#but also just because I'd like to see a fictional character that shares my attitude about my own bad knee towards his own bad knee

[kurithedweeb]

Y'all remember the time someone possessed Levin and made him run into the forest to Laurance the first time we see him in his full Shadow Knight getup? Levin was baby-baby at the time, if I'm remembering right it was before he was ready to start walking on his own so he was like maybe a year old. I'm debating giving that some long-term consequences.

I looked into it, and apparently babies walking before they're developmentally ready for it can lead to some mobility issues because the fragile bones of the feet aren't ready to bear the weight of the baby until after they've done a bunch of crawling and rolling and things to build up muscle and bone strength. Early walking sometimes leads to deformities or misalignments of the bones and joint problems from the weight of the baby and gravity, which can end up leading to issues with gait, posture, and movement efficiency later in life, and on rare occasions, this can even mean the baby will end up unable to walk at all.

What I'm saying is that Levin should have broken a few baby toe bones and fucked up his little baby knees. What I'm saying is he should have a limp and a falter in his step. Adult Levin should need a brace and a crutch sometimes.

People should underestimate his ability as a Lord and fighter because of this and then get their asses kicked. He should get a secret sword in his cane or crutch and have knives or a magickal focus hidden in the metal parts of his brace. He should lean on his limp to play into expectations and make people think he's weaker specifically so they underestimate him and the forces of Phoenix Drop and send less soldiers than they should. He should make it a strategic advantage.

[the-way-astray]

I don't know if we're all sharing our journeys with you about how we came to our conclusions about Keefe and Fitz, but here's mine:

About a year ago I read Flashback for the first time and that was when I first started to realize that Keefe was manipulative (I know I know, it's a basic argument at this point and it makes people mad when it's brought up, but that's what I noticed, and I wasn't in the fandom so this revelation was.... revelatory?), but I still thought to myself, oh yeah that makes sense given his background (which I still do believe but now it's just too annoying for me idk), and then reading his POV in the Flashback short story, I thought to myself, 'huh, he's saying the perfect things, isn't he? Almost like it's propaganda or something....'

A bit later I went to the internet, and learned that it is very very popular to not like Fitz at all (though I had already seen that in the real world talking to other people in real life), and to compare him to Keefe a lot. So I think that's why I started disliking Keefe, the way so many people perceive him (and compare him to Fitz) just soured my opinion of him. And I know people like to say "you can like both!" And while I do agree with that I don't think that anyone who doesn't isn't less valid or less mature than those who do, which I think is the attitude of some people who make that argument.

Anyway. That is my story (I don't dislike anyone who likes Keefe and Fitz or who likes Keefe and dislikes/hates Fitz)

had to do a different graph for you since your opinion over time wasn't all over the place like summer's was.

the one summer sent was because i asked about her story specifically, but now that you mention it, i do want to know everyone’s stories about how they decided what their opinions on fitz and keefe are. i should create a tag . . . anyway send me your stories everybody! i’ll make you a messy little visual.

interesting that flashback was the book that made you see him as manipulative. i personally think it starts a lot earlier, and gets particularly bad in nightfall. and yeah, i talked about this in my rant, but shannon randomly decides to have keefe say all the perfect green flags in flashback/the short story to cover for the fact that his actions literally do not match his words.

i'm not a fan of the idea of a "basic argument" or "complex argument", i'm more of a fan of "valid argument" or "invalid argument". like if an argument is good, it's going to be repeated . . . because it's reliable? that should be a point in its favor not a strike against it. and i'd say saying keefe is manipulative is a perfectly valid argument. but i'm also heavily biased. obviously.

i’m gonna be so honest, i have no idea why people hate fitz so much. like yeah, he gets angry, but he does apologize and try to get better, which i don’t see with keefe. i don’t hate fitz haters and unlike a lot of people in keepblr, i actually respect them, but i don’t understand them.

there is definitely an attitude of people thinking you’re less mature or not as valid if you hate on fitz or keefe. i think, as long as you’re mature about it (and don’t send weird asks), you can dislike whoever you want, and you aren’t a bad person if you do. the idea of "you can like both!" is very true, but i think we do need to respect haters. and i'm not just saying that as a keefe hater. fitz haters (as long as they aren't being weird about it *cough* "Just because your gay doesnt mean Sophie is!!!" anon *cough cough*) deserve respect, as well. acting like hating a character is immature is ridiculous. they are fictional. they are not real. chill out.

oof, i just turned your ask into a rant. sorry . . . moving along . . . i, too, do not dislike you if you like keefe or hate fitz. i'm actually pretty neutral on fitz myself, wouldn't say i'm particularly insane or obsessed with him.

[daisys-reality]

Your pick a piles are just *chef's kiss* 🤌 💖

As someone who practice divination techniques, how do you see the law of assumption and reality shifting? I just want to know your views on them <3

Oh dear anon, that is a truly interesting but very broad question.😅 First of all, thank you for the feedback regarding my PAC readings. It makes me happy to know you enjoy them.☺️🌸

general disclaimer: I'm not preaching absolute truths here! I'm just sharing my opinion and my personal perspective of these things. I'm not forcing anyone of you to agree or anything. My opinion often changes slightly too. So, I'm rather open for discussion and sharing each other's opinion! I just want to be clear about that. Also, as this feels quiet personal, I don’t know how long I will keep this on this blog.

[here the link to part two]

I'd like to say first that I've been into Divination (Tarot, oracle, Lenormand, astrology etc.) way longer than I've been into Reality Shifting and Law of Assumption. The latter two only since the beginning of 2022. Sure, I have heard of those expressions before 2022 but I couldn't really wrap my mind around those terms, I didn't know how to fit them into my belief system at that time. Oh, and even before Divination, I was also deep into subliminals and Law of Attraction like around 2015/16 but Law of Attraction is not what I follow anymore (obviously). Now that you have a little background, let's focus on your questions.

In regards to DIVINATION specifically:

-> I think I've talked about this somewhere before but in early times I focused on the communication with my 'spirit guides' and 'my high self' specifically but I don't really do this that way anymore. I still have my grounding and protection techniques (mainly through intentions and visualization) and stuff but I just try to connect to some open source (if that makes sense, idk how to explain it better) and ask for messages/advice. If I receive something because someone/something reaches out to me that's fine, if not, also fine. Things should never be forced ! Keeping a cool head at all times is advisable as well. Analyzing your environment, its atmosphere and energy also sometimes gives you clues. In my opinion, you have to be grounded and persistent in your boundaries in the way that you don't accept anything else than truth and/or the ideal advice for the respective person. Respect is very important as well - to yourself and every party involved! At the end of the day, it's all about your attitude and assumptions I guess. On a side note, just like reading for any other person you can connect with and read for people in other realities too (obviously including fictional 'characters' as well). There is nothing like 'great distance' or someone being too 'far away' to connect with on that dimension. However, there can be blockages (like for example, someone not wanting to connect or not wanting to share something with me as the reader or with the receiver of the message at the respective time).

Now, I will try to explain the main points of my belief regarding reality shifting & law of assumption in general (I don't think I need to additionally specify what those terms 'Reality Shifting' and 'Law of Assumption' stand for. So, I will get right into my personal perspective):

-> I see myself just as consciousness. And there is much more to myself than I'm currently aware of or rather more than I could probably grasp at this very moment. I'm currently aware of only a really small part of this 'consciousness'. I like the analogy that this life we have (the 'human body experience') is like a movie we watch in our mind (- and while we're on this topic, reality shifting in this case is kind of like switching the tv chaneI.) Though, I feel the need to say that this life (or rather the 3D) is still REAL !! There is no reason to get sad or whatever just because everything is a "movie". I sometimes see that some people in this community are scared of the idea that nothing is real or that everything is meaningless and they spiral into negativity and hopelessness. However, this is not necessarily the case because the human word "REAL" has a definition that is made by us humans specifically for this so called "movie" we're seeing and experiencing !! So, let's do some equations: We humans claim that Life/3D = REAL. The properties of this adjective 'REAL' = a movie-like experience. Life/3D = a movie-like experience while still being (=) REAL. [On a side note: DR experiences (while shifting) = REAL = movie-like experience as well] - I'm not sure if this made things more complicated , I really hope not. Oh well, let's continue... One of the main thoughts in the Law of Assumption community seems to be that 'I am the operant power(/'god') of everything and therefore, there is nothing outside of myself'. In contrast to this, I personally believe I am not 'alone' which brings me to my next aspect.

-> Gods/deities and other entities exist (in what dimensions tho idk). You've probably seen some people in this community working with deities. I don't really believe there is a super strict hierarchy with them in the sense that they are 'above us'. They are just more aware of their self [their existence and abilities] and have a broader perspective than us with our limited 'human body awareness'... I wouldn't go so far and say that they have an omniscient perspective. In fact, they (or most of them I guess) usually seem to notice/see our emotions (based on our aura/energy I suppose), they can communicate with us in more abstract ways and perceive more dimensions than us BUT they for example can't read our thoughts/feeling specifically at least from what I've seen and heard. Let's be real though, you don't need to 'belief' or worship them just because they exist. Most of them don't really have a need for interacting 'with us or our world' but some do and reach out to us but it depends on a few aspects...what entity it is, who you are and often what their respective mood is at the moment lol and more. I know that especially in the Law of Assumption community they often ask something like 'You believe in other gods even though you claim to be the god or operant power of your own reality? How can these things even coexist??' and they often respond with something like 'You can believe whatever you want and what you believe(/assume) to be true will manifest.' - which is kinda true! We do have great abilities and we're able to "exclude" things out of 'our world' if we don't want them in our life!! We ARE the operant power of our own worlds but I believe there is still something 'outside' of it and you decide whether to let it in or not. I for example find spirit and deity work very interesting and I love reading about other people's experiences but I personally don't practice such work. I might maybe someday but I currently see no need to increase my responsibilities (because you shouldn't take it lightly!) and I also usually feel very anxious when I feel other energies/entities around me. On a side note, I think that many more deities/entities exist than we know of and that those we 'know of' are not really how humans have characterized them. Well, in general, human scriptures shouldn't be taken too seriously anyways...not only those of mythology but also religious scriptures because we know humans usually have a limited capacity of understanding certain things and usually have certain (personal) intentions while writing - and I don't even wanna think of the influence of the society/government and of the general attitude that prevailed in the respective time period these scriptures where written in. Anyways, back to the topic...

-> Each of us have their own consciousness but we are all intertwined somehow. It's what I believe but I'm not sure how to explain this one exactly. I said above that other entities exist out of "our own worlds" (- here I mean everything that is included in our consciousness) but you and me and other 'humans' have their 'own worlds' all on the same level/dimension which overlap partly... well 'overlap' is maybe not the correct word but I don't think it is possible to correctly visualise it in a 3D-model way anyway, if you know what I mean. Perhaps 'interconnected' fits better... these consciousness (pl) are so interconnected that it is hardly possible to see the lines between each of them which makes it seem like one big collective consciousness - which I personally think is where the law of consciousness (or what it respective name is... non-dualism?) potentially relates to/stems from. But I haven't done that much research on "non-dualism" yet. So this is - of course - just my humble opinion.

-> Some add-ons regarding my attitude : There are so many more things in this world I don't know about yet. To be honest, I'm super duper curious and greedy to know more (everything lol) but on the other hand, I also believe that rushing (receiving an overwhelming amount of information) makes no sense and is counterproductive in a way? I personally decided to give myself the necessary time to process the information I receive and the information I find out myself on the way. I mean I'm human, I have my emotions (duh) and my phases in life where I feel down. Why burden or overwhelm myself (and my lil human mind🤧)? But the journey for more knowledge makes life here a little more exciting too in my opinion. I'm not exactly sure if that is the right expression or just something weird from my mother tongue but we say that 'we sometimes need time to grow on certain ideas/information' which basically means that after some time has passed, you can grasp certain ideas more easily and react less emotionally to them and see them from a more distant and clear point of view. In addition to that, I have never been an 'absolute thinker' type of person anyway. I always try to be receptive to change. The state of my mind or my current opinion are not absolute or set in stone, more so they are ever-changing and growing. Being open is the best way to flow with life's motions in my opinion.

So, yeah. My answer turned out a bit long, though why does it still feel kinda wishy-washy? Oh man... shame on me. Anyways, to all the people who took the time to read through this till the end, thank you🤍. I don't know if this completely answers your question, anon, but feel free to ask follow-up questions! Bye bye!!☺️🍀

[cosmos-dot-semicolon]

🌟 (I found a cool star for u)

(⭐fanfic writers’ commentary)

Yay! Free space! Let's see…

Since you're the most writerly of the three people that sent in asks, and the person who shares the most interests with me, I'm going to freestyle some of my thoughts on fanfiction in general.

I make fanworks to respond to what stuck with me through a series. It's a form of analysis in itself for me, where you try and replicate a style by trying to make it work in your own context instead of pointing out why it works in an essay. This is something I've taken from my time studying visual art, where you're encouraged to do studies of works as well as just annotating them.

You don't have to follow them completely. You can focus on just the lines, or the palette, or the composition, but the main goal is to learn how to recreate something you like about the piece by your own hands.

I take that attitude with me into writing. It's why my favourite bits of fanfiction and fanart tend to be 'what-if' situations just left of canon. Characterisation is usually my main focus, with tone and message as my secondary aims. But even when it comes to other things like the setting or lore, I only extrapolate if I think it benefits the things above.

(or for representation. lol)

I like the challenge of those limitations. It forces you to be more creative as a writer, knowing that you have to start from some sort of formula, but you also need to make a different, compelling story and get your own interests to align with that. The small spins you can put on that are way more compelling than any massive upheavals that you tend to find in more standard AUs and such. Kinda like plot twists, actually.

wait I just realised that's what I said about why liked Ninjago season 1 and 4 so much. don't want to think about that. moving on

As a result, I approach fanfiction for different franchises differently. I love learning how different writers approach storytelling! I don't care for how there's clear 'templates' that dominate in fandom circles, because it throws away a lot of the subgenre's appeal to me in the first place. Specific AUs based off aesthetics, certain dragged out romance tropes, etc. (also the way some people do shipping but that's a whole 'nother can of worms)

I don't have much against them, I just find that they're usually less interesting than something with a specific premise and goal in mind.

Honestly I think the way I like to write fanfiction is more like. How sometimes you get spin-off books and comics of TV shows and games. Except targeted towards my favourite media and personal tastes and actually good.

I was going to complain a bit about fanon as well, but I think you already know how that is. People get very specific takes stuck in their head, usually of neutral quality at best, and it's frustrating to see if you have opposing views, or just prefer the actual. source material.

Also I don't write fanfiction for everything. I think the old adage of 'works that are above a baseline level of compelling and below a certain level of completeness are how fandoms form' is a part of that. I find it easiest to write/draw for works that have gaps in them, regardless of quality. See Dicey versus something like Inscryption (if I ever feel like editing and betaing that script, anyway…)

But I think another factor for it is also the focus of the original work. I love Disco Elysium and I'd argue it's both good and not really complete. But it's also a game deeply entwined with politics and the creator's personal experiences: I feel deeply unequipped to handle that as a storyteller who mostly focuses on characters and plot. If I did have anything to say on it, I'd probably be doing in as an essay instead.

Fandom 'meta' (stupid name) - analytical essays - are a good thing, and I think we should be encouraging it more alongside fictional fanworks.

I'm only occasionally a fanfiction reader. I used to be really into it as a kid, when I was into a bunch of series that weren't finished yet, and when I really wanted to experience games I couldn't buy. But even then I was pretty picky and ended up blocking tons of tags and had to keep compiling lists of stuff that was actually worth reading.

I don't do that much nowadays - I've learned that it's valuable to try a lot of different things in media, and I'm now way more aware of how it fuels my maladaptive daydreaming. My mindset on it now tends to be 'if you want to read that specific thing you want to see, you're going to have to be the one to write it.'

I haven't written much original stuff recently. Fanworks have always been easier for me to do for enjoyment, and I'm in the midst of a pretty exhausting degree. I do have a bunch of original ideas on the brain, though. Maybe I will touch on those at some point.

[dentiststoothfairy]

Hello! I see you're on a break, but may I place a request for an Identity V matchup whenever you're up for it? I'm pretty new to the fandom and still getting to know the characters but I'm v curious! I have no preferences for gender or surv/hunter.

I'm an INTJ and enneagram 6w5, if those help.

I'm also an only child to parents who worked a lot to make end's meet, so I'm used to having a lot of space and time to myself. I dont do well with crowds or long social events, but I am very good at adopting myself to socialize with different kinds of people in smaller bursts. I get along with just about everyone I meet, but the social masking means I'm a bit slow to make genuine friendships. I'm VERY loyal to people I can share my quiet decompression time with. On the flip side, I'm impatient with people who intentionally ignore my boundaries because I'm used to the alternative of being alone.

Im an anxious person who doesn't handle heated confrontation well. Regular disagreements are fine, but raised voices set me on edge and I'd rather take time away from someone so we can both cool off before we have a conversation.

Acts of Service is my favorite LL to receive, even just little things like cleaning my glasses for me. (I'm independent, but not having to be makes me feel loved) Physical Touch is probably second, and also probably the one I'm best at giving.

I'm more of a homebody and my main hobbies are reading, writing, and just relaxing to music, but I also enjoy outdoor activities like camping and hiking when I have company. I have a weak spot for low-budget horror and science fiction films! I enjoy trying new foods too--i think I'm a pretty average home cook, but I'm not a picky eater and I do my best ☺️

I like animals, and I have a couple bunnies as pets! They're v well behaved and have free run of the house.

I work in a management role right now because the money is pretty good, but it's draining and my dream is to publish my first book and make that my career!

Thank you in advance! -🐇

I match make you with...

💌 𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐙 🐶

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

If you need someone to give you gentle encouragment to grow out of your shell or quiet refuge from extended social events. He's your go-to guy.

He's more than happy to be your support.

Your adaptability matches well with his ability to match his attitude to his letters. You both would be able to blend well into the right crowd, but would need a safe haven to recover from such. Unlike common belief, Victor doesn't like people as much as you'd think.

I feel like your struggles to make genuine friends would sort of bring him comfort that he's never been able to tell if certain people would make poor or good friends.

You wouldn't have to worry about Victor pressing your boundaries since he has very similar boundaries to you. He'd understand that sometimes, being on your own is the best thing a person could be.

I hope you like dogs. Because Wick would be pretty excited to meet you haha. Wick is Victor's dog that has been through hell and back with him. So because of that, he's been pretty attached to Victor and that's the only person Victor feels comfortable around.

Honestly? Victor is one of the most chill survivors in the manor. I don't think you'd have to worry about arguments with him. If you ever did argue, I think he'd initially struggle to communicate about it first. It'd be a bit of a climb but if he trusts you enough, you two will be just fine. But, I wouldn't worry about that at all. He's literally just happy to be here.

If you're looking for Acts Of Service as your favorite love language? This boy literally delivers letters because he loves to. He would absolutely do little things like that for you. He would be more than delighted to do small things for you.

He's also such a sweetheart so he'd probably melt at your touch. He'd adore it very much.

Wick requires the pat tax

And with your cooking? I don't imagine he'd be too picky either. BUT he'd adore some Steak Diane if you wouldn't mind 🙏

And since you have bunnies? You'd be great with Wick! Since Wick is also very very well behaved. So much so, that Victor brings Wick into matches and he does exactly what he is told! So, not only would Victor love your buns, but Wick would probably love new friends to play with. (He will be gentle with them I promise)

He's also pretty independent since he acts as a postman. He literally ran into a fire to save Wick, so yeah. He wouldn't be leeching off your absolute girl bossing it. But just know. He will be the first person to read your book. He'll run around it and deliver little advertisements to help get your career off the ground (most likely as a secret) because he knows you're talented <333

[starlightcevans]

Your Ghost - A Ransom Drysdale story

Hello everyone! I have written stories on Wattpad, but I have decided to share the stories on Tumblr too. I have written two full stories based on Ransom Drysdale. I am currently busy on the third story. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing the story.

A lot of thought and work was put into this story.

Warning: This story contains mature content: Strong language, and smut. I'd recommend 18+ to read this story, but viewer discretion is advised. Please be aware that this fan fiction will contain strong language, explicit scenes that may not be suitable for younger viewers, and scenes of alcohol. There is mature content in this fan fiction.

Please note that this is purely fiction writing. I do not own any of the characters, this is purely for fiction.

Feedback is always welcome. Please let me know if you like this story or not.

If you find any grammar errors, please let me know.

Link to the Wattpad story: https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/230456351/write/911256327

I immediately look into Ransom's eyes. That was a bad move. I look right into those angelic jet blue eyes and once again, I am hypnotized by those angel eyes. My legs start to tremble just looking at him. What this man does to me...

Luckily Ransom does not see my legs from behind Harlan's desk. At least my arms are supporting me.

"You..." Is all I manage to say to Ransom.

"Hello Harlan." Ransom's says bluntly and his eyes dart toward Harlan. I look down at my notes and try not to look up toward Ransom again.

Harlan smiles at his grandson, but Ransom does not return the smile.

"What are you doing here so early?" Harlan asks kindly to his grandson.

"I wanted to see my grandfather, although I thought you would be in your study...alone." His cocky attitude is not what I need to hear right now. I pretend I didn't hear him say that last word in a disdainful way.

"Is it bad that I decided to arrive here earlier Harlan?" Ransom asks Harlan.

I look at Harlan, who doesn't seem fazed by his grandson's arrogance. "No, I am surprised that you are here earlier. You are usually the one who is late."

Ransom doesn't say anything.

I can feel Ransom's eyes on me.

I need to go. Now! I fear what might happen if I look back into those eyes. I gather my notes on the desk.

"Leaving so soon?" Ransom arrogantly asks me. I close my eyes to roll them up so no one can see.

I feel a hand over mine. I open my eyes.

"We will talk more later on about your book. Right now, I need to go talk to Fran about tonight." Harlan softly says.

"I have to go."

"Go where?" Ransom speaks up.

My eyes stay on Harlan, but I purse my lips together.

"It's Sunday right? So I would take a guess that you went grocery shopping. Also usually at this time of day you want to go for your afternoon run with Sheila because she probably has not been out since you are always busy with your work."

I look down. Shit! I hate that he knows me so well!

Harlan taps me on the shoulder. "I will speak to you later I hope." He leans into my ear, "Please stay until tonight. We'll work more on your novel as well. Also, go to the spare room so long. You will be alone there." Harlan winks at me and leaves his study, leaving me alone with Ransom who is conveniently blocking my only way of leaving this study.

I look out of the window, not saying a word to Ransom.

"So are you just going to stand there and pretend that I am not here? Are you not going to say a anything to me? No sarcastic comments?" Ransom asks.

I bite my lower lip. Ransom was right. I would have taken Sheila for a walk round about this time. She is back home, probably waiting for her walk. I want to leave, but Harlan wants me to stay. He is the only person who can help me with my novel.

I decide to stay. Damn it!

I need to phone my neighbour. They won't mind taking Sheila for a walk.

I turn to pick up my notes and notice the doorway is open.

"This armchair feels warm." Ransom remarks.

I look in his direction and see that my bag is still by the armchair he is sitting on. I can always collect my bag later. For now, I need to go to the spare room. I only hope I will be alone.

I walk past Ransom and I exit the study, passed the grand piano just outside Harlan's study.

"Evelyn, where are you going?" Naturally, Ransom follows me.

I continue to ignore him as I march upstairs, straight toward the spare bedroom.

I walk past one of the bedrooms and see Harlan and Fran speaking. I don't quite hear what they are talking about because I pick up my pace and almost jog to the bedroom. All I heard was "Announcement."

I finally see the door to the bedroom and I enter the empty bedroom, with its lilac walls – which is the color I want to paint my bedroom. The four poster bed takes up most of the room space with antiques displayed on the dresser in front of the bed. I place my notes in the one draw by the bedside table. Its gold-like elegant looking patterns match the lamp which is black with gold patterns.

I sigh in relief because I am finally alone. Just then the door slams shut. 

"What the fuck was that?"

I jump and squeak as I turn to see Ransom has followed me into the room. Fantastic!

Ransom stands by the door, waiting for an answer? I don't speak. I stand like a statue, looking down. I cannot look into those eyes.

"What is the matter? Cat's got your tongue? You were born with a mouth." Ransom scoffs.

Bloody asshole! Why did I have to fall for this man?

I turn around and walk toward the window. At least I can view the acres of land than look at Ransom.

"Stop ignoring me Evelyn." I look in his direction, but I make sure I don't look directly at him.

"I can do this all day." Ransom smirks.

I roll my eyes and turn my head to look outside. "Just...leave." I say as firmly as I can.

"No. Not until we talk."

I exhale and close my eyes. I know he is not going to leave unless he says what he needs to, but I don't want to talk to him.

I slowly turn my body so that I am facing him and to my surprise, he is within arm distance.

"Talk about what?" I finally find my voice to speak.

"You know what."

"No. I actually don't. Wait!" I look at his direction, "Why are you even here?" I ask Ransom.

He narrows his eyes. "Didn't I just tell you? I am here with you –"

"No! Why are here at Harlan's place? When I am visiting?" I cut him off.

My eyes widen as I realize that his mother could have told him that I was visiting Harlan.

"You knew I would be here. Your mother must have told you that I was coming here." I make a mental note to not go to that grocery store for a while.

Ransom bursts into laughter. "Yeah! Like my mother would just phone me and tell me that you are at my grandfathers place."

I roll my eyes. "Whatever." I look out the window again. I see the gardener walking back with the lawn mower. The sun is setting in the distance...and I need to leave this place. I will tell Harlan that I will visit him another time.

"Well this was fun...Goodbye." I huff and head toward the bedside table.

"You're leaving?" Ransom's laughter disappears completely.

"Yes. Besides, I don't belong here anyway. I only came to this place because I was visiting Harlan, but I think I have over stayed my welcome." I know Harlan will understand if I wish to reschedule.

I grab my notes and head toward the door and I reach for the door handle. Just then, a hand pushes the door shut.

"Let me go!" I urge Ransom.

"Not until we have spoken and had a proper conversation." Ransoms says bluntly.

I throw my notes onto the bedside table and try to open the door, but Ransom pushes the door so that I cannot get out.

"Please let me go." I plea this time, placing my head on the door.

"Not until –"

"Until we have had a proper conversation. I know!" I cut him off.

"Don't use that tone with me! We do need to talk."

"About what? What could we possibly talk about? We b –"

"Who is he?" Ransom asks.

"What?" I am caught off gourd, "Who is who?"

"I saw you walking with a man at the grocery store last week. You were laughing and flirting with him."

I blink in astonishment. "You...Are you following me?" I snap. I know Ransom disliked if I spoke to another man who I could potentially have an interest in, although I never showed any interest in those men.

"No I am not following you. I just happened to have driven past the grocery store on my way to see Harlan, and I saw you."

This time, I turn to look at Ransom. Our faces merely centimeters apart. I look to his cheeks.

He thinks that he can lie right to my face when I know he specifically went down that road because he knew I would be at the store at that time.

I think back to last week. "Of cause that was you! I thought I saw a Beamer speeding past. You know...I saw the Beamer getting closer, so I asked a very strong man to help carry my groceries to my car because as you know...I purposefully wanted to make you jealous." I sarcastically say.

Ransom flares his nostrils. I know that I got to him.

"You like strong men?"

I nod. "Of cause I do! Well you should know how I like my man: Strong, dashing, chiselled chin and the muscles...my man must have muscles."

Ransom opens his mouth to speak, but I cover his mouth. "I am not done. I also like my man to be kind, generous and not a liar who thinks that he can get away with what he did to his girlfriend!" I exclaim.

Ransom takes a tiny step backwards, but not removing his hand from the door. I drop my hand.

"Don't blame me for everything that happened."

"Well at least I didn't lie about what I did." I hit his chest with both my hands.

"Now let me go Ransom!" I almost scream.

I turn to open the door, but Ransom grabs hold of my neck and turns me around so I am facing him. Our faces are so close that I can feel his breath on me.

"No! You are not going anywhere!" Ransom taunts.

I open my mouth to speak, but Ransom leans in and smacks his lips on mine.

[llycaons]

genuinely how is katara homophobic when thats just fandom interpretation? it’s a little weird that katara is seen as that when she’s the only main brown girl character on the show.. and to see you as someone who criticizes fandom interpretation for the wx fandom fall into that is kinda disappointing. i hope you reassess your bias genuinely esp since youre white

hi anon. first of all, thanks for the ask. I do love to criticize fandom interpretation, and to share my critiques as well

so, that tag was referencing several semi-joke posts talking about it, that I assumed were common knowledge in my circles. I'm actually a little confused that this is even in question, because I thought that katara's canon sexism and contempt for gender-noncomformity (which ties in with homophobia) was fairly well known. I spend very little time in the atla fandom, because I don't like it very much, and while katara clearly IS unfairly hated and treated poorly by both fanon and canon, it's fairly easy to extrapolate from her behavior and attitudes in the show itself that she is (mildly) homophobic. it's not just fan misinterpretation, it's following a set of attitudes to a possible logical conclusion. she's not explicitly homophobic in canon, but it's very easy to read her as such, and not an unfair interpretation. it's not just her, either - she's like this because other characters around her are as well. as is a lot of the humor, because it was written in 2005. I mean, uncle iroh sexually harassed a woman onscreen and it was treated like a joke. toph mocks aang for being feminine, she's definitely got a lot of those same attitudes. a lot of characters had bad traits that were played for comedy or just accepted as normal and fine. iirc suki managed to avoid this and encourage sokka to connect with femininity in ways that didn't make him feel humiliated, so that's why I voted for her. she may be mistreated, but possibly marginally less mischaracterized? maybe a weak reason, but I thought katara was going to win anyway and I didn't give it much thought

to be clear, I do not dislike katara at all. she's one of my favorites from the show and her work in ecoterrorism was inspiring. I think she's a wonderful, complex, well-meaning character whose heart is in the right place and who probably deserves to win that poll because I get the sense she is much more hated than suki, but her behavior towards other women and towards characters deviating from gender norms isn't...great. it's ironic, because she herself advocated against all those sexist old men for her right to be taught in the northern water tribe, but she mocks sokka for carrying a purse, she attacks toph for being unfeminine, and she tells sokka his behavior would improve if he kissed a girl. I mean, when I read the reasons for her being included, I thought she was definitely treated poorly and exaggerated, but it's not like her homophobia is coming out of nowhere. my memory is poor, so I'm linking gifs from the show itself. the post is half a joke, but the throughline is pretty consistent imo. and I don't think this makes her a horrible person, she's a 14 year old girl who grew up in a certain social setting and she reacts to it. as an adult she seems like the kind of person to do her best, but slip up once in a while and say something off-color.

it's also important to remember that katara is a fictional character written by two white men in the year 2005 for a certain audience. jokes mocking 'unmasculine' behavior in ways that lended themselves very easily to homophobia were much more popular then, and it doesn't surprise me that the show includes them. I like to think katara grew out of it too, but that's a headcanon, and something I don't take into account when critiquing the actual show. I'd love to see justice done for them in terms of their indigenous identity, sexuality, and gender expressions, but when it comes to analyzing the actual show, that's just not what i'm working off of

as I said, I'm not involved in the fandom. I don't like any ships from it. It sounds like the sexist fans make katara out to be much worse than she actually is, and I don't support or agree with them at all. but I'm also not interested in ignoring her flaws, because they're part of the story that's being told (and part of the out-of-universe historical context) and they inform her as a well-rounded, complicated person in a certan social setting, who has room to grow. I hope I've made myself understood and answered your question, as I genuinely didn't mean to imply I agreed with the misogynistic and racist fans who villainize her to support their m/m ships.

an important note: I haven't read any of the comics or any supplementary material. so if there's canon content relating to her that I'm missing, please understand I'm speaking only about the tv show

all this being said, I really do not want to speak any more about this series. if you follow me you probably know how I feel about it. love and light.

[angelizs]

I have so many thoughts I haven’t had the chance to jot down to share with you so take this list with a few of them X3

•Personally I much prefer giving Yuu headcanons to make them their own person instead of projecting: I honestly just find it fun I feel as though self inserts are better for when you want to feel as if you are in the story due to Yuu already having certain traits attributed to them in canon (how they get described as very blunt for example is a canon trait that gets said multiple times!!!) •I’m actually a huge fan of the hc that Floyd hates when people point out how him and Jade are polar opposites or when people refer to Jade as the “better” twin. It adds more layers onto their personalities and from experience it doesn’t feel great when people compare you to your siblings using something with a negative connotation •I 100% hc that Idia has a vitamin D deficiency (maybe I’m projecting onto him but it totally fits him) he never goes outside nor does he have a proper diet and those are basically a match made in heaven for a vitamin D deficiency •It’s time for me to make a confession… I don’t like Leona XD he just never appealed to me if I’m being totally honest I almost always skip Book 2 when I’m rewatching the Books because I just couldn’t get into his backstory and generally still can’t (He’s such a fan favorite I’m sorry to admit it I just can’t personally find interest in his story) •We need more canon Cater x Trey angst just imagine “Cater… you know you can talk to me if you’re ever upset right?” Trey expressed in a worried tone as Cater turned with a surprised expression covering his face he furrowed his eyebrows “Why? Aww~ are you worried about me~♥️” Cater teased in a cheerful tone. Though, it was hard to miss the quiver of his lips and his shaking hands. He flashed Trey a smile then went back to humming what must have been a trending audio on Magicam that Trey hadn’t heard while scrolling down his feed. As he analyzed Cater’s features he couldn’t help but notice how deep his eye bags were without makeup to cover them: the glossy look in his eyes implied that he was on the verge of tears even so he still forced his cheeks to form a grin that seemed almost painful. Of course he didn’t want to force Cater to open up, but everytime he tried to help him all he was met with were the same cheery voice, shaky hands, and plastered smile. (super sorry if that sucked I don’t generally write for Trey and I haven’t written anything in a while because of college XO)

Hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts as much as I enjoyed writing them !!- 🦭

HII 🦭 ANON, I GOT SO HAPPY SEEING THIS ASK!!! I LOVED READING YOUR THOUGHTS, THANKS FOR SHARING WITH ME!! I'll comment about each of them under the cut!!

• experimenting with Yuu's personality is so much fun! taking their canon traits to create a full fledged character can be quite entertaining, trying to create them based on their answers on the story! tho I also like creating a yuusona based more as a self insert at times, too! (if you have any Yuu hcs you'd like to share anon, I'm all ears!)

• SOOO TRUE, Floyd and Jade break a common trope with twins within fiction in which they are basically the same person and I love that for them. all the little differences that set them apart and make them their own person are so charming! also, I'm pretty sure there's one vignette in which Floyd mentions how he doesn't like being compared to Jade, especially in a negative connotation. (I can't really remember which one it is now tho... I'm pretty sure it exists ok!!)

• ANON YOU'RE SO RIGHT THAT'S CANON !!! as an Idia kinnie who also has vitamin D deficiency I can confirm it's true.

• LMAO that's fair anon, you can like whoever you'd like! he was one of my favorites at the start lol it might be because I LOVEEE the Lion King, but I can see how his attitude can get on your nerves. there are also some things I'd change about his development (and about chapter 2, too). there's a lot to analyse about him as he's very complex and that still appeals to me, but not as much as it used to as I got to meet other characters who ended up climbing the ladder of my heart and surpassing him.

• OMG A WHOLE SCENARIO FOR FREE?? THANK YOU SO MUCH ANON!! and I agree, more Cater x Trey content would be very nice!

Trey trying to reach out to him tentatively while also giving him space while Cater continues to hold his nonchalant façade and pretend everything is alright, keeping his walls up to not let him close enough to see him vulnerable, even as he's hurting..... THEMMM 😭😭😭

it didn't suck at all anon, in fact I really liked it!! I'd love to read more of your writing <3

[whenyoucallmelover]

I feel so annoyed sometimes that harry - be it in twitter comments or fanworks - is appointed alpha male protector because of his build. okay he has broad shoulders and back and he loves to exercice which emplifies that but it doesn't defines his "roles"/attitude/temper/ect?? I mean I'm just tired of the "tiny cute shining sun louis who must be protected" and "look how big and tall harry is" cliche as if it must defines their whole personalities. Louis however smaller he may be, as always felt more like the protector one to me I mean they kinda share that and all but it's more obvious in him. Being the big brother figure and all. Also from testimonies we got from the backstage over the years, harry is often described as the shy one when out of the spotlight while louis gets described as outgoing and at ease most of the time. And- anyway I should stop. I just made the mistake of reading a few tweets and must have woken up on the wrong foot because I just couldn't ignore them today. (mmh... I'm realising as I write this that may be it touches me because I'm projecting? Like irl I'm in the 'broad shoulders' club and always wished I'd be smaller, tynier because it'd made my wish to be protected would be more 'logical' or legitimate... anyway I digress)

well hello there! interesting thing to think about!

i get what you mean! it can feel very one dimensional when people view big = manly and strong & short = soft and dainty.

back in the day, i definitely saw this happen between harry and louis a lot! luckily, i think as the fanbase has grown (and grown up), i personally see it happening less, which is nice!— not bc you can’t be big/small and have personality traits that ‘match’ your outward appearance; it’s just nice that people have considered more than just someone’s outward appearance!

(i always think about the “dark harry” and duplicity and after era whenever i see people talking about this sort of thing and it just makes me laugh, haha. it’s all a bit ridiculous.)

it really is an interesting thing to consider regarding fanworks… the lines within real-person fiction can be blurry! i mean, if you want to do some creative writing where louis is fragile or dainty and in need of a big, tall, strong harry (or whoever, of course! i’m just using them as a relevant example), i think it’s just important for it to be understood & acknowledged that these people are being used as characters, and are being simplified to a less complex and dichotomous version of the real people.

we, as humans, are never going to be the strong one or the weak one or the dominant one or the submissive one, etc, at all times. and i think that can get a little lost on us when we immerse ourselves so much in our versions of people that we really don’t know. i’m definitely guilty of it, too, it’s only natural when you’re left to fill in the blanks on your own. harry is often described as shy and sometimes a lil nervous and awkward (still sobbing about his dunkirk costars saying he originally ate lunch alone 😭), but he’s also insanely charismatic and charming and bold when he’s in his element! and louis has that fun, don’t-take-life-too-seriously attitude and is so fiercely protective of his loved ones, but he’s also so tactful and gentle with fans and his voice gets all soft and lovely when he’s with kids—

there's just so much to every person and it's a beautiful thing to be made up of so many different things. i'm sure we've all experienced people making assumptions about us based solely on what they see, and it's never a good feeling! so i do think it's deeply important to see more than just the surface!

[somin-yin]

🎬📺 Share ten different favorite characters from ten different pieces of media in no particular order 🎮🃏 Then send this to 10 people (anon or not, your choice) /nf !!

sorry if you already got this

Thank you so much for this ask, I love these asks about characters ❤️ here are my beloveds in no particular order:

Ratan Vaish - Kali: Call of Darkness, Romance Club: The love of my life, he's everything I've ever dreamed in a character and more, the interactions with him makes me feel goosebumps every time 🛐 He's also very relatable in a lot of occasions ❤️

Spanish Berlin - La casa de papel/Money Heist: How can I not love Berlin? He's one of the most multi-dimensional and entertaining characters in LCDP, also he always managed to make me laugh 😂 Looking forward to his spin-off 🛐

Cho Sangwoo - Squid Game: My misunderstood boy, he did what he had to do to survive 🤷‍♀️ his actions were unethical yes, but there were no other options. Truly a morally grey and complex character (and I know Gi-hun and him dated in her past)

Raul Leon - Control Z: I know he's crazy and that he's a yandere but he has layers you know and I can't resist him, sue me I suppose 😂

Korean Professor - Money Heist Korea: I don't know why for some reason I like him better than Spanish professor, don't get me wrong, Spanish professor is awesome but I prefer the Korean one because he's more collected, composed and calculating. He was also kinda relatable 🤷‍♀️

Chisjen Avasarala - The Expanse: She's THE girlboss, and the true queen of Earth, she gets things done and has an unparalleled elegance, a true diplomat too, no choice but to simp ❤️

Todd Madison - Love from outer space, Romance Club: The other love of my life ❤️ my soulmate, he's as nerdy and as geeky as me and his humour? unprecedented ❤️ (he's the kind of guy I'd fall for irl, along with Ratan)

Gaius Augustine - Bloodbound, Choices stories you play: At the beginning I couldn't stand him. But then after seeing his redemption arc and the reason why he became like that, I started seeing him in a different light and he became my favourite character in Choices 🤷‍♀️

Colin Ritman, Black Mirror Bandersnatch: He's just so cool, his attitude, his style, his voice, everything in him is so cool, EVERYTHING and he gives off an aura of confidence, definitely one of the coolest characters I've ever seen, makes my knees weak 🛐

Yagami Light - Death Note: Sorry (not really) but #TeamLight all the way. Yes, he's a literal psychopath but he's very smart, complex and an overall well-written character and I can't resist that type of character 🤷‍♀️

Some of them are villains, some others are morally grey, some others are downright deranged, while others are anti-heroes but they're still my comfort characters. I connect so well with the fictional deranged I suppose 😂🤷‍♀️

Honourable mention to: Nick Nelson, Angelo Lagusa, Selena, Pierce and Kenzo Tenma ❤️❤️

Tagging my moots instead of sending because I'm lazy: @fantasyoverreality98 @jellyjinx ​@kitty-blackthorn-herondale @violentinecrl @small-lady-of-the-sea ​@leeaneea @rf-rida @unsettlingconclusions @darknessqueenrc @shawieespano ​@somewillwin @farizrz @calraquin @m00nfullofstars @teatimemols @mostlymobilegames @he-hehe-he @baexpoppy + everyone else who sees this

[forestwater87]

Okay, for all of you who don't feel like watching Miles RP as David

Here are some of my favorite quotes. Context may be added if I feel like it. Reactions are my goblin brain screaming. All of these came from a discord so if they don't make sense . . . see goblin brain comment.

(That link should start directly at the point where he becomes David; if it doesn't, skip to 1:40:33)

In roughly chronological order:

David: "Teachers are sort of like camp counselors during the rest of the year."

The thing is David is absolutely up his own ass enough to think this.

David: "Trail mix is expensive!"

^ said to show he understands why not everyone can donate to the charity for teachers. Very adorable, am crying.

David's "ooooh" seeing one dude was extremely non-heterosexual. Fucking bicon. Him losing his mind that one of the arenas is called "Survey camp"

David: "A person's hitting me -- I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry this is just pretend!"

This is just canonically how David plays video games. Either this or he's unwilling to commit violence at all, but I'll defer to Miles.

David: "That's very goat of you!"

Spencer: "Is David popular amongst his campers?"

David: "I like to think so! There's only 3 staff members, so I'm definitely in everyone's top 3."

"That also means you're in the bottom 3."

David: "Well, I choose not to think of it that way."

(I have to keep adding reacts so you can tell when one quote ends and another begins. Judge not lest ye be judged)

I think the other person in the stream is named Spencer. Friend of Miles. I know literally nothing else about him and am not even confident on those facts.

Every time he says something so non-David in his David voice I die: "I have a lot of grenades!"

David: "Oh my goodness, would you look at this beautiful scenery! Can we hike that mountain?"

This is so goddamn cute. I am dying. Miles looked at his fans and said "they will eat tonight" and I am so relieved.

David: "Not to be a couple of Greedy Garys, but I say we get this [care package] and then I'll drop another one!"

The fact that Miles is grinning like a lunatic the entire time is very good. (Also if this is formatted badly then I'm sorry but not all that sorry. I'm doing my best and David would be proud of me.)

David: "Didja getim? Didja getim? didja getim? How 'bout now?"

Spencer: "I didn't get 'em."

David: "Well, you tried your best and that's all that matters."

He calls healing "a little health kiss." I'm not sure why but it's very important to me.

David: [while jumping to murder someone] "Hi! Scuse me!"

(i just need something to separate the quotes okay)

David: "Well you know what gang, we did our best. You don't always win the 3-legged race. You did a wonderful job!"

Then there's a bit where they talk about Spencer's time at summer camp:

David: "ooooh hand-holding's pretty serious!"

David is too pure.

David: [dreamily] "Did you fall in love, Spencer? A summer love?" [puts hands up to his face]

Then there's the fact that David/Miles gets to pick where they play each round, and he keeps insisting on going to the one called "Survey Camp" every single time because it has the word "camp" in it.

David: "Now, I don't like to disagree, but . . . I was thinking we could go . . . to Survey Camp!"

Spencer reminds him that technically since David's the one with the power to choose, his opinion is the only one that matters:

David: "Everyone's opinion matters. And my opinion is we're going to camp."

David just steamrolling over Spencer's interests is very good. There are these little selfish nuggets sprinkled in among the wholesomeness that really capture the full David experience.

David: "Well, he's climbing up . . . he's coming my direction . . . oh, he looks scary . . ."

Spencer: "Is he coming towards me?"

David: "Oooh, I don't know. I'm dead!"

The positivity is relentless. I think Miles said on twitter afterwards that this whole thing was exhausting and I can see why. Being David is no picnic . . .

David: "I have a question: do we have to shoot each other in this game?"

And then a few seconds later:

David: "I'm just wondering if maybe there's a way we can, you know, help others. Talk through our issues."

And a few seconds after that:

David: "I was asking if they wanted to be friends in the game!"

I believe that moved killed him, too. Precious.

Also we're interrupting the real Miles!David content to share something my friend suggested to me while I was watching this and giving her quotes; she said that maybe David just calls everything camp to make life more fun, and then sent me this imaginary exchange that actually killed me all the way to death:

David: Gwen Santos would you go to marriage camp with me

Gwen: I'm going to have to change this story when I tell everyone

It made me laugh quite a bit.

Anyway, back to the video!

Spencer: "How do you sign up for [Camp Campbell]?"

David: "Well, um, you can fax, uh, an application to CameronCCampbell@hotmail.realwebsite.noreallyrealwebsite.com. And . . . you can know that myself and Gwen and Quartermaster and sometimes Mr. Campbell will do our best to make sure they get what they need! Which more than anything is love and support. And friendship."

Spencer: "How many dollars does this camp cost?"

David: "You know . . . it is, um . . ."

And then the conversation switches subjects and David breathes a sigh of relief.

Very shortly after this he changed his character from a woman (she was wearing a yellow shirt, which he liked because the campers wear yellow shirts) to "a Forward Scout with a positive attitude!"

"I like his style."

Spencer: "Does everybody abuse David verbally?"

David: "You know, sometimes people have harsh words. Mostly Max, and Neil, and Gwen, and Quartermaster, and Nurf."

Spencer: "Did you just list almost everyone?"

David: "Mmm . . . I'd say maybe a third."

Poor David. Somebody please protect him.

Spencer: "Yeah, I think people abuse David. I get that vibe. Or at least, I feel it in my heart. Like I wanna put ants in your bunk or something."

David: "Well, I think that says more about maybe some of the hurt you're carrying with you. And sometimes when people don't know how to process that, they act out. Do you want some trail mix?"

David just said his favorite part of trail mix is the raisins which is so cute. "They have a little bit of salt on them, which isn't typical for a raisin."

And he keeps telling chatters to watch their language.

David: "Who is my favorite camper? Aww, you know I couldn't pick a favorite! . . . But I know who has the most potential, even if he doesn't want to admit it."

I KNEW IT!!!!!

I've been saying for years that David doesn't have a favorite and gravitates towards the ones he thinks need him the most AND I FINALLY GOT ONE RIGHT!

David: "Well you know, Gwen swears and that's okay."

shipping intensifies

David: [gasp] "The moss is growing on the north side of the rock!"

Every time he nerds out about weird shit in the game I gain 3 seconds to my life.

Spencer: "Did you get teabagged?"

David: "What's that?"

Spencer: "It's where somebody places their most intimate bits on you for . . . friendship."

David: [softly] "Oh, I don't know about that."

Also David confirms that the whole show has been a single summer, so please see the "vindication" gif above.

David: "I know a lot of fun camp songs."

Spencer: "Sing 3."

David: [starts singing] "Bum-bum-bumblebee, bumblebee tuna, I love bumblebee, bumblebee tuna . . ."

Spencer: "Okay, please stop. I immediately regret this decision."

David: "Max said the same thing! One of my campers. And, uh, and my co-counselor, Gwen."

He's literally made of sunshine. I would die for this fictional man.

Spencer: "Are people at camp against their will? I feel like they are."

David: "No! . . . They don't always like it immediately, but it grows on them."

Spencer: "It sounds like they're there against their will."

David: "Well I just think that's a negative way of looking at it."

FWIW Spencer makes an excellent foil to David. Not as aggressive as Max or as dour as Gwen, but he brings a very . . . like, straight-man energy to the conversation. Like how a normal person would react to David IRL. I'd enjoy seeing these two interact more.

Spencer: "It's like your overpositivity is wanting me to balance it out with negativity."

David: "You know, I feel like that dynamic's pretty popular with me."

eeeeeeee <3

And the last one that I personally found noteworthy:

David: "One day we'll be able to afford safety equipment. Until then, we'll just have to deal with Quartermaster's Ropes Course. And a lot of pillows."

There's point near the last 20 minutes where either it got kinda boring or I just got too tired to keep track. But if there are any quotes you think I missed, please share them! This was a really lovely bit of content to feed our starving maw, and I appreciate Miles very very very much for taking one for the team.

[warriorsfireandwater]

Was linked to your Crow/Night/Breeze analysis (from a comment on a Nightcloud MAP on YT) and wow I needed this in my life. I haven't actually read PO3/OOTS in forever so the doc citing specific passages is really great. Also, this reminded me of a long-standing pattern I've seen in the fandom, so I hope it's alright to share my thoughts on that. Trigger warning: abuse though. Please just delete this ask if it'd be too triggering for you to read!

Looking at it now, the whole "Nightcloud pushed Breezepelt into hating Crowfeather" myth in the fandom really reminds me of the "parental alienation syndrome" myth in real life. If you've never heard of that, basically it's supposed to describe a phenomenon where one parent manipulates a child to hate the other parent. I don't doubt that that sort of dynamic can happen, but the "syndrome" is not actually backed up by medical science, and it is frequently used to discredit accusations of abuse by claiming that the non-abusive parent is just lying/brainwashing the abused child. I know all this because my own mom was accused of it after I cut off contact with my abusive father in my teens. It's not good.

Between this, and other arguments I see in the fandom a lot like "Squirrelflight just needs to stop pushing Bramblestar's buttons" or "DustFern is fine and not grooming because they didn't officially become mates until she was a warrior", it's really disturbing how the fandom seems to replicate real-life abuse myths in discussions of these fictional relationships. Of course, it's even more disturbing that the authors write this stuff in the first place, often seeming to not even realize it's wrong despite it being really realistic (Tallstar's Revenge makes me cry bc Tallpaw has the same emotions/reactions as I did as a kid) and I don't blame kids for not picking up on it. But I'd have hoped that adults in the fandom would know better and not perpetrate these myths that harm abuse victims in real life...

Thank you for sending a message and I'm glad it resonated with you! <3

The thing with parent alienation is it's commonly done by the abuser to alienate a kid from their other parent. I actually experienced this growing up - my parents were divorced and my mom was abusive while my dad wasn't. She did use a lot of tactics to try and get me to turn on my dad. I'm glad you were able to cut off contact! (I did the same as well in my situation.)

Yeah, there is a really poor understanding of abuse in the fandom, which, to be honest - I do fault the Erins for! They have created a lot of really terrible relationship dynamics that showcase abuse, grooming, and neglect, but they themselves don't ever recognize it as such and instead present these relationships as good or neutral. A lot of the fandom has grown up consuming these books and most people take what the authors give them at face value (because they were kids!). Many people haven't reread the books in a long time, and rely on their memories (which are much less critical when you're taking content at face value and vaguely remembering it from 5 years ago) and fan collective memory/attitude for their perspectives on characters and relationships. This was really my biggest issue with the Night/Crow debates - no one ACTUALLY was talking about what really happened in the books. And what happened is... not that much!!!!

It's definitely much more hurtful when adults perpetuate the abuse myths, though. That ESPECIALLY counts when it's content creators who make inaccurate portrayals of what happened and continue reinforcing the collective fan mis-remembering!

[mybg3notebook]

I LOVE reading those, so just right from the beginning, I wanted to say that I'd love to see you keep up the good work, but with that being said, I just wanted to add my two cents if that would be okay!

Overall, my thoughts on those analysis, is that they're really on point huge majority of the time. But they misunderstand the most basic part of his character. He is not psychopathic. He has emotions, feelings, but just as you said, is also a victim turned abuser, that is in constant survival mode, and is actively trying to insure his survival by means of manipulation.

The scar reading scene is the biggest example of them being, to some degree, fundamentally wrong. He is vulnerable in that scene, showing trauma and genuine shame. Even though he is doing is very consistently, he's not manipulating Tav in that instance. It's one of those rare raw moments where he drops the facade.

He was a bad, corrupt man as a mortal, but that doesn't exclude him from also showing the subtilty of simply being quote "human"

Underneath that mask, he's scared, and traumatized. And those factors manifest as him entering the cycle of abuse and that 24/7 survival ensuring strategy.

Hello!

Thank you very much. It's very nice to read someone disagreeing in a mature way, since I've been receiving several hate messages from Astarion fanatics (because there is no other way to call them, defending a fictional char as if it were a holy symbol when in the end it's all about EA and the interpretation done by a nobody). I'm glad you enjoyed these notes and I thank you for your insight. However, I'm afraid that I’ll stick with my interpretation because, so far, I don't see strong enough proof to see him in another way yet.

If you check the list of approvals and disapprovals of Astarion, he has a very psychopathic behaviour in my opinion. Psychopathy is characterised by lack of empathy and remorse, and disinhibited, egotistical traits. Reading the list of meta-knowledge I've compiled, it seems fair for me to use that adjective to describe him.

The whole interpretation of his character would be very different for me if he truly would have been a victim before turning into a vampire. But he was a victimiser before, and ended up as a vampire because of his own greed and abuse (again, all EA). In a way, Cazador “brought” justice to Baldur's Gate (a wicked justice, that is). This is why I insist that I see the story of an abuser who found a bigger abuser, not the story of a victim turning into a victimiser. He started as victimiser, and as a spawn, he became victim of Cazador, aspiring to retake his position of victimiser.

I agree with you. I never denied his “humanity” as vulnerability. I emphasised many times that, like any victimiser, he suffers his own pain. Being evil doesn't make him immune to it. But it's always about him and himself. We all agree that since he is free for the first time in 200 years it's reasonable that he is more than eager to just think only about himself. So, once more, all these characteristics we agree revolt about himself and his pain, which is what psychopath cares about. I just add the context of his mortal past, which was of an abuser as well.

For some reason if you describe Astarion with what we see in the game, some people think you are judging him, and there is this need to justify all his list of evil approvals and disapprovals because he became a victim of Cazador after failing in outsmarting him in his corruption. But the raw description of his persona is that: a psychopath, who approves most assaults, and assassinations without being provoked, he approves all sorts of cruelty, animal cruelty, slavery, torture, humiliations. He even comments/approves Arabella death's and Mayrina's tragedy as “funny” shows. We don't see remorse when he accidentally kills Tav, supposedly the unique ally he has so far. He was sure that he had gotten ridden of Tav—his secret was safe—, so he is surprised when he sees them alive, and then he dismisses Tav's anger, adding that they should thank him even, because he is not a true vampire. The datamining scenes only show he suffers his own curse, and aspires for more power to be free first, and to bend the will of others, later. I only see a reiterative psychopath behaviour mirroring Cazador. I know that if Tav doesn't fail those checks during the bite scene, Astarion says that he won't forget the gift (a gift Tav doesn’t know because only via datamining we know that scene was not about thirst). I point this out just to show how, in the only reasonable situation in which we could have seen remorse, we see none.

The scar scene, in my opinion, is about vulnerability as you say, true. And shame, shame for having been too careless in outsmarting Cazador and ended up as his spawn after accepting his bite. We see this is an issue since he is pretty sensitive when Tav suggests to outsmart Raphael. He feels that mistake deep in his bones.

I see you understand the scar scene differently, and it's totally valid. My main goal in doing this blog was to keep my own interpretation in one single place, to easily share with friends, and to keep it as an archive for when the game is fully released so I can see how wrong I was or how much the characters changed. And also, as a side-consequence, to share it with the fandom if they want to read these long posts since an Astan friend encouraged me to do it. Evidently, this was a terrible mistake according to a certain group of his fans.

Again, I never denied that he is not traumatised, nor scared (therefore his paranoid attitude with Cazador), but he comes from an evil past, passes through vampirism (which increases even more his evil traits) and spent 200 years under a sadist master. Then you see all of his approvals and disapprovals, all the confrontations you can have with him with a good-aligned Tav, and the bear-drunk scene (which implies that any attempt to keep a facade is lowered because he is drunk on blood), I can't see, so far in EA, any hint that can tell me he wants to be something different of what he is in terms of evilness (also, why would he be? Bg1 and Bg2 have many wonderful Evil chars that never changed their alignment in the 2 games, not everything is about redemption, which is exactly my point in the post of Power). He only wants to kill Cazador, hinting that he may be the next most powerful vampire afterwards (with the help of the tadpole). We all see how much he enjoys the tadpole powers to bend the will of others. But he doesn’t care in the slightest to inflict upon others that mind control that tortured him for more than 200 years. The lack of empathy in him is obvious to me: he doesn’t even hesitate to inflict on others what tortured him for centuries. All these details bring me to interpret all what I wrote. And again, I’m describing him, this is not to judge evil chars. I like evil chars too, my point is I work with what I see.

It's also true that all the info we have is in EA, but like I said before, my interpretation is neither “sacred word” nor “unable to change''. So far, I see all that list of content in EA, the datamining information, and the Dev's notes (which were really key for me to see many details I was not seeing) and I conclude what I did in those analyses. The devs notes made me realise that more than one situation was manipulative when I was understanding it in a more honest way. For this reason dev's notes were removed from the game. Sven said that the core concept in the relationships with the companions was going to be trust. Evidently Dev's notes were ruining that process. So, sadly, no more narrative peeks in the code.

So, I agree to disagree. I never had the slightest pretension of being... I don't know, “the truth” of anything. If some people think so is because they love to misinterpret what's plainly written. Or my English is truly that bad.

With all this said, once more I thank you for being the first mature message in a while, and I thank you for your opinion. I also would take advantage of this message to say that I will refrain myself from doing Astarion-related content anymore. I'm very tired of these attitudes in fandom. I don't want any more headaches. From now on, I will focus on the rest of the companions instead.

Thank you again.

[jerzwriter]

Hello love! How are you doing?? So. From the writers ask could you please answer numbers 1-5, 18,, 22, 25, 30 and 49? 💕💕💕

1. things that inspire you It can be anything. Like many, music is big for me, so are real-life stories. Often it's just personality traits of characters and then there are the out of nowhere ideas that just appear in my head (like Forever last week). I can't explain them. :) 2. things that motivate you The characters, because I seriously love them. Like the thought of them just "going away" makes me sad (weird?) Also many readers inspire me, I've gotten such sweet comments and messages at times, sometimes very personal, and it makes me want to do more. 3. name 3 favorite writers I get to pick 3 more :) I love getting this multiple times! @perriewinklenerdie, @utterlyinevitable and @a-crepusculo 4. name three authors that were influential to your work and tell why OK last time I answered w/ ff writers, this time I will go with authors I've read. I have loved Jane Austen since I was old enough to read her. Her writings were so real and, honestly, humorous and I am a romantic at heart, even though I am jaded as heck. :) Two, Rita Mae Brown, and that's because her book Rubyfruit Jungle truly changed who I was as a person. Having been raised by people who were not open-minded, I'm ashamed to say that when I was very young I shared some of their beliefs, this book opened my eyes in ways I can't even describe and I was a new person after it. It's rare that a book can be so impactful and this taught me how the written word can transform lives. Now, I'm not transforming lives here, but I hope I make a day brighter here and there. Maya Angelou, because her truth, openness, and realism struck a chord inside and it never let go. Like Rita Mae Brown, her works changed me for the better. Insofar as ff, I'd say these may not carry over to how they've influenced my work, although I do like to keep my stories "real." I have some series where it's all fluff and fictional, but I prefer gritty and authentic, flaws are what make people special and even tragedy can be beautiful. Also, these women simple inspired me to WRITE and to believe I have something to share. 5. since how long do you write? If this means how long since I have been writing? I've written here and there for a long time; but FF has been a little over 4 months. It this means how long since I have written, last night. Wait, lies. I had a scene in my head and I jotted it down on lunch today so 5 1/2 hours ago. lol 18. favorite pairing to write for The only two I really have at any length so far, Tobias & Casey and Ethan and Casey, and I reversed the order from the last time I answered this because I can't choose and neither comes first. Ethan and Casey are just a love story. Soulmates. Fantasy love. I don't think that kind of love is common (if it exists at all) in real life, but that's what makes it fun to write and read, it takes you away, it fulfills a fantasy and it's just beautiful. (At least when I write fluff for them, that is. lol) Tobias and Casey, I love writing for them because it feels more real. In my T&C series, Casey is still amazing, but she's less perfect. She has more of an attitude, she's less of a romantic (though she still is), you'll see as time goes on that she has traits that you may not see in her elsewhere... she can get jealous, insecure, do stupid things, but she's still a good, funny, awesome woman... and that's more real. I'm not changing Tobias's past, so there will be ambiguity there; he is going to change, but still be imperfect. He is going to have to deal with the fact that some people will never believe he has changed and that will impact him personally, and impact them as a couple. I love the realism and the imperfection. 22. least favorite character to write for I don't really have a least favorite, I do have some that are more difficult to write for; but I haven't come across anyone I feel like "shit, I have to write this." One of the beauties of being a writer, we pick. :) 25. favorite line you've ever written That is a tough one, it's so hard to remember. I'm sure whatever I recall now

won't be my best or even my favorite. Plus (and here is where my insecurity as a writer comes in) I feel like whatever I pick will be crap and people will roll their eyes and say "that's what you picked". Lastly, I tend to prefer my paragraphs/scenes, individual lines, to me, don't say enough. This one is from Ch. 13 of Delaying the Inevitable, the scene where Ethan breaks up with Casey and she has finally accepted that she cannot convince him otherwise. This, again, is better within the scene than alone, but ... it's an answer. lol

"But every battle must have a victor and a loser, and in the end, the sword that delivered the fatal blow to her heart came from the lips of the very man who had sworn to protect it."

There are some lines in Ch. 6 of this series, when Tobias is confessing he loves Casey to Bryce, that I love too. And as I'm typing this I'm thinking of many humorous lines (which honestly, are probably my best), but this answer is already too long. lol 30. hardest part of writing Finding the time to do it is one. But a bigger one for me is when I'm writing something that is very powerful emotionally, it can impact me. I've gotten better at this, but it's still not always easy. I have some rough things to write coming up and I'm dreading it. BUT I find that's when I do my best work. 49. writing advice JUST DO IT. There is no good and bad writing, there are stories in people's heads that are waiting to be told. Anytime someone takes a blank piece of paper or a blank screen and turns it into their vision, it's a work of art and it is to be respected. So do it, share it, make it real. I think writers, in general, are the most insecure people and we are almost always are most harsh critics. I can't tell you how many times I post something thinking "this is crap" and the feedback is phenomenal. The lesson there, we have to get past our own insecurities and, as you do it more, you will find that you do and that is magical. :) This was a dissertation lol :)

[wedreamedlove]

I'd love to know what you headcanon Xu Mo's mbti as! I've seen a lot of INTJ and INFJ but I feel like you've done so much research into his character (which I am a HUGE fan of by the way, your character studies are top notch honestly) that you'd have a good grasp on what his is the closest to 😊

first, thank you for enjoying my character studies! i feel like i spammed the tag by throwing in everything all at once, haha, oops.

second, before i get into this, i should disclaimer that i actually don’t know much about mbti apart from being intimately familiar with my own. which leads into the next part.

third, i’d definitely label xu mo as an intj which just so happens to be what i am. (funny enough, he’s also a sun scorpio when i’m a moon scorpio which, overly simplified, means we feel and approach things similarly but he does it publicly while i do it privately).

the reason i don’t think he’s an infj is from these sources: 16personalties and type in mind. i’ve put links for those who want to do their own reading but i’ll sum it up below.

basically, infjs are compassionate in their idealism and their second and third dominant function in approaching the world is external feeling and internal thinking. infjs are talented with connecting to people and want to do it warmly. they think the world is filled with inequity when it doesn’t have to be and will work to fix that.

this is the opposite of intj who have external thinking (objective decisions; efficiency in all things) and internal feeling (mull over details; slower to process emotions) as their second and third dominant function, respectively. sounds more like xu mo just from these words, right?

in the glimpses we get of xu mo’s childhood, there’s an impression that he was an isolated child who didn’t care for connecting with others, and he had a single-minded focus:

[Lucien Nightmare SR Rumors and Secrets: Lion Slumbering in the Dorm] shows that he was a quiet kid who minded his own business and was studying advanced topics because he was focused on a goal.

[Blossom Date] supports this too when xu mo says: “Yes, I skipped grades […] Silly, you want to hear about everything, don’t you. It’s the same as how you were before you took your entrance exams, there were things I needed to do.”

[CN Character Profile] there’s a testimony from someone who knew xu mo as a child: “Xu Mo? We’ve only seen one side, but he looks a lot like the small boy I knew when I was young, but Xu Mo’s attitude is much more modest. If that boy is still alive, I hope he’s living like someone as likable as Xu Mo.” — Fan Zihang

xu mo’s idealism is based on cold logical utilitarianism. you see this in the news conference [Chapter 16] when he talks about necessary sacrifices for the advancement of humanity, including himself. [Firefly Date] also has him asserting his belief in mistaken darwinism: survival of the fittest.

the world is full of inequity and he’s not going to change that. the bigger picture is for humanity to ascend with the least amount of casualties, meaning sacrifices have to be made willingly or not.

his ideals, and his methods (creating the virus and then changing his mind in Chapter 16), are pretty much the epitome of: “you were so busy wondering if you could that you never questioned if you should”.

this sort of detached chessboard outlook, not leaving things to chance, massive ambition, the ability to cut off and drop their emotions if it gets in the way, and the intelligence and logical paths to reach that goal is pure intj.

however! i think some people get mistaken in believing intjs to be cold robots and that’s why there may be opinions about xu mo being something else (because he’s socially savvy, right?).

imo it’s a misconception that intjs are robots when it’s just because intjs start off life with underdeveloped emotions. this just means that, in order to fully mature as a person, intjs have to put more effort into developing their emotional side. so ideally adult intjs should be more in touch with their emotions and interacting socially than adolescent intjs.

this is where the type in mind comes in handy again. there are some key quotes in there like:

When NiTe’s are younger, they don’t have enough past experience in various areas of life to pull from in order to know which reactions would be appropriate in social and relational settings. Their safest bet is often to try a small tweak to see if it makes a difference, rather than trying an entirely new approach.

remember fan zihang’s testimony? the present xu mo is more modest and humble than the child version, and he’s clearly more personable than how he was during his high school years (girls love him at the research university). he’s clearly worked on his social skills.

not to mention, it’s not a coincidence that a lot of fictional villains are modeled off of the burning drive and cold logic of intj but still having massive amounts of charm (ex. moriarty and hannibal). intjs, being all about efficiency, can easily put their scary intelligence to use in studying social interactions and mastering that.

but, anyway, to move on a lighter note there’s other smaller traits xu mo exhibits that point him strongly towards being an intj, like having encylopedic knowledge on a ton of things (an esoteric knowledge too, not just science-related).

his extreme curiosity towards things that would push him to do unusual things like watching cartoons to understand human nature [CN Character Profile].

his natural confidence and lack of a need to demonstrate it unless you ask him directly about something (i strongly believe li zeyan is an entj so he and xu mo share a lot of similar qualities too, like this one). they know they’re smarter than a majority of people and they’re so used to this that it’s not a point of pride or anything. just a fact.

xu mo also has an open mind which shows when he listens to whatever MC says without judgment. he takes things in like a sponge and then vigorously tests it in his mind with the tried and true “does this make sense?” “will it work?” and then he’ll gently guide the MC to a better and more efficient path, if he believes there is one.

[theticklishpear]

I'd probably benefit from deliberate practice, as in that I can measure in some way (privately) how well I did. Like, how a piano player practices repeating chords or the same section of a music piece again and again. But I have no idea HOW to practice WRITING because there's almost only advice what to do, no concrete ideas or tips for actual exercises. It's very frustrating. Do you maybe have something in mind if I may ask?

The reason it’s so difficult to find something concrete for practicing writing is because there is no concrete way to measure whether you did well or not. There is no rubric out there or scale to measure “good” vs. “bad” writing. Success and failure to achieve something in writing is entirely subjective and based both on yourself and how you feel it went, as well as your audience’s perception of whether you did it well, which is entirely based on each individual’s personal preference. How do you put personal preference on a rubric?

To use your own metaphor, playing an instrument is a much more definable art with a definitive good and bad–you either hit the notes or you don’t–with a more subjective portion that comes in later–infusing feeling into the notes. Writing’s objective portion is simply the grammar and spelling of it. Literally everything else about it is subjective. The practice of a piano player is repetition, and the player can see the improvement as they hit more notes consistently. Writing’s practice is also repetition, but that repetition is found in the literal act of writing itself. By writing–writing anything–you are practicing the craft.

Looking for specific exercises on the internet is tough because of this very reason: the exercises are simply writing. Trying to write, again and again. Trying to capture a feeling or a story or a mood, again and again. That’s practice. There are some specific exercises in creative writing textbooks, but for the most part, it’s up to you to choose an aspect of writing that you want to improve, and then write with that aspect in mind, observe what makes that aspect function, and see if you can bring that particular aspect out on the page.

Maybe you choose tone. First you have to know what tone is, and how it’s different than mood. Once you know what makes tone apparent on the page, your job is to sit down and write. Write with the express purpose of showing tone on the page.

Maybe you choose setting. You have to know what aspect of setting you want to focus on. Is it that you want to do a better job of bringing the senses out in your descriptions of settings? Or do you want to practice weaving settings through interspersed details in a scene, rather than info-dump-style descriptions? Or something else? Then sit down, maybe with a prompt to get you started, and write with that focus in mind.

Maybe you choose character development. Decide what part of character development you want to improve. Are you trying to do better at conveying emotion? Are you focusing on how to write romance between characters? Are you interested in improving how you share a character’s backstory through context clues rather than info-dumps? Sit down and write a scene that allows you to showcase these types of developments in characters and see how you do with it.

These exercises are basically free-writing with little-to-no intention of turning them into full stories. They’re drabbles or vignettes where you try to bring out a particular part of writing. The easiest way to see if you succeeded with your objective of showcasing a specific subject of the writing craft is to share it with someone else and see how they react. Otherwise, it’s up to you to read through it again and see whether you like what you’ve done. If not, do it again. And again. And again. And then write stories, and write more, and more. The only way to improve is by literally going out and writing.

Mostly, you’re going to find what you’re looking for in creative writing textbooks and help guides like the two Glimmer Train Guide to Writing Fiction books (x, x) and others, but here are some exercises I’ve done to help improve certain things in my own writing:

Dialogue:

> Go sit in a public place and listen to a conversation. Transcribe it as exactly as you can. Rewrite the conversation as a scene.          > This exercise focuses on: Observing how “realistic dialogue” in narrative differs from actual, real-life conversations.

> Write one side of a conversation. Make sure that the audience understands what’s being said on the unheard side of the conversation without ever repeating what the other side says.          > This exercise focuses on: How to relay information to an audience through context clues and implication.

> Write a wordless conversation. Consider how people communicate back and forth with each other without ever speaking a word.          > This exercise focuses on: How body language can be used to convey meaning and emotion.

> Write an argument by the end of which it becomes clear the characters are not actually arguing about what’s on the surface.          > This exercise focuses on: Writing subtext and the human tendency to speak in doubletalk.

> Write a conversation that does not use tags. Focus on making it clear to the audience who is speaking, how many people are a part of the conversation, and an impression of what their life is like. Try not to resort to literal introductions.          > This exercise focuses on: How to bring out the voices and history of various characters through their spoken words.

Setting:

> A character encounters the most mouthwatering smell they’ve ever had the pleasure of smelling. Describe it.          > This exercise focuses on: How to integrate the often forgotten sense of smell into descriptions and its impact on people.

> A character walks into not just a spooky house, but an absolutely terrifying one. Make the audience feel the fear.          > This exercise focuses on: Conveying the mood of a setting and how to integrate emotion not only into a story but into the audience.

> Alternatively, the house isn’t spooky or terrifying, but it is horrific. What changes about the scene, and how do you convey that difference to the audience?          > This exercise focuses on: Also conveying mood and emotion, but also being specific with the emotions and feeling of a place, and how to differentiate between similar ones.

> A character is overcome with nostalgia. Help the audience understand the nostalgia while also feeling the profound loss or difference between the memory and the reality.           > This exercise focuses on: Integrating character history into description of a place, emotion, a sense of time.

> Write a scene in which a blind character arrives at a new location. Use their senses other than sight to describe what’s around them and where they might be.           > This exercise focuses on: Using senses other than the typical fall-back of sight.

Character Development:

> Find an old picture in an online archive, but don’t read the description. Write a scene about who the people in the photograph are, what led them to this moment, and where they’re headed next. What’s their fate?           > This exercise focuses on: Imagining character through visual input, inferring details about them, and conveying those through story.

> Alternatively, find a portrait or painting and write a scene in which the painter is the main character. What is the person who painted this art like? What were they thinking about when working on this piece? What kind of conflicts may they have been facing at the time of its painting?          > This exercise focuses on: Imagining character by examining their actions/things they’ve made.

> Write a scene from the perspective of an unreliable narrator where what truly happened is quite different than what the narrator tells the audience occurred.          > This exercise focuses on: The use of narration and how it can influence the story and what the audience understands about what’s going on.

> Write a thank you letter for an unwanted gift; the gift is a work of art. Focus on conveying the character of the person penning the letter. Who are they? How do they handle the situation? What will they do with this gift? What do they think of the person who sent it?          > Step it up: Write another from a character who received the same gift but has an entirely different reaction to it.          > This exercise focuses on: Conveying voice and character by looking at reactions, words, and attitudes.

> Write a scene in which a character reacts to an event in the opposite way one might expect and takes action in an unexpected manner. Focus on how you can convey the character’s reasons for their actions, pertinent backstory, and motivation without allowing the narrator to outright state anything.          > This exercise focuses on: Character motivations and how they can drastically change what a character is willing to do, how they react to things, and yet can still be in character.

Craft:

> Find a non-comedic scene in Shakespeare and rewrite it to be comedic.          > This exercise focuses on: Tone and how a writer’s diction can influence how a scene is perceived by the audience.

> Rewrite a poem as prose, focusing on steering the outcome toward something different.          > This exercise focuses on: How syntax and diction can change what something is about, despite using the same or similar words.

> Practice writing first lines that immediately draw audiences in to the story. Focus on how you impart information about the coming story to the audience through situation, setting, characters, potential conflict, point of view, distance, tone, etc.          > This exercise focuses on: Context clues and catching the eye of the audience.

> Write a scene told from a point of view you are uncomfortable with, or from a different psychic distance than you prefer.         > This exercise focuses on: Stretching the writing muscles we let atrophy simply because we don’t prefer them, and testing what’s possible with different tools.

> Write a scene in which a character discovers an Important Item they had been told about, but now they don’t recognize it or don’t realize its significance.         > This exercise focuses on: Foreshadowing and how context clues can inform the reader without necessarily cluing in the character.

Challenge Mode:

> Write a story at least 350 words long in which you may only use pronouns 3 times.

> Pick a concept or subject you know little about. Explain it in 100 words or less.

> Generate a list of random words by writing the first 10 (or so) words that come to mind. Write a scene or short story using all the listed words.          > Step it up: Use the words in the story in the order they appear on the list.

> A character stands at a crossroad. North is the future, south is the past, east is fear, and west is ambition. Write a scene in which the character sees what awaits them on these paths and contemplates what each means to them.

> Write a dream sequence in which the dream transforms objects. Make the transformations seem entirely normal.          > Step it up: Don’t let the audience know it’s a dream.

Resources:

100+ Creative Writing Exercises for Fiction Authors from reedsy50 Fantastic Creative Writing Exercises from bookfoxWhat If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers by Anne Bernays and Pamela PainterCreative Writing Exercises For Dummies by Maggie Hamand