#but i don't /think/ i see entire think pieces about why book keepers had to go through 3 months of crunch

[caulo]

@nnoiffu replied to your post “funniest thing about being medicated for ADHD is...”:

moving from art to business was the best decision i ever made and now im an analyst and i would not trade it for anything

yeah i feel like you get me lol especially because i know you and i share very similar views of both our capitalist hellscape + value in art ( creating, and receiving; visual, written, or otherwise )

​i am having a lovely time drawing daily again, focusing on improving fundamentals again and revisiting projects/ideas i've had for years. tomorrow i am hosting a three hour figure drawing session in an art discord, and i'm really excited about it. i am actually struggling to play video games, because i am just more interested in drawing all the time, and it feels great.

and honestly one of the last things i want to do right now is try to take all that, and the enjoyment i'm getting out of it, and adjust it to the current environment of professional art - one of the og hustle cultures lol.

[imonthemoonitsmadeofcheese]

Hello! Me again, back to pester you about lore.

So what's going on with The Drifter? For once I know a little about the character, I read 'A Man With No Name', but I still have questions. From how the book read, Drifter convinced Felwinter to get revenge for the destruction of the village. Did that go anywhere? And what did Drifter get up to for the (unspecified very long) timeskip between the book and the game?

And with the modern day, does the Vanguard know he's running a fighting ring out of the basement? Or does every single guardian look away when Zavala tries figuring out where people keep getting these weapons? I guess first rule of fight club and all that. What's he even trying to do? He seems to be pretty against most of the Vanguard's leadership.

Anyway, another invitation to infodump about your other blorbo. I hope you don't mind XD

If you thought I was long-winded about Eris... She's maybe 400 years old whereas the Drifter may be 900... get comfy... this will not be quick.

"Dark Age was wild times."

I adore the Drifter and a good chunk of how and why I adore him is his voice - both the voice acting and the syntax/diction/phrasing used in the writing, but voice alone does not cover why I find his character so utterly enthralling and fantastic.

I wrote a short piece consisting of Eris telling Ikora what she sees in him in my story Finders Keepers. It's basically a personality analysis and some people have (I think probably accurately) accused it of being a love letter to that character. (Reminder: that link is fanfiction - I wrote it - it is not lore, but it is based on lore. However, everything else I list after this is actual lore.)

But, personality aside, ultimately the Drifter's story is what I find most compelling about him and makes him so empathetic. You mentioned you've read A Man with No Name, but there's more. A lot more.

To start, the Drifter is D2's most violent pacifist.

He doesn't want to fight and when he does, it's vicious. The Emissary of the Nine, formerly Orin (his ex-best friend and/or ex-lover, depending upon how you read it) aptly says "He hates violence. He hates it so much he'll murder anyone who tries to inflict it on him."

In A Man with No Name, we see him go from hiding in a town and having it obliterated by warlords, to running a bar at the bottom of Felwinter peak, to getting Lord Felwinter himself to avenge the town. Drifter doesn't fight anywhere in there and gets other people to do his fighting for him, which is a pretty standard tactic for him. And yes, it is strongly implied that Felwinter does indeed murder the fuck out of Lord Dryden when he says "Call Lord Dryden. Prepare my Iron Banner arsenal."

But then we get Dark Age Drifter entries where he's gunning down Fallen attackers with quotes like "He had never brought himself to shoot a human. Or anything even resembling a human. Risen included." (Bonus mention: notice "Alright" repeated here and compare to his standard Gambit opening of Alright, alright, alright...") Where he's slipping away from non-violence, specifying, in particular, that he won't shoot a human but will defend himself from aliens.

And then he becomes something else entirely in these amazing entries with what I've been calling his Breakneck crew:

Now Otto's a Sword man. He's all about "craft." Technique. Precision. It's disgusting, but I don't care how he does it, as long as it gets done, so I just let him do it. And Otto does it so beautifully that, when he's done, you're standing there holding your guts in your hands and thanking him for the show.

Never touches a gun, that girl. She likes to get close. Likes to look right in their eyes and be the last thing they see.

The chumps that run out to stop us are babies. That's the kicker with Warlords—other than ours, there's not a Ghost in sight here. Just civilians who can barely hold their guns without wetting their pants, who can't aim worth a damn, who stick their necks out for the bad guys with eternal life. Real geniuses.

Cenric stood up. That vein of his looked about ready to pop. Drifter let his feet down as he reached for his rifle, asp-quick. "And you know what we do with rats, don't you, brother."

And the thing I love about this is the character development this speaks to where he goes from pacifist who won't fight at all... to someone who will use a machine gun competently, repeating "Alright" and getting himself used to killing, but not humans, never humans... to stone cold vicious murder-Drifter talking about the lightless who die to his crew in ways that make them (and himself) seem no longer human, to gunning down his own crew, people he felt were a perfect team, when they make deals with warlords behind his back and lie to him about it.

The Drifter started out adhering to an ideal of nonviolence and it destroyed him and everyone he cared for. His sense of self, his principles, everything he believed in is eroded until he completely loses all hope and in order to survive the cruelty of the world he lives in he becomes a ruthless monster.

Either before or after his Breakneck-era crew (it's not clear), the Drifter (under the name Eli) joins the Pilgrim Guard, a group of Titans protecting lightless people as they travel to the Last City. He does this out of a desire/need to be near Orin, a Titan with a complicated past and strong ties to both Queen Mara and the Nine. But then after spending time with Eli/Drifter and the Pilgrim Guard, Orin, the one person Drifter's ever had a deep human connection with, the person he considers his best friend, leaves without a word.

It's very telling that the green snakes, the jade coin, and the red string on those same coins that form such profound parts of the Drifter's symbolism and identity all come from Orin. When the Drifter truly cares for someone, he incorporates part of them into himself, into his identity, making them part of who he becomes, so they live on inside of him.

After his time with Orin, we get into the extremely confusing, contradictory mess that is the Drifter's intersection with Shin Malfur-related Rose/Thorn/Lumina lore. And by this I mean that the Drifter, after fighting alongside people doing genuinely noble good work, in the wake of losing Orin, leaves the Pilgrim Guard and eventually ends up joining the evil cult of evil: following in the footsteps of one of the most reviled risen to ever exist - the guardian-killer: Dredgen Yor.

If you're gonna hang with me, you need to know about the Shadows of Yor. They follow the edicts of a very bad man named Dredgen Yor. And what're his Shadows after? Everything the Light can't provide. I thought they could help me find an answer to the battles of Light versus Light that raged during the Dark Age. But the longer I flew with them, the more I saw they're blind as all those who follow the Traveler. One albatross for another. I was done with 'em.

And while in the cult, in some sort of ritual, he communes with the Darkness directly and gets some sort of Darkness powers (possibly Stasis, possibly something else - it's super unclear) and the Darkness whispers to him his Dredgen name: Dredgen Hope, which is particularly brutal in context with this quote from Dredgen Yor himself:

I care only to give hope to the frightened, huddled masses so that when I come upon them they will have more to lose. Their pain will be greater. Their screams more pure… Nothing dies like hope. I cherish it.

But it is also particularly pointed because hope is the thing the Drifter doesn't have. Trust is the thing he doesn't have the ability to do any more because of his experiences (and is also the name of the hand cannon he wears shoved into his pants). He is the most jaded (literally - constantly fidgeting with a jade coin) character in the D2 universe. He loses everything and leans in on it and follows that path to full evil.

And then he walks away. Because evil doesn't work for him either.

But also (either before or after he's completely left the cult - it's ambiguous, but possibly when he's still entangled but it's already fracturing and falling apart) he finds Orin again (he's using the name Wu Ming at this point - either having returned to it, or because he hasn't changed it yet from Felwinter Peak, or perhaps this happens before Felwinter Peak - the order and timeline is somewhat fuzzy).

Orin does not remember who he is when he finds her the second time (she's pretty nuts at this point - her story is filled with madness and tragedy), and is going insane with grief over losing Namqi (the person she left with when she disappeared the first time) as well as her obsession with the Nine. And the Drifter is once more drawn to her and once more connects deeply with her:

Wu Ming leaves his questions by the wayside as he is drawn inexorably into the gravity well of her desperate honesty. Her confessions lower his defenses. He talks of himself. Of his fear. Of his loneliness. How he feels he is one fingernail away from plummeting into an abyss. How he feels vicious resentment every time he is brought back from the dead: He never asked for the gift of the Light... They make excuse after excuse to meet again. Every conversation is colored by excavated truths; every day they feel they will reach some bedrock that will break them to pieces. It is as frightening as it is intoxicating.

But then Orin finds out about him being a Dredgen, terminates their relationship, goes off to become the Emissary of the Nine and, as someone I was talking with once referred to it: 'it was a breakup so bad he had to leave the solar system.'

Things go very poorly the first time the Drifter loses Orin but the second time is far worse. He has a full-on Lovecraftian 'At the Mountains of Madness' style horror-movie-plot experience with a crew he calls his 'best friends' (which may or may not be all ex-Dredgens but there's at least evidence they might be) out on a frozen planet being stalked and driven to insane levels of paranoia by Darkness creatures able to snuff out their light:

I think I mentioned we're all raving psychos at this point. Well, we did what all measured raving psychos would do. We thought we each had been betrayed by the others. We drew on each other.

The Drifter kills them all to keep them from killing him (at least, that's what he says - no one else is alive to argue). Then his ghost, who up until now has been kind of a moralistic asshole, suggests he hunt down the ghosts of his former crew and Frankenstein them together in order to survive:

And the craziest thing happened. My Ghost snapped... But we would need parts. Ghost parts. And we knew where we could get some... The Ghosts of my former crew all fled as soon as their charges hit the dirt. So me'n mine, we hunted them... "Hey. There's always hope. For what it's worth, I'm proud of you." It was the last thing my Ghost ever said, and the last lie it ever told.

The Drifter's ghost is rendered mute from the experience (either mechanically or due to the trauma of hunting down and murdering other ghosts - it's not clear) but the plan works, they survive, and the Drifter builds the Derelict out of scrap, returning to the Tower where he sets up Gambit.

It's super unclear (again, the Shin-related lore is just a mess and deliberately confusing) but it turns out that Drifter going on about how the Man with the Golden Gun is out to get him is actually a deal he made with Shin to set up Gambit (because, spoiler: the leader of the entire Dredgen cult, Dredgen Vale, turns out to be none other than Shin Malphur, the Man with the Golden Gun, who hunts Dredgens and who the Drifter has been saying is out to get him this entire time) to draw out the truly Darkness-corrupted guardians so Shin can kill them. (And this is ultimately why the Vanguard lets him run a fighting ring in the basement - because Shin convinces them it will help find the truly bad guardians so they can be eliminated).

If you find that confusing, that's because it is. Anything to do with Shin Malphur/Dredgen Yor/Rose/Thorn/Lumnia is pretty much an acid-trip, continuity-wise. It hurts my brain.

As for where the Drifter gets the weapons he gives us for Gambit? To the surprise of no one, he's stealing them. Because of course he is. It's him.

While running Gambit, he ends up visited by the Emissary of the Nine (formerly Orin - same body, different person) and has the Haul attached to the Derelict as a 'gift' in this amazing cutscene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFtmr___dSw

And he pretty much stays in "shifty morally ambiguous guy in the basement" mode until Arrivals when the pyramids show up on Io and we get one of my favourite lore tabs in all of D2: Whispering slab.

The two sit. They speak. They listen. Linkages forged in Light and Dark of traded secrets as the Derelict hangs in orbit around the Earth. Pacts are made. Soon, there is only the silence of knowing left between them.

"Next time you fly over the Moon, dust your boots. Tracking that crap all over my floors."

Both of the Drifter's deep emotional entanglements with Orin happen when he really genuinely talks to her, and now in Whispering Slab, he's genuinely talking to someone else, plus we get the origin of why he calls that someone else Moondust.

Then, during Arrivals, we get the amazing banter between him and Eris, and in Beyond Light they learn to control Stasis together with the result being (in my highly subjective opinion) the best cutscene in all of D2 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQAB-sSi6P0

At the end of Haunted we get Eris' message to him about healing and finding joy , he has this line in Plunder "What we do now matters more than who we were", we end up with the Kept Confidence lore tab during Season of the Witch where the person who previously insisted he trusted no one now is saying: "He didn't trust them. He trusted her" and then in the Gloaming Journeyer tab, he pulls her into a hug and reminds her of what she told him once (in the Prophesy dungeon dialogue): "That we'll live in the night if we have to. We do it for what comes after." (What comes after is dawn, hope, the continuance of existence after the darkest point.)

Someone in a chat I was in once summed up the core dynamic of the Drifter and Eris' relationship perfectly as "He gives her trust. She gives him hope."

There are people online who are very frustrated with the Drifter's character development, feeling that the Drifter has 'had his teeth filed off' and that he 'got his depression cured by getting a goth girlfriend' but I feel that's just people who don't like change. The Drifter has, throughout his entire storyline been constantly changing who he is. Change is part of his many self-constructed identities which he re-creates over and over as his old sense of self is destroyed and remade. Gritty vicious Drifter is still in there and he will be just as brutal as ever if he needs to be.

He doesn't want to be, though. He never has. And as someone who deals with medical-grade depression and who found themselves in a situation where they needed to reconstruct a sense of self to replace the one that was lost, the Drifter finding a way to hope and trust again after all he's been through is an extremely powerful and poignant narrative which speaks to me on many levels.

It's not trite, thoughtless happy fluffy rainbows, friendship-fixes-everything-whee! It's painful and slow and beautiful as the Drifter learns to have healthy relationships with other people. We need stories like this to speak to us at an unconscious level and tell us that even if you're not Eris Morn and you failed, and you gave up, and you didn't make it out of the Hellmouth, and you in fact gave in to despair and completely lost all hope, your experience erasing who it was you were and having that old you replaced with someone else, you can still find hope again. Even if you've been burned so severely by so many, many, negative human interactions that you cannot trust anyone, if you find the right people, you can slowly learn how to trust again.

The Drifter's story has been called a redemption arc, and I guess in a way it is that too but, for me, the essential quality of the Drifter's narrative isn't redemption: it's healing.

Stories have power. We incorporate them into who we are. Dredgen Hope ultimately does live up to his name. Within D2 he is finally starting to heal. I find that idea, of healing in spite of being so altered by one's experiences as to have had to become an entirely different person in order to survive, of being unable to trust and still finding a way to learn how to trust again, to be important and beautiful to have in my subconscious as something to draw from. It is a story that is very much needed by a lot of people. We need to be reminded that we can be irrevocably changed and have everything taken from us and still find a way to trust and hope and love again. That might seem a bit much for a shooty game, but I maintain this is why D2 has some of the best storytelling of any game I've ever played and that the character of the Drifter is a huge part of what makes that storytelling so compelling.

Sorry this took so long to answer. This seriously was as short as I could make it and still say everything that I felt needed to be said. There's more, and more detail, of course, but this is my treatise on why the Drifter is as awesome as I think he is.

That is all.

[bookwyrminspiration]

yes, that's exactly the difference! and particularly in the talks about quality--it was really strange to hear people talk about the quality standard being so low when i personally grew up in the junior section with really well-written and designed books that still hold up upon rereads. of course there are books that don't appeal to me at my age now: i read a book recently by an author i used to love and it was almost as if i could physically see the difference between my life experience and the intended demographic, but at the same time there are still a lot of books i read back then that are still fully capable of taking my breath away.

i know at thirteen would not have picked a book with this cover up from the library without the prior knowledge that this was sophie and fitz!!! because i was a child with Taste^tm and almost always judged books by their covers (which, tbh, i still do! is that saying actually meant to apply to books too because if so, the entire graphic design industry says a collective ouch). especially when so much of what i read was from artists like Kazu Kibuishi haha, there was a lot of criteria i remember having! so i was absolutely disappointed when i saw the graphic novel cover reveal and it was just like any of the ones that you'd see on the side of the shelves at the end of the week when all of the older kids had taken all the interesting books, and then you ended reading the entire Geronimo Stilton series in like half a year (there was a borrow limit) instead.

to backtrack a bit though, from an artist's standpoint i don't think it's terrible! i don't think it's badly designed or maliciously designed--i think it's the job i probably would have done if i were hired to do something like that without any prior knowledge of the series. i don't even know what's in the first issue to make sense of what scene they "should" have illustrated for the cover, so it was kind of just like.... well that's a thing. that happened. and i talked to my friends about it privately instead of posting because in what way would it be productive to complain publicly about how mediocre a book cover is, but then people started bringing up the children's media arguments again and it was just so frustrating to me. i'm sure they didn't mean to belittle children's media, but it was just like... i am struggling to articulate but just a why are you here, in the children's media playpen, saying "yeah these plastic toy guns mass-bought from dollar tree suck but it's okay the toys don't have to be manufactured with great quality because the kids won't care!" like to some degree yes but there are also i didn't spend my days searching for the best quality my little pony toys for nothing? if that makes sense.

(2/2) i am concluding that long thing with um. i have just eaten a piece of the most truly awful mango i have ever had. is this what the mango haters mean when they say they don't like it. this tastes like coconut

(and also thank you for adding your tags to my post! i am glad you did because i hope it helped people look at it with a more attentive eye and didn't let them take my words at Face Value. and my brain is now melting from all of that writing haha but yes, as much as there is a huge difference between the majority of us and the age of the intended audience, kids also deserve quality things and that was what i was trying to get at! + hope you are doing well and that you have a lovely day)

----

Thanks! I'm doing alright and hope you're having a lovely time as well. You articulated yourself very well in this, so I don't want to detract from that with a long response. But you make several great points, and I agree that I don't think I would've picked up this book as a kid without already being invested in keeper. Which isn't meant to criticize or be rude to those behind it, just acknowledgement that the cover is what draws you in to a book, and that doesn't have the elements I look for or typically find appealing--or in this case what I found appealing at that age, as my tastes have changed.

Based on what I know, I do think the scene they chose is an appropriate one and makes a lot of sense! It's the huge transition in Sophie's life, leaping to this new world where "magic" is real and there's so much fantasy and otherworldly yet mundane things to discover. It completely flips her world upside down, but that's not really reflected in the image itself. It's just two tweens smiling with a burst of light; I think that could've been represented better, but I don't have the technical skill or knowledge to do a truly thorough and meaningful critique.

But getting to your overall point: children deserve good media, you're right. I don't think anyone here (at least that I saw) was truly trying to make that argument, but there can be a fine line that takes some awareness that you walk in these kinds of conversations. The distinction between not liking it because it's not for you, and not liking it because it's lower quality regardless of it's for you is an important one--I don't know if I've worded that well, but I hope you get my meaning.

I think something like this may also remind many of us of the trends we seen in books overall recently: the booktok book. The appeal to tropes and popularity instead of creativity and care taken with the medium. More generic and impersonal designs, which one could argue the cover is. So perhaps the cover isn't bad, but in it we can see evidence of a wider trend and how it could continue, and that's bad.

There's a lot of ways to look at this and things that can be considered. At the end of the day, children deserve good media and that cover doesn't seem fully representative of the story---in my opinion, but I don't have much familiarity with graphic novels so take it with a grain of salt. And your welcome, I hope my additions help as well! I feel like I've inevitably forgotten something or left something unsaid because of the length, but if anyone thinks I've missed something or wants to continue this conversation further, my ask box is open! (just please be respectful, I'm a real actual person)

also oh shit just remembered there's two mangoes in the kitchen i sure hope they haven't gone bad because i totally forgot about them

[interact-if]

Day 10, 2/2 of the A/PI Heritage Month featured authors interview! For our final entry, we have the amazing Shai!

Shai, author of Hollowed Minds 

A/PI Heritage Month Feature Author

“You will play as a disgraced detective, entangled in webs of conspiracies and betrayal as your character engages in a suspicious probation - with a whole lot of enigmatic hallucinations and explosions to deal with. It will be up to you to shape your detective’s (or Ripper’s, if you prefer to call them that) perception and motivations. After all, Gaile City is a place full of secrets - some of them belonging to your own character’s family - and you’ll have the freedom how to act accordingly.”

Author's Kofi

(INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT!)

To put it simply, Hollowed Minds is a long quest on morality and relationships. You'll start as a disgraced detective, once a favored hero of the city until this one unfortunate mistake, and now you're forced into a suspicious probation that you shouldn't even be in. There would be a lot of challenges and suffering along the way, and you can either help your character maintain their heroic ideals or succumb to the darkness that the future brings.

Q1: First of all, introduce us to your project! What is it about?

There are a lot of things to uncover in the story, but the main issues in the first book would be the mysterious hallucinations that people are suffering from and the explosions that would shake the fundamentals of the society. There would be several approaches to choose from as you go forward, some of which may be quite outside the law, and you could opt to use a certain ‘talent’—one with accompanying repercussions—to learn more secrets. You would also have the choice to cultivate your relationships with the people you trust the most and have your interactions with them matter in the long run.

As it is, you'd have a large target on your back, owing to a sinister group with a very sinister plan—something that might be worse than death.

Q2: If it’s not too spoilery, what are you most excited about your project?

First of all, the reputation system. You can manipulate how the general public would see you, either as the hero they once saw you as, or a corrupted personality that everyone would loathe. Best thing about it? You can hide your real intentions. This would have a lot of interesting consequences, especially if your character's actions tend to be the opposite of what they're perceived as.

Second, the most awaited reunion. People who have read the available demo would know what this refers to, and well, it's about to happen soon, so I'm very excited about the idea of writing the whole scene!

Then there's this one big chapter that I know would be torturous to write and code. Basically, you'll be choosing how to 'infiltrate' this certain location, the person whom you'd be with most of the time, a decision between accomplishing what you came there for or sacrificing it for something else, how you'd get out, and where you'd go to after the whole thing. It will be a wild ride of twists and emotions, and it's not even the endgame. A lot may change with this chapter alone, and it's one of those things I think about a lot before going to sleep.

Lastly, the customization of the main character. The motivations, blame mechanic, alcoholic/non-alcoholic option, and relationships (romantic or not). Those little details would change a lot of content in the narrative and maybe in the plot itself. Whether you want to build a character who's kind to a fault or an anti-hero who wouldn't hesitate to make questionable decisions, the journey would be entirely yours.

Q3: What inspired the current project you’re working on?

It was based from a short story of mine that won a small competition back in 2018. They share similar themes, but the short story was a lot darker than I could ever put in a game that I plan to get published.

I initially thought of starting my IF writing attempts with the supernatural genre—it does seem to be a successful area—but that short story was probably the first piece of mine that I've come to appreciate, and I wanted to at least honor that. The writing style that I adopted, the evocative tone I learned to use, and the plot pieces that I've managed to be good at crafting—they all started with that story.

Looking back, there aren't much similarities anymore between the two, maybe aside from the appearance of certain characters, but the themes are still the same.

It will definitely be a huge challenge to implement what I have on mind, but I do hope people would love what's to come.

Q4: Do you pull from your own identity for inspiration? How has that been reflected in your work?

I grew up in a troublesome neighborhood, along with people who continue to fight against the struggles. That's both good and bad, I suppose. Philippines has a lot of corruption deep in its roots, I won't deny that, but there are also people working hard for the changes they want. That's one of the biggest influences I've got in this story.

As we delve into the plot, the readers would discover more questionable decisions that some characters may have made or would make. It's parallel to how I witnessed people having differing reactions to injustice and the way they make changes in their lives as a response. Adding to that, I personally know the feeling of grief, and I’ve seen how the people around me deal with it themselves.

There are also moral choices to be had in the game, and when I speak of that, it's not going to be just around choosing between saving/killing people. It's about the main character's intentions and emotions, and how the revelations might slowly change their views. It would be a story that will steadily define your character’s perceptions amid the threats.

Q5: What’s been your experience so far? With writing, with the if community...

It's been great. I appreciate the people who have reached out in various ways to share their love for my work and to give meaningful feedback that are continuously helping me shape the story in a better way. And honestly, I'm so overwhelmed with excitement for all the support I'm getting. I didn't even expect a lot of people to like the story this early. That's why I'm so thankful!

There's also a great IF author whom I've been occasionally getting advice from, and they've been a huge reason as to why I even managed to make the first steps. Interacting with other writers is something that I never really expected myself to do, but I’m quite glad I did it.

Q6: Do you have any future projects in the works?

There are three more interactive fiction stories I've already thought of, though I won't be actively working on them until I finish the Hollowed Minds series, which would take a long while. Their temporary titles are respectively "Corrupted Legacies" (fantasy), "The Remnant's Keeper" (supernatural horror), and "A Hero's Touch" (superhero story with a twist).

Aside from that, I'm also looking forward to finishing my fantasy novel, one that I've been delaying for years, literally, as soon as I finish the first book of Hollowed Minds.

Q7: Finally, what piece of advice would you give to fellow authors?

Write what you want to write. I know that you're all probably tired of hearing this, but it is still very important. During the planning stages, you'd most likely be excited to show the readers what you've got in store. You'd be proud of it, and you'd believe that it's one of the most brilliant ideas out there. Then a few days after you finish planning, you'll realize it may not attract as much readers as you may have expected initially. Then you'll get tempted to change your visions for the story and adopt the plot lines that the famous works have.

Do not abandon your own vision.

It's your work. It's your masterpiece. Listen to feedback, sure, and let them guide you into becoming a better writer, but do not let go of the things that made your work your own. Some way or another, there will be people who would love your story, and they'd deeply appreciate that you made it the way it is.

So don't hesitate. Is it weird? Is it unconventional? Does it belong to a genre that's not as popular as the others? It doesn't matter. Write it, polish it, and show it to the world.

People will love it as long as you do.

[talesoftxt]

TXT Hogwarts AU

So this is my first time publicly sharing my writings and I'm really nervous and also kind of excited. Please bear with me, English isn't my first language however I do try to do my best in my works. Anywhos here's my first post I hope you guy enjoy!

Yeonjun

•Slytherin

•pureblood

•was shunned his whole life due to his parents being deatheaters in the second wizarding war

•raised by his grandmother who he loves to pieces

•don't tell anyone but grandma choi actually raised him muggle style so he's very knowledgable when it comes to them

•his one and only friend is soobin, that is of course before he met the three other boys

•the sorting hat barely even touched his head before it announced "slytherin"

•worked his way up until he became what he is today

•his goal is to erase the stigma of slytherins being evil

•intimidates everyone with his sharp eyes and blank face but don't be fooled, he's as extra and wild as the others

•once dared himself to wrestle with the black lake's giant squid

•always aims to be the best at everything, probably to the point of overworking himself

•as a first year flying had come naturally to him and easily became his favourite subject but was soon replaced by defence against the dark arts

•the boy is a quick thinker and could disarm his opponent in a matter of seconds, though he is good at casting other spells he opts for a defensive style of duelling

•ever since he was young he dreamt of being an auror

•the team captain of slytherin's quidditch team, his swiftness and agility earned him the title "best chaser"

•dubbed as "slytherin's prince" his housemates respect and look up to him

•don't cross him.just don't.

•very cautious when it comes to picking his friends and is very protective of soobin because he's just too damn precious

•gets along with kai really well because theyre both crackheads and kai is too cute not to like

•isn't one to share his feelings but because of his friends he's getting more and more open

•his greatest fear is becoming evil and hurting his friends

•he's really just a tiny bean who loves his friends and would do anything for them

Soobin

•pureblood

•Ravenclaw

•coming from a very traditional pureblood family, he doesn't really understand muggle lifestyle

•a straight A student prefect and athlete, he's the epitome of model student

•doesn't like to break the rules but somehow always finds himself staying up with taehyun or getting dragged to the dark forest by kai

•takes away points by decimals just because he thinks its funny

•can get pretty scary when someone questions his authority

•"out of bed past curfew? 4.23 points from gryffindor" "is that even allowed??"

•he's a responsible prefect and shuts everyone up with one stern look

•number one on the school's boyfriend material list (because c'mon he's like perfect)

•a perfect gentleman who's ready to help with a dimpled smile on his face

•takes muggle studies because he likes muggles and wants to know about them more

•still doesn't know what the function of a rubber duck is

•can cook up a potion even without the help of a guide and can recognize a herb by it's texture alone

•his favourite subjects are potions and herbology

•probably because the two are kind of connected in a way

•literally has a journal where he writes down everything he's learned about muggles

•nearly cried when he received a toaster from taehyun as a gift because he's always wanted one for his bread

•wants to be a healer in the future

•his future career also helps because all his friends can't go a day without injuring themselves

•keeper soobin (you gets?because the boy is such a keeper?hehehehe)

•his tall stature and quick reflexes helps him block quaffles from the opposite team

•recognizes hueningkai as his number one cheerer and never fails to wink at him before the start of every game

•always makes sure taehyun gets enough sleep, beomgyu and kai stay out of trouble and keeps yeonjun from overworking himself

•they always make sure to bring him back little muggle trinkets after they come back from the holidays

•the boys are just really thankful for soobin existance and love him so much

•choi soobin is a lovable and amazing bunny (that's the tea sis)

Beomgyu

•gryffindor

•half-blood

•gets himself into pretty stupid situations just bc he's too damn heroic

•always stirs up trouble but somehow charms himself out of it

•he's like,really charming

•made mcgonagall blush that one time

•he's absolutely cunning,his ability to hide his true intentions behind an angelic smile scares the crap out of the boys

•just don't mess with his friends

•bc of this the sorting hat actually took longer to sort him than usual wondering whether it should put him in slytherin or gryffindor, he had almost been a hatstall but after a silent debate between the two beomgyu had chosen gryffindor bc they had and i quote 'pretty colours'

•had to be physically restrained by soobin and yeonjun after he tried to fight a student who had called taehyun a "mudblood"

•Charms and transfiguration are his areas of expertise

•favourite spell is "accio" and practically uses it for everything

•"accio yeonjun hyung's clothes "beomgyu!"

•"accio taehyun's love of his life" "bold of you to assume i have any I-" "accio taehyun's books" "you little shi-"

•takes muggle studies just for the hell of it and because it's easy

•gryffindor's seeker,this boy could spot a snitch from miles away

•has his own fanclub with members from all four houses

•yes that's how charming he is

•no one really knows how but beomgyu always manages to enter all three other houses' common rooms

•his favourite hang out place would probably be ravenclaw's common room

•annoying taehyun is this guy's favourite past time, he just finds it cute when the younger glares at him

•if he's not annoying taehyun he's probably off pulling pranks and causing trouble all around the castle

•is currently grooming kai to become a prankster like him, he just has to figure out a way to stop the boy from being so goddamn loud everytime they prank someone

•in general he's a chaotic mess but everyone still loves him

Taehyun

•Ravenclaw

•muggleborn

•once something catches his eye he makes it a goal to learn everything about it

•no one really knows what to expect with taehyun probably bc he was so quiet and introverted

•as he gets used to life in the magical world he starts to become more confident and bold

•"why do we still use quills when ballpens literally exists?''

•''are you serious?a letter?kai you have a phone use it''

•his wisdom and good advices remind people why he's in ravenclaw

•his two favourite subjects are transfiguration and history of magic

•transfigured soobin into a bunny once at kai's request (well probably just to shut him up)

•history nerd and draco malfoy enthusiast

•''he was only a child!''

•doesn't even bother to answer the riddles' properly

•"where do vanished objects go?" "somewhere other than where they were vanished from,duh."

•usually found in the common room late at night cramming homeworks he's been putting on hold bc he found something much more interesting to do

•legend says prefect soobin always stays up with him (no one knows if its true or not no one has ever tried to find out in fear of facing choi soobin's wrath if he finds them out of bed)

•an excellent beater, taehyun's one of the best in their team even at such a young age

•rumours are he's one of the candidates for next team captain

•is soobin's source of muggle knowledge, probably bc kai only teaches them memes and popular vines and beomgyu just cant be bothered with

•claims he loses braincells every time kai opens his mouth but deep down he loves the boy like his brother

•looks up to his yeonjun and soobin hyungs

•unbothered king 24/7

Kai

•hufflepuff

• the boy literally dragged taehyun with him and introduced himself to nearly everyone during the train ride

•half-blood

•never fails to say "me dad's a muggle; mam's a witch,bitofanastyshockforhim

whenhefoundout" every time he introduces himself

•and i mean EVERY.SINGLE.TIME

•excels in care of magical creatures (probably bc every single creature falls in love with the boy on sight) and almost always accompanies hagrid to the dark forest

•let's be real ya'll the dark forest probably isn't so dark anymore with the amount of sunshine kai emits

•nearly gave soobin a heart attack when he had dragged the elder into the dark forest

•at the age of 13 the dark forest was just a forest to kai, "wild centaurs?bitch please i braid baby centaurs hair on saturdays"

•idolizes newt scamander and wants to be a magizoologist because he wants to change people's minds about magical creatures and show them how beautiful and precious they actually are

•'pet a dragon's belly' is listed number 1 in his bucket list

• 'ohmygod hueningkai don't you even dare try to rock that mandrake' 'but hyun its so cute!it looks like an ugly baby!'

•takes a liking for divination and unlike others actually appreciates and pays attention in class

•probably because of his close relationship with the forest's centaurs who also use divination in their day to day lives

•is a skilled flyer and was invited to try out for his house's quidditch team but turned it down

•he prefers to cheer for people rather than getting cheered on

•people don't really know who he cheers for most of the time bc he's like present in every game

•mysteriously gets louder and more energetic when ravenclaw plays most people think it's bc his bestfriend taehyun is playing but taehyun knows the truth

•"you did great hyun!" "i literally saw you stare at soobin hyung's ass the entire game"

•no one can hate this guy,it’s physically impossible

•even the meanest kids don’t pick on him,he’s THAT lovable

Anyways that all for today! That's my opinion on the txt's hogwarts houses,don't be shy and tell me what you think! See you later guys!

[headcanonsandmore]

Honestly, I had a friend backstab me the same way Ron backstabs Harry not once but twice. I simply cannot get behind him as a character I don't see him loyal at all. He wasn't in Hufflepuff for a reason. He's loud, lazy, and only good at chess even in the books. He puts no effort into school, complains about everything, and can't even pull his head from his ass. It baffles me that people actually like him when he's got like 3 moments where he isn't a douche.

Okay, first of all, Ron didn’t ‘backstab’ Harry in GOF. He thought Harry had gone behind his back and entered the tournament without him. During the run-up to the tournament, Ron had made it clear that he wanted the two of them to enter together. To Ron, a character who is fiercely loyal, even the thought that Harry would want to hide something from him was devastating. 

He also didn’t ‘backstab’ Harry in DH. He was anaemic, ill, and malnourished, as well as having a part of Mouldy-warts soul round his neck. The Horcrux played up some of Ron’s worst fears (that he was just a hanger-on, that Harry didn’t care about him, that Hermione preferred Harry to him) to try and break up the trio. Because it knew that Ron was the binding force within the group; the glue that held them together. If Ron fell, the trio would fall too, and Voldemort would never be defeated. Ron also has a sensitivity for emotional magic; being the first of the trio to realise the horcrux was sort-of alive, as well as having a hunch about the taboo on Voldemort’s name that Harry and Hermione didn’t take into consideration (heck, the only reason they didn’t say his name before they found out was because Ron kept urging them not to, resulting in Harry and Hermione developing a habit of saying ‘you-know-who’ and therefore not getting caught whilst Ron was away). 

Second, the reason Ron wasn’t in Hufflepuff was because his defining trait was his bravery. Ron is fiercely loyal, yes, but he was also brave, intelligent and resourceful. He was a Gryffindor through-and-through. 

Thirdly, Ron is far more than those traits you stated. Yes, he is loud, but he’s also funny, witty and quick-minded. He isn’t lazy; he’s a teenage boy who didn’t enjoy studying and wanted to spent time doing the things he loved (very much like Harry, who- need I remind you- got the exact same OWL grades as Ron except for their Defence grade. Which Ron still exceeded expectations on). 

Ron is good at many things outside of chess. He was a brilliant keeper in Quidditch (despite Draco Malfoy writing an abusive song designed to mock Ron during matches), a great strategist, a sociable person able to get along with many different people, and able to stop Harry and Hermione getting lost in their own heads. And since when is being good at chess a bad thing? He beats a chess-set designed to beat adult wizards at the age of the twelve, whilst working with a handicap (making sure Harry and Hermione weren’t taken), and then sacrificing himself for his friends, showing his bravery once again. Ron is a chess-master, which also disproves the point about him being unintelligent. 

Ron did take his school-work seriously. Like I said before, he passed all of his OWL excepting History of Magic (a subject taught by a teacher who bored everyone except Hermione) and Divination (again, taught by a teacher that was iffy at best). He exceeded expectations in Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Care of Magical Creatures, as well as passing in Astronomy. He got the EXACT same grades as Harry (who also shared his disinterest in studying) except for the subject that Harry had a special talent for (and Ron still exceeded expectations for that subject, regardless). Ron is no slouch, academic wise. 

‘Complains about everything’? I guessing you mean when he was making a point about Harry not knowing what he was doing in DH. Which (as I already mentioned) was when Ron was anaemic, malnourished and under the influence of a piece of Voldemort's’ soul. 

‘Can’t pull his head out of his a**’? For goodness’ sake, Ron hardly ever ignores the problems going on around him. Aside from the Lavender situation in HBP (which he delayed because he didn’t want to hurt the poor girls’ feelings), Ron was often the one trying to resolve  arguments with the people around him. During the entire series, he is almost always the bigger person, apologising and trying to resolve arguments even if they weren’t his fault to begin with. 

Ron NEVER gets apologised to by anyone in the series (even if the other person was the one at fault). Aside from Hermione apologising in POA about Ron’s rat, he never gets a proper apology from anyone. He, throughout all seven books, is the one who has to shred what little pride he has, give ground to other people, and resolve the situation. 

‘It baffles me that people actually like him when he's got like 3 moments where he isn't a douche.’

You really think he hasso few amazing moments? You’re about to get schooled, I’m afraid. Ron has SOmany amazing moments.

Befriends Harry almostimmediately after meeting him. Tries to cheer Harry after he worries about notbeing good enough for Hogwarts. Gives Harry lots of insider-info about thewizarding world. Immediately volunteers to be Harry’s second in the duel, andgoes along with him (sneaking out after lights-out to do so). Saves Hermionefrom the mountain troll whilst in a life-threatening situation. Worries aboutHarry’s mental state after Harry starts spending a lot of time staring at theMirror of Erised. Makes sure his mum gets Harry some holiday presents, andstays at Hogwarts with Harry over the break. Is the only one to stand by Harrywhen the entirety of Gryffindor house turns against him. Literally sacrificeshimself in the giant chess game for his friends. Gets fifty points fromDumbledore for said chess game, helping Gryffindor win the house cup.

Rescues Harry from hisabusive relatives after he notices that Harry didn’t respond to Ron’s letters.Has Harry stay over at his house over the summer. Apologises when he realisesthat Harry doesn’t know about Floo Powder. Drives himself and Harry to Hogwartsin a flying car. Defends Hermione after Malfoy calls her a slur; using anon-verbal spell through a wand that didn’t even choose him. Comforts Hermioneafter she gets turned into a cat-like creature, and brings her homework. Goesto defend Ginny after Malfoy embarrasses her in public. Stands by Harry whenmost of the student body think he’s the heir of Slytherin. Is constantlylooking out for and comforting Ginny throughout the year. Goes into theforbidden forest (despite having a phobia of spiders) because it might helpthem de-petrify Hermione. Suggests that he and Harry go to see Lockhart aboutthe chamber of secrets, on the slightest possibility that Ginny might still bealive. Holds his emotions together when he and Lockhart are cut off from Harryby falling rock.

Makes up an alibi toget Harry out of trouble with Professor Snape. Immediately downplays his owngrievances with the Scabbers-Crookshanks situation after Hermione apologies soas to make her feel better. Stands up on a BROKENLEG to defend Harry against a presumed-mass-murderer, proclaiming ‘if you wantto kill Harry, you’ll have to kill us too!’

 Rescues Harry from theDursleys (AGAIN). Invites Harry to the Quidditch World Cup. Tries to apologise toHarry for his behaviour (although Harry realises he doesn’t need the apology).Supports Harry 100% during the rest of the tournament. Lets Harry practicestunning spells on him repeatedly inthe run-up to the third task.

Makes it clear that heunderstands Harry’s frustrations, but that it’s not okay to take thosefrustrations out on Ron and Hermione. Won the Quidditch cupfor Gryffindor. Goes with Harry to thedepartment of mysteries. Gets incapacitated whilst defending Luna and Ginnyfrom several death-eaters (all of whom he defeated).

Won the Quidditch cup forGryffindor AGAIN. Defended Hogwartsagainst the death-eaters.

Part of the ‘sevenpotters’ plan. Took down several death-eaters whilst several-hundred-feet-up ona broom. Was worried about theCattermole family after they got away from the ministry. Got away from the snatchersafter they cornered him. Saves Harry’s life.Destroys the horcrux locket after it mentally tortured him with visions of hisown worst fears. Never blames hisleaving on the locket, even though he had every right to. Tries to fight thesnatchers and tells them to ‘get away from’ Hermione. Saves Hermione fromBellatrix Lestrange. Jumps forward when a chandelier comes down on top of her,and pulls her out of the rubble. Disapparates without splinching for the firsttime because he needed to get Hermione to safety. Stops Hermione fromstunning a giant, which could have caused half the castle to be crushed. Volunteered to go tothe shrieking shack to kill the snake in place of Harry. Remembered thehouse-elves when everyone-else had forgotten them (including Hermione). Took down FenrirGreyback with Neville.

(And these are just the ones off the top of my head...)

This is why we like Ron Weasley, anon. Because he was brave, intelligent, funny, witty, kind-hearted, and always come through for his friends. 

So, yeah, I don’t agree with you on this, anon. Bye!