#and im taking creative liberties that i shouldn't be

[mainfaggot]

we were studying in a semi comfortable silence so I didn't ask her

[p1zzaparty]

i for one would love to hear the remainder of ur thoughts on maggie tozier…

EEEE THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ASKING!!! This means so much coming from you Kat 😭

okay a few things to note before i begin

This is a lot

Its a lot of me redoing her from the ground up, her personality, her looks, her background, her relationships etc, etc.

So just know, im taking like a thousand creative liberties with this

To begin i based her looks on the character Deirdre Barlow from an old brit soap opera called Coronation Street.

I imagine she literally looks like her kids, they get almost 90% of her genes and look like mini versions of her. Though she perms her hair to fit in with the trends, and tv has sold her a bunch of at-home perm styling kits. She's got pronounced jowls like Richie does, he probably has her wide nose too. Her fashion is very on brand for the time with lots of sweaters and jeans and big clunky jewelry.

I always imagined, much like every little homo, Richie got a lot of his fashion from his mama..

and cartoons.

She's average height, and probably is on and off diets but never takes it too seriously. Besides she enjoys baking and is always trying some recipe she saw Julia Childs make. She's kind of a stocky woman, it just runs in the family to be sorta squarish and have this bulldog look to them.

As for personality i personally never cared for Kings description of her as a kind of wishy washy woman who cried at everything Richie did or said.

For me i liked to think someone like Richie needs a mom who matches his energy and can take on his rambunctiousness. Even if it takes grabbing him by the ear and dragging him back inside to get a verbal slashing. She's not overly dominant or strict, just used to Richie always mucking up mud and knows how to rear him back even if he still embarrasses her in public sometimes with his trashmouth. I mentioned this before but i see Maggie as one of the, if not ONLY, better parental figures in the loser club. She genuinely cares about Richies friends because of how few and far between there is. Any kid in her house is her kid, she feeds and provides a safe place for anyone he brings home. Even if she doesn't understand some of their interests, or lingo, or fashion statements, or music. She's a moms mom, always referring to any kid as 'hon' 'baby' or 'sweetheart.' She can be fun and doesn't take anything toooo seriously, but she still cares about appearances. She's like an average sitcom mom who wants to look like a good mom and have a normal family with a happy life. She's also, a giant dork.

Much like her son, she too is kind of a loser. She's got that Tozier awkwardness, always making jokes where there shouldn't be, laughing too loudly/obnoxiously, always making references to pop culture even if nobody in the room has a clue what they're referring to. She doesnt really have a lot of friends 😭

She definitely tried, oh my god did she try. She would bake goodies and strap baby Richie into one of those backpack carriers and go around the neighborhood trying to introduce herself and her stinky ugly baby. And it was hard, Derrys an old, OLD small town. Backwards, judgmental, harsh, hateful. Unfortunately she just wasn't that privy with the other moms around her. But she desperately wanted to be, being a stay at home mom is lonely work. She dreamt of just being that sitcom housewife that makes the perfect dinner and snaps her fingers to clean the house in an instant and talks, and talks, and talks on the phone. She wants in on the mom gossip. She wants to be apart of a community SO badly.

Sonia is one of her few mom friends and even then that's more of a obligated friendship, their only common interests being their children and television. She kind of finds Sonia annoying and doesn't approve of her parenting methods, always rolling her eyes when the phone rings while Eddies staying the night, knowing its some new task she'll have to force the boy to do. Though she enjoys that Sonia will listen to her blabber, even if shes probably just sitting and watching tv while Maggie drones on about this and that and giving an assuring "uh huh" as a sign of life. Maggie's such a tv head too, i love to think she enjoys watching Cheers the most along with various soap operas and game shows. Her family bonds over tv with tv dinners on tv stands while they parrot tv quotes at each other. She probably has to shoo Richie away whenever Cheers is on, needing time to debrief and mumble to herself about Dianes complicated romances. And shes got a crush on Fraiser, god you and your mom have crushes on wimpy mama boys in suits lordd

I based a lot of her personality on Calvins mom from Calvin and Hobbes

I played around a bit with her background. I know she's depicted as Catholic but i always imagined she grew up Jewish, only quitting the practice when she and Went got married. Her views on religion are mixed, not wanting to really skew her children in any direction, but celebrating Christmas to fit in with everyone else in Derry. Not that it really helped because she never took them to church. Evil bastard child and her half demon brother whos annoying. Her and her parents relationship are a bit if not totally strained, they probably disapproved of Went back when they first met as teens. Their reasons were based mostly on Wents social status, but they were also just very critical of Maggie and every choice she made. She always felt suffocated by her parents and Went just made her feel clear and airy. Though it was mostly puppy love that kept them together at the time, their love would continue to blossom over the years as they got older and older. They truly loved each other.

I had this whole idea that he and Maggie were young lovers at 18, falling in love like it was the movies as they hid it from their parents. But she would end up pregnant with Rachel like REALLY early on, and it would kind of "ruin" any "plans" they had of running off together and going to some local college while Went worked. Which only added more strain to her and her parents relationship as they went off to have a small shot-gun wedding at a courthouse. Only able to afford a dress and flowers at the time, but she still looks back at it fondly and probably passed her dress on to Rachel later in life. She is still in contact with her parents but only rarely do they go visit, Richie hates the smell of his grandpa and always tries to rile them up by doing impressions of Mickey Mouse.

She's one of the youngest mothers in Derry, only making her more of an outcast in the judging eyes of others, but she loves her kids more than she ever felt she was loved as a child. She always wanted a girl, just enjoyed shopping for one and bonding with one and brushing their hair and decorating their room and doing their nails and makeup together. She adored Rachel, she was exactly what she dreamed of when she thought of raising a little girl. Their relationship is really close even if Rachel began to pull away towards her teen years. (I have SO many ideas for her as well 😭)

Much like her, Richie was a surprise/accident. She never really imagined herself caring for a boy and found it a bit more difficult, especially since their age gap is a bit wide. But even through her rolling eyes and yelling Richies full government name when she finds her nightgown cut with eyeholes in it for his ghost costume, she loves her son.

Their relationship is VERY much like Linda and Gene. While she doesnt care much for Richies crude humor and snappy quips, she cant help but hide a smile sometimes when she hears him and Rachel bickering back and forth. She genuinely thinks her son is really funny, just needs to tone it down a notch sometimes and not be the loudest voice in the room. God, shes probably taken him to talent shows at school. Tying Wents best looking polkadot tie around his neck while he nervously flips through his note cards, getting his glasses all sweaty as he quietly asks if maybe they, um, can just go home instead. And she'd sigh and clean his stupid thick glasses for him and tell him hes going to do wonderful. "You're funny Richie, real funny." And when she see's him waddle up onto the stage, nervous, scared, and tiny. Her smile would be bigger than her heart, having to flash him a healthy thumbs up to boost his little confidence. But of course he would fumble, sputtering every joke, never getting to the punchline, or getting their too early, and he'd be too quiet for the people in the back to even hear him. And Maggie would be the only one clapping, the loudest she can too. That's her funny guy. She lets him cry to her and wipes his tears with her sleeve. She never bought into the way most moms treat their sons, she wanted Richie to grow up loving someone with his full heart. Even if it means she coddles him sometimes.

And her and Went have a very loving relationship, very average and kind of mundane in a sweet way. They're very genuine, Wents sort of a passive guy who listens to his wife nightly rants about her day and enjoys it. He loves her more than his vocabulary allows him. Simple guy, loves his wife, laughs when his kids curse at each other, works wayyyy too much.

God this family

I think that's the brunt of my thoughts, most of my ideas are just small little things that add to her greater personality. I also loooove parental parallels so there's always tiny shit between her, Richie, and Rachel even.

In chapter 2 i think she's still alive, Went died from liver cancer a bit into Richies 30s (Toziers are kind of functional alcoholics.) So now she resides in Florida, where Richie bought her a nice home near the beach. He doesn't visit, or call that often which depresses her a little. But she understands, plus Rachel still often comes by with her children to visit and catch up.

I have list long notes on all the Toziers, they're genuinely one of my favorite fictional families and i literally highjacked them and made them my own 😭

OH! and i imagine she's got a collection of antique clown decorations. Vases, paintings, statues, gnomes, you name it. It's why Richies not very fond of them. Or going into her room much.

Tldr; Your mamas a loser like you

[lofibeanie]

I really should open comms back up, and actually make a proper comm sheet 😭 I need to practice more hhhhh my art style is so inconsistent and also i kinda wanna do fanart stuff (mostly bc it sells better when tabling) and a lot of what i wanna do is either humanoid designs or designs where you can take a lot of creative liberties and i feel like what i wanna do not a lot of people are doing over here which could be a good or a bad thing it depends

i wanna practice traditional art for a bit for on-site comms (this is provided i even get accepted to table) idk i feel like i should try do animal crossing stuff too bc i love those games to death and i had a lot of fun when i made my own custom villager yeeeears ago.

a lot of the art i do really only works for prints and prints apparently do not sell well at all :)) so i need to maybe shift into stickers and keychains and stuff a bit

I also love the idea of putting a lil bonus thing in with anything i sell and i love origami so, y'all be getting a lucky star or a crane if you buy physical items :P

I have so many different art and craft supplies and I soooorta wanna make little clay trinkets so depending on how that goes...

Omg wait little clay trinkets in tiny gacha balls......okay making a note of that rn

okie im back what else was there...

i have so many ideas but feel like i shouldn't try to do all of them because I'll get overwhelmed and then do none of them :') i wanna do some test prints and get them properly printed out with all the fancy stuff and see how they look and everything, particularly the nier automata endings print i made the other week-

I need to work on not being such a perfectionist bc it is a detriment that means barely anything ever gets completed :') I also need to somehow get more of a following, or at least reach more people, I just have no idea how to :| (go follow my art account @LofiBeanie on Instagram)

I should redo my Kofi and actually add stuff to it and actively use it + set up comms. Maybe work on some digital goods for people to buy? I wonder what people would be interested in hmmmmm okay I'm done rambling lol

[powerhh]

Hi, I hope you're well! It's me, TomorrowsHero from AO3. I've been throwing around the idea of writing a chatfic of my own (for Pokemon SwSh, not BNHA), and I was wondering, as someone who has a few already, how much time you spend sweating over your portrayals of everyone? I know I probably shouldn't, but I feel compelled to get everyone right. Anything you do to help with that feeling? Thank you!

hi!!! i’m so sorry i haven’t gotten to answering this ask for a while!! i saw that you sent me another one with the same question (which i’m grateful bc i got a notif for that one, but not this one) and didn’t have the time to answer it instantly and then it slipped my mind lmao. i’ll not respond to the other ask you sent considering it’s mainly the same question, but i’ll answer the things you added in that question here as well. also, im honored that you asked Me for advice on chatfics, im very glad my fics have left an impression on you!!

alright so! this is gonna get long, so buckle up bc i actually have a lot of thoughts (contrary to popular belief) when it comes to writing my chatfics and you can take out whatever you find helpful from this:

the first mindset i have when writing my chatfics is the “if the opposite has never been stated in canon, there’s no reason this couldn’t be a thing”-mindset. like, say todoroki has never said in canon that he enjoys listening to cascada, but he has also never said that he Doesn’t listen to cascada. this means it wouldn’t break his established character to throw in a random interest like that. it doesn’t break the character, but it adds some flare, which is where the comedy comes from. a serious character stays serious, but the funny part is them having unexpected soft spots and interests, because the reader is so used to the seriousness. a very powerful character having their own interests not at all related to what makes them powerful, or even insecurities to give them even more depth. it’s all about finding the core attributes of the character and staying true to that to some extend to not make the character feel like someone completely different, and then going HAM with everything else. as you probably have noticed, i take a LOT of creative liberties with side characters, especially with my pro hero bnha fic, Daily Lives of Pro Heroes, because most of the characters are more or less blank slates to go wild on. actually that’s another point:

use the side characters that barely have any established interactions or interests!! they’re perfect to drive story and situations forward that wouldn’t go anywhere with the main characters because of their already very existing characterization that you don’t want to kill fully!!

to answer a part of the actual question? a lot of my characterization may seem really surface-level and random at first glance and like i’m fully shitposting, but i usually have it decently sorted out. i Do follow what has been said in canon to some extent, but if i don’t like something or if something appeared later, i see no need to follow it religiously. people aren’t here for canon, they’re here for comedy. i like following the general mood and vibe of the characters, then exaggerate it at some points and also add some depth to the characters by giving them random and sometimes even meaningless interests to make them seem more like, you know, real people. i let my portrayals grow with the fic and derail more as i go, to give the reader more time to get used to MY characterization and canon of each character. so like? do spend some time giving each character you’re going to use some base values and points you find important in the portrayal.

i have a bunch of situations and conversations in my chatfics that are pulled directly or are closely inspired by my own life events or ideas ive had (i do a lot of dumb shit), and also a bunch of convos and situations that are closely inspired by my friends and things that have happened in actual group chats i am in. 

another thing i feel is pretty important to make the chat feel more alive and relatable is making them not Only talk about random and wild situations. there has to be some kind of downtime and some more mindless chatting, or even a character feeling down or sad, because groupchats aren’t Always wild and funny. a perfect example is actually when someone stole parts of my bnha chatfic and posted it on wattpad. the thing is that while most of it was stolen, the person changed some things and also removed a lot of the small-talk and less Wild situations, which ended up changing some of the situations and removing a Lot of of my characterization, which made the characters feel less relatable and just flat. clearly the person hadn’t understood why i wrote the characters like i did and managed to ruin that by simply cutting and pasting their favorite segments of the fic, without paying any mind to what the other parts contributed with.

it comes to actually writing the chatting, you may not have noticed, but i actually have slight different ways i write every single character. this is honestly inspired by my times of being a homestuck fan (lmao) and the many different group chats i’ve been in, and it Does make a difference even if people don’t fully notice exactly what it is. sometimes there are too many characters to have very distinct differences and still match the characters, but i usually spend a good amount of time thinking about what tone i want each character to have when typing and how to achieve that. if i take my bnha chatfic   Yikes™ again as example, you may notice that tokoyami always starts what he’s saying with a capitalized letter, but doesn’t fully care about proper punctuation after that, it’s like he has auto capitalization on. iida is the type to take his time and actually write with proper punctuation. ashido is very!!! excited!!! and uses a lot!! of exclaimation marks!!! kaminari writes in lower caps and doesn’t use apostrophes on words that should have them (like doesnt instead of doesn’t etc, with some exceptions where the sentence would get too confusing without them). sero is similar to kaminari but at least bothers with the apostophes.  note: sometimes i obviously personally slip up and forget what i’ve decided for each, but there IS a thought behind every single character in All of my chatfics lmao.

anyway!! that got long and it’s not even all i wanted to say but it’s all i have time for right now. take whatever you want out of this, but i hope you find something helpful. it’s 4am so i fully don’t know if i make sense, so feel free to DM me or send another ask for clarification or more questions!! also, ive told you many times before, but thank you for reading my fics!! <3 

[pumpkinland]

i know nobody asked but here's the thing - i don't think it IS intentional. and that's worse. because they don't even understand what they're doing wrong or why it's wrong. I don't think it's people deliberately saying "we can't/don't want to cast dark skinned women, so let's cast light skinned women instead"

i think it's the fact that white people see black characters and rather than seeing their skin color as something innate to the character that shouldn't be changed, and a passive statement on who can and should be visible, and representation for people who look like them - they disregard it as something frivolous and interchangeable that can be altered in the same way of say, a hairstyle or a jacket

and they see "this character is black" as "i can portray them any way i want, as long as they're still black" and voila. they take creative liberties and lighten them and mix them with white. because it "still counts". not because they are deliberately excluding dark skinned women - but because they think light skin is more appealing and make characters appealing to them, and genuinely consider it an improvement, and unconsciously end up lightening every single one. because white people who "aren't racist" tend to be even more uncomfortable about questioning their biases - "if i have biases then that means IM racist and ill never be able to forgive myself wahh wahh wahhh"

ive also noticed - and maybe you have too - they tend to think biracial black people are more "modern" like its a fashion trend or something. and i wonder if this is also an attempt to be more #woke and "keep up with the times"

don't take this the wrong way - it pisses me off whenever a new black redesign or casting is revealed and theyre significantly lighter than the character they're supposed to portray - but i don't think it's on purpose, i think it's personal preference, and an attempt to make things they want to see without regard to what they're actually changing, which is worse imo because it's more difficult to convince "woke" white people that their "preferences" are harmful and colorist. they're supposed to be on your side but if you tell them they're making it worse they just cry and shut down 🙄