#and my interpretations may have not worked for your story. so I thought this advice would serve you more

[chaotic-guinea-pig]

The way you write style is so ❤ do you have tips for characterizing them?

SHIT I forgot this ask was in my drafts!! I'm so sorry about the super late reply, anon! 😭

***

AHHH thank you! <3 I'm glad to hear you enjoy my Stan and Kyle characterisations despite the fic taking place in a fantasy AU!!

I could talk about my specific interpretations and headcanons for Stan and Kyle, but I'd hate to impose it as the One True Way That Everyone Must Comply With Or Else... because it's really not; it's just my subjective opinions based on my understanding of their characters in canon. Instead, I'll tell you my general process in figuring out characterisations so you can find one that works best for your fic.

First, it's a good idea to start with rewatching the source material (the episodes, game playthroughs of TSOT/TFBW etc) so you can get a feel for their voices and mannerisms. If your fic has a specific premise, try to watch an episode that's related to that to get initial ideas for characterisation. For example, if you're writing an argument between Stan and Kyle, watch an episode where they're at odds with each other (Black Friday trilogy, Guitar Queero, YGO/Assburgers... so many...), to see how they behave. Do try to watch a variety of episodes though so you can a get well-rounded view on them, though!

Now, it's important to remember that South Park canon is... pretty messy, and that's no surprise for such a long running satirical cartoon like South Park. Don't stress yourself on trying to retain every single detail from canon, it's simply not feasible. Things like Kyle's diabetes, the fact that Kyle had a pet elephant, Stan's asthma, them playing football and baseball for school... all of those things were only mentioned once. My advice instead is to just focus on getting a feel for their voices (enough that you can write their dialogue), understand the core parts of their personalities, and sprinkle in the details you want for your story.

BTW, a fun way to narrow down their core personalities is to imagine their characters in an AU (TSOT, TFBW, AU where they didn't grow up together etc). What parts of them would stay the same? What would change, and why? Alternatively, you can look at metas and character analyses (of course, you don't need to agree with every take - the point is to just get yourself thinking)

And finally, if your goal is to write the most engaging, the most in-depth characterisation (like say, a character-driven longfic), then: make them well-rounded characters!! I think when starting out, it's easy to fall back on tropes: Stan is the sensitive one, Kyle the morallly righteous, outspoken one, Stan the depressed, Kyle the angry one... and that's not inherently a bad thing, of course; they're fine if well, your fic is literally a oneshot about Stan being depressed! But you can fall into the trap of leaning into these tropes heavily which can lead to flanderisation, and that's something to watch out for if your goal is to create in-depth characterisations.

So my advice here: whatever box you decide to apply to Stan and Kyle - whether that's Jock!Stan, Nerd!Kyle, Depressed!Stan, Angry!Kyle, Elf!Kyle, Knight!Stan, etc etc - remember they are still Stan and Kyle. Be creative! Break out of these boxes! Include their flaws and mix it up!! You'll get some interesting results if you adventure out of the boxes. :)

And finally, finally: HAVE FUN. At the end of the day, fanfiction is our fun sandbox to play in. This is really your fic - just have fun and explore what YOU find interesting about Stan and Kyle!! They are great characters in their own right. :)

TLDR: use canon as your starting point to get a feel for their voices, mannerisms and core personalities and sprinkle in fun details. make them 3D characters if you're shooting for in-depth, realistic characterisations. Have fun. :)

[writingwithfolklore]

When to Reject Feedback

              Last post I talked about taking suggestions from editors, so today I'm talking about when not to take their (or other readers') suggestions. While your readers may have a lot of experience and wisdom, ultimately you know your story best and you know what you want it to be.

This is also the first step, know your work, know exactly what you want it to be before you reach out for feedback. This way, you know what suggestions are helpful, and which are leading your story to a place you don't like.

                I’ll start with a story. I wrote a short creative non-fiction in one of my creative writing classes about grappling with my family dynamic before and after my Grandma (and our matriarch) was hospitalized. I intentionally left parts of it vague—how was I supposed to distill all my thoughts and feelings and the history of my family in a simple enough way for others outside of my family to understand, when I was in my family and hardly understood it? I thought the vagueness gave room for a conflict of love and rejection. Alienation and belonging. I didn’t want to force the reader to feel anything concrete or specific about my grandma, I hardly knew how I felt about her.

                I took this piece to my prof, and she advised me that it would benefit from more specific details. Some things she suggested adding were histories I wasn’t privy to—either I hadn’t been born yet, or I hinted to knowing but only really from context; I wasn’t in the room.

                I took her advice and rewrote it with these more specific details. I had to make up some stuff, which I didn’t really like, but she loved it.

                Next semester, I took the same (edited) piece to a different creative writing prof in a different class. She read it, told me she liked it, but that it could benefit from a bit more room for interpretation—from some vagueness.

                I laughed and told her that I agreed, and pulled up my original draft. She was in far favour of the original.

                TL;DR, this is all to say that I don’t believe in taking all advice as gospel. Some people will absolutely love the way you’ve written it, others will think it needs changing. These two profs were both incredibly experienced, published authors who had won awards, gone through masters degrees, etc. etc. They were both very credible people to go to for advice.

                But they had slightly different sensibilities when it came to writing, and while I didn’t agree with everything my second prof said, I did err more towards her way of writing than the first. Emphasis on the ‘not agreeing on everything’, that little part of me that disagreed is my unique writing sensibility.

                So seriously, reach out to people for feedback and advice, but that by no stretch means you have to take all of it. If there’s a part of your writing that you really love, that you did intentionally, and that you feel is integral to your work you’re allowed to keep it. There will be readers who like it as it is.

[cardboardheartss]

Short PAC : What would BTS members think of you?

⚠️DISCLAIMER! TAROT CARDS ARE NOT 100% ACCURATE! TAKE EVERYTHING WITH A GRAIN OF SALT! IF MY INTERPRETATIONS ARE INCORRECT FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME!⚠️

remember to take a deep breath, and think about which pile you feel most connected to before you pick a pile to read!

(Please don’t forget to like, reblog and follow! It will be much appreciated!📦)

Pile 1 : GMA Performance

Pile 2 : HHYLT Era

Pile 1 : GMA Performance

Overall energy : Strength, KnoP & The Fool

The BTS members think you’re really cool! They LOVE your vibes overall! In their eyes you seem like a very strong, patient and hardworking! They also think you have a pretty tough demeanor too! You may have a tough demeanor, but they also think you’re a bit naive and really carefree too! You give off “YOLO” vibes to them!

RM : 2oP

RM thinks you’re a very busy but skillful person. He thinks you manage wayy too many responsibilities and struggle to just and rest at times. If he could give you any advice, he’d want you to slow down for a little bit and just rest to avoid overworking yourself.

Jin : 10oS

Jin views you as a person who’s sad? He thinks you’re quite melodramatic. You may have had experienced some sort of loss and he can tell that it has affected you a lot. He would want to encourage you to keep going!

SUGA : QoP

SUGA sees you as a family oriented person. Thinks you’re also down to earth, smart, warm-hearted, and you’re also devoted to your loved ones and people around you in general! Overall… it’s really positive thoughts!!!

J-Hope : Wheel of Fortune

You give off, “go with the flow” vibes to jhope! He sees you as a lucky person, who’s is literally protected by the universe! He thinks you’re also really kind, you’re like his twin lol! Once again! Positive vibes!

Jimin : The Hermit

Jimin thinks you’re spiritual. He views you to also be an introvert too, who is also detail oriented. Jimin could also think you’re probably a teacher, given off by your calm demeanor with many wise words to say.

V : The Tower

I believe for V, he may meet 2 different types of pile 2! One of them being a person who he thinks has a strong aura and you literally pave the way, and go against society’s norms. The other type of pile 2 he’ll meet, is the one who he thinks loves to stir up drama for no reason and sees you as a person who thrives in unnecessary drama as well!

Jungkook : The Chariot

Jungkook sees you as a focused person, whom wants to achieve their dreams! He believes you are a hardworking person too. But he may see you as an intense person, who doesn’t want to be played with, so he will avoid getting into any trouble with you!

Pile 2 : HHYLT era

Overall energy : 5oS, 8oP & AoC

The members think you’re very competitive whom likes to stand out , and will not be bothered if you lose friends/family to want to achieve their goals! They think you’re also a perfectionist who’s also very emotional because you wear your heart on your sleeve lol!

RM : 8oS

He may think you’re very stubborn. He thinks you don’t know your way around this thing called life, and you often times victimize yourself.

Jin : The Chariot rx

He thinks you’re not a force to be reckoned with, he might even be too scared to tell a simple joke! You seem really aggressive in his eye!

J-Hope : 2oP

He will see you as a very busy person. He may think you have many jobs or sources of income. For you to rest because it will be too much work for your own mental and physical health.

SUGA : 2oS rx

He views indecisive. In his eyes. He sees as a type of person who would sit for an hour, deciding what to eat for dinner that same night. Apart from you being indecisive he does believe that you’re able to understand other peoples opinions and see both sides of the story.

Jimin : The Empress rx

Jimin thinks you lack creativity. he thinks you worry too much, mainly about work. He also thinks he have body image issues, and that you have a strong connection with Mother Nature, if he could give you any tip and advice he would want you to love yourself specifically your body, because of a very naturally beautiful body, no matter what shape or size .

V : AoP rx

V would think you’re over spender, and he thinks you cannot plan your future properly. You seem to go with the flow, but that doesn’t help you in anyway whatsoever. if we could give you any tip, he would want you to stop planning properly and to stop over spending your money because you’ll never know if your salary will increase or decrease.

Jungkook : 7oP

Jungkook sees you as very hard-working. He thinks you’re good at making a long term career path/investment! He appreciates all the hardwork and can see you doing excellent things in the present and future!

Thank you for reading!📦

(21/01/2024)

[waywardstation]

Hi! I've been wanting to start creating a PLA story but with some modified elements. One of these elements was giving a lot more focus on and agency to the Pearl and Diamond clans. I wanted to base them on the traditional people of the area Sinnoh (and thus Hisui) was based on, and to summarise, I found that the area it's based on is Hokkaido, and the native people of the area are the Ainu people.

The only problem is I don't know if I'll be able to accurately reference the Ainu people's culture and beliefs from internet research alone, plus mixing it with pokemon elements might make things unclear. I really want to try though, but I'm concerned that doing so would be disrespectful to the Ainu people or something similar. Of course, if I do, I'd make sure to listen to any advice/constructive criticism I was given.

Do you think going with this concept would be a good idea, and how do you feel about people combining/modifying the Clans to reflect the Ainu people in general?

Thank you so much for answering! I completely understand if you don't have any particular thoughts on this; you're just one of my absolute favourite content creators, and I respect your views and opinions on this!!

Hello hello anon!! Thank you for wanting to ask me about this!!

Of course what I would say is only an opinion, and it may be a generally incorrect one at that. I cannot say anything I say is objective, it’s subjective — I haven’t done this myself, but I’ve seen other people do it and how it’s generally been received.

I would say, if you are genuinely doing your best to be respectful, and be informed with the comparisons (to the best you can, as I understand with this being in the world of Pokémon, there will be some differences to accommodate), avoid any stereotypes that could be harmful or uninformed, and listen to any possible constructive criticism that people might give, I think it is alright. I know there have been several interpretations out there where people have done similar things with Hisui and the clans, and they have done it respectfully.

This is also something I’ve commonly seen done in general media (take Avatar the Last Airbender as one example, I know people appreciate how they integrated cultures into it), I have seen people generally agree it has been done well and usually appreciate that aspect.

I personally think it is fine to do, but it depends on how you do it. And with how you’re talking about it, with wanting to do it right and being open to possible advice and criticism, I think you would do it respectfully.

Again, that is just my opinion, as I haven’t really done this myself with my works, but this is based off instances I’ve seen other creators and media do, and how other people generally view doing that.

Thank you for wanting to ask me! I know this isn’t entirely concrete but I hope at least some aspect of it gave what you were looking for ^^ AND THANK YOU FOR THE KIND WORDS!! I’m so grateful to hear you like my works, and it means a lot to hear you respect my opinions!! All the more reason for me to hope some part of this was helpful for you!! ;v; <3

[maverick-werewolf]

Hi! I suck at sending asks so I hope I don’t come off in any kind of bad way

I know you very briefly mentioned Van Helsing (2004) in one of your ‘Vampire vs Werewolf’ posts, but I wanted to know your thoughts on the werewolf designs in them. I was doing research for one of my characters, and I’m not really sure if drawing inspiration from their designs would fit/work with the actual folklore.

Maybe you could even list some of your favorite designs or good places to reference from, if you know any?

— House 🩵 (I love your blog so much it’s a literal godsend for Vamp and Wolf research)

Not at all a bad way; thank you for sending in an ask! And I'm so glad you enjoy the blog, thank you for the kind words! :D

I actually love the werewolf designs in Van Helsing, overall. They're very cool - they're big, scary, muscular, and wolfish (all traits I personally love), but they are also varied according to character...

This is concept art from the film. Notice how they all look like wolves and have a coherent common design while also having unique and characterized features and builds. I really love that. You may not have even noticed it a whole lot in the movie itself (I did, though), but it really makes them feel more like an individual turning into a monster instead of just someone turning into a standardized creature like a transform ability in a video game.

I'd say they're a good starting point for any werewolf concepts that want to go for the big wolfish humanoid look while still being scary and characterized!

Designing werewolves after folklore can be tricky and even odd, given folklore varied very widely and also wasn't always very specific. Most werewolves in folklore turn into wolves, which leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Some also had paws they used as hands (does that mean they had hands? etc) and other variations. Some even looked quite ridiculous and not even very wolfish, with things like a tufted lion tail and red hindquarters! It got wild in folklore.

Personally, I wouldn't restrict yourself to trying to stick too closely to folklore specifically. Design something cool, and most importantly, have fun with it and make it yours. My recommendation is just to stick with what you like and think looks cool and things that look wolfish in some way. Don't do like a lot of designers and tell yourself that a wolf is the last thing you should be drawing reference from; that's just silly. They're still werewolves. Granted, since you're interested in folklore and enjoy my blog, I doubt I need to say that, lol. I have other personal preferences, but at the end of the day, that's my advice to others.

My advice might also sound a little bit canned, but that's how I feel. My werewolves in Wulfgard have a variety of designs per individual and other factors in the story/world itself and many other elements; their designs are something I have hashed out over the course of literally my entire life, so it isn't something to rush. I like a variety of designs, and curses are complicated in my world, and I've adapted that into the entirety of werewolf designs themselves. I'm really proud of what I came up with - be sure to check back to my blog in November for some big news in terms of my own werewolves and their designs... Sorry - shameless plug! I've got a big thing coming.

Hope this helps, and hope you're having a great day! :)

[rebelscum218]

Jason and Piper: how they brought the best out of each other

Despite heightened feelings that eventually didn't last, there was no denying that Jason and Piper cared for each other and valued each other's thoughts, because throughout Heroes of Olympus, these two followed through with each other's advice, ultimately leading them to where they are eventually in Trials of Apollo.

From The Lost Hero to Mark of Athena, Piper is insecure about her own abilities, as well as being self-conscious about herself and constantly comparing herself to others, especially Reyna. At one point she tells Jason 'She's beautiful. She's powerful. She's so...Roman.' In which Jason replies 'You're beautiful and powerful, and I don't want you to be Roman. I want you to be Piper.' So what does 'being Piper' mean for her? To figure out who she is as a person means that she needs to get rid of all the pressure from the gods and her family, as well as the expectations that come with being a child of Aphrodite. This unfortunately also includes her relationship with Jason, because it was an illusion created by Hera, and something encouraged by Aphrodite and her fellow cabin-mates while Piper herself was still conflicted and struggling to make sense of everything. In The Burning Maze, we see her continue in this direction: figuring out who she is outside of demigod responsibilities, who and how she wants to love, what she actually wants in a relationship and falling in love in her own terms etc. And it's ironic to know that it was Jason, whom she broke up with, that helped set her on this path.

As for Jason, he was insecure about making the wrong choices. He confided to Piper in Blood of Olympus: 'I don't want to end up like my mom, chewing on my regrets forever.' Also, he is not used to working among a team of equals after being treated as a leader for so long. And through it all, Piper was there to tell him: 'You, Jason Grace, are very familiar with your own bad spirits, and you try your best not to feed them. You have solid instincts, and you know how to follow them. Whatever annoying qualities you have, you are a genuinely good person who always tries to make the right choice'. She also tells him 'being a hero doesn't mean you're invincible, it just means that you're brave enough to stand up and do what's needed'. Looking back at what Jason did in The Burning Maze, it was exactly what Piper had said to him: standing up for what's right, making the choice to do things for others even at the expense of himself. He even passed on this lesson to Apollo, and through his actions became the example of selflessness that inspired others to keep moving forward. He lived and died by the principles that defines being a hero, something Piper encouraged him to do.

It has been said a lot that Riordan backtracked on a lot of stuff in Trials of Apollo like the breakup, Piper's sexuality, or Jason's sudden and devastating fate. In a sense it is true: there was no buildup or clear groundwork for these characters' new paths. But it's not entirely out of the blue either, because there is existing material to be built on and elaborated. And what's great about reading is that we readers decide how we interpret the text, since we react and connect with the story in different ways. So from my perspective, Jason and Piper is a story of two young people who despite complicated feelings, high stakes and overwhelming expectations, were there for each other and brought out the best among themselves, experiencing the highs and lows of life both together and separately, and eventually when the time comes, knew when to let go and treasure the things they've given each other. It may not be the most compelling relationship written by Riordan, but it certainly is realistic and well thought-out.

[highlordofkrypton]

Love the writing advice of posting everything you write I need to do that more often! May I ask for advice on how to get everything onto the paper? Sometimes I get stuck on the writing phase and the perfectionist in me won’t write it until it’s perfect in my head first.

Of course! I love talking about writing with other writers, it’s how we learn and refine our own processes 😊 How else will we know what works for each and every one of us?

My #1 advice is:

JUST DO IT.

Easier said than done, I know 😂

Until you put writing on a page, there is nothing to perfect. It’s just thoughts that you’re ruminating on. I like to compare it to having anxiety—for me, anxiety came from always trying to plan ahead for every single outcome to the point that it overwhelmed me.

The moment I realized that I was capable of handling any problem if it comes down to it, I was freed. I just have to get out and do whatever I needed to do. If something bad happens, we adapt. If it’s good, well, fuck, that’s the best outcome!

So, I started applying it to writing. Just start, we can go back and edit later. That’s the whole beauty of it. No one knows what your first draft looks like nor do they have to; you can rework it later, but first you need something to work with in the first place.

Just start, and write until you get to the end.

Other tips:

Even if you ‘perfect’ something in your head, it might not translate well on paper. Reading out loud helps a lot for flow, not just dialogue.

Get HYPE PERSON/cheerleader to help you push through! I never wrote a story from start to end before last October. I hated everything I wrote, but I hand-picked one friend to drag my ass to the finish line solely on encouragement.

Once you’ve practiced ‘getting it down’ often enough, it becomes easier and easier and your first drafts become more polished because you understand your style and flow better.

Try just doing. Often, when I write, I kind of go into a trance/mode where I don’t think, I just word vomit onto a page. Anything that comes to mind, just put it down. No editing. Keep going.

If your perfectionism is still blocking you, make a draft called ‘DUMP’ where you just throw all your ideas onto a page. Turns out, whenever I do this, an outline manifests and it’s a lot easier to get a really solid first draft.

GET EXCITED ABOUT YOUR WORK. Don’t worry about the quality, hype yourself up about your IDEA. HEY WORLD, I’VE GOT A STORY TO TELL AND IT’S REALLY COOL!

Most readers are not necessarily writers themselves, and if you’re writing fanfiction, the expectations are at zero for quality. Nobody is paying for this, and I’ve seen people who are more than happy with bullet points outlining a fic and the key events. Things that you consider imperfect will go completely unnoticed by people most people.

Imperfection is where the charm lives. Some thing that you might have forgotten or worded in a way that was interpreted differently might actually open up doors to headcanons, speculation and other beloved things. In my fic that I’m just posting without planning or editing, I got these awesome intricate comments about parallels and theories—none of which was planned, but heck, let’s go with whatever they said! It’s better than anything I would come up with!

Perfection isn’t real anyway; there are too many standards, each of them different for different people. Write what makes you happy.

A couple of the biggest observations I’ve noticed by just dropping chapters without a plan is that I’m a lot harder on myself than anyone else is, and if I’m having fun writing something, that comes through 100% to the readers. It’s actually what matters most. Your passion and your investment shows, and it’s contagious. So, go for it! Do the thing! Live your best life.

I hope this helps and encourages you! There is no right answer, only what’s right for you and gets you going 😁

[faunusrights]

murphy's guide to uuuuuh writing objects/places/locations and things (because two whole people asked)

greetings. this guide may or may not help you, as is true of all guides and advice and tips and tricks. but it helped me, and since i'm the protagonist of this blog this is my definitive guide. it shrimply may not be yours. mileage may vary. that said, allow me to give you said advice in the hopes that it does, in fact, aid you,

so when i was a tiny tater tot you know what i hated writing? descriptions. a lot of people really hate it and so did i, because descriptions were just these big blocks of text that got in the way of the FUN STUFF. you know; the plot! the dialogue! the characters! and i see a lot of writers who, to this day, find themselves writing reams and reams of dialogue with no way of knowing where characters are or what they're doing/holding/interacting with, and even if they do explain, it tends to be a few lines like 'they're in the living room' or 'they're sitting on a chair' like we're directing a film.

[INT. CAFE] they are sitting in some chairs by a table. i'll let the props department decide what kind.

the reality is, you are trying to weave a world in which your reader can step into, and a big part of that is writing the uh. the world. and a few years ago i had a revelation that made writing scenes and descriptions so much fun that it's honestly now my favourite part of writing, and a huge part of this realisation comes from my work as a visual artist. so, i'm going to explain The Box.

now, i want to stress that The Box was not my creation. rather, that honour goes to eric hibbeler and his tutorial eric's thoughts on drawing backgrounds and props, which i'll add a link to in a reblog/reply so tumblr doesn't cast this post into the shadow realm (thanks, tumblr!) but the guide he made also applies to writing with just a bit of tweaking, and i'm gonna explain how.

this cardboard box is just a cardboard box, and it's likely the sort of box you're imagining if i say the words a cardboard box. it's nondescript and pretty generic, and in a scene that calls for a cardboard box, it'll do the job! when we write, describing stuff like the chair or the window or the carpet is vague enough that the reader will, usually, just fill in the visual gap with what their interpretation of the chair or the window or the carpet is. for all you know, their mental image of the scene uses the carpet from the shining! but the thing is, YOU, the writer, may have a WILDLY different vision on the carpet (or chair/window/box etc.) and that's where you need to step in and get SPECIFIC about details.

here is a different take on the same box. we've gotten much more specific about the box's history here; it's been used in a move or for storage at some point, it's been kicked around, taped up, taped down, put a in puddle at one point, had a cat give it a few scratches... it's not that many changes, not really, but the box has--say it with me--character.

character, by definition, means the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing. what some writers tend to do, however, is forget this word applies just as much to inanimate objects as it does to the people in their stories. we give characters a lot of, well... character, and forget entirely about the things around them having just as (much if not more) to define them.

in essence, what changed my approach to writing places and locations and backgrounds was the realisation was these are also characters in my scene, with just as much contribution to the plot and the information being provided as any individual person in the same instance. it was only when i realised how important adding such character in visual art was that i realised the same applied to writing!

let's take, for instance, a bedroom in which two characters are holding a conversation. you may be tempted to keep your details sparse except for things that are directly plot relevant because you want to get on with the good bits, i.e. the talk itself, but what you can use the bedroom for is to tell information about the owner or resident without having to outline it in exposition. this is where getting good at giving character to spaces becomes very powerful as a tool.

Velvet's bedroom wasn't much to look at; a double-bed, a desk to edit her photos at, and a few pictures of her family and friends on the walls. Still, she sits down on her bed and invites Blake to do the same.

In this instance, a reader gets the general gist of the location--it's a bedroom with bedroom-typical things in it--but the room lacks any characters or specificity, which sticks out for narrative reasons because velvet is full of character; her bedroom would be the same! so, we have to build on what her bedroom would actually be like in order to build its character and define velvet without directly saying what she's like as a person:

Velvet's bedroom was in disarray, as ever; she hadn't made her bed because she wasn't really expecting guests, and her desk was littered with all her photography gear from SD cards to lenses to all her cleaning supplies. A few last-ditch attempts to make the place look a little more organised took the form of straightening out all her framed pictures of her family and friends that took up all the wall space she could spare, dusting off her big pride flag over her bed before she plopped herself down, straightening out her duvet before inviting Blake to sit next to her with a smile.

now, the bedroom has prominence as its own source of information: we understand that velvet isn't really a tidy person by nature; photography is a big enough part of her life to dominate her personal space; her family and her friends are important to her; her identity is also a large component of her personality; she likes to try and give her guests a better impression even if it's half-assed. and we covered all that without velvet actually having to say any of that information out loud! wow!

normally, of course, i'd lace that information in a little more subtly and over a few paragraphs rather than in one big dump, but the effect is the same; when a space has character, you can treat it as a character that has just as much importance to a scene as the dialogue or the interactions two people have.

this concept can be applied to a single prop, like a box or a camera or a desk or the like, and can also be applied to a much bigger location, like a park or a school or a house or more. the idea is that often, things are never just in their generic form, but have history that impacts the way it looks or defines the person or people who interact with it.

you wouldn't write these two playgrounds in exactly the same way; they both have a swing, a slide, a bench, a sign, and a tree... but depending on how you write it, one has a kind of character for a setting, narrative, or larger location that's way different to the other! this ends up defining your wider world, too; maybe one playground is nice and new because the council got the funding they asked for, but the other is in an area known for having little investment? in the end, were these two parks humanised, they'd likely be people with very different personalities; that's the sort of approach you should have!

the TL;DR of this whole thing is that description is not the part where you start listing off items in the room or the building or the location just so your reader has a vague idea of where they are, but an opportunity to turn that space into a person who has a whole bunch to say about the people who are frequently present. you can even see this in action by writing the differences between, say, your bedroom and the bedroom of your sibling/parent/friend; chances are, they're VERY different spaces that represent two very different people! this is also true of a kitchen, your home, your school, your campus, or your workplace; the office of someone who works in IT won't look like the office of someone who works in accounting, even if they share a lot of qualities and items.

ultimately, think of the humble Box; sure, a regular cardboard box might suffice to give the reader an idea of what's in a scene, but when we give that Box a personality of its own, suddenly that Box has a lot to say about the person who owns it--and not all of them may be good!

[merakiui]

me when you post a writers ask game : （ ๑✧∀✧๑ ）

can i request 9, 17, 33, and 44!

( ੭ ･ᴗ･ )੭ hehe I love yapping about writing whenever I can!!! Thank you for requesting! <3

(writer asks)

9. in an ideal world where you’re already super successful and published, would you want to see a tv or movie adaptation of your work? why or why not?

!!!!! a movie or tv adaptation would be so cool! There's always something so fascinating about written fiction becoming film, as there are some aspects and stylistic choices that can be portrayed much clearer in a visual format. >w< also,,, more than just a film or tv adaptation, it would be a dream come true to have a video essay made based on said adaptation. I always love to see how others interpret and dissect my writing, so it would be interesting to watch someone share their thoughts on the adaptation.

17. what is your favorite line you’ve ever written?

There are too many... truthfully, there are times when I read through my work again and I come across a banger line and I think to myself: "Who wrote this?????" (in a positive way). I think some of my favorite lines stem from The Most Dangerous Game. I may have gone overboard with the sugary poetry in tmdg, but this is Jade Leech in love. I had to capture the essence of a romance that is so all-consuming on both sides, and what better way to do so than use every flowery figurative in the book? (´▽`ʃƪ)♡

I could sift through the sands of my writing until I find dozens of lines I consider gems, but I'll select just one as per the question! I think one of my favorite lines would have to be this one from everything is going to be okay. The line is: Soup is what becomes of your brain when your body is too itchy. This line is just so gutting to me! In the context of the story, it's a great way to describe the reader's trauma and the tumultuous disconnect between brain and body.

33. do you start with the characters or the plot when writing?

It's a bit of both! Sometimes I craft the plot first and then see which characters would fit into it and other times I start with characters and build the plot around them. The best way I can think to describe it is that it's like putting a puzzle together. Sometimes you start with the border pieces so that you can fill in the whole picture and other times you do it in reverse.

44. any writing advice you want to share?

The best advice I hold onto (for all kinds of writing) is that every first draft will be terrible/awkward/imperfect, and this is normal. I often remind myself that all great statues and busts began as chunks of stone and that it took lots of continuous work to shape them into the way they are today. That is to say, it's okay to cringe at a bad first draft because, in most cases, it is meant to be this way so that you can return to it and continue sculpting it into something that suits your vision! forgive my unusual metaphor. I hope it's not confusing,, ;;;;

In other words, don't be so harsh in the first draft stage. This is a time to simply put words on the page. The rough edges will always be smoothed out in later stages! ( ˶ˆᗜˆ˵ )

[ohthatphage]

Making Friends with Entropy

I just wrote this three chapter story for request via @a-system-of-giving and their AO3 plural writing exchange. It's original, as requested, to be released on AO3 under the Vanderkemp's names (a group of system members who are our AO3 voice), but with my voice and narration.

It is perhaps a little too canon to the Tunnel Apparati Diaries. It's basically the prequel.

I don't know if I can publish it to AO3 without it functioning as a promotion for that writing. So, I'm publishing it here first, and then to our own website, completely free to read. And then, after reviewing AO3's policies, we might post it there as archived work.

If it looks like doing that may be a risk to them, and against their policy, then I'll write something else for the exchange. There's time, and this work represents 9,267 in one day. Shouldn't be a problem.

I'd like to thank @ashwin-the-artless for starting the Tunnel Apparati Diaries and then coaxing me to write for myself.

First chapter is in this post. Second and third chapters will be reblogs, and then Fenmere will reblog that. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Bedtime

In the early 21s century of Earth, on a small farm in Thurston county, Washington, in the United States of America, the social construct known as Jeremy Schmidt spent one late evening pushing a plastic truck around on the carpet with city streets printed on it that he’d inherited from his father.

It wasn’t his favorite game.

He would rather have been on his mountain in the back yard, bathing the sky with gouts of flame and scaring errant knights away from his twin sister, who was mysteriously human.

He was not supposed to be awake.

It was 11 pm, and a school night.

A few years later, he would learn that most of his classmates stayed up much later than that, but he was not yet socially aware enough to pick up on their conversations. He was still too preoccupied by making sense of other things, such as why his hands didn’t have claws, or what his tail was doing when the Sunday school teacher was busy trying to convince everyone that they all had another bigger father or something absurd like that.

He thought every seven year old’s bedtime was 8pm. Similar to how he thought he was a boy.

Which is to say that bedtime and boyhood, and even humanity, were rules imposed by adults, and everyone like him was expected to follow them.

In any case, he couldn’t sleep that night, and instead of lying in bed with the lights off, terrified of all the darkest corners of his room, he was taking his mom’s advice in a way that she probably hadn’t intended.

But, he had just figured something out, and was pretty excited about it. And playing truck on the floor was his way of testing this idea.

When an adult gives you conflicting rules, maybe you get to decide how to interpret them and which rule takes precedence in a given situation. After all, rules don’t just come from adults, they also come from the world itself, such as the rule that if you trip and fall you will, nine times out of ten, scrape your knee and hand. And if you have a good sense of rules, maybe better than anybody else, you can explain how you were following the most important rules.

And the way this situation worked was this.

He was afraid of the dark.

He was supposed to get enough sleep for school. That was a rule.

But if there was any darkness near him, he couldn’t sleep. That was also a rule.

So it was ultimately up to him to figure out how to sleep at night.

And for a while he did that by sleeping with the lights on.

So his parents left his room’s lights on when he went to bed, and he’d been sleeping with the lights on since he was three. But, every other birthday, they’d coax him to try sleeping with one more of his lights turned off, because it was supposed to be healthier to sleep in the dark.

So, now, he only had his clip-on reading lamp on the head of his bed turned on as a nightlight, and his parents were telling him that after his next birthday, he was supposed to switch that out for a softer, genuine plug-in nightlight that would be placed in the wall across the room from his bed.

But the thing was, he was pretty sure he wasn’t sleeping at all at night. Just lying in bed absolutely terrified.

His parents claimed he did sleep, and that they checked on him and he didn’t notice. But he only ever remembered being awake and being extremely sleepy all day, and it was getting worse.

And his parents could see that he was struggling. And though the way they usually did things was to tell him what to do, and then restrict his privileges until he did that thing, after long enough, sometimes three or so years of fruitless restrictions, they’d sometimes try to help him meet their goals for him.

So, recently his mom had given him another rule, and this rule had sort of made things snap into place for him.

Initially, she hadn’t worded it like a rule.

It had been a conversation that had happened earlier that night, in fact.

At seven pm, he’d been told that his mom wanted to talk to him about something before bed, she wanted to help him with a trouble he was having, and he should be ready to talk to her at seven thirty. They gave him this “heads up” because they had long ago figured out that he needed time to “shift gears” and adjust to change from the usual routines. And, to compensate for this conversation, he’d be allowed to doddle a little on his way to bed, because he might need to be brushing his teeth at 8pm and instead of ten to eight, and tonight that would be OK.

He’d found that he was eager to have this talk, so he was ready five minutes before the time it was supposed to happen. And he spent that five minutes talking amongst himself about what the subject would be.

Which is to say, he talked to his imaginary twin sister about it.

She had no idea what the subject would be, either, but she was worried it was going to be about their eating habits.

He pointed out that if their parents wanted to talk about their eating habits, they’d schedule this talk for before dinner, not after it.

And she said that made sense.

Then she asked if she could talk to their mom, too, but he shook his head quickly and sadly, and said, “She doesn’t know about you.”

“And she doesn’t have to!” his sister, who didn’t have a name yet, replied. “She’ll just think I’m you!”

“That scares me,” he said, though. “She might figure it out. You talk different.”

“I do not!”

“Shsh.”

He’d realized at the last minute that they were both using his mouth at that point, and didn’t want to explain what kind of game he was playing to his mom if she’d heard.

But he was glad for the little conversation anyway, because it had helped make that five minutes pass more quickly.

Then his mom came into the room and sat down on the floor with him.

“Jeremy?” she said. “Can I ask you something I’ve asked before?”

He pretended to look up at her face and nodded, eyes blinking closed.

“What is it exactly that you’re afraid of at night? Is it the dark itself? Or what’s in the dark?”

Oh, it was this conversation!

This had been a conversation he actually wanted to have, but he was also, he was realizing, kind of afraid of it itself.

So, unfortunately, he fell silent and his mind went blank. He couldn’t even feel his sister thinking or having emotions. So he looked down at the floor and sort of shook his head and sort of shrugged.

“Are you afraid of having nightmares if it’s dark?” his mom asked.

He vaguely remembered his first nightmare. He’d been really small at the time, and all he could remember was waking up screaming, and both his parents coming into his room to see if he was OK, and then asking him if he had a nightmare. And he thought he could remember nodding eventually, and that’s how he knew he’d had a nightmare.

After that, he’d had nightmares he could remember. Recurring nightmares about being chased by his grandma’s dog, or falling off a cliff, or finding only darkness in his parents’ closet.

Maybe it was that last one that made him afraid of the dark. But, also, he knew that when it was dark and there was a shadow on the floor or in the corner, he was always certain that it was dangerous. That maybe there was a monster there.

Whatever a real monster actually was. Like, maybe a triffid or that invisible thing on the alien planet, or a troll, like in the movies his dad watched and laughed at. But different. Real.

Oh, he was thinking again! He did kind of like it when a prompt from his mom got his thoughts going again.

“I think it’s monsters,” he found himself saying.

“Ah,” his mom said, glancing toward his door, presumably in the direction of his dad. She gave him a sad, rueful smile and asked, “Are they like the monsters in your dad’s movies?”

“Kind of?” he said. “But more like the monsters that want to be in my nightmares.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well,” he explained. “When I have my falling off a cliff nightmare, I’m being chased by something, but I can’t look at it or it will be real. And it will get me. And then there’s the cliff. And I can’t stop myself from going off the cliff. And then I land in my bed and it shakes.”

“Oh, I’ve had that very same dream!” his mom exclaimed.

“Really?” he didn’t believe her, but he let her tell him she did. He knew better than to outright question his parents. And maybe she’d say something cool anyway.

“Oh, yes. It’s actually really common. A lot of people have that same dream,” she explained. “I’ve been reading a book about dreams and what they mean. And that one’s supposed to mean you’re avoiding something. Or something like that. But, there’s a cool part in the book about something called lucid dreaming that I think could help you, and something my grandma, your grandma’s mother, told me. It might help you stop having that nightmare, and maybe you won’t have to be afraid of the dark anymore.”

“Really?” he asked again, actually looking up to her eyes this time. He was hopeful. This sounded actually cool. Like maybe he’d be taught a super power. Even if he was also skeptical about it. But he only glanced at her eyes for a split second, long enough to make that emotional contact and check her sincerity, but not long enough to make him hurt.

“Yes, I think so,” she said. “My grandma told me that the secret to beating a nightmare is to turn and face it. If you have something that is chasing you, you need to stop and turn around and face it, and tell it to be your friend. Because it’s only a dream, and if you do that you take control and it can’t hurt you.”

This sounded totally bonkers to him. The idea of doing that made his heart race. He couldn’t at all imagine doing that.

“But what if it gets me?” he asked.

“Tell it that it can’t,” she said. “Say to it, in no uncertain terms, ‘you cannot get me, you are not allowed.’ Make it a rule.”

“No uncertain terms?” he asked.

She nodded, “No uncertain terms. ‘You cannot get me, you are not allowed.’ In fact, you can tell it I said so. It’s my rule. Your nightmares aren’t allowed to get you.”

“I don’t think they care about you,” he told her.

“Well,” she said. “The important thing is that it’s your rule. It’s your mind, and your dream, and you make the rules. That’s how it works. It cannot hurt you if you don’t want it to.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really,” she nodded. “This works for falling off the cliff, too. If you still can’t face the monster behind you, when you fall off the cliff, you can fly instead. Just spread your arms wide, close your eyes in your dream, and imagine going up instead of going down. Imagine the ground falling away from you.”

“How do I do that though? I can’t control my dreams!” his voice maybe got a little loud.

“Well, you can, though,” she said. “It’s a skill, but you can learn it. That’s what the book I’m reading meant by ‘lucid dreaming’. It’s when you realize you’re in a dream and that you can do anything you want.”

“How?”

“Well, usually, what you do is before you go to bed every night, you tell yourself that you’re going to have a lucid dream,” she said. “It doesn’t usually work right away. But it helps, and if you do it repeatedly, you’ll eventually start to make it work. And then, you keep a lookout for things that tell you that you’re dreaming, like a monster chasing you.”

“What do you mean?” he felt like he was supposed to ask this question when she paused, so he did. He knew what she meant.

“Well, monsters don’t actually chase you when you’re awake, do they?” she asked.

This was becoming a long conversation and he could feel the darkness closing in as the night fell. It felt dangerous.

He shook his head, but then stopped and said, “Kensington chases me.”

“Yeah, but only when you have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a carrot in your hand, right?”

“Yeah, like I’m still a toddler or something.”

“He’s a naughty airedale,” she said.

“Only when I have a sandwich or a carrot, though,” he agreed. “But in my dreams he just chases me.”

“Exactly,” she said, patting his knee. “So, if he’s chasing you when you aren’t holding food, you know you’re dreaming, right? Or if you’re being chased by something that you don’t even know what it is because you haven’t looked at it.”

“Yeah.”

“Also. Can you tell you’re not dreaming right now?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m definitely not dreaming right now!”

“That’s another way for you to check,” she said. “Some people have a hard time telling whether they’re dreaming or not, because their brains work like that. Maybe sometimes they actually dream when they’re awake, too. So it makes things complicated. But because you know you’re awake when you’re actually awake, if you ever find yourself wondering if you’re awake or in a dream, you’re probably dreaming. But, then, ask yourself if you’re being chased by something that can’t be real, just to make sure. And if the answer is yes, then you know it’s a dream, and then you make the rules.”

“Oh.”

And that’s what she’d told him.

The important part was, “And then you make the rules.” That was so crucial. That’s where the actual power lay. That was permission. And it didn’t just come from his mom, but from a book and from his great grandmother. So it was extra right.

But, and as he brushed his teeth he thought about this, it was the part about how some people dreamed when they were even awake that made everything click into place for him.

Because maybe the monsters behind the darkness he felt were there when he was lying in bed were really dream monsters. So, he should have power over them if he faced them.

Which was why, at 11pm, he was brazenly playing with his truck on the printed town carpet with only his bed lamp on.

He was playing innocent, to try to lure a monster out so that he could face it.

He’d started at 9pm, after laying in his bed for a while thinking more about what his mom had said. It had taken about that long for him to formulate his plan and then work up the courage to carry it out.

And after he forced his body to move and climb down out of his bed, he played with a few different toys, getting into the routine of them to let the time pass, because, it turned out, the monsters weren’t brave enough to face him, apparently.

But he wasn’t playing make-believe with his toys. He was just pushing them through the motions of play, like he used to do as a toddler. Making the wheels spin. Feeling the changes in friction against the texture of the carpet as he made them turn corners and skid. Transforming them into robots and then back into cars and trucks, and appreciating their construction and the way the hinges worked.

And his sister just watched, because that’s usually what she did.

And time did pass really quickly then.

And it was around 11pm that he started to wonder if monsters were even real.

But, the really important part about 11pm is that that’s when his parents finally fell fast asleep and were unlikely to hear him talking to someone or something. And while he didn’t know that, I did.

So that’s when I stepped out of the darkness.

[heliosrisingheroesimagines]

Hello, this maybe sudden but I really hope this super duper long message won't bother you 😭 I just really want to say my thanks and express my thoughts so it was like pouring out all at once when I wrote this.I do hope that it could reach you in someway, I'm sorry that I'm not used to Tumblr so I only know to send this thank you message through this request board but anyways---Well, I came across your blog in about this year's May because I was in a slump (?) and ran out of idea myself so I kinda started to look around to see if there's someone out there writing self-shipping content for our Helios boys, that's when I found out about your blog and gosh you don't know how happy it made me, it's maybe a bit exaggerated to say but it totally changed my whole life 😭Like, I'm a hardcore Gast yume myself and does have my own share of headcanons and thoughts about how will he treat his partner, how will he interact with his crush and other stuff but to be honest I haven't read all of Helios story (both main & event stories) but only some of them that I like so I'm not really confident in my own interpretations and headcanons about him 😔...I also don't see any other Helios' yumefans around me so I guess I can't really ask for advice or confirmation (it's also because I'm shy too) so like 😭When I read your prompts and headcanons about Gast, somehow it just really kicked in for me 😭 I did check out some of your posts about other characters too and almost all of them feel so in characters that I couldn't help but be in awe even though my main priority on Helios is Gast, and so it really boost my confidence when we were to have the same viewpoint on one some aspects 😭Like the one of Gast wouldn't like hurting his partner would be something to be expected judging from how he is before First Storm was released, but after First Storm reveal, it even made more sense that he would be like that to his loved one 😭It's really amazing that you were quite sure of that before FS release, I'm rellat impressed!And also, the first time I came to your blog and binge read all about Gast, I was giggling/smirking/rolling on my bed with the most disgusting expression on my face ever (I think) most of the time and was being super giddy giddy & floating on cloud nine all that day 😇Like it's the first time that I feel that much of happiness since I yumeshipped myself with him, and I still feel come back to reread from time to time and it still brings a smile to my face everytime 😍So in conclusion I really want to express my appreciation to you, thank you so much for opening this blog and from that I (and the other yumes that visit this blog) have a chance to come in contact with your writings!From my viewpoint I really feel that your really observe the character well and put your heart (also enjoyment) in writing all these prompts and headcanons reply to all those requests, I really appreciate your hard works, thanks again! 🫶

This message was so, so wonderful to read, because I've been going through a very difficult time in life and knowing there are others who go through rough patches but find relief via my writing makes me so incredibly happy I can't thank you enough for taking the time to write this out!

<3

[death-by-pony21]

Before they knew it two years had past and they were celebrating James birthday. Kala'a and Alex were overjoyed and were ready for what challenges were to come.

with an upgrade to James crib he was finally old enough for a toddler bed.

James was not enthused with the bed at first so the first few months were filled with stories and extra special care at bed time. Slowly James stopped resisting sleeping and went to bed without a fit.

One of the other new struggles was now that James was older they reopened the discussion of James assessment. They talked to the same audiologist and while he didn't change their assessment, they recommended a second specialist for a second opinion. Alex and Kala'a were more than happy to accept the recommendation before making any decisions. After seeing the second audiologist she had the same diagnosis and recommendations. Alex and Kala'a ran through their options. Sure if they did nothing medically they could all learn ALS and take that route or cochlear implants. Both doctors didn't think a hearing aid would be effective.

Kala'a and Alex wanted to sit with their options a little while longer to make sure they had a clear picture on what steps would need to be taken in ether case. Kala'a ended up talking about it with a friend from his social club who worked part time at a disabilities resource center. "Its a big decision and I thought you could offer some advice since you work with people of all kinds of ability levels". Sean sat for a moment thinking about what he heard from the people he worked with "I think for James sake you went through with the implant, Its going to make his life a little easier. You wont have to worry about interpreters to sit with him at school. He will be able to enjoy all the sounds that make places and people special, and it will help your life be easier as well. As selfish as you may think it is". Kala'a nodded "thanks Sean". After a little more time with his friend he went home.

A few days latter Alex and Kala'a came to a decision, they would get James cochlear implants. They wanted to give James the world and they thought this would be a good way to do it.

A few weeks later James had the implant put in and a month later he got his external transmitter. That day they celebrated with ice cream.

Such a big day wore him out and he put himself down for a nap. When Alex and Kala'a saw they decided to call it a day and took him home.

--------------------------------------------------

Game play notes: I did not notice when he aged up that he had the Cochlear implants. By the time I did he was about to age up into a child. I have done my best to try and read up on diagnosis criteria, options, technical terms and so on. If their is anything I get wrong or misstate pleas let me know and I will be sure to correct it in future posts.

[tiger-moran]

Hiiii Tiger can I ask for you to tell me more about your ideas and thoughts surrounding Kitty? I love how you write Kitty and she's so important to me. I'd love to know. Victorian or modernized interpretation or both?? (Also you're one of my favorite writers so hii) -B

Hi! You can!

I love Kitty so much and I think she needs to be used far more often in things.

For the Victorian character at least there's usually this tendency to assume Kitty is this 'fallen woman' who was basically a 'respectable' kind of woman until Gruner seduced and discarded her which is not how I tend to see her. I think in any universe Kitty is probably going to be a sex worker of some kind anyway, I mean before Gruner turns up in her life (in the modern day that's probably going to be more in the videos and online stuff line of sex work though not so much face to face physical stuff). I think also, she's not ashamed of that. And she likes sex and she likes dominating people sexually too so it would seem to her that if she can make money (and quite a lot of money probably) out of these things that she does enjoy then she'd be a fool not to do that.

I think she is young but has kind of had to grow up very quickly, so she's been very mature for her age for a long time, maybe because her family was very poor, maybe because they disowned her, and she is very self-confident, very outspoken, very tough, but she's still kind and caring; however hard her life has been that kindness and compassion has not been burnt out of her.

I think an element of Kitty's characterisation in the Granada episode where it was revealed that Gruner had injured and disfigured her has some merit - it may not be exactly like for like, what she does to him, but I think he probably did do something to her first that left her physically scarred, I really don't think Gruner is just this upper class guy who likes 'ruining pure women' by seducing them, I think he is basically the closest thing in the canon (when ACD couldn't actually be too explicit about it) to a serial killer (and I do believe completely ACD did base him on a real multiple murderer and possible serial killer), and that she disfigures him rather than trying to outright kill him does suggest that he disfigured her in some way first.

I do always love that Kitty helps bring Gruner down and helps stop him from harming another young woman even though that woman is very unpleasant, but she also has her own revenge on him with the acid. For her to commit an act like that which is so horrendous, I think he's done far more to her than just seduce her, it was something much worse than that. But she is a survivor not just his victim.

Kitty does get the most interaction with Moran in my stories and I think they are very good friends and practically consider each other family. Their relationship has been a sexual one sometimes but I think they're not romantically compatible - I think Kitty is aromantic and she doesn't want a committed partner, I think she doesn't even like sleeping with someone else, she likes sex a lot but after that she wants her own space and to not end up being tied to someone in a way that would feel stifling to her. (I also love the idea that she's one of those aromantics who gives great advice about dating and romantic relationships.)

I like the idea too that even though she's younger than he is, she acts almost like Moran's older sister sometimes and in some ways is a lot more 'street smart' than Moran is, because Moran has come from a background that was all private school, university, army, all these institutions where he was quite sheltered from 'ordinary' life, even though he has been through immense hardship himself and has rebelled against all of that a lot, he does have a sort of naïve quality to him and probably in the modern day even more than the Victorian era I think he does struggle with fitting in ordinary life. But Kitty didn't have that same privileged background and she knows a lot more about ordinary life and how to survive it and I do see her as finding Moran by accident and being the only person who takes any notice of him and realising how much distress he's in (in my story he's literally having a panic attack when she first sees him) and she helps him and looks after him and he adores her from that moment on really and they become very protective of each other.

I don't want her to be just like a 'tart with a heart' character where her decency is there to be kind of ironic because she's an """immoral""" woman. It's clear from the canon though, Kitty is not someone who is considered a 'respectable lady', but even there she is treated with respect by the major characters including Holmes. And also she has been through a lot but her vindictiveness towards Gruner is very much justified (even Watson, who seems especially horrified by what she does to Gruner, seems to think she was justified in doing it) and she is still a decent person in spite of whatever Gruner did to her, her actions aren't really portrayed as just malicious, it is definitely implied that he did something terrible to push her that far.

I do like that in the canon Holmes interacts with her and seems to like her and support her even after she throws the acid on Gruner. I always love the idea of her interacting with Moriarty too though and him being very impressed by her and liking her when Moriarty is not really a man who is easy to impress and he doesn't like many people. In my story too she's definitely suspicious of Moriarty's motives and concerned about whether Moran is safe with him and I do see her wanting to check Moriarty out herself. I do think Kitty to some degree has to do the kind of thing that Holmes does, that Moriarty too does - she has to be able to read people and read the subtle signs and clues about them, because as a young woman and as a sex worker she can be very vulnerable at times and there may be moments when her safety could depend on her reading the most subtle of signs about someone. So with Moriarty, she probably does see through him faster than even Moran does, she sees that he's not just a maths professor he is something else, something realistically much worse, but I don't think she's actually ever afraid of him (Gruner I think would frighten her, though somehow or other she does end up too heavily involved with him later and of course comes to regret that).

Also I was joking before about giving Moran a Chihuahua but I have given Kitty a Chihuahua in my story, I think she is the type to have a small feisty dog like that (but that is well trained and well behaved).

(Thank you)

[magnetothemagnificent]

Heya. I hope you’re not too overwhelmed with asks atm.

I recently got given a JPS tanakh (the Hebrew-English version) and I’ve been looking up how to read it properly and stuff and I thought I understood so I started trying to read it but I’m just not getting it. It’s almost just like washing over me and I’m not really getting anything out of it? I know there’s different ways to engage with it but I don’t really understand how to actually put them into practice.

I was reading Genesis and I didn’t really have any thoughts or anything. I do wonder how much of it is simply that I don’t understand Hebrew so I can’t really comment much on the word choices and connotations coz the English isn’t the original and may not always accurately pick up on the nuances? But I don’t even know what I’m meant to be getting out of it atm lol

And I saw ppl recommending to read commentaries so I started trying to read some of the commentary on it but I didn’t quite understand how the two were meant to slot together, if that makes sense? It feels like I’m missing a piece of the puzzle here and idk how to help that.

Sorry this is a bit of a long one. I hope it doesn’t come across as disrespectful or anything. I’m trying to learn more about this coz I think it’s interesting. Thank you muchly for any advice in advance :)

First, there's no "right" way to learn Torah. Everyone learns and interprets Torah in different and unique ways.

However, the nature of Torah and the nature of Judaism is that it works best with a community. Torah is meant to be learned with other people: The concept of a Chavruta, partners in Torah learning, goes back thousands of years. Every week we read a different Parsha (Torah Portion) in synagogue, and share Divrei Torah (words of Torah) about it with our community. Torah is meant to be learned communally.

Now, I understand that it's not possible for everyone, and everyone has different learning styles. However, I really think it would help you to try and find a Torah study group. Nowadays there are lots of virtual options, too.

If that doesn't work for you, here are a few tips:

Torah, and Tanakh in general, isn't meant to be read like a storybook. Bereishit (Genesis) isn't the beginning and Dvarim (Numbers) isn't the end. You'll notice that the Torah, and all of Tanakh, often makes chronological jumps and that time doesn't seem to make sense sometimes. It's a tradition even to start teaching children from VaYikra (Leviticus) first before teaching the other four sections. And Torah is meant to be cyclical. That's why we have Simchat Torah every year, a holiday celebrating the completion of reading all Parshiyot in the Torah in synagogue and the re-start of the Torah from Bereishit again.

Torah is also meant to be read critically. There's classical commentaries like Rashi, and more recent and contemporary commentators, too. There's countless Divrei Torah written about everything in Tanakh. The text isn't meant to be read "raw". If reading it straight from your book doesn't work, try learning about different concepts in Torah through easier-to-digest Divrei Torah and articles. If one story or law in Tanakh fascinates or confuses you, look up things written about it by Rabbis and scholars from hundreds of years ago to today.

And my biggest tip: Use Sefaria. Sefaria is a free (although they always accept donations) website with an archive of so so many Jewish texts, from Tanakh, to Talmud, to Apocrypha, to Midrash, to contemporary discussions and texts. And most of it is translated to English, too. You can also click on a piece text and it will show you if there's any commentary or discussion about it, and show it to you. It's incredible and I use Sefaria all the time.

Other websites I recommend:

MyJewishLearning

Torah.org

AlephBeta

ReformJudaism

ParshaOfTheWeek

Best of luck!!!

[cyanide-latte]

Hi! Quick question about writing:

How do you stay confident about your writing? I’m working on something rn but I’m afraid it isn’t going to live up to people’s hopes for it.

Thanks! Have a slipper lobster, because you’re cool;

Hey, hi Ace, I apologize that it's taken me a bit of time to reply to this. I really wanted to think about my answer before just diving right in.

Please feel free to take this with a heavy grain of salt, because while I love talking about the writing experience with friends and mutuals, everyone's mileage may vary when it comes to different advice. And I say that partly because I know that my confidence in my writing shouldn't be measured by the same scale as anyone else's, and I do think that goes for everyone.

Please feel free to correct me if I'm interpreting your question and explanation the wrong way, but it does sound like you're worried that your project isn't going to live up to the expectations your potential audience is starting to have, either in terms of writing quality or the directions the story may take or the themes and tropes and ideas you choose to include. That somehow in one or more of these avenues, you may fall short and disappoint your readers. Again I could be way off the mark and please feel free to correct me, but I do get that feeling. It's daunting and can be hell to grapple with, especially if you yourself are excited and passionate about the project. That's your baby, your work, and you want it to be appreciated by those excited for it.

I have a few different thoughts here, so I apologize if this kind of goes all over the place.

Quality of writing is a skill that can be developed, especially with time, dedication and practice. Having natural talent with it can help, sure, but it's a skill that can be worked at. Quality of storytelling, I think, is a different matter and it can be easy to misconstrue the two, especially because there's a degree of overlap when writing fiction. Your particular voice and ease as a storyteller is going to be unique to you, and I do think it's also a craft to be honed, but that it starts with your own sincerity and passion. It's fairly common advice I see reminders of, "only you can tell this story your way", but I think a lot of implementing that comes from reminding yourself you love and and are passionate about the project, and also reminding yourself that the advice can be quite literal.

When we write, we bring our own experiences into that writing, however consciously or unconsciously. We may not be our experiences, but those things shape us, sometimes more deeply than we realize and that can show up in the tiniest of ways at times. And this is just personal speculation on my part, but I think that's a big part of why there can be so many similar stories that aren't the same. It isn't just that there are different people writing it, but that your particular amalgamation of experiences and how they've shaped you and your way of thinking and how you approach a story you want to tell isn't going to be like anyone else's. And when you pour yourself into that, when your sincerity shines through in your writing, I think people can tell. We're drawn to that kind of writing.

(that's definitely one part of why I hold such disdain for AI writing. Someone may have a cool concept but if you feed it into AI to make the AI write your concept for you, there's no sincerity. There's no heart in that. There's no soul in it. Because there's not truly that person in it.)

That's something I often have to remind myself of, when I find myself wondering whether anyone is going to like a project once I have begun writing and sharing it. Everything I've experienced shapes my thoughts, my opinions, my speculations, and in turn that shapes how I approach a story idea and the themes I choose to tackle and the tropes I want to incorporate and how I'm going to weave all those things together.

Sometimes that's still a little daunting, even if the reminder helps. People who don't know me and haven't read my writing before but are interested in a concept I have are the easiest possible people to disappoint. They don't know what they're getting into with me and I can't read their mind to guess at their expectations or what I'm going to make, and that's honestly okay with me. It's not really any different from buying a book at store based on the fact I may have been intrigued by its summary; there's always a chance that my expectations are going to be let down and I won't like it. So it goes, yeah?

Disappointing a reader hurts the worst, I think, when you both know each other somewhat and you have hopes that maybe they'll love your ideas both in concept and execution. Maybe they're a mutual acquaintance who you get along with well, maybe they're a friend. There's a higher degree of trust and hope there, when you hand them what you wrote and ask them to read. You both have a chance of coming out of that let down and disappointed, and you as the writer can feel especially hurt. Maybe they didn't like your writing style (in which case, that could just be a personal preference thing on their part and you can't do much about it. It sucks but it's probably best to go your separate ways in that case.) Maybe you thought you knew they'd like it, maybe they even thought they would and set up the expectation but they ended up not liking it for some reason or another. I actually experience anxiety over that quite a bit when it comes to my mutuals and friends here on Tumblr, because I'm nervous about how something will be received when I finally post a bit of writing I really have wanted to make.

I think the thing that carries me then, aside from reminding myself "nobody else can tell this exact story the way I can", is taking the time to sit down and remind myself that no matter what happens, I'm going to find my audience.

To some degree I do say you are always your own audience; write for yourself, yes. But you share your writing in hopes someone else is going to love what you made. (If you make a cake you like and take it to a party to share with others, yes you made a cake you like, but you want to see at least someone else enjoy that cake too. After all, you worked hard on it and were happy about it!) Write for your own joy, share for the delight and validation from others, I've seen people say. And there's always going to be an audience outside of yourself. Maybe it's not always the people you hoped for or expected from the start, maybe it takes a while before your work finds its audience, but there's always going to be someone who reads your writing and clicks with it and loves it.

Again, my apologies if this is rambly.

And I know that there's a good chance this might not be the advice that can help you (and I really hope that if it isn't, that there's better advice out there somewhere that finds you ASAP.) But I do think reminding yourself that you're always going to find your audience is important, as well as being genuine and remembering that nobody is going to write your story the way you will. Nobody else in the world has your experiences and has had them shape you and the way you view the world and the ideas you have in the same way. But there's always going to be someone who reads your writing and loves it for that exact reason.

[deansapplepie]

“When names are passed down, it's also common to use nicknames in everyday life rather than calling someone by their given name. For people with the suffix Jr. or II, a common nickname is Junior, Chip or a name made up of their initials (for example: D.J, T.J, etc.).”

Writer venting under the cut, read it at your own risk.

Why did I bring up this “concept”?

I received a comment at The Spitting Image about Reader’s son being called DJ, I’m going to interpret that the person didn’t like it, I asked the person to explain the comment because I didn’t understand. English is not my first language and despite knowing it very well and even teaching it, maybe I can’t understand a joke or sarcasm when it’s written. I gave some time, and as the person didn’t answer, I’m taking it as the person really didn’t like.

No problem at a person not liking what I wrote or disagreeing with something, but there’s a problem on how you say it to other people.

I know I shouldn’t feel so upset as many other people didn’t complain a thing, but human mind works on stupid ways and it have stayed on mind constantly disturbing my peace. So, I blocked the person, it’s not someone I’ve seen around here and that’s the only work that this person read, actually I guess started to read.

I may not be American, but I try to bring as much as I can of accuracy to what I write. I always see many cool names for Daryl’s kids in the stories I read and when I had the idea to write this I stopped to think about a nice name and then I thought that I never saw a story where Daryl has a son called Daryl Dixon Junior (probably there’s but I don’t know). Stopping to think, I don’t think it is Daryl’s style naming his son after him, BUT he wasn’t there when Reader named him and he’s not the boss of Reader so she names her son whatever she wants.

Also talking about culture, I grew up watching cartoons, movies and series most from the U.S and would always see characters being called TJ, PJ, JJ, junior and so on. This situation made me doubt what I already knew and made me go searching to see if I didn’t understood it wrong.

Maybe this person comes from a culture like mine where Juniors are nicknamed Junior, Junior + suffix that represents “little” or name of the father + suffix that represents “little”. And the only DJ is the one that plays the music. But this person could have just ignored my story after seeing the name, or saying it in a nice way. I’m always open to advices and corrections when you think I need it, that is… if you can say it politely and with care.

Sorry about the venting, and now my new mantra is “I write stories for my own enjoyment”, because if the things I imagined got magically written, I would not need to do so.