#but idk if they were given a specific script cuz.... idk man

[greatfay]

since ur answering asks and shit can u explain what u meant by generational differences in communication

Damn it’s like 2015 tumblr when my inbox used to be WET. So if you’re talking about the controversial opinions post, YES, like I totally understand where people are coming from when they say that generational divides aren’t real (because they aren’t, they’re arbitrary) and distract us from real problems and yes they paint past generations as collectively bigoted when Civil Rights protestors in the 60s (who are in their 70s and 80s now) are mirrors to BLM protestors today, who could be of any age, but the most vocal and famous (at least online, especially irt to the founders, like Patrisse Cullors who is 37.

But how we communicate is sooooo different. I really point to the Internet and Social Media as a major influence in how younger millennials (more Tom Hollands and less Seth Rogans—see even there, I feel like there are two different types of Millennials) and Gen Zrs/Zoomers and even Generation Alpha behave and communicate. We live in a world where we grew up either knowing right out the gate or discovering the hard way that what we say and do has permanence, the kind of permanence that prior generations have never experienced until today. The dumb things kids have been saying since forever can now follow them... forever. We have an inherent understanding of how online spaces work. Compare that to, idk, let’s say you posted on your Facebook (for the first time in 18 months) “All these big and bad grown ass Senators going after actual child Greta Gerwig lol ok, you’re so brave for attacking a CHILD over climate change” and then your aunt, who’s turning “forty-fifteen” in May replies to your post with “So happy to see my passionate niece! Much love from us, hope you’re doing well. Paul is doing great, waiting on his screening results. Tell your mom I said we miss her, we need to get together, we forgive her for last Christmas.”

Like... ok there’s a lot going on there, but your hypothetical aunt is oversharing on a publicly accessible post. And even with the most strict of privacy settings, she’s oversharing where your other Facebook friends (which may include classmates, coworkers, etc.) can see. But she’s saying things that would only be appropriate in a 1-on-1 conversation. This Aunt doesn’t have an understanding of such boundaries, she’s not as technologically literate and hasn’t grown up in a world of Virtual Space, she still gets most of her news from TV, she trusts what a reporter on Channel 4 will read off a script more than what actual video footage of an incident might reveal on Twitter, and she has no clue that she’s been sharing her location data with every post she makes.

There’s such a huge difference. I think it even affects how we experience and express stress and frustration. I think growing up partially in online spaces has made me more accustomed to conflict and consequence-free arguing than someone who never had to worry about that. I’ve been exposed so much to harassment and bullying, triangulating and echo chambers in forums and threads, and vastly opposing point of views at such an early age that it’s had an effect on how I see the world. Compare this to a customer I helped two weeks ago who was looking for a specific type of supplement for children. I found it for her, I handed her exactly what she was looking for, even though her description of the product actually matched several different products; to make sure I’d done my job thoroughly and that she leaves happy and satisfied and doesn’t bother me again, I then show her more products that match her description so that she knows she has options. And she proceeds to freak out, saying “NO, NO, I’M LOOKING FOR [X] AND IT HAS TO BE [XYZ]” and when I say freak out, she looked stressed and PANICKED. And being a retail employee wears you down bit by bit, and add COVID on top of it and little shit like this makes you snap, sometimes. So I have to cut her off like “Why are you screaming and freaking out, jfc you’re holding what you said you wanted. It’s in your hands. I gave you what you wanted, I’m just showing you more things.”

That customer is not an exception, she’s not a unique case. She’s representative of a frightening percentage of her generation, the kids who watched Grease and The Breakfast Club and Ghost in theaters when they were originally released. This is how they communicate and process information. She could not, for some reason, register that her need had been fulfilled, and defaulted to an extreme emotional response when given new and different information.

I’ve yet to deal with someone younger than 35 act the same way, the exceptions being the kids of very wealthy people at my new job who reek of privilege I gag when they walk in—but even they are like *shrugs* “ok whatever” and understanding when there’s something I can’t do for them.

Me: “sorry, we are totally out of that one in your size, but I can order it for you, it’s 2-3 day shipping at no cost to you and we ship it straight to your house”

A rich, white, attractive 22-year-old who’s had access to organic food, a rigorous dermatologist, and financial security since she was born: “mmm... sure, I’ll order it”

A 47-year-old of any socioeconomic background, of any race, in the same situation: “AHHHHHHHHHHH”

I just think it’s crazy how three generations of kids and young adults raised in a world where everything moves so much faster, where knowledge and entertainment and communication can be gathered so much faster, are often so much more polite and patient and understanding. Yesterday I told an older man (mid-50s) whose native tongue is the same as mine, as clearly and succinct as possible, that what he’s looking for is “in aisle 4.” He proceeded to repeat back, “Aisle 7?” four time before I dropped everything to show him what he needed in aisle 4, despite his insistence that he didn’t need me to walk him there. 4 and 7 sound nothing alike in English. There’s just something going on up there 🧠 that’s different.

Oh, other generational divides!!! We have different approaches to labor and working. Totally different! I’m a “young” millennial where I’m almost Gen Z, and I’ve noticed an awful trend among my demographic where people actually brag about working 90 hour work weeks. Or brag about how they skip breaks and live on-call to get the job done for “the hustle” like this “hustle, become a millionaire by 30″ culture that’s dominated these kids, idk where tf that came from. Like why are you proud of being a wage slave, getting taken advantage of by your millionaire/billionaire overlords. Compare this to my mother’s generation (she’s a borderline Genius X’er, she and her best friend were a year too young to watch Grease when it came out and had a random older woman buy tickets for her; she went to Prince concerts, took photos of him, then sold the photos on buttons at school, that’s her culture and teenage experience), where she’s insistent on her rights and entitlements as an employee, and these things she instilled me: “whatchu mean they didn’t schedule a break for you and you’re working 12 hrs today? oh no, you’re off, don’t answer your phone cuz you are NOT available!” There are Gen X’ers who entered the workforce at a time that America was drifting toward this corporate world, with more strictly defined regulations, roles, and understandings of labor rights (and also, let’s talk about how the 80s there was so much more attention on workplace harassment, misogyny and gender divides in wage gaps, etc. etc... not that much has changed, but at least it was talked about!). There are young people today who are taken advantage of because they aren’t as informed or don’t feel as secure and valuable enough to claim what belongs to them.

At the same time, those generations (Gen X and older) have a different viewpoint of hierarchies in the workplace and respect irt our direct supervisors. That’s how you get this blurring of boundaries between Work Life and one’s Personal Life that leads to common tropes in media written by their generations, where oh no! I’m having my boss over for dinner and the roast beef is still defrosting :O is such a “relatable thing” for them... meanwhile us younger generations are like I don’t even like that you know where I live, and if I see your 2017 Honda Civic pass my place one day, we’re going to have a problem. I think older generations have a different relationship with the word “Respect” than we do. Like, my grandma, who’s turning 87 (?) this year, and the other seniors in my area, they have a different concept of honor and an expectation of professional boundaries that I, and my mom and her generation, just don’t see (so then there’s something in common with Gen X’ers and the rest of us.) My dad grew up in a world where talking and acting like George Bailey and knocking on someone’s door with a big smile could get you a job, a job that could pay for college and rent no problem. My mom grew up in a world that demanded more prestige, where cover letters and references could get you into some cushy jobs if you’re persistent and ballsy enough. And I grew up in a world where potential employers literally don’t see your face when you apply unless they lurk on any social media profiles you have publicly available and they hold all the cards, and you need all those CVs and reference letters just to make minimum wage... so I feel like I am powerless in the face of such employers.

[mittensmorgul]

Also, if heaven did just consist of living ur happiest memories on a loop, what does that mean for shared heavens? Are they only able to relive memories they had together? Idk... I get what you're saying. But I prefer my interpretation. I remember when I joined internet fandom, I was confused by all the soulmate angst surrounding that episode, cuz the answer seemed so obvious to me: they never even get to their heavens, so it's a non-issue! I didn't even realize there were other interpretations

Hi there! Sorry I didn’t get to this yesterday, but I guess I was suffering some soulmate fatigue :P

Luckily, we have 10.20 to show us what an actual soulmate-shared heaven looks like. When Amelia Novak shows up, she finds Jimmy already there. Waiting for her. And the episode actually shows us “Amelia’s Heaven” that she experiences via her soul before she dies and sees it for real.

When Tamiel feeds on her soul starting in the cold open, she’s forced to experience her own heaven over and over again, disconnected from Jimmy, because she’s still alive, on Earth. In those visions of Heaven, she’s already there. She experiences herself walking down the stairs as Jimmy arrives:

AMELIA: Jimmy? Jimmy? (Amelia runs ¾ of the way down stairs) Is it...you? JIMMY: (Jimmy nods slowly) Castiel is gone. It's me. Sorry. I'm so sorry. I never ... (Amelia runs down the rest of the stairs and hugs Jimmy) AMELIA: I looked everywhere for you. I thought I lost you again. JIMMY: It's okay. It's okay. (They end the embrace and Amelia take Jimmy’s face in her hands) It's... (Camera pans to Amelia’s forearms resting on Jimmy’s chest. Blood starts to ooze through her shirt on her left arm) It's okay. I'm home now. (Amelia looks down to her forearms, as the bloodstain grows larger) AMELIA: What's happening? JIMMY: How's our girl? How's Claire? (Jimmy seems oblivious to what is happening to Amelia, as she gets increasingly upset) AMELIA: No! Not again! No! (Scene changes to Amelia strapped to a cot in a dark room. She is wearing a grey tank top and looks worn and haggard. A man in a suit is sitting on the side of the cot with her. She is making whimpering noises and trying to sit up and pull away as the man hold her arm and places something against the crook of her elbow)

In this version of her Heaven Experience, she’s effectively alone, being interfered with by an angel and forced to live out a version of the soul-generated experience that will become her Heaven when she dies. Notice that in this version, because it’s not her full, complete heaven (notice this is the word Dumah also uses to describe Mary’s soul in 14.18, “Complete” and at rest in her heaven, as if before she hadn’t actually felt complete in her heaven for whatever reason... I have theories, but I’m not ready to start going all headcanon on that... I’m sticking to concrete facts here...).

So in her endless loop, nothing ever changed. She began at the top of the stairs as Jimmy entered, but because it wasn’t actually heaven, Jimmy wasn’t “actually Jimmy.” When she broke the “script,” because of Tamiel cutting her arm and that injury literally “bleeding over” into her Heaven vision as Tamiel fed on her soul, Jimmy didn’t react, just like every other “memory simulacra” we’ve ever seen in Heaven-- like the people Sam had Thanksgiving dinner with when Dean crashed into his heaven who kept right on acting out that scene. We actually do have a scene that shows us this exact transition for Amelia, and what happens when she herself becomes aware of the real world around her-- when Cas wakes her up from Tamiel’s enforced heaven-dream.:

CASTIEL: Amelia. (Scene changes to Amelia running down the stairs as in the opening scene) AMELIA: Jimmy?! (Scene changes to the barn where Castiel is untying the restraints on Amelia’s wrists and then helps her sit up) CASTIEL: Oh. (Scene changes back to Amelia in the house. She is at the bottom of the steps looking around the entryway) AMELIA: Jimmy! (Scene changes back to Amelia laying on the cot) CASTIEL: Amelia. (Scene changes back to the house where a frightened Amelia is looking around the entryway) AMELIA: Jimmy! (Scene changes back to the barn as Amelia’s eyes snap open) CASTIEL: Amelia. (Amelia looks up and realizes that Castiel is with her. She gets angry and starts hitting at him. As she’s punching, Castiel tries to grab her wrists)

The descriptions in brackets are not mine. They’re copy/pasted from the superwiki transcript here, so you can read them for yourself. Or better yet, go watch that scene (or the whole episode) and notice this shift for yourself.

At first, she’s re-experiencing the loop we saw play out before, the one that ended in her agony as Tamiel consumed a bit of her soul and “woke” her from her vision of Heaven.

(and honestly, can you imagine the pain of having to experience that over and over, your soul finally reunited with your soul-mate you’ve been searching for years for, only to be literally ripped away and forced to see through the illusion every single time? wow that’s gotta be awful...)

But this time, it’s not Tamiel feeding on her, but Cas attempting to HEAL her that interferes with her Heaven Dream. She’s no longer running down the stairs to meet Jimmy, because something in her subconscious already recognizes what’s happening in reality, even if she hasn’t “woken up” to it yet. Her heaven vision shifts. She’s no longer at the top of the stairs, but in the entryway, but this time Jimmy isn’t there, and she’s scared because he isn’t there. When she wakes up to reality, she immediately recognizes Castiel, knows he’s not Jimmy, and instead of being relieved to see him is furious with him. She blames him for taking Jimmy from her.

So her perspective of Heaven has already begun to shift because of what she now knows. She won’t be “waiting for Jimmy” in Heaven. It’s as if just seeing Cas, she knows now that Jimmy is already there, waiting for her. Which is exactly what we see at the end of the episode:

(Scene changes to the front door of Amelia’s ‘dream’ house. It’s bright outside the door. Amelia walks through the door, unhurt and closes the door. Jimmy appears at the top of the stairs) JIMMY (walking down the stairs): Amelia. Amelia. (They meet each other in the entryway) AMELIA: Jimmy? Is it really you? (Jimmy and Amelia embrace) Is this... JIMMY: It's heaven. (They pull away and look around at the house) I...waited for you for so long. I... How was she? How's Claire? AMELIA (Smiling): Oh, Jimmy, she grew up so beautiful. She's so strong. JIMMY: Like her mom. I love you. AMELIA: I love you, too. (They embrace again and Jimmy is crying over Amelia’s shoulder)

This is obviously a memory neither of them have ever shared, and yet they’re able to share it now anyway. We’re given to believe this is how soulmate heavens work. Jimmy is AWARE that they’re both in Heaven, and Amelia only seems to need his word on that to believe and feel relieved about it. After years of being tortured with the taunt of reunification with Jimmy that was never truly real, only to have it ripped away, we see them both finally at peace.

Not that they will just go on to make entirely new memories, but that the happiest of one of their memories will be something the other is now invited and able to share in, also experiencing them as happy memories. And NOT, as we saw with Sam and Dean, where one’s happiest memories makes the other abjectly miserable...

Dean finding Sam’s heaven was experienced as an intrusion by Sam. If they’d actually been soulmates, they would’ve been HAPPY to see each other’s happiest memories and would’ve instantly recognized what was going on-- and Dean would’ve either been delivered to the porch where he could find Sam, or Sam would’ve been delivered to the field or the Impala where he could’ve found Dean... there would’ve been no need for third party intervention to hand over the cheat codes and explain the axis mundi... 

The fact Cas describes it as “some people see it as a river,” etc etc is because that’s the nature of heaven... Same as “some people see the garden as Heaven’s throne room” etc etc. Do we really think that everyone can just wander around Heaven, or that loads of folks just wander into the Garden? Ash confirms in this episode that hardly ANYONE actually can wander out of their own heaven AT ALL. And we never see any other random souls walking down the road looking for their own heavens. Because that’s assuming that their heavens are a rational physical place, like a neighborhood full of prefab houses that you’re ushered to in a physical body, and that has never been how heaven has been portrayed. Like Amelia’s repeated heaven vision, it’s literally a construct generated by her own soul.

But Ash... didn’t actually see the both of them land. He didn’t know about Cas’s covert communications with Dean via the radio, and then again via the TV. He didn’t KNOW that Dean had to be given the cheat codes in order to get them both to that field where Ash found them.

I mean, considering everything else that happened in this episode, it’s far more plausible to believe that it’s Dean and Cas who are sharing some stronger bond, since Cas is actually the ONLY one who’s able to covertly communicate in Heaven without being overheard on Angel Radio. He’s maintaining a direct connection to Dean’s soul in Heaven, and NOBODY else is able to do that within this episode.

Ash hears Zachariah’s hunt for Sam and Dean’s souls over Angel Radio.

Zachariah hears Sam and Dean’s plans to go to the Garden and intercepts them via Ash’s sigil spell on the door, rerouting them to his own little trap.

But NOBODY mentions how it was Castiel who enabled them to even leave their own heavens in the first place, or that he’d been in contact with them AT ALL. And it was CHUCK’S interference, delivering the message to Joshua that Sam and Dean were specifically looking for him that convinced Zachariah to back off and let them go in the first place. CHUCK knew what had happened.

So honestly, this goes harder on proving the “profound bond” between Dean and Cas than it does proving that Sam and Dean are actually soulmates. Because Cas... once Dean was aware of the truth of his situation... was actually WELCOME in Dean’s heaven, and not the intrusion that Dean and Sam functioned as in their own heavens...

But Amelia and Jimmy’s heaven (and the descriptions we have of Mary’s heaven from before and after her resurrected years making peace with reality, and even via Lily Sunder’s journey to save her own soul in 14.08, and Kelly Kline’s experience of meeting Jack as an “adult” inside her own heaven) does give us one more critical piece of information: Heavens can Change. All the experience we have in life allows us to grow, gives us new memories, and influences how we see the sum total of our own lives.

I mean, it’s a weird take on “comedy = tragedy + time” equation. It makes me interested to know how different Dean and Sam’s respective heavens would look today...

Dean clearly wouldn’t be lost in memories of Mary from his childhood, now that he’s had years to get to know her as an adult. The quality of those old memories look very different from his current perspective, you know? And Sam... he actually HAS happy memories of Mary now. Maybe his happiness wouldn’t be someone else’s Thanksgiving now. Maybe it wouldn’t be about running away so much anymore. But would Dean and Sam’s happiest memories actually overlap? I kind of hope that Dabb gives us a peek at this before the series ends, while simultaneously hoping that it ends with all of them alive, so they can lay down decades more happy memories to carry forward, free of Chuck’s manipulations and endless cycle of sacrifice, loss, and trauma.

I’m wondering if Heaven isn’t due for a little restructuring, as well... but that’s a subject for another post...

[stabigail]

11 questions meme

1tagged by @myrkks, tagging....... @pentaughast @ghoste-catte @beamkatanachronicles anyone who wants to ig :V

1. how would you describe your writing style or “voice” as a writer?

HONESTLY i still feel like i’m growing into my style, lol! and i often feel inconsistent, but i think part of that is a lack of confidence, still, forever #justwritingproblems. being more realistic, i would say that i tend to write from a very firm point of view and my narrators tend to be quite unreliable; i also tend to focus a lot on sensory details. generally i’m very much a stream of consciousness writer! it’s what i love 2 do.

2. do you prefer to write in first person, second person, or third person, and why? which tense do you prefer?

it depends on what i’m working on, and i definitely flip-flop some, but i almost always write in third person. for me, first person works really well for Very Unreliable Narrators who are trying to skew their story in a certain light, or for stories that are literally one person talking to other people. i love love love first person in podcasts! alice isn’t dead is probably my favorite podcast that utilizes first person, and i really love the depth of emotion that it conveys as a result, so i am more likely to us first person for projects like that.

generally, though, i struggle with first person because it limits narration in a way that i struggle with at times. second person kind of creeps me out as a writer because i feel like a soulbonder?? WHICH IS NOT A KNOCK ON SECOND PERSON, i think it makes for beautiful work, but it’s just not for me. so 3rd person limited is my favorite and has been for a while!

as for tense, i used to write exclusively in past tense but now i write exclusively in present tense and i couldn’t even tell you why. is it because the focus on the present makes for more dynamic writing? is it because i’m pretentious? is it both? likely.

3. what is one thing that inspires/motivates you as a writer these days?

oh man haha . . . spite . . . no not really, it’s a little spite but more feeling a lack and a motivation to fill it! my original work right now is based around a lot of feelings i have about both personal and global uncertainty, and while it isn’t a political piece at all, i’ve definitely found motivation to explore topics that i wish were easier to talk about. when it comes to fandom stuff, it’s usually “i love this pairing, but i never see work for it” or “i love this pairing, but i wish there was more diversity of work around it,” because i like filling gaps and also just always fall for pairings few other people care about. i’m also deeply motivated to write character exploration pieces for fandom because holy shit, nothing makes me happier than picking apart a character’s motivations and rearranging them in a new form. i’m the sylar of other people’s characters.

that being said, sometimes my motivation is “why are there only like 2 smut fics of this lesbian pairing and 238974293874 of this pairing of 2 dudes” and that is spite and i’m not sorry for it.

4. what is one of your strengths as a writer?

uhh,,,, i think i have a good attention to detail? is that a cop-out answer? maybe. i have a good grasp of figurative language, i think, and i actually am quite proud of that now that i think about it. i used to write super purple prose, and through the past few years i’ve been able to really neaten my writing up so that it’s . . . still flowery! always will be! not sorry! but it’s not overbearingly so, and the figurative language i use enhances the story rather than drowning it. shoutout to @pentaughast who has been writing with me for like five years and giving me feedback until my writing stopped being a horrible disaster thicket of metaphors, you’re a pal.

5. what is something you’d like to improve about your writing?

(rolls out scroll)

no but seriously: my number one thing to improve right now is learning to stop editing while i write. every writer is their own worst critic, but i will literally write half a sentence and then go back and change the whole thing, because i’m convinced that everything has to be Perfect the First Time. which is in fact a microcosm of my entire personality. so, anne, don’t edit while you write! also, your first draft is not your final draft! i don’t feel a need to just barf out a certain number of words per writing session, but i do think it’ll benefit me to have momentum and iron out kinks later.

6. what is one genre you enjoy writing in, and why?

hmmm this is interesting because genre is such a broad and subjective thing. that said: urban fantasy is and has always been my jam! i wouldn’t say i’m particularly good at it simply because 1) it is a super vague genre with few hard and fast rules, so i’m not sure how much of my stuff is urban fantasy even, and 2) i’ve been struggling a lot with writing original stuff over the past few years, which is where i have written urban fantasy stuff in the past.

overall i enjoy writing in fantasy or fantasy/sci-fi most of all genres, but never high fantasy because it causes me physical agony. aspects of f/sf i like a lot are basically f/sf as a mirror to our world or otherwise connected to our world (without necessarily using f/sf components as a substitution for actual discussion of oppression cuz, nah,) as well as f/sf as satire, that is my FAVE. discworld (t. pratchett) was the first fantasy series i really locked onto and it was v formative, obviously; also gaiman, stiefvater, jemisin. this question was not about my influences but too bad here they are!!!!!!!!!!

7. what would be the biggest compliment someone could give you about your writing?

the biggest, biggest compliment would be: while i was reading this, i forgot the world existed. because that has always been the biggest thing for me as a reader! the way reading can just take you somewhere, so no matter how shitty things might be in your actual situation, you can just take a break from that and follow bilbo around, or whatever. another really excellent compliment that i actually have gotten (both in writing fic and rp) is “i can hear their voice,” either in narration or dialogue. that’s huge! and it makes me really happy to hear. basically i would love for my writing to be an immersive experience for people, and that’s what i’m always striving to improve.

8. what is one piece of advice you’d give someone experiencing writer’s block or feeling stuck with their writing?

READ

idk, for me, fighting my writer’s block literally does not work. just staring at a piece of paper or a computer screen makes me upset and frustrated. reading, though, is both enjoyable and relatively passive; you don’t have to come up with ideas, you just have to take in someone else’s. as a writer, too, you can read both as an audience member and as a fellow writer observing. what does this author do that works or doesn’t? how does this style work in this context where it might not in another? how does it relate to your style? etc.

more generally, do something nice for yourself cuz sometimes that will boost your creative spirit. self-care is huge!

9. what is one piece of advice you wish someone had given you when you started writing?

lskdjfskld uh . . . don’t follow any of the advice people give you because most of it either only works for specific people or is entirely bullshit? i suppose more specifically i wish someone had been more supportive of fantasy/sci-fi as a legitimate genre with meaning, although of course that is a societal view rather than a specific one that surrounded me as a kid. it’s shitty, though, because until fairly recently i viewed the type of writing i enjoyed as “less than”/less meaningful than like, i don’t know, anything written by racist old dead white guys.

also, young adult fiction is fucking valid and doesn’t make you a less “serious” writer. i, a Fucking Grown Up, am still most captivated by YA fiction because there are fewer restrictions on it and writers tend to experiment more and, most importantly, because stories about transformation and trying to figure out who you are will never not be compelling.

10. what is a common piece of writing advice you disagree with, and why?

rubs hands together

one: write what you know. what the fuck is that, i want to know who came up with it because fuck? you??? definitely it’s fine to write about things that you have a personal perspective about, or to write in a way that reflects your worldview or emotions or whatever. but write what you know is literally the stupidest, most limiting garbage, and i have met so many grown ass adults who believe in it so strongly. curse that mess.

two: you must construct x type of work in y format following z formula. a lot of times this is really great and works well for people, but other times it can be, again, really limiting. beginning-middle-end is great, but even that can be inappropriate for certain stories, depending on what they are? for me, strictly following writing formulas made me overly focused on “”accuracy”” and less focused on writing what i enjoyed.

three: this one isn’t quite as cut and dry as the previous two, but: write protagonists that people can relate to. here’s the thing: i feel like this often gets translated to “protagonists that are charmingly aware of their own assholeishness, totally perfect and always right, or bland,” and it’s kind of a shitty trap to fall into? this is another reason i love unreliable narrators, bcause you can have that nuance and imperfection without the entire story being about how shitty the character is. their imperfection is part of the story and perhaps even a driving force, but they aren’t just sort of a paper cutout used to drive the story along. hello i’m anne and i struggle writing protagonists.

11. what writing projects are you working on these days?

excited buzzing. a couple! i am really shy about talking about original stuff, but i am working on scripts for (tentatively) a podcast about a very apathetic and cynical gal who is one of a very few survivors of a series of natural disasters and also may?be the one who made them happen. Whoopsie.

fanfiction-wise, i am working on finishing . . . christ on a raft let me count. four! one-shots. there’s a fifth one that i wrote 10k words of in like 2015 and still haven’t finished and i don’t know if i’ll trash it or not lol. regardless, i am working on those! there is a fic that i started working on a while back that was meant to be a multi-chapter fic called reverse about giorno tripping into vampirism and fugo having 0 idea what to do about it; i’ve let it dangle for ages, but i am slowly fleshing out the plot again and getting it going. i’m very excited to do this! i love giorno having to figure out how to vampire and i love fugio.

finally, @relares and i are starting to work on a reset fugiomis fic which, weeps into tea, will kill us both.

[doodledrawsthings]

Alrighty here’s the masterpost for Hell’s Studio, I guess

So what the heckity heck is this au about?:

This AU spawned from a joke I made with @arsonsara about bendy looking all weird in-game because joey sucks at 3D modeling.

Basically, Joey Drew got the idea in his head that he could potentially bring his original characters to life, and then goes to do that. However, it’s not all that easy, and he ends up bringing Bendy into the real world completely off model as this hulking mess of sentient ink vaguely in the shape of a demon. Obviously Bendy is very frustrated by this. But on top of being off model, he finds even more frustration in the fact that Joey wasted precious time trying to perform a demonic summoning ritual when he could’ve spent it making the actual goddamn cartoon. Seeing how impulsive and distracted the guy can often get, Bendy decides to appoint himself the new head animator and co-producer of the show if they want anything to get done. And it all kicks off from there.

So this AU doesn’t have a big overarching plot or anything, it’s mainly just episodic and things just happen. Think of it like The Office of Parks and Rec. Most of it is goofy comedic shenanigans, but i guess there is some drama-ish stuff in there from time to time, idk it’s a mess. It’s been built off of people sending me cool ideas on Tumbler Dot Com.

I don’t intend on making an organized timeline for things that happen throughout the au because literally anything can happen at almost any time and it’s constantly being added to, so I’m just gonna list a bunch of important points about the characters and how things work.

this is kinda just so y’all have just one big post to reference.

So here we go there’s a whole heckin’ lot:

Bendy was the first character to have been brought to life. Since it was Joey's first time summoning a demon, he did it wrong and messed up the model.

Bendy had to spend the first week or so as this tall, spooky, mass of ink trudging around the studio and yelling at people about animation.

Boris came in next, this time successfully and on model. Boris, the character, had already existed in the show even before HS Bendy was brought into the real world, so the two are already familiar with each other and personally know each other.

He works with the music department with Norman and the rest of the band and also script writing.

Then comes Alice, a much newer character, written into the show about a year after Bendy and Boris are brought to life, and is supposedly Bendy’s female counterpart in the show. Because she was put into the show after Bendy and Boris were summoned, the real-world versions of the boys never had a close relationship with her before she was brought into the real world, whereas she was close to a Bendy and a Boris that don't exist in the real world.

They decided after Alice that Joey should not summon any more characters into reality.

The toons retain their memories from the episodes they were previously in before being summoned, as if they were actual personal experiences. So when Alice comes in, Bendy and Boris don't really have that relationship with her that she may have had with the in-show versions of them. And Bendy and Boris know each other already because they were written as friends in the show, together. Even before both were brought to life.

Alice and Bendy don't get along at all at first but gradually become good friends as the years go by.

Bendy in earlier years often got jealous when something threatened to take his spotlight. 

Alice works closely in the music department, writing music with Sammy and directing voice stuff and working with Susie and the other actors.

Bendy is pretty strict when it comes to the art direction of the show, but he knows his workers’ limits. If he knows they REALLY aren't capable of doing something he won't make them do it, but otherwise he’ll try to push them to do the best they possibly can,no exceptions. He just wants things to look good.

Bendy, despite maintaining a sense of professionalism as an animation director, is still a mischievous prankster when off the clock. He won't deliberately do anything to halt progress, but people still should watch their backs.

Bendy LOVES picking on Sammy because his reactions are always the best. Sammy resents this.

The toons are made of ink, water and acetone hurts them but it won't kill them. I guess it sorta makes them lose form.

Holy objects are the opposite of good for these three.

Joey, in this au, is a pretty hardworking guy and a lot of people respect him for his accomplishments. However, he is incredibly impulsive and often inconsiderate of the consequences of his impulsive actions and often gets dristracted by other things halfway into a project, so he needs someone to keep him in check. He always means well but he doesn't really have a filter for the things he says or does, and often puts himself at risk of being punched by Sammy for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Joey is not super devoted to demon worship or rituals. it's kinda more like a side hobby. He did it cuz he realized he could use that kinda magic to do a thing he wanted to do, so went ahead and did it.

Sammy, despite also having a passion for what he's good at, is exact opposite of Joey: Pessimistic and constantly acting like he hates his job. He does what he does REALLY well, and people respect him for that. But most think he's a kind of jerk,so they leave him alone. He’s good acquaintences with Susie, Alice, and Henry though.

The top three people who piss Sammy off: Joey, Bendy, Wally Franks.

Henry's kind of the voice-of-reason. Very easy going and usually able to keep calm in ridiculous situations and is also good at following directions when given. Y’know that one post about being 85% of Joey’s impulse control.

Colored ink apparently gets the toons drunk. They act differently depending on color.

The toons drink regular ink like humans drink water

Joey has absolutely no interest in raising a family, he's already got one at the studio. He’s metaphorically married to his work.

Despite the crazy shit Joey does, he still means well and is usually one to try to make up for his mistakes. If only he just prevented them from happening in the first place.

Sammy, at some point, kicks the ink machine and becomes an ink-creature for a while. I kind of consider @nollplus’s fic to be AU canon, but honestly anyone can play around with any of these ideas as much as they want to.

I don't know who of the original crew passes away first, but I know for sure that Joey goes last.

Joey teaches bendy how to play piano as a way to relieve stress, it's kind of a thing they do together.

Henry is very close with bendy, and is often one of the people the toon goes to when he needs someone who will listen to his rants and frustrations without complaining about it.

Henry and Bendy often go out together on breaks to draw or walk around the town. It’s their thing.

Boris has the kind of face that is really hard to say no to. Whether he realizes this or not is questionable.

While Boris tends to be more on the naive side, he’s not ignorant. He knows when things are bad, and sometimes knows how to read a room better than Joey can, honestly. He just thinks that having a positive attitude will spread to other people.

@Ka-star’s fic about bendy getting chased into a church by a dog is AU canon and for the longest time it made him kinda scared of leaving the studio. But he’d never admit that.

Alice is very careful when she leaves the studio and is much more sneaky about it. She loves being outside the studio. It gets a bit too stuffy in there for her.

Same goes for Boris, he doesnt have a particular place he likes to go he just likes to run around outside and get out pent-up energy.

The toons get redesigns every now and then, some more permanent than others. Bendy was the first subject of that.

Sammy's office (and much of the rest of the music department) is right by the ink pipes, which often tend to burst and leak. This poor man is in a perpetual state of frustration.

The studio in this au actually becomes very successful over the years (in more of a Disney-ish fashion rather than Fleischer studios)

The toons are kept secret from the rest of society, when they go out into public, they go wearing cheesy disguises.

Bendy is not one to be very open about his emotions. He doesn't like being seen or treated like a kid, either. When he's upset, he often tries to hide it as best he can, which is kind of hard when you visually reveal how upset you are by involuntarily melting whenever you're stressed.

Since people in the studio have known them for so long, the toons are a regular and normal sight in the workers there. So when they get new members who are absolutely blown away by how toons exist in the real world it can be a bit jarring because sometimes even they are forget how unique their situation is.

The ink machine is kind of equivalent to a glorified coffee machine for the toons. It still serves importance though, as being a quick way to heal them if they get hurt.

They very much enjoy video games as they’d probably be around long enough to see technology develop from the 1920′s to what it is today and idk but thats kinda cool.

The toons can shapeshift to an extent, doing it for too long makes them REEEALLY tired. They usually use this ability to become other characters when kids are given tours of the studio. (Or to play pranks. Bendy specifically.)

Wally never really gets outta there, the studio’s become a sort of hectic second home to most of the workers.

Joey gave bendy that sweater after impulsively taking up knitting as a hobby, just because. Bendy wears it as PJ’s.

As much of a stick in the mud as Sammy is, he refuses to be a jerk to kids. Same with Bendy, though the latter is better with kids than the former.

While Joey was out doing his thing, bringing the toons to life, everyone unanimously decided Henry should be in charge when Joey’s off distracted by something else. He was stressed out for the longest time while Joey was working on that project of his. Everyone was. Thanks Joey.

Toon logic applies to the toons in some of the weirdest ways, and has a 50/50 chance of being convenient or inconvenient.

“Thanks, Joey” has become a sort of inside joke throughout the studio.

The summoning ritual is kind of anticlimactic. When done right, it’s kinda like POOF there’s a cartoon here, now. Yay. For the toons themselves, it’s an incredibly weird feeling. One moment they’re in whatever world they came from and now they’re here for some reason.

They do a Haunted House every Halloween that is basically just the canon game, but as a spooky haunted house.

Bendy sleeps in a drawer in his office.

Muppet Bendy. Just. Muppet Bendy. Whether it’s Spud’s idea whre bendy just straight up becomes a puppet at some point for some reason or if it’s just a puppet that bendy happens to have, it’s there. 

Thaaaaat’s all I can think of right now. There is so much stuff that goes on this au and so much still being added to it that it's hard to keep track of it so i’ll probably be constantly adding to this post.

But uh these are most of the ones that stick out to me more.