#and there should have been a fucking PLAN an overreaching PLOT

[atopvisenyashill]

do u ship reylo? 👀

[fromtheseventhhell]

The more I think on it I think the lack of the time skip may have affected how GRRM wanted to have the dynamic between Littlefinger and Sansa to play out. With the time skip we'd be coming back to an 18 year old Sansa who's had 5 years of either learning to be his protege, being under his manipulations, or secretly plotting against him. Without it we're coming back to a 13 year old Sansa newly traumatized by her aunt trying to kill her who's still figuring out how much she can and should trust the him. An 18 year old Sansa probably would've been in on the plan to resolve to be Sansa Stark and take North but now he has to restructure the plan for a younger Sansa, who ends up being a more passive party going along with what Littlefinger wants than a more active participant.

It actually does help a lot that we have access to a couple of different AFFC drafts. Sansa's the only character to have all her chapters in that book accounted for as early as October 2003 but the talk with Littlefinger at the end of Alayne II was still missing as of the June 2004 version. His dialogue about Cersei in GRRM's other note isn't an exact match to the published version either, he sounds more amused by how quickly she fucked things up for herself than saying she's overreached and will soon be done. GRRM hadn't even written the part where he explains Harry the Heir's role as her betrothed, but her next planned chapter is all about her needing to seduce him.

What actually seems to be new material is what he crossed out involving Sweetrobin and news from W(hite) H(arbor), along with killing the Mad Mouse (but were those two points crossed out because he pushed them out of the book or scrapped them in favor of focusing on Shadrich?) I definitely think GRRM is setting Sansa up as one of the driving conflicts involving the Stark succession crisis in TWOW with Littlefinger whispering in her ear about her deserving Winterfell and possible news of her siblings being fakes. Definitely the basis of the season 7 fight between Sansa and Arya came from GRRM, no matter how painfully poorly written it was. The question of who ends up ruling the North isn't compelling if it simply involves them all saying they don't want it and another sibling can have it, you need to have a least one who truly wants it and believes it's their right.

I wholeheartedly agree that the lack of a time skip changed the dynamic between LF and Sansa. If we'd had the time skip it would've allowed time for Sansa to grow + learn from her time with LF and we likely would've come back to her being more politically savvy and confident, which would've set the stage for her doing her own scheming. Instead, like you said, we have a Sansa who is (currently) going to be more passive in his plans. It's a little disappointing because that growth would've been interesting, but it seems like her development has taken a backseat to LF's planning. She could still have that development but it won't be anywhere as dramatic as it would've been because that's not how George develops his characters. With her TWOW sample chapter, it seems that her development will be dependent on when George wants to reveal LF's plan. When that comes out, we'll likely start to see Sansa becoming more active.

As for the other plot points in the outline, the crossed-out ones could still be on the table. Arya has a crossed-out point of "mercy at the gate" and "Mercy" is her opening in TWOW. SW "woos/weds" is very interesting to me and could signify a change in LF's plans. I don't believe that they're going to be a "driving force" for the Northern plot, I believe their actions will be reactionary, but I do think that whatever happens North will have an impact. LF believes that Sansa is the only Stark left to claim the Winterfell so that meant he could take his time (with the time skip he would've been waiting years); the exposure of Robb's will + four other Starks coming back into play will significantly change things and his timeline. We don't know what LF's real plans are but getting this news (from white harbor?) will affect what he's told Sansa and her feelings on the matter. She's going along with his plans because the idea of retaking Winterfell has been presented to her, and I can see her latching onto that. If Jon becomes King, which is very likely, it could lay the ground for conflict between them. While Sansa has been pretending to be a bastard she hasn't really confronted her classism or behavior towards him. We know that Arya and Sansa are going to have issues to work out, to whatever level, so I don't think it's impossible that other sibling conflicts will exist.

There are also the developments with the KL (southern?) plot to consider. With JonCon making trouble for the Lannister's + Tommen's reign facing problems he could try, or be forced, to interact with that plot. The Northern plot won't be the only thing to influence what's happening in the Vale, or LF's actions. His main goal probably wasn't ever to claim Winterfell, it was just a bonus to him having Sansa in his grasp. If things become too "active" there he might readjust his attention. There are a lot of different things that could impact the plot, some things that will only be introduced in TWOW, and ways the plot could play out so it's hard to say anything concrete about it.

[blueraith]

Trying something new

Typically I don’t outline a single damn thing with my writing. I write by the seat of my pants, the story goes where my fancy takes them. Which is super unorganized, hectic as all hell, and doesn’t really point to anywhere when one has writers block.

So, I’ve decided to kick that plan with my original stuff. Mostly because I already know I have a ton of worldbuilding done and characters created. All that’s holding me back is the actual plot. I have specific scenes I know I want to get to, and a few of them already written or at least planned out. All that’s left is the rest of the story. So, outline time. Not sure if I’ll be any good at the outline. I’ll just ramble my three acts out however it comes to me and reorganize from there.

Started on Act 1. Writing out even the synopsis makes me feel a little better at what I had thought was a lack of progress. I’ve been focusing a lot on the details of what a society of superpowered humans living among us would look like.

Such as, what happens when superheroes and supervillains cause untold amounts of property destruction? Who’s gonna pay for that? Why don’t superheroes have insurance?

Guys... why don’t superheroes have insurance? I mean, I definitely don’t plan to actually write a plot point around fucking superhero insurance, because that would be boring as all fucking hell, but it always bothers me in movies and comics, and TV shows, and cartoons that none of the gratuitous destruction is addressed or lampshaded at the very least. Beyond, you know, “people are ANGRY.” And then skipping over the rest.

And if your superhuman/human intermingled society is based on a premise that actual, real life superheroes and villains have been around for at least three generations, why wouldn’t those problems be addressed? And with those problems getting addressed, namely through regulation and government control, what happens when enough time passes that bureaucracy and corruption sets in? Political overreach and consolidation of power? In short, what happens when the ‘good guys’ get so used to the way things are, they start freaking out at all the ‘unregistered’ superhumans suddenly fighting them during what had been a run of the mill gas station robbery into something much more dangerous? What happens when moral panic, an overdeveloped sense of ‘us vs them’ sets in and what had once seemed reasonable, turns into people getting their basic rights stepped all over and trampled in the name of ‘safety.’

I’ve had a lot of time to try and figure out how the world I wanted to set my characters in would work. Largely based on my own life. The MC and her family are based on my family in the sense of structure. Three girls with parents. But, I decided for my own mental well being not to base her parents on my own too closely. God, that would be a little too much for me to deal with. I might make the love interest deal with my familial issues, I’m thinking on it. At any rate, I do want to base MC’s family issues on something I do, even still, have to deal with. And that’s namely an issue with radicalization, ‘us vs them,’ and an echo chamber affect. The point of the story is not to point out that ‘all regulation is bad and should be avoided.’ This aint no Ann Rand bullshit.

No, I’ve wanted to write a story for the longest time about a few things. One: a lesbian teenager that isn’t a story based entirely on romance, period pieces, the supernatural, or urban fantasy. Not to say that those genres are lesser or bad, they aren’t, but they’re a bit of a dime a dozen now, aren’t they? I know from trying to find shit to read myself that you get a little tired of the same damn thing. And if you can’t find something you want to read, why not write it yourself?

Two: I wanted to write a story about a healthy family dynamic. Mostly because I had a very unhealthy home life. Writing this is cathartic, and reveling in my own personal issues in the guise of ‘inspiration’ just kind of makes me ill thinking about it. More recently, I’ve been pushed to focus on this even more from hanging out in a variety of fandoms. Jesus, dude, there are a ton of LGBT kids with problematic home lives, which I suppose isn’t a surprise, but where I see an issue is that many of these kids end up glorifying the abuse in their own writing. Parents have no nuance to them in their stories, they’re either saints or horrific people who should get taken out and shot behind a shed. There is no in between, and it makes me wonder if the kids in our community knows what it looks like for their families to be human. To be good people, who make mistakes, but ultimately rise above them to create mature, lifelong relationships with one another. I don’t know what it’s like personally, but I sure will hell attempt to write it. If only to hope that such normalcy is actually out there for those of us unlucky enough not to grow up with it. We can rise above it, though. Hope that we don’t make the same mistakes our families made.

Three: We live in a world that’s far too swept up in being ‘right’ that we don’t make the time to figure out if what we are trying to do, on whatever side of the fence we live on, isn’t hurting someone else. And, if by some miracle some are aware of what they are doing, it’s become evident that they don’t care. No one wants to listen to one another anymore. I experience this in my own family. My mom’s convinced that I’m brainwashed by the liberal media. And this attitude is evident all over the place. Fox refers to the ‘liberal media’ like it’s a disease. And that polarizing idea is spread to people like my grandparents who refer to it in the same way. And I’m certain this is happening on the other side. How do we fix problems, or make progress, if we’re too caught up in trying to lambast the other side as ‘evil assholes intent on destroying EVERYTHING.’

That is to say that it’s not as if there aren’t people who are flat out right about certain issues. Such as basic civil rights for everyone. I’m not trying to paint the entire world in shades of gray. What I’d like to get at in this story is that certain topics, like superhuman regulation (you know... some of these folks are capable of mass destruction and murder), can be polarized from paranoia and fear. Suddenly, it isn’t just a matter of keeping these folks on a list and learning what powers they have and what they are capable of. Getting them on insurance to cover property destruction, or healthcare so that some of them don’t completely snap under mental illness if they so happen to develop it, and go on a rampage across their cities. It’s now trying to figure out what they can do for everyone else. ‘Hey, this guy has the strength of ten men. Why isn’t he doing more to help us all out?’ And now regulation has turned into conscription.

Basically, superpowers are a giant metaphor for gun control and how dumb everyone is getting about. Over regulation, under regulation. ‘Muh 2nd Amendment.’ ‘Protect the children.’ Sanity and compromise is no longer a part of the argument in many circles.

Superheroes in ‘The Guild’ are akin to the over-militarization of the police.

Unregistered superhumans are resented about as much as illegal immigrants and feared as much as terrorists.

And the entire concept of registering as a superhuman is turning into an increasingly gigantic privacy issue

Different ways corporate interests could help or hinder different superhuman issues. Like I said, this isn’t Ann Rand. Private Sector vs Government Programs are something I see argued about all the time in my family. They like to pretend the private sector has the answer for everything. ‘Unregulate everything and leave it to the free market!’ But that leads to just as many issues as government overreach, doesn’t it? It’s a problem we’ve seen play out during the Industrial Revolution, wasn’t it?

And you wouldn’t be able to control a bunch of superhuman people like you would ordinary folks. Beyond hiding that they have superpowers, what’s to stop them from grouping up, forming insular societies, and just taking over entire neighborhoods or districts? They have superpowers, the Guild has superpowers, but there isn’t a massive arms difference between the two like in real life, modern times we see between regular people and our military. What would be the pros and cons to an anarchist society of people who would be able to defend themselves from virtually anything in enough numbers?

Well, this is getting really long. Also, writing this out tells me I have a lot more worked out than I thought I did. I’ve got more stuff that I’ve thought about. Society wise as well as character arcs. Can’t change all this polarization without doing it on a personal level, right?

[hawkesvarric]

OC meme. 1, 17, 18, 25, and 39!

1. Your first OC ever?

Oh god, okay. The first one I can remember who wasn’t just a complete self-insert (not that there’s anything WRONG with that!) was for this mutant/superhero forum thing?? Her name was Juliet (lmao) and she was like the cheerleading captain, prom queen, Most Likely to Succeed, the whole nine yards, right? Except she was taken by some Vague Evil Science Group to be experimented on. Actually I think that bit was part of the group’s overreaching plot? Or idk, but anyways, then she became selectively mute and could essentially manipulate the wind? Maybe it was air in general but I remember she mostly used her powers to float and knock people over with her wind powers. And the only person in the group she communicated (non-verbally) with was the one on the team who could become a giant?? This is all I remember but yeah omg.

17. Any OC OTPs?

I know I had a few from my writing days, but only one comes to mind. T x W, I will never Forget. I don’t really ship any of my DA/ME/D&D babes with each other.

18. Any OC crackships?

Really, nothing romantically. I like to imagine my main two Shepards interacting a lot because Clover would just roll her eyes at all of Yancy’s.....Yancy-ness. And they’d eventually end up getting a couple of beers together, maybe even become buds. Sometimes I also try to imagine if my two main Hawkes, Tatiana and Gabriel, were related but then Kirkwall would’ve REALLY been fucked so lmao!!! Maybe I should try imagining my D&D babes in a party......oh god....

25. The OC that resembles you the most (same hobby, height, shared like/dislike for something etc?)

Ehh?? I’ve kind of gotten away from making my characters like me except in the ‘you get my insecurities’ and ‘you get my unspoken rage’ way. Probably Ron. He likes food, gaming, making bad puns, thinking WAAAY too much yet at the same time Not Enough about things, and the idea of an animal sidekick.

39. Introduce any character you want.

I’ll introduce my courier!! Her name is Fish Patterson. Yes, that’s her real name. Yes, she will punch you for making fun of it. She’s a tough cookie who really just wants to roam freely and not be bothered. Except some dummy shoots her in the head so that plan’s out the window. Her helping people along the way is definitely not a sign of kindness on her part, nope. Just...wanting to get it out of the way so she doesn’t have to deal with it later...yep, that’s it.

[maesonc]

I have a lot of feelings

About Star Wars the Last Jedi so like stop reading now if you don’t want spoilers.

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Last warning ⚠️

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Overall y’all I actually really enjoyed the movie. I liked the plot and expectation subversions (when they made sense) and generally just found the whole thing to be a fun space adventure movie.

Anywho, I’m not gonna talk about everything here but I want to get some stuff off my chest (both good and bad) and since some of my friends haven’t seen it yet I’m dumping my opinions into the ether for those of you have or haven’t seen it and just don’t care about spoilers.

So:

-I loved the opening moments with Poe. Hell I loved Poe overall! He’s still one of my favs and I think his brash actions are pretty in line for a dude who was tortured like maybe 3 days ago? And is still riding a high from blowing up the First Order’s death planet. Of course he’s gonna be cocky and overreach on things. He’s running on bravado, adrenaline, and a shit tone of fear. (Tho, admittedly, I think they forgot that he’s a kind person at his core and that just didn’t come through on screen) I love that the movie was setting him up to become a leader for the Resistance and gave him a bit of an arc to go through.

-(That being said the rebel plot line was contrived as hell. Like why the fuck couldn’t the Admiral just be like “so. Here’s the plan.” Poe was totally on board with it once Leia explained everything so there was no need to keep all of them in the dark???? Like. They didn’t think there was a mole on board the ship or anything they just knew the FO could track them through light speed. So why not tell the team? And then Poe could be like, “oh sweet, that’s good. And, since I don’t have to commit treason now, how about I tell you about our back up plan where we chase down this code breaker? Y’know, get a few more options on the table rather than just putting all our eggs in one basket.” Like 99.9% of the time Poe felt “off” was when he was going to the extreme with trying to protect the Fleet. So like have your characters communicate like normal fucking people and Boom! Problems solved! Poe gets to go with Finn and Rose on fun space adventures.)

(Side note: way to never fucking explain how the FO tracked the rebels? That hand waving bullshit annoyed me so much. If you’re gonna break a huge part of in universe logic and use it as a damn plot point then you sure as fuck better be ready to explain it!)

(ALSO! Why the hell didn’t the FO just crank up the engines a bit and cut the rebel fleet off earlier? Makes no god damn sense! Why would they go along with this drawn out slow chase bs? Snoke ain’t getting any younger here, Hux, get your shit together.)

-Moving on: I loved Rose, like, seriously, she’s adorable and a wonderful character and I’m so mad we got so little of Paige but damn was she a hero or what?? Anywho! Rose was wonderful in all her scenes. Good additions to the crew! I can’t wait to see more of her in the future.

(Pls axe that romance plot line tho it makes literally no sense)

-Finn was great and I continue to love him. His battle with Phasma was perfect okay? And that scene with the battling ram gun? Holy shit guys I was in tears as he flew towards that thing! (Tho it should have been Poe who saved him)

(Also the idea that he would be even vaguely chill about being stuck on a gambling planet with Rose when Rey and Poe are in danger is ludicrous. This is the same guy we saw straight up lie to the top leadership of the Resistance just to get a chance to save Rey.)

-I liked how Rey is referenced as the light rising to meet Kylo’s darkness. I actually found their force-discussions and interactions to be good and interesting. Tho that may in part be b/c I didn’t read them as romantic, just two people given an unprecedented amount of access to a stranger’s inner self and being fascinated by what they saw there. Much like how both Rey and Luke have, in their own time, been interested in/curious about the dark side. If it was intended to be romantic/sexual then that was ruined by pure context for me. I. e. The fact that the last time they interacted (which, by movie timeline/logic, was like maybe 2 days ago) they hated each other and for good reason. Rey watched Kylo murder Han and almost kill Finn. Two people who mean way more to her than Kylo could even with the weird force bond thing.

-Luke was also great. His actions all felt pretty solidly in character for me. The interaction btwn him and Yoda was so heartwarming if only b/c of how their relationship hasn’t changed one bit XD

Also his last scene!!! The two suns! So beautiful!

Other positives:

-Leia using the force!!

-That lightspeed scene. You know the one. Fucking breathtaking.

-They continued the trend of having a diverse cast of background characters.

-Chewy and Rey flying the Falcon and protecting the rebels

-Yoda! Still a BAMF and a little shit after all these years.

-Snoke’s death was out of left field but also awesome b/c it’s cemented Kylo as our big bad and this movie did a great job of showing him actively refusing to be redeemed by Rey. I loved that. Mostly cause I now get to see Rey kick Kylo’s ass later.

-“Reach out.”

-“Lifting rocks.”

-“Yeah I’ll hold.”

[a300lbman]

On This United Mess

This shit with United, huh? I don’t have a dog in this fight, but of course I’ve got some knee-jerk material here that I don’t want to waste. From a service-industry standpoint United clearly blew it, but it took the internet less than a day to make sure no cause would be without an angle.

Reports began coming in that Asian Americans were upset that Dr. Dao was selected to be removed from the overbooked flight, evidently this was seen as picking on the quiet minority. From what I can tell, that seems like an overreach, but as a member of the ‘majority’ I know I don’t get to decide what is racist and what is not. Still, I think it’s a fucking overreach. United claims there is a computer algorithm that determines the list of those to be bumped and if that is true, what were they to do if a minority customer was selected, draw again? If there is a video out there of a maniacal United crony spelling out how this was a plot against Asians, it would be a different story. I’m not convinced that is what happened, although the way United handled this entire situation doesn’t help their case.

Everyone has an angle, especially the trolls in the comments section. At least I hope they are trolls, but some are calling for United to press charges against him for not following policy… yeah, that’ll stick it to him!  As ludicrous as that is, there are many who support that stance. Anyone who would react that way surely has no place in the service industry and that’s why I am shocked that United let it go as far as they did. My guess is that it was an inexperienced supervisor or manager calling the shots, puffing out their chest and drawing a line in the sand. Unfortunately that’s not how it works, unless you plan on letting the internet settle it for you. Ask United's stock how that’s going…

You make it right, regardless of the insanity going on in front of you. I’ve had people cause bigger scenes for far less and you know what shut ‘em up?—taking care of the situation. Making it right, regardless of your thoughts on what “right” should be—that’s your job. You don’t work in the service industry to give people life lessons and direct society into being better. You work in the service industry because you either have no alternatives or you have a screw loose and actually enjoy helping people. Either way, you don’t get to throw a tantrum or get upset if your customers don’t follow your instruction. Arm-chair quarterbacks shout that they should have kept raising the monetary offer until someone volunteered. It shouldn’t be an afterthought, it sounds like a great fucking plan. If it made financial sense to bump customers to get flight crew to a destination, they should have been prepared to spend some money. Where is the algorithm for that!?

The order of operations determined that it was time to randomly select passengers for removal; you run your program, inform the customer, customer fights back, so you call the police. Tell any law enforcement officer in the country, regardless of rank or status, that there is an airline passenger causing a disturbance, that officer is going to come in hot, adrenaline pumping in preparation to thwart the next 911. You sick those freedom fighters on  Dr. Dao, that quiet Asian guy over there that won’t put up a fight, and the video shows exactly what you should have expected.

Now, instead of forking over more cash up front, they will be paying for this one for a while, losing out on more money than they would have by offering it to someone to catch another flight. It is outrageous to me that there are cries of racism being thrown into the mix, but it all boils down to the fact that this should have been handled differently from the very start. Now the internet found enough causes to rally together to keep this PR stunt alive indefinitely. I mean have you seen the meme’s coming out? Brutal.