched into a smirk and he brought them hovering just over Iwaizumi's, "One time thing, Two time thing, what's it matter as long as it's not a Relationship thing?"

Thoughts: Malicious and flirtatious Oikawa meet immovable object Iwaizumi. They’re businessmen trying to navigate friends-with-benefits and love all at the same time. A+ sex scenes tbh.

♡Infinite Risks

Word count: 8k

Summary: “It’s my fate,” Oikawa responds slowly. He’s crying.“It’s too lonely,” Iwaizumi’s heart sounded broken. “And I’m not there with you. Not really.”

Thoughts: Edge of Tomorrow AU!!!!! Please watch Edge of Tomorrow first because it’s truly a brilliant movie that I wholly enjoyed and this fic reflects that. This also made me really sad so Beware

*♡Something Like Us

Word count: 28k

Summary: Friends since childhood, Oikawa and Iwaizumi now live together, both playing for the National Team. It's no secret that athletes who are bonded perform better. So if the two of them happen to bond...It'd be for the good of the team, right?

Thoughts: ABO dynamics (and somewhat canon-compliant) as they’re roommates, on the national team, and try to navigate being “fake” mated while harboring feelings

And All the Prince’s Men

Word count: 65k

Summary: “Father only loves that which he owns, and I am the one thing that can never truly be his.”

Thoughts: Royal bastard son Oikawa and his servant Iwaizumi. An enthralling read and universe. The romance takes a secondary seat here as it focuses more on plot and world-building.

♡long nights, no peace

Word count: 18k

Summary: It's the steady knowledge that Iwaizumi Hajime will always be someone that he can rely on, that no matter what the world throws at the two of them, they share in a piece of each other's soul.

Thoughts: Pacific Rim! AU. Otherwise known as my favorite types of AUs because they’re basically soulmates (platonic or not,, but they’re not platonic here)

♡(sing with me) A Song of Conquest and Fate

Word count: 26k

Summary: When Seijou receives a missive from Aobajousai to discuss a potential peace, its emperor Oikawa Tooru could not have foreseen the series of events that would follow.

Thoughts: Warring states/historical fantasy AU. The world building is amazing and this author has great control over her language use

Cotton Breathing

Word count: 13k

Summary:

Thoughts: Long-distance and summer only but childhood friends Iwaoi!!! A dreamy summer piece and reading it almost makes me feel like I’m in a Studio Ghibli movie because of the mood it puts me in

Similar Creatures

Word count: 53k

Summary: "What's your name?" "Whatever you want it to be."(Or, Oikawa gets directions from an attractive stranger on a street corner.)

Thoughts: Iwaizumi is an escort and Oikawa needs a fancy date

Space

Word count: 44k

Summary: Tries not to think of his rooftop garden, or the apartment he used to inhabit, or Hajime’s broken expression on the night they whispered their goodbyes before Tooru’s launch, attempting to push it all to the back of his mind behind visions of this alien world terraformed

Thoughts: Oikawa’s in outerspace. They’re separated. This left me feeling pretty empty ngl.

♡here comes your man

Word count: 8k

Summary: Iwa-chan, it reads, Have a good day today! Good luck! <3 <3 <3Suga chokes. It’s hard to imagine anyone calling the scowling and fierce Doctor Iwaizumi “Iwa-chan.” But marriage probably comes with all sorts of liberties.

Thoughts: Doctor AU where Iwaizumi and Oikawa’s relationship is pondered by Suga

In the Telling

Word count: 6k

Summary: Muggleborn Iwaizumi could not be less impressed with pureblood Oikawa Tooru.

Thoughts: Harry Potter AU where they’re in the same year and aren’t really friends but are also friends

♡♡The Loyalty of A Traitor

Word count: 76k

Summary: Iwaizumi Hajime was an undercover officer with a single objective: Infiltrate the Seijoh Syndicate of the Yakuza and tear them down from the inside out. His primary target was the boss, Oikawa Tooru. The job itself was simple enough, until Iwaizumi got in too deep and absconded not only from the mission, but from the city itself.

Thoughts: Oh fuck this was Good. Yakuza boss Oikawa???? Disgraced Iwaizumi??? Do they fall in love (again)?

and suddenly, we were traitors

Word count: 17k

Summary: "sorry, it's just... you’ve been amazingly kind to me these past few days. ...but i'm still not sure who you are.”

Thoughts: The amnesia fic this fandom needed

Trial by Fire

Word count: 78k

Summary: (lawyer!AU - in which Iwaizumi loves his objections, Oikawa is beautiful, and they have more chemistry than two opposing attorneys probably should.)

Thoughts: Hot

dear diary, i met a boy

Word count: 15k

Summary: Iwaizumi's first impression of his upstairs neighbor involves getting woken up at two in the morning to the sound of Oikawa singing along to trashy pop music. He'd thought it would get better, but it all just goes downhill from there.

Thoughts: Model Oikawa and salaryman Iwaizumi meet and try to make it work

on shipwreck shore

Word count: 8k

Summary: “I’m going to murder you in cold blood and feed you to the basilisks,” Iwaizumi says conversationally.“You can’t do that, I’m your boss,” Oikawa sings, positively sparkling. “Also we’re partners, which means,” he points at Iwaizumi and leans in, “you’re stuck with me.”

Thoughts: Detectives but they’re actually funny

♡Lockdown

Word count: 72k

Summary: Within the first few months of his stay, Oikawa gets caught up in a war between cellblocks, becomes a prime target, and must decide just how far he's willing to go to protect Iwaizumi Hajime.

Thoughts: Orange is the New Black AU!!! Im a sl*t for tatted Iwaizumi

an allegory of all the things we could’ve been

Word count: 16k

Summary: “I don’t know anything about some red string,” Iwaizumi murmurs into the cracks of Oikawa’s skin, “or even about lifetimes or fate. But no matter where you are, I’ll find you. Gods or otherwise.”

Thoughts: Reincarnation AU throughout the timelines. A good soft read that leaves you sort of empty

Angst

Timeless (We Have 30 Days)

Word count: 12k

Summary: Or AU where you're branded 50 days before you die. But Oikawa doesn't tell anyone so now there's only 30 days left.

Thoughts: Ahhhhhhhhh tears

the weight of water

Word count: 6k

Summary: “Again,” he says, the smallest tremor in his voice, and Oikawa blinks at him a moment before smiling, soft and sweet. “Iwa-chan,” he replies, and Iwaizumi closes his eyes. “Again.” “Iwa-chan.”

Thoughts: Death fic

open when

Word count: 1k

Summary: Iwaizumi knew it was coming, but it still hurt. It still hurt when he opens one letter and drowns it in the tears he cannot keep at bay.

Thoughts: It takes only 1.6k words to make me cry

Canon Compliant/Coming-Of-Age

♡♡i sing the body electric

Word count: 8k

Summary: It was never part of the plan, falling in love with his best friend, but then again, most things in Iwaizumi’s life that involve Oikawa rarely unfold the way he thinks they will.

Thoughts: A beautifully introspective piece told from Iwaizumi’s point of view. It’s wholly intimate and it toes along the lines of pining and soft angst. It’s told in snippets from their lives growing up together.

♡we can do better than that

Word count: 16k

Summary: Oikawa and Iwaizumi go on a road trip during the summer after their high school graduation. It doesn't go as expected, but maybe that's not such a bad thing after all.

Thoughts: There’s a lot of character analysis and it takes a step away from the casual banter they’re always portrayed to have and focuses on the intricacies of their relationship. The tone is almost a little more melancholy. (also they have to share a bed! trope)

♡when it starts to rain, they go inside

Word count: 33k

Summary: “Where?” starts Iwaizumi.“My parent’s old lakehouse, silly, didn’t you hear me the first time?”OR: Oikawa takes Iwaizumi to his lakehouse for two weeks, post-graduation.

Thoughts: Oh This Is It IwaOi stans. This fic really solidified my own headcanon for Oikawa (spoiler alert, OP isn’t too fond of Oikawa but she fleshes out his character and his idiosyncrasies so well that you can’t help but be drawn into all of his imperfection) and this fic respects Iwaizumi as well. It has absolutely great characterization and the fic ends on an ambiguous note.

to be first, to be best

Word count: 26k

Summary: Hajime is apparently something of a masochist, and as he stares down at the tie-dyed AREA51 T-shirt in his hands, he thinks “I’m totally in love with this asshole, aren't I?”

Thoughts: College roommates trying to navigate having feelings for each other while also dating others and not realizing that they’re jealous? A cult favorite.

♡things that change, things that stay the same

Word count: 8k

Summary: Oikawa realizes he's in love with his best friend; it sucks for a while. (But only a while.)

Thoughts: Ahh a slow burn featuring daily moments between Oikawa and Iwaizumi, and Oikawa starts to notice the little things. This was a cute read because Oikawa just comes off as wonderfully earnest. My first Iwaoi fic! And a great one because it really set the standard to how I interpreted their relationship.

it’s better than words

Word count: 3k

Summary: [ or : oikawa makes iwaizumi participate in three bonding activities for new friends, and iwaizumi just wants to know why oikawa's being so weird about this]

Thoughts: Soft pining, fluff, banter, and whispered confessions. This fic really nailed the banter of high school students really well.

♡shiver

Word count: 16k

Summary: Oikawa was always the brave one. Hajime just followed two paces behind.

Thoughts: Oikawa falls first and but Iwaizumi realizes his feelings later on! So soft, so slow burn, so much pining. We get to see their relationship through Iwaizumi’s eyes and actually read him analyze his own feelings.

♡we shine like diamonds

Word count: 26k

Summary: "You know Abe-kun from class?" they snicker, hands cupped around their mouths like they're passing along a filthy secret. "I hear his older brother is... gay."

Thoughts: Character analysis, homophobia, and coming of age makes a good and angsty iwaoi fic

terrarium

Word count: 11k

Summary: At this point, is he really happy with just staying best friends forever? Will he be writing journals and collecting rocks forever (he will, he knows, but that is aside from the point)?

Thoughts: Oikawa has a terrarium and names all of the rocks he puts in (that Iwaizumi gave him) “Iwa-chan #_”

Chasing Paper Suns

Word count: 10k

Summary: Post-high school, Oikawa makes it to the national volleyball team but Iwaizumi doesn't. The next three years become an exercise in growing up without growing apart.

Thoughts: This was pretty sad tbh. Of what it means to grow up together and then suddenly having to adjust to living without each other’s presence.

with every second that you could give

Word count: 9k

Summary: The journey of Iwaizumi and Oikawa going for gold.

Thoughts: Of growing up together, making decisions for each other, and wanting to be together

Only the jellyfish know

Word count: 6k

Summary: Their third and final year at Aoba Jousai has come to an end, and the guys decide to go to the beach the day after graduation.That day, the ocean water is salty, the watermelon is sweet, and the people are sweeter.

Thoughts: Established relationship

Smut

strange.

Word count: 1k

Summary: "god, i fucking hate you."oikawa smiles, cause he knows it's not true. he knows iwaizumi loves him, knows iwaizumi adores him. but he plays along."i hate you too,"

Thoughts: It’s hot

Say My Name

Word count: 2k

Summary: “Hey, have you ever tried saying my first name?” Iwaizumi blurts, and the thought jumps out of his subconscious only after he's posed the question.

Thoughts:

No Touching Allowed

Word count: 10k

Summary: “You’ve got one rule,” Iwaizumi winks at him.

Thoughts: ExoticDancer!Iwaizumi and stressed out/repressed businessman Oikawa also an AU.

Honorable Mentions

things wikipedia doesn’t tell you

pillow

Phone Home

Share my life, it’s yours to keep

in progress to you

no sleep in the city

The PDA jar

Kissmarked

#iwaoi #oikawa tooru #oikawa #iwaizumi #iwaizumi hajime #haikyuu!!#haikyuu #hq!!#hq fic rec #haikyuu fic #haikyuu fanfiction #id ask that u guys pls reblog if u can so more people can enjoy :') rly there are some Underrated works #and im surprised bc it looks like iwaoi is the most popular pairing in hq rn with the most fics #and there are iwaoi fics being uploaded like everyday #some of my favs were published in 2020 too

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some-cookie-crumbz · 4 years ago

Note

Request: MomoJirou prompt! Jirou gets gravely injured protecting/saving Momo from danger!

Ah, yes! The angst and pain over the safety of a loved one~! Happens to be one my specialties, Anon!

Trigger Warning: Violence, Blood/ Gore

Rescue work was something that Jirou had a handful of experience with. She’d done her part during a hostage situation while doing her internship in her first year at UA. Her second year, she’d done her work study with a more general Heroics agency, working directly under a Pro named Genre Hopper. He was a fun Pro to work under, whose Quirk was that his fighting style changed based on what type of music he was listening to. He had taught her a lot about how to adjust her fighting style to prepare for the unexpected, and she was grateful for everything he taught her.

For her third year, though, she’d decided to join her girlfriend, Momo, and check out an agency that focused on rescues exclusively. They handled hostage situations, natural disasters and villain attacks. The agency was led by a Pro named Snowdrift, whose Quirk was Snow Leopard. Her ears, fangs, tail, and legs were feline in nature. She tended to only be around during the cooler weather, showing up at the tail end of September and then leaving in mid-March, as her body was better adjusted for cooler climates, to tend to business at a few agencies she operated in other countries. On the first day while they filled out their work study paperwork, she offered them some insights about how to manage multiple agencies, travelling, and things like that, as well as talking to them about priorities in regards to rescue missions while they were working with her agency.

“Your priority is always, first and foremost, any civilians caught in a disaster,” she said, holding up a finger, “and after that, focus on any other Pros that have been caught in the disaster; especially in the circumstance of the disaster being caused by a villain and their Quirk. As Pros, we’re better equipped to handle dire situations for longer than a civilian can. When it comes to this particular line of Hero work, your focus is always going to be doing what you can to save people. Property damage and ass-pats from reporters will come secondary to that.” She reached up with one finger and poked at three long, jagged scars running down the side of her face, starting just an inch below her right eye and curving all the way down to the hinge of her jaw. Her blue eyes lit up with amusement and she flashed them a cheeky grin. “And trust me, if you do your job right, you’ll get lovely little warning signs like these ones here. Warns future villains just what kind of Hell you can unleash and puts the fear of your name in’em!”

Jirou had decided she liked her right then, but Snowdrift just kept providing reasons to enjoy working for her. Unlike with her time working under Genre Hopper, who treated her like a student and kept her on a tight leash, Snowdrift tended to let them take charge more often than not. She gave them their patrol routes, when they were scheduled, and let them take it from there. It was strange for she and Momo to have a Pro outside of their teachers put so much faith and trust in them. “You’re on the cusp of stepping into the business proper,” Snowdrift answered when they asked, skimming through a file they’d brought her and grinning as she did. While on patrol, they'd caught a small gaggle of bank robbers but needed her sign off regarding the arrest since they were still considered students. She tugged a pen out of one of the little pouches on her belt loop, clicked out the tip, and signed off easily. “I trust you understand what that means, or else you two wouldn’t still be in your program. You may still be students, but you aren’t children, so I’m not gonna treat you as such.” She had said, offering the file back over to them with a grin still in place.

For the first few weeks, they mostly dealt with basic patrols. But then they got a call; an unexpected snow storm had started up near a campground where a group of middle schoolers were having a class trip. Snowdrift yanked her thermal cape and clawed gloves on when they got the call before turning to face her staff. “Creati, Earphone Jack, Heat Wave and Earth Shaker, you’re coming with me in Squad 1! Page Editor, I want you to lead Squad 2 and see what kind of recon you can get for us!” she barked out, motioning the others to follow her.

“Yes ma’am,” Page Editor called back, giving a brief salute before turning to call over two other sidekicks to join him.

They headed out in an armored vehicle that had been designed to handle the tough terrain of backwoods and such, as well as being designed to house up to thirty disaster victims. They were within the camp site in a matter of minutes, with Snowdrift and Heat Wave leaping out the second they could see the site up ahead. The snow storm seemed to intensify as the two Heroes made their approach. Earth Shaker took the vehicle up to the site, turning it and backing it closer to the campsite. Jirou and Momo scrambled out with a few thermal blankets in their arms, flocking over to the students clustered around Heat Wave. His Quirk was that he could amplify his own internal temperature to reach high temperatures that he could then channel out through small spouts all over his arms and legs. The middle schoolers were all crowding around him, their teeth chattering as they held their hands up towards the warm air coming off of him.

“Here,” Jirou said, carefully pulling one thermal blanket from her arms and draping it over a nearby student.

“T-Thank you,” she choked out, offering a shaky smile. Jirou nodded, offering a small smile, before darting to help distribute the rest of the thermal blankets. Earth Shaker darted over and clenched her hands to move the ground hidden below the layers of snow, forcing them up and over to form a dirt tunnel. It helped to keep out the chill and keep in some of the heat that Wave was generating.

“Get them into the vehicle and situated immediately; they need to be warmed up something fierce. Page Editor, any word on where this is coming from?” Snowdrift directed, pausing to click the little head set hooked to her ear.

“Well, it’s one of those good news, bad news situations, boss,” Page Editor’s voice chimed over the channel, his voice a little distorted due to either distance or the weather conditions.

“I take it the good news is that you know what’s causing it. Or, rather, who is causing it, but I'm guessing that's also the bad news," she answered, one hand settling on her hip as a small sigh escaped her.

“Bingo. Looks like we’ve got a few of the League’s little lackeys causing this trouble,” he agreed.

Snowdrift let out a swear, kicking at some snow under her paws. “Just great! Anyone of particular note?”

“There’s the one creating this storm, who has been a bigger player for them for a while now. Looks like that lizard guy who has been running with them since early on is there, too, but other than that they’ve got three untested. Most likely just some bruiser-type lackeys here to play rough if we get too close,” Page Editor explained.

“Any indicators as to what kind of Quirks those three newbies are toting?”

“One of them looks like some kind of minotaur sort of guy; got the horns and a nose ring and everything. The other two just look like high school punks, but nothing too particular to pick up on with them from the distance I'm at. One of them seems real bothered by the cold, though, so that might give us something,”

Snowdrift hummed thoughtfully. “If the League is leading this charge, they have to be up to something. Editor, I want you to send word out to any other agencies in the area for back up. If you can get Hawks, Endeavor, or both of them on the line, they’d be preferred. They may be a showboater and a jackass respectively, but they’re effective and have experience dealing with the League,” she instructed before turning her attention back to her team. She motioned Momo and Kyoka towards her, leaning down a bit and keeping her eyes on the line of evacuating students. “If I had to wager a guess, the League is targeting at least one student here in specific. May be a kid with a particularly remarkable Quirk that they think would be of benefit to them.”

“So we’re going to have to get the kids out of here immediately, and prepare for the League to pursue,” Momo commented.

The older woman smirked and nodded. “Spot on. Heat Wave and Earth Shaker can manage well enough with the vehicle. The two of you have had some run-ins with the League of Villains before, yeah?” she prompted. They both nodded and her smirk widened. “Perfect. The plan is going to be that we hold them at bay. I’m pretty unperturbed by the colder temperature and the sleet, so I’ll see if I can’t dispatch the one making this flurry. I want you two to stay down here and keep the other members of their little posse from going after Wave and Shaker if they make their way down here.”

“Yes, ma’am!” they agreed eagerly.

She chuckled and nodded, moving to stand upright as the earth barrier began to crumble around them. “Take whatever measures you feel are necessary to incapacitate or nullify your opponents; I trust both of your judgment. Remember that your priorities are the civilians and each other, stay alert, and I know you’ll make those villains fear your names. Creati, Earphone Jack,” she said, offering a fond grin before she turned and tore off in the direction of where the heaviest of snow was plummeting down from.

It was less than five minutes later that the three rookie League members arrived.

There was the minotaur character that Editor had warned them about with either of the other two perched on a shoulder. They were both dressed in proper winter attire with wild hair and piercings. One of them had a neon green mohawk that had particularly stiff looking yellow streaks in it. If she wagered a guess, she thought those streaks might actually be something akin to spines since, unlike with just gelled hair, they were completely unfazed by the storm whipping around them. The other’s hair was long and composed of pastel shades of yellow, pink and blue in nonsensical patches. Despite the storm, their hair wasn’t tied back and whipped around them like a colorful flurry, somehow matching well with the manic grin and rusty pipe they were sporting.

“Well hello there, little heroes!” They shouted, hopping off the minotaur’s shoulder and beaming at them. Through their bangs, a pair of violet eyes with a black spiral pattern branching out from the pupil and intermingling with the hue of the iris were visible.

“Who are you calling little?” Kyoka scoffed, carefully moving her feet to be better grounded.

“You don’t seem to be any other than us,” Momo agreed with a small frown of her own.

The villain sneered at them, eyes fixating on the taller of the pair as they responded. “I may be the same age, but I’m nothing like you idiots! I know what the world is really like and I’m ready to tear the status quo of this shitty world to ribbons!”

The other rookie shifted, nudging the minotaur with the heel of their boot. Minotaur seemed to understand the unspoken request and reached out to help them slip down carefully. “Hey, Kie, can we hurry this up? I can’t stand it out here!” they whined out loudly, pitch rising and dragging out their words at the tail end.

Kie, as they were called, snorted and glared at their associate. “Ugh, what kind of man are you, Suoh? So fucking annoying!” they shouted back. They then indicated Minotaur with the flail of one arm. “You don’t see Oda whining like a little bitch! Your sorry ass could stand to take some points from him!”

“Oda doesn’t talk in general. And like you’re one to talk about acting your gender. You’re supposed to be a polite young lady and instead you’ve got a mouth on you that could make an inmate blush,” Suoh groused back quietly, shuddering as he hunched his shoulders in on himself. While the two of them argued, Jirou stole a glance at Yaomomo. The other met her gaze before glancing between the pair, staring particularly at Suoh, and then at Kie purposefully. The two of them had gotten so good at working together that barely a word needed to be exchanged.

She shifted her earlobes down towards her amps discreetly, keeping her eyes trained on them. Oda, as the minotaur man was called, seemed preoccupied with watching his associates as they bickered, the pair ready to come to blows. Kie suddenly jolted to attention and whipped to face them, the black spirals of their eyes turning. “Oda, it’s play time!” she squealed excitedly while pointing at Momo.

Oda perked up before letting out a low snort and running around his associates and heading straight for her. Momo barely had enough time to conjure up a shield for herself before the other was ramming his long, jagged horns towards her. He hit with enough force to dent the shield and send her skidding back through the snow a few paces before she managed to get enough grounded to shove him back and dart over towards Jirou. “Earphone, now!” she shouted as she rushed toward her.

“Cover your ears, boys!” Kie shrieked with manic glee before clamping her hands down over her own just as Jirou’s earlobes connected with the amp. The two did as she said as a loud, rattling sound wave came from her. They didn’t have protective gear that would keep them completely safe, but the forewarning the other had given them certainly helped. When the sound wave died away, Oda shook his head with a small huff, his large ears flicking in irritation. “Pretty shitty that I know what you’re planning to do, huh?” the young villain goaded, cocking her head at them.

“Earphone, I’m pretty sure that-!” Creati started to say between small pants.

“Bingo, sweetie! You’re on the right track!” she mused happily, tapping at her temple.

Suoh rolled his eyes. “Your Quirk isn’t hard to figure out once you start using it,” he groused at her. He then reached up to grab at the stiffer portions of his hair, snapping it and producing a long spike. A part of Jirou was proud to know that her guess had been correct, but her eyes flickered back over to the female. They knew what all three of their Quirks were, now, which did a lot, but that girl, Kie… She posed a very different kind of threat.

It was clear she had some kind of mind reading Quirk. The moving black swirls in her eyes seemed to be an indicator of when she was using it, but they still had no idea what the limitations were on it. How long could she keep that up for? And how far was the reach for it? Was it like Aizawa-Sensei’s Quirk, where she had to have her eyes on the target? Or could she focus on multiple targets at once? She stole a glance over at Momo and could see she was staring Kie down as well. Her brows were knit in frustration, a clear indicator that she was thinking very hard about something.

Kie cocked her head again at Yaoyorozu, letting out a small amused puff. “Do you really think that just reciting your homework over and over will work to beat out my Quirk? You’ll have to think about what you’re doing soon enough, you stupid little bitch,” she growled out lowly, smacking her lead pipe down hard in her other palm.

Jirou’s eyes widened a bit as she looked between her partner and the villains. Momo was painting a target on herself specifically to get them some more answers. From this, Jirou could deduce that she could only handle one target at a time. After all, she’d been focused on Momo from the minute they’d shown up and only took action when, presumably, the other was thinking about their strategy. This must mean that they had some amount of intel about what to expect, had known that one of Creati’s greatest strengths was her ability to strategize. If they took that ability away from her, though, they could try to back them into a corner.

She was snapped from her musings when Oda charged at her, narrowly avoiding him by dodge-rolling off to the side. Oda stood between she and Momo now, head dipped as he readied for another charge. Behind him, she could see Kie’s form making a mad dash from Momo, Suoh moving to join her. She’d been expecting the divide and conquer approach to be the method they picked, given there was more of them with Snowdrift trying to get the other member of their team. So, Jirou thought with a growl, she’d need to get this guy out of the way as quickly as possible to even the odds. Her gaze flicked over to the twitching bull ears on his head. She needed to test her theory to see if it was plausible.

As she dodged two more lunges from the minotaur, she managed to change the settings on the left boot speaker. With that done, she slipped one earlobe into it and sent out a sound current, though this was of a slightly higher frequency. She had tinkered with the idea of finding ways to adjust the pitch of her sound waves to diversify her fighting style a bit. Up until the thought occurred to her, she’d mostly just relied on the volume of the sound to get the job done. She watched as the other’s ears twitched frantically before he shook his head, dark eyes sparking bright with anger.

With that theory tested and proven, she knew how to get him down.

It was a struggle to adjust her setting after that. It seemed he had realized that she was looking for something to exploit to beat him. If it came to a matter of physical strength alone, he’d wipe the floor with her in seconds. And if he kept her playing the dodge game, she wouldn’t be able to enact her plan. She managed to get a few more sound waves off to at least disorient him a bit to try and get the settings up higher, to a more grating level.

But then she heard the distinct thump of metal making contact with skin and stole a glance over just in time to see Momo's form slumping toward the ground. Oda took the chance to rush her again, a snort from him snapping her back to focus. She twisted to move away, but was a step too late, the jagged tip of his horn colliding with the hinge of her jaw and dragging along the bone up to her chin. She had to bite her tongue hard to keep from crying out as her skin was sliced through, the sensation of bone on bone with how deep in he'd gotten agonizing. She spun and hit the ground, taking in a shuddering wheeze as she watched blood pour steadily to paint the snow beneath her, fingers digging into the slish for some kind of support. If she fell over then she'd definitely be done for. He snorted again, moving behind her slightly, but she seized the chance she'd been given.

She whipped around and chucked a sizable stone hidden beneath the snow at him, catching him in the eye and causing him to stumble back with a feral shout. With her other hand, she adjusted the settings one final time, then let out the loudest of the sound waves she could produce. She'd approached Kouda once to ask about ways to ward off animals outside of just volume of a sound. He had suggested she take frequency into account as well, since there were pitches that only animals could hear and that would distress them.

Smug satisfaction coursed through her as the villain stumbled back with a furious shout, reaching up to clamp his hands down over his ears. She took the chance to dart towards him, leaping and digging the heel of her boot right into his head. He hit the ground hard, going as far as trying to burrow his head into the snow to escape the sound, and she gave another two firm kicks to his head.

When he went limp, she whipped around and rushed towards where Momo had been fighting off the other two. Kie had her back to her, lead pipe raised to strike again, and Jirou threw herself into her. She looped her arms around the other's stomach and tossed her aside with all her strength. She hit the ground and went tumbling a few feet away with a series of displeased swears. Jirou whipped around to locate the third one, Suoh, before a jabbing pain seared into her right side. Her body tensed as she glanced down, seeing the villain in question kneeling before her, two of his quills piercing clean through Jirou.

His chest was heaving and blood was dripping from his left temple. His right ankle was also clearly cracked, the foot itself tilted at an odd angle with gore and bone peeking out. The wrist of the hand twisting the quills into her side was also red and looked swollen, while the left arm was wrapped around his own stomach, clearly trying to soothe some kind of ache as he took in laboured breaths.

Momo had clearly given them Hell before they got her down.

She seized his bad wrist to wretch his grip off the quills and yank him to the side, eliciting a pained shout from him, and slammed the hand speaker on her other hand into the side of his face. She made sure to aim for where she'd seen the blood and swallowed hard when he went limp from the blow. She then turned around, yanking out the quills in her side and lashed out with them. She clipped Kie in the face with them as the other approached.

"You bitch!" Kie screeched, stumbling back a step before making a mad charge at her again.

Jirou anticipated it and braced herself for the impact, the two of them tumbling into the snow in a mess of limbs flailing to land blows. She kept her grip on the quills and managed to pierce one through her attacker's hand, who retaliated by elbowing her in the wound along her jazz. Her vision went white for a split second at the searing pain but she reminded herself that she couldn't give up.

For Momo's sake, she couldn't let this little monster take her down.

They grappled briefly, both worn out from the fight, but Jirou managed to get behind the other and wrap an arm firmly around her neck. "Y-You gonna kill me, Hero?" Kie sneered, clawing at her arm frantically. She dug her nails in hard enough to break the skin, leaving jagged bleeding marks in her wake.

"Putting you down for a fucking nap, you overgrown toddler!" she snapped back, pulling back with more force and using her other arm to help her maintain the hold and pressure. Kie squirmed and thrashed for a little longer, but her movements slowed until she was limp. Jirou shoved her aside, watching her roll face first into the ground. She swallowed hard and the taste of copper tickled the back of her throat.

But, she noted as she took to her feet shakily, the snowstorm had died down. She hobbled her way over to Momo, her movements languid as her the adrenaline coursing in her veins started to dwindle. She fell to her knees beside the other's prone form, cautiously reaching towards her to guide her from her side to her back. There was blood on the side of her head and trickling down the side of her face, as well as some smaller defensive wounds on her arms. Ultimately, though, it was clear she'd been doing well against both opponents until they landed that head blow. She was still breathing, too, which had her breathing much easier herself.

"Little miracles make all the difference," she panted softly, reaching out to gently grip one of Momo’s hands in her own. She then reached up to tap at her headset with her free hand. "Earphone Jack to Snowdrift. Come in, Snowdrift."

There was static for a moment before a small click. "Snowdrift in. How are things on your end, Earphone Jack, Creati?" The Pro's breathing was labored but she sounded pretty composed other than that.

"The three here have been knocked out for easier arrest. Creati and I took a good beating though," she managed to get out, shaking her head as spots started to appear in her vision. She hoped her words didn't sound as slurred to Snowdrift as they did to her. "Creati took a hard blow to the head and is unconscious. I've got a lot of blood loss from some puncture wounds."

"Earphone Jack, I can barely understand you. Are you okay?" Snowdrift asked, voice becoming stiff with concern.

"Lots of blood," she managed to wheeze out, body sagging slightly.

"Wait, blood? Is it yours and Creati's?" she asked frantically. "Shit! Page Editor's on his way down! Hawks, get your sorry ass down there, too! Earphone Jack, stay with me! Keep talking until they get there!"

Jirou tried to open her mouth to answer, but the exhaustion that had been creeping in became too much. She felt her body slump into the snow, barely registering the whine she released as cold snow jabbed into the gouge on her jaw.

"Earphone Jack? Earphone? Damnit, Jirou Kyoka, answer me!"

#crumbles grumbles #MomoJirou #my fics #TW: Violence #TW: Blood #TW: Gore #This was fun but was also challenging #Because I am so meh at fight scenes x3

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jjonassevilla · 4 years ago

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Get More Conversions with Lessons from 13 Irresistible Call to Action Examples

What’s the difference between a window shopper and a customer?

I’ll give you a hint: It’s the same thing that separates a scroll-by from a click-through. Or an anonymous lurker from a known lead.

The one thing that all your leads, clickthroughs, and customers have in common is that they’ve taken action. More specifically, they responded to a call to action (CTA) on your landing page, website, or ad and actively made a choice to advance through your sales funnel.

If you want to inspire more of your target audience to convert (which, of course, you do), then you need to step up your call to action game. With the right copy, design, and placement, you can create landing pages with powerful CTAs that motivate website visitors to make a move.

A call to action is exactly what it sounds like: you’re literally calling on your audience to take a specific action. This might be clicking a “buy now” button on a sales page or filling out a lead gen form to “download your free copy.”

The Psychology Behind Effective Calls to Action

Knowing the elements that make for a truly compelling offer (and understanding why they work) is the first step to crafting the perfect CTAs for just about every use case.

So, what makes a CTA effective? Let’s start by looking at some of the hard-and-fast rules for creating irresistible calls to action.

1. Grab the Audience’s Attention

Before a visitor can be persuaded to do anything, they need to first notice the call to action. Use a combination of font, design, and placement on the page to ensure your CTA button or form jumps out from the rest of the content—even during a quick skim.

2. Make a Single, Specific Request

Your CTA is not the place to play hard to get. Instead, tell readers exactly what you want them to do. Though there are various ways to use calls to action, the general rule is that it should align with a single conversion goal at the center of your campaign.

3. Present a Clear Path Forward

Use plain language to set expectations and tell users exactly what they’ll get from clicking. People are less likely to click on a link if they don’t know where it’s taking them, so be clear on what the next step will be—whether it’s a pricing page to “compare phone plans,” an account creation page to “start [their] free trial,” or a registration form to “join [your] community.”

4. Motivate Readers to Click

Use action-oriented language that focuses on results. The basic approach is to use action verbs (like “get,” “download,” “start,” “reserve,” and “grab”) to build momentum. You can also experiment with first-person point-of-view (“Give me my deal”), positive affirmations (“Yes, I want to 10X my ROI”), and creating a sense of urgency (“In limited supply. Claim yours today!”).

5. Optimize and Test

Sometimes the best approach to writing calls to action is to test out several variations. When it comes to optimizing copy, a call to action is one of the easiest things to swap out (and even small changes can make a big impact on your conversions). Smart Traffic uses AI to analyze your visitors and automatically display the most effective CTA to each person.

Where Do CTAs Fit into Your Marketing Campaigns?

Your landing page or marketing campaign is most effective when it’s built around a single conversion goal. That conversion goal is represented on the page as a call to action. This might take the form of a single button (click-through page) or a form (lead generation).

There are several different types of CTAs you might leverage at different points of your marketing funnel. Everything from your campaign goal to your audience awareness should influence how you write calls to action for your sales pages, landing pages, and lead generation forms.

These are the most common types of calls to action marketers need to master.

Lead Generation: A lead generation call to action helps identify viable leads. Whether the prompt is to download a piece of gated content, register for an upcoming event or webinar, or request a quote from the sales team, lead generation CTAs nudge leads to raise their hand and share details that help qualify them.

Click-through CTAs: In many cases, lead nurturing campaigns feature call to action buttons designed specifically to get viewers to click. This could be part of an email campaign, a social media ad, or a landing page, but the aim is always to boost product awareness (“Get a sneak peek at our upcoming release”) and aid discovery (“Click to learn more about this awesome gadget!”).

Sales and Signups: In the right place at the right time, calls to action can fuel sales and convert leads into customers. That means targeting leads who are ready to “buy now”—like those who click through to your sales landing page—and using action-oriented language. This applies to account creation (perhaps for a trial, paid account, or freemium version of the service) and ecommerce checkout pages. (Want to learn more about how ecommerce brands are using landing pages to drive sales? Check out 27 Ecommerce Landing Page Examples to Maximize Sales in 2020.)

Click-to-Call Buttons: Rather than filling out a form or collecting data about leads, a click-to-call button gives prospects a direct line to reach your team. Not only is this convenient, but click-to-call CTAs can be combined with A/B testing and call tracking to boost lead generation. (For an example of just how well this can work, check out how clever call tracking helped this agency get 219% more leads.)

Social Engagement: Brands that successfully promote their products and services on social media use calls to action to drive engagement. By asking viewers to follow, share, like, comment, or smash that subscribe button, you can broaden your reach, increase your following, and build relationships with potential customers.

Next, we’ll explore the most popular use cases using real-world call to action examples from Unbounce customers.

Real-World Call to Action Examples: How Unbounce Customers Use CTAs to Drive Conversions

Here’s how Unbounce customers use CTAs to drive customer actions across a range of industries and use cases. Use these to inspire your next CTA, or A/B test ‘em against one that’s not doing so well.

CloudSpot | “Get Your App” (App Download)

In this example, CloudSpot uses a lead magnet to attract potential customers, build an email list, and drive app downloads. The entire page is perfectly catered to their target audience (wedding and portrait photographers), which immediately tells leads that they’ve landed in the right place.

Image courtesy of CloudSpot.

Even the call to action itself is written with the audience in mind. By encouraging readers to “Get YOUR App” instead of “Get OUR app,” CloudSpot cleverly places further emphasis on the reader and draws them into the page. Plus, by promising to help photographers “replace awkward, unnatural moments” with more flattering poses, the benefits are clearly stated in terms related to the audience’s pain points.

The Listings Lab | “Fill Your Calendar with Appointments” (Gated Content)

Here’s an example that reminds us CTAs don’t exist in a vacuum. Even the smartest CTA button copy doesn’t work magic without an assist from a strong headline, supporting copy, and visual cues. Not only is the button itself designed to stand out, but there’s literally an arrow directing readers from the small print to the CTA.

Image courtesy of the Listings Lab.

By promising to show real estate agents how to “fill [their] calendar with appointments” without “working more hours,” the Listings Lab creates some serious incentive for agents to “get [their] free download.” Plus, the headline serves as a clever way to qualify leads by speaking directly to agents who are “stuck at 6-figures.”

There are tons of ways to match gated content with a simple call to action to generate leads. For more real-world examples like this one, take a look at 8 High-Converting Lead Generation Landing Page Examples.

Waldo Contacts: “Get Ready to See Happiness” (Free Trial)

Image courtesy of Waldo.

The secret to good copywriting is balancing cleverness with clarity. It’s not always an easy balance, but a tagline like “Get ready to see happiness” is both cute and concise, making it perfect for this contact lens subscription service—especially when paired with a straightforward benefits statement and a direct CTA.

This call to action example by Waldo effectively drives website visitors to start a free trial because even though the tagline leans towards clever, the call to action button itself is 100% clear about the reader’s next step (“Start your free trial”).

Sourcebooks: “Enter to WIN a Signed Copy!” (Contest Entry)

Image courtesy of Sourcebooks.

Sourcebooks used this landing page to attract leads interested in winning a signed copy of The Similars by Rebecca Hanover. The contest served two valuable purposes: to get people excited for the book (and boost future sales from those who don’t win a free copy) and to build a targeted list of potential leads (by collecting contact info from those who are most interested in this particular genre and author).

An important caveat here is that we typically don’t recommend CTA buttons that simply say “submit.” Although the heading encourages readers to fill out the form (“Enter to WIN a signed copy!”), it’d be worth testing out more actionable copy on the button itself (like “Sign me up!” or “I want to win!”) to see how it impacts conversions.

The round button in the top left corner presents a second, competing call to action (“Click here for an excerpt”). Interestingly enough, this strategy also goes against conventional advice, which would be to focus on one call to action per page to prevent diluting your conversions. However, it works well in this use case because the main CTA is not related to a purchase and because the secondary CTA is an option to preview an excerpt from the book—which actually adds value to the main action of entering the contest, rather than competing.

Athabasca University: “Let’s Get You Started” (Program Registration)

Image courtesy of Athabasca University.

Athabasca University uses landing pages like the one above to drive enrollment for online courses. In this case, they use a soft CTA above the form to get visitors to fill it out and a simple “submit” button at the bottom.

The heading “Let’s get you started…” is less of an order to do something and more of a supportive pat on the back. This tells prospective students, right from the get-go, the school is ready to provide support and help them achieve their goals.

The biggest lesson here is that writing for your audience and speaking to their needs is more important than blindly following any hard and fast rules for call to action writing. If you’re looking to improve your conversion rate for signups or account creation, check out some more of our tips for creating signup pages that convert.

Indochino: “The Tailor Is In” (Appointment Booking)

Image courtesy of Indochino.

By letting visuals of their suits do much of the selling, Indochino shows potential customers what they can aspire to, rather than telling them why they should book an appointment. In this context, their approach makes sense. Afterall, Indochino doesn’t sell one-size-fits-all clothing—but they do aim to make all of their customers look their best.

The call to action itself (a basic, “Book an appointment”) comes across as more of a low-pressure invitation than a marketing move. However, they also sweeten the incentive and create a minor sense of urgency by mentioning that booking your appointment by a certain date will enter you into a draw for a “perfectly tailored wardrobe.”

Awayco: “Free the Funk” (Equipment Rental)

Image courtesy of Awayco.

The use case for this example is a bit different, so the approach is a bit different, too. Awayco is an equipment rental company for surfers and other outdoor enthusiasts. The call to action changes a bit throughout the page, ranging from “Free the funk” to “Book the board” to “I’d like to ride that.” It’s this last one, in particular, that’s interesting because rather than simply asking visitors to do something, Awayco is putting words directly into their mouths—and potentially putting ideas into their heads.

On one hand, trying out different calls to action is kind of like A/B testing within a single landing page. (If you have a heatmap set up on the page, you can see which one visitors click more often.) But more importantly, the variety of CTAs give Awayco more opportunities to play with language and show their audience that they’re on the same, ahem, wavelength.

Shoelace: “Download the Deck” (Free Download)

Image courtesy of Shoelace.

As a Good Witch once said, if you want a wish to come true you must repeat it three times (I’m paraphrasing here). By repeating the exact same call to action three times throughout this landing page (“Download the Deck”), Shoelace keeps the desired action top of mind and reinforces the visitor’s next step at the end of each benefits section.

We also love this example simply because the landing page and call to action design both embody the pop-art animated aesthetic of the brand perfectly—and you can bet the deck matches it as well.

ClaimCompass: “Claim your compensation” (Clickthrough)

Image courtesy of ClaimCompass.

Much like the example above, ClaimCompass drives home the audience’s goal by repeating the call to action three times. However, in this case, the wording is switched up in each instance in an attempt to match the reader’s intent.

They start off with the most forward phrasing at the top of the page (“Claim your compensation”) and tailor the next call to action to readers who are scrolling further for more information—perhaps because they’re unsure if they qualify (“Check if your flight is eligible”). At the very bottom of the page, ClaimCompass ends with the most urgent version of the call to action (“Check your flight now”) to re-engage leads who have scrolled to the bottom.

Bonus Tips to Keep in Mind (+4 More Call-to-Action Examples)

If you’re still searching for inspiration, there are plenty of awesome call to action examples out there in the wild. Here are a few lessons you can borrow from big-name brands.

Match the Messaging to Your Product

At first glance, there’s not a lot going on here–and that’s a big part of what makes this call to action example worth showcasing. The three-word headline and straightforward messaging explain exactly what the product does in the simplest way possible. Not only is this plain old good copy, but the simplicity is also a nod to just how easy it is to “get started.”

This page appeals to those who don’t want to make their own investing choices or actively manage their funds. The clean, simple design and basic language mirror the hands-off user experience offered by this platform. The minimalist messaging aligns with their easy onboarding and low-touch product experience.

The biggest lesson from this example? Keep your page design and call to action minimalist for low-touch products. Or, to apply this more generally, match the messaging to your product and audience pain points.

Use Two-Step User Flows to Gauge (and Grow) Commitment

This is a great example of how different CTAs can be used at specific points in the customer journey to build momentum and investment.

When leads first visit the page above, they’re invited to start a 15-day free trial. Rather than taking those who click “Try us free” straight to the sign-up page, leads are redirected to a landing page designed to learn more about them.

Everything about this user flow is designed to increase adoption and retention. By inviting prospects to customize their practice (with a casual, non-committal “Sounds good,” no less), Glo is taking advantage of leads’ interest and drawing them deeper into the app experience before they’ve even taken their first class.

Of course, those who click “No thanks” are simply redirected to complete registration. But if you do decide to “design your unique practice,” you’re telling Glo about your skill level and class preferences—which not only gets you more invested in using the app, but also allows them to provide custom recommendations and keep you engaged with relevant messaging.

Nip Objections in the Bud

We’re highlighting this page because it’s such a simple, smart example of catering directly to your ideal audience. In this case, the target customer is budget-conscious, which is why they’re interested in the product in the first place. They’re looking for savings and likely wary of hidden fees or extra expenses. That’s why the button doesn’t just say “Add to Chrome.”

By clarifying that Honey is free to download, the call to action provides extra context and pre-emptively addresses the most relevant customer objection: the cost (especially for a coupon-finding extension).

Play Up Customer FOMO

How often do people “reserve” shoes before they’re available? Most of us probably don’t—at least, not outside of a compelling Kickstarter campaign. Yet, that’s exactly what Vessi is encouraging website visitors to do in this unconventional CTA example.

Vessi taps into consumers’ “fear of missing out” (FOMO) by urging them to pre-order (or “reserve”) a yet-to-be-released sneaker style. This not only builds excitement and creates a sense of exclusivity around the product, but also motivates shoppers to commit to a future purchase.

In this case, the CTA appears on the homepage to draw attention and send more traffic to a specific store page. You can achieve the same effect by using popups and sticky bars to add clickable CTAs to your website or landing page. Best of all, popups and sticky bars makes it easy to experiment with different CTA language, placement, and design to see what clicks—without making changes to the rest of your copy.

Do More with Landing Pages that Inspire Action

A compelling call to action is a key part of effective marketing. In fact, you might say it’s the key. After all, there’s no action—or conversion—without a call to act. It’s your opportunity to ask readers to take a specific action and frame it in a way that speaks to your audience’s needs.

Now that you know what it takes to create an irresistible call to action, it’s time to take some action of your own! Ready to build a landing page that converts? Start applying what you’ve learned today with one of our 100+ designer landing page templates.

from Marketing https://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/call-to-action-examples/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

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mimzy-writing-online · 6 years ago

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How Observant Are Your Characters?

Similar to the concept that all your characters should be different from each other in personality, they should also be different in regards to skills. One skill your characters will always have is observational skills. Even D&D and video games agree that your characters all have a certain level of observation or perception skill, whether it’s high or low.

You have your Sherlocks (hyper observant) and your Simon Spiers (surprisingly oblivious) of the world, and you have everyone in between.

For story telling purposes, you need to know exactly how observant your character is or needs to be for your plot development, and how to use it.

Observation skills will affect the pacing of the book, how complex your plot needs to be, and how apparent or effective your subplots are. You should also be aware that Critical Thinking skills and Observational skills are two separate things, and that you can have an observant character who doesn’t have the critical thinking skills to understand what they’re seeing.

Disclaimer: I feel a little bad that I’ll pick on Simon (Simon vs. the Homo Sapien’s Agenda) for not being overly observant through the book. I do believe that from a story telling and plot development stand point it was probably for the best that his observation skills were lacking. He’s also one of my favorite characters.

Through observation skills your character will pick up plot points and clues, but the problem is how many of those clues you want your character to see. Would your Sherlock character solve the mystery in two chapters and have the story be over? Would your Simon not notice the note stuffed into the t-shirt he slept with for two weeks and not have Blue’s phone number to text, or guess that Blue was someone completely different, unintentionally hurting Blue’s feelings.

(I have feelings about that book, lots of feelings. Feel free to ask me about it, my ask box is open.)

How Observation Skills Affect Pacing:

Because Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes as short stories rather than novels, it makes a lot of sense that Sherlock could solve cases in as few pages as he did. Sherlock’s observation skills kept the stories fast paced, and as long as Conan Doyle had enough of a complex mystery for Sherlock to solve, it could go on as long as he wanted his story to go.

Note: there are four published Sherlock Holmes novels, but there are almost sixty short stories. Like many writers of his time, Conan Doyle published many of his stories through a monthly magazine called the Strand, where stories were kept shorter for the sake of a magazine not having the same space for content as a novel. Notable writers who also published through The Strand include Agatha Christie and H.G. Wells.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is a YA contemporary novel with a word count of 60,965, which fits perfectly within the expected length of its genre. YA contemporary novels are expected to be between 60,000 and 80,000 words. Simon’s level of observational skills helped keep the pacing of the novel a bit slower while still being interesting. Simon’s primary focus through the novel was to one day meet Blue, and to come out before Martin could out him. Simon didn’t meet Blue until the end of the novel largely because Simon was not a very observant person and Blue was trying to not be found.

Observational Skills Affect How Complicated Your Plot Is (or at least it should)

If you are writing a Sherlock type character and you want your story to be novel length rather than short story length, then your plot must be complicated enough that even with a fast pace it takes a while for your characters to solve their problems. Part of the way to complicate a plot is misdirection and subplots.

On the flip side, if your character has average or lower observation skills, you will benefit from keeping your plots a little more simple.

Sub-plots: Does your character (and reader) know a sub-plot when they see one?

There are many types of subplots to include to your story to add complexity to it. One of the best sub-plots can be stories that happen to your secondary characters that are just outside of your main character’s radar. If that is the case, your character’s observation skills will determine how much of the sub-plot they see.

Your character’s best friend is secretly in love with someone or secretly dating someone? Is your main character observant enough to see the signs that their best friend is in love? (Long gazes as someone specific, listening to love songs all the time, being moody if that person doesn’t seem to return their affection) And is your character willing to ask about it or are they willing to stay in the dark for the sake of their friend’s privacy?

Your main character’s love interest is having a problem outside of their relationship? Will your character be able to pick up the signs that something’s wrong (even if their love interest is good at hiding things?)

A secondary or background character is somehow involved with the antagonist and preventing your main character from achieving their goals/harming the main character? Is your character observant enough to see that this person is sabotaging them?

You antagonist is someone close or highly involved in your main character’s life? Can your character see that this person is bad news?

How Does Your Character Observe Things?

This is especially important, because certain people are observant about different things.

Some people are emotionally (people) observant: They see and understand body language, vocal tone, and word choice. They can tell when something’s wrong even when the character is trying their hardest to hide their problems. They notice changes in other’s routines or behaviors, (like taking off work early or staying longer, eating more or less, smoking or drinking more, being more outgoing or more shy, being uncomfortable in certain environments that never bothered them before.)

Some people are environment observant: These characters notice when things in their surroundings aren’t quite right. It’s too quiet/too busy for this place at this time. There’s a shadow disappearing down a corner. There’s a drip of something suspicious by the door. A book in a room has been recently moved. This is an especially great sort of observation skill to give your characters in horror or suspense stories where creepy or changing environments are used to increase tension.

Some people are information observant: This is actually more of a critical thinking skill, which I will get into in a moment. Some characters might not have the skills to see the signs that indicate something’s wrong with their environment or with their loved ones, but when faced with large amounts of information to take in, they’ll pick up information and analyze it in a way others might not be capable of.

Your Five Senses will help a great deal with this, especially in the case of environmental observation skills. It will also help with showing instead of telling.

What your characters hear/smell/taste/touch are just as important as what they see. Make sure to include those senses in what they observe.

Observation isn’t always enough. Does your character have the critical thinking skills to see the signs and problems for what they are?

Observation and Critical Thinking are a bit of a package deal, and lacking one or the other can make it harder for your characters to see what’s really going on.

Maybe Watson can see those smaller details on a body or crime scene, but it’s Sherlock that has the critical thinking skills to realize how those details relate to each other and what it means.

Your character might also see those small details in their life and be able to sense that something is off or wrong without understanding the full reason why it’s wrong.

Your character might see the children’s toys in the yard when they visit someone’s house, and they might realize that this person doesn’t actually have kids living with them, and may see that the toys are old and beat up. But are their critical thinking skills trained enough to realize how off-putting that is, that there may be something wrong with what they see.

Your character may see that their best friend seems to be tired all the time, and may see that the character has been a bit irritable, and they may notice that their grades are slipping or their work ethic is slipping, but are their critical thinking skills enough to tell them that there’s something more serious that’s wrong with your character, like depression or PTSD or drug use?

A Comment On Critical Thinking: your readers will definitely have the critical thinking skills to see what all these clues mean, because they developed their critical thinking through reading. As long as your characters share what they’re experiencing and observing, you readers can come up with an understanding of what’s going on and then eventually your character can catch up.

Observation Skills In Ensemble Casts:

With stories involving multiple points of view, it would be ideal that your character all have different levels of observational skills. It’s not realistic that all seven of your characters have the same observation skills, (high, low, average.) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes are made all the better for the fact that John Watson doesn’t have Sherlock’s level of observation skills and admires Sherlock for it, and that doesn’t mean John has any less value than Sherlock, because John has plenty of skills and abilities that Sherlock will never have a talent for.

I’ll use my WIP as an example for different observational and critical thinking skills between characters:

My work in progress has three main characters: Anna, Felix, and Ulric. Anna is someone who has above average observational skills and reasonable critical thinking skills. She sees when things are off and with enough time she’s able to solve the mystery in front of her. Ulric is legally blind, but before vision loss he had great observation skills. Because he no longer has sight as his primary sensory imput, he relies more on what he hears and what his other senses tell him. His critical thinking skills are great and even with less information than Anna, he’s still able to keep up with her. Felix is a little more on the oblivious side. He’s book smart, but not life smart. His critical thinking skills go into information, but not people or environment. They all have their individual levels of observational and critical thinking skills, and it helps them work better as a team to solve their problems.

What’s what I got for you on observational skills. If you have any questions (about writing advice or my wip) my ask box is open.

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aparticularbandit · 5 years ago

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so - i’ve read the first three chapters of snow falling - finally doing that read-through and posting about it i said i was going to do, like, two months ago or something like that (i’m slow, sorry) - and, well, technically prologue and first two chapters - and! here are some of the things that are different from the story as we know it and here are some things i would change to make it work better as a book (the series told us it bombed so i feel like that’s fair game and also-- well. i’ll get into it later).

putting this below a cut because it does get long.

also - before the cut - i want to note that twilight and the rest of its series didn’t make me want to pull out a red pen and do a bunch of mark-up the same way that snow falling does. that may be because there’s about a decade or more between these two instances and i’ve learned a lot about writing since then and less to do with the books in question (and also might have to do with the fact that i’ve actually started doing some editing and looking at this sort of thing) but like - keep that in mind while you read this.

things the book has changed so far (probably not a complete list):

names

as jane would need to do for a fiction book based on her real life

literally one of the smallest changes she would need to make

each name (so far) is easily recognizable as who the real person is because the initials are the same - with the exception of xo, who is named zara, but it’s still the same person - initial isn’t the same, but the sound is.

oh and sin sombra is sin rostro and that’s not sound or initial related but all of you overwatch fans? SIN SOMBRA.

man without a shadow instead of man without a face.

this is the bare minimum and, as you will see in comments on characters in the setting part, jane really did the bare minimum in terms of hey, these aren’t real people! they’re fiction but it’s based on me! like. it’s really obvious here. in a way that probably wouldn’t be acceptable if they were actually real people.

setting

while this is not something jane would necessarily need to do for her fiction book based on her real life, you know what, it could help to reimagine things. it doesn’t.

this time around, the setting is still miami but at the turn of the century.

rafael is rake the potential robber baron who is involved in having railroad tracks laid so his hotel can be spiffy

michael is martin the pinkerton police etc. who initially specifically worked for rake to take care of the hotel (and then that expanded to taking care of the city once the hotel did really well. ish).

jane is josephine the hotel concierge who takes classes from the convent so she can be a tutor but also still wants to publish a novel.

the gang’s all here.

the problem i’ve been running into with this setting is that it ... doesn’t line up with my bare minimum research of law in america in the 1900′s.

sin sombra is an issue because (s)he has been smuggling liquor and prostitutes into miami against the specific laws that tuttle laid down when she built the city.

tuttle is a real thing! i did not know this! indicators of jane’s research!

i have found nothing in my bare minimum research to indicate that liquor and prostitution was illegal in miami at this time.

in fact, liquor and prostitution was SUPER LEGAL in america at the time - liquor was only an issue during the prohibition, which was over a decade later, and prostitution only became an issue once a) the origins of the fbi started looking into what they called “white slavery” - sex trafficking - and b) prostitutes starting giving soldiers stds - both of which happened later. (i actually did bare minimum research on this for sin rostro. i’m not an authority and it’s possible that the laws in miami were different than they were across the nation at that time. however--)

during prohibition, miami actually appears to be super lenient when it comes to the legality of liquor and gambling. (again, i’m doing bare minimum research here and this is definitely from wikipedia - and while wikipedia isn’t a good source in itself, it’s a good source for other sources, etc.) this would suggest that jane’s general premise re: sin sombra is actually wrong - this, for me, is a concern.

plot differences re: snow falling vs. jane the virgin

as opposed to jane, who was not engaged to michael when she was artificially inseminated, josephine is.

note: i have not actually gotten to the josephine has sex with rake bit. it is possible she breaks off her engagement before then. given the little bit i skimmed, i doubt it.

this actually makes josephine in the wrong - SUPER in the wrong - where jane...you know...wasn’t.

like - cheating on your boyfriend? not so cool.

cheating on your fiance? SUPER NOT COOL.

of course i say this as someone who ships roisa so. pot calling the kettle black maybe.

similar to the original pilot script, josephine was sixteen when she met rake for the first time and he kissed her.

and in this scene, rake reads as super smarmy but that may just be me, idk.

additional complication of this - because josephine is still twenty-three for the majority of the novel, this means there is now a seven year time period between when josephine met rake and when they reunite instead of the five year time period we have in jane the virgin.

there are probably other, smaller things (and i expect there to be big things in later chapters), but for now, those are the big ones.

now - in regards to snow falling as a book--

jane is not a good writer.

there, i’ve said it. i think i’ve said it before and this is probably not the only time i’ll say it but jane is not a good writer. and that’s not even in terms of general plot stuff or small things she could change to make the story stronger (and yes, prologue and two chapters in, it could already be a stronger story, and i’ll get to that), that’s in terms of jane, i feel like you’re using a thesaurus and jane, it feels like you’re trying too hard - and i’ll be honest. i don’t really read romance novels. maybe this is typical of the genre (although i kind of doubt it). but like? it’s not good writing.

that said, it’s not bad writing, necessarily. the prologue starts off pretty bad, once you get past the narrative epigraph, but it gets better. but that’s not what you want on a first page. you want your strongest writing on the first page to hook your reader and not turn them away, not...whatever this is.

but you know what - bad writing - i can get through. sometimes. it’s the story that’s the important thing. is the story communicated to the best of its ability? is there appropriate set-up and pay-off? does the style fit?

and here’s the thing - just like in jtv s5 - we run into set-up and pay-off issues.

we know the opening of snow falling from jane’s reading in the series. we read that and think about michael dies, and for us, that feels like a good set-up. martin does not die in this book, and so the set-up - as a viewer of jane the virgin - feels flat to me.

that said, in terms of josephine cheats on her fiance with the super attractive owner of the hotel where she works and then gets pregnant aspect, it might pay off. i haven’t gotten that far in yet. this one might work out.

there are a lot of things that could be rearranged and changed so that there is a better early pay-off.

the whole flashback scene where josephine meets rake.

during the prologue, we see josephine writing on her novel (or one of her novels - i assume she’s writing a different one than the one she was writing when she was sixteen - and i’ll bring that up again later, don’t worry) when she meets martin after her twenty-first birthday party.

during the flashback, it’s implied that josephine has thought about this mysterious young man again, etc.

you know what would have been a nice set-up and leads to an early pay-off? make this the scene that josephine is writing in the prologue.

now, admittedly, we don’t see the specifics of the scene that’s she’s writing, but it would be nice - and sets rake up better for the reader - for josephine to be writing about this tall, handsome, rugged stranger that she met when she was sixteen (we don’t need ages. i have a problem with this one. for obvious reasons.). then, when josephine sees rake, we don’t get flashback, hey, josephine met him before and is recognizing him, wow! we already know that josephine was thinking about him. it’s set up for us instead of having to be explained later - and that way we actually get the impact of josephine’s realization as it’s happening instead of being told the impact it should be having but doesn’t for us because we didn’t know.

when martin is set on the sin sombra case (with nita! because nadine is also in this novel, albeit she shows up in the next chapter, alas). the narrator - not the narrator the character we know but the novel narrator (and i’ll get into this again, too) - mentions that there has been an upswing in violent crimes and killings of people involved in having miami grow.

SHOW. THESE.

SHOW SOME OF THEM.

DON’T JUST TELL US THEY ARE HAPPENING.

UGH.

and, yes, the main focus of the novel should be josephine’s relationship with martin and the complications that arise from the love triangle with rake. that should be the main focus.

but the point of the novel - as far as i’ve read it, in my measly prologue and two chapters - is that martin is choosing between his job and josephine (which is similar to the problems with jane and michael in the show) and josephine will eventually have to choose between martin and rake (again, similar to the problems with jane and michael in the show)

where josephine’s love triangle is between rake and martin, martin’s should be between josephine and the people of the city that he is trying to protect - and for this to work out well for your secondary protagonist (which martin is shaping up to be because he does get viewpoint scenes, etc. which would imply that, although not THE primary protagonist the same way that josephine is, he is definitely A primary protagonist), you need to show his stakes as well.

in this stead, it would be good to show martin investigating one of these murders or getting involved in one of these violent crimes and then slowly but surely making these connections to sin sombra (who nita actually names and martin shortens it to sin sombra so...that’s a better thing than sin rostro in the show - nita sets sin sombra up as male when sin rostro doesn’t need to be). if there are violent crimes connected to it and it’s important to your policeman, show one of them. show him investigating it already. make him proactive. just. ugh.

SET IT UP SO WE CAN HAVE PAY OFF IN THE FORM OF MARTIN BEING PUT ON THIS INVESTIGATION BECAUSE WE SEE HIM PROVING HE’S WORTHY OF IT AND WE’RE ROOTING FOR HIM INSTEAD OF JUST TELLING US ABOUT IT.

and then issues i have separate from these set-up/pay-off issues.

there’s more than one narrator.

and, no, i don’t mean point-of-view character, i mean narrator.

in jane the virgin, which is a tv show, we have the witty latin lover narrator who comes in and comments on what’s going on in the scene and connects us from one place to the other as if he were telling us the story. this is fine and it works for that media.

in snow falling, we have...somewhere between two and three narrators.

the third person narrator that is limited to the point-of-view character at the time (josephine and martin, typically).

the narrator from the show making witty asides at points in time that jane seemed to think was relevant.

the epigraph narrator - who is either josephine looking back on the events after they’ve happened (which i think, given the prologue, is the correct interpretation) or the witty narrator from the show (which is less likely but possible).

and, given my very short foray into checking the next few chapters, the epigraphs disappear starting in chapter three. they might come back again. they might not. which seems to suggest that josephine the epigraph narrator and the witty narrator from the show are one and the same person. which is also fine.

however, i have a problem with having epigraphs being set up as a reoccurring thing and then suddenly disappearing after a few chapters. either they are a consistent thing or you shouldn’t do them at all. it’s called consistency. pick one.

now. there is nothing wrong with having more than one narrator. there is nothing wrong with having an epigraph narrator who is separate from the pov narrators (brandon sanderson does this really well in his initial mistborn trilogy), and there is nothing wrong with having a witty narrator who makes comments on what’s going on in the book proper ... who is separate from the pov characters themselves (i cannot think of a published novel that does this, but there probably is one i’m not thinking about). there’s nothing wrong with including the witty narrator from the series as a nod to your readers who are finding the book as a result of watching jane the virgin (which is really what the inclusion of that narrator is - look, we do it in fanfic, i’ve done it in bitches get glitches, you know what? in and of itself, it’s not a bad thing).

the problem is when one or more of those narrators detracts from or weakens the story by their inclusion.

and here’s the thing - while the epigraphs themselves don’t detract from the story, they can (and by can, i mean chapter two) tell us what’s going to happen before we see it happen. and while there is some use to an omniscient narrator telling us the story, in this case, it doesn’t always work. i think, regarding the epigraphs, it would have worked better as a framing device. having josephine reflect on the events while writing her novel works as bookends for the story. that’s a trope that jane could have used effectively!

but the witty narrator making comments throughout the novel - which can work - doesn’t work here. having an omniscient narrator making asides is a form of set-up, yes, but this is heavy-handed is josephine’s life going to change forever? doesn’t. it just doesn’t. this narrator who seems so personal and interactive in the series falls flat here. and from skimming the book, it doesn’t get better. jane uses this omniscient witty narrator to set stuff up (as opposed to actually setting it up in a more proper way herself) or to call out the set up that a reader might have missed or as a form of ratcheting tension all of which should be done in the novel proper without these forms of asides - or, later on, mocking the reader for believing the omniscient narrator when it set something up that definitely isn’t going to happen in this book (and, yes, from my skimming, this happens, and i’ll probably bring it up more specifically when i get there).

and the issue isn’t that this can’t be done - brandon sanderson, again, did fourth wall breaking snarky commenting omniscient narrator in his alcatraz series (young adult, the first one is alcatraz versus the evil librarians) - and, just like what i think jane is trying to do here, that omniscient narrator is telling the events from the point of view of someone who has already lived them (similar to the assumption that josephine from the future is reflecting on the events of her past and the witty narrator are the same person) - the main difference being that alcatraz is first person and there’s never a question about who the snarky commenting narrator is.

and that’s part of why this is an issue - there’s a tonal difference between the josephine who reflects on her past and the witty narrator so that they probably should be the same character but aren’t the same character because jane and her witty narrator aren’t the same character (but still technically are because jane wrote the story and is writing the narrator’s lines - but that’s meta commentary on jane the virgin when i’m supposed to be primarily focusing on snow falling). as a reader, i want these asides to make sense, but they don’t help the story. at all. at all. their only use is for those of us who have seen jane the virgin and know the narrator from that story and are entertained by seeing him appear in this one. but in a novel by itself - the novel jane published - they don’t work.

also there’s a scene in the flashback with rake and sixteen year old josephine where we see the novel she’s writing and i would cut that, too. it shows that sixteen year old josephine is into the type of appearance that rake has, but it’s not good and it’s not done well.

and so far i think that’s my main problem with snow falling - it could be done well! it could! these aren’t terrible issues! most of them aren’t simple fixes, but there are simple ways to address them! but they aren’t!

and it’s hard for me, as a reader, to believe that jane’s writing got better when she wrote the book that became jane the virgin - and, worse, i’m afraid that if they published that novel it would read much like this one does, and a book like that on its own - i have a hard time believing it would have gotten the advance that jane did or that it would do as well as the series implies that it did. and, yes, there are books that people think are poorly written that did really well (some of you may cite the twilight series, but i would probably more likely point to the fifty shades of grey series - which i know from experience some people bought just to make fun of it).

but. again. i’m only three chapters (prologue and two chapters, whatever) in, so maybe this gets better. i doubt it. but maybe.

#musings #jtv #snow falling #I DON'T HATE THIS BOOK #IT JUST FRUSTRATES ME #F R U S T R A T E S #M E

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overlycaffeinatedwarmage · 6 years ago

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So four of us were at MegaCon last weekend and we had a chance to talk KC’s ear off. We also had a chance to listen to her a bit. I, of course, took notes. Here’s what I got. Please feel free to ask questions about anything I have. I will flesh out what I can!

Panel notes:

None of her characters are based on real people that she knows. Too much bad shit happens to them. An element of her work that she’s proud of: she uses her history degree with her writing. Favorite mythologies to write are about gods (didn’t mention one particular cultural pantheon). Lots of cross over with various mythologies throughout the world. Makes sense since people travel and talk. Many of the giddy traits cross over, some of the gods are identical across cultures too.

Mythology has everything that Urban Fantasy has in it, romance, heroes, monsters, etc. Really UF is a retelling of the old stories in a modern way. We even have similar stories across stories, just like they did. God in a jar mythology is a common theme (Artemis is in a jar right now dajuan note).

World building: Write what you need for first book, world building wise, never enough pages for world building per book. Don't do all at once. Too much, leave some for future books. Your editor will always tell you to cut it down anyway. You need to know the world and back story even if audience doesn't yet. Audience will know if you contradict something and they will tell you. But don’t box yourself in, don’t let others write your rules, break them if you need to.

Writing is a you learn as you go craft. When you read your old stuff, think to yourself "look how far I’ve come!" rather than cringe at it. You aren't perfect. Enjoy what you are now and learn from it and grow from it. Work on the story, that’s what people care about more than the grammar and perfect characters, those are important but secondary to the story itself.

She knows the major beats of story now, but not all the details yet. Mystery authors are her favorites (Agatha Christie was mentioned several times). Liked mischievous gods, assholes, they more fun. If they are good, watch out! (Daj note, I got big HINT vibes here! Artemis isn't as altruistic as she seems maybe?? Personally, I've been wondering about her for a while. There is definitely more going on with her.)

Stay in genre but make it new, fresh spin: take new things, Pythia, new abilities. Hard to make vampire different, same with witch. Pick new creature to explore. Go back to original myths Bonicon: ox type thing, napalm from butt (need to look up name, I am 100% sure I either misheard or misspelled it). Must do some digging to find new stuff.

Add some realism, how do the characters get money? Stuff like that (ie early Cassie and Billy cheating casinos) Mystery, how keep threat level up? Kill someone else! World expansion: story or character come first? It depends All characters must have an arc. Even supporting characters, must change or not believable. Five characters in a scene, all should have a distinct voice. A friend should be able to tell which character said a line a dialogue Character best friend? Rosier, she would hang out with him (we cheered, loudly).

Personal discussion:

Mircea always a rogue. No one should be surprised by his shit in RtS. It was telegraphed all the way back in TtD.

Cassie is an extrovert who had to learn to be introvert by upbringing. She is learning to let people in now.

Cassie has a woman’s strength, is girly and ok with it. Meant to be a character many women could relate to.

Dory by herself would be boring(?) Dorina is what makes her unique or interesting. She would be more cookie cutter character without Dorina.

KC doesn’t want to write cookie cutter characters or stories.

There are so many characters out there for all types of men (strong, weak, nerdy, whatever) but not all types of women. Cassie is an “everywoman" character that every woman could see an aspect of themselves in. Because think about it, if shit were to hit the fan what would you do? Go out guns blazing or hide behind the sofa? Probably hide behind the sofa.

There was a lot of Tolkien talk about the three whole female characters in those books. I’m a little foggy here because Tolkien is not my thing, (I had to ask who everyone was to be sure I understood, yes I was a little embarrassed). One character was the prize for the king, one was a warrior woman or essentially a “man with boobs," and one was actually a woman with her own agency. There have to be more roles for women in fantasy than this. We deserve better. There is nothing wrong with the warrior woman, but that’s not all woman and many can't see themselves like that. (Daj note I can't see myself in the warrior women and I'm stronger than the average woman. Strength, power is not my strength. I’m excited to see a wider variety of role models for young women.)

There are at least 3 more books after BtT. Big stuff is coming! No, we didn’t ask what!

KC does not write romances! This has been said before but needs to be reiterated. She writes about people and people have romance, sex, friends, enemies, etc so of course there would be elements of that in the books. Otherwise the characters would not be believable. She does write damn good stories and characters though. All of her characters have arcs, they change because real people change. The bigger the character the bigger the arc. Smaller or side characters have arcs too, though, they just have smaller ones.

There are some obvious hints in books as to what is coming that we are all missing. (No, we didn’t ask what they were. We did our best not to blatantly ask for spoilers. There were things that we would say that she'd just smile at, but I'm not saying what. I'm doing *my* damnedest not to spoil people as well.) People will sometimes pick up the smallest of hints she thinks they will miss though.

Yes, Mircea has a foot fetish. Why not? It's mild as fetishes go really. (We had a good giggle about that.) Again, it's a thing that makes him real. Rian chose Casanova for a reason and it's a BIG reason. If you catch my drift ;) (More giggles and an embarrassing amount of discussion was spent here.)

Rosier speech "fake it, everyone else is too" has gotten her through a lot (daj note, me too. It’s my favorite speech in the series, I give and get it often.)

Again, any errors are mine. I do not speak for Karen Chance so do not hold her to anything that I have written here. Most of this is cobbled together from notes and exhausted, overexcited memory. She is free to correct me on any errors that I have made, and I sincerely apologize for making them and potentially speaking out of turn. She was an absolute blast to chat with and I am honored to have been given the opportunity to spend a few hours with her this weekend. I will forever claim that she is one of the kindest authors and people that I have met. I know a lot of wicked cool people, so I don't give that praise lightly. Let me know if you have any questions. I’ll will try to answer what I can. If my roomies have anything to add, please feel free! @emberfaye @pritkinspalemoons @annalane

#cassie palmer #karen chance #dorina basarab #cassandra palmer series

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dangermousie · 6 years ago

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An epic book rant - aka what happens when you decide to make a rapist slave trader your sympathetic protagonist

You may or may not know my love for the British author MM Kaye, who wrote two of my favorite novels, both set in 19th century India - The Far Pavilions and Shadow of the Moon.

Both of those are sprawling epic masterpieces (IMO) that convey both a sense of the place and give us truly amazing protagonists supported by a fascinating cast of secondaries. The modern reader might not always agree with her take on the British Empire (though her characters are all fully-fleshed people regardless of race, her novels largely center on the British, for obvious reasons), but taking into account that the writer was born in 1908, there is nothing that particularly stands out.

MM Kaye was not a prolific writer. In addition to a handful of mysteries and children’s books (which are not my genres and which therefore I just don’t read), she wrote only three novels. The two I mentioned above and her first, Trade Wind. I was always very sorry about that. Until I finally read Trade Wind, which I was saving as a sort of last chance to read a new M. M. Kaye novel.

Oooops.

Trade Wind, unlike TFP and SotM is not set in 19th century India but in 19th century Zanzibar. That’s fine and in fact Kaye’s skill of transporting the reader into another world complete with such immersion you feel you are there, is already present in this novel.

However, this is also the most rage-inducing book it has been my displeasure to read in years. Somehow, I don’t mind awful characters we are supposed to like or paper thin character/relationship development in a slim, self-published volume. But in a doorstopper written by one of my favorite authors? Oh my.

The problem? Twofold and tied together - the male protagonist and the so-called romance.

If you’ve read TFP and SotM, you will find that the male protagonists of those novels are of the same mold - British officers who are driven, full of integrity and following their own path no matter the hardship, and full of honor in every sense of the word. They are the embodiment of a Victorian ideal of manhood, in many ways, minus their stubborn refusal to view non-whites as inferior. Ash and Alex are both pretty damn awesome. On a romance front, they are totally a dreamy thing too - they love well and strongly, they treat the object of their affection well and will risk their own goals and well-being to make sure they are OK. Ash literally gives up his whole world and heritage to be with Juli. Alex tries to prevent Winter’s disaster of a marriage even if it will wreck his career and later saves her during the Mutiny at a huge cost and risk. They are not saints, but they are clearly and indubitably good men.

TW also has a character like that - Dan is a British navy captain who is charged with preventing slave traders (that ply the waters around Zanzibar due to some legal loopholes) and who carries out his grim duty no matter what. He loves the American consul’s daughter but will not sacrifice his beliefs even for her. His gritted teeth perseverance and honor are swoon-worthy.

The problem? Dan (and his Cressy) are secondary characters, and our hero is Rory Frost. Rory is male and British. There his resemblance to other Kaye protagonists ends. Rory is a bastard. No, I don’t mean his parents were not married, they were. I mean he is an utter and complete dumpster fire of a human being who Kaye somehow wants us to love. It’s as if she read Gone with the Wind and decided to write her own Rhett, rape of love interest included, but since this wasn’t her forte, she managed to include only the horrifying parts.

Rory captains his own ship. Rory trades in slaves (and other things, but SLAVES!!!!) Rory feels zero guilt, shame or really anything other than “I love money” about it. Does he have a growth arc where he realizes that’s bad? Nope. Rory gives up slave trading by the end because he doesn’t need the money, his OTP doesn’t like it, and he has to move elsewhere where it’s not profitable.

Mmmm, who doesn’t swoon over Simon Legree?

Kaye makes sure to inform us that Rory transports his slaves humanely (!!!!!!) because he thinks it’s bad business to lose profit through death. He also rats out bad slavers to the authorities (because he thinks pointless cruelty is bad but one for profit is good apparently; plus it keeps the radar off him. Apparently Kaye thinks that if Rory sold X slaves but X+Y slaves got freed because of his tips, it somehow balances things out.)

Ummmmm.

So, a slaver in the 1850s, so it’s not even some “well, it’s ancient Rome, it’s the way of life” excuse.

But let’s continue because I assure you that is not all that is wrong with the sociopath that is Rory.

Rory has a “native” mistress and child, who conveniently die clearing the way for the white heroine. Kaye does a really bad job conveying he feels anything for them! She clearly wants us to think he’s an OK dad because he turns himself in to authorities so that his child can leave the cholera-stricken island even though he knows he will hang. OK. But when said child dies anyway, Kaye forgets to insert one measly scene showing Rory is sad or anything. It’s out of sight out of mind.

Oh and the mistress? Gets raped by our heroine’s fiance.

Let’s back up - the heroine, Hero Hollis, is pretty awesome. Gorgeous, rich and a confirmed crusader for social causes of the day, she gets engaged to her rapist cousin (who is actually viewed pretty leniently - in a “well, he thought she was a whore and he paid her so whatever” attitude about the rape.)

When Rory’s mistress kills herself, Rory decides to get revenge. How? By kidnapping Hero and raping her.

You read that right. Not by catching and killing the rapist. But by raping the rapist’s woman, which pretty much says all you need to know about Rory’s attitude to women.

And it is rape - none of that forced seduction trope here. Hero is bruised and hating all men and destroyed in the morning.

But it’s OK! The next day, he gets her drunk and is at it again but it’s forced seduction this time! (Though in an inexplicable writing choice, we don’t find out that Hero enjoyed it the second time around until near the end of the novel, which makes my hate for Rory brighter and her actions after she is rescued inexplicable. In addition to being awful from the moral standpoint, it’s just bad writing. By the time we learn she liked the rough handling, it’s much too late to change the reader’s opinion on the dude, even if one is OK with forced seduction.)

This is the OTP, ladies and gentlemen.

If you think Rory at any point feels bad, because any non psycho person will feel bad for hurting the woman he supposedly loves? Hahahahahaha nope. Even after he realizes he loves Hero, nope no regrets.

Realistic for a slave trader. Great to read about as a positive character? No.

Frankly, for me and my taste in old school romance, an OTP can possibly survive even something like this (though not the slave trader thing) if it’s all forced seduction so the woman at least enjoys it, The Sheik style, AND if the dude changes and repents AND if there is sufficient development in the relationship where I can buy it as a dysfunctional but passionate relationship.

But yeah, in addition to lack of any remorse, the relationship is barely developed before or after. Before this, she spends a week on his ship where they dislike each other (and not in a “I want to rip clothes off you” way) and barely interact. After that, I think they meet maybe twice or thrice and I was getting no romantic vibe there. Afterwards, they meet once when she shanghais him into opening his house to a bunch of orphans for a month (which was delightful I admit) but we barely have any of their interactions on the written page. If it wasn’t for the revenge rape or slave trading, I would still never go for that romance because it’s so underwritten, it’s barely there. But throw that in! The hero and the heroine somehow realize they love each other 95% in and I am left going “huh? how? since when?” I admit I laughed when Rory “realized” that the reason he kidnapped and assaulted Hero was not for revenge but because he wanted to have her first. Ummmmm...that is unsupported by anything in the previous text, is a horrifying attitude I have no words for, and further dehumanizes/diminishes his dead mistress.

I am left to wonder if Kaye was possessed when she wrote this novel, or whether she was possessed when she wrote the other two. They are like night and day!

I think she was going for charming rogue with Rory but overshot it by about 10,000 miles.

So basically, it’s an awful book, and I truly don’t feel bad now she didn’t write more than the three historicals she did.

#books #book review #book rant #awful heroes #bad romance novels #author: m m kaye #trade wind

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mentalmars · 6 years ago

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Borderlands 3 Community Q&A with Anthony

Hosts Mitsu Tessachka Anthony Live Stream Summary Throughout the live stream, Mitsu and Tess talk freely with Anthony from Gearbox Software. They talk about their opinions and perspectives. For the Q&A Summary, I have shortened some of the questions and only going over the essence of the question and answer. Where does the story of Borderlands 3 pick up in relation to Borderlands 2 (including the new DLC)? Borderlands 3 takes place like 6 years after the events of the Commander Lilith DLC. In that DLC we learn what happened to our favorite characters and how they ended up as they do in Borderlands 3. What are some the new things we can expect from the weapons in Borderlands? For example, the Atlas weaponry that has smart bullets. You can tag enemies with a grenade and all your bullets will home into them. What is your favorite Jakobs weapon? Classic pistol. I deliberately ended the Moze gameplay on Eden-6 with a pistol because of that and the theme. What can we expect from raid bosses? I can only speak about normal bosses at the moment. We want to test you with boss fights, to challenge you with different mechanics. Bosses can go through phases. You might need to use different elements. We added new ways to move around in the game that you might need during these boss fights. We will have multiple big boss fights. Will farming bosses be more accessible? Yes, we have bosses and other rare enemy types that you can farm. We implemented some new features to make those accessible for you and your friends. If that’s better than BL2 that’s up for you to decide. How big is the game? We have multiple planets you get to travel to. There are still a few locations that we haven’t revealed yet. I don’t want to spoil too much here. (Randy Pitchford did mention something about the scope of the game) How Big is Moze’s Mech? It’s gigantic, it might be twice of Moze‘s character. You should spawn it everywhere, except if you are crouched underneath something for example. Will dualling be back? Yes, it is! Was there any consideration to adding other PvP modes to Borderlands 3? No, Borderlands is a campaign driven page so no PvP modes were considered. What brought the new playable characters to Pandora? That’s an excellent question you should ask one of the guys from the narrative team. Why did Lilith step up as the leader of the Crimson Raiders and what happened to Brick & Mordecai? Play the Commander Lilith DLC to learn about Lilith path and you will learn about Brick & Mordecai in Borderlands 3 Why did you guys decide to leave Pandora? Borderlands is a growing franchise and at the end of Borderlands 2, you get to see that there are more Vaults on other planets. It’s also exciting for us to do that. Why did you guys give each playable character 3 action skills instead of keeping it at one? 3 is better than 1, right? We take the formula of Borderlands and expand on that to bring it to the next level. What’s is the max inventory space, is it more generous than previous games? It’s generous, I cannot supply specifics as these are the things that we are narrowing down at the moment. But you will have more ways to keep the items that you collected. For example, you can hang them on the wall on Sanctuary 3. (There will be storage deck upgrades for your backpack and bank space) What does the future of Borderlands 3 look like? At the moment we are focussing on the main game so we can deliver a nice and polished experience. After that, we will tackle the 4 story DLCs that are part of the season pass. Will there be any returning bosses? We just have to wait and see… Will there any loyalty rewards? There is the Vault Insider Program that gives you special rewards for free. Are there any functionalities that support community created modes? We don’t have any specific things I can go into at the moment. But it’s awesome to see, for us developers, what the community comes up with. What did the demise of Handsome Jack have on the Borderlands world and who is running Hyperion now? Welllll… … … go play the new DLC, there are some things in Borderlands 3… but I don’t want to spoil it. There is so much I would like to say but like I said I don’t want to spoil it. The Borderlands 3 easter eggs in Battleborn mention that Tannis is not what she seems, is that true? She is not what she seems. (Battleborn Easter Eggs, also here is a new interpretation of those easter eggs) Are the actually 1 Billion guns in the game? No, there are more, we just stopped counting. How does the gun sound get selected and do you have a favorite? You can see some of the sound recordings on their social media. My personal favorite is the reloading sound of a single barrel shotgun is awesome. The “UNK” sound is actually a golf ball going down a metal tube but it’s a satisfying sound. Will there be a gun making machine like the grinder from the Pre-Sequel? We don’t have a gun making machine. There are a lot of other ways to get loot and if it falls off the edge of the map, we do have the lost and found machine now. But you can always get loot from your friends as there is a mail system but if they sell it through a vending machine that weapon can also show up in your vending machine. How does the ‘Lost and Found’ work? Here you can find an in-depth article about the Lost and Found. What stats enhancements can we expect in the end game? I can’t go into detail about this just yet. (Check out this article about Guardian Rank) Are there any new Vault Hunters in development beyond the current four? No. We would like to expand on the current roster. Why does Borderlands 3 have pre-made characters rather than having a character builder like other games? It allows you to give the character more personality and that lets you grow and love them more. Where did the idea of the secondary fire mode come from? It’s all about the weapons and loot. Making things new and appealing again. You have Maliwan weapons that can change elemental types. Dahl weapons can switch between auto and burst fire. In the new co-op rules can I still share loot with my friends? Yes, or you can mail it. Can we customize guns and shields? We have weapon skins that you can apply to every weapon in the game. How higher the rarity of that item is, how cooler the skin is. We also have trinkets that you can hang on your gun. What was the inspiration for the Calypso Twins? We can’t deny the popularity of streamers and their influence in the real world. We got inspired by that and how we could fit our narrative. How do planets contrast from each other? of course the ecstatic. We have the desert on Pandora, a sci-fi city on Promethea, and a Louisiana swamp biosphere in Eden-6. Will Borderlands 3 has all the same rarities as Borderlands 2? No, we start out with the standard rarities for now. I cannot say what we will release in the future. What was the inspiration for Moze? The classic tank character, a soldier with a mech. There are a couple of genres mixed there but I think she fits well into the Borderlands universe.

Continue reading on https://mentalmars.com/game-news/borderlands-3-community-qa-with-anthony/

#Borderlands 3

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pomegranate-salad · 6 years ago

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Seeds of thought : DIE #2

Hey everyone ! So many works I need to be SOTing right now. I decided to prioritize this, because well, new comic, needs all the attention. Plus, everytime an issue gets sold out, we get a new cover from Stephanie Hans. I live for them now. Anyway, spoilers of course, enjoy my thoughts and opinion under the cut.

HINDSIGHT IS D20/D20

When I was a kid, I had this French comic in which they had a page that asked : “what happens after a movie ends ?” and there were a series of vignettes that answered that question in a proper humorous fashion. For example, one of these vignettes showed the last scene of a movie where a car of the heroic lovers drove in the middle of the road into the sunset onto their bright future. The next panel showed the two lovers in court, and the judge saying : “bright future or not, you crossed the lane line and I’m revoking your licence”.

When I was seven, as most things do when you’re seven, it blew my mind. Nevertheless, this silly comic highlighted the universal, unbreakable truth of all stories : when it’s over, it’s over. There’s no more. And even today, as fanfiction has become its own genre, as no comedy is complete without a fourth wall break, when you close a book, when you turn off the TV, nothing can happen anymore. There is what the story implies will or might happen next, but sooner or later, you reach the point where you exhaust whatever the story contains of foreseeing. Each story writes its own last will ; but whatever happens after that, the story is dead : it still exist, but it won’t move forward, it won’t go back, it won’t do anything at all because it has stopped being able to do anything with itself. The only way for more to happen is for the author to write more. But that inevitably means writing a different story.

And that’s why, as sad as I could have been to leave a story I loved behind, for me there was always a sort of relief that came with reaching the end of a story : the relief that came from complete stillness. Because there’s no more, there’s no more pain, there’s no more stress, there’s no more excitement even, there’s no more reason to be alarmed at all. No reason be involved at all. Only when we reach the end of a story, can we be free from it. Outside of the contraption of the story, the characters’ actions don’t exist. THEY don’t exist. And you definitely know where I’m going with this.

The genius of DIE is not to take us to an elaborate gritty deconstructive fantasy RPG world. The genius of DIE is to take us back to it. Back to the story that’s already ended. Yes, I know I said in my last SOT that I didn’t think the characters were over their first visit in DIE by any means. The story of Ash and the gang is not over (by the way, I’m just going to call him Ash and use he/him pronouns until we get more on this issue, if needed I’ll edit accordingly). But functionally, narratively, the story of DIE the world, DIE the tabletop campaign, is over. The heroes arrived, the heroes did some shit, the heroes left. The story welcomed them and then the story ended. More than that, the story ended and nothing came to replace it. Sol’s speech is not the only thing that happens when thoughts curl up. The entire DIE world the gang is now in is nothing but a giant curl up. A new story did not emerge from the same setup. Sol just dug up the corpse of the old one and smeared make-up all over it.

The return of the heroes in a fantasy world they once knew is not a ground-breaking idea in fantasy by any means – I mean, Narnia did it. But in the usual take on this plot, the trigger element to the world the heroes return to is their leaving the world, not their being there in the first place – or in Sol’s case, staying. The second Narnia book showed us a world in shambles because the heroes saved it then left it, not because the heroes saved themselves and one of them was left behind. And maybe what I’m about to say will be disproved by future issues, but I’m not under the impression that the characters were particularly anything to the world of DIE, least of all heroes. They seem to mostly have been there. Some parts they barely set foot in, and the way they talk about the supposed “big bad” of the first game, the main reason they came after him seems to have been that they prevented them from going home. As a setup, the world of DIE seems to have been a bit underexploited. But come to think of it, was it really that great a setup ? Ash’s narration goes back and forth on the issue. Sol’s imagined world is either described as brilliant or the exact kind of pretentious overwritten stuff you’d expect from that particular breed of teenager (Elves but written by William Gibson is complicated… But is it, Ash ? Is it really ?)

But all of that maybe-not-that-great world, all that hammered fantasy stuff, are rendered new and interesting in context. I’m not the first one to point out that this setting allows characters to offer perpetual commentary on their younger selves. My shots at teenage pretentiousness are fucking text. If nothing else, this is a genius move to deflect any and all criticism of the comic’s take on the RPG genre : if it’s overdone, if it’s overwritten, you’re not smart for pointing that out, that characters are way ahead of you. But more interestingly, this moves every single “big idea” of the “transported in a fantasy world” plot further up the road. The main example is the reality vs fantasy ethical debate. Think how many pages in how many books were dedicated to exploring the ethical ramifications of being in a fantasy world without knowing if what you did was “real” or not. Do you have to be ethical when you play a game ? Would Kant play Grand Theft Auto ? This is a massive debate. In DIE, it’s addressed in issue #2 on one page. But it would be a mistake to think DIE is selling this question short, or “getting it out of the way” : like often with Gillen, the form is the point. The underhandedness of this debate among the characters is what makes it interesting. Because it’s a debate they had before. This is something they decided on. They set rules. They built an ethics system. They also saw the limits of it. Because no matter how lawful good they decided to play that thing, there’s always one player to just do what they want, or there’s always not even that same player doing some stupid wordbinding spell because that’s just a throwaway romance secondary plot, and who hasn’t fucked with one of those before. All the time it would have taken the comic to establish the characters coming to terms with this debate, disagreeing, coming to a solution, is time that can be used to see this solution unfold in glorious consequences. And you know what ? I’m willing to bet that the characters weren’t even that bad the first time around. But they were there, and that’s really all consequences need. Another thing to think about ? Maybe the reason the characters came to having this debate was that at some point, they didn’t think they would ever go home. Maybe the world they moulded the first time around, was the world they thought they would spend their lives in. You’re welcome.

So does that mean DIE is going to leapfrog every single of these important questions to simply present us with the consequences of the characters’ choices ? Probably not. But every single decision and facet of this new story is going to come with its own asterisk : this isn’t the first time around. Everything is loaded. Nothing is ever innocent. This is the Monty Hall problem halfway through : one door has been opened, will you change your choice ? And for us, who didn’t get to see which doors our heroes picked in the first place, that’s going to be a hell of a ride.

WHAT I THOUGHT OF THE ISSUE

The idea of this section was for me to get a bit more personal about my thoughts, without feeling like I needed to make a big point. So let’s get personal : I do not like Ash. By which I don’t mean I think he’s badly written, I mean I don’t like him as a person. As in, we would not be friends. I already had that feeling when issue #1 came out, but I tried to be generous because we’d seen so little of everyone, but now we’re two issues in, let me confirm : I do not like Ash. I do not like his fake self-flagellation hiding some very real condescension, I do not like his teenage angst with a twenty years old aging flavour, I do not like that he’s introspective in the least interesting way possible, and for someone who boasts that he learned to “tell stories”, good god is he an annoying narrator. Yes part of it is intentional. And no, I do not particularly like any of the other characters either. And you have to take into account protagonist bias, meaning that the character you spend the more time with is the one you have the biggest chance to like, but also the biggest chance to hate instead of simply dislike. But hey, I never claimed to be the perfect reader. And for now, Ash is annoying the shit out of me. To me, he feels as if you’d taken Laura from Wicdiv, kept her just as laborious and self-hating, but removed all the parts that actually made her likeable. Which leads me to ask the question : can I be honest about the quality of an issue if I’m that bothered by who’s telling it ? The answer, as always, is that I can be honest with myself : I’m probably not as high on this issue as many people are. And the principal reason for that is definitely the main character and narration. Don’t get me wrong, this issue is a thrill : the scene with Sol is chilling – I think he might be my favourite character, actually – the combat scene is narratively masterful, the ending is a bit of cheap shot (I’m fairly certain I’ve seen this eyes plotpoint in several other stories) but god damn if it isn’t effective. Oh, and let’s take a moment to praise the art, Lord knows Stephanie Hans needs me, whose stick figures make the Monkey Christ lady look like Michelangelo, to praise her. But jokes aside, I want to give credit to how Hans resisted the appeal of painting the classic huge detailed fantasy world first chance she got. Instead, her vision of DIE is one of a weirdly deserted, bright yet gloom world, which fits the mood perfectly. To borrow from the issue, her use of colour looks like fantasy feels, without feeling the need to overbear on the raw emotions of this issue with more detailed pencils (Ash’s digression about Maria is also probably incidentally the most I’ve ever liked his narration). Best panels for me are of course the ones where you can see the sides of the DIE. Probably because it manages to feel so small and so huge at the same time. I’m a sucker for intimate fantasy.

So, this issue, minus Ash, is nothing I don’t love. But on the other hand, this issue doesn’t really exist without Ash. Try as I may, I cannot deny that part of the appeal of the issue comes from his narration and his personality. Yeah, he’s a whiny controlling drama queen, but I put up with an entire issue of Woden monologuing and this was one of the best things I’ve ever read, so you know what, I can put up with a little bullshit. I don’t think Ash has to be a good person, or even someone I like, for DIE to be good. I guess at this point my problem with him is that I don’t find him interestingly unlikeable, as was the case with Woden. Maybe it’s because unlike Woden, there are several people in my life who remind me a lot of Ash, and since they’re not necessarily assholes, they’re not people I have an excuse to outright avoid and thus with whom I’m much more familiar with. So who knows, maybe I’ll make peace with Ash. Comic’s still young. Meanwhile, my opinion on issue #2 is pretty much the same as for issue #1 : this is remarkable work, brilliant in some aspects, almost irritating in how proficient it is at doing its own thing, and maybe just a touch overconfident in its ability to walk the line between profound and navel-gazing. But when DIE keeps it simple, when it just wants to touch you instead of punching you in the gut, then it’s fucking unstoppable. If you’re not on the DIE train yet – well first, I admire and fear the way you powered through this post, but also, jump in, like now. You won’t regret it.

#diecomic #seeds of thought

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