#also i did not feel like writing dialogue. meh

[picciz-art]

Got into One Piece over the summer and this is their dynamic right

[ittsybittsybunny]

ATLA Live Action Series Review:

The Good

Aesthetically this show felt right. Sure sometimes the outfits didn't quite feel lived in, but I always felt like I was watching a fantasy world with decent effects and interesting design. Also, I really enjoyed the sets!

Bending: Yes some of the fights feel very quick, but the bending looks cool. It is certainly better than 10 benders lifting one big rock. I can honestly say the opening bending fight scene gave me so much hope for this show.

Kyoshi Warriors: I loved seeing them in live action, and I thought Suki's performance was great!

Omashu: I think the mashup of the mechanist made sense since that is an important character overall and I would hate to see him cut. However, both Jet & the secret tunnels felt sloppily thrown in.

Northern Water Tribe: I really loved the way it looked, and appreciated the two episodes we spent here. I think Yue gained more agency in this interpretation, and why shouldn't the moon spirit be a waterbender. Also, episode seven felt the most in tune with the original show's spirit.

Zuko: I think he was one of the most fleshed-out and best parts of the show! Dallas Liu really captured Zuko's spirit, and the scene between him and Aang in episode 6 was wonderful!

Soundtrack: Hearing the original soundtrack bits is always great, and when I first heard the ending music I was so excited.

Is the show perfect, no - but I wouldn't mind a season 2.

The Bad

Pacing: Turning 20 episodes into 8 was bound to lead to some cuts...but oftentimes times things felt too quick or disjointed. I think there were editing problems contributing to this for sure, but sometimes things skipped around too much without a clear purpose as to why. Also, why bring in plots from later seasons when you barely have enough time already?

Writing: This show definitely suffered from exposition dumping, though it did get better as time went on. I think the biggest example of this is actually opening in the past rather than the present. We do not get to learn along with Aang that the world has changed, instead, we get to learn that 100 years have passed....which doesn't hold the same tension or worldbuilding.

Clunky Dialogue: Along with exposition, clunky dialogue is another example of bad writing. I think sometimes I felt like the acting was kind of meh in the beginning, but then over time I began to realize it had far more to do with the lines characters were trying to deliver. The actors themselves are not bad, just cursed with awkward writing and lines that feel out of touch with the setting they're in.

Main Trio: I don't entirely know that I believe Katara, Sokka, and Aang are friends as opposed to 3 people stuck together to save the world. Aang feels a little too somber for a young kid running away from his responsibilities, Sokka is protective, but not exactly the heart of the team, and Katara is sort of just there until the last two episodes. Where is her struggle, her desire to learn so strong she steals from pirates? Also, while Gordon Cormier did a great job, Aang does zero waterbending on his own, is overly serious, and tells Katara not to fight. Where is his desperation to protect his friends? It feels like they all lost emotional depth.

Tension: Bringing Ozai, Azula, and Zhao out in the beginning immediately causes us to lose the realization there is an even bigger bad. Part of why Ozai is so terrifying is he is a primarily silent villain until the third season when we finally see the face of the "big bad evil guy" behind it all. Yes, they add to Zuko's backstory, but again, they are revealing the villains too early. Azula is the antagonist of season 2 and one of my favorite characters, so I hope they do more with her in the future. Finally, Zhao is supposed to be an example of the uncontrollable nature of fire unrestrained, instead, he comes off as vaguely threatening with the supposed true power being Azula.

Characterization: While all characters are bound to lose something in a shorter show, it still felt like certain characters were more mutilated than others. I am sure there are 100 different opinions on who, but I think the biggest victim was Katara.

Katara: Katara manages to go from a complete novice to a bending master in what feels like a matter of days. The journey feels short, and that makes the results feel largely unearned. Katara is one of the strongest personalities in the show, determined, kind, and fiery. In many ways, she is the unpredictability of water - equally dangerous as it is necessary to live. She is the child of a war who lost her mother, forced to grow up too soon, and even raised her older brother. Yes, Katara often gets stereotyped as the mom friend, but overall she feels underutilized in this show. We really don't see enough of her journey until the very end.

Iroh: Iroh was always comedic but most importantly wise. Even when Zuko is trying to give himself advice, he mimics Iroh. Instead, he seems to be used more as comedic relief without the underlying experience. He just doesn't feel right. Also, he kills Zhao instead of Zhao getting himself killed - which is less about Iroh and more about the writing than anything.

Ozai is weirdly a little too nice. Yes, he burned Zuko and pits his kids against each other, but he feels toned down in a show claiming to be more mature than the original cartoon.

Azula is perhaps more realistically worried about losing her status as the golden child, but she is also missing the cruelty she and her father share. I understand worrying about making your character cartoonishly evil, but the Fire Nation is currently a deeply nationalistic empire trying to control the world. Where is the deep-seated belief that they are better than other people, not just trying to bring balance to the world? There is a line between creating complexity and toning down the very real evil inherent in this plan.

Roku: I can only say what the fuck was that. He was barely there, and not the serious master to Aang's youthful exuberance.

The Ugly

Show, Don't Tell: The show's single biggest issue seems to be speeding through story parts by simply stating things. Instead of allowing the audience to discover, trusting that we are smart enough to understand, let's just blatantly say things like Zuko is the only reason the 41st division is alive to their faces. Even though in the context of the story Ozai literally already said that.... it's the division, the division for Zuko, Zuko's division.

Thematic Misunderstandings: I think this show makes several minor changes with major implications, such as airbenders actively fighting the firebenders, when airbenders are known for their pacifist nature and the lie of an Airbender fighting force is actively propaganda. Similarly, Aang very quickly accepts his role as the avatar and doesn't even run away in the beginning. Without this conflict between his desire to be a carefree child and the fact that the world needs him - the show loses a key aspect of Aang's character. Also, the obsession with downplaying the avatar state as something dangerous feels like a disservice to the tradition, connection, and strength of the avatar, which can be permanently destroyed as the trade-off for that kind of power. It's dangerous for the balance of the entire world, not just because it's powerful!

The Agni Kai: Zuko's fight against his father is one of the defining moments of Ozai's cruelty, not just because he is willing to fight his child, but because Zuko tried to do everything right. Zuko shows deference to his father, apologizes, and most importantly refuses to fight! The determination not to upset his father and still be grievously injured and banished is a hugely important theme for the fire nation and Zuko's life as a whole. He tries to do everything he is supposed to and only regains his father's acceptance after he "kills" Aang. Zuko's struggle between moral vs. social right and wrong in contrast to his family is hugely important to his character.

-----

TLDR: ATLA was a fantastical animated television show that was never afraid to show character development and flaws. When you turn 20 episodes into 8, you are bound to lose something. You hollowed out the middle, leaving the shell of important moments and events without ever wondering if all the times in between formed the true spirit of the show.

Rating: 6.5/10 It's perfectly fine and worth a watch. Not a disaster, but certainly falls flat of the original.

[terriblyvexed]

hey hey! its one of your readers on ao3 i realized i can ask questions on tumblr so i am trying it out. this may be a controversial question as opinions vary greatly from person to person lool but i am curious being a fellow fan of aot and a fan of your work, so, what did you think about the ending to aot? 👀

(personally i subscribe to a specific fan theory (NOT ANR GOD FORBID i rebuke it!) to keep hope alive in my heart that theres more aot to come cause i did not like the ending much so basically, theres no judgement from me srsly im delulu myself as it stands 😭���)

anyway thats all thank you for writing left behind and answering my question (potentially)! hope you have a great rest of your day :D

Yeah I know your nickname haha and you can ask or yap about anything!

Ahh yes the ending opinions where swords are drawn two minutes into the debate lol and it’s annoying that people can’t state their thoughts as freely because of the toxicity from every side. This is going to be long I’m sorry😭

I personally didn’t like the ending that much either. I don’t think it’s as bad as people make it out to be, I mean we’ve all seen GoT, but I know a story like AoT could’ve done a little bit better than that, so. It’s not that I wanted Eren to live happily ever after, because his death made the most sense even before I knew about it, but it’s the execution of the episode in general that makes it feel rushed for me.

Mikasa killing him is a beautifully tragic twist, I started bawling my eyes out right there, but I wish the cabin scene was done differently. For me it didn’t feel as raw and honest as the Eren-Armin convo, which I’m not the biggest fan of either, but I’ve always wanted more communication for Eremika so maybe that makes me bitter. Let me see them talk about the table scene and let me see Eren apologise to her. It’s their last moment together, I wanted to see more emotion and honesty rather than an already established relationship that they did off camera. I get what it’s trying to show, and the scene itself is not bad, but I was just a big EM shipper at the time and hoped for more. (I felt the same back when he told her he would wrap that scarf around her forever and always. It hit me just in the right place I remember wanting them to talk about it afterwards but nothing was said.) Same with the memories he gave back to his friends, I’d have liked to see them talk. Him opening his eyes one last time to see her was beautiful no comment there.

Other than that I also LOVED when Levi saluted his friends and comrades! Liked his internal monologue where he said he didn’t regret not bringing Erwin back (Which also made me wish we could’ve seen Armin coming up with impressive strategies and ideas like he used to.)

I liked how Hange was sent off, but I missed them in the final fight.

I really liked the rumbling montage with Guilty Hero playing and Armin’s VA pouring her heart out + that cry at the end when Armin sees Eren. The Levi&Mikasa team-up/final stand was amazing. Those were all done nicely, but that’s pretty much it for me.

For some reason I wasn’t vibing with Annie. I mean she was never my fav but her in season one and in her ova was so much more interesting to me.

I was left underwhelmed by the final fight considering we’ve had great battles like RTS and Liberio previously, it does not compare in my opinion. I understand that Eren won’t kill his friends and I definitely agree with that, but something else could’ve been done with Ymir to make the stakes higher. The ancient titans didn’t feel threatening when you just knew no one was going to die, especially when Falco (first time flying) could dodge all of their arrows.

When everyone there turned into titans, like Jean and Connie, I would’ve preferred if they stayed titans and died when the curse ended. Bringing them back a few minutes later is just meh for me, and makes the emotions I’ve felt a one time thing only because that Jean&Connie dialogue didn’t hit the same afterwards. Not to mention that Connie’s mom was brought back only for us to not see their reunion lol.

Ymir’s storyline was interesting when Eren saw her memories, but after that she lost me a bit. I also don’t like that that *chef’s kiss* scene with Eren telling her she’s just a person didn’t free her at all, that killing Zeke stopped the Rumbling, that Levi was nerfed for the sake of the fight. If all these decisions were done in a slightly expanded time period, I don’t think I would’ve minded much. Especially the final episode itself was, again, rushed in my opinion.

Also, this isn’t just the finale but Historia being sidelined like that is a no-no for me. Not a fan of how the Hizuru-Mikasa plot line didn’t go anywhere either. That may just be nitpicking, but again I do believe season 4 should’ve been longer, maybe with a season 5 as well.

With all that being said, these are just my personal opinions/feelings and despite all, thematically the author did a good job wrapping everything up. Ending a story like AoT couldn’t have been easy at all. Watching it was an experience I don’t think I’ll ever forget or get over and I’m forever going to miss it. (I’m reading the manga now and the uprising arc has me hooked since it’s a bit different from the anime, and dare I say better?)

The ending didn’t ruin it for me or anything, just sad that I won’t get to see the things I wanted to see because naturally everyone has their own expectations, but what are fanfictions for?

What’s the fan theory that you believe? Other than that ANR I’ve heard about the mist and ouroboros but I’ve never read them in detail.

Thank you for reading Left Behind! I’d also like to state that my criticism of the AoT ending does not mean I’ll write one better lol. I like my ending for my story but I’ve already made peace with the fact that some readers might have problems with it. Which is fine as well because I love a good finale debate.

You have a great day/night as well!💓

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I remember you mentioning A court of Thorns and roses in your posts once when talking about malleus character archetype. Have you read acotar series? If so I really want to know what you think about it. Your post is how I found out this series. It's pretty meh 😕 to me but I would really like to read your thoughts on it 😊. Also are non twst related ask allowed? If not I'm truly sorry😥. You can just ignore this ask

Oh god 😅 That was such a long time ago that I can’t even locate the original post where I made that comment…

To summarize what I said then, I had expressed that the way Malleus is presented to us reminds me of the bad boy supernatural love interests in romantasy novels.I believe the online book community colloquially refers to these characters as “Shadow Daddies” and I find that hilarious. To clarify, I do NOT mean to say that Malleus is Yuu’s “canon” love interest or anything like that. When I say that Malleus is “like” a Shadow Daddy, it’s just in the tropes they share. (For example, being overpowered, brooding, and misunderstood as a “bad guy” when, in actuality, he has a heart of gold and is just lonely.)

… I’ve actually seen multiple posts comparing Malleus and Rhysand, if you can believe that 💀

The rest of my response isn’t really TWST related, so I’ll put it under the cut for ya ^^ I tried to keep my thoughts concise and free of spoilers.

But to your question! Yes, I actually have read the first three books of ACOTAR but not the novella (A Court of Frost and Starlight) or the sequel, A Court of Silver Flames. I got into the series because it was highly recommended within its genre, but I came out of it really disappointed. I continued reading hoping that it would get better, but it really did not.

Maas has this really melodramatic and yet simultaneously juvenile way of writing dialogue that does not mesh well with what I’m looking for in a romantasy read. She’ll have characters give exposition or speeches that go on for like 10 pages straight and also have supposedly wise ancient fae cracking potty jokes like a middle schooler trying to impress their friends. It makes the books a lot longer than they have to be. In actuality, the plot involves a lot of running around and having all the right questions answered by conveniently placed chess pieces. I also did not enjoy the vague world building (like several side characters are never given proper names and instead are always referred to by title) and the near-constant mention of mating bonds. What I did like was how Maas wrote action scenes and descriptions (even if they often veer into purple prose). She also comes up with some unique concepts—but the execution of those concepts isn’t great, so the ideas are left sort of shallow and floating there waiting to be fully realized.

Romantasy and fairy tale retellings are some of my favorite things to read, so I was sad that I didn’t think that highly of this beloved series. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book I’ve been able to seriously get immersed in 😔 ACOTAR’s explosive popularity has led to many other authors trying to replicate Maas’s success, which has flooded the market with horni fae books and even similar titles (“A [noun] of [nouns] and [nouns]”). (And as someone who does NOT find Malleus attractive at all, you can imagine I’m not thrilled.) I have really mixed feelings about that… While of course I don’t mind if people enjoy ACOTAR or ACOTAR-adjacent books, I dislike that it makes up the bulk of what is marketed to me. It makes it a lot harder to find something that’s more suited to my tastes.

If anyone seeing this post is interested in trying out ACOTAR, I caution you that it is a “new adult” book, meaning it is intended for older teens (I would recommend 18+, honestly). There is a lot of violence and… explicit intimate scenes… in the series.

[lifblogs]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by: @just-here-with-my-thoughts (I feel so honored, thank you! And I really am dying to read Welcome to the Outpost.)

These answers will probably involve a range of fandoms.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

647.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,850,510

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Primarily The Bad Batch now, maybe Clone Wars here and there. My fandom writing migrates. Used to be Doctor Who, then Supernatural, then The Clone Wars, and Rebels.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Apparently my top 5 are fics I don’t even care about anymore. *sigh* Not providing links because of how meh I am about these.

1. Morningstar (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina),

2. Take Me Home (I actually didn’t realize this was in my top 5), it’s a Supernatural fic),

3. Take Me to Church (Supernatural),

4. Deal (I believe this is an Avatar: The Last Airbender crack fic based off of incorrect quotes), and

5. Ineffable (Good Omens).

5. Do you respond to comments?

Most definitely!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Definitely either Bleeding Reality, or In the Dark.

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

Definitely May I Have This Dance? Oh, how I adore that fic. I wrote it based on art I love so much, and the artist even let me put their art in the fic!!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Used to years ago, so now I still feel dread in the pit of my stomach when I get an AO3 comment email. The dread thankfully doesn’t show up all the time now.

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

Oh, hell yeah, I do! Not sure about what kind. It’s just, I don’t know, smut.

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

I do not.

11. Which fic are you proud of but wish had gotten a bigger response from your readers?

Maybe The World Goes Cold? But I am maybe releasing chapters too slowly, so I guess it makes sense the response isn’t as big.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I think I’ve had a couple translated into Russian.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I tried to do so with my brother a couple of times, but we never finished them. I don’t think either of us really understand how the co-writing process works.

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

Tbh, I always feel the most when I think about or see anything involving Whoufflé/Whouffaldi from Doctor Who. They were my OTP from 2013 to 2016. Might still be the case!

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

You know, I had ones I did want to finish, but now, I’m not even sure I want to.

Still, I guess Blackout, and Three Birds, One Stone held a lot of my attention for a few years. But with the fic content now being triggering for me, and with a brain injury, I feel as if I may have moved on.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I have been told my descriptions are incredibly visceral, and I might agree. I’ve been on the edge of my seat or emotional more than a few times during my editing process. I also like to consider the fact that I’m writing at all a strength given I have a brain injury that gives me memory problems and aphasia.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Well, I’d say say the memory problems and aphasia cause some weaknesses. I have caught a couple weirdly-worded errors and it’s slightly embarrassing. Does Omega shredding my outline multiple times count as a weakness? lol I suppose another weakess is spelling and forgetting words and struggling to find the right words. I often have to look things up. But as far as things like description, dialogue… I’m not sure I struggle there.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

I’d take a crack at French! I used to be able to read and write in French very easily.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The Lord of the Rings. I was 8.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Probably Brother, Hold Me Up, and it’s still going!

Tagging: @evilwriter37, @envydean, @cascigarette, and @clownery-and-fuckery

[fruitybashir]

F, I, and J for Holidate 💕

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

i honestly really liked the restaurant scene at the start of dopamin tbh

the way kris is obviously super touched by how much bojan is into playing up the romance and all that stuff but then bc he is kris he cant help but correct bojan even though kris also forgot about valentines day the previous year. the teasingggg "its not like i expected anything" shut uppp oh my god what is your damage.

but then also not even keeping it up for that long bc hes so soft w bojan that when bojan goes all 🥺 kris instantly has to follow up w something sweet of his own to lighten bojans mood again

i also love whiny bojan lmao. hes so dramatic ughhhh

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in reading/writing?

does smut count as a guilty pleasure. i love good smut i love when theres themes and motifs and lots of character insights wrapped into smut, if a fic has smut in it its way more likely ill read it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

i love when bojan is extra annoying and whiny and vocal during sex idk if that counts as a guilty pleasure tho. idk if anything counts as a guilty pleasure, i dont feel guilty for liking stuff.

J: Write or describe an alternative ending to [Holidate].

for a brief moment i considered that kris was the one to break off the f+ arrangement in holidate. they wouldve somewhat had their respective confessions and then try to move into a relationship but bojan wouldve gotten cold feet abt having an actual openly gay relationship or even committing to one. and then kris wouldve broken it off saying either theyre together or theyre not but if hes in love with bojan he cant just keep going like this its either all or nothing bc the in-between would slowly break his heart. the conversation wouldnt have gone over well, maybe bojan would be pissed off and go sleep with someone else and go "well you didnt want to fuck me anymore so i got someone else to do it" and then kris wouldve been even more pissed and bla bla bla bojan would still apologise with ne bi smel.

but i didnt like that version at all and its too boring and meh so that was quickly scratched again and i did the ending as planned and as it is now

[pumpkinpie59]

i think i’m enjoying the fontaine story now that i’m playing genshin again so here’s my thoughts on the new characters

-furina. i feel bad for her but i’m not a fan of her va. but i normally turn my sound off when i play so looking at just her writing,,,,,, i think she’s a fine character. the twist was interesting and i don’t fault furina for anything that happened. her being a drama queen but it being entirely a mask she puts on is fascinating. i don’t like focalors tho. she did furina so dirty

-neuvillette is kinda just vibin. he’s fine he’s likable. he doesn’t rlly stand out to me much except that i’m convinced he’s gay. i don’t ship him with anyone tho (most other characters are wayyyyy too young for him so i dislike seeing any ship art of him). i like to think of him as furina’s older brother.

-lyney. um. meh? he’s a good big brother but that’s all i rlly care about him. also he dresses like a slut? and his va is kinda annoying to me idk fjdksk

-lynette. kinda same as her twin. i appreciate that the twins are separate characters bc the trope where twins act exactly the same is a pet peeve of mine. i like that lynette is an introvert. idk that’s all i have to say.

-freminet. i don’t like his design. i’m so tired of the shorter guy characters wearing shorts and being treated like children. but as for his writing. it’s cool. i like that he’s the twins’ younger brother. i like how the plot actually addresses how much danger he was put in.

-charlotte. YOOOO NEWS REPORTER CHARACTER LETS GOOO!! she reminds me sm of april o’neil i love her.

-wriothesley. at first sight i thought he was a basic bad boy werewolf lookin weirdo (my demi butt can’t ever find thirst trap characters attractive lmao). but then i heard him talk,,,, and yeah his voice actor is genuinely a good actor???? i don’t like most of the anime-esque voice acting in this game, and the dramatic dialogue doesn’t help, but wriothesley’s voice actor actually tries to make it believable that his character is a person. and i respect that. and yeah um his backstory is darker than i expected,,,,

-arlecchino. she’s neat i like her aesthetic.

-clorinde. …….. finally a genshin character who doesn’t speak multiple paragraphs at a time LMAO. i like her so far. i kinda ship her with wriothesley tbh ,,, 👉👈 idk i like how often they work together.

-sigewinne. um. i don’t rlly like the child characters. also they were cowards for making her look human and not tHE LITERAL SPECIES SHE IS UGH-

-navia. SAVING THE BEST CHARACTER FOR LAST. bro i was blown away with how much respect and care they put into navia’s writing. her grief felt so real and i could not believe they put her through that much. she’s also so pretty and her design is so aesthetically pleasing. and tbh i hate seeing sm ship art under her name bc she’s too good for everyone lmaooo she’s great. i’m in love. she’s the best fontaine character (and maybe the best genshin character).

also i wanna say i did not expect for this chapter to have this much death and other dark themes. ik fontaine is the land of justice and court cases but man,,,,, tragic,,,,,

[genuflectx]

Apostles of Mercy Spoilers (Review)

I was very excited to start reading Apostles of Mercy after waiting so long!! I enjoyed it, but I also have some mixed feelings about chunks of the book. I'm going to attempt to write about it without my thoughts rambling on too long, so here we go...

Each book has gotten bigger; book one focuses on Cora and Ampersand, with one POV character. Book two expands to the ramifications of ETIs becoming public, but still has a heavy focus on Cora and Ampersand with an added bonus of Nikola and Kaveh, so it has two POV characters. Book three is the conclusion to the personhood debate and introduces the third alien species, has a very small focus on Cora and Ampersand, and has three POV characters.

Firstly, I have to admit while there were parts of AOM that I enjoyed a lot, there were also large chunks and chapters I found to be a bit dull to trudge through, or even bureaucratic, particularly Sol's POV. Much of the parts I did not quite care for were characters flitting from point A to point B and talking about how they will be flitting from point A to point B. Additionally, I did not always care for the dialogue that took a similar vein; there was a lot of explaining, a lot of matter-o-fact exchanges, but no particularly scene of dialogue really stood out as iconic in the way some of the scenes from prior books did.

I guess, put simply, there was not a lot of distinctive imagery that captured me and large parts of the dialogue fell flat. Book one has iconic scenes in the desert, the scene with Cora standing still in the woods staring Ampersand down for the first time. Book two has the metaphor scene and the redwoods scene. But in book three things move so fast and there are so many locations, I cannot think of any one scene that stood out as making me think "damn that's cool as shit" when I read it. The closest thing might be Nik shielding Paris in the cave, or Paris running through a minefield, but that still didn't evoke the same wow-factor.

Onto the characters!! Paris is the newest to join the roster, and is one of the new POV characters. While I like Paris, and I'm glad my predictions of her carrying on to be Nikola's friend were correct, sadly the majority of her time was spent as a prisoner. I really liked the beginning where she was getting to know Nik and a few of the scenes with her and the sister-species, but most of her chapters were very... meh. Which was disappointing. I think what made some of her chapters meh was her lack of meaningful relationships after her fight with Cora. She talks to the juveniles, but she does not make friends with one. She has Nik translate for her, but they do not get to know each other on a deep, personal level, not the way Cora did with Ampersand nor the way Kaveh did with Nik. Her reunion with Cora is short lived despite the lengths Cora went to find her, and then their relationship is dusted away. What's left is Nik, who declares he wishes to keep her- potentially to be her symphyle- after so little emotional development occurred during her capture. It was a surprise and a little sudden to me, but I guess I can't complain about weird alien/human romance. Though, it did not feel nearly organic enough for my tastes.

Sol is the next new POV character. While I was glad to get to know more about him seeing as he's been around since book one, I couldn't tell you a thing I learned about him, other than he has legitimately cruel habits by making Cora uncomfortable (what boiled down to a form of sexual assault, wahoo). Otherwise, I didn't really like his chapters very much. There really is not much else to say about him. His chapters are means to an end, but I did like his ending, cliche as it was. Cliche isn't always bad, and sometimes you really do just want to see a douchebag get all their bones broken and cry. A like Sol as a character, just... not reading the majority of his chapters.

Lastly, Cora remains as a POV character, though to a much lesser extent than the other books. Cora is the most interesting to me, which makes me sad how little we get of her. She shattered into a million pieces along with Ampersand in the last book, and here she is a year later having built herself back up. Yeah, built herself up with walls. And I love it. She still has human empathy, or at least sympathy, but she and Ampersand have fallen into a much more natural relationship flow, which for them of course means a dynamic that any healthy human couple would balk at. Cora is beneath him, but he will still listen to her. And, with high language, he clearly wanted to have it so he could understand her better (and maybe in the future vice versa), because he probably knew he was often being a shitty partner for a human. But you can't fix what you don't understand. Ampersand being softer and helping people because she wants him to, Cora being filled with a murderous, alien fury, just... chef's kiss. And why not? Why shouldn't they take over the world instead of a violent, gun-slinging military government? 🤔 Would it really be any worse?

And damn, finally, Ampersand understands what human sex is like, and even implied he would be willing to satisfy his partner, but alas. No weird alien sex in this book. Lame.

Outside of POV characters, we get to know a few juveniles of the sister-species, but I wish we had gotten to know them even more. Most of their interaction with Paris felt more like it was there for plot only, she doesn't really form a bond with them. And Nik is, much to my disappointment, a glorified alien language translator for about 75% of the time. But damn, am I glad he came to his senses after getting all his power back. Realizing that maybe he didn't need death yet, he just needed to mend his relationship to his last living partner, and that might be enough for him until they finally could die together. And Kaveh- he remains a ghost among all the characters, still haunting their thoughts and feelings. I loved Cora's send off for him at the end, and how she took down her ass of a father. That was very satisfying.

There are some parts of the book I thought were meh, or didn't 100% make sense, or there was too much of or not enough. But overall it's still a solid book. I have a hard time imagining myself re-reading this one over and over like I have the other two, though. Getting through the chapters I find dreary during a 2nd read sounds like not much fun, but then I'd end up skipping through quite a lot of the book.

I could write more, particularly about the relationships (or lack of) but this would get incredibly long. So... that's it! Apostles of Mercy!! Will there be a forth, or all five? I hope so... but I guess this is a tidy conclusion if not, except that they never boned (and it would also be cool to have the Superorganism contact humans too).

[o0anapher0o]

Final verdict on m&g

Casting: top notch, no notes.

Performances: throughout stellar, especially the leads but, with very few exceptions, pretty great all the way through.

Cinematography/direction: fine, I guess, it’s got a few really good moments, and a few that I would have done differently, but overall just fine. A bit dark, which also affects,

Costumes: With no knowledge of historicity they look great, sometimes absolutely fantastic, I just wish they’d allowed the colours to shine a bit more.

Writing: Meh. I like a few things they did (Catherine comes to mind) and the dialogue has really great moments,  but the pacing is choppy, which seriously hurts the relationship  and character development, and the character arcs poorly balanced. The constant time skips aren’t helping.

All in all a fun show full of great acting but feels inconsistent and weirdly rushed.

Favourite ep: 4

[wiz-writes]

The OoTY update was everything I wanted thank you for the food 🙏🏼 I love how you gave every RO a moment to shine in, after this I really want to make 4 separate MCs for each of them. And the cliffhanger at the end... you sure do love to torture us, uh?

My current MC is going for Wei Qing and 🥲 thinking about baby Shiyi and Shiqi breaks my heart. Selecting certain dialogues + Wei Qing's unconscious reactions towards the MC made sure to imprint in my mind that their relationship used to be very close before the Elders drove a wedge between them, so playing a MC who was haunted by his 'death' and will get to start all over again with him is going to be interesting, to say the least.

Also, I love the double standards that the MC can keep regarding everyone vs. Wei Qing:

MC: *tries to keep their intentions and identify hidden from their protege, the heiress of the manor, their weapons teacher, etc.*

WQ: Why are you here?

MC: *immediately tells the truth*

LMAO.

Hmm, final thoughts I've had from reading the demo again:

1. I've got the feeling that Master Hua already suspected that the Yinshan Society/someone else (most probably the person who commissioned the society to steal Wujin) would try to do something funny in light of the rumors about his supposed illness. I even doubt he's really ill— I wouldn't be surprised if he spread the rumors intentionally to make his target take the bait, after all.

2.

You touch the piece of broken green jade, running your thumb across its polished surface. You don't know why you agreed to take it back then [...] Maybe it was the shock, or you simply couldn't refuse a dying man's last wish.

Oooh, more mysterious MC backstory that definitely will not cast suspicion/backfire on them later on. No sir, it's just an innocuous piece of jade, nothing more. 🙄

Aaaah, Anon, you have no idea how happy it makes me to hear that you like all the ROs!

The cliffhanger originally wasn't supposed to be there, but I felt that the ending was kind of meh, so I decided to move it to the next chapter.

A bit of background info about MC and Wei Qing, which I'm not sure will ever come up in the story, and also a little bit of insight into what Wei Qing's thinking, so SPOILERS ahead:

.

.

There were altogether seven people in your "group" at Yinshan, with Shiyi being the oldest and the MC being the youngest. Out of these seven disciples, Shiyi and MC were definitely the closest until their Mentors intervened. While you got the MC's side of what happened afterwards and how they moved on, Wei Qing is kind of still stuck in the past, because he never experienced what the MC did. So when his little Shiqi appeared in front of him again, it was like he had gone back to the time when everything was okay. Except, you're not really his little Shiqi anymore.

Man, I think I might write a side story with his POV.

.

.

END OF SPOILERS

As to your final thoughts:

That's a great theory! And Master Hua is certainly capable of coming up with this sort of plan!

Tsk, what did the piece of jade do to you, Anon? It's just a little piece of jewelry, nothing strange about it, no no, absolutely nothing! 😂

This got long, sorry! Anyway, thank you so much for the ask, Anon ❤️

[thetombedspirit]

So, I just finished the main story of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora - WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!

First off, I want to talk about the cons of the game before jumping into the pros, but to be honest with ya, the cons are few and far in between and were more about personal preference then the performance of the game itself.

For starters:

1. The Glitches - Like literally, during a few quests, there will be some dialogue, but it'll randomly cut out with the excuse that enemies are near by, when that is absolutely not the case. It was only so bad that I had to exit to the main menu and then get back on in order for it to fix, so this was minor in comparison to other glitches like falling through the map randomly (which happened to me once during my play through of Far Cry 4 :p)

2. The Language - This is just a little peeve of mine, but I wish that the Na'vi, at least when talking amongst themselves and to us, spoke in Na'vi. Like, if Ubisoft could record a whole 'nother language for Far Cry Primal, they could have done it here. And I also wish that the animals, especially the Palulukan, were referred to by it's Na'vi names rather then human names.

3. The Main Character's Name - This is minor really, but I don't like how we are not given a name. Like, I get that it's fun coming up with names for our original character, but it's a bit isolating to only be referred to as 'the Sarentu'.

Not only does it make it seem like our identity as a member of a respected clan matters more then our identity as our own complex individual, but it feels weird when you read notes and listen to audio logs about the other Sarentu kids and not one thing about us, especially when Alma talks about how they're acclimation to life in the Resistance. Like how we're developing doesn't matter at all in comparison to how Ri'nela is coming into the role of leader and Tsahìk.

Not even a mention of our relation to Aha'ri when she writes about her murder and how it could be affecting us.

Like, just a gender-neutral name to tie things in, like Dani in Far Cry 6, would go a long way to make our character feel like a part of the story and not just a nameless side character doing all the hard work, like the Rookie from Far Cry 5.

4. The Villain - This is more of a 'meh' thing for me. Like yeah, Mercer was an asshole, but again, pulling from Far Cry here, who had amazing, complex villains like Vaas Montenegro or Pagan Min, and what we get is... a entitled, racist narcissist whose barely there, and therefore we get zero from this guy. He was more annoying then anything, like literally every time he talk, my eyes rolled into the back of my skull.

Like, could you imagine if AFOP made Mercer like Pagan Min, the tyrant king of Kyrat who had a relationship with Ajay Ghale's mother to the point where he was sympathetic to the loss of his mother. Pagan Min would just randomly call Ajay on his radio like an eccentric father-figure, and in two endings of the game, he'll actually help you out, taking you to Lakshamana so that you can place your mother's ashes beside her, just like she wanted, which is very generous considering that in one of those endings, it's after you lead a massive rebellion right to his door-step, taking out his generals and so-on! (Pagan is my favourite Far Cry villain is you haven't figured that, Vaas is a close second)

If you gave Mercer that kind of depth, then maybe you can actually understand why Teylan would believe Mercer wouldn't hurt anybody when he gave the location of the Resistance Base away.

Harding as well was mediocre. Just a hard-as-nails general that's running a pouching operation on the side. Like, if you made her even a fraction of insane like you did Vaas, I could actually be into it.

So anyway, on to the pros!

1. The Gameplay - I know people moaned about the mechanics being too similar to Far Cry, but honestly, that was what drew me to it when I first saw the trailer for it! Far Cry is my favourite first-person shooter franchise (Far Cry 4 and Far Cry Primal being my favourites). The crafting of weapons, the hunting for food, skins and ingredients and the little things what made it unique was amazing to me,

The hunting was a pain, because half the time (for me anyway) I could almost never get a clean kill for the smaller or quick-moving animals, but I think it was done super well. When you hit an animal in the old Far Cry games, they either just drop dead or run away and bleed out quietly. But here, when it's an unclean kill, the animal squirms and writhes in pain before succumbing to it's wounds, really driving in the whole point of the Na'vi way of life (that's how I saw it anyway).

And the Memory Paintings, though tedious at most times, was another fun and unique mechanic to the game and felt very Na'vi to me and I enjoyed concentrating on them all and hearing the MC's interpretations of the Memory Paintings and the Sarentu Totems.

And the moments when you're flying on your Ikran or Pa'li made me feel like I was in an RPG, like Horizon, so that was a nice little touch. It was like they mashed two of my favorite games into one.

And in the end, it's not the gameplay that makes me play the game. It's the story.

2. The Harmful Effects of the RDA - There was not a minute within this story where it's quests and stories didn't resonate with me.

How the Kinglor of the Aranahe forest was displaced by the RDA's actions, giving us a Yellowstone situation where a key member of the ecosystem was being pushed out and it was causing all sorts of problems for the local flora and fauna.

The aforementioned poaching in Zeswa territory, where the Zakru were being hunted and killed for their tusks and how even their long deceased skeletons were being pilfered, very similar to elephant and rhino poaching, especially as Zakru are sacred animals to the Zeswa.

And then the Yavä, the green fog that brought sickness to the Kame'tire, something that happened, by the way, because the RDA disposed of the Sarentu's bodies by using caustic chemicals!!! (like, what the FUCK, Alma!) but anyway, is very reminiscent to the diseases that European settlers brought in to the native populace, who never had to build up immune systems for it and suffered because of it.

What I'm getting at here, is how big of a problem the RDA is, not just for going to war with Jake and the Omaticaya, but also by causing the exact same problems that people did on Earth and are still doing to Earth. In so many, seemingly innocuous way, the RDA are negatively effecting the ecosystem, the wildlife and the locals in their pursuit of a paycheck that, realistically, would never be able to use until they get off planet, and that is if they don't die on an alien moon because of all those problems.

3. The Efforts of the Resistance

Every time I got to talk with the Resistance members was a highlight for me. I truly do not understand how some people don't like Priya. I found her adorable, and she gave me Penelope Garcia vibes from Criminal Minds. And her budding romance with Resistance Pilot Anqa, whose history with incursion on her desert homeland inspired her to take action against the RDA.

Or Hajir's regrets for playing part in the Severeds origins, concluding how they are in a constant state of anger and sadness.

Or Billy, who break-dances as he's helping you escape imprisonment, before sacrificing himself to save what's left of the Resistance.

And then there's the Na'vi Clans that I just loved and each and every one of it's characters had me giddy. The playful old grandmother in Nefika and her immediate action to take us in and show us around the Hometree, the Zeswa sisters and their rightous anger over the poaching, the eccentricities of Okul and their faith in the Kame'tire's tradtions.

Honestly I could go on and on about every single character in this game. Nalin and her tentative offer to fill in the void of mother during the party, the Burden Carrier and the Milk Crafter who got drunk off their ass, saying the zakru can fly while we're trying to warn them of impending danger and Mosaka, who not only gave our clan's location away to the RDA, but used their deaths to manipulate his way into power and control over the clan by framing Anufi for their demise. (BTW, fuck you Mosaka)

That's all I got for now, but once the DLCs come in, I am defiantly playing through the whole game again and I may come back to this post with an update when that happens, along with my stance on said DLCs.

So, hope your all having a good day and buh-bye!

[whence-the-woody]

Not willing to rewatch coz s1 I'm not a huge fan of and s2 is too much emotion for me rn but trying to remember Colin's character through the show. Coz in this season he's definitely all over the place.

Like in s1 I guess you could characterise him as a bit hopeless romantic, quick to fall in love, impulsive, kinda goofy. Definitely a younger brother. You could say easily embarrassed then but honestly the way he acted was hella fucking embarrassing, I'd hide too. Could be a sweet son. Not a bad friend but incredibly oblivious. Held grudges for sure.

Then s2 he was undebatably INSUFFERABLE after his travels. Pretentious and annoying. Not understanding of boundaries or able to let things go (the Maria visits). An experimental drug dude, which yknow good for him. Still v little bro energy, mocking his brothers all the time. Not alot of empathy. Very privileged - I mean they all are but compared to Anthony's level of responsibility he clearly had none. Showed some positive protective instincts, helping out the featheringtons. So in some ways shown to be a better friend but in others WAY worse - talking shit on Pen: unforgivable. So still easily embarrassed. Kind of a little shit but not particularly funny I wouldn't say? That's bendict. Not very opinionated, that's Eloise. Francesca has passion he didn't. Idk just kinda nothing in terms of ways to describe him.

Then s3. Oh boy. Suddenly after yet more travels hes a chronic flirt - no hate just a weird 180. Discovered the joys of group sex at some point - again no hate but tells me nothing about who he is. He doesnt seem to be looking for marriage? Doesnt mention any goals or interests? He says he doesnt care what others think of him but that majorly contradicts everything that came before. Then he says hes been trying to be what society wants - so contradiction again. He considers himself a flirting expert out of nowhere? Okay dude. In a desperate attempt to make them compatible hes suddenly also a gossip? Sure. Also suddenly has a study and is a writer?? Other than writing letter to Pen, where the hell did that come from? Just everyone getting completely sick of hearing his stories? y'all had 2 previous seasons to make them seem compatible, why throw this stuff in now? He's not a romantic, doesnt seem to understand why Pen wants marriage - even though was so quick to get engaged two years ago. He still doesnt have a lot of empathy really. Still easily embarassed. Not much showing him to be a good brother. Still a pretty sweet son and obviously idealised his parents relationship, that's something. Absolutely impulsive - interrupting that dance, good god sir. You could argue he was jealous in s1 so that checks out. The romantic dialogue really paled in comparison to previous seasons but maybe that is in character?

But still I try to think of his personality and Im kinda like ??

Smug. Jealous. Pretty unserious. Privledged. Sometimes protective. A newfound gossip and writer. Self conscious most of the time but other times completely oblivious to peoples social cues. Impulsive for sure. A sweet son. Meh brother. No friends, goals or talents.

I just feel like Daphne and Anthony, by this point in their seasons, were really fleshed out characters and personalities. You knew who they were, their motivations, their histories, their huberis. Its been 3 years and I still feel like we dont know Colin. Maybe because the focus is on Pen? But even then I dont know if they've hugely expanded on her character thus far.

I guess I wonder that for the people who are huge fans of Colin - why? Who do you think he is? What is his character? Do you think its consistent? Does the inconsistency make sense to you somehow? I cant be invested in this dude when I still dont know who he is (also when the actor is okay at best lbr)

[longbobmckenzie]

Season 7 Volume I Thoughts

Okay, initial thoughts... meh. It's okay - the dialogue is half-decent, it seems to be mostly fresh and enjoyable, and the characters are showing their personalities. But I'm also far, far from being blown away.

Most of the guys bore me, but Joyo's the most attractive to me and his personality hasn't turned me off, so he's my guy for the time being

I'm not vibing with any of the girls as friends and actively dislike Summer and kinda Bonnie too. Uma might be okay but as we've all said, she looks like she's holding it in

There was opportunity here with the CA concept to do something fresh and interesting but so far it's the same old, except that there's no official recoupling yet. How cool would it have been to do the "Casa girl walk" like on the show where the girls all strut down the drive together and the guys freak out when they arrive? Instead we just meet the new girls, then meet the boys, then it's the same old thing. Yawn

WHERE'S CASSIUS?!?! Obvs we didn't get a preview for him so we weren't expecting him but are we really expected to believe that it's just all the OG people in the villa? Also how much time has passed, because we got a little story about the first couple days and then just "but that feels like forever ago." WHAT'S HAPPENED SINCE THEN?!!? WHY/HOW DID CASSIUS GET DUMPED, ESPECIALLY WHEN ESTELLE AND ALEX HAVE NO CHEMISTRY?!?!

Speaking of, none of the girls have actually watched the show? We could've gotten the deets from them! They could've had pre-conceived ideas of who they were after! It's dumb that they all went in blind!

We could've had a group chat where everyone says who they're interested in, like in S2. C'mon, you're based on a show, do what the show does

The customization is lacking compared to last season. I like that MC is facing forward, except her body pose is still sideways and overall is just weird. The outfits are mostly trash (including the evening ones that haven't been shown yet, we wore our party outfits in this volume). The art is more polished than the preview but honestly why show such a fugly preview if it's gonna look different in the game?

Raf is gonna get his heart broken, I know it

There's already a fair amount of shared dialogue/shared routes. Summer goes after whoever we like, setting herself up to be the villain of the season. Great.

I'm gonna keep playing, it's alright, but ever since it was announced I haven't been remotely excited for this season, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. It'll take a lot for me to want to write any fics for this season (especially with my S2/S6 fics still in the works!)

[oh-stars]

20 questions for fic writers

@lady-lostmind thanks for the tag 💜

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

44, but 7 pieces are art or collabs I did art for! 

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,464,862

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently only Stranger Things, but I still have Marvel WIPs and a few Spider-Man stories I want to write but haven’t had the time for. 

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Man That I Could Be

No One is Perfect, Not Even a Superhero

The Harrington Brood

you carved the space for my sadness to be seen for once (hold on to me)

Double Feature Disaster

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

Sometimes! I get really overwhelmed and can’t respond. I made a point to respond to all of the comments on Brood and it was a lot, so I’ve made a conscious decision not to. I also have a really hard time not spoiling things or teasing something too hard, so it's best for me not to respond. But I read each one at least twice and I like to take a beat to read them again when I’m blocked. They make my day :) 

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Our Future (and really its the end for the whole The 'Til the End of the Line series) 

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

Either The Man That I Could Be or The Harrington Brood I think. 

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Normally, no. My latest fic has gotten the most negativity out of everything I’ve written, but even then it’s not necessarily hate either. I delete the especially negative ones, but even those I think could be interpreted differently depending on tone.

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

Have I written smut? Yes. Do I like writing smut? No. I try not to, honestly. I do fade to black scenes or reference it, but I feel like all my smut is clunky and meh so I try to avoid it when possible. The few in The Man That I Could Be felt necessary and even then I didn’t fully explore those storylines the way I wanted to because I’m not great with smut. 

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

Nope! 

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, a few times! 

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, I love co-writing fics! It’s a great way to collaborate and push yourself. @sparkstarthetrashcan and I have a few fics we co-wrote for the @spiderversebigbang way back when and it was such a delight! 

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Stucky, I think they’re timeless. Steddie is getting pretty close to that, though. 

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

In Case You Don’t Live Forever, it's the only WIP I have that’s fully drafted out and plotted that I actively want to come back to. I just lost the headspace of the characters so I haven’t had a chance to dive back in. 

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I can capture characters really well, especially when they’re my own. I think Brood really showed that.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Smut for one, and maybe action scenes. 

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I think its tricky. Younger me has definitely dabbled, especially with Marvel fics, but I wouldn’t do it now. 

19. First fandom you wrote for?

One Direction (and I think I have scrubbed all of them off my wattpad thank youuu) 

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? There’s something special about all my fics, I think. But right now, I would say its a tie between you carved the space for my sadness to be seen for once (hold on to me) and All it Takes is Faith, Trust, and a Dream (with The Man That I Could Be as an honorable mention). Each of these served a purpose and fulfilled something different, but hold is probably the fic I’ve always wanted to write and my Disney fic is just something I look back on fondly.

If anyone wants to do this, I invite you to! Otherwise, I'm tagging the following with absolutely zero pressure to do this: @sparkstar-trash @medusapelagia @englishpaperpieced @skjachukson @cranberrymoons @graham-cracker-guillotine @slavicviking

[wendingways]

20 Questions For Writers

Thank you, @sinvulkt! I saw someone else post one of these a while ago, and it looked fun, so thanks so much for the tag! 💛💛💛

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Seven. Technically eight, but one of them is part of another and just separated for logistical reasons, so it doesn't really count.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

190,105 words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Star Wars

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Fortune's Rule, 536 kudos

Missing Pieces No More, 142

Whispers From Tomorrow, 126

Petrichor, 42

Threadbare, 30

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

Most of the time! Sometimes it takes a while because busy + tired, but I enjoy it when other authors respond to my comments, so I want to respond other people's comments. :)

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

Probably Threadbare. Wouldn't say it's a full-on angsty ending, because I tend to go for angsty beginnings/middles and happy endings, but it's the closest I've got.

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

Whispers From Tomorrow, by virtue of it being a pre-Order-66 fix-it.

8. Do you get hate on your fic?

I've gotten a little. You know how FFN can be. There was this one kinda funny one instance where somebody was silent for like 20 chapters, and then absolutely flipped their lid in a comment after I killed off a character. Not even a main character! Oops....

9. Do you write smut?

Nope.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Not as a rule, but I did start scribbling down this weird idea for Anne Shirley, from Anne of Green Gables, ending up in the GFFA during the Clone Wars via some witchery in the Haunted Wood. What gets me is how I told my brother about it, and he promptly started nagging me to write it because he wants to read it XD

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but feel free to do so if you're interested!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

No.

14. What‘s your all-time favourite ship?

Meh, not really a big shipper.

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

WIP I will never finish? What are you talking about?

There are no unfinished WIPS in Ba Sing Se.

Seriously, though, probably my Padmé ROTS time loop fic. I had this idea for Padmé to keep looping back to some point in ROTS after she dies. I love the idea, it's roughly outlined and I've written some snippets, and there's this one scene that I'd really like to include, but I'm just not sure how to make the time loop AU work in this scenario.

16. What’s your writing strengths?

Grammar, usage, and mechanics. And maybe angst, oddly enough. Never figured myself for an angst writer, but then I started writing Fortune's Rule, and here we are.

17. What’s your writing weaknesses?

Speed. I write slowly. I also tend to end up going down research rabbit holes that suck up my time and energy. And I have a really hard time saying no to adding more characters, which adds to the whole writing-takes-a-long-time thing.

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

Sure! I've enjoyed putting little bits of Mando'a and Huttese into Fortune's Rule.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Calico Captive, by Elizabeth George Speare, when I was in my early teens. Never managed to get a whole fic out of it, and what fragments I did write were terribly underdeveloped, sentimental, and shallow. But we all have to start somewhere!

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

Fortune's Rule, all the way! I know it's not finished yet, but it is my precious and my problem child, and I love it to bits!

In a way, it's a very self-indulgent story, because it's got all the tropes I most adore, and it's like a puzzle, trying to figure out how to put all these different elements together in a way that's believable, and how to have characters develop to where I want them to be.

Plus, it's also given me some fun surprises, like Padmé and Ahsoka being besties, Ventress becoming Obi-Wan's confidant for a certain matter, and Piett becoming a friend/confidant/emotional support admiral for Starkiller.

And there's so much more fun stuff planned, especially as we're getting close the start of an arc I've been planning since before I started posting the fic in 2021! (There will be child hijinks. There will be pirates. There will be sand, and angst and fluff galore. And I am so kriffing excited.)

Tagging (If you're interested! I'm doing like sinvulkt and tagging some authors I've interacted with a bit on AO3; hope this isn't a nuisance to anyone! :) ) @musewrangler, @clawedandcute, @xxiamnotokay666xx

[shai-manahan]

Hello!

I am a person who is writing his own Interactive Fiction game. I currently have about 50k words written for it and will probably be making a forum thread soon. But I really need some advice from you as your game is one of my favourite.

The thing I am struggling with is my plot seems a bit bland to me and I just don't know what to do about it. Like I at the start only decided my game is going to be very reactive to choices and I have loads of meaningful choices and lots of variables remembering lots of things. But when I read through what I have written so far it feels a bit meh. Like your game is soooo intriguing as a reade. So my question was how do I make the plot more intriguing?? Sorry for the long ass post

I'm probably not the best person to ask about this; I go through cycles of self-doubt at least a few times a month 😞

But I'll do my best to help!

First of all, 50k words for an initial demo is impressive! HM had around 28k words when I first uploaded a public demo (which was just the first version of the prologue), so you're doing very well!

I think it would help tremendously for you to sit down and figure out what themes you wish to put focus on. It doesn't mean that you can't tackle a few others as you write, but it's always good to set goals like this to maintain consistency and make their presence strong in the story. It doesn't have to be something "grand"; it just needs to be clear in your head.

It's cool to aim for your choices to be meaningful, but watch out for scope creep. Not that I can talk; I have way too many variables tracking the MC's actions/dialogue choices as well as routes that not many will ever know about. And they can be fun! Just remember that fun doesn't always remove the stress attached to those boosts of excitement. I'd say try to focus on choices/variables you're sure you can deal with, particularly those that can enhance the quality of your plot, and you can decide to add more once you're certain you can handle them.

I have no way of knowing you're not already doing this, but well-developed characters help the impact of the plot grow stronger. Their fears, motivations, what they need to see vs what they have currently. Humans are complex beings, and for me, it's always interesting to try and explore that complexity. I love exploring it.

Try to talk to a friend about what you have at the moment! It helps to have some who'd never mince their words and are willing to give honest feedback while being helpful at the same time. In a way, it can be encouraging to know you have someone to depend to, and I hope you can find them if you haven't met such a person yet.

It's a first draft!! This is something I also keep telling myself, though it doesn't necessarily help me clear out all doubts all the time. But you should at least be aware of it. This is the first time I'm creating an IF, but I did a lot of film screenplays before, and my first drafts always sucked. It's why rewrites are not a foreign concept to me, and why I know HM might go through a lot of changes before I settle on its final version. But I do think both readers and writers should be aware of the fact that first drafts aren't supposed to be perfect; and WIPs, no matter how long they are, shouldn't be expected to have no flaws at all.

I cannot stress this out more, but taking walks outside or even doing the most mundane of errands can help to clear your mind! Try to take some rest; it might even give you some perspectives you haven't thought of before :))

I think that's all I can give for now, and I hope you're having a great time writing so far! I do want to remind you that you'll have to find methods that personally work for you as well, whether you're a plotter, a pantser, or something in between. It's why I haven't been too specific with the things I said; it's best for you to try and see what actually works for you as a writer. Best of luck <3