#and i already have 2 more sorta-proper essays that i want to write on the topic asdgfhdhjk. yea i'm literally not gonna stop

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Kishotenketsu and You: Rethinking Wano

Let's talk narrative structure for a moment. Well, more than a moment. Shocker, I have trouble speaking up in groups so I’m a long-winded writer.  This is bigger than Kiku. Which is hard because she is very tall. Wano made the interesting choice to have these explicit act breaks unlike any prior One Piece arc. Closing the curtains for the first time on a chapter titled "Ha" based on a theatrical flourish used within. People sorta made up their minds we were using a 5-Act structure called jo-ha-kyu. It could have worked, not saying it was a bad idea. Just...a long time ago another one started to become obvious for a reason we just wouldn't have been able to get then. By the time it became apparent, people had moved on.

And thus, my true goal was accomplished. Cramming in Sssarahebi somehow. This Snake Princess is good with kids, the other kicks puppies. Kishotenketsu, a portmanteau of the four parts of a four-part story structure. It's a big deal with deep roots in East Asian writing, from teaching the proper flow of a single sentence to the structure of epics, even argumentative essays and legal writing. China and Korea have their own variants. It is every bit as core to Asian writing as a conflict-driven, three act structure is to the West. I know you’ve seen it in action if you’re reading a post about Wano because Alabasta, Water 7, Zou, and Whole Cake all fit this template. 1057, 1058, & 1059 all do internally, as do Acts 1,2, & 3 as standalone stories. By the time you finish reading the parts it’ll be very obvious why it pertains to Wano:

Ki- is for Kiku, in this case meaning introduction. Setting the setting, characters, themes. Act 1 fits this like a glove.

Sho- is next, development. Build off of part one, usually with some twists that deepen the core. Act 2 works but would be a little short. Add the Oden flashback and pre-Raid though? Now we're talking.

Ten- follows, twist, with the biggest climax being called the Yama. Think peaks, biggest mountain. That idea. Should feel tonally different even to the point of being jarring. Or a story that could stand complete on its own. Focusing on a new setting, characters, etc. 

Ketsu rounds it off. This is the conclusion. Where we tie off the loose ends and solidify the intent in a manner that draws the ultimate point out of the contrast between the setup and the twist. 

So yeah...Wano, that already weird and lowkey kinda meta theatrical arc? It’s been doing something like if a “Hero’s Journey” story named the two biggest new faces “Call” (as in, to adventure) and “Ordeal.” Then the two are total mirrors of each other but never really interact. In short, don't be so sure we aren't about to head into “Act 4.” Especially when it doesn't have to look like the other three at all. The curtains don’t have to open, Hiyori doesn’t have to play us in, it doesn’t even need to involve Wano anymore.  Doesn’t have to be about Kiku no matter how well she could do it, like I said long ago this could all be for Vivi’s sake. I’ll add Hancock as well.

If you've seen a few old samurai movies or enough anime you've probably seen this. If you want something Western The Handmaid's Tale does a good impression. Book, not show. Main story ends, but we're not done. There's some coda. Maybe it's in the future, maybe it's some random new faces commenting on what happened, maybe it gets really fuckin trippy and leans on the fourth wall. Or perhaps it jerks into a completely different format! Rakugo Man could tell the people of Wano another story for all we know, Marco could incidentally reveal some last bits of context pouring his heart out to Ace/Whitebeard’s graves, or maybe we get a cute Kamishibai-style flashback!

It doesn't have to be wild though, the crew on the ship for a few chapters does the job as good as anything. Alabasta did it with two naval challenges and through Jaya in tandem with setting up Skypiea. Thriller Bark is the setup two, with Sabaody as part 3 and Amazon Lily as part 4. These have long stood as some of my favorite parts of the series for this...ephemeral, foreign pace that leaves me thinking about them so much more. How elegant they are as transitions. How much weight the small island stories truly carry. Also like, this is an arc where the big powerup was cartoon nonsense.

Look at what was left on the table for Wano, a lot of it was the impact on the main cast or threads that would heavily involve one or more. That wasn’t an accident. None of us know what's happening next, but it has all the potential in the world to be incredibly unique. I can't wait to see it with you all.

For a little extra reading on Kishotenketsu, check out this excellent piece from 2012: https://stilleatingoranges.tumblr.com/post/25153960313/the-significance-of-plot-without-conflict

[unproduciblesmackdown]

@uberoll-oystercrackers putting this PT convo on blast just for the sake of switching to this format where u don’t have to break everything up via replies because [comically deep inhale]

honestly like idc idc i guess ppl are just like “uhh mytho’s got nothing going on b/c he has no feelings!!” like Yeah Correct, that’s a premise / inciting factor for this series and everything everyone’s doing lol, it’s only Boring if you don’t think about the character at all lmfao which i guess some ppl don’t, but like, there’s only 4 of them.....it’s Wildly Interesting that he literally has no feelings at first, like, for one thing it’s cool how there’s always the Idea of characters who don’t have emotions or act on them, but this is like the rare “realistic” situation where having no feelings means he needs someone to steer him around and make choices for him (and how Vulnerable that leaves him lmfao like episode 2 is wild but also that ppl just haven’t really realized that they Could just pick mytho up and pitch him into a wall, and fakir and rue are sort of careful neutral alliance keeping tabs on him) and you know, the whole s1 structure of mytho regaining both Capacity For / Experience of An Emotion and his sense of identity and by extent of all this his agency, and how like, Thematic everything surrounding this character is that’s reflected in the overall series like. trying to control someone for your own benefit vs being willing to sacrifice your own interests (and then some...) for their freedom & the Protecting Someone (And/Or Wanting To) As A Love Language that all the characters show for each other at various points & hope vs despair.......and like No Shit he’s dispassionate & passive b/c he can’t Feel Feelings & resultantly can’t make decisions or feel motivations but obviously he’s still Motivating other characters to act on his behalf, & there’s so much mystery & drama already in “yeah this guy you think is just a neat handsome guy is also an actual prince from a story who’s Real & sacrificed his heart in the fight with an evil giant raven monster that eats people & so he can’t feel anything or remember who he is” like damn!!! epic of him even if right now he can’t do much of anything on his own. i’m interested, and then i’m Interested every time in the Drama & Mystery of this person regaining parts of himself and completely rediscovering An Emotional Experience and how that is totally recontextualizing his entire existence for him.....

plus also even though “person literally lost heart via magic and doesn’t know what Feeling Things is” isn’t a We’ve All Been There situation i was like oh and you know it’s not like what mytho’s got going on isn’t potentially Relatable....can get into a side essay about dapressione and trauma and other types of stuff that can make it seem like someone can’t/shouldn’t have full access to their feelings / self / agency &/or it’s Dangerous if they try.....whew

but continuing on YEAH ugh just completely fascinated with mytho the Entire Time actually lol like, i’ve tended to lose steam in early s2 b/c he’s sort of Less involved beyond the [hehe time to cause some trouble in this particular ep] role lol but even so it’s like well it’s kinda fun when at least somebody’s being a bitch who lives for drama lmfaooooo & we get mytho Struggling Internally & sometimes punching through that way but again it’s like yeah oops the guy was basically autonomous but zwoop here’s a problem where that doesn’t mean shit anymore lol b/c he’s got this alternate evil self steering the ship all the time now lol got em.....the Peak of that i guess is where we get to have an epic swordfight between raven!mytho and fakir like you know what fuck yes!!! the intrinsic drama of that lmfao!!!! and then it’s like “oh no :/ loving the drama? that’s just what drosselmeyer wants” except Not b/c actually what makes it totally rule is that it’s this chance for Real Mytho to come through for the sake of protecting fakir (tbt “i wonder what i think of you, fakir”...) and really like that being what prompts fakir’s “you know what, even though before i was afraid my role as a knight would kill Me and i’m afraid my coincidental(?) role as a guy who can Reality Write could kill Anyone Else, i gotta try b/c that’s the only thing i could possibly do here and i want to try protecting everyone else b/c everyone else including mytho is protecting Me” and like augh everyone is so Thoughtful about how to try to help mytho out even as like, they can’t hardly interact with him or undo the situation lol.....as you’re getting into the series finale and everyone’s just outright Voicing things and you get “i/we want to protect mytho” like 32x and it’s beautiful each time ;___; like and well sorry but him & his heart/lack of are also the heart of the whole story here.....

and you know what *i* want to protect mytho, sympathizing with all the characters like fuck yes you’re so right, this guy rules, episode 6 aka The Fear Episode is SO good, like, you’ve gotten kinda used to the episodic format here, ep 5 did sure also make it obvious that things are Building on what’s happening prior here & that there’s stakes and stuff but it’s such a shakeup, like, that maybe just kinda sneakily dipping in and out of the arena giving back a piece of his heart until it’s done with, no problem, Isn’t Gonna Happen, and again, the Drama of it all......that the heart shards are yeah kind of their own People who are these fractions of mytho’s self and the way you interact with them is gonna like, affect things, since tutu didn’t like “resolve” things with that heart shard and just kinda got him on a technicality there lmfao so it’s like, yeah not only does mytho have a more general / abstract cause to be afraid of tutu & her bringing all these Unknowns & completely new things to him / changing things up and apparently introducing conflict, but you’ve gone and gotten his capacity for fear all recently riled up and specifically afraid of his interaction with You from 5 sec ago, and how could anyone know this mysterious magical being giving you Negative Feelings is like, Safe......and i’m sure it’s all compounding here, like, it’s Wild to be suddenly experiencing A Feeling for the (seeming) first time, and that in itself sure could be Scary, he just hasn’t had the proper emotion available with with to Be Afraid, now he’s gotten back a freshly stoked (capacity for) Fear and how off the shits it must be to be afraid for the first time anyways, or to be feeling the other stuff for the first time, and who knows what Unfun Feelings could come next, there’s a lot to freak out about.......and not like it’s trying That hard to never suggest like oh fakir's not that bad even though he’s technically an antagonist at the start b/c of being at odds with / against the protagonist, it’s pretty telling there lol like he’s unhappy with mytho having feelings again at all and has already been getting mad about it but is just being Helpful here and trying to comfort him, like aw that’s neat i think it’s nice, and again throwing it back to “I Wonder What I Think Of You, Fakir” you get fakir reassuring mytho that nobody but him is around, and mytho having this capacity for Fear is choosing to confide in fakir re: what he’s dealing with here (not that this would on it’s own be some guarantee that mytho’s Right to be unafraid of fakir, but, knowing all we eventually know...) like again lol it’s funny that drosselmeyer’s loving the Drama of mytho only having regained Negative Feelings like, i mean i’m soaking it in as well but it’s like, that guy’s all about Angst and it’s like no im here all about the Hurt/Comfort more like, thank you lmfao

it’s also SO good how it’s like, the next episode is turning around & giving the story a way forward not by like, oh let’s just counteract this Fear mytho’s struggling with by returning the....emotion of Courage i guess, but rather by giving him back Curiosity to ultimately lead to him actually seeking a conversation with tutu.......and it’s like AUGH it’s soooo fun that he goes to that river and has a conversation with his own heart shard lmfao like that’s you!!! and that You does not realize you’re them!!! that’s wild and i love it......wait i took low res screenshots when i rewatched this a few weeks ago lmfao

i Love it lmfao like it’s Such a good choice to have him not only have lost his Emotions but also memories / knowledge of who he, himself, even is.....like yeah man it was all on you to fight this heart eating raven monster!!!!!!!!! which you know, it’s also Fun that earlier in that episode when he and fakir are hanging out in the secret Problems Mill (which....fakir is hilarious like that lmfao. whole other tangent here like ppl are not only rolling with Animals As People but stuff like “yeah fakir might just be like ‘oops gotta go!’ and whisk mytho away to various out of the way Locations” like lmfao these teens have some free rein, but it’s nothing compared to s2 where it’s like “They Were Roommates but ig fakir tried to kill mytho who’s now being really dramatic and weird which is v different from before and maybe he’s in love with that one random dude who’s around now, which sucks for everyone else, oops now he’s just like Vanishing for god knows how long at a time it’s fine!!!!” lmfao like god. ballet school just is like that sometimes...) anyways Yeah that mytho’s been having nightmares about the raven and fakir is just going like IT’S FINE JUST DON’T THINK ABOUT IT lol and knowing fakir is also being pretty driven / restricted by fear, reasonably, as he thinks (well. and is correct) that he’s The Knight and his fate is literally written as “yeah if the story gets going and you’re a part of it you’ll just be killed” like yeah, oof......Wonder What I Think Of You Fakir like yeah AND he is that knight you actually did know who was suddenly killed trying to protect you and he’s sorta accepted that role again except he’s not really a fan of that Being Killed thing so here we’re having some issues in his misguided approach here re: Mytho Should Not Get His Heart Back, but he’s also trying to protect them Both from the story, and he’s only So Willing to act Against mytho, like, well hey thanks for apologizing after you hit him and then like, not doing that anymore lol, v reasonable how he’s struggling here lol where he’s trying to Protect mytho but the story a) wants to invite tragedy and b) has already said that The Knight has been / will be killed and can’t actually protect the prince within the story, also c) he’s just like one random high school guy out here......and also that it must just be kinda hard to adapt to this changing situation where mytho Is regaining this sense of self and motivation, but for like the past decade or whatever he Has needed fakir to just be in charge and tell him what to do all the time and, if he had the sense of what it was to trust someone, trust fakir to just always be acting in his best interest, but then mytho’s idea of his own best interest a) starts to Exist and b) is at odds w/fakir’s b/c also c) he doesn’t have All his feelings yet, Or all his memories, while fakir is like “noooo i know the story”.....like there was never any need to just like tell him he sucks at random times lol but it’s also kind of funny that’s just part of fakir’s shtick, calling mytho a dumbass one more time when he’s just fully himself as The Prince again lmfaooo. but prior to that, surely fakir could wonder what mytho thinks of him (or potentially Could think of him) too.......it’s just soooo good when mytho is like, expressing things verbally while trying to work through / figure out Feelings and even ones that he doesn’t have back yet, and it’s always fun how that inevitably throws off whatever character he’s musing about this to......including whenever ahiru’s just like “oh fuck yes he can do this b/c he has more feelings back now, that rules” and/or “aw :( he’s struggling w/this b/c he only has Some of his heart back”

and also that reminds me it’s SO good when the characters just kinda get to Do Something together lmfao like. ahiru and rue hanging out when looking for mytho that one time, iconic stuff, mytho and ahiru hanging out in the previous episode, iconic, maybe it kills me that in the first ep of s2 you have mytho saying ahiru’s his friend and the only person he feels like he can tell anything (and ahiru feeling bad she hasn’t Told Him Everything lol) and then he basically never gets to interact with her again knowing and as himself like Scream it’s fine ;v; !!!!!! let these people spend more than 3 seconds together Interacting lmfao it’s soooo good when they do :’0

and THEN you get into how there’s all this stuff re: The Story, like, fakir is the reincarnated knight, ahiru is the duck given tutu’s abilities Via a piece of mytho’s heart, but we had the original knight and tutu in the story as these actual ppl who we only hear a Little bit of lore about, but mytho actually knew / knows, and like, the original genesis for tutu only being on 1 Page of the story and apparently drosselmeyer doesn’t even really put any thought into what her motivations could be lol like yeah idk whatever she wants to marry the prince or whatever so that’s why she loves him and Says It and disappears......and like we have almost No direct info about her but uh nbd at least some of her actual essence is actually now an intrinsic part of mytho’s actual heart and specifically embedded in the heart shard of Hope, like damn!!!! you Know there was something more Real and Complex going on there and i love it so much.......and the original Knight, lohengrin.....might have been doomed to be unable to protect mytho with his sword, but there’s other ways to protect that guy and Someone needed to be doing it.......i’m just like wow mytho’s gf and bf!!!! and they both sort of died but hey. there’s still a lot to think about

so yeah lmfao love that you can originally see this series like, a decade ago and here it is like damn still lying down / yelling / generally riled up about mytho and just having So Much to think about / appreciate from this series like. it’s so Singular and has so much going on.......cherish it and i’m just still anytime like [epcot vine voice] Mytho...........

[theropoda]

3, 4, 6-8, 11, 13-17, 19-22, 26-30 uwu

WOO LAD THAT’S A LOT THANK U!!! this got long and i wrote an essay or two LOL so im putting it under a readmore!

3: Best game you’ve ever played? WEEEELLLL.......let me preface this with two things: one, i am a FAKE GAMER as in my laptop is not at all made for gaming, it’s piss poor, so a big chunk of games i’m interested in is because i watched a playthrough of them lol. i have a 3ds but only 3 games on it (animal crossing new leaf, tomodachi life, nintedogs & cats). second, i’m very bad at choosing favorites of things.....BUUUUT .....i choooooose, in no particular order, OFF, pigeonetics, elder scrolls oblivion, pathologic classic HD!! i’m more than likely forgetting a few though, so sorry about that

4: Worst game you’ve ever played? as i said above, cannot choose favorites, neither can i choose whatever the opposite of favorites is but...uhh, does lif even count as a game? like lif, the stupid little furry flash game i remember playing on some shady website. it was surprisingly very active with a BUNCH of people there but i kept dying like every 5 seconds....AWFUL

6: A game that’s changed you the most? WELL define Changed.....ummm aha first thing that comes to mind is OFF. it’s one of those things where you never knew you wanted something so fucking bad until you saw it--and it’s like that for me. i NEVER knew i loved that odd, surreal, colorful, “looks playful and simple in some parts but incredibly violent and unnerving in other parts” aesthetic til i played it. like aesthetically i love that game to BITS and something about it just stuck with me til the end of time.

later in life (meaning, past year or so) it changed me because it taught me a lesson about storytelling and creative endeavors. a very useful lesson. which is: things don’t really need to have a meaning. stories, art, music, writing, whatnot, while it CAN be deep and meaningful, while you CAN use it as a way to communicate with the world about all kinds of heartfelt things, it can also be...nothing, really.

once i, as usual, got ridiculously overwhelmingly sad about small things. specifically seeing other people around me come up with all kinds of deep and meaningful characters and stories, sometimes putting them into webcomics or writings of theirs, and they were all so well-thought out and detailed and what i envied most was people put a lot of themselves and their experiences into them, venting and coping through them, whilst also making these larger-than-life grandiose complex stories and worlds and so on and so forth.

it made me look at my own ideas and get mad/frustrated at how shallow they were. but then i remembered OFF and i felt better because Fun Fact, mortis ghost has a now-abandoned dA account and if you go through the comment section on his profile, he answers a lot of fan questions and he mentions several times that the game didn’t really have a “meaning”, it didn’t really have a “deeper story” or moral or anything, really. i’m paraphrasing this but i vividly remember him saying “i wanted to make a game, so i did”.

that made me feel a lot better because it made me realise that sometimes art--especially stories, in my case-- doesn’t NEED to be DEEP or have MEANING...sometimes it can just BE!!!! sometimes it really can just be all about AESTHETICS like who GIVES a shit if there’s a hidden meaning if you take the first letter of all of your characters’ names and put them backwards, sometimes all that matters is if they just VIBE with you y’know....

yume nikki is similar in this regard bc that game doesn’t have any story other than “collect egg” and yet it’s so impactful. that game doesn’t have a story or meaning it just IS........ :) GOD THATS SO LONG IM SORRY ABOUT THAT but yeah. funny violent ghostbusting baseball man is a game that changed me :)

7: A game you’ll never forget? OFF AGAIN LOL,,, it’s just so memorable because of how unique it is. visuals, soundtrack, story, everything is so memorable. unforgettable. oh god you can tell how much i love this damn game can’t you

8: Best soundtrack? yakuza 0, OFF, there is a picture (another game by mortis ghost, again composed by alias conrad coldwood who also composed OFF), pigeonetics (the entire soundtrack of which is here), jojo’s bizarre adventure all star battle and eyes of heaven, silent hill 2 & 3, undertale....probably forgetting more but all of these...earcandy

11: Hardest game you’ve played? i am a shitty gamer so this is Most games i’ve played lol!! but uhh..well you see. hardest game i remember playing as of recent is pathologic classic hd in which it’s...not only hard to understand what any character is saying at any given time lol but also, i don’t think it’s HARD it’s just...you need to focus. you REALLY need to fucking focus and pay attention in this game. so i wouldn’t say its HARD, but i’m only putting this here bc it’s in recent memory.

i say recent memory because the true answer is susceptible to “yeah, but now you’re older, it must not be so hard.” as in if i played it now i think i’d have a way easier time. but when i was around....10-12 years old i had several ps3 video game adaptations of animated movies and i had SUCH a fucking hard time with them. g-force, bolt and up in particular were fucking HARD. like genuinely, the hardest time i had EVER had in my live playing video games is tied to these three fucking games. g-force and bolt ESPECIALLY. one particular level in bolt took both me AND my sister around a year to fucking finish.

again, i was baby, so i bet i’d have a much easier time with them now that i’m 17. but for now, in my experience, bolt and g-force for the ps3 were harder than pathologic classic. i think icepick lodge should take a few notes for them for pathologic 2.

13: A game you were the most excited for when it wasn’t released yet? STREETS OF KAMUROCHO...i spent the entire day of its release anticipating its launch lol

14: A game you think would be cool if it had voice acting? hmm..most games i like and know about do have voice acting so i dunno....i guess it would’ve been kind of cool if morrowind had like, full proper voice acting. but i can understand why it only voice acted things like greetings and battle insults because GOD that game is SO...complicated...and as a result, the conversations are so lengthy and text-full. playing morrowind is really like a goddamn book! if it was voice acted i’m sure all that information would have to be shortened bc i know no one is going to fucking voice act two whole paragraphs

15: Which two games do you think would make an awesome crossover? pigeonetics and yakuza in which instead of being about the criminal underworld it’s about shady and unethical pigeon clubs, breeding, racing, etc etc...a lot of illegal shit does happen in the world of pigeons especially when it comes to racing; prized racers have been kidnapped and held for ransom before. and then there’s Avian Cucking: The Sport, where people breed the sexiest pigeons (horseman thief pouters), release them outside to seduce other people’s sexy pigeons, and bring them back and keep ‘em, drama ensues. will kiryu ever escape his past as a professional pigeon-napper, and find solace in his new life as a pigeon hobbyist? find out now by playing YACOOZA......

JOKES ASIDES i don’t know i really don’t....umm, pigeonetics and animal crossing somehow?? :O... like, instead of managing your own town it’s managing your own loft!...orrrr, the jojo games (all star battle & eyes of heaven) with yakuza, because i think they’re somewhat similar because they’re both haha Wacky Silly AND serious over the top fighty-fighting.....or maybe a crossover with OFF and discover my body, which, despite being an incredibly short and obscure indie game i still love to bits for what it’s worth. WAIT ANIMAL CROSSING AND MINECRAFT THAT WOULD FUCK SO HARD OH MY GOD

16: Character you’ve hated most? From what game? i can’t think of any character i like, HATE...with a burning passion.. there are a few i dislike or have a complicated relationship with though.. i’m not interested in the series anymore but ouma from drv3...i’ll admit that he is a bit fun sometimes, especially in the very early beginning he’s a likeable brat but as the game progresses he becomes more irritating than anything and i have an issue with him in regards to writing, despite the fact that i have never been awake in any english class ever lol. it’s too long to put in this already long post but i’ll keep it at that. if you like him, well, good for you for finding joy in something i couldn’t! but he just doesn’t do it for me.

AH I JUST REMEMBERED....MINE......FROM YAKUZA 3....maybe i’d change my mind if i watched a playthrough of y3 again, because i think you always absorb something better on your second watch (tho i honestly Dont have the energy to do that all over again, the yakuza games are too fucking long), but i really hate his writing. spoilers for y3 but, i think mine’s writing, alongside other things in the game, were super messy...and a big part of why i hate him is that not only is he one of those “could’ve had great potential but fell flat” sorta guys but also his love for daigo is seen as some fans as good gay rep and i?????/.............um....WELL let’s just say that, i think people nowadays will see any gay character ever in any circumstance and say it’s good gay rep just based off the fact that A Gay Character exists....he was Not, good gay rep imo....he was not, let alone, Good. .........

17: What game do you never tell people you play? can’t think of any games i wouldn’t tell people i play.. idk exactly what this question’s asking. does it mean what game you don’t tell ppl you play bc you’re embarrassed about it...? i’m not very embarrassed by any of them. the only thing that comes close, i guess, is uhh lioden and wolvden. i’ve only interacted with those communities a LITTLE TINY WEE BIT, yet of what i’ve seen it’s a goddamn dumpster fire and i’d never want to be associated with them lol

19: Which game do you think deserves a revival? i’m well aware it’ll never happen and that it’s more a wet dream than anything but...PT/silent hills..... on a more realistic/”could happen” note, PIGEONETICS!!!! SERIOUSLY, it’s an amazing game about amazing animals and it teaches genetics in a very simplified and efficient way!! genetics is SO hard for me to understand, i fucking hated studying it but this game really helped me understand how it works AND its super engaging and interesting!! HOWEVER, of all the pigeon genes we know of, only a handful were seen in pigeonetics and i’d LOVE a sequel that employs new game mechanics AND new genes!! i wanna learn about bronze and stencil genes! i wanna learn about phenotypes like grizzled and pied!!! genes like sooty and dirty!!! @ UNIVERSITY OF UTAH GENETICS DEPARTMENT PLEASE IM BEGIGNG YOU

20: What was the first video game you ever played? earliest memories of Gaming involves me at my aunt’s house playing two games: super mario brothers and some kind of trapeze game. i don’t remember anything else though

21: How old were you when you first played a video game? i can’t remember but i must’ve been REAL tiny.... 6-9 years, maybe??

22: If you could immerse yourself in any game for one day, which game would it be? What would you do? immerse myself meaning go into their world...? huh....on one hand i’d like to go in the world of yakuza 0 to play in the arcades and do whore related activities but i’d also love to go into the world of animal crossing (and i’m pretty sure i’d be some sort of generic dromaeosaurid in that game!!) and shop, chat with villagers, do chores for them, go fishing, bug hunting, eat delicious fucking food like the apples mangos peaches cherries etc etc.....OH AND FOSSIL HUNTING THAT’S THE BEST PART!! though it would definetly be a little weird, to be a little dinosaur and finding a fossil of a...little dinosaur....i guess the non-sentient species went extinct and the dinosaur i am is some kind of, descendant of a sapient non-avian dinosaur that survived the k-pg extinction event...oh but who cares all i want is a cool little ambulocetus fossil or something. and some cherry pie :)

26: Handheld or console? my old ps3 just went kaput one day years ago so i haven’t used it in years so i can’t compare well... but i’d say handheld, because it lets me like DO stuff more...would love to get a console one day, a ps4 maybe but i’m kinda worried it’ll make me stay in one room all day wasting away my time when there’s other stuff i can do, y’know? but something handheld like my 3ds, on the other hand...i can do stuff with it. i can take it to my room and play it between breaks i take as i clean the room and fold my clothes, i can watch something on the tv and play the game during ad breaks, i can take it outside too if it has charge to last me a while! so....handheld i guess

27: Has there ever been a moment that has made you cry? yakuza 0 and undertale in particular have ALMOST made me fucking bawl with many of its moments....yakuza 0 especially, after that Fucking Ending i had trouble sleeping because oh my fucking god. video game people SAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

28: Which character’s clothes do you wish you owned the most?

29:  Which is more important, gameplay or story? HMMM....well, if i were to play a game with a shitty story but really good and fun gameplay i’d probably continue playing it for the gameplay. but if i played a game with shitty gameplay but an interesting story, there is a chance i’d play it more for the sake of the story but also i might just quite and see the rest of the story on youtube or something. i’m more likely to go through a boring story for fun gameplay than go through boring gameplay for an interesting story, so i guess gameplay is more important to me....that is, WHEN i actually own and play a game as opposed to when i just watch someone play a game because i don’t own the game but wanna know abt the story lol

30: A game that hasn’t been localized in your country that you think should be localized? i have no idea how video game localization really works....but i assume localizing a game in india would mean something like, removing content according to cultural norm and also somehow translating it into the 22 official languages..? or just two or three language if it’s tied to a particular state, which seems way more doable. i honestly have no idea? i’ve never interacted w the indian gaming community that much to be honest, all i know of it is of the video games i’ve seen sold in some game stores and a few whispers about like solid snake or whoever from my school’s cafeteria....the most popular games here, to my knowledge, are those very streamable games like fortnite and PUBG and your call of duties and whatnot. those generic shooters. and even then, that honestly isn’t the “indian” gaming community bc this country is so FUCKHUGE, it’s just tamil nadu. one state.

soooo, according to what little i know of gaming interests in where i live, i don’t think any of the games i like should be localized here bc i don’t really think there’s an audience for it as far as i can tell :( maybe animal crossing? it’s a fun little games for all ages and i think it has a chance of becoming popular here, so maybe that is worth a shot! but i can’t think of any other game that i like that really has an audience here (other than Me lol)

[kbetolks]

The original post can be found here★.

1. What does your writing process look like?

A text file with a bunch of sentences

A folder with images supposedly pertinent to the story

A bunch of bookmarks on google search

Eventual pieces of paper also with a bunch of random sentences

2. Do you have any strange writing habits (like standing on your head or writing in the shower)?

Uhh... no? I listen to music, but that's hardly 'strange', I guess.

3. What book do you wish you could have written?

Redações Perigosas II. It's about a teacher that always get herself in trouble when she asks her students to write an essay. There's a bit of mystery and a bunch of puns. Or that’s how I remember it from my childhood. LOL!

4. Just as your books inspire authors, what authors have inspired you to write?

(I don’t have any proper book, nor do I know about inspiring people. It’s a cool thought, though.)

Well, I had PerfectDreamWithHim to push me to write, and I always loved russelia’s stuff. I guess it’d be those two?

5. If you could cast your characters in the Hollywood adaptation of your book, who would play your characters?

I'd want Betty White as Nan Fletcher, and Regina Hall as Becca.

6. How important are names to you in your books? Do you choose the names based on liking the way it sounds or the meaning? Do you have any name choosing resources you recommend?

Very important. Sometimes I spend quite a few hours trying to find a fitting name. And I don't really have a go-to site, but anything like those 'names for babies' or names dictionaries is good. Especially those that show a name's popularity at certain year. Pretty useful.

7. What do you consider to be your best accomplishment?

This is so vague... I'd say completing my every story. I take pride in not leaving unfinished stuff behind. (It may take years, but I do it!)

8. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I don’t know? Too many years there. I can barely plan anything for the weekend… LMAO

9. Were you already a great writer? Have you always like to write?

(It's funny because this assume I am a great writer. LMAO) I kinda enjoyed writing for school, but just that. Writing stories is somewhat new for me.

10. What writing advice do you have for other aspiring authors?

Write. You can't get better unless you practice. Everybody starts somewhere.

11. If you didn’t like writing books, what would you do for a living?

12. Are you a plotter or a pantster?

A bit of both? lately I've been more of a plotter because I'm writing longer stories. But everything else is just me going with the flow.

13. Do you read your reviews? Do you respond to them, good or bad? Do you have any advice on how to deal with the bad?

Read and respond to all of them. It's just common courtesy, in my opinion. Advice, eh? I'm really bad with those because I barely get ANY reviews, and the bad ones are pretty rare, too! I guess I'd say to not pay it any mind if it's not con-crit. Only you know how long it took you to write that, and usually that nasty comment comes from somebody that doesn't even write. If you are you own worst critic (like me) you don't have much to worry about. *Alanis Morissette voice* No one's been crueller than I've been to me ♪

14. What is your best marketing tip?

15. What is your least favorite part of the publishing / writing process?

Writing. LMAO! Seriously, it would be a lot easier if the words just flowed from the brain.

16. Is there one subject you would never write about as an author? What is it?

So many, to be honest. Anything that's too dark and serious, like sexual assault.

17. Do you have a favorite conference to attend? What is it?

Never been to one of those.

18. Is there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than others? Love? Action? Racy?

Anything angsty or smutty. I've been trying my hand at it lately, but I don't feel as relaxed as I am with crack and silly puns.

19. Is this your first book? How many books have you written prior (if any?)

Given that some stories are as lengthy as books, no. I have other 5 or 6 stories over 40K.

20. What are you working on now? What is your next project?

I have two stories at the moment. Choices Like Waves★ and This World Ends With Us★. I plan on going back to Not As We at some point this year or the next. There's also an exchange later this year, but I'm not sure I'm participating yet.

21.When did you decide to become a writer?

I didn’t decide. It happened when a friend talked me into translating and posting a dream I had. That was sometime around 2012.

22.Why do you write?

Because I have too many unwritten ideas and I want to see as many as possible written before I die. But mainly because I can't not write.

23.What made you decide to sit down and actually start something?

Like starting a project? Well, it depends on the idea, though it all comes down to my inability to not write something.

24.Do you have a special time to write or how is your day structured?

Whenever I have time, though I usually pick weekends/mornings. There's so much I write at night that doesn't make sense...

25.Do you write every day, 5 days a week – if not, when?

I write whenever it's possible. And when I can't, I'll just jot down some ideas.

26.Do you aim for a set amount of words/pages per day?

Nah, that's unnecessary stress.

27.Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?

Lately I've been outlining stuff and then seeing how far I can go. I don't mind if new stuff comes to me along the way.

28.How do you think you’ve evolved creatively?

I'm pretty creative, if i say so myself. I'm not sure there's been any change to even say I 'evolved'.

29.What is the hardest thing about writing?

Everything.

30.What was the hardest thing about writing your latest book?

For TWEWU I'd say some delicate aspects of the plot towards the end. I had to find a way to make it somewhat lighter than the original plot. (It's so vague, but I don't want to give out possible spoilers. LOL!) For CLW Id say... the homophobia. It made me sad because it's very common in real life.

31.What is the easiest thing about writing?

*hysterical laughter*

32.Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?

Both.

33. How do you think you’ve evolved creatively?

I don’t think I have? Like, imagination was never a problem. Even before I started writing. I just let my imagination run wild, and it’s been that way since forever? That’s why I have a soft spot for fantasy. (My dreams usually involve that kind of stuff and my first fic was actually a dream I had.)

34. What subjects do you find you can’t write about, and why?

Abuse in general.

35. What subjects do you love writing about?

Everything that's happy and silly. Family fics are my drug.

36.How much research do you do?

It depends on the story, but usually quite a bit. At least I try to check if what I'm saying has any veracity or I'm just being daft.

37. Have you written any other novels in collaboration with other writers?

Never.

38. Why did you do decide to collaborate and did that affect your sales?

39. When did you decide to become a writer?

I didn't. I was dragged into this life. LMAO

40. Why do you write?

Because I need to.

41. What inspired your latest project?

I wanted to try my hand at writing smut, so a gay porn star story seemed ideal. LMAO

42. What’s the most boring part of writing?

Revising/editing.

43. What’s the most fun part of writing?

Seeing it finished.

44. What’s the biggest writing mistake you ever made?

I changed some character's ethnicity halfway into the story, and I'm also bad at getting the seasons right. (It's always the inverse for North hemisphere.)

45. What do you hope to accomplish in the next 5 years as a writer?

I don't know. Finishing the Tales of Deepsea City series? I want a third instalment with a crossover!

46. What’s the best thing you’ve ever done as a writer?

Carried on writing.

47. What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done as a writer?

Carried on writing.

48. Do you find it hard to accept criticism?

Not at all. Even the worst criticism is nothing compared to how I judge my own stuff. My skin is sorta thick. LMAO

49. What do you hope to do better as a writer?

Write a well-received story.

50. What do you think is your best quality as a writer?

My imagination.