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weaverofthreads · 4 years ago

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On the process of writing a novel...

Ok, so this began as a DM to a very dear friend who had said they were super excited to work on a novel of theirs that they'd abandoned for years, but they felt a bit lost when looking at the project again. They had "too many characters, too many intrigues" and they didn't "know how to create order" for all their ideas. They didn't know "what to keep, what to remove, what to change" and wanted to know if I had any tips.

I began to reply in messages and then realised I needed to make a whole post out of it, so here it is! All 3k words of it. This is for you, darling! I hope it helps.

Things I found extremely helpful when planning my novel for NaNoWriMo this year, after also taking some time off from it.

Most of this comes from Alicia Lidwina’s Four-Part article on her NaNoWriMo prep process, and setting up a writer’s notebook, for 2018. You can find the link to the first part here and I highly recommend you check out the whole series of articles for a more in-depth read.

Content of this ‘essay’:

Preparation, Groundwork, and Materials

Project 'Stats' & Overview

Mood, Moodboards, and Key Imagery

Things to Consider, and Important Bullet Points

Get to Know Your Characters

Chronological Order

Tangential and Preceding Events

Basic Premise, Plot Definition, Sub Plot Ideas

List of Locations

Scenes

Chapter Outline

NaNo Plan

Additional Notes and Tips for Writing

Ok. Let's begin.

First of all, I'm not saying that this is the only way to write or organise a novel. It can be tackled in as many ways as there are writers in the universe. This is just the method I used to get my ideas crystallised and organised.

Preparation, Groundwork, and Materials.

Take your preparation seriously. I bought a cheap but still nice A4 sketchbook with blank paper for maybe £2 at the local hobby store, and used it solely for the purposes of being my Novel Notebook. It doesn’t have to be a pretty, perfect, Aesthetic(TM) journal at all. Its function is to act as a route-guide through the process.

I bought a cute sticker from Etsy and used it as the front cover design so that I liked the book and that it felt a little bit special, without being too intimidating to put a mark in. Then I left the very first page blank, and opened it to the first double page. On the left, I wrote ‘Contents’ and then moved on to the right and wrote ‘Project Stats and Overview’.

I used a pen that was comfortable to write with, which for me was important. I’m a very tactile person, and having nice paper and pens (not necessarily fancy), made the process feel good.

Project Stats and Overview

This is the bare bones of the book, and includes details such as:

Project Working Title: (in my case it’s Weaver of Threads)

Targeted Wordcount: (to give yourself an idea of the scope, but it’s not necessary. For me it’s 50-100k)

Genre: (for me, fantasy)

Series: (will it be one book or more? For me, probably more than one, and at least two).

Inspiration: (here you can jot down all sorts of things which inspire your world and your writing, and it can be anything. In my case, I began with “density and lore, and feeling of being grounded in a real world from LOTR and Tolkien.” And I went on to include other writers and novels in the fantasy genre, as well as elements from our own world, such as Mongolian herding communities and way of life, the history of the Persian Empire, and Renaissance Florence!).

Project Timeline: Give yourself a structure, and be realistic. If you know you’re a slow writer who’s prone to distractions, be generous, but if you’re someone who responds well to short deadlines, tighten the time frame up a bit. I said “November 2020 - November 2021 for the whole manuscript” because I know I’m a procrastinator who gets dejected if they shoot past intense deadlines….

Editing Deadline: December 2021-January 2022. I know I can edit fairly quickly, so I made this one much shorter.

Main Requirements Prior to Starting: What do you need to get sorted before you can get going? It could be purchasing a laptop or figuring out a magic system. In my case, it was the latter.

What Happens in your novel?: This is not ‘what do your characters do?’, but what, in one sentence, actually happens in the book. For Fellowship of the Ring, you could say ‘a diverse group of people assemble and set off together with the goal of destroying the Ring’. LOADS more stuff actually takes place, obviously, but that’s probably the key thing that happens in that book. So, write the same thing for yours. I’m not going to tell you what happens in mine, because that would spoil it :).

That took up the first A4 page of my writer’s notebook, and after that, I moved on to Mood and Key Imagery.

Mood, Moodboards, and Key Imagery

On the left hand side of the page, I wrote down the words and concepts that sprang to mind when I thought of the novel itself. These were in no particular order or placement — just a random cloud of ideas in a rough column on the left hand side of the page — and they included: history, mystery, love, friendship, betrayal, nostalgic, homesick, sense of belonging, sense of place, searching, closeness, secrets… etc. etc.

Then on the right hand side, I wrote down five key words that I wanted to associate with the novel. These would form the ‘visual aesthetic’ in the background of my mind, and could be very easily expressed with a moodboard.

This same process (writing down words and creating a moodboard) could be achieved on a website like Pinterest. Take your time with it, find the right visual clues that really match the essence of your story, and create a final mood board with a limited number of panels that will be your novel’s ‘true north’ when it comes to feelings. If you're artistically inclined too, you could draw sketches of things relevant to your world too.

While this stage is really important for solidifying the feeling and mood of the novel, don’t get stuck here and spend forever procrastinating on Pinterest or whatever. Once you’ve crystallised that ambiance, it’s time to move on. It’s also perfectly fine to come back to this at a later stage if you find yourself running out of inspiration or drifting a bit. Daydreaming, drawing, mood-board-ing are all great ways to work on your novel on days when you don’t feel like writing.

Things to Consider:

Alicia Lidwina asked herself some questions which helped me get past the ‘block’ that I’d created when thinking about the novel, and those were:

What scares me about this story? (in my case it was the scope of it - it was easy for me to get lost in over-thinking tiny details and get too overwhelmed to handle the big picture)

What will readers take away from it? (in my case, I hoped that it was a sense of friendship, people from desperate cultures finding common ground, and a sense of being grounded in a real, tangible world.

What is its selling point? (essentially, why would an agent/publisher choose yours over the next one in the pile?). Don’t be bashful about this. This is your notebook, so if you’re proud of a feature or aspect of the story, write it down. In my case, there is no ‘Big Bad come to destroy the world’, no Chosen One who is the only one who can stop it. There is an antagonist, but it’s on a personal scale, and that’s the selling point. It’s about two people going on a personal journey to uncover a lost piece of knowledge that’s arguably not all that world-changing on its own, but which means the world to them.

What will be the three biggest issues in writing the first draft? Identify the three biggest roadblocks, and then take a bulldozer to them. For me, it was time management, getting mentally stuck, and the sheer darned effort of it becoming overwhelming!

Important Bullet Points

These are five key facts about your novel, distilled from the sections above. They include: What’s at the heart of the story? How long is the story? What’s the narrative focus of the story? What are the maximum number of main characters? And the maximum number of supporting characters (this obviously doesn’t mean you can’t have other, less important characters too!)?

Relationship between the two main characters is forefront

50-100k words

The novel’s focus is on the characters’ main goal (had to be more vague here so I didn't give it away)

2 main characters

3 supporting characters

If you find you’ve got too many main characters (not necessarily a bad thing to have a lot of characters - look at A Song of Ice and Fire after all!), then figure out whose story you want to tell here. You can always write another story with other characters in a connected novel, or a sequel. You don’t have to tell everything all at the same time.

Speaking of characters…

…Get to Know Your Main Characters:

Here you can write character sheets for each of your main characters and cast. There are hundreds of these templates available on the internet, asking questions like ‘how would your character react to [insert event]?’ etc. to get to know your character. If this isn’t your thing (it isn’t mine) then at least write down some useful information about them. Rough height and weight, hair, eye and skin colour, general temperament, and any other defining physical or mental traits.

Next came the Chronological Order

This does not have to represent the final order of the novel’s structure, nor the order in which you write the manuscript, but you need to know what happened within the timeline, and when, in order to be really clear when you’re telling the story. You can write the manuscript out of order, and you can tell the story with flashbacks or in a different order, but you need to have the underlying chronology securely in place so that your writing makes sense and so that you don’t confuse yourself or the readers in the process.

Preceding and Tangential Events

These don’t need to be in the novel itself, but it may be important to define the sequence of events that also led up to the moment where we pick up your story, and what is happening elsewhere so that you can be sure of these too. In my case, I defined the events that concerned one of the supporting characters’ lives so that I knew how and why they were at the point they are in the story. It relates directly to - and heavily influences - the events of the novel, so I needed to have this person’s history nailed down as well, even though I don't tell it all explicitly in the book (because that would be unnecessary and a bit dull).

Basic Premise, Plot Definition, and Sub-Plot Ideas (plus writing a synopsis)

Alicia Lidwina defined the story premise helpfully with the following formula:

Story Premise = Main Character + Desire + Obstacle

Pick a different colour for each of these components, and write a short paragraph to explain them in the context of the novel. Alicia Lidwina used the following:

[Main Character] “Harry, an orphan who didn’t know that he’s a wizard, [Desire] got invited into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and wanted to live his school life to its fullest, [Obstacle] but a certain Dark Lord who killed his parents is trying to rise into powers again and kill him in revenge.

Do this for your novel, and keep it really short.

Plot Definition: This is even shorter than that! It’s a single sentence!! It’s most closely tied to the desire of the character, and lies at the heart of the story. It’s most likely a distilled version of the ‘what happens in the story’ from the Project Stats page, so check that to see what you wrote there.

Sub Plot Ideas

Five bullet points (no more) for things that are happening concurrently and which are related in some way to the main story. For me, Kae and Tomas are doing their research, so that’s the main theme, but beneath that there are a few other related incidents.

Writing a Synopsis - developed out of the points in this section, and includes:

Who the main character is

What the stakes are (the story premise is your guideline)

What the main plot line is

How the MC resolves the problem in the main plot line

How the book ends.

List of Locations

Start with the main ones and add to it as you go on. Write a little bit of information about them so that you have something to refer back to. I also drew a big old map which I found very helpful and also really fun to do.

List of Scenes

It’s very important to map out every single scene that happens in the novel. Use your timeline to help with this, but remember a scene is not necessarily a chapter. You can have more than one scene within a chapter, but try not to have too many.

I used small post-it notes (sticky notes) and wrote down things like “M joins K’s clan at the fire and K learns about magic” and “K studies at Citadel, intro to Citadel, magic, and characters” as separate scenes. Once you’ve written down everything that is going to happen (this will take some time! Get a drink and some snacks ready, and go slow), you can stick them into your notebook in the order you’d like to tell the story. Some chapters may have just one scene, while others may have two or three. I didn’t have more than two in any of my chapters, and actually ended up splitting some scenes that I’d made too vague in this section into more chapters. It doesn’t have to be set in stone, but it will form a road map.

Additions and Notes:

I left a section of the Scene Outline bit of the notebook blank for things to add in as I went along. I haven’t used it yet, but I might.

Chapter Outline

I arranged the scenes into the chapters already by sticking them in order, but you could do a chapter outline separately after this. It’s up to you.

NaNoWriMo plan:

I did this back in October, and wrote down the main goal for nanoprep, which was to finish the background info. Breaking that down further, I listed - magic (how does it work exactly), geography, and politics.

After that, it was just a case of writing the 1667 words a day. *spoilers, I got distracted and didn’t do NaNo this year* . What I should have done, was break it up into chunks and write down my goals so that I had something tangible to use as a road map, and I will be doing that now for the novel as I take it up again outside of NaNo. Having check boxes and manageable goals really works for me. Find what will work for you, and if it turns out not to, adapt!

Some final pointers and tips:

Set regular goals for yourself. Whether you work by saying ‘I’ll write 1000 words a day’ or ‘I’ll write something every day’, make a structure for yourself. If you slip and miss a day, week, or month (I didn’t meet NaNo this year because I chose to work on another project instead *slaps forehead*), don’t beat yourself up. Writing is a craft and it takes a long time and a lot of discipline to master a craft.

Your first draft does not have to be good. At all. Your first draft is just words on paper. A first draft is the block of marble taken from the quarry, and subsequent edits and reworking is the process of carving the sculpture itself. The editing that is done by the publisher or the professional you employ to edit it for you later, is the final polishing. Don’t be demoralised if the block of marble seems very rough when it first lands in your studio. That’s ok!

Take regular breaks. Writing is hard work, and most people can’t concentrate on something successfully for longer than 55 min's, and if you’re doing that, you’re already doing really well. Personally, I’m at 15-20 on a good day. Write in little sprints of ten minutes or so, and then get up and stretch, look out the window, maybe leave the room, come back in with a fresh approach.

Stretch your hands, and wear wrist braces when you work. Seriously. I gave myself tendinitis on my first major project, and couldn’t use either hand properly for weeks. The ones I have are these, and they allow me to work safely for much longer.

Keep hydrated. Have a bottle of water on the desk in front of you between your arms as you type and sip it, otherwise you’ll forget. 2 litres a day is usually recommended, but know your body and drink accordingly.

Treat yourself. Whether that’s something as simple as a decadent hot chocolate after your first chapter/chunk/sprint is done, or a new notebook or a pen or that sticker set you wanted on Etsy or literally anything nice, reward yourself for the hard work you’ve put in, with tangible things you can look at or experience and say ‘I have that because I did the work’. It’ll help with your sense of achievement, especially if the project is a long one.

Join a local writer’s group for feedback. With the current Covid-19 chaos, this is probably not possible right now, but getting constructive feedback on your work from someone who hasn’t been cocooned in the project in the way you are, but who respects you as a writer and wants to help you grow, will be invaluable. It’s too easy to exist in a little isolated bubble and think you’re doing ok, when in reality you could be creating bad habits which will be difficult to break later. By these, I mean things like ‘filler words’ you don’t realise you use, or other pit-falls it’s easy to tumble into when you can’t see the wood for the trees…It’s intimidating, and it might take some courage to work up and do, but I promise it’ll help you grow. You don’t have to do what the people suggest, but it’s great to get outside opinions all the same.

Submit work to writing competitions. This will help with showing agents and publishers later down the line that you’re not only committed, but hopefully talented, and will help you to push yourself. Use the world of your novel for the setting, and get to know it by writing short stories on the competition’s theme set there.

Read. Read the writers you admire, and read them ‘actively’ - figure out exactly what it is about ‘that’ sentence that made you shiver, and use the same techniques in your own work (don’t plagiarise, obviously, but if it was alliteration that made the sentence work so well, use it yourself! Perhaps it was the metre of the line? Great, now you know a rhythm that will drive a sentence forward or slow it down etc.)

Enjoy it. If you’re not enjoying what you’re doing, it’ll show in the work. Take a step back if you start floundering, and ‘interview’ yourself about why it’s not fun any more. Refer back to the sections in the notebook that helped to clarify the plot/process, and see if you’ve wandered away from them. Make yourself answer questions like: ‘What is the main reason I don’t want to do this?’ ‘What is the character’s motivation?’ ‘Should I scrap this section?’ (don’t delete it, but cut and paste it into another ‘scraps’ document, and then start afresh from the last place you were happy with. Nothing is wasted - it all goes into building the world and getting to know the characters, even if it doesn’t get explicitly told in the finished product, so don’t be afraid to do that last bit).

Good luck!

I hope you found this helpful, and if you have any questions or things you’d like to add to this, please feel free to send me an ask here on Tumblr.

If you’re a new writer hoping to get an agent or publisher, you might also find this post on ‘talking to a published author’ helpful or interesting.

If you would like to keep up to date with my own novel’s progress, you can follow me here on Tumblr, as well as on my writing Instagram @rnpeacock

#writing #writeblr #writing process #how to write a novel #novel writing #nanowrimo #national novel writing month #writing a book #writing advice #author #authors on tumblr #how to structure a book #long post

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frozenartscapes · 4 years ago

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Pumpkins - A World Without Gods Fic

Byleth heaved the large, orange vegetable up onto the kitchen table with a grunt, the weight of the object causing the whole piece of furniture and the cutlery on it to shake.

Edelgard did the same, though her pumpkin wasn’t quite as big so it didn’t land with the same intensity.

“Alright,” Byleth said as she playfully dusted her hands, “Let’s get started, then.”

“So remind me again why we’re making...what was it again?” Edelgard asked.

“Jack-o-lanterns,” Byleth told her, “It’s another Halloween tradition.”

“I figured as much. I was mostly just wondering why carving up perfectly good pumpkins to turn them into decorations rather than food seems to be so popular,” Edelgard said.

Byleth merely chuckled. “Don’t worry, El. These pumpkins aren’t that great for food. They’ve been growing them this way for decades specifically for making Jack-o-lanterns. That’s also why we got a couple of those small ones, which are good for eating.”

“I...see,” Edelgard replied, glancing at the two pie pumpkins sitting on the counter.

“So... Do you know what you’re going to do to yours?” Byleth asked, pulling out a couple of markers and offering one to El.

“I think so... I did a little research beforehand when you told me you wanted to do this, although I know right now that many of the designs I saw were far too complicated for me to execute,” Edelgard said, taking the marker and beginning to sketch out a simple face.

“Yeah, some people are crazy good at this. Although most of the time they’re professional sculptors.”

“What about you?”

“Me? I’m maybe average at this? The building does a contest but I’ve never won in the years I’ve lived here. I mostly just like the tradition.”

“I’m hoping this will turn out all right. It’s not the same as cooking, but I also can’t say I’ve ever been...careful when it comes to blades.”

Byleth laughed. “I’ve seen you use a dagger just fine, and you were pretty good with a sword,” she offered, “But yeah... Your style definitely was more about doing damage rather than precision.”

“I never really had the patience,” Edelgard admitted with a sigh.

They finished their designs and now it was time for the “fun” part, as Byleth called it. “Ok, so you want to take the knife and cut a circle around the stem. Make sure you cut at a bit of an angle so that the piece you cut doesn’t just fall through,” she explained, demonstrating on her pumpkin.

Edelgard nodded and followed along. Once the hole was made, she glanced into the pumpkin with a grimace. She had never...dealt with a pumpkin before. She knew of them. She had eaten food made with them. She knew of the general concept of their most popular uses, including these jack-o-lanterns. For some reason, though, she never really thought about what might be in a pumpkin until it was staring her in the face.

Byleth simply shoved her hand in without question, removing it with a handful of seeds and pumpkin guts and dumping the goo in a bowl with a wet splat. Edelgard gulped, then carefully stuck a hand into her pumpkin. Her finger brushed against something cold and stringy, and with a small squeal, she yanked her hand back out.

“Why is it warm?” she demanded when she heard Byleth chuckle.

“We were keeping them inside, El,” Byleth reminded her, “Trust me: it’s better than if they were cold.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Edelgard commented, attempting to clear her pumpkin out again. This time she got her hand in far enough to grab a clump of goop, but the squishiness of it made her retreat with a gag.

“Here,” Byleth said, offering a large spoon, “You can scrape the sides and bottom with this, then just turn the pumpkin over the bowl. It’s less messy that way.”

Edelgard let out a deep breath, accepting the spoon with a grateful smile. “You’ve clearly done this a lot,” she stated as she got to work, finding the spoon method much better.

“It’s funny. I used to get together with Rhea, Seteth, and Flayn and do this sort of thing a lifetime or two ago. It’s interesting to see how the holiday has changed over the decades,” Byleth said, “Pumpkin carving thankfully has stayed more or less the same. While costumes and candy and decorations and parties have all changed, good old pumpkins have been a nice constant.” For added emphasis, she patted the pumpkin lovingly before reaching in to clear out some more seeds.

A nervous smile made its way across Edelgard’s face. “Ah... And how did...they...find the holiday?” she asked, trepidation growing at the reminder of her former enemies.

“Flayn has always been intrigued by it, so of course it’s Seteth’s worst nightmare,” Byleth replied casually, “Rhea’s kind of indifferent on it. But she really doesn’t like carving pumpkins.”

“Really?” Edelgard asked with an eyebrow raised.

“She doesn’t like the guts,” Byleth said.

“I can’t fathom why,” Edelgard returned dryly, turning her pumpkin over the bowl and shaking out a clump of seeds and goo.

“It’s just seeds and mushy squash,” Byleth teased upon seeing El’s face, “Goddess knows you’ve dealt with much worse.”

“It’s the texture,” Edelgard insisted, “I don’t like how it’s slimy, warm, and sticky all at once. And don’t remind me about worse things because then I’ll start to picture them.”

Byleth laughed again, dumping out the last of her pumpkin guts. “Sorry. I should’ve known better,” she said sheepishly, “How’s it going? You get it mostly cleared out yet?”

Edelgard did a final scrap of the sides of the pumpkin. “About as clean as it ever will be,” she replied, “So now we can start carving?”

“Yep.” Byleth reached for a knife as Edelgard did the same. “Just work slow, and be careful not to cut yourself. Blood might be spooky but parents tend to be more approving of fake blood this time of year.”

Edelgard chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind, my Teacher.”

Byleth smiled at the nickname. They were well passed their time spent as student and teacher, but Edelgard kept insisting that Byleth had never truly stopped teaching her new things, now more than ever. So the name stuck.

She realized she had been watching Edelgard carving for perhaps a little too long. She couldn’t help it, though. For as silly and casual as this activity was, Edelgard was approaching it with the same intensity and focus as she did whenever she was learning a new fighting stance or battle strategy.

Byleth blinked a few times before snapping out of it. As much as she would have liked to keep admiring Edelgard, she had her own pumpkin to carve.

“How are you making out?” Byleth asked after a few minutes, finishing up the last few details of her carving in the process.

“Almost... Done!” Edelgard proclaimed, leaning back to take in her creation. The pride in her expression fell away, however, as she studied her work. “Hmm... I feel like it’s missing something...”

“Hang on,” Byleth said, getting up to retrieve a couple of candles from the counter. She set one in each pumpkin, flicked off the lights, and with a snap of her fingers, both jack-o-lanterns lit up in all their spooky glory.

Byleth’s had a large, fang-filled mouth stretching from one side of the pumpkin’s face to the other, and two pointed eyes that seemed to narrow menacingly. Edelgard’s had the classic triangular nose and eyes, but a toothy mouth that was frowning rather than smiling.

“He doesn’t look very happy,” Byleth commented lightly.

“I thought the frown would make it less friendly,” Edelgard mused, “But now I’m not... Oh! I know!”

She quickly left the kitchen, only to return moments later with the plastic bloodied axe Byleth had hung up over the fireplace. After making another quick cut in her pumpkin, Edelgard then stuck the fake weapon inside, giving it the appearance of having just been attacked by an axe murderer.

Byleth couldn’t contain her laughter. “Oh Sothis, I love it, El!” she said.

“See, now he has a reason to be unhappy,” Edelgard replied with a small chuckle of her own, “And you did say fake blood was ok.”

“I did say that,” Byleth conceded, “I can already think of multiple morbid little kids who are going to love this pumpkin.”

---

A few days after Halloween, Byleth returned home after work to an envelope that had been tucked under the door.

They had won the pumpkin carving contest.

#fe three houses #a world without gods #edeleth #edelgard #byleth #ss/modern!au #fanfic #i just have a feeling el wouldn't be a fan of the inside of a pumpkin #she doesn't mind the carving part but the scooping part freaks her out #later byleth shows her how to get pumpkin puree from the pie pumpkins #and to el's immense delight byleth allows her to cut both of them in half with a small handaxe she keeps with the camping gear #'for just this once it WILL be faster to just use an axe'#el: *mysterious wind blowing her hair* my time has come #and yes there are multiple kids in their building who think el's pumpkin is amazing #and for the ones who don't it's easy enough to show them that it's just a prop #like the pumpkin is wearing a costume too #el just can't get over how kids are allowed to be morbid in this day and age #and it's not...scarring for them #they're perfectly normal kids #perfectly HAPPY not-traumatized kids

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roaringgirl · 4 years ago

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Books read in January

I am keeping this as a little record for myself, as I already keep a list (my best new year’s resolution - begun Jan 2018) but don’t record my thoughts

General thoughts on this - I read a lot this month but it played into my worst tendencies to read very very fast and not reflect, something I’m particularly prone too with modern fiction. I just, so to speak, swallow it without thinking. First 5 or so entries apart, I did quite well in my usually miserably failed attempt to have my reading be at least half books by women.

1. John le Carré - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974): I liked this a lot! I sort of lost track of the Cold War and shall we say ethics-concerned parts of it and ended up reading a fair bit of it as an English comedy of manners - but I absolutely love all the bizarre rules about what is in bad taste (are these real? Did le Carré make them up?).

2. John le Carré - The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1963): I liked this a lot less. It seemed at the same time wilfully opaque and entirely predictable. Have been thinking a lot about genre fiction - I love westerns and noir, so wonder if for me British genre fiction doesn’t quite scratch the same itch.

3. David Lodge - Ginger You’re Barmy (1962): This was fine. I don’t have much to say about it - I was interested in reading about National Service and a bit bogged down in a history of it so read a novel. As with most comic novels, it was perfectly readable but not very funny.

4. Dan Simmons - Song of Kali (1985): His first novel. This is quite enjoyable just for the amount of Grand Guignol gore, and also because I like to imagine it caused the Calcutta tourist board some consternation. Wildly structurally flawed, however. Best/worst quote: ‘Hearing Amrita speak was like being stroked by a firm but well-oiled palm.’ Continues in that vein.

5. Richard Vinen - National Service: A Generation in Uniform (2014): If you are interested in National Service, this is a good overview! If not, not.

6. Sarah Moss - Ghost Wall (2018): I absolutely loved this. About a camping trip trying to recreate Iron Age Britain. Just, very upsetting but so so good - a horror story where the horror is male violence and abuse within the (un)natural family unit.

7. Kate Grenville - A Room Made of Leaves (2020): Excellent idea, but not amazing execution - the style is kind of bland in that ‘ironed out in MFA workshops’ way (I have no idea if she did an MFA but that’s what it felt like). Rewriting the story of early Australian colonisation through the POV of John Macarthur’s wife Elizabeth.

8. Ruth Goodman - How to Be a Victorian (2013): I mostly read this for Terror fic reasons, if I’m honest. I skimmed a lot of it but she has a charming authorial voice and I really like that she covers the beginning of the period, not just post-1870.

9. Gary Shteyngart - Super Sad True Love Story (2010): I read this on a recommendation from Ms Poose after I asked for good fiction mostly concerned with the internet, and I thought it was excellent - it’s very exaggerated/non-realistic and that heightening of incident and affect works so well.

10. Brenda Wineapple - The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation (2019): What a great book. I had to keep putting it down because reading about Reconstruction always makes me so sad and frustrated with what might have been - the lost dream of a better world.

11. Halle Butler - The New Me (2019): Reading this while single, starting antidepressants and stuck in an office job that bores me to death but is too stable/undemanding to complain about maybe wasn’t a great decision, for me, emotionally.

12. Halle Butler - Jillian (2015): Ditto.

13. Ottessa Moshfegh - Death in Her Hands (2020): Very disappointed by this. I don’t really like meta-fiction unless it’s really something special and this wasn’t. Also, I’m stupid and really bad at reading, like, postmodern allegorical fiction I just never get it.

14. Andrea Lawlor - Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl (2017): This was really really hot! I will admit I don’t think the reflections on gender, homophobia, AIDS etc are very deep or as revealing as some reviews made out, but I also don’t think they’re supposed to be? It’s a lot of fun and all of the characters in it are so precisely, fondly but meanly sketched.

15. Catherine Lacey - The Answers (2017): This was fine! Readable, enjoyable, but honestly it has not stuck with me. There are only so many sad girl dystopias you can read and I think I overdid it with them this month.

16. Hilary Mantel - Wolf Hall (2010, reread): Was supposed to read the first 55 pages of this for my two-person book club, but I completely lack self-restraint so reread the whole thing in four days. Like, I love it I don’t really know what else to say. I was posing for years that ‘Oh, Mantel’s earlier novels are better, they’re such an interesting development of Muriel Spark and the problem of evil and farce’ blah blah blah but nope, this is great.

17. Oisin Fagan - Hostages (2016): Book of short stories that I disliked intensely, which disappointed me because I tore through Nobber in horrified fascination (his novel set in Ireland during the Black Death - which I really cannot recommend enough. It’s so intensely horrible but, like Mantel although in a completely different style/method, he has the trick of not taking the past on modern terms). A lot of this is sci-fi dystopia short stories which just aren’t... very good or well-sustained. BUT I did appreciate it because it is absolutely the opposite of pleasant, competently-written but forgettable MFA fiction.

18. Muriel Spark - Loitering with Intent (1981): Probably my least favourite Spark so far, but still good. I think the Ealing Comedy-esque elements of her style are most evident and most dated here. It just doesn’t have the same sentence-by-sentence sting as most of her work, and again I don’t like meta-fiction.

19. Hilary Mantel - Bring up the Bodies (2012, reread): Having (re)read all of these in about 3 months, I think this is probably my favourite of the three. I just love the way a whole world, whole centuries and centuries of history and society spiral out from every paragraph. And just stylistically, how perfect - every sentence is a cracker. I’m just perpetually in awe of Mantel as a prose stylist (although I dislike that everyone seems to write in the present tense now and blame her for it).

20. Muriel Spark - The Girls of Slender Means (1963, reread): (TW weight talk etc ) As always, Hilary Mantel sets me off on a Muriel Spark spree. I’ve read this too many times to say much about it other than that the denouement always makes me go... my hips definitely wouldn’t fit through that window. Maybe I should lose weight in case I have to crawl out of a bathroom window due to a fire caused by an unexploded bomb from WW2???? Which is a wild throwback to my mentality as a 16 year old.

21. China Mieville - Perdido Street Station (2000, reread): What a lot of fun. I know we don’t do steampunk anymore BUT I do like that he got in the whole economic and justice system of the early British Industrial Revolution and not just like steam engines. God, maybe I should read more sci-fi. Maybe I should reread the rest of this trilogy but that’s like 2000 pages. Maybe I should reread the City and the City because at least that’s short and ties exactly into my Disco Elysium obsession (the mod I downloaded to unlock all dialogue keeps breaking the game though. Is there a script online???)

22. Stephen King - Carrie (1974): I have a confession to make: I was supposed to teach this to one of my tutees and then just never read it, but to be honest we’re still doing basic reading comprehension anyway. That sounds mean but she’s very sweet and I love teaching her because she gets perceptibly less intimidated/critical of herself every lesson. ANYWAY I read half of this in the bath having just finished my period, which I think was perfect. It’s fun! Stephen King is fun! I don’t have anything deeper to say.

23. Hilary Mantel - Every Day is Mother’s Day (1985): You can def tell this is a first novel because it doesn’t quite crackle with the same demonic energy as like, An Experiment in Love or Beyond Black, but all the recurring themes are there. If it were by anyone else I’d be like good novel! But it’s not as good as her other novels.

24. Dominique Fortier - On the Proper Usage of Stars (2010): This was... perfectly competent. Kind of dull? It made me think of what I appreciate about Dan Simmons which is how viscerally unpleasant he makes being in the Navy seem generally, and man-hauling with scurvy specifically. This had the same problem with some other FE fiction which is that they’re mostly not willing to go wild and invent enough so the whole thing is kind of diffuse and under-characterised. Although I hated the invented plucky Victorian orphan who’s great at magnetism and taxonomy and read all ONE THOUSAND BOOKS or whatever on the ships before they got thawed out at Beechey (and then the plotline just went nowhere because they immediately all died???) I had to skim all his bits in irritation. I liked the books more than this makes it sound I was just like Mr Tuesday I hope you fall down a crevasse sooner rather than later.

25. Muriel Spark - The Abbess of Crewe (1974): Transposing Watergate to an English convent is quite funny, although it took me an embarrassingly long time to realise that’s what she was doing even though I lit read a book covering Watergate in detail in December. Muriel Spark is just so, so stylish I’m always consumed with envy. I think a lot of her books don’t quite hang together as books but sentence by sentence... they’re exquisite and incomparable.

Overall thoughts: This month was very indulgent since I basically just inhaled a lot of not challenging fiction. I need to enjoy myself less, so next month we’re finishing a biography of Napoleon, reading the Woman in White and finishing the Lesser Bohemians which currently I’m struggling with since it’s like nearly as impenetrable Joyce c. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man but, so far... well I hesitate to say bad since I think once I get into I’ll be into it but. Bad.

#book club

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mysticsparklewings · 5 years ago

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Nightlights in the Deep

At last, I can finally show you guys what's been with the tree fever in my last couple of posts (Terrarium Nova and WIP Wednesday: Oops all Trees)

So the art supply company Arteza madea post on their Instagram a few days ago where they announced a contest to make art featuring trees and post it on Instagram with all the appropriate tags, open until September 26th (with prizes of course) and I thought it would be fun, especially since one of their suggestions was to design a tree.

And I also decided to add a little extra challenge to myself to stick primarily to the Arteza supplies that I have, since it's their contest. That meant I had their watercolors, colored pencils, and woodless watercolor pencils to pick from and play with. Although I did end up using quite a bit of gel pen (Sakura gelly rolls and a little of my white Uni-ball Signo) to get the bright pops of color I just couldn't get with the other supplies. The gel pens felt fairer to supplement with since I usually accent pretty much all my work with gel pen in some form or another.

Naturally, after I gave myself a few minutes to ponder how to stand out among a crowd of trees but also fit right in, my imagination ran wild with my own fictional tree species.

I pretty immediately landed on the idea of an underwater/deep-sea/bottom-of-the-ocean tree and also something with bioluminescence (things that naturally glow in the dark) and from there I starting searching for various tree and water-themed things on Pinterest to flesh out my ideas. From that, I very quickly arrived at the idea of a winding, twisting trunk like you might find on a bonsai tree. And while originally I really liked the idea of having wispy drooping petals and/or leaves like Wisteria or willow trees, after a few tests that didn't turn out as nicely as I wanted (as seen on the WIP Wednesday mentioned above) I decided maybe it would be best to go without this time around.

So the final concept I've ended up with for my trees here goes roughly as follows, although I'm no botanist or marine biologist so there's a good chance a lot of this doesn't check out scientifically:

The Nightlight tree, named for its bioluminescent fruits--called "moon fruits" for their whiteish glow, pale bluish color, and spherical shape--is a species of aquatic tree that is found growing anchored to rock formations and cave systems in the greatest depths of the ocean. As these trees exist in oceanic depths with minimal or no sunlight, they perform chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis to make their own food until they reach maturity and can produce their own artificial light as a food supplement. Nightlight trees root systems can reinforce and stabilize the rock formations they anchor to in order to grow, which provides a more sound home and environment for the species of fish that will eat the "moon fruits," attracted by their bright glow, produced by the tree and aid in the tree's reproduction. Because of this, nightlight trees may grow in clustered groups or may grow so closely together that multiple trees twist and wind around each other, which can put strain on the trees' root systems and may cause development problems and may cause the younger of the trees to die. The bark of mature nightlight trees may also have a faint glow where the tree is thickest, as the bark is stretched more thinly around the nutrient carry "veins" found within the trunk of the tree, where the chemical process that causes the tree's fruit to glow begins. Nightlight trees attract and feed a variety of deep sea creatures and other bottom-dwelling vegetation, many of which feature bright flourescent colors or bioluminescent traits and may camoflodge with the moon fruits or the few brightly colored flower-like leaves that the moon fruits emerge from four times a year, peak season typically being in the spring. This provides these other species with a largely safe place to settle and reproduce while the tree is at its most forthgiving. Moon Fruits once detached from the tree will retain their glowing properties for approximately 7-10 days. Fruits that in that time find themselves on or around suitable growing conditions may then begin to take root and grow. Fruits that are not in suitable growing conditions within the time frame will then begin to decay and detoriate. Certain deviations or subspecies of nightlight trees may also be found in the depths of brackish or freshwater, but the most common sigular variety is the "White Light" variety found in oceanic saltwater.

Excuse me if that's a little all-over-the-place for a faux "knowledgable source about trees" article, but I think I managed to get the bulk of my ideas for how these trees work in there.

For a while, I also had the idea that if one of the trees ever did grow tall enough to reach the water with plenty of sunlight and/or poke out of the water that the exposed parts of the tree would die and/or become sicker with more sunlight exposure, so you'd have this really tall tree that's dead at the top but as you follow it down becomes progressively healthier until you reach the bottom and find this beautiful natural undersea garden with all these neon plants and animals it's supporting in its ecosystem. And while I do still like that idea, I don't think it's terribly realistic and I definitely couldn't fit all that would entail into this one artwork.

That said, I think you can probably see my reasoning for a lot of the artistic decisions I made here, so hopefully, I won't have to stop every five seconds to explain how the tree works while I go through what my artistic process was.

After some sketching to think through my ideas of the tree structure and possible fruit/foliage things and the practice/failed attempt pieces, I decided my best bet for the pseudo-vision I had in my head would be to make lines from the sketches I'd done as a base (as in my practice pieces where I attempted to free-hand everything things really got away from me pretty easily), and so I lifted the lines for the two trees, the caves, and some of the ground/sand from my sketches and transferred them to a piece of Canson XL watercolor paper, since I knew I wanted to work primarily with the Arteza watercolors and maybe (at the time but this ended up not being the case) the woodless watercolor pencils too.

And if I may, I'd like to take a moment here to say that while on some levels I do understand why some more versed in watercolor than I absolutely loathe the Canson XL watercolor paper, to me, it much like the premise of cheaper watercolors is not strictly terrible--it's a matter of what you're used to and what you learn to work with. If you can learn to work with what you've got, and that's what you get used to, then to a point it the quality almost doesn't matter. This paper does work differently from the more expensive/nicer watercolor papers I've tried, but it's so much more accessible that I have more of it, so I use it more, and by now I've learned a lot about how to work with it to get the results I want, so I'm less likely to encounter some of the problems other people seem to have with it. It all just depends on you, your taste, and how you work.

But enough of my paper mini-rant. Back to the artwork:

I knew from my practice pieces that part of the mistakes I kept making was not laying down layers further in the background first so that I wouldn't have to attempt to paint around/right up to them later, as well as layering up more would help me better achieve the darker, moodier undersea look I was aiming for. So after taking a picture of my lines and very quickly and sloppily doing a color mockup in one of the few drawing apps that still work with a Gen 4 iPad to figure out which paint colors to squirt onto a palette, I went in with an all-over layer of a darker blue for the background first, and I layered that up 2 or 3 more times to get it to a darker intensity.

It's still a little bit brighter than I was originally hoping for, but it still came out pretty nicely. Though I couldn't tell you how much of the ocean-ish texture is just textural properties of the particular paint color and how much of it was how I laid down the paint between all the strokes I did to even out the coverage and the additional layers.

After that was dry, I made a faux-pas (in that I would have to paint around them a little later) and moved on the stars of the show; the trees themselves.

The trees were probably the slowest and most methodical part of this piece. I very carefully went in and would do lines and then blend them out slightly when possible, trying to use the transparent nature of watercolors to my advantage. This was a slower process, especially as I would work my way up the trees and get to smaller branches (especially with the smaller tree) and had to switch to a smaller brush just to make sure I was staying within my lines. But I and my dark, moody purple did eventually get through it, and even with only the trees the background painted, I was really pleased with how they turned out.

Then I moved on to my little rock-cave things and the ground. The caves started out as a lighter ultramarine color, but it looked kinda weird so I did even up going back and adding a couple of additional layers and shading to try and add more depth, as well as I tried to stick with a dark blue only for the insides of the caves, but they ended up really seeming to need the addition of some black. The end result is a little too close in value between the trees, the caves, and the caves' insides, but there wasn't really a better way to remedy that beyond starting over, and after everything I'd been through to get to this point, I did not want to do that. So it stays as is.

The ground was actually relatively simple. Since I already had a blue background and I had decided a greenish color would be the best route to go, I just layered some yellow paint in the areas I wanted to look more like sand/ground and did the same kind of semi-blending as I did on the cave rocks and trees. And it worked just as well when I added the sand/ground moving towards the back that I hadn't pre-drawn in.

Now, I was trying to hold off doing the little moon fruits (which at this point were just bioluminescent orbs to me, I did all the naming after I finished the piece so I would know exactly what I was trying to name) until I had all the painting done, since the plan was to do them with the colored pencils, and I just kinda wanted to be able to say I was done and put all the painting stuff away before I moved on to that. That's how I usually work with my mixed media projects; I prefer to have a plan and get the majority of one medium or section done before moving on to something else. (Usually to have more desk space available but it also helps me keep things organized.)

And it was at this point that I realized my plans didn't look very under-water-ish. It kinda just looked like a moody dry-land landscape painting. Which is fine, but that's not what I wanted/was going for.

To remedy this, I started by adding some seaweed/kelp like plants to the ground. Which still looked largely just like funny grass or weeds.

It was at this point that I deviated from the actual artwork and moved back to my watercolor sketchbook to do some toying around. The main thing I did was practice trying to make coral or coral-like plants since I figured that might help with the whole ocean thing. And on the page where I ended up doing a lot of the practicing, I actually ended up taking a little extra time, later on, to make into kind of a bonus art piece, which I'll be posting by itself at some point in the future.

But I also practiced making bubbles and some other details we'll get to in a moment.

I tried doing the coral a few different ways but ultimately went with the way I see coral in my mind when I think of the word; this rounded cartoony kinda thing, even though that's not what real coral usually looks like. (I looked up pictures during the process out of curiosity) I don't know where this very specific imagery got implanted into my brain other than maybe Spongebob, but that still doesn't seem quite right, so I don't know.

And I have to say that the Neon Pink Arteza watercolor continues to be a favorite of mine, while we're here. It held up over the dark colors and compared to the gel pens infinitely better than I thought it would. Arteza, if you see this by chance, this is my plea--please make more neon watercolors if you can make them as good as this pink one!

*Ahem* Anyway...

After all that, I did step back from the watercolor and come in with the colored pencils. I didn't think I was almost done, but at the moment I didn't have much else in mind for the watercolors and figured it would be best to move to the pencils and then I could come back to the watercolors if I felt like I needed to.

I'm not sure if the Arteza colored pencils just don't like watercolor paper or something, but I had kind of a hard time applying the pencils and getting them to pop the way I wanted to, particularly in areas that had thinner paint coverage. This was the most notable in the bare ocean areas where I was trying to do the moon fruits, as the pencils worked a little better when I hit those darker patches of blue, and they liked working over the truck bark a lot better. To be fair, I know some of this is because most colored pencils have a hard time going over darker colors, as even my Prismacolor and Polychromos can have a hard time over my toned gray paper sometimes, but it still seemed like these were falling more flatly on that front than I had anticipated.

Either way, by this point it was late and I was exhausted, so I finished up what I wanted to do with the pencils--finally coloring the moon fruits, adding some additional texture to the sand, caves/rocks, coral, and trees--and decided to leave it until morning.

As I was cleaning up for the night, I was looking at that bonus art piece/practice page I talked about earlier, and I noticed a spot where the paint had done a kind of texture thing again (this time definitely more from how I applied it and less from the paint itself) and the shape, combined with me thinking of things I could do to continue to play up the "ocean" imagery and make my seascape look more lived in, made me think of sting or manta rays. More specifically that one would look really good in that spot, and about the time I completed that thought was when it dawned on me the key component I had been missing the whole time:

It's an ocean life scene. Where's the life part?? Do you know what lives in the ocean? FISH!

And I still couldn't tell why that just hadn't occurred to me until then.

So I went to bed knowing exactly what I was going to be looking up and practicing the next day to add to and hopefully complete my tree painting.

The next day, after many minutes spent prowling Pinterest for marine life silhouettes and having added a few rays to my practice piece, (and some nonspecific fish to the other couple of failed attempts since the practice-piece-turned-art was getting a bit crowded) I was off and added a manta ray, a small school of fish, and two other fishes just hanging out. Then I couldn't help myself and added a smaller ray in the leftover space that was just kind of begging for a little something more behind the other ray.

And I could have very well stopped there, but it was bothering me in the fresh daylight just how much the colored pencils had seemingly sunk back into the artwork. My bubbles I added the night before were so hard to notice! And the moon fruits...they just weren't popping at all the way I wanted them to.

I tried not to; I really did. I wanted to stick to just using the Arteza supplies that I had and maybe some white gel pen. But I had to do something to get the color to pop more, and the alternative was to pull out the white and neons from my Prismacolor pencils and between the two options, pulling out my Sakura Gelly Roll Moonlight pens, as I said earlier, felt less like I was deviating from the challenge. And for all I know, the Prismacolor pencils might not have popped as much as I wanted either, even if they popped more than the Arteza pencils. So gel pens it was!

I used my white Uni-ball Signo for the actual moon fruits themselves, and the gelly rolls for their little leaf-petals and some extra dots/texture on the coral. I also used the white gelly roll to add some additional "glow" to the tree bark and to revive the poor bubbles that had gotten so lost before. And then I went back later at different points to add the two moon fruits that fell, partly to fill in space and partly because it just made more sense to my brain to have at least some that weren't still on the trees.

Also, I'm not sure how well it reads, but I did go back and try to add more of a proper "glow" effect to the moon fruits with the white colored pencil, but I feel like I lost a lot of the minimal pigment I was getting by the time I used a blending stump to soften the edges.

It's funny to me; this was one of those pieces where I spent so much time with it and meticulously going over the details that at first I actually wasn't sure it was finished. It's one of those where I had to step back and let it settle in that I had seen my vision through to the end before I could properly "accept" it.

And you know, for as many challenges as I had with trying to invent my own tree species and the problem-solving I had to do throughout the process, I am really proud and happy with how the final piece turned out.

It's different; it's out of my comfort zone because I don't do landscape type things, and it challenged my creativity in a different way. And I feel like I was able to achieve what I set out to do with the piece.

And thanks to my hesitance to dive right into the final piece without testing, I also got a bonus art piece out of it, so yay two birds with one stone?

This may have started out as just another contest entry, but in the end, I'm really glad for the mini art journey this piece took me on, and even if I don't win anything in the giveaway (which realistically I probably won't), I'm happy just to have made the artwork. And that's kinda the most important thing, right?

Now, I have some commission work to do, but I also have a certain supply that's been sitting on my desk all week just begging to be used, and some other pieces in the works, so stayed tuned for that and that bonus art piece I keep talking about that came out of this piece.

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Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings

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Where to find me & my artwork:

#artfortrees #arteza #trees #underwater #ocean #sea #marine life

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benjaminenrique30-blog · 5 years ago

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Facts, Fiction and Ukiyo E Print Art

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Ok, I Think I Understand Ukiyo E Print Art, Now Tell Me About Ukiyo E Print Art!

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venuskail702265-blog · 6 years ago

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kihocrystal · 7 years ago

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Winter 2018 Final Impressions

I’m a month late, as usual (whoops!), but here’s my final thoughts on the animes I watched this past season!

The “reviews” will be in alphabetical order!

3-gatsu no Lion S2 - 9.0 / 10 (A)

This second season of 3-gatsu was great! It’s just… a really great drama show about fighting depression (& a bunch of other character storylines)!

First off... THE BULLYING ARC WAS REALLY GOOD

extremely complicated, emotionally complex… this arc brings all sorts of emotions & angles into the forefront

multiple perspectives too: Hina’s, Rei’s, the bullied girl’s, the bully’s, the teachers’, and Akari too!

The art style can pull off both thick-outlined / bright colored style and watercolor-esque style incredibly well

it really is beautiful how it can visually portray both light-hearted and emotionally intense scenes

This season continues to show how good it is at character development for characters both main & supporting!

We get to see Rei moving through the ranks as a shogi player

and also moving through the ranks of conquering his depression! He’s improved more than ever before!

We get to learn about the white-haired master player (Souya); I liked how he has his own quicks and challenges he has in his daily life

Along with the other head shogi guy (Yanagihara)! (& how he shoulders his legacy for his friends)

Even the last episode offered some perspective from the foster mom about Rei & her kids

this show is just… really good at making normally-hated characters sympathetic, hot damn

Aside from bullying arc, this season also showed Hina preparing for the transition to high school

The finale episode was nice and sweet, with Hina saying goodbye to Takahashi and even getting a haircut!

This continues to be one of the best drama anime in recent years! Not to mention SHAFT’s best show since Madoka Magica :3

Cardfight!! Vanguard G: Z - 7.5 - 8.0 / 10 (C+)

And so ends the G series of Cardfight Vanguard… this final season I’ll say though is kind of a mixed bag

The plot had interesting ideas and moments at times, but the execution and pacing left a bit to be desired

though I will say it was definitely better than last season (CFV G NEXT)

This season didn’t waste any time getting to the main plot, as Chrono has to face off against a Diffrider right away

the diffrider stuff is continued from last season, but for the most part, it’s a new plot kicking off!

The rollout of all the new Diffrider Apostles (& them showing their strength) definitely made them look like powerful foes

not to mention the Zeroth Dragons, which were also shown to be powerful and very risky to use

Also knowing that anyone in the main cast could end up being The Vessel added some intrigue as well

the reveal that Kazuma would be the vessel definitely was a well executed twist imo~

However the pacing in places felt a bit too fast for me… the Relics subplot felt like it wrapped up too quickly, for example

the final fight against Gyze also kinda felt rushed… Gyze didn’t even have any dying words after his defeat :/

As a final season specifically, I feel like it kinda pales in comparison to Stride Gate, unfortunately

The cast was also kinda hit and miss in terms of how well they were utilized in the plot

some of the apostles definitely had more screen time than others (gredora only got like… two episodes)

plus gastille (the supposed apostle leader) got beaten sooner than like 3 other ones???

some villains carry over from last season too, such as Noa (Chaos Breaker) and the red-head punk kid

I liked all the new villains this season, personality-wise! (Also Yukari Tamura in there is a plus)

also no Am and Luna this season, really…

the previously established OG cast were integrated fine, for the most part

including Aichi and Kai getting the kill against Chaos Breaker Dragon

but the final episodes kinda just shoe-horn in a bunch of cameos that just didn’t feel natural :/

it just felt like “OH SHIT, this is the last season actually! Quick, throw in a bunch of cameos!”

this also applies to G characters, which makes less utilized characters (like Am & Luna, as mentioned before) look out of place :(

Sure, I’m saying a bunch of negative stuff right now, but I REALLY LOVE THIS CAST… I JUST WANT THE BEST FOR THEM

It’s the main reason I love CFV G, after all~

This season was definitely an improvement over NEXT for sure! The plot was interesting, I just wish the conclusion was better

The final episode basically just felt like an OVA, really… aside from the last scene, it didn’t really feel like an epilogue at all

I guess it just bums me out bc the original series got a good epilogue episode, so I know they could do it here, too…

In any case, I’M GONNA MISS THIS CAST, BIG TIME ;A;

In any case, this was a decent season to end the G series with! Not the strongest, but not the weakest either.

I’m gonna look back on my time with CFV G fondly for sure, if for nothing else than the great ensemble cast :’)

It’s gonna be weird going back to the OG cast for sure… I arguably liked the G cast better than the OG one :’D

Osomatsu-san S2 - 8.0 / 10 (B)

The consensus among fans seems to be that this season wasn’t as good as the first season

As for me, I… probably agree with that (though I still enjoyed this season!)

As with most comedy anime, whether the jokes land is pretty subjective. I feel like I didn’t laugh as hard this season? IDK

There were more “seasonal/holiday”-based episodes this time around (i.e. summer, new year’s, etc.)

What stays the same though is that this show is at its best when featuring the main brothers themselves

Skits involving the side characters (like Iyami, Dayon, etc.) didn’t make me laugh much…

I will say though that I enjoyed the second half of the season more than the first half~

Enough about the negatives, let’s talk about this season’s memorable skits / episodes!

The premiere was really good, as it poked fun at the huge popularity the show unexpectedly got xD

plus a bunch of references that *aren’t* gonna get them removed from streaming sites this time!

Jyushimatsu getting an “apprentice” with a little kid was also pretty funny~

The Karamatsu taxi skit, the spooky inn, & all the characters being stuck on an island were also good skits!

Ep. 18 (Iyami, Alone in the Wind) was also a crowd favorite, since it brought the feels for a change :’)

The finale 2-parter pulled a bait-and-switch yet again!

Part 1 was actually pretty serious, but the actual finale just has them trying to break out of hell xD

OH YEAH, I still really like the live-action stuff they do during the ending sequences

the first half’s ED was my favorite (the stop-motion of the brothers riding in the car)

I don’t have much to say about comedies generally, but Osomatsu-san is still my favorite in recent years ^^

Even though this season didn’t hit as hard as S1, it still provided some fun laughs~

Pop Team Epic - 7.5 / 10 (C+)

What can I really say about this show? It kind of defies description ^^;

Ok, yeah, it’s a sketch comedy, but it’s a really… crazy and random sketch comedy

The jokes are hit and miss (and in my experience was a bit more… miss than hit)

I never really laughed out loud at this show either

but then again, the humor here is more “being confused at what’s going on, but going along with it anyway”

There’s also a lot of modern anime references, so you might not get those jokes if you don’t follow most recent anime

Each episode has a long skit in it, plus a bunch of bite-size skits

I personally preferred the short skits over the long ones

There were a couple song parodies which I enjoyed (including the Earth Wind & Fire parody)

Also, this series definitely benefits from having an English simuldub! Some skits I found funnier in English!

OH YEAH, the voice actors (in both languages) change every episode, with female and male VAs in each episode

that enhanced the enjoyability of the sketches too, since I liked hearing favorite VAs do silly dialogue and performances!

I wouldn’t say this ranks among my favorite anime comedies, but it’s definitely unlike any other I’ve seen! ^^;

Your mileage will *definitely* vary with this one, so give it a try and see if it’s for you!

The Ancient Magus’ Bride (Mahoutsukai no Yome) - 8.5 - 9 / 10 (A-)

This was a very enjoyable fantasy drama show! Some people feel this show was overhyped, but I still thought it was really good!

I really liked the cast overall, especially Chise

She has really good character development throughout the show! She really becomes more strong and confident!

Seeing the fantastical world through her eyes was interesting as well!

Especially since those mystical elements were also responsible for her terrible childhood…

Elias was also an interesting guy… he and Chise have an interesting relationship together

Their relationship definitely has aspects that are unhealthy, but they do grow closer to each other by the end

If people can’t get past the whole premise of “him buying Chise to be his bride” though, I totally understand ^^;

They help each other learn too, which I liked to see

The supporting cast was also enjoyable! Not much to say about them individually though

The dragon keeper was nice and we got to learn about Elias’ origins through him

The dragons in general were great! Especially the old one that turned into a tree :’)

He gives Chise some good sage advice, even after death :’)

Angelica, Silky, and Stella (among others, like the other anti-hero duo) were good support characters too~

I liked Stella’s role of “normal girl who learns of the supernatural’s existence”

Cartaphilus was an… okay villain, I guess (though his methods were quite creepy indeed, which added some intrigue)

Some character designs are a bit questionable though… like who approved the vampire’s design? ^^;

Another large appeal of this was the world building of the fantastical elements!

I liked seeing all the different types of locales & supernatural creatures, both good and bad

As a low-fantasy show, this show does a Dang Good Job with the fantasy!

Chise learning more about herself and gaining confidence through these experiences were a highlight as well

I enjoyed each story arc as well, even though most of them were more explorative and introspective

This show can be dang beautiful sometimes, through both its art/animation and its stories (Thanks, Studio WIT!)

Some were better than others, but they all deliver either a heartwarming (or a dark) story

Some favorites of mine were the dragon-based ones, and the vampire loving the old man

The finale was good too! It’s unknown whether this conclusion is anime-original or not, but it was definitely a good S1 ending~

If you love low-fantasy shows, this is definitely one to check out!

Violet Evergarden - 8.5 - 9.0 / 10 (A-)

Best *new* anime (that I watched) of this past season, hands down~

Though to be fair, I still need to watch A Place Farther than the Universe… and Yuru Camp… and After the Rain…

Going into this season, this show was hyped and back and somehow… a lot of people were *disappointed* with this show?

I think it had to do with expecting a different show than what we got; as for me, I knew it’d be an episodic drama the whole time :P

But yes, this show has a (mostly) episodic plot with an overarching character arc. If that’s too slow for you, then you probably won’t like this show.

In any case, back to the positives! The first one being how good this show looks visually… as expected from KyoAni~

there’s so much detail in the backgrounds and the character elements (especially the lighting on objects like Violet’s metal hands)

this aspect is one thing *everyone* agrees on regardless, so… yeah, this show’s really pretty!

The main star (and focus) of this show was Violet herself… you can really see how she changes for the better from beginning to end

You get to see how “robot-like” she was at the start of the show, but she slowly learns about dealing with emotions of others… and herself

This character arc is definitely the “main” plot of the show, along with her coming to terms with Gilbert’s death and her war killings

The episodic plots were good in their own right, too!

Ranging from Violet’s start as a Memoir Doll to the different clients she works with, they all teach her something along the way

These sometimes focus on the side characters working at the Doll Agency too, so we get to learn more about them as well

The one that comes to mind first is Iris’ episode, where she (messily) reconnects with a former lover

Not all of them get a full episode in the spotlight, but they do get some focus scenes from time to time

Violet’s clientele episodes were the most memorable out of this lot IMO

ESPECIALLY EPISODE 10… that was the BIGGEST feels trip

I knew exactly how the episode was going to end, but I still teared up at that ending!

The finale was action packed, but also was a beautiful way to show how far Violet has come

I know some people’s issue with this show is that “it doesn’t know what show it wants to be” re: the action stuff, but I was fine with it personally

in any case, it was a pretty good book-end for Violet’s development, since she finally understands (a least a little) what “I love you” means :’)

I understand certain people’s gripes with this show, but this really is a great little drama show that *will* deliver the feels~

P.S. I also watched Fate/Extra: Last Encore this season. It hasn’t technically ended yet, so I can’t give final impressions on it right now. However, my current score for it is a 7.5/10 (C+).

#3 gatsu no lion #march comes in like a lion #cardfight!! vanguard #cardfight vanguard g #cardfight vanguard gz #osomatsu san #pop team epic #mahoutsukai no yome #the ancient magus bride #violet evergarden #Final Impressions

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frostedpuffs · 7 years ago

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A Simple Suggestion - Ch.5

A Simple Suggestion Summary: Breaks from patrol often allow time for Ladybug and Chat Noir to talk and be themselves. But when a silly joke starts to seem all that…well, not silly, the two find themselves considering something neither of them had ever before: moving in together. The tricky part is still keeping their identities a secret. Rated: T+ Pairing(s): Ladybug/Chat Noir, Adrien/Marinette

Chapter 5 - A Deal Word count: 6,192 Also read on: ao3

<< Previous Chapter | Next Chapter >>

Finding out that the beautiful apartment she'd had her hopes set on had been taken was disappointing, to say the least.

With a sigh, Marinette flopped down onto her bed and frowned deeply into her pillow. She couldn't believe it. She and Chat had been so ready to move, and they had been sure that apartment had been the one for them...but they had acted too late.

Someone else—whoever that person, or people, may be—had beaten them to the punch.

She and Chat Noir really should have sealed the deal sooner. While they both were still so new to the whole apartment-hunting business, Marinette really hadn't expected their apartment to go to soon.

(Well, it wasn't "theirs." It never really had been.)

Chat Noir had done his best to comfort her. She was still sad, though. It really had been perfect.

The apartment was large with a homey feel, had a beautiful garden terrace and two bedrooms big enough to keep her sewing supplies and a queen-sized bed, as well as being in a safe location with a view overlooking the Seine. All of those were nice qualities, of course, but her favorite attribute of the apartment was its spacious living room with floor-to-ceiling windows. She could imagine herself sitting on the couch, sketching and listening to her favorite music as sunlight streamed in like golden wisps of warmth onto the hardwood floor...

She daydreamed about it extensively. What it would be like to live there, to wake up in the morning and open the burgundy curtains to a view of the sunrise over the city. She would make a pot of coffee for her and Chat Noir. Maybe she'd even pick up breakfast at her parent's bakery and bring it home for them to share because they made the best pastries. Perhaps she'd do some yoga in the living room—there was certainly enough space—and after she could take a shower in one of the two pristine bathrooms before spending the day relaxing on the terrace.

Continue reading on ao3 or under the cut! ↓

Marinette's heart sunk as she remembered that she wouldn't be able to live those fantasies in that perfect apartment. It was gone; taken; occupied. Not theirs. A whimper of disappointment rose in her throat and slipped from her lips before she could suppress it.

(Marinette wouldn't admit it to Chat Noir, but she had cried on the way home. Just a little bit.)

"I'm so mad," she muttered to nobody in particular. "How could we be so—so stupid?"

"What do you mean?" Flitting over to rest on her shoulder, Tikki's tiny mouth turned downward, paw stroking the top of Marinette's head. Her indigo eyes softened at the sight of her Ladybug in distress.

Marinette turned on her back to stare at the ceiling. "The apartment. The one that was so perfect. We should have just taken it the moment we saw it. Now somebody else owns it and… and I'm still here!"

"Marinette, it's okay," Tikki told her. "You and Chat Noir will find another place just as special. And, if it doesn't seem special at first, you two can make it that way."

"You're sweet, Tikki."

"Besides," Tikki continued. "Wasn't that apartment over budget? I know you weren't happy with the idea of Chat Noir paying more per month than you."

Marinette hummed in thought, chewing on her bottom lip as she mulled over her reply. "You're right," she said. "I'd forgotten about that. I would have ended up feeling so guilty."

Even if Chat Noir insisted that he didn't mind paying more, Marinette did. She didn't want to live in a place where he fronted most of the money. She'd feel like a freeloader.

"It was farther away from your parents' house, too." With a stretch of her legs, Tikki curled up into a ball on Marinette's pillow and nestled into a more comfortable position. "I know it was beautiful, Marinette, but I think it was a good thing you didn't get that one. In the end, things would have been harder for you."

Tikki had a point. Although the apartment had seemingly been the best choice, perhaps, Marinette thought, she had been blinded by its appearance. The rent was horrendously expensive compared to her monthly earnings, and the distance between her work and back would have been difficult due to the fact that she was yet to own a car, and using Ladybug as a transportation method wasn't something she liked to do often.

Besides, she didn't want to rush into things. She and Chat still had a lot to figure out, and signing a lease on the first apartment they came across was a little risky. There would be others, and Marinette definitely wanted to have the opportunity to tour and look around them before they made a final decision. How she and Chat Noir would do that, she wasn't sure yet, but…

Well, they'd find a way. They always did.

"Thanks for the advice, Tikki," Marinette said, tickling under her companion's chin. Tikki giggled in response.

With a smile on her face that was much more relaxed than it had been an hour prior, Marinette sat up and stretched her arms high above her head. It was late; after she and Chat had discovered their apartment was occupied, patrol had resumed. It went on for a lot longer than Marinette had expected, but she blamed the bad news for her sluggish behavior. Now, it was nearing midnight, and she had an eight A.M. class in the morning.

(She wanted to be annoyed at Chat Noir for being so nice and fun to spend time with, but she couldn't find the will to be. He made her feel like she never wanted their patrols to end.)

She hauled herself out of bed with an apology to Tikki for stirring her. Changing into a pair of pajamas and speeding through her nightly routine of teeth brushing and face washing, Marinette slipped right back under her duvet just as the clock struck twelve, the comfort of her bed familiar and welcoming. As she nuzzled her face into her pillow, she sighed. Tomorrow was another day.

"I hope we find something that'll be nice to live in," Marinette said, thinking out loud.

Tikki lifted her head from Marinette's pillow and smiled encouragingly. "Wasn't there a smaller apartment? I remember there being another that was your second choice."

With an intense yawn that made the corners of Marinette's eyes prick with tears, she nodded in recollection, eyes widening and heart skipping a beat from excitement. "Right!" she exclaimed. "I'd forgotten about that, Tikki. It was small, but… nice. There was definitely enough room for the both of us if we squeezed. Only one bathroom, though…"

"You can take turns," Tikki offered.

"The kitchen was super tiny," Marinette continued. "But that's okay because Chat's told me before that he has no idea how to cook, so I'll really be the only one using it on a daily basis. It didn't have a washer or dryer, but I think there's a laundromat around the corner…"

Tikki's voice became quieter as she began to drift off to sleep. "That's good, Marinette."

"...it did seem really cozy. Comfortable, almost."

"So you like it?"

After a moment of deliberation, Marinette nodded. "Yeah," she said, fluffing up one of her pillows and turning onto her side, head resting on her forearm. "Yeah. It's only twelve minutes away, too, and in a nice part of town right next to a park. I could take walks there. It's close to my work, too, and rent would be cheaper." A grin split her face as she closed her eyes, images of a small apartment adorned by homey decorations and warm lighting filling her head. "I'm sure it'll be just fine."

Tikki mumbled a sleepy reply, but Marinette didn't quite catch it. She was too busy fidgeting with excitement, because tomorrow—tomorrow, she would tell Chat Noir about the other apartment, and they'd make it theirs if he was willing.

Theirs. The word echoed in her head over and over again.

They would own their own place. A home where she could live with the one person she trusted more than anyone else in the world. They could stay up late watching movies on weekends, eat ice cream straight from the tub, or play their favorite video games together. They could even build blanket forts or- or make dinner together as best friends. Heck, they could even sit in their pajamas all day without a care in the world. It would be like a never-ending sleepover with Chat Noir.

Part of Marinette was nervous about being around him nearly twenty-four-seven when they didn't know each other's identities, but she urged herself not to worry so much. She trusted Chat Noir, after all, and he'd never purposefully infringe on her privacy. Things would be okay. They were close friends; everything would work out just fine.

As she felt herself slipping into peaceful dreams, Marinette was positively beaming.

It was a rough day.

Nearly missing her first class that morning because her alarm hadn't gone off, Marinette had sat through her classes unable to focus due to thoughts of her and Chat Noir's apartment on the mind. She'd completely blanked during a quiz, found her stomach rumbling loudly during a lecture because she'd forgotten to eat, and had accidentally left her notes on the history of fashion at home when they were absolutely necessary for the day's assignment.

It was safe to say her morning had started out unpleasant, but she was determined not to let it get to her. Thoughts of meeting up with her partner later that night to tell him about her findings urged her to keep moving through the day with her head held high.

Marinette gave a brief glance at her phone to check the time as she walked down the street. It was one in the afternoon, past the usual time she ate lunch. With the added hunger from a breakfast forgotten, her stomach was growling up a hungry storm, and she couldn't wait to step inside the downstairs of the bakery to get a whiff of fresh bread and make some food for herself before she had to rush off to work.

The air was starting to get warmer. Marinette relished in the ability to wear skirts again after such a cold winter, and she was thankful the chilly weather had subsided for the season. Smiling up at the sunshine, she took in a long, deep breath and sighed, enjoying the way the rays of light warmed her skin. It was a beautiful day, really—the clouds were so puffy and white that Marinette wanted to transform just to get closer to them. If she tried hard enough, maybe she could even touch one.

The sky was so blue today. So blue and bright and dotted with white clouds. One in particular caught her eye and she grinned up at it, thinking it looked exactly like a ca—

"Woah!"

Stumbling into a broad chest, Marinette's arms flailed and her legs wobbled before she fell back towards the sidewalk. Blurs of light from staring at the sky filled her vision, and as an arm connected with the small of her back, she was left feeling weightless and dazed.

Had she tripped over something…?

"You might want to watch where you're going," a cheerful voice laughed, obvious mirth in the stranger's tone. "You're going to hurt yourself like that, Marinette."

Blinking to rid the circles from her gaze, Marinette swiveled her head up to stare at the figure as he brought her to her feet. It took her a moment to come to terms with where she was and who she was talking to, and as her eyes adjusted to the sight of tall, blond and handsome, her heart practically leaped out of her chest.

It was Adrien. Adrien Agreste; the boy she hadn't seen since Christmas and hadn't spoken to since their slightly-drunken conversation by the punch bowl.

"Adrien?" she asked, unable to suppress the surprise in her voice. Oh, god, she probably looked like the same old maladroit girl she was back in collége and lycée, staring at the sky and bumping right into him without a shred of awareness. Her cheeks reddened just from the sheer embarrassment of the situation.

Adrien beamed at her, his smile as bright as the sun that had temporarily blinded her. "Hey, Marinette. Long time no see, huh?"

His hand was still on her bicep. The contact felt nicer than she'd liked to admit.

(The small, touch-starved part of her didn't want him to ever let go.)

After a moment of staring Marinette figured it would be polite of her to answer, so she offered her hand in a wave. "Adrien! H-hi- hey! It's been forever! What are…" Oh god, she thought, his eyes are even greener than I remember. "...what are you doing on this side of town?"

It was odd for Adrien to be so close to the bakery. He was usually in different parts of the city during the day, sometimes even out of it completely for his modeling—that's what Nino said, anyways—so… what was he doing here?

Adrien went to play with the hairs on the nape of his neck. It was a tell-tale old habit of his that Marinette had picked up on years ago. "Ah, well," he said with a high-pitched laugh. "I was actually on my way to see you. You see, I have a silly favor to ask."

Marinette blinked. "A favor?"

What kind of favor would Adrien possibly need from her? They hadn't even spoken in five months. The only way she'd kept up with what he was doing was through Nino!

Somewhere deep inside of her, Marinette wanted to be annoyed that he just turned up out of nowhere to ask her for something, but he was just too damn cute to turn away. Besides, Adrien was the sweetest person she'd ever met in her life, and he'd never asked her for a favor before. If he was coming to her after they hadn't spoken in what felt like forever, well, it had to be something important, right?

Adrien opened his mouth to speak but promptly closed it as Marinette's stomach let out a plea for food. The sound had her blush deepening to a crimson, and she self-consciously placed a hand on her belly. It didn't seem to phase Adrien, though—he simply smiled and pointed a thumb towards the bakery doors. "You want to go inside?"

Marinette hadn't even noticed she'd made it home. With a nod, she led him around to the back door that led up to the apartment rather than taking him through the front. "Let's go this way. My parents would probably attack you with love and free pastries if they saw you."

Adrien laughed, and it was a gorgeous sound. "Is that such a bad thing?"

"Yes." Fishing her keys out of her pocket and unlocking the door, Marinette threw him a smile over her shoulder. "They'd fatten you up until you're rolling out the door and down the street. Too much of a good thing, you know?" The door opened, and Marinette found herself feeling light on her feet as Adrien held it for her. He was still such a gentleman after all the years they had known each other.

"Aw, there's no harm in that," Adrien countered, shutting the door behind him and following her up the stairs. "I could stand to gain a little pastry weight."

Your dad would kill you though, she thought bitterly. Just for that, she'd take out some cookies for him to eat upstairs. Maybe shove some in a bag for him to slip home for later.

"I'll sneak you some," Marinette said with a grin. "On the house."

Adrien touched a hand to his chest as they made it upstairs, his lips twitching into a grin. "How sweet."

Marinette paused in the middle of the doorway to look over her shoulder with a cocked brow. "Adrien, was that a pun?"

Adrien merely smirked, a chuckle causing his voice to waver as he said, "Maybe."

Marinette gave a playful roll of her eyes in response.

Things were quiet as she made her lunch. Adrien sat on the couch with one of his legs propped over the other, leisurely fiddling with his phone while Marinette did what she needed. She only had an hour before she had to leave for work, and she was thankful she could at least spend time with an old friend while she ate. Usually, she sat alone upstairs while her parents worked down below, passing the time by watching YouTube videos or chatting with Tikki. Adrien visiting was a nice way to mix things up—even if it was a tad awkward.

"So…" Marinette said as she sat next to him on the couch, a little farther away than what she would normally consider a friendly distance. "You had a favor to ask?"

Adrien looked up from his phone and pocketed it, hand retreating to the back of his neck as his eyes averted her own. It was like a switch had been flicked—he'd gone from relaxing on her couch in one moment to an anxious teenager the next. Marinette crossed her legs and placed a hand on her elbow (a habit she'd never grown out of), cocking her head to the side as she watched her friend mull over something that was obviously eating at him. It was like he was afraid to say whatever was on his mind; as if she would get upset at him or something like that.

"Adrien?" she asked after a silence that had been a little too long to be comfortable. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he said, but it was an obvious lie by the way his voice cracked. He cleared his throat before continuing. "I'm okay. I'm sorry, I just realized how rude of me it is to pop back into your life after not speaking to you for a while only to ask something from you. I didn't even think about that until now." His shoulders wilted and he looked positively deflated as Marinette gazed over him.

The sight caused her to want to reach out to him, and her fingers twitched from anticipated contact, but she refrained. He was right—it was a tad rude of him to do so, especially after they hadn't seen each other in months, but it was clear that hadn't been his intention. He was in need of something; whatever it was, Marinette wanted to help him. So what if it had been five months? They were still friends whether or not they were close anymore. She'd be willing to do anything for him so long as it was within reason.

Shaking her head, Marinette laid her hands on her lap to keep them from touching him. "Nonsense," she said. "It's okay, Adrien. It's nice to see you again and I don't mind giving you help if you need it. What is it?"

He was quiet. His eyes flickered to meet hers for a fleeting moment before they glanced away again, and he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his white hoodie in a motion that seemed self-conscious. Resting both feet on the floor, Adrien murmured, "I kind of messed up, and said something I shouldn't have, and now I'm in trouble."

Marinette's eyes widened and her voice caught in her throat. "Wh-what? Trouble?"

Adrien shook his head. "No, that's not right. I'm sorry, I worded that wrong." Leaning forward, he clasped his hands together and tapped his thumbs against themselves, thinking. "So, I'm moving out in a few weeks, right? And I go to tell my dad about it last night. The only problem is I'm moving out with someone I can't let him know about, so I sort of told him I was living with a friend of mine that he knows and likes. Which is good and all, because he believed it, but… Now he wants to meet her. But he can't do that because… Well." He squinted in thought, eyes pausing on her own. "Well, she has her reasons."

All Marinette could offer him was a confused stare. What on Earth was he talking about?

Seeming to catch on to her perplexity, Adrien sighed. "To put it simply, I'm moving out with a person my dad can't meet. So… I need someone to help me convince him I'm moving in with someone he can trust."

A bubble of anxiety began to stir within Marinette's chest. She was beginning to get a vague idea of where this was going and wasn't entirely sure how she felt about the whole idea just yet. "I'm sorry," she said, voice soft. "I don't want to sound rude, Adrien, but what does this have to do with me?"

Adrien visibly cringed. "About that," he said, shoulders hunching. "I… I panicked. I panicked and spat out the first name that came to my mind when my father asked who my roommate was going to be, and I…" As if to hide his face, he buried his face in his hands and groaned. "I said I was moving in with you. But I'm obviously not, so I-"

Marinette's eyes widened to the size of a dinner plate. "With me?" She felt speechless. While flattered she was the first person he thought of, her tongue fumbled to form words and her mind was reeling with the thought of how ironic this whole situation was. Adrien was moving out with someone his father couldn't meet, and she was doing the exact same thing—moving in with her partner whose identity had to remain a secret. It certainly made the whole "meeting the parents" thing difficult. Living with Chat Noir was something she'd been looking forward to, but she hadn't exactly thought out how she'd allow her parents to meet her roommate (if they would at all.)

"I know, I'm sorry," Adrien said, deflated. "I really screwed up and I understand if you're mad at me. I'm really sorry for coming over here, actually." Sitting up, Adrien combed his fingers through his hair and shot a quick glance at the door—a sign Marinette could interpret as his desire to leave. "It was so stupid of me to turn up here to ask this of you, and I'm really realizing that the more I talk about this. Fuck, Mari, I'm sorry-"

Marinette had missed that nickname.

As Adrien rambled on about how sorry he was, Marinette contemplated the idea. It wasn't a bad one, per se, just something she hadn't expected. She wasn't sure who the girl Adrien was moving out with was or why she needed to be kept a secret from his dad, but that wasn't any of her business. Truthfully, if she played along with Adrien's plan, it might end up working out in her favor as well. Surely if she pretended to be Adrien's roommate for the sake of his father, he could do the same for her?

"Adrien," she said, scooting closer to lay a hand on his arm. "Relax. It's not a big deal."

Adrien's viridian eyes sparkled with relief. "It's not?"

"No," Marinette laughed. It was kind of silly, actually. "Don't beat yourself up over it. It is a little crappy that you just sprung this on me out of nowhere, but I don't mind helping you out. Actually, I'm kind of in a similar situation. I'm also moving out soon."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," Adrien winced. But at the mention of her moving out, he perked up and asked, "Wait… Really? You excited?"

Marinette nodded. "Mhm." She crossed her legs and leaned back into the cushions of her couch, eyes resting comfortably on the ceiling. "Believe it or not, the person I'm moving out with is someone I have to keep secret from my parents, too. Not because they'd get mad or anything, but… Well, he has his reasons."

Adrien laughed as she tossed him a wink.

"Anyways," she continued. "I can't stand liars or being one myself, but I'll make you a deal: I'll convince your dad that I'm the person you're moving out with if you pretend to be the person that I'm moving out with. So then there'll be no questions and both our parents will think we're living together when we're really not. Sound good?"

Adrien merely nodded, taken aback by her response.

While the thought of lying to her parents (or anyone, really) was absolutely grating, Marinette knew she didn't really have much of a choice when her identity was at stake. Revealing herself to her parents was against the rules and incredibly dangerous; it wasn't worth getting upset over a little white lie when putting her parents jeopardy was far worse of an outcome.

"So?" Marinette held out a hand, pink-painted nails contrasting against Adrien's tanned skin. "We have a deal?"

"Yes!" Adrien exclaimed, his voice high-pitched and eyes bright. He grasped her hand firmly and gave it a shake so forceful that Marinette's whole arm was taken into the movement. "Yes, oh my goodness, thank you so much, Marinette. I promise I'll pay you back somehow. Y-you want to go to lunch or have me cover your rent for a month or something?"

"There's no need for that," Marinette said, lips curling upward into a smile. "You're already paying me back by telling a lie for me."

Adrien's grin reached his eyes, and the dimples on his cheeks became prominent as he teased, "Now there's a thought. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, telling a lie?"

Her expression flattened at his joke and she wanted to look displeased, but she couldn't find it within herself to suppress the grin that stretched across her face. "Keep making cracks like that, Agreste, and the deal's off."

"You'd do that to me?" he asked in mock offense. "But we're friends, Marinette. That hurts."

"Yeah, yeah." Marinette waved him off with a giggle—that was probably full of a little too much delight—and stood from her spot on the couch to sit at the dinner table, where her lunch sat on a plate. "So, when am I convincing your dad that I'm your new roommate?"

Adrien joined her at the table, sitting backwards on one of the chairs. "Not sure just yet. I'll probably have Nathalie set up a night where we can have dinner and allow you guys to get acquainted. It might not be for a while yet, but I'll try to get him to free up some time soon. I'm trying to get out as quickly as I can."

"In a big hurry?" Marinette asked. She took a bite of her food and her mood was immediately improved just from the taste alone; she hadn't realized how hungry she was until now.

"Sort of."

She swallowed her food before asking, "Why's that?"

Adrien offered a shrug, his expression hardening. "Ol' Père isn't any more fun to live with than he was when I was a kid. Guess I'm just so excited to finally have my own place with someone I love rather than spend my days alone at the manor."

With someone he- he loves?

That thought took Marinette by surprise. Though, she supposed it shouldn't have. Adrien was twenty, devilishly handsome with the soul of an angel—it was no shocker that he was in a relationship. She wanted to be jealous and a small part of her was, but she had to remind herself that she had no reason to be. Adrien deserved someone who made him happy. She would find someone someday who made her happy, too.

"It's nice that you're moving in with someone you care about," Marinette said, resting her sandwich back on the plate. "I'm excited that I finally get to move out too. Even though I've always loved living with my parents, they're so nosey! It's one of the reasons why I'm glad I'm getting my own place, especially with someone I trust more than anybody. It's a nice feeling, knowing you can live with somebody and not worry. A safe feeling."

Adrien nodded, voice breathy. "Yeah, I know what you mean. The girl I'm moving in with, she's like… My everything. And I'm so happy we're going to share a place together. It's all I've ever wanted, really." His cheeks heated to a light shade of red, and the corners of his eyes crinkled from how wide his smile grew. He was so happy, so excited; the joy to be living with someone he loved was clear on his face.

Marinette felt the joy radiating from him. It made her smile stretch across her face. All his life Adrien had done things for others without question, and now he was finally doing something for himself. His girlfriend—at least, that's who Marinette assumed she was—sounded like she made his life a wonderful experience, and he appeared absolutely radiant in that moment. Marinette's heart warmed at the thought of how much happier Adrien must be.

While she was a little sad they hadn't kept up with each other, she was glad they were getting to talk and catch up now. It was so nice just to hear his voice again.

"I'm glad you and your girlfriend get to have a place together," Marinette said sweetly. "It must be such a great feeling to be able to look forward to waking up next to the person you love every day. I'm so happy for you, Adrien."

Adrien let out a soft laugh. "Oh," he said, gaze lowering to the table as his cheeks became crimson. "That's sweet of you, Marinette, but we're not dating. Just really good friends. Thank you though."

"Oh!" Marinette blinked in surprise. Huh, funny… With the way he talked about her, it was like they'd been in love for years. Unless…

"Ohhhh," she said slyly, the truth dawning on her. "You like her, though."

The tips of his ears darkening, Adrien tried to scoff but whatever noise came out sounded weak and unconvincing. "Wha- no! No, I don't… I meant love as in, like, friendship-"

She gave him a flat stare, and Adrien submitted.

"Okay, okay, you got me," he sighed, holding his hands up in defeat. "But she doesn't know and I don't think I'll ever work up the guts to tell her."

"Why not?" With how dopey his smile got whenever he mentioned her, Marinette was sure there was no way in hell he would be able to keep that information private for long.

Clicking his teeth, Adrien shrugged, offering nothing more than a shake of his head.

"Adrien…" Marinette rested her cheek on her palm, smile knowing. Oh man, she didn't even need an answer. She could clearly remember how tongue-tied she used to get around him back in lycée when she was head-over-heels for his kind soul. "If you really love her, you gotta tell her."

Well, now you're just being a hypocrite, she thought to herself. Here she was giving Adrien advice she had never followed herself. For a brief second she wondered what things would have been like if she had confessed, but there was no use dwelling on the what-ifs. She didn't like him like that anymore, and that was okay.

Adrien gave another shake of his head. "Mm, I would, but… She doesn't like me that way."

"No?" Marinette asked. "How can you tell?"

"Well, we joke a lot," Adrien said. "I'm pretty sure I've dug myself a hole of 'flirting so much she thinks I'm joking' so deep that it's impossible for me to climb out of it at this point."

"You? Flirting?" Marinette laughed at the thought. She didn't think she'd ever seen Adrien flirt a day in her life. "I don't think I believe you, Adrien."

Adrien raised a brow with a quirk of the corner of his lips. "Well you see, Marinette, I'm very different around her. She knows me like nobody else."

Marinette could say the same for herself about Chat Noir. While she didn't love him romantically, she did love him as a best friend, and the way she acted around him was unlike the way she acted around anyone else. She was excited to live in the same space as him and to share her life with him—the most she could behind a mask, anyways.

"I understand that," Marinette said. "I'm like that with the guy I'm going to be living with. It's nice to have someone you can completely be yourself around."

Nodding, Adrien gazed at her with a warm smile on his face, and Marinette was about to offer to get him the pastries she'd promised when his phone buzzed.

"Shoot," he said as he read over whatever text was sent his way. "I'm sorry Mari, but I've gotta run. Got to meet a photographer in thirty minutes. I'll give you a call when I can get my dad to come for a dinner, though."

As he stood from his seat, Marinette nodded, standing with him. "Sounds good. You still have my number?"

With a quick flip through his contacts, Adrien held his phone up for her to see. "Yep. What nights are you usually free?"

"I always have Fridays off," she said. "Except for late Friday nights, because I usually meet Ch-" She clapped a hand to her mouth. Fuck, don't tell him you meet Chat Noir for patrols, stupid! "...meet up with a friend to hang out."

If Adrien noticed her slip-up, he didn't mention it. "Alright. I'll schedule it for one of the upcoming Fridays then." His phone buzzed once more and he glared down at it before shoving it in his pocket. "I'll see you around?"

"Definitely. Keep in touch, okay? I-" Marinette's face softened as she glanced away, pink dusting the edges of her cheeks. "I've missed you."

There was a pause. Adrien turned, irides glowing like a ray of sunshine and dimples showing as his grin grew three times its previous size. He stood still for a moment, and Marinette was sure he was going to return the sentiment before walking out, but instead he reached out and-

-and he hugged her.

He hugged her and it felt so nice that Marinette wanted to bury herself within his warmth. With his arms around her back and his body leaning forward because he was nearly a foot taller than her at this point, she swore that she'd never felt so light in her life. Clouds—she was on clouds. He smelled like heaven and she was on clouds.

(She wasn't sure why she was feeling so weird just from being hugged by him. Weird in a good way, but still weird.

She didn't like him like that anymore. She'd stopped ages ago when they drifted apart…

She didn't. She didn't, she didn't, she…

Oh, who was she kidding.)

As Adrien pulled away from the hug, he flashed her one of his smiles that she had grown to love so much over the years and patted her shoulder, his large hand encompassing it completely. Marinette's legs felt like jello.

"I'll text you, okay?" he said, turning the knob on the door. "I promise I'll do better at keeping in contact this time. We're going to need to if we're both helping each other out in this sticky situation."

Marinette nodded, letting out a faint, "Yeah."

"It was good to see you again, Mari." With a final squeeze of her hand, Adrien turned and walked out the door, calling over his shoulder, "I'll see you later!"

"Yeah," Marinette breathed. Her feet were glued to the floor.

Yeah.

When she watched him walk down the street from the upstairs window, she kicked herself for forgetting to give him the pastries she'd promised.

Marinette went to work that night feeling weightless and distracted. She had picked up a shift from her coworker at the local fabric shop she'd come to adore over the years, and was thankful it wasn't a long one—only five hours—so she could immediately transform the moment she clocked out.

She wasn't feeling like herself. Growing up with ADHD made her used to dealing with constant distraction, and by now she wasn't phased by the inability to focus at times, but this… This was different. This was very, very different.

She sorted fabric at a slow pace, hummed to herself as she cleaned the bathrooms (forgetting where she was in the middle of the task), and even managed to snag herself when she was cutting a strip of wool for a customer. She didn't notice the pain, though, and the blood that dripped from her fingertips was lazily cleaned ten minutes after the initial incision.

Her boss asked if everything was alright, and Marinette wasn't sure what to say. She didn't even know the answer to that question herself.

Alya had always told her that she fell in love too easily.

She had never expected herself to fall back in love just as quickly, though.

#ladynoir #adrinette #adrienette #ml fic #miraculous ladybug #my writing #my writings #miraculous #a simple suggestion #asimp #text post

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joonbird · 7 years ago

Text

Lowkey

Jungkook is the nude model for your art school’s life drawing class.

pairing: jungkook x reader

genre: smut

wordcount: 6.2k

Life was good.

The thought flitted through your mind as you strolled across campus, juggling a small heap of books in your arms. Life was, well, good. For the first time in what felt like years, life was good. You were happy, you were settled, and things had finally started falling into place for you. You had been accepted into the country’s most prestigious art college a year ago and finally it had started to feel like home. You smiled a little to yourself as you gazed around the campus. Autumn leaves were falling and the sight of your home, campus, dotted with golden brown trees, the crunch of leaves beneath your feet… it made you smile.

Things had honestly fallen neatly into place without you even trying. It was funny how life worked out that way when you least expected it. You had a good group of friends, you were pursuing your passions, and you were surrounded by likeminded creative people. Life was good- you had nothing to complain about. The only thing that was missing really, was a guy. Not that you needed a guy to be happy or complete. You were perfectly happy being independent. But still. It had been months since you had found someone you clicked with. It had been months since you been with someone, had sex, good, earthshaking sex. You’d be lying to yourself if you said you weren’t missing the feeling of it, the intimacy of having a warm body on top of yours, rushed kisses and whispers. God, what you would give for that right now.

Just as that thought entered your mind, distracting you momentarily, you walked straight into someone.

Your books went flying, your art supplies scattering all over the ground noisily. You immediately fell to the floor, reaching out to grab the pencils that were rolling away. “Sorry about that,” A deep voice interrupted your thoughts, you were suddenly aware of someone standing in front of you. “It’s fine.” You glanced up dismissively.

You froze when you saw who was standing there. A guy was standing there, his brows crinkled in worry as he bent down beside you. He was gorgeous, and different, he looked different to other guys that you had known and it shocked you into silence. He had big eyes and wavy hair, an apologetic smile on his lips as he started reaching out for some of the books that had fallen to the floor.

“Sorry, I wasn’t looking at where I was going. My fault,” He said sincerely, meeting your eyes with an apologetic smile. His voice was soft, melodic almost. Your heart felt like it was going to drop out of your chest, his eyes creased slightly in the corners when he smiled at you and that was all you could focus on. You felt your cheeks heat up and you glanced at the floor, hoping he wasn’t noticing your blushing.

“It’s okay.” You replied quickly, sneaking a look at him. He was watching you, a small smile on his face. You straightened, still looking at him. He passed you your books, his fingers brushing yours as he reached over. You felt your skin tingling from his touch. You stood there for a moment awkwardly, before he shrugged a little, running his hand through his hair.

“Okay well… Have a nice day,” He said, turning and with a last smile, walking away.

You stood there for a moment, feeling a little dazed. You winced a little, watching him walk away, embarrassed by how stilted you had acted. You had just been thinking that there were no good guys left and the moment you encountered a gorgeous, cute guy, what did you do? Stand there with a dumb look on your face. You hadn’t even worked up the courage to ask him for a coffee or his name, or anything. “Idiot,” You mumbled under your breath. The mysterious guy had disappeared, you sighed wistfully and wondered whether he was a student here too and if you’d ever see him again. With my luck, probably not, you thought to yourself, shaking your head.

It was finally the last class of the day and it happened to be your favourite one. Life drawing.

You had chosen to do your timetable like this on purpose, figuring it would be a nice way to round out your day of classes. You loved life drawing, when you had first started realizing your passion for art and for drawing, you had always been drawn to the idea of sketching people. The human body, emotion, expression - it all fascinated you. You particularly loved this class, your teacher was always bringing in new different life drawing models and this class had quickly become your favourite.

You walked in to the art studio, putting your bag down by the easel and smiling at a few of the other people in your class. You immediately started preparing your pencils and charcoal, when you glanced up absently, wondering who you would be drawing today.

It was him. The guy from earlier.

You blinked, not sure if you were imagining things. But it really was him. He was standing at the front of the room by the model’s stool, a shy look on his face. He was wearing just a black robe, shifting from foot to foot.

“Everybody,” Your teacher called, the room fell quiet. You were still staring at him in disbelief. He as your life model today? You felt your heart beat faster, nerves collecting in the pit of our stomach.

“Today we will be doing some more life drawing of the human body. This is our model today, Jungkook. Focus on shadows and dimensions, and on capturing the essence of the human body.”

Jungkook. HIs name was Jungkook. You mouthed it, letting it roll of your tongue. The rest of the class began preparing their easels, talking quietly to each other, but you sat there in shock, still staring at him. He hadn’t noticed you yet, you watched as he pulled off the black gown and sat on the stool, completely naked.

You couldn’t help the slight hiss that came out of your mouth when the robe came off. He was standing there, completely naked. And it was spectacular.

He had broad shoulders and a strong back, your eyes went immediately to his defined arms and taut stomach. He had definition on his abdomen, you could see curves and muscles as he breathed in. He was nervous, you could tell, by the way he was tapping his fingers against his thigh, his eyes darting around unsurely. This was his first time being a life model. It wasn’t your first time painting one, but there was something about this, something about him, that had you frozen.

“Y/N, you haven’t even started yet!” Your teacher’s voice interrupted your reverie, you snapped back into reality and focused you attention on her. She was watching you, an eyebrow raised.

“Sorry,” You mumbled. At the sound of your voice,Jungkook turned his head and stared at you.

His eyes met yours, flooded with surprise, and you felt yourself blush. His mouth dropped open before he recovered neatly, giving you a tiny smile. His cheeks were tinged pink as well, after all, he was sitting in front of you naked.

You busied yourself by preparing your easel and a blank piece of paper, feeling your heart suddenly start beating in your chest. You suddenly felt nervous, laying out your pencils and charcoal methodically before returning your attention back to him.

He was staring at you. You glanced immediately back at the paper, feeling heat rise from your stomach to your face. You scolded yourself, you were supposed to look at him, you were supposed to study him closely and then draw him for God’s sake. You stole another glance at him, he was still draped on the stool, staring directly at you as if he could hear the turmoil going through your head.

Be professional, focus, you told yourself firmly as you lifted a piece of charcoal and fixed your eyes on him determinedly.

You started drawing, starting from the very bottom of his body and what you knew would be the easiest to draw without getting too flustered. His legs, and the stool. His legs were strong, his calves slightly tensed. You found yourself slipping into a nice state of focus as you sketched out his legs across the paper, dragging your eyes up to his thighs.

You gulped. He had strong thighs that gripped the edge of the stool. You felt your breath catch a little but forced yourself to keep your composure, keeping your eyes fixed on his thighs as you slowly mapped them out on the easel. Your eyes flickered back and forth from your easel to his legs, refusing to move your gaze even a few centimetres. You were dying to glance up and see if he was looking at you, but you resisted, knowing that if he was still staring at you, you’d break focus and blush.

Your classmates were chattering to one another, but you were silent, completely focused. Your eyes ticked upwards to his length and you couldn’t help it, you bit your lip. He didn’t have an erection, but he was still big, and staring at his member front on was a sudden turn on. It was beautiful, if you could describe a dick as beautiful. You sketched it on your easel carefully, swallowing your nerves and the desire that was rushing up inside of you, telling yourself to focus.

Your eyes trickled up to his abdomen and chest. You swallowed. His chest was heaving slightly with each of his breaths, you could see from here how the sunlight hit his body and cast the most perfect shadows on each of his muscles. You emphasized that on the paper, feeling your hands fly as they sketched out his sculpted body. He had a beautiful body, you mused, it was fluid and even the way he moved, tiny movements like how he reached uup to scratch his shoulder, was somewhat sensual.

Then you looked at his face. He was staring at you.

You had been bracing yourself for it, but having him stare at you, you couldn’t help but feel as though your breath was knocked out of your body. It was almost unnerving, his dark brown eyes staring into yours. They were unreadable, intense, but his lips quirked slightly when you finally met his gaze.

You felt your heartbeat start to drum loudly in your chest, that same heat from before prickling up your body. You forced yourself to stay as focused as possible, as you stared at his lips.

They were full, and you noticed everything he did with his mouth like it was in slow motion. The way he licked his bottom lip slightly in between breaths, pursed his lips a little. He was still staring at you the entire time, but you didn’t back away from his gaze now, instead, you stared back. You felt a heavy thrum in your body, in the deepest part of your core. God, you wanted him. You channeled that energy and that focus onto your work. Every quick glance you gave to the paper felt like dragged out time until you could return your eyes back to him. You drank him in, revelling over his masculine beauty.

He was so unlike any man you had ever seen before. You were staring at him, wanting him so badly you could feel it in every inch of your breath. Every breath, every movement, every thought, was painted over with desire.

“Okay, we’ll do feedback in tomorrow’s tutorial,” Your teacher was saying, you suddenly zoned into her voice, realizing that everyone around you was packing up. You blinked in surprise, tearing your eyes away from Jungkook to glance around. It had been two hours already? You glanced back over at Jungkook, he was standing up now, shrugging on that black robe.

Your teacher strolled over to you, gazing over at your work. “Fantastic work Y/N,” she complimented you warmly. “The amount of detail is remarkable!” She nodded her head in approval and you felt your cheeks flush a little. “It’s not perfect,” You replied critically. “I think I’m going to stay behind here tonight and finish it.”

She nodded at you. “Absolutely. Just lock up the studio when you’re done and return the key to admin. You know where it is.” She patted your shoulder kindly before walking away, chatting to another student amicably.

Jungkook walked up to the two of you, his arms folded as he stood beside you. He wasn’t touching you, but having him close to you in any proximity after staring at every inch of his naked body had your cheeks hot again. He was surveying your drawing, his eyes wide.

“Whoa,” He murmured, the husky tone of his voice made you quiver a little. He turned to you, affording you another warm smile. “You’re really good.” You just smiled weakly back, avoiding his gaze. “Thanks,” you just responded numbly, suddenly feeling self conscious.

“Y/N, right?” He asked. You just nodded mutely.

He hesitated a little before he shot you another smile, turning and walking away. You paused, wondering if you should stop him and say something, cringing at how awkward you had acted yet again. But instead you just sat there, watching him gather his clothes and his bag, walking out of the studio.

You watched him leave, letting out a sigh you hadn’t known you’d been holding in. You leaned back a little, as everyone else filtered out of the studio, leaving you alone. You stared at your drawing, sighing. It was going to be a long night.

You sighed a little, running a hand through your hair. You felt pent up, frustrated, and you knew it wasn’t creative frustration you were experiencing. You let your eyelids flutter closed a little, the image of Jungkook naked on the stool rushing into your brain. It didn’t take much encouragement and you couldn’t help but welcome the image, feeling your body start to hum in desire just at the memory of him.

The door suddenly swung open and you fumbled forward. Your head snapped up and Jungkook was standing there, the door swinging shut behind him. Somehow, unlike earlier, you weren’t surprised. You just stared at him, your eyes wide.

“Hey,” He just said. “Sorry, I didn’t meant to interrupt…” his voice trailed off as he glanced at you, were you were perched on the stool, charcoal on your hands. You just shook your head, wiping your hands on your jeans. You glanced up at the clock, 9:20PM, it was so late already. “No, you weren’t. I was just… finishing up here,” You lied, smiling at him faintly. He just nodded slowly.

“I left my jumper,” He said, nodding to the chair in the corner of the room where a black hoodie was draped. You just nodded mutely, watching him as he strode across the room. His shoulders rippled underneath his plain white tee-shirt and you squeezed your legs in longing.

“What are you working on?” He asked suddenly, slinging his jumper over his arm as he walked over to you.

“Um, you,” You replied, biting your lip.

He smiled. “Can I see?”

His question was casual, you just nodded. He came and stood beside you, cocking his head to one side as he stared at your piece. You bit your lip, suddenly nervous.

“This is really good,” He exclaimed, turning to you. You smiled a little, suddenly feeling shy. “It’s alright,” You mumbled. He frowned. “No seriously, it’s great. Trust me. You’re really good.” His eyes stared into yours challengingly, you couldn’t help but stare back. “Thank you,” You managed to whisper out, he just shook his head, still staring at you.

“Why are you embarrassed?” He asked softly, taking a step closer to you. His voice was deeper when he spoke in a soft pitch like how he was now, his eyes intense as they stared into yours. You couldn’t look away, it was like you were hypnotized.

“I…” You heard yourself say, your voice trailing off. He was still staring at you, taking one step closer. He was looming above you, you were still sitting on the stool, looking up at him. He had a soft look on his eyes.

“You’re so talented,” He murmured, staring at you. “I couldn’t stop staring at you while you were drawing me today.”

You felt your breath catch in your throat, you were certain your heart was beating so loud that he could definitely hear it.

He was standing so close to you now that you could feel the heat radiating off his body. You were staring at each other, you were suddenly aware of how quiet it was in the studio. The only sound was the sound of your heart thumping in your chest and his breathing. It was late in the evening, you were almost definitely the only two people left in the building. You were suddenly hyperaware of how quiet it was, how alone the two of you were.

Slowly, he reached out, his fingers gripping the bottom of your chin softly. You froze, feeling like you couldn’t breathe, you couldn’t move. He was leaning in closer, a small question in his eyes as he tilted your chin up to his. When he found no objection in your eyes, just longing, he leaned in closer, his lips nearly grazing yours.

The anticipation of him being so close to you had a tiny whimper escaping from your lips, his eyes flashed a little, and then he leaned in, brushing his lips against yours.

He kissed you softly at first, his lips were as soft as you thought they’d be, and his kiss was tender, gentle, almost uncertain. He pulled away a little, cupping your face in his hands. You had your head tilted back so he could bend down and kiss you, you were still sitting on the stool as he stood in front of you and kissed you again.

This time, his kiss was more intense. It took you by surprise, he pressed his lips to yours, holding your face in his hands as he kissed you deeply. He ran his fingers gently through your hair, his fingers massaging your scalp sensually as his tongue explored your mouth. You had your head completely tilted back, keening into his kiss. He was an incredible kisser, he kissed you sensually, his tongue working with yours, his hands slowly massaging the base of your hair, sending intense shivers down your spine in time with the slow heavy throbs you were starting to exude from your core.

You couldn’t help it, you let out a soft moan into his kiss. At the sound, he took your lower lip and gently sucked and nibbled on it, the sudden sensation had you whimpering out a second moan. Between your legs you felt an intense, heavy pulse, you could feel the skin on your arms tingling and your hairs standing on edge, you were starting to feel delirious from his kisses alone.

As if he was reading your mind, he pulled away from your mouth, staring into your eyes. His eyes were dark, and filled with lust, he dipped his head back down and kissed your earlobe, breathing heavily into your ear. His husky voice in your ear, his breath against you, made your entire body curl. “I wanted you from the moment I saw you this morning,” he breathed, before planting a slow kiss against your earlobe, and then on the base of your neck, near your pulse point.

“I wanted you too,” You confessed, unable to think straight or even stop yourself from talking. “I was thinking about you all night.”

He still had one hand wrapped up in your hair as he kissed down your neck, softly at first, and then more firmly. He found a sensitive spot on your neck and slowly kissed it, softly at first and then firmly.

“Jungkook that feels… so good,” You moaned out, he murmured against your skin at your words and then slowly sucked at your pulse-point. The sensation had your body shaking in intensity, all you could think about, all you wanted, was him. The feeling of his strong hand in your hair, gripping it gently, his lips nibbling at your neck, unlocked a side to you that had been lying dormant for too long.

You couldn’t take it any longer and you stood up suddenly, meeting his lips in a hurried kiss. You were suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling of need. You needed him, it was beyond normal lust, it was like an animalistic desire that you couldn’t control.

He responded to your kiss instantly, you curled your hands around the base of his neck and kissed him hungrily, desperately. He moved his hands down, through your hair down to the base of your neck, his strong fingers resting purposefully on your collarbones as you kissed him. You kissed him while you pushed your hands against his chest, walking him over to the table at the front of the studio. There were a few art supplies lying on them but you didn’t take notice, pushing him until he settled onto the desk, standing with his legs apart a little so you could slot in between them, kissing into his mouth urgently.

“God…” He mumbled out, you just moaned out in agreement. You were going crazy, you couldn’t get enough of him.

You were pressed up against him and you could feel the heat of his body around you, wrapped up in his kisses. His hands, strong, had found your waist, his fingers were kneading circles into the softness of your hips and the tingle between your legs was starting to get unbearable. He curved his hands around, reaching your ass, he cupped your ass slowly, groaning out into your kiss, before he squeezed more firmly. You could feel his erection bulging in his pants, your entire body felt alive for him, it felt like very cell inside of you was extra-sensitive and begging for his touch.

He broke away from your kisses, you were both breathing heavily as he reached down, tugging off your top off of you in one motion, tossing it to the floor. You immediately gripped the hem of his shirt, pulling it off his head. You felt warmth rush through your entire body as you saw his bare chest in front of you, you put your palms out, slowly running them over his chest. His chest and abs were hard to the touch, his skin warm, he was watching you with a hungry look in his eyes.

“Take off your pants,” He said suddenly, he was staring at you with an intense look on his eyes. “Please,” He added, you immediately complied, unzipping your jeans and sliding them off of your legs.

He was tracing your every movement with his stare, his eyes dilating as he stared at you. He swallowed thickly, reaching out with his fingers to gently brush the front of your underwear. His touch was so light that you could barely feel it, but it still had your entire body aching for him.

“Bra,” He just said, you reached behind you and unclipped your plain black bra, letting it fall to the floor. You heard him inhale sharply, his hand fluttered up to his mouth and he put his finger in between his lips, biting down a little as he stared at you.

You basked in his stare, he was staring at you like he wanted to devour you, his erection was so hard in his pants that it was like a tent. His stare was turning you on even more, and you hadn’t thought that was possible five minutes ago.

“These too?” You murmured, skimming your fingers over your underwear. He just nodded silently, letting out a loud groan as you slowly, painstakingly slid off your underwear. You were standing in front of him completely naked, and he just stared at you, drinking your entire body in before he met your eyes. the look in his eyes took you aback for a moment, he had such a darkly intense, lustful look in his face that you couldn’t help but murmur his name.

“You have no idea how good you look…” He just managed to say, his voice a little choked, you stepped back in between his legs, he immediately responded, running his hands firmly around your bare waist, cupping your ass with his hands and groaning, his eyes roaming your body and your face desperately.

“I have an idea… God, you know, when I was staring at you naked and drawing I…” your voice trailed off, he just smirked a little, pulling his hands back to the front of your body, his fingers slowly tracking the curve of your breasts. His touch made your entire body tremble.

“Yes?” He murmured, his fingers circling your now hard nipple.

You were staring at his hands, his long fingers circling your breasts teasingly.

“Y/N?” His deep voice brought you back to his eyes.

“I… I was so turned on,” You admitted, he just smirked, running his thumb over your nipple lightly. You sucked in your breath at the feeling.

“You were?” He asked huskily, you just nodded.

“God yes… you looked so good, staring at your body like that to draw you, I was getting so wet,” You admitted, his smile widened a little as his fingers found your nipple properly, giving your nipple soft strokes and pinches. Your eyelids fluttered a little at the feeling, it was sending short and sharp waves of pleasure throughout your body, making you feel hot and pleasured, and even more desperate for him.

“I was turned on by you too,” He murmured, leaning forward to kiss your collarbone softly.

“Really?” You asked, surprised, your question came out as a breathy moan. You were focused on how his fingers felt stroking your nipples, he had his one hand alternating between both, his other hand on your ass.

“Really,” He confirmed, staring up at you before he planted a kiss right between your breasts. You whimpered out a little.

“You looked so sexy, staring at me, biting your lip as you worked,” He murmured, moving to your right breast, his lips right by your nipple. You were staring down at him, your eyes wide, your body glowing at his words and your entire body aching for him.

“I had to force myself to try and not think about you and what I wanted to do to you… otherwise I would’ve had a raging boner in front of that entire class,” He confessed, a small smile darting across his lips before he licked your nipple.

The sudden sensation had you moaning out loudly.

“Jungkook…” You moaned out his name, he smiled at the sound.

“Y/N,” he responded a little teasingly before he latched his lips around your nipple properly. He flicked his tongue across, his eyes still staring into yours. You couldn’t help it, you tipped your head back, letting a loud moan escape your lips. Your mind was racing, at his words, at his touch, everything he was doing was feeling so incredible and all you could think about was the heavy and intense throb between your legs.

He slowly pulled his lips off of your breast, making you yelp out a little. You reacted immediately, gripping his jeans and unzipping them. The loud zipping sound made the two of you smile, and then you were tugging his jeans and underwear off, he stepped out of them, you bent down, throwing them to the side and looking up at him.

From this angle, you could see his body in all it’s glory. His hard cock standing upright in front of your face, his sculpted and taut abdomen, his strong arms as he reached one arm to brush hair away from his face. He was staring down at you with an expression of lust and hope, and it just turned you on even more.

You didn’t bother teasing him, you wanted him so badly that you didn’t have the patience to tease. You took his cock into your mouth, he hissed loudly at the feeling, his jaw going slack. You worked your tongue around his length, gazing up at him from where your mouth was wrapped around your cock. He had his head tilted back, you could see his Adams apple swallowing at the feeling of you.

“You feel amazing, your tongue on my cock like that,” He groaned out. “Fuck…”

He brought his face down to stare at you, a dazed grin spreading across his face. It turned you on more, you took more of his cock deeper into your mouth, letting it hit the back of your throat. The feeling had your eyes pricking with tears a little, but your core was still throbbing, a dull, ragging throb because having his hard, large cock in your mouth was turning you on.

You slowly slid in and out of him with your mouth, his eyes rolled a little into his head as you worked is cock with your tongue and your mouth, your fingers gripping his strong thighs.

“Oh my God Y/N… God…” his voice was a little choked, you hummed against his cock. “I’m going to cum in your mouth if you keep going,” He groaned out, staring down at you. “I want to be inside of you.”

You nodded, slowly sucking off his dick and staring up at him with a little smile on your lips.

“Come here,” He murmured, and you stood up. The moment you were face to face with him again he was kissing you, he picked you up in one smooth motion and sat you down on the desk. The angle was perfect, he had your thighs in his hands as he positioned himself in front of you. You immediately spread your legs, wrapping them around his waist as he kissed you urgently.

You could tell in his kisses that he had reached the point you had hit what felt like ages ago, complete and utter need. You needed him, and he positioned his dick at your entrance.

“Please, Jungkook,” You whispered out, and then he slid himself into you.

You were so wet that he slid in easily, but you still gasped out loud at the feeling of him stretching your walls. He was so big and so thick that you could feel all of him at once. The sensation was overwhelming, it had your eyes rolling into the back of your head and a loud, husky moan escape your lips.

You felt giddy with ecstasy that he was finally inside of you. All you could feel was intensity, intense pleasure, and relief, and you basked in it for a moment, feeling everything else fade away.

“…you’re so tight, you’re so wet, God, how does your pussy feel like this,” Jungkook was mumbling he gripped your thighs and pushed into you deeper.

“Yes,” You groaned out, and then he started rocking into you properly.

His fingers dug into your thighs, you leaned back onto your palms so you could arch yourself deeper into his thrusts. He was going harder and faster now, from where you were sitting, you could stare at him. He made little moans as he pumped himself into you, you could see by the way he had a blissful smirk on his face that it felt incredible for him, and he darted his eyes down watching his dick slide in and out of your pussy, before back up to your face, staring at your parted lips and your wide eyes with hungry eyes. It was hard to focus just on him though, you were feeling so incredible, every thrust that he slammed into you had your core quivering in pleasure.

“God you’re hot,” He moaned out, “I wanted you from the moment I saw you I swear to God,” He suddenly lifted your leg, his fingers curling around your calf and pulling your leg over to one side and thrusting back inside of you. The change of angle had you gasping out sharply, it he was hitting a deeper, more intense spot and it was making your toes curl in pleasure. His eyes lit up a little at the expression that fell over your face uncontrollably, your eyes were fluttering in pleasure.

“Fuck… Jungkook… that’s it,” You weren’t sure if you were screaming or not, but he immediately responded, thrusting into you with hard movements, grinding against your spot. You were writhing underneath him now but he had your thigh and calf in his hands, his fingers digging into them, his eyes intent on you as you moaned out loudly.

“Jungkook, oh my God, Jungkook, Jungkook!” You were screaming out his name uncontrollably, all you could focus on was the intensity of the orgasm that you were nearly reaching.

Your core tightened and you moaned out loudly, desperately, feeling the orgasm ripple through your entire body. You could feel it radiating throughout your belly and you legs and your toes and fingers, your eyes squeezed shut as you felt pleasure course through your body.

“Jungkook,” You stammered out in a choked voice. “Keep…” He didn’t need to be told, he suddenly pulled you in even deeper and slowly swayed his hips into you, the sudden slow grind of his dick against your spot had you orgasming again immediately after, your multiple orgasm riding out throughout your entire body.

Your eyes fluttered open and stared into his face, he watched you as you orgasmed, his eyes darkening as he watched you come. The second time had his body twitching, and you knew from the look in his eyes that he was about to cum.

“Cum in me,” you whispered out, he just nodded desperately, his jaw clenching as he thrust into you urgently, messily. His body stiffened, he let out a few sharp intense moans, his entire body twitching as he orgasmed inside of you.

You could feel it, you dug your fingers into his back as he came. It made you murmur out in satisfaction, he just muttered your name, his voice choked as his body relaxed against yours.

You sat there for a moment, his fingers still loosely gripping your calf, you could still feel the warm honey-like glow of your multiple orgasm, you felt like you had been basking in sunshine.

Woozily, he lifted his head, smiling at you. He was sweaty, but he had a dazed, similarly glowing look on his face as he leaned in, letting your leg down before he captured your lips in a soft, sweet kiss.

“God Y/N,” He murmured as he pulled away, letting his head fall and rest on your shoulder. The intimate gesture made you smile, he pressed a little kiss against your collarbone before he stood up, slowly easing himself out of you. you smiled up at him dazedly, he just smiled at you before he reached down and passed you your underwear.

You slid them on, hopping off the table and letting out a soft hiss as you felt his cum inside of you. he was watching you, a tiny smirk on his lips. He had pulled his underwear and jeans on too, he was shrugging on his t-shirt as you pulled on your jeans and top as well.

“That was amazing, wow,” He said finally, you just nodded at him, you shared a smile.

“Incredible,” You echoed softly. You giggled. “We didn’t even lock the door,” You laughed, nodding over to the door which was closed but not locked. He followed your gaze, a smile playing on his lips. “My bad,” He grinned, you just laughed and slapped his chest lightly.

“Won’t happen next time,” He added. You just rolled your eyes teasingly at him, leaning in and giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

“Hang on,” He murmured, tugging your waist and pulling you back into him. You smiled up at him, his eyes were relaxed, happy. You felt the same, loose and comfortable, content. It felt like your entire body was recovering from being on fire, you were smouldering, glowing.

“Mhm?” You asked, he had his arms wrapped loosely around you, you were leaning into him comfortably. His eyes creased as he smiled, you noticed again.

“Seriously. Can I see you again?” He asked quickly, his words coming out in a rush. He gave you a shy smile, you stifled a laugh, resisting the urge to ask why he was acting shy when he had just fucked you on a table in the studio at your art school.

Instead, you just smiled at him, leaning in to kiss him again. This time the kiss was soft and slow, it made you sigh and a warm, soft glow spread across your entire body. When you pulled away, a blissful smile had spread across your face. He was watching you, a little smile on his lips.

“Well?” he asked, poking your waist.

You just met his gaze. Jungkook. You repeated his name in your mind, before you looked at him, taking him in. All of him. Jungkook.

“Yes,” You murmured. “Yes please.”

#Jungkook smut #jungkook fanfic #bts smut #jungkook x reader #jungkook scenarios #bts fanfic #bts scenarios

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10 Undeniable Reasons People Hate Grand Theft Auto Herunterladen

GTA 4 Review Game

Rockstar's vivid tale of Niko Bellic, an immigrant with convictions good enough to rocket him through the crumbling foundations of Liberty City's earth of control crime, is immediately out on PC. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games shipped this past April, with this you'll find a few changes and improvements those who waited are guaranteed to enjoy. Despite what's been put in, if you've already enjoyed the unit versions it's cruel to commend picking this up, even though it now includes break for up to 32 players with the multiplayer games plus a sturdy, easy to use replay editor for report and forming clips from your in-game actions.

The Grand Theft Auto franchise rocketed to pile popularity with Grand Theft Auto III's let go with the bottom charges were appointed for a different style of game. Since then we've seen slight modifications and squeezes to the central solution with Vice City and San Andreas, and Grand Theft Auto IV is another move forward. This is a game that strips down a lot of the more zany problems from games past. You won't be performing any remote control helicopter missions or lowrider matching problem here. Rather, the target is with realism, a more mature awareness, and cause GTA into the modern.

Leave from offering with your cousin Roman, a small time operator level to clear exaggeration, you'll move your way upward out of criminal rings before you get what you want. Unlike GTA figures of the preceding, though, Niko isn't trying to establish himself because some sort of badass for the ages, driven to charge the city no matter what. He's searching for anything, and the assignment he undertakes are really the only way for him to discover this. He may perform a number of ruthless bill (that people, by the way, instruct him toward), yet there are moments during the story where you can work the name down the trigger or create a fine while to how things proceed. Despite the kind of senselessly violent tendencies many may see with GTA characters, Niko is the exception in many respects, like she has a signal by which he performs.

The sport infrastructure has been build more convenient, though there's still space to improve. If Niko fails a vision, a message demanding to retry it puts up as soon as you respawn, then when you fail you don't waste your entire arsenal. Getting across the gargantuan metropolis is made easier in hailing cabs that bear you to waypoints upon the record. Stealing a car with make yourself is always an option, what is the more immersive element of actually trip in the cab's backseat the whole time, staring away the displays on the passing lights. For anyone who's short on time or would prefer to forego the casual hazards of effort across a GTA world, the cabs are indeed welcome.

Still, you'll be complete quite a bit of mission restarts, and that usually means repeating large chunks on the obstacles. Many missions break down in the original travel segment, some type of growth event, a struggle, also a escape. Getting from the on-foot shooting sequences, a real frustration with the clunky control ideas of games history, have been achieved much better with the introduction of a case system with, as with many PC versions, mouse and piano aid for wanting and injuring. Coming from behind cover that feasible to blind fire, rapidly place revealed to help unload some shots, or move shelter to help mask, a system that doesn't always do perfectly but is a definite step up to the collection. It's possible to use a gamepad as well, which sells vehicles better than a mouse and piano. You can also switch freely between the control devices. Coping with the two input methods depending whether you're energy or shooting is very difficult, but it's big that Rockstar figure the idea here without forcing you to fiddle with a control input menu toggle. And if you have to take one, this much better to take from a moving car with the mouse and keyboard.

Some of the mission structures can be really extraordinary then drive well in the situation of the narrative's way, but however the franchise's burden and slip nature hasn't disappeared. You may be resolve a mission perfectly until you accidentally tap a steal car, inadvertently shoot a entry crucial on the mission, or misinterpret a new set of path which involve precise moment about a mission's phase change, and this quits people absolutely again off to try again. About can translate that within the challenge, but this a startup that's become a little familiar at this point and continued existence will likely frustrate series veterans.

The strength of narrative with atmosphere along with the amazingly detailed world are definitely likely to build great influences with whoever dives in that edition of Liberty City, but GTA has always been about moments. Remember that point people turned off the stunt jump and landed on the pedestrian after slamming with the light post with the police chopper crashing on the ground from the background, setting away a chain of explosions rocketing through the stalled traffic? With the PC version you'll be able to actually prevent to type of thing using the replay feature. Hitting F2 may save a bit of gameplay roughly 30 seconds slow to the hard get with make it for use with the integrated replay editor. This collection of devices will allow you lower in filters, join together clips, add text, attach music, adjust camera angles and more so you can recreate your favorite scenes however you see fit. Choose a chain of photos of people firing at traffic jams through a invasion chopper? Remember to hit F2 every time you're wearing which circumstance and joining them together must happen no problem, grant anyone the possibility to rescue and taste those quirky, seemingly impossible-to-repeat seconds to show up in GTA's unpredictable world.

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To start the editor mode Niko uses the cell phone, which play as a sort of heart for numerous activities. That extends in to play in the course of vision for looking at letters also gossip with the game's vibrant, well-realized NPC population as well as function as a device built to allow players to live Niko's life like that stayed a real one. NPCs can song to words, for order, with no purpose other than increasing your awareness of the character. You can continue dates, manage a game of runs or group, with handle relationships much like you might outside of Rockstar's world. Many of these diversions turn out to be absolutely tedious after a while, but they're entirely optional so you can just keep them only if you prefer.

Outside of that there's plenty to discover in Liberty City, a stunningly realized virtual translation of New York City caked with all the dust, show, and reduces you'd presume to make certain while strolling behind a actual street. There you can participate in the quest, sure, but also immerse yourself into activities strictly frivolous, from proceeding to Internet shops and click on through fictional junk packages to meeting again in the dimly lit residence and absorbing the surplus of codes with businesses that, happening conventional Rockstar style, wryly torpedo common culture.

The line staple radio is very much intact in GTA IV. When decided against the web and group phones it seems like a bit other of a anachronism, but it still presents the playoffs fantastic soundtrack and a procession of fake talk method with sarcastic advertising. Perhaps with GTA V, the hero can finally cause a good iPod.

PC gamers will get more freedom when it comes to music collection, as Rockstar has involved Independence FM with this version. Since you're bound to get tired of learning on Dragon Brain and Pisswasser eventually, you can weight with songs files to a game book to act while this location is beaten to, go you a better chance to learn something you want must you choose to go on one of the adrenaline fueled cross-city cop chases GTA is famous for.

Then there's the online play, an important addition for the strings with a portion of the game that's been expanded with a better player limit in the MACHINE story with superior search functionality. Read through Niko's cell phone you'll find a wide variety of opportunities for show, by races to deathmatches to a number of team-based games with more specific rule sets. The real sketch from the online portion here is to engage in 32 person chaos across the expanse of the city in open mode, but the structured content's there for players searching for a bit other organized. It would include happened pleasant to visit a little extra cooperative modes instead of those already packaged in the console versions, but the multiplayer remains a strong component of this item to the freedom that provides those who venture online.

Online or away from there's no doubt you'll be impressed with some of GTA IV's visuals. It's not so much the character models, but the sheer diversity of the city's sections, from the glitz of Liberty City's "Times Fair" to the dirt slathered over the industrial areas, Rockstar has given one of the most authentic, believable settings ever perceived with gaming. Yet with the COMPUTER version, you're going to need a particularly effective structure to notice in all the splendor for a good framerate, since flat at our own system (Core 2 Quad 2.40 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 768 MB GeForce 8800 GTX with Vista 32) we stayed giving performance problems even after toning down some of the settings, and some of the effects (the shadows in particular) didn't look so intense as displayed with substantial resolutions.

The good is employed even better. Stellar voice acting throughout an entirely unbelievable total of sharply written dialogue shares and lights GTA IV's thrilling story. As you're driving all along the starting sequence of a mission another time you'll often become cured to a entirely different, cohesive dialogue line between the passengers from the auto and then grasp the time taken toward that Rockstar has worked to impart this planet with mixture and personality. But this also etched in every environment, in the fragments of pedestrians to the background horns, train track screams, and universal mechanical cloud that fills big locations that Rockstar's managed to get so perfectly here, with leads closely to Liberty City's authenticity.

Verdict

If you've so far neglected to record GTA 4's stunning modern metropolis of Liberty City, by all means get this game. The GTA formula has been improved and retooled in this model to become more suitable, more realistic, and finally more adult, although it even gets remained in brambles taken over by games past. As far as settle a virtual time goes, managing the collective system, night time, travel practices and https://gtadownload.org/gta-san-andreas-review/ explosive forays of virtual dynamo Niko Bellic remains a single that'll stay in your thoughts for times to come. The PERSONAL COMPUTER version comes with a few added elements, such as online filters for obtaining matches, the ability to save clips and alter them together, added images with control options, as well as a superior player capacity in some of the multiplayer modes. Though you'll need a high-powered order to very feel the COMPUTER SYSTEM version's enhanced visuals, Liberty City remains a phenomenon to consider.

#Grand Theft Auto #Grand Theft Auto PC Download #GTA Reviews

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silverstarsheep · 8 years ago

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I just adore your art style, it's so cute! I'm thinking of making comics myself. Do you think you could give me some tips on angling or facial expressions or overall detail?

Thank you so so much! I really appreciate that! Like, a whole lot. ^^

I’m not exactly sure how much I’ll be able to help you, though I can at least give you some pointers on expressions! I’ll do my best. I’m sorry this is coming a bit late!

I’m going to use Bendy for my examples, just because he’s super easy to draw and I have him on hand/mind at the moment. But! These can be used on just about anyone.

Keep in mind: this is just my way of doing things. There isn’t one “set” way to create great art! There’s a lot of experimenting, testing and growing when it comes to artwork.

When it comes down to expressions, there are a few things to consider: what are they feeling? How intense is this feeling? How far can, or should you push it? How can you make this feel realistic? In visual storytelling, showing what a character is going through is far more important than telling the reader. In a comic setting, there’s a very fine balance–since you have images to go with the words, but you can’t convey each minute action… At least in a reasonable amount of panels, the dialogue and the images have to work together when they’re used in tandem.

When a character is shouting, you have to push their expression further–it won’t be enough to show them with their mouth slightly open, or with a flat face. Give them wide eyes, or shut their eyes completely with frustration. Open their mouth wide, maybe even get their body language involved if you have enough room. Throw their arms in the air, have them pulling at their hair!

Likewise, if what they’re saying is quiet or somber, soften their expression. Have their gaze ill-focused, or looking to the ground. Their shoulders could be slumped, their brow could be low. Their mouth could be almost, or entirely closed. Or are they happy? Raise their eyebrows, widen their eyes with joy! Bring out that smile! Use as much variety and as many shapes as you can!

Because I’m a visual person, here are a few examples to give you a better idea of what I mean:

(I’m sorry if my handwriting is hard to read)

Which facial expressions are more interesting? Sure, the ones on the left are going through the motions of emoting, but the ones to the right REALLY show how the character is feeling!

Body language is also immensely important when it comes down to expressiveness. Every part of the body can be used to convey a message. The crossing of arms can indicate disgust, or even put a small barrier between two people. Slumped shoulders show disappointment or sadness. Every little movement a character makes can have a massive impact on their overall tone. Here are a few examples like the above:

Even minute changes to a static pose can make a BIG difference! Test around and see what works best.

I’ve noticed that some animators have mirrors near their desk. This is so they can look up at their reflection and make a face into the mirror. They project their character’s feelings onto themselves, that way they can see what sort of facial expression would be best suited to that emotion. Nowadays we can just google this, but it’s still a good idea. Don’t be afraid to look up references whenever you need them. I know I do frequently! There’s no shame in using references!

My friend linked me to this wonderful guide, which goes more in-depth than I did here. Take a look!

I’m sorry I can’t help you quite as much with angles. I feel that I’d need to do a little more research in order to be able to articulate this more fluently. Perhaps some other time I can try and revisit this and go more into depth about perspective and foreshortening, but for now, here’s another great guide that might help you along in the right direction. I use a similar structure for my own drawings!

Speaking of foreshortening, here’s another tutorial! I don’t use this particular method, but it may work for you!

I know you didn’t ask for it, but I’d like to give you some tips about comic making. If you don’t want them, then I guess you can just stop reading, pfff. Either way I’ll put it under a cut so this post doesn’t take up so much of the dashboard.

I have to admit, my method of creating comics is… Unconventional in a variety of ways. I’m sure it’s not the worst way to go about it, but it may be a bit odd. Everyone has their own way, and a part of the process is finding what clicks well with you and your work flow. This is just my method, one of many!

I’ll start off with some of the important basics in comic making! I went to a small panel about comics at a con last year, and there I learned a few tricks and tips!

When it comes down to speech bubbles, it’s a good idea to keep the flow of the comic in mind. Usually comics are read from left to right, so when it comes to speech bubble order it’s best to keep this in mind. Height and distance between the bubbles in the same panel can also alter the order that they’re read in. It’s likely that our eyes will go to the panels on top first, so when it comes to order, it’s better to put the first bubble higher up than the second!

It’s also a good idea to keep in mind where your speech bubbles will be, and how much space they could potentially take. To avoid covering up too much of the characters it’s a good idea to plan these out ahead of time, and leave some extra space for these.

As well as speech bubble order, character order is also important. Again, since we read left to right, the first character we see we will assume is the protagonist, or even the hero. For example, let’s say you have a man using binoculars to spy on someone within a building. This can go two entirely different ways! If this spy was on the leftmost side of the panel, looking into the building that the person on the right is working in, it’ll come across as a hero digging up some dirt on an evil organization. Flip it around, with the person being spied on to the left inside of his home, and the spy outside and to the right of the panel, it’ll come across as a protagonist in immediate danger!

Something I need to remind myself of frequently is guiding the reader’s eyes about the page. This is best done in a subtle manner, where you use the characters and scenery to “point” towards the next panel. You can also use speech bubbles to do this, as when we read our eyes naturally follow along to the next bubble! Having the rightmost bubble lead into the one within the next panel is a pretty easy way to do this. One way I did this in my BatIM comic was by using Bendy’s spaded tail as a literal arrow. Did you notice? Even if I didn’t have the end of his tail pointing, I tried to aim his tail towards the next panel, especially if he’s not facing the “right” direction. The way that a character faces can also have an effect on this, so keep that in mind. They shouldn’t always be facing right, so it helps to have ways to lead reader eyes along.

One comic I poured a lot of focus on for this particular tactic is this one. Here I have Reaper Bird essentially point to where I want the reader’s eyes to go. You’ll also notice that it pops out of the panel now and again. That was a fun little detail I decided to add; in this case I used it to make Reaper Bird feel a little stranger, as it didn’t always fit into the box, even though Gaster did. A nod to how it covers up the dialogue box in-game. You can use this tactic to draw more attention to a character, such as for an introduction! Sometimes you don’t even have to limit them within the confines of the walls of a panel!

Speaking of panels… Making them all the same size and shape gets relatively… Boring. Not to mention there will be times where you either will have too much room for a single panel, or simply not enough! It’s far more engaging when the panels are different in size and shape. Just be sure to keep the flow in mind. We read from left to right, top to bottom. If you want to stack corresponding panels, be sure to make it clear that the top leads into the bottom, and the bottom leads into the one to the left of those!

So here’s how I make my comics: first I start off with my idea, and I plan out the basic idea in my head. From there I’ll write down the idea, and where exactly I want the comic to go. If I need to, I’ll write a basic script so I know what needs to be said and when. If I need more detail, or if I feel I’ll forget what I want to see I’ll script it out more, maybe sketch out panel ideas/format. From there I sort of… Grab paper and start going at it. I ghost out panels on my page. When I say “ghost,” I’m referring to the very light sketches and shapes I create to give myself a basic idea of where I want characters to be, and what I want them to be doing. I start with these light sketches to help me shape my drawings, and so I can easily go back over them and fix any problems or errors.

Once I feel I’ve got the panel looking basically like how I want it, I put a box around it and move to the next one. Though it’s probably better to use a ruler or a straight edge to create your panels. Even though I’m pretty good at making a straight line, and when I ink the boxes it usually works out… My panels are a wee bit lop-sided, haha! I used to plan out each panel carefully and then measure them out on the page I’ll be drawing on. While this doesn’t work for my flow NOW, it may be a useful tactic for you! For larger comics, careful planning is definitely key, but for shorter comics it’s not quite as important.

Anyway, once I have a page ghosted, I’ll go back over it and finish up the sketches, and make sure that each one is easily distinguishable for the inking process. This is usually where I make sure that the readability of the comic flows well for the reader. It’s also when I’ll share it with friends to get outside opinions. It’s usually a good idea to do this! Because you tend to get used to your own art, and you’ll likely miss errors. (I’ve done this too many times to count.)

After things are settled, I start working on the backgrounds. While not absolutely ESSENTIAL, having backgrounds can make your comic look a little more natural. It can help build atmosphere, and give the reader an idea of where the character is! I usually wait until I get the characters drawn, that way the background and character can mesh together a bit better. However if it’s easier to start with a BG for you, then that’s fine, too!

Then it’s off to inking! I focus first on the characters, then the foreground objects, then the background. Colors are next, should I go with them.

Here’s one page I have where I have the ghosted sketch, please excuse the potato cam quality! It’s not much, but I hope it at least gives you an idea.

Here’s a sketch of the full comic, before I inked it. You can still see some of my rough sketch work and where I started to plot out the background.

But that’s all I can think of, at least for right now. Feel free to ask more questions–I’ll do my best to answer them! I hope this helped out, at least a little bit. I’m sorry that it got quite a bit long… And hopefully this all makes sense, somehow. I feel a bit scatterbrained when it comes to teaching!

Good luck with your comics!

#silver asks #bendy and the ink machine #long post #artist tips #phazerstorm

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shimmy-sham-with-the-fam · 8 years ago

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For the prompts/request project: Fantasy AU for Killugon? :3 (anything works! eg. Killua as a wizard and Gon as a dragon-trainer, or anything else, i'm just giving ideas XD) hope it's fine!!

I finally finished this! Sorry, this took a lil bit of time!

I hope this is kinda fantasy-ish!

I definitely took some liberties with this… But it was a lot of fun!

Thank you for making my first request so amazing, @kigamin! :)

Here is the art that is paired with the fic!

(I apologize in advance for the terrible back ground.. I am awful with those…)

Here’s also a lil bonus sketch of Gon’s shirt because I actually super love it?

Title: Boy X With X Wings

Rate: General Audience

Words: 2289

Killua couldn’t help but stare at the boy in front of him with a mixture of awe and curiosity. Despite seeing each other every day for the past few months, he would always feel his breath hitching when his eyes graced upon the two limbs that naturally rested close his body. Both of the large appendages reflected golden-green colors, and if Killua took an even closer peek, he could make out the details of the smalls scales that lined in rows. In order to make room for the two large members that sprout from his shoulder blades, Gon sported a backless top that reached over his shoulders and covered his neck, almost similar to a turtleneck. Where the clothing didn’t cover, freckles could be seen washing over the boy’s sun bathed skin.

It was honestly hard to believe that Gon wasn’t just some dream, or maybe even an creation from his own imagination. But the smooth, scaled textures underneath the tips of his pale fingers served as proof enough. Gon was real.

And Gon had wings.

“They feel pretty weird, huh?” the owner of the wings chuckled at his friend’s curiosity.

Killua hummed in confirmation while continuing to stroke the left limb protruding from Gon’s shoulder blade. “How did you get these? Were you born with them?”

“No; my aunt told me that my dad was experimenting with a few things when I was a baby. Apparently he had decided to test some sort of potion on me to test if a human could acquire certain traits from different beasts. I guess you could say his test was a success.”

Killua’s lips pulled down into disgust. “He did that to you when you were a baby?! What a terrible dad!” The wings that Killua had easily become accustomed to petting were ripped from under his touch. The owner peered back at him from over his shoulder in the most childish pout in existence.

“I don’t think it was wrong!” Gon objected. “They’re a part of me! Are you saying you don’t like them?!”

“Wha- no! That’s not it! I just was thinking that he just did it when you couldn’t even say you were okay with it!” Killua tried to reassure his friend that he had no actual qualms about the wings themselves. Just the morality in which Gon had acquired them.

Then again, Killua knew he had no room to talk where morals of family members are concerned. Considering his father was the current ruler over Kukuroo Kingdom, the family demanded certain… training practices for self defense and survival of torture methods in case he was caught by an enemy. Much of these tactics included becoming immune to poisons, electricity, and whipping. But Killua had figured out in the short while that he had known the dragon boy that it was one thing for Gon to go through abnormal events. But it was another for his friend to do so. It was probably best that Killua stay silent on that subject for a while.

The pout that rested on Gon’s face instantly brightened into the widest smile Killua could have possibly imagined. Sometimes, Killua wondered how the other teen was able to smile so widely without making the muscles of his cheeks sore.

A bell chimed from the distance, reminding them that their time together was short.

“”Ah! I have to go back before my lessons starts!” Killua exclaimed hastily. He tried to stand up, but was quickly reminded of why they had been sitting. “Ouch!” His back hit against the tree behind him as he whimpered.

“Killua, does your ankle still hurt from the fall earlier?” The young Zoldyck winced in a reply. In all of the wonder of Gon’s wings and amazing chocolate, Killua had completely forgotten that when he and Gon were playing at an earlier time, he had twisted his ankle and face planted into the ground. He wasn’t normally the clumsy one of the two; no, that was normally Gon’s field of expertise. But somehow, Killua became much more aware of his inelegant tendencies. Today was just another painful reminder that Gon has such a peculiar effect on him.

“I’ll be fine,” Killua finally breathed out. “But I have to get to my lessons soon or my mother will be pissed!”

“Well…” Gon shimmied his eyes down at Killua’s bandaged ankle before looking back up into crystal ocean eyes. “I could fly you back?”

“What?! Gon, that’s crazy-” Killua immediately protested at the offer. It was stupid, really. He had been through various tortures in his ‘training sessions’. A twisted ankle was nothing in comparison to what he had been through in the past.

“How so?” Gon used his pouting face for the second time that day. “You’re hurt and it’s a long walk from here to your home! It would be much faster and easier if I just fly you over there!”

“Gon, I’ve never-”

“Please, Killua?” The pout transformed into the largest pleading eyes he could muster. It was Gon’s signature “get Killua to do what I want” face. And it worked every time.

“Okay, fine! Fine! I’ll let you do it, just stop looking at me like that!” Killua hates how quickly he gives into Gon, sometimes. But he can’t help it.

Gon cheers with pure enjoyment at his victory, and jumps to his feet at a terrifying speed.

“Here! You’re gonna have to hold on tight!” The dragon boy tells him as he faces his kneeling back towards Killua. Ocean blue eyes sigh as he begins to wrap his arms around his friend’s neck with little certainty. The white haired boy took the time to notice that his heart rate had increased significantly, and he wasn’t sure if it was because of the nervous anticipation of being air born or if it was from being compressed so tightly against his friend. Either situation wasn’t quite ideal for the poor boy, emotionally.

Gon gathered his hands beneath Killua’s knees and pulled him up so that the other teen relaxed into his back. Now that Killua sat piggyback against Gon, Killua wasn’t quite sure what to do. So he decided that the best idea was to tightly knit his eyes close and waited for the swooshing noises of wings cutting through the air.

“Are you ready, Killua?” a soothing voice met his ears.

“Yeah, sure fine, just get it o-VER WIITH~” half way through Killua’s sentence, Gon kneeled down in preparation for take of. Within less than a second, his feet pushed mightily against the ground, creating a howling sound against their ears. Killua’s muscles tensed around Gon’s neck, leaving hardly any room for the dragon boy to breath. But Gon didn’t mind; he knew this was a brand new experience for Killua. So instead he smiled patiently while waiting for his friend’s intense screaming to settle under the wind.

Killua shivered as the air cut through his hair and face. He pressed his face into the nape of Gon’s neck, wishing that the ground wasn’t hundreds of feet below him. He never realized how much he loved having cold pavement against his feet until now. This was such a bizarre feeling; being air born. He wanted down, he wanted down, he wanted down. This was a terrible idea, he could have walked it. Sure, the sore ache would be pretty annoying, but he could have done it. And it’d be so much better than pressing his eyelids tightly together and contracting every single muscle in his entire body. It’d be so much better being able to open his eyes and see-

“Killua! Open your eyes!” Gon shouted over the howling whistles of the wind in their ears. Killua almost shouted ‘no’ at the top of his lungs. But something made him second guess that decision. And so he complied, slowly unfolding his lids.

-The most beautiful scenery that only the two of them shared.

“Wow…” His cobalt eyes played against the top of the greenery far below them. Too condensed and pressed together to make out any details from so high up. But there were also homes and buildings and white churches. And Large hills and small mountains from across the way, covered in grassy fields And the beach off bits of ways into the distance, but still close enough that the clear waters of the ocean could be seen in its accompaniment.

“Pretty, huh?” Gon questioned from behind another signature sunshine smile.

“Yeah…” Killua gasped breathlessly. “Is this what you see all the time?”

“Yup! I love it! It’s so nice looking over the forests and the ocean!”

“It’s amazing!” Killua broke into the largest smile he could, marveling at the landscape. No longer did he wish to be planted to the ground. Rather, he wished that he could stay up in the sky with Gon forever.

“Ah, Gon! Look!” His left arm released from Gon’s neck and pointed below them. “That’s my favorite sweets store! Oh!” his hand pointed slightly farther up from the building. “And there’s that lady that gives me sea salt chocolate all the time! And then the small bakery that I take Alluka to all the time when we sneak out! That’s her favorite place to go!”

Gon couldn’t hold in his laughter. “You sure love sweets, Killua!”

“Well duh! Chocolate is the best food in the world! I live off of it!”

“Killua that’s not very good for you!” Gon nagged playfully. Killua scoffed at him.

“I never asked for your health tips, Gon! Just keep flying! We’re almost there!”

Gon’s ringing laugh chimed through Killua’s ears. It was then that Killua sighed and rested his head in the juncture of Gon neck. For the rest of the flight, they stayed silent; both being truly content with having each other’s company amidst the sky. Just the two of them.

Disappointment filled Killua’s heart when he felt Gon carefully dive down. This was the end of their small adventures for the day, Killua realized. And he hated the fact that each day with Gon felt shorter than what he would have preferred. If it were up to Killua, he’d spend all day with Gon, not that he would ever admit that to anyone but himself… Okay maybe Alluka.

When Gon landed skillfully on his feet, he continued to walk with Killua on his back. It was only when Canary, Killua’s favorite guard had sprinted to meet them. She would always meet them at the end of their small adventures guide Killua back to the castle as if she had never left his side. It was an unspoken agreement amongst the three. Gon would come by in the afternoon and they would run off together to play or explore. Then when the chiming of the church bells bled through the air, they were ripped from their playtime and met back with Canary so that Killua could attend his lessons. If he attended his lessons, then his mother wouldn’t snoop and follow Killua around. So they had to make do with what time they had together.

Canary’s eyes immediately set onto the bandages wrapped tightly about Killua’s ankle. “Your highness, what-”

“I just tripped and twisted my ankle. I’m fine!” Killua assured before she could finish her concerned inquiries. He grimaced at the pronoun reserved for his social classification. It felt wrong to be called something so ridiculous.

“I flew him over so he didn’t have to walk on it the whole way. I think he should be fine from here!” The winged boy gently kneeled down, releasing his grip from underneath the knees of his best friend. Once Killua’s feet met the ground, there was a bit of wobbling as his body had finally caught up with the adrenaline rush he had experienced just a minute ago.

“Thank you for taking care of him.” Canary bowed in gratitude. Killua rolled his eyes at this, wishing that his guard didn’t have to be so formal but knowing she had no other choice. Even if only just in the presence of Gon and Killua.

“It’s no problem, really!” Gon scratched the back of his head is if he were embarrassed by the sudden gratitude. This had become a rather routine act between Gon and the young guard.

“Alright, you two,” Killua leaned his weight on the foot he hadn’t twisted. “I got a lesson starting in about five minutes! I’m in kind of a hurry here!”

“Right! Sorry, Killua!” Gon grinned.

Killua stuck his tongue out, playfully. “See yah later!” Gon was about to reply with the same phrase. But instead stepped forward; closer to Killua.

Blue eyes widened when foreign lips brushed against his cheek. It was a small, quick peck of affection against the flushed cheek. But Killua still couldn’t stop himself from reaching his hand up and tracing where Gon’s lips had touched moments ago.

Gon gave no time for Killua to sputter. He simply gave one more signature smile before replying, “See yah, Killua!” And with that, his wings were pushing him back up into the sky.

Killua stood stunned with the palm of his hand resting against his cheek. “Did… Did Gon just…” His voice stuttered into the air. Of course, this was not a question meant to be answered. The action itself, answered for him.

“Your highness… Your lessons.” Canary reminded, although she was quite amused by the display Gon had given.

“…Right.” Killua turned and leaned against Canary to support him. As they walked away, the slightest grin pulled at the prince’s lips. “”That idiot…” he murmured under his breath.

But he knew he’d wait with little patience for the next day to see his friend with the dragon wings.

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farukhislam · 4 years ago

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The most effective method to compose a blog for a business

Adding a blog to your business site is a splendid method to interface with your clients and furthermore adds solidarity to your image

Numerous organizations haven't hooked on to the possibility that a blog is an advantageous instrument to utilize. Most accept a blog can be tedious; that concocting thoughts for posts and sharpening the quality does not merit the exertion. We, at Verve Search, accept that is absolute refuse.

A business blog for your site is definitely not a misuse of your time or site space. Actually, it's one of the most financially savvy approaches to advance your business which will definitely prompt more deals, build up yourself as a main expert in the business, and allow you to widen your market reach. Also, it's ridiculous simple to blog. Everybody's doing it nowadays. I wager even your own mom is a blogger. Trust me, that is no affront.

Here are some top tips on the best way to blog for business experts:

1. YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE YOUR READERS SO WRITE FOR THEM

Composing a blog for your business is totally unique to an individual blog. As it were, IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU!!! Your business blog is about your business and your clients – would you accept! Continuously recall that the individuals who are going to peruse your blog are clients, and expected clients, so compose for them. Your blog entries should mean to respond to any potential inquiries they may have and convey new bits of knowledge into your industry.

2. PLAN BLOG CONTENT IN ADVANCE

Expression one: "There basically isn't the time!" Phrase two: "I have no clue about what to expound on!" what number of you have blamed these two expressions for not having a blog? Be straightforward. Well light up chaps and women for there is an answer: plan your blog entries. This will fathom any reasons for absence of time and thoughts when the week after week schedule moves around to blog-entry day (which ought to be at any rate once every week incidentally – more on that later). With a touch of arranging toward the beginning of every month, you can have enough plans to keep the blog running for quite a long time.

3. Keep in mind THE POWER OF A GOOD TITLE

Neglecting the intensity of a blog title is a major no-no. It impacts on how a blog entry is found in the web search tool. The primary thing a potential peruser takes a gander at is the title. You need a long tail watchword feature that attracts perusers and demonstrates what the post is about. Long tail catchphrases comprise of longer expressions that web clients enter in web indexes so as to discover increasingly explicit data. Great approaches to stand out for readers are to utilize activity action words and questions.

For instance, notice how noteworthy the title of this blog entry is demonstrating that you, the peruser, will figure out how to compose an effective business blog. On the off chance that I settled on a scrutinizing title I could have gone for 'Should You Add A Blog To Your Business Website?' (The appropriate response is 'yes' incidentally).

4. Make CONSTRUCTIVE CONTENT

Giving your perusers significant substance is vital to an effective business blog. It's a method of setting up your business site as a main expert in your industry. Expounding on what you know is the most effortless approach to compose.

For instance, suppose your business sells solid ledges (truly, obviously there are organizations for that!) which can as a matter of fact be a dry subject yet it's your solid business and you're a specialist regarding the matter. Compose posts regarding the matter of picking the correct precious stone cushions for your solid ledge, how fluctuating climate conditions can influence solid, what solid ledges resemble far and wide. You can even veer away a piece and compose something about how cement is utilized in craftsmanship ventures. It's all significant and intriguing substance… as applicable and fascinating as concrete can be.

Additionally, in the event that you offer perusers posts that are useful and response any inquiries they may have had regarding the matter they will compensate you by turning out to be steadfast clients. Make your clients see that you are the solid answer for their solid issue.

5. BLOG LITTLE BUT OFTEN

Blog entries are not articles, so keep them quick and painless. Individuals online are bound to filter site content so it's critical to make the most of each and every word. As a guide, point somewhere in the range of 250 and 500 words for every post. This is only a rule and not a standard. On the off chance that it takes you 1000 words or more to get a message across to your perusers (simply like this post) that is completely fine. Regarding how frequently, the best practice is to blog at a consistency you trust you can keep up – when seven days is acceptable. Set a day to transfer the post and stick to it. Web search tools like new substance and the more every now and again you update your blog and site the higher your rankings.

6. GET THE WHOLE TEAM INVOLVED

The blog shouldn't be viewed as one individual's sole obligation. It'll immediately turn out to be excessively overpowering for that individual and you'll before long hear the two crying expressions sketched out in point No.2. Allow everybody to compose and share the obligation of the blog. Also, when I state everybody I mean everybody from the CEO to the tea kid. The most ideal approach to make this work is to draw up a blog rota consistently. The various styles of composing and the tones that will rise up out of the quantity of individuals blogging will include greater character and 'human' profundity. Also, the more individuals you get the chance to become bloggers, the greater your pool of substance thoughts. Reward.

7. BE INSPIRED BY CUSTOMERS

Recall that the clients are your perusers. Some of the time clients have explicit inquiries. Don't simply ask them in a FAQ segment. Rather, answer the inquiry by composing a post.

For instance, your business sells solid ledges (truly, genuinely there are organizations out there that do that!) and clients you've managed in the past needed to realize the approaches to make their solid ledge look all the more fascinating. You can compose a post illustrating the choices accessible to them from imbedding shaded glass to making a mosaic example, making a marble impact or utilizing sparkle in obscurity total. Question replied.

Exploration what clients are searching for by utilizing the web crawler. Take a gander at search proposals and related hunts. Discover catchphrases for your examination. You can utilize an instrument, for example, Google AdWords Keyword Tool to discover watchword states that could transform into blog entry titles which will drive more traffic to the blog.

8. BE VISUAL

A basic method to transform likely perusers into genuine perusers is to give pictures. Photographs, diagrams, infographics and recordings have the ability to impart in an alternate, increasingly moment, path than words. Pictures attract a group of people and give an extra focal point to your posts.

N.B. Do likewise ensure any pictures you use for your blog are either yours or Creative Commons pictures.

9. React TO COMMENTS

Welcome your clients to leave remarks each time you post content. It's a method of getting free statistical surveying and client understanding, feelings, audits and objections. Continuously react back to remarks in an amenable and common way, particularly for the situation with grievances. Treat them as valuable analysis, regardless of whether they are fairly inconsiderate. Keep up a degree of class with your remarks. In the event that you remain tasteful, your business will as well.

10. Break down YOUR BLOG PERFORMANCE

Utilize a web details instrument, for example, Google Analytics to gauge your site's exhibition. It's free and rushes to introduce. You can utilize it to screen how your blog's exhibition is getting along and get a thought of the manners in which individuals are finding your blog and what posts are the most well known. From all that data you can decide what's been a triumph and how you can improve your future blog entries.

Along these lines, that is basically what you have to think about how to compose a blog for a business. I trust this post has given you a couple of thoughts on the best way to make an effective business blog. In the event that you have some other tips, if it's not too much trouble don't hesitate to leave remarks. Presently get blogging! Good wishes.

#business

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