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isaacathom · 2 years ago

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accidentally prompted myself to reconsider the lotmv story, so thats fun

the premise, such that it was, was that Seora was a demigod of light, and had funky light magic. And there was a weird magical darkness that had corrupted the land, and she was one of a whole class of people who keep it at bay. But that 'bay' is pretty politicised, and at some point the whole forced to live with the magical darkness kidnap Seora to make her fix things for them. And then a whole lot of shit happens.

And that's... fine? i guess. but i think it could be better, and part of that is just. telling the big grand politics angle to leave. there was a lot of weird geopolitics happening and we dont need that.

the changes arent unprecedented, since i tried to fix the story earlier too lmao.

what i think id prefer is something a bit more. social?

In a reconsidered lotmv, Seora is still a light demigod, and still has these very specific duties that she's been practically raised for since birth. There's strict duties and hierarchies and so on, things she can and cant do. She has a 'boyfriend', a bodyguard called Roderick, who has absolutely has no interest in but cannot very well reject, because to do so would be stepping out of the social agreement. it would cause problems for them both, but mostly for her. So she's stuck in her job, and in a "relationship".

At some point, she is contacted by Esther, who is a member of a group trying to fix the magic goop problem - a group whose reasonable requests for aid keep being denied. The two start a very careful correspondence, each bound by the norms around them.

An idea comes into focus. Seora would like nothing more than to help them, but the binds of her position stay her hand. She cant do anything. And if she acts out and voices her support, she'll be stripped of whatever "authority" she had while remaining bound.

So, to get Seora into the correct locations, a kidnapping will be staged. The group will kidnap Seora, bring her back to their place, and "force" her to help them. Once she's done what she needs to do, the group will suddenly become amenable to any of the negotiations presented by Seora's people, and they'll return her. She'll not be harmed, her reputation will be preserved, everythings fine.

For the optics, to make it seem that she's unwilling, they'll need to play up some things. She understands this going in. That they'll need to skirt the line for the greater good. She has her part to play.

And what she doesnt reckon with, prior to agreeing to everything, is on falling in love with Esther. And Esther doesn't either.

And that's a problem. Because if Seora starts getting too comfortable, enjoys herself too much, then the whole part of the operation intended to preserve her reputation fails. Because, well, now she looks willing. And that defeats the whole point.

So the two of them are stuck in a complicated dance of the various expectations of them, what they need to do, what roles they have to serve, and what they want.

Because, for Esther, Seora's help is essential. She's the one person that was on board. They need her magical skills. Esther was willing to risk being caught kidnapping her, because the end goal is very important to her. And now she's in love. And that risks the whole fucking thing.

Strictly, this could have all been "present" in the original version of lotmv, but its a slight reframing to be about those expectations and complications. There's still the issue of what exactly Esther's group is, how they fit in/oppose Seora's. In the original, they're different countries. i feel like that still wooorks? two countries who are not on speaking terms, a group within that countries military (?) who feel they have no other choice. there's some little worldbuilding... bits that make things weird, but its workable, i think. maybe? idk

#lotmv #lotmvs kinda weird and maybe it needs to be completely separated from the dawn/dusk maiden thing #there still needs to be a reason that seora is actually useful as an individual to esther's side tho #in og lotmv its because dawn maidens in divinice are the only ones who can destroy the darkness #due to training and a regionality to the demigods #but you could alter it from a weird top-down god thing to like. artifacts held by divinice #or specific training right. young girls raised from a very young age to do these highly specific things #that are difficult to learn without certain materials and stuff #very witcher school of them. and then because theyre so special theyre held so closely by the crown #bc its their advantage!#and it just so happens that this specific skillset would serve to solve a problem the stolisians are having #hence - kidnapping #that mostly works i think?#decouples it from the asavla setting and thats good bc that shits janky

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wordsnstuff · 4 years ago

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Guide to Drafting

Patreon || Ko-Fi || Masterlist || Work In Progress

–

Planning v. Discovery

The first thing you must decide when you embark on the journey of drafting a story is how you’re going to get it done. Typically, there are two groups you can fit into, though most writers are somewhere in between. There are writers who plan meticulously before they begin writing to create a very clean first draft, or there are discovery writers (otherwise known as “pantsers”) who find more success in choosing a premise and then using a zero draft to explore the idea before gluing down any details. You are most likely someone who falls between those two methods. Some initial planning to feel familiar with your idea before you do some of the planning through the writing itself. Having some semblance of a method will help you narrow down your own process, which is immensely important if you want to get any substantial project near completion.

Consistency

Drafting is a difficult process because it’s either the revisitation of ideas you’ve already had, or the generations of ideas in quick succession. If you want to have a draft in a reasonable amount of time, you must develop a consistency in your writing. I won’t say that it must be a strict routine because time management can be a luxury, but you must make the consistent effort to write, and keep it in the forefront of your mind. Even if you don’t write every day, it should be something you try to make time for every day.

Know What You’re Trying to Accomplish

To get a draft done, you need to set expectations for yourself and they must be realistic. That doesn’t mean they have to be easy, or an amount of work you’ve been able to accomplish in the past. Considering how much time you dedicate to writing and your skillset, it should be a goal within reality. In addition, you must accept that you cannot create a masterpiece in one draft. For each version of your story that you write, you must have a focused goal, such as maintaining consistent characterization, making the plot concise and engaging, or making the prose more fluid and efficient. If you have a specific and attainable goal that you can accomplish in a reasonable amount of time with a fair amount of precision, each draft will be better than the last.

Designate Work to Phases

As mentioned in the last section, it maximizes your time and effort to have specific and attainable goals for each draft. This doesn’t mean that you rewrite the draft each time (though that is very common amongst writers), but that you designate tasks to draft versions. I find it very helpful in clearing my mind and soothing my perfectionist anxiety to make a “schedule”, outlining what I’ll accomplish in each version following the zero draft. For example, my draft schedules usually end up something like this:

Zero Draft: Main plot line, basic characterization, key world building

First Draft: Finalize Timeline, research for world building, structure

Second Draft: (Rewrite) Plot Development Fine Tuning

Subplot development

Foreshadowing

Build up to climaxes

Tone & Pace

Third Draft: (Intermittent Rewrites) Character Development Fine Tuning

Backstory

Subtextual Development

Making sure motivations are clear

Relationships between characters

Reinforcing character arcs

Checking dialogue

Fourth Draft: (Give to Beta Readers) World Building & Prose

Descriptions & Flow

Finalize settings

Checking grammar & punctuation

Reader Immersion

Fifth Draft: Incorporate Beta Reader Feedback

Write for Yourself First

In what some call the “zero-draft”, there are no rules. This draft is purely for your eyes. It’s you telling yourself the story for the first time. So, you don’t have to write in chronological order, or know the right word you’re looking for, or take a break every time you run into a problem. The purpose of the zero draft is to get a rough idea of as much of the story as you can and avoid getting snagged on minor details. This part is important. A lot of writers like to outline meticulously before they begin drafting and if that works for you, that’s great, but the majority of writers who attempt that get stuck in the planning phase, or burnt out on their story before a word of it exists. The easiest way to avoid those two situations is to do a zero draft, which can be as long or short as you want if it provides a skeleton for you to add meat to later.

Common Struggles

~ How do you estimate the number of words/chapters?... That depends on the genre, mostly. However, that’s usually something you decide in the second draft and beyond, and it can vary because of factors you haven’t got locked down until the plot and character arcs are firm or final. This is also something you’ll probably do a lot of tinkering with, and receive feedback on, especially from beta-readers, who can advise you on where natural breaks could occur from their perspective.

~ Why, after planning everything out, do I always struggle to write the draft?... 99% of the time, it’s because you’ve either burned yourself out, or accumulated too much pressure. When you put that much effort and time into a story, you can either slip into a headspace where you feel little excitement about it because you’ve already done all of the problem solving and had all of the revelations. It’s usually beneficial at this stage to take a step back (even if you’re not burnt out) and give your story some space, so that once you come back to it, you’re enthusiastic enough to fully realize your vision. If instead you’re struggling to write because you feel a lot of pressure to do justice for a story you’ve put so much love into already, take a step back, remember that the first draft is just for you, and work on letting go of the idea that the zero draft is meant to serve any purpose beside simply existing.

~ How do I come up with the necessary scenes to move the story forward between major plot points?... Most writing problems can be solved by asking yourself the right questions. When you’re trying to figure out what your reader needs to see next in order to effectively set up the next major event, ask yourself “What would happen between event A and event B that would add context or make event B more impactful?”. Treat it like a real situation and try to map out all of the tiny, notable moments that would take place between the major plot points, and then assess those moments on the basis of how impactful they would be to the coming scenes, and whether they can add context, set the tone, or aide in the rising action.

~ How do I balance sticking to the draft and following my own creative instinct in the moment?... This is a judgement call. Sometimes you’ll realize that maybe you should have just stuck to the outline, but remember that you can always go back, rewrite, test things out, etc. Always save every version of every scene, just in case, and go wild. Don’t be afraid to take detours just to explore. The writing process is anything but linear.

~ How do I maintain momentum in my writing progress when I constantly have distractions or other responsibilities that take priority?... Work at it. There’s no magic trick or piece of advice I could say that gets rid of your personal responsibilities. Write when you can, don’t make excuses on top of the reasons you have no control over, and remember that you create your own deadlines and expectations. Be kind to yourself, do what you can, and don’t spend potential writing time punishing yourself because there isn’t as much as you’d like.

~ How should I designate space (words/pages) to specific scenes/description/conversations, etc?... Trust your instinct and remember you can always cut/add later. In the earlier drafts, I’d advise you try to create as much material as possible to work with, and in the later drafts, be ruthless when determining what is necessary and adds value, and what doesn’t.

~ How do I finish a draft if I regularly lose motivation or interest in my projects?... Accept the fact that motivation is fickle, and that no writer in history has ever maintained “inspiration” for any project from the beginning to the end. There are going to be days where you’re like “ugh this is not what I want to do right now”, probably more than there are days where you’re stoked to work on your project, but that’s reality. If your goal is to finish a draft, you must recognize that writing is work, and nobody wants to work all the time. Try to supplement the lack of motivation by setting a positive and enjoyable routine so that, even when you’re not particularly motivated, you still know that your writing time will be peaceful and comfortable.

–

Masterlist | WIP Blog

If you enjoy my blog and wish for it to continue being updated frequently and for me to continue putting my energy toward answering your questions, please consider Buying Me A Coffee, or pledging your support on Patreon, where I offer early access and exclusive benefits for only $5/month.

Shoutout to my $15+ patrons, Jade Ashley and Douglas S.!

#writing #writeblr #writing advice #writing tips #writing resources #resources for writers #writing reference #writing help #writespo #writing inspiration #writing motivation #inspiration #motivation #drafting

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captainpikeachu · 3 years ago

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So there’s a lot of talk following the finale of TFATWS that John getting his new US Agent moniker is him “not suffering consequences” and essentially rewarded for his bad actions. Yet I feel like that view completely ignores the context of the situation that John is in.

First, John did suffer consequences. Yes, I get that on the surface it feels like he got a slap on the wrist because he wasn’t in prison or whatever. But for someone who has dedicated his entire adult life to being a soldier and serving his country, for someone who has bled for his country and earned 3 Medals of Honor for bravery and self sacrifice, to be removed from service IS a consequence. Sure he may not have been dishonorably discharged, but he was in all but name, the government just put a nicer name on it by using “other than honorable discharge” instead. And with his very public discharge and having all of his pay and VA benefits stripped away, John essentially has nothing. He’s hardly going to be hired for work, even basic jobs would be hard because he is a widely recognized figure with a very public downfall. No one is going to look to hire him, not to mention veterans already often struggle to find work or fitting back into civilian life. So unless he’s just gonna spend the rest of his life doing nothing but hide inside the house and living off of his wife Olivia’s paycheck, he’s gonna have to look for work fitting his specific specialized skillset.

Second, John doesn’t have healthcare. A lot of people have commented on how he should have just gone away and focused on getting therapy instead but how would he be able to get therapy when the government took away his VA benefits? Without access to healthcare or disability benefits that he’s rightly owed to by the way, how would he get therapy? Olivia might have healthcare but does her healthcare even cover for him? Does he have emergency healthcare that would cover for therapy? Do they even have the funds for that? Wouldn’t they have to find a job to something to even get access to things like healthcare and therapy?

Third, Val could have manipulated all of this. Many people seem to think John is getting “rewarded” but how do we know that John’s discharge and stripping away of rank and pay and benefits weren’t orchestrated by Val or people working with Val to purposefully push John onto a certain path knowing that he wouldn’t be able to decline Val’s offer? I mean, think about it, surely nobody believes that she just “happened” upon John and Olivia in their most vulnerable moment. She knew what was happening inside that room, she knew what John would have to think about in regards to plans for the future, and she comes in at just the right time to hand him an opportunity that could essentially solve a lot of his and Olivia’s problems. It’s not a “reward” when John is essentially being used and manipulated by circumstances that Val might have control over.

And really, even with this new US Agent “job”, it’s hardly just life is perfect and nothing is gonna go wrong and all is well. We don’t know what Val is planning, we don’t know what she intends to use him for, and we have no idea what she would do if John either disobeys her or tries to get out of this job. If anything John is currently caught up in a viper’s grip that he doesn’t even know yet because he’s being manipulated to look elsewhere while the viper is wrapping itself all around him. If anything, he’s actually in far more danger than he ever was before and there could be even worse consequences happening to him down the line.

#john walker #the falcon and the winter soldier #contessa valentina allegra de fontaine #valentina allegra de fontaine #tfatws #mcu #marvel #tfatws meta

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dyedmaxiian · 4 years ago

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I know I talk a lot about how Jamie really helps to organize and whip the Minutemen into shape after he reaches the position of Colonel but I’m going to go ahead and detail EXACTLY what he does and why it really reshapes how the Minutemen are (under the cut due to length):

ESTABLISHES THE LANCERS: This is done even before Jamie becomes a Colonel. It’s his first real substantial action to aid the Minutemen. For those of you who have played Fallout 3, you could akin the Lancers to the Minutemen equivalent of the ‘Lyon’s Pride’ minus all the Brotherhood propaganda. He usually brings the idea to the General VERY early on into becoming a Lieutenant, claiming that the Minutemen need a smaller more instrumental task force for operations that don’t quite require the entire Minutemen force, but also can’t be solved by the average Minuteman. He also spins the Lancers as being Multifaceted meaning that they will be established in order to be highly functional for a variety of situations.

ESTABLISHES PROPER MINUTEMEN BOOT CAMPS: Almost immediately after becoming a Colonel, Jamie begins organizing proper boot camps in which to train the Minutemen to be more combat effective soldiers. There are a number of different boot camps that help individuals specialize in what SPECIFICALLY they’d like to do in the Minutemen, but all prospective Minutemen are put through the standard boot camp which provides them with some basic but efficient training that teaches them how to properly maintain their weapons, gives them basic search & clear training, as well as other essential skills to be more than just what would be considered an ‘armed citizen’. Some other boot camps include basic and advanced field medical training, caravan / supply line guard training, lieutenant training, and the infamous lancer bootcamp. MOST of these boot camps, once established, are then handed over to Ronnie Shaw. Jamie believes Ronnie Shaw is the perfect candidate to handle the Boot Camps as she has the right attitude and the right skillset to handle new recruits and keep them in line while giving them the training they need.

DRAWS UP & MAINTAINS SUPPLY LINES: This one is more of a group effort with Preston & the residing General, but Jamie is integral in establishing the supply lines, NAMELY because he and the Lancers do a great deal of ‘field testing’ in order to figure out the safest possible routes on which to run these supply lines. In addition, Jamie has a large role in the establishment of “alliances” with the independent settlements / cities of the Commonwealth which also plays a part in the process of drawing these supply lines.

ORGANIZES & NEGOTIATES ALLIANCES WITH INDEPENDENT ESTABLISHMENTS IN THE COMMONWEALTH: This primarily applies to the THREE most notable non-minuteman established Settlements in the Commonwealth. Those being Diamond City, Goodneighbor, and Bunker Hill. Again, this is REALLY more of a group effort, but each of the three leaders in the Minutemen are charged with a single settlement to more evenly divide the work. Jamie is assigned to Diamond City as he the most well equipped to deal with it due to experience in handling the brotherhood in the past ( namely with prejudice against non-human races ). Jamie helps to maintain good relations with Diamond City while simultaneously trying to ensure the Brotherhood doesn’t move in on them ( assuming the faction is still present ).

CREATES GREATER MINUTEMEN DIVISIONS: This is perhaps one of Jamie’s larger undertakings, he organizes actual Minutemen ‘DIVISIONS’ that help to better organize their dealings. He establishes a few major Minutemen Divisions: Medical, Production, Militia, & Research / Relief. The Medical Division is specialized for creating, administering, and organizing medically trained Minutemen all across the Commonwealth to ensure that the Minutemen settlements are all fitted with their own doctors / medical specialists. They are also charged with producing medical supplies that can be run along supply lines and redistributed to the Commonwealth. Under most circumstances, the Medical division is headed by a specially picked medical professional, however upon its creation Jamie does nominate Curie to head the division. If Curie is unavailable he then elects to nominate Dr. Amari. The Production Division is specialized for creating and distributing weapons, ammunition, and armor to the Minutemen. They are also granted the autonomy to establish a specialized system for secondary vending of supplies alongside the standard issued gear for Minutemen who finish boot camp. This division is also responsible for the distribution of defensive armaments for settlements to ensure that they are all well protected. This is considered to be the second largest division as the Production Division is also the first division sent to new settlements to handle on-site fortification & construction in tandem with the residents who already live there. The Production Division typically runs without a head as it wears many hats. They tend to take assignments and are dispatched directly from the Castle so it could be argued that Preston, Jamie, and the General all have a hand in guiding and offering them assignments. The Militia Division is specialized for combat / threat neutralization. It could be considered the Minutemen’s proper ‘military’ as this division is specifically created to be as guards for settlements, patrols to maintain safe passage for supply lines, includes caravan guards, as well as is partially responsible for defending existing settlements in the event of trouble. The Militia division acts as the line of defense for the Commonwealth in the event of a large scale crisis but on the day to day tends to eliminate smaller time threats as they arise. It is important to note that when creating this division, Jamie took a great deal of care & precaution to keep them from being a brazen military force, and as such the General of the Minutemen is also the acting head of the Militia Division. The Research & Relief Division: This tends to be the most controversial division Jamie creates. If the Sole Survivor destroyed the Institute, Jamie elects to create this division to further research on how to improve the lives of the people of the Commonwealth. Jamie tends to keep them on a rather tight leash to avoid a repeat of the problems arisen in the Institute, and as such their projects are HEAVILY regulated by Jamie, Preston, and the General to ensure they are specifically & strictly dedicated to improving quality of life in the Commonwealth as well as relief efforts. Generally speaking, regardless of which faction the Sole Survivor chooses, Jamie ALWAYS nominates Dr. Madison Li to lead this division due to his personal experience and friendship with her.

REPAIRS & REFURBISHES THE CASTLE / ESTABLISHES THE CASTLE AS MINUTEMEN HQ: Though this one likely already happens, Jamie as a Colonel actually arranges for Diamond City architects to come in and professionally build up the Castle and create a more heavily defended and well organized Castle in order to make the Minutemen’s epicenter be more well equipped to their new method of organization & presence. Usually this consist of actually EXPANDING how far the HQ boundary reaches. The Castle walls are repaired, a defense system is put into place, and many of the destroyed parts of the Castle are rebuilt in order to help house & protect the Commonwealth. They also have a proper dock established for the Minutemen, and when Kenji Nakano is aided by Nick Valentine, Jamie reaches out and offers to contract him to help build the Minutemen a few functional ships to help them patrol the waters surrounding the Commonwealth. Additionally a cemetery is erected on the strip of land behind the Castle for the Minutemen’s ranks. Many of the Minutemen’s former Generals & key figures are buried in it as well as Jamie’s mother if the Sole Survivor completes Jamie’s personal quest. Additionally the armory gets a large make over to help accommodate the Production Division as well as the Western wing of the Castle receives a large refurbishment to better suit the Medical Division. More turrets and artillery are erected, as well as a small farm and more water purifiers to help the Castle run autonomously. Jamie also has a dedicated ‘war room’ refurbished to allow the leadership of the Minutemen as well as their council sit down and have meetings regarding pressing and crucial matters in regard to Minutemen operations & Commonwealth safety.

ESTABLISHES SANCTUARY AS THE MINUTEMEN’S CULTURAL CAPITAL / REFURBISHES SANCTUARY: This one is a proposed decision to Preston and the General, and typically consists of establishing Sanctuary as the ‘heart’ of the Minutemen. He picks it for a few reasons, the two main ones being that it has deep personal ties to the General, as well as its position very isolated from the rest of the Commonwealth making it arguably one of the safest settlements in the entire Commonwealth area. The rebuilding, depending on the Sole Survivor, can either be handled by the Sole Survivor directly, or by Jamie himself. He encourages that Sanctuary be built out event further than just the existing suburb, and establishes a FULL ‘Sanctuary City’ having the street extend onto the Hillside and wrap around Vault 111. He also encourages that Sanctuary be home to the ‘Minutemen’ people, giving those who serve a place to truly call ‘The Minutemen’s Capital’. If Jamie is allowed to handle this project, he actually links it DIRECTLY to the Red Rocket truck stop. The truck stop is used as a trading hub / market place where Caravans, Traders, Visitors, and residents can do all of their shopping. Additionally Jamie establishes a bar, guard house, town hall, and “jail” within Sanctuary to ensure that the ‘city’ of Sanctuary can run autonomously on its own. Defenses are erected, farms and water purifiers are established, and even a PARK is created around the Vault 111 area, used to ‘breathe life’ back into the area. A few memorials are created to honor pillars of the Minutemen as well as the General’s spouse if they allow it.

AIDS IN THE RETAKING OF QUINCY AND CAMPAIGNS AGAINST GUNNER OCCUPATION IN THE COMMONWEALTH: If this isn’t done by the General already, Jamie establishes a full fledged ‘war-time’ campaign to help retake Quincy from Gunner control and helps to establish a plan of action for the Minutemen to entirely dismantle the Gunner organization as a whole. Typically the battle for Quincy is a larger scale operation as Jamie by then already established the divisions of the Minutemen, making the Militia an asset available to the General when this campaign is first proposed. The Lancers are crucial for reconnaissance and Jamie even creates a plan of action for what to do with Quincy AFTER the Gunners are removed. Once Quincy is taken back, Jamie proposes creating a NEW city out of Quincy under Minutemen occupation at the discretion of the General. If the city proposal is denied, he then proposes creating a memorial for the lives lost there instead and then proceeds to continue the campaign to wipe the Gunners out completely.

#ⁱ ˡᵒᵛᵉ ᵗʰᵒˢᵉ ᵈᵉᵃʳ ʰᵉᵃʳᵗˢ & ᵍᵉⁿᵗˡᵉ ᵖᵉᵒᵖˡᵉ; ᵗʰᵃᵗ ˡⁱᵛᵉ & ˡᵒᵛᵉ ⁱⁿ ᵐʸ ʰᵒᵐᵉ ᵗᵒʷⁿ* ( study )

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reconditarmonia · 6 years ago

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Dear Every Woman Writer

Hello, lovely writer!

I’m reconditarmonia here and on AO3 (and have been since LJ days, but my LJ is locked down and I only have a DW to see locked things).

General likes:

– Relationships that aren’t built on romance or attraction. They can be romantic or sexual as well, but my favorite ships are all ones where it would still be interesting or compelling if the romantic component never materialized.

– Loyalty kink, whether commander-subordinate or comrades-in-arms, and the trust associated with it. Sometimes-but-not-always relatedly, idealism. I guess the two combined might be, in general, the idea of nobility of character and what that means.

– Heists, or other stories where there’s a lot of planning and then we see how the plan goes.

– Femslash, complicated or intense relationships between women, and female-centric gen. Women doing “male” stuff.

– Stories whose emotional climax or resolution isn’t the sex scene, if there is one.

– Uniforms/costumes/clothing.

– Stories, history, and performance. What gets told and how, what doesn’t get told or written down, behavior in a society where everyone’s consuming media and aware of its tropes, how people create their personas and script their own lines.

– Eucatastrophe.

General DNW: rape/dubcon, torture, other creative gore; unrequested AUs, including “same setting, different rules” AUs such as soulmates/soulbonds; PWP; food sex.

—

Fandom: Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

Characters/Groups: Bathsheba Everdene

One thing that always sticks in my mind about this novel is the way Hardy calls Bathsheba “the young farmer” just as he refers to the men as farmers - which, just saying, is more than most people writing about this story can do - and so, that being the case, what I’m most interested in is something about Bathsheba as farmer. One day in the life or four seasons in the life or five plantings/harvests in the life, or pseudo-academic fic about a case study of a woman farmer in the Victorian era, or a conflict between the farm and nature that Bathsheba has to decide how to solve.

Feel free to bring in other characters if it suits what you’re trying to do, but what I’m really looking for is a focus on Bathsheba’s work, determination, and process of learning. I’d also love to read something like a merchant ship AU (as the first alternate setting that came to mind where it would be not exactly the done thing for her to captain her inherited ship and make commercial decisions herself - although I do have to point out that contrary to popular belief, there were a lot of women on shipboard in the age of sail, may this be useful - but also where nature and luck/fate are as influential as they are in the original setting), or something in which the land, superstition, and ritual were more overtly magical.

—

Fandom: Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett

Characters/Groups: Polly "Ozzer" Perks & Jack Jackrum, Polly Perks & Maladict, Magda "Tonker" Halter & Tilda "Lofty" Tewt, Polly "Ozzer" Perks, Alice "Wazzer" Goom, Jack Jackrum, Mildred Froc

Give me all the loyalty kink for this fandom. Characters rescuing each other from peril, risking their reputation or position or ethics to defend each other, accomplishing the impossible or sacrificing things without even thinking twice because one trusts the other’s orders or judgment. Or A not going off the leash or into danger to defend B because B said not to, to protect A’s conscience or life or reputation. Can be romantic or platonic - I ship Polly/Mal and Tonker/Lofty, but I would also be delighted with Polly&Jackrum, Wazzer&Polly, or other non-romantic twosomes or moresomes in situations of loyalty and trust. Maybe Polly sends Mal on a dangerous mission, or Tonker is captured after she and Lofty burn down another place where women and girls are being abused, or Polly protects Jackrum’s secret/s from someone who could reveal them, or Wazzer ends up in the field again with the general’s retinue and Polly and Mal rescue her from danger (or vice versa!!). What strengths or sacrifices do they have at their disposal for each other?

Pratchett-esque voices would be great. He’s really, really good at sucker-punching the reader with sincerity in an overall satiric mode, and I think that style lends itself well to this sort of thing.

I’m not going to lie, Polly is my fave. I like that this could have been a generic coming-of-age or women-in-war story, where the protagonist learns that she’s brave or worthwhile and then the crisis is past, but instead Polly learns that she’s a cunning bastard and a hell of a sergeant, and being a one-off hero in a country that’s at peace and making slow social progress isn’t good enough for her. That said, just because I’m better able to articulate what I like about Polly doesn’t mean I’d be less excited for fic about anyone else! And I know that we might have matched on single characters, rather than groups, and that’s just fine. I think that’s something I’d want to explore for any of the characters who enlist in the course of the story - what are these women good at? What lets them fulfill their potential? What do they want when their hand isn’t being forced? I guess that for most of the regiment this would be post-canon and for Jackrum or Froc it’d be backstory. How’d Jackrum go from enlisting for Reasons to being the career sergeant of canon? What’s Froc’s relationship to the Duchess been like over the years, as someone who met her in person?

If you’re going the Polly/Mal route, I also love ludicrous levels of sexual tension in a military context (I think it’s the unavoidable proximity + the presence of others making it hard to act on it).

Fandom-specific DNW: vampire romance tropes (such as turning and/or immortality) as focus; non-female pronouns/headcanons.

–

Fandom: Original Work

Characters: Commissioned Officer & Non-Commissioned Officer, Female Re-Enactor Playing Male Soldier & Female Re-Enactor Playing Woman, Chaotic good Berserker & Officer she's absolutely loyal to, Crossdressing Fugitive Princess

Um, so, I’ve never requested original work before, but these are...certainly some options that play well with my general likes. Something that I also notice across these requests, other than the fact that most of them are military-related or otherwise have to do with clothing and/or women doing “man” stuff, is that there are a lot of options for exploring how characters with different skillsets and/or values play together. When there’s a problem to solve, especially in a high-risk and high-emotion situation, what happens when they don’t agree on what to do?

As far as setting goes, I think I’d been envisioning the CO & NCO and Berserker & Officer as taking place in a setting that’s removed from us in some way - whether that’s a fictionalized version of a historic military where women can be soldiers, actual historic settings where both are cross-dressing as men, total fantasy settings or future space settings. Likewise I imagine the Fugitive Princess might work better in a fictional or historical setting. The re-enactor pairing could be in our real present day in a way that might not work for the others, but it could equally well be future people or fantasy people!

Romance between any of these pairs, or between the Crossdressing Fugitive Princess and a female character - whether a rival or tyrant she’s a fugitive from, an old ally, someone new she meets while in disguise - is lovely :D (I neglected to officially DNW this so I suppose I could be screwed, but I don’t want het for these. I’m also less interested in, like, orc or goblin characters if you write a fantasy setting, but I didn’t think to DNW that either. :|)

–

Fandom: Simoun (Anime)

Characters: Neviril, Aaeru & Neviril, Paraietta, Rodoreamon, Mamiina

Simoun somehow ended up being a really weirdly meaningful show to me. I loved how all these women got to be flawed and fucked-up, noble and loyal. How, in the mold of all my favorite epic shoujo anime, it starts off beautiful and fine and then Shit Gets Very Real and that’s actually one of the themes of the show - we had a little debate on FFA as to whether or not Simoun was a military canon, and the fact that circumstances have remade a team of priestesses in fancy quarters and magic flying machines who are there to pray to God, put off their choice of sex, use their talents, maintain or claw their way into a social position, into a military force involved in a war - that’s an idea that the characters themselves struggle with in the show. (Neviril’s scene in the hearing is one of my favorites.) How everyone gets character development, in the sense of learning and changing, and even what seem like annoying mandatory straight subplots actually end up serving that thematic or character development, to say nothing of the more focal relationships between the leads (not just Neviril and Aeru, but also Mamiina and Rodoreamon, Neviril and Paraietta…)

I’d really like to read a fic where an individual character’s development or two characters’ relationship is similarly tied in to plot developments; it doesn’t have to be a plotty fic as such, but I was very interested in the way the developments of the war and the pilots/priestesses’ actions in it precipitated changes in their relationships. So how might Neviril and Aeru’s relationship develop in the other world (what are they doing?), or Mamiina and Rodoreamon’s on the Messis when they’re not the narrative focus before Mamiina’s last mission and the braid thing? (Or if this is more your speed, dig into that and see how a character grows or the relationship between characters develops when that’s not being moved along by outside events in the same way, especially if they’re aware of that being an issue. When Neviril and Aeru are outside the normal flow of time, or Paraietta ends up a civilian, for example.) I’m also interested in all the permutations of loyalty we see in the show - like loyalty to a position over loyalty to a side (as with the Plumbish priestesses’ siding with our Sibyllae), loyalty that develops before liking or friendship, the devoted loyalty to Neviril. I like the show’s military themes despite its magical-girl visuals. I think this is also a canon where it would make sense for sexual first times to be part of a fic - what does that mean for the characters you choose?

I should also say that due to all the magic and timespace warping in the show, I am more than okay with post-canon fic that gets characters back together who were separated by canon, if that’s what you want. You can resurrect Mamiina, or have Neviril and Aeru visit the main reality/timeline again. Or play with timespace even more - time loop fic?

#every woman 2018 #dear author letters #far from the madding crowd #simoun #monstrous regiment #original work

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techbloggerposts-blog1 · 4 years ago

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Things You Need To Know Before Choosing The Best Custom Software Development Company

Choosing a custom software development company is a tough task, as it directly affects the outcome, so you should not treat it lightly. Custom software development companies can offer key strategic advantages over in-house development, but choosing a wrong partner can is the real risk. Nobody wants to select a company to fail.

To help you choose the best custom software development company services, we had put some valuable information in this blog and tried to answer some FAQ's that every person wants to ask from a potential software partner.

Why Is It Necessary For You?

Most companies have a predefined sales pitch for all. Knowing them will give you an idea, how they see themselves, how they see you as a customer, and what their organization stands for. All this will provide you with a sense, whether this company will be a fit with your requirement of not.

Before going into an agreement, it is also necessary to know about their previous projects and successful track record on similar projects. After all, you would not hire a painter who has never painted a house.

It is necessary to clear the gap between what you have in mind and what the custom software development company will build. They must validate their understanding with you. Such an exchange of thoughts will ensure that requirements are accurate from both perspectives.

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Custom digital experiences are crucial to today's dynamic businesses to build a better future. We, at Integrative leverage experience of more than 20 years in creating top-rated, and high-performing custom software solutions. We are proficient in designing and developing next-gen solutions across various industry verticals. Integrative systems utilize modern technologies and advanced innovation, along with a user-centric approach in mind to deliver robust, scalable, and cutting-edge software solutions to increase client business productivity, optimize operations, and increase RoI.

At integrative, we have a proven track record of transforming the business of various small, medium, and large companies with the help of innovative technologies and our decades of experience in custom software development. We have experience serving broad range industries like - FMCG, retail, logistic, travel, healthcare, manufacturing, education, and many more.

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Bridge your business gaps by developing mobile apps that are easy to operate, maintain, and scalable. At Integrative, we help businesses generate a high profit and increase business value by developing Android and iOS-based apps.

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Here are some questions that our clients often ask us. Just go through them, as it will help you to make a better decision. And, in case you any questions for us, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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Before starting a project, we sign NDA (Non-disclosure agreement) without clients, and the agreement straightaway implies that we will ensure the client's data's absolute security. Moreover, the team working on the client project also sign strict NDA.

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This thing cannot be answered instantly, as several factors include in project development. Time consumed depends upon project complexity and overall modifications. The customized UI/UX designing takes around 1-4 weeks, and the development phase takes another time-period of 1-6 weeks, as per customer functionality requirement. At integrative, we ensure delivering your project in the minimum time possible by following an agile approach.

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Custom software generally offers the most efficiency, as it developed by keeping the specific needs of your business. Also, custom software development solutions provide greater efficiency and customer service.

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No matter how much thought you put in defining your project upfront, it's highly likely that your requirements will change drastically. However, we use the agile methodology and a more flexible engagement to manage significant project changes. To be discussed and agreed in a matter of hours. Also, nothing to worry about the changing demands of projects, we scale up proficient resources to meet your requirements.

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Integrative has delivered 1000+ projects since inception for clients in various countries. Our long clientele list and satisfied customers speak volumes about our success. Apart from this, we are experts in handling projects for varied industries. So, be assured of getting the best-in-class software solution.

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Having an experience of more than 20 years, we at Integrative aims to craft a superior digital experience for you, to streamline business process, improve your engagement ratio, and accomplish a set of business objectives.

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We dive deeper into the client project's short-term and long-term idea, and after getting familiar with the client's goals, we prepare a customized software solution.

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If you are looking for the best custom software development companies in the USA, our team of business is ready for discussion. Feel free to get in touch with us at [email protected]

#custom software services #custom software solutions #custom software development

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douglassmiith · 4 years ago

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A Brief Guide to Letting Black Entrepreneurs Be Entrepreneurs

July 1, 2020 8 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

In today’s global economy, racism is not only ignorant, it’s costly. Just ask Facebook, which has lost billions in advertising revenue amid calls to eliminate hateful rhetoric from its platform.

Hopefully, this will ring the alarm bell for others who are snoozing under the blanket of “business as usual.” People are not just going to go away quietly this time. If they’ve been willing to risk their lives during a pandemic to protest for equal rights, the uprising will continue. It’s time for a real shift, and that includes a genuine effort to nurture and elevate Black founders to a position where they can access the capital needed to introduce new and profitable ideas to the marketplace.

The sticking point is that too many companies and investors view supporting Black entrepreneurs as a matter of social impact or charity, rather than good business sense. What needs to happen now is for those who control the purse strings and equitably spreading the wealth cease viewing business in black and white and simply let an entrepreneur be an entrepreneur.

In the interest of hastening change, I’ve laid out answers to several questions even the most well-intentioned would-be allies might be asking themselves. The moment to let Black entrepreneurs be entrepreneurs begins now.

Related: It Doesn’t Take a Rocket Scientist to Solve the Racism Problem in Business

What do you mean when you say, “Let a Black entrepreneur be an entrepreneur”?

The message is: Let the Black entrepreneur be an entrepreneur, not somebody you think you’re giving charity to. It’s business. A lot of times, when you’re Black, that precedes everything, but when you think of a great painter, you don’t say it’s a great white painter. You just say it’s a great painter.

Is donating to organizations for Black causes the same as investing in Black entrepreneurs?

A lot of businesses, when looking to close the diversity gap, say, “Oh, well we’re going to do a charitable donation or give to a nonprofit.” But we’re bringing in opportunity. See the person as an entrepreneur, not a charity case. Give the funds to the black founders so that they can build their companies. An example of this thinking is a well-known VC, Jason Calacanis, who invested in the likes of Uber and Calm and recently posted on Twitter that he is going to hire engineers to build a Facebook clone and donate the proceeds to black founders. This thinking assumes that black founders: A) are not engineers and B) are charity.

These funds that will take all this money that Google, Pay Pal and SoftBank want to use to solve the issue need to invest directly in the black founders. Otherwise, what they’re saying is, “We don’t want to give the money to you.” The people putting these funds up for VCs to distribute need to understand that what they’re coming back to them with is a bunch of baloney.

How can I better ensure funds meant to nurture Black businesses are being best put to use?

My solution is for the Googles and PayPals and SoftBanks to make sure that when they’re dealing with the VCs who are going to be in charge of the money they decided to set aside for Black businesses, to treat the businesses as an opportunity that’s coming to them.

If SpaceX is an opportunity, you’re going to put massive amounts of money there. If it’s an act of charity, you’re going to put $5,000. If I’m Google, I say to Andreessen Horowitz and all these other companies that I want them to find companies unlocking opportunities within these communities. Then, they cannot come back with excuses to take these funds and put them somewhere else. When you invest in underrepresented founders, automatically, they’re going to open doors for you to places you are not even aware are there.

What’s an example of lucrative black opportunities that narrow-minded business leaders and investors missed out on?

Forever and ever, we’ve been saying that when you go to the makeup aisle, you get a powder that’s too light for your face or too dark for your face, so people have to improvise at home by mixing. You have a whole market, but no one was listening. Rihanna said, “You know what? I see my mom doing that, and I have to do that myself,” so she launched Fenty Beauty, which has completely transformed the industry, and now everyone’s running to catch up.

It’s the same thing with Black Panther. It’s again about serving an underserved market, not going into it as a charity or checking a box. Rihanna happens to be a celebrity, but it’s about the fact that she got the money to open that door, because we don’t get the money to open those doors. There are a ton of us out there who know where a lot more doors are.

How have VCs continued to raise the ceiling for Black founders and lower the floor for privileged entrepreneurs?

A lot of times, you have one person who has $336 million and another person who is struggling to put everything together. In a field where you’re judged by daily active users, one person might have 10,000 people, and the other person with $336 million might have 10 million people, but you’re being judged by the same metrics.

So investors will say, “Well, we’re gonna go find a Black Jason Goldberg with 10 million users,” and then come back and say, “Well, we didn’t find anyone with 10 million users. We found nice people who are trying really hard with maybe 10,000 users, so we’re now going to take this money that you’ve allocated specifically for them and go put it somewhere else.”

You’ll be hard-pressed to find an entrepreneur with 10 million users or generating that much revenue because the seed hasn’t been planted to allow them to get to this high ceiling. You can’t compare oranges and apples in that way, and that’s another system that’s in place to make sure no new entrants get in there and justify continuing the status quo.

What about the argument that there is a pipeline issue when it comes to Black and brown talent and skillset?

People are graduating. People are coding. People have ideas. Knowledge is not genetically encoded into people, it is acquired. It’s just about the right opportunity. People are going to go where they’re valued. When you look at a company like Facebook, and you don’t see one single Black face on their board or their leadership retreat they’re posting pictures of, you’re not going to want to go there. It’s not a pipeline problem. It’s just a blockage at the entrance keeping minorities from coming in.

Is most of this unconscious bias, or something worse?

It’s baffling to many people why the diversity gap in business is not closing, because you have companies that are saying, “Hey, help us close the gap.” But somehow the bridge is not being built. We have made a lot of progress, but not far enough. There’s still a lot of redlining of black entrepreneurs, even at the growth stage. A lot of black founders will build the company, people are excited about it, and when it’s time to go from seed to growth, you’ll see the headline, “Bubl raises X, then Sean Ramsay out” or, “Kairos secures Y then Brian Brackeen out or “Hopstop raises Z, Chinedu Echeruo out.” It’s a redlining. When you like the food but you don’t like the farmer, you want to come and take the farm and put the farmer out, and it happens over and over again.

Related: The First-Ever Live, Virtual Reality Comedy Special Could Only Happen Now

What is the very next step I should take if I want to make more money with a wider variety of founders?

There are two ways to look at investing in underrepresented communities: It’s a great opportunity to open up new markets or a way to sustain and take care of your current customers. Imagine if the top Black athletes, influencers and musicians with more than one billion followers combined left the platforms that don’t have any Black people in their leadership or have racist algorithms and went to platforms where they’re valued and appreciated? People are sick and tired of dealing with “isms.” They simply want a fair chance, but if they are kept from accessing heaven here on earth, they’ll raise hell.

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riichardwilson · 4 years ago