#craft discussions

[ephemeronidwrites]

🌿🎀💌 FOR REAL FIC WRITER ASKS

🌿 how does creating make you feel?

Drunk on power. Maniacally omnipotent. I am God and I have the power of life and death (or at least great suffering and joy) over my characters' lives.

But also sometimes I feel like the lowliest and most derivative worm ever without a single original thought in my head—or if I do, they're all cringe—and why are words so hard, I sob theatrically into my keyboard for an audience of one.

🎀 give yourself a compliment about your own writing

Oh my god. You are evil. Evil evil evil.

Which is why I am cheating. Fed excerpts of my own writing (very short ones, so I think I've been relatively safe about it) to ChatGPT and let's see what it came up with:

Strong characters with vivid personalities. Use of vivid imagery and sensory details. A good sense of immersion.

All of which I would say are aspects of my writing I am actually quite happy with.

I would also say I like the way I write banter and dialogue, how I feel comfortable using it flexibly to convey multiple different facets of my characters, from the ways they see the world, to their hidden motivations, to how their diction and even things like speech habits and quirks and tics all reflect on their personalities. (That's something the AI model wasn't really given the opportunity to pick up, given that I didn't feed it any of my writing that involved dialogue.)

Not to say that there isn't room for improvement there, but I do think I am happy letting myself be, on those fronts, and maybe investing more of my energy into improving other aspects of my writing. Like practicing more plotting, being more concise when I need to be, etc.

💌 share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

All right, so I guess I'm biting the bullet here and going public with it (no take backsies).

Aside from the updates on my ongoing longfic, I'm working on a one-shot dealing with Morrigan's thoughts on motherhood. Her relationship with Flemeth, the whole process by which she conceived her child, and how she felt when she gave birth to Kieran.

It will probably be released very soon. Soon as in, within the next couple weeks. For... reasons of time relevance. (This is not me being salty about motherhood and family and Hallmark holidays, no, not in the least.)

[ephemeronidwrites]

I agree with every point here about how Cullen should have been written. He is a character who IS capable of growth and change, but unfortunately, the greater scope narrative decisions made within DA:I squandered that potential.

To quote from the last lines of the article:

"Cullen was not redeemed. He did not change. The story around him changed to sympathize with him for what was once considered acts of an antagonist.

"Cullen was ‘woobified.’ And to say otherwise is frankly a disservice to characters like Blackwall, who actually go through real redemption."

Good Redemption Arcs & Why Cullen’s Doesn’t Pass

*Throws confetti in the air as I continue to dig my own grave in this fandom*

I’ve tried to talk about Cullen’s “redemption” a number of times, and why it isn’t really a proper redemption arc… with mixed success. I continue to get asks about it from time to time, and this has motivated me to attempt a much more lengthy post on the subject. 

Contents:

What Makes a Good Redemption Arc?

In Comparison: Redemption Done Well vs. Cullen

Does Cullen Deserve Redemption? (My answer to a popular question)

So, What Could Have Happened?

In Conclusion

Hope you enjoy. 🙂

Keep reading

[mobius-m-mobius]

#so unserious 😂💖

[correct-hermitcraft-quotes]

xB: Like I said I am not quotable, you shouldn't quote the things I say. You've been warned.

[ephemeronidwrites]

I mean, I don't actually agree that the flaws and problematic elements make me love the characters any less, it just makes that love more conflicted. But it's definitely something to think about how some of the most complex and lovable and brilliantly written characters in this series (going all the way back to Origins) were brought into being by writers who seemed to absolutely hate them as people.

my da hot take of the day is that aveline’s act 3 quest could have potentially been one of the most compelling and thought-provoking in the game if the writers had an ounce of self-awareness with her character. you have this woman who’s inaction is pretty much directly responsible for the horrific death of your mother and the qunari’s resort to violence (and this is only in act 2), and you are forced to choose between securing her position of power or giving it over to the templars and granting them full control of kirkwall. this is the definition of a lose-lose scenario and the writers seem completely unaware of this fact.

[dykedvonte]

Something something perhaps the reason Curly lacks a truly undamaged ID where his face is visible is to represent how much damage Jimmy had already affected on him throughout their relationship and the way Curly obscured part of who he is and what he stood to unintentionally cater to this toxic influence in his life.

[sleepymaven]

HSR: Halovians' Halos

My Headcanon/Idea About Halovian Halos

Alright, let's get into it!

So, halovians' halos are not attached to their heads, as we already know and can see clearly with Robin.

Robin with her halo clearly removed from her head to disguise herself.

We can also see in Robin's trailer that they can shine their halos, like gold and any other metal.

Robin getting her halo shined for the cameras. Courtesy of our beloved Sunday ♡

So, this got me thinking. What if the halos are just pieces of metal?

Thinking about it some more, no matter how you look at it, there could be no way they are born with metal hovering over their heads, right? Whether they hatch from an egg or come out live from their mother, it would theoretically be impossible.

Unless, somehow it sprouts up after they are born, this just wouldn't work from a biological standpoint.

So... what if their parents make their halos for them after they are born?

It could be a sentimental and special experience crafting and welding the metal for their new child together, gifting it to them once they are born so they can keep it with them for their whole life.

It would explain why they are removable, can be cleaned and polished, and would add a nice sentimental touch to every halovians' unique halo as it would have been painstakingly crafted from their parents.

This could also add a sort of angst element if you were to create a halovian character without a halo or just with a plain halo.

It could mean that they were abandoned or their parents did not put much care or time into their child and that would be reflected more outwardly that way.

Perhaps a lack of halo could also signify a halovian going against their heritage and abandoning their family themselves. After all, what better way to shun your parents then to rid yourself of the one special gift they gave to you to remember them by?

Omg, I love this thought of mine! I'm so proud of myself here for thinking this up at like 2 in the morning! This is one of my best thoughts I've dreamt up in a hot minute. :3

[insertsomthinawesome]

AIGHT 2 People said they'd be interested in seeing it so here it is!! ^^^^ Left is the old one ^^^ Right is the New one So the old one isn't bad per-se. Just to clarify. I was having a massive issue with the colors not looking right (the shadows are kinda yellowy and red-ish Purple-ish when they should be more blue I believe) and I couldn't find a quick fix for it. After thinking it over i just decided to start over cause there were already other things I wasn't as happy with. The fact that the view point doesn't really focus DOWN on them, but is at this angle which incidentally seems to lead your eye up into the upper left Angle Caelus's Face wasn't exactly too my liking, nor was March's. I wanted March's hair to a LOT more spread out and messy. Her arm pointing up towards the stars felt kinda odd and out of place, it feels like its stealing a disproportionate amount of the Canvas. And most importantly I wanted it to have a sorta, whimsical, magical feel to it? And while the first one is Good ART it feels a lot more grounded. a Lot more like a photograph if you will. This isn't a perfect 1 to 1 since the New One is completely rendered while the Old One never even got that far. But this gives you an idea of what happened!! Honestly I'm really happy I took the time to re-do the whole dang thing. It was intimidated, I tend to worry about getting stuck and never getting back to things. But the New one honestly didn't take me very long, and I'd made enough mistakes I was discontent with on the old one that it felt like starting over would be more worth it in the end. And I ended up being right so! WHOO HOOO!!! SLDFJSDLKJGLSDGS Anyways thats all from me o7 Thanks two the individuals who enabled me alsdjfLKJGSD I appreciate the interest :D

[mostlyvoid-partiallyflowers]

The most recent episode of Interview with a Vampire let's us see Lestat's side of the story and see how it compares to Louis' accounting of their relationship. As a result, it reaffirms just how unreliable of a narrator Louis is, but it also further illuminates elements of his character that the director and writers have been playing with since the beginning of the show.

There's this part in the episode where Lestat turns to Louis and apologizes and it's framed with Lestat turned to Louis on one side and Claudia on his other side. They're the angel and devil on Louis' shoulders, but who is the angel and who is the devil? And as my friend said, Armand and Daniel are placed into that same dynamic with Louis later on. We are being asked to decide who to trust, who's telling the truth, who's the good guy, but the fact of unreliability robs us of that decision.

This whole story is about Louis, he's the protagonist, though not the narrator, and he is constantly being pulled in two directions, no matter when or where he is in his story. He's a mind split in two, divided by nature and circumstance. He's vampire and human, owner and owned, father and child, angel and devil. He's both telling the story and being told the story. His history is a story he tells himself, and as we've seen, sometimes that story is not whole.

Louis is the angel who saved Claudia from the fire but he's also the devil who sentenced her to an life of endless torment, the adult trapped in the body of a child. He's the angel who rescued Lestat from his grief and also the devil who abandoned him, who couldn't love him, could only kill and leave him.

He's pulled in two directions, internally and externally at all times and so it's no wonder that he feels the need to confess, first to the priest, then Daniel, and then Daniel again.

He's desperate to be heard, a Black man with power in Jim Crow America who's controlled by his position as someone with a seat at the table but one who will never be considered equal. He doesn't belong to the Black community or the white community, he can't. He acts as a go-between, a bridge, one who is pushed and pulled until he can't take it anymore. He's a fledgling child to an undead father, he's a young queer man discovering his sexual identity with an infinitely experienced partner. He's confessing because he wants to be absolved, that human part of him that was raised Catholic, that child who believed, he wants to be saved. He wants to be seen.

Louis wants to attain a forever life that is morally pure, but he can't. He's been soiled by sin, by "the devil," as he calls Lestat, and he can never be clean again. Deep down, I think he knows this, but he can't stop trying to repent. He tries to self-flagellate by staying with Lestat and then tries to repent by killing him, but can't actually follow through. He follows Claudia to Europe to try and assuage his guilt. He sets himself on fire, attempts to burn himself at the stake, to purify his body, rid himself of the dark gift.

Louis is a man endlessly trying to account for the pain he has caused and he ultimately fails, over and over again, because he can't get rid of what he is. A monster. He's an endlessly hungry monster. He's hungry for love, for respect, for power, for forgiveness, for death. He's a hole that can never be filled. He can never truly acquire any of those things because he will always be punishing himself for wanting and needing them in the first place. He will never truly believe he deserves them and as a result, can't accept them if they are ever offered. He can never be absolved for he has damned himself by accepting the dark gift and thus has tainted himself past the point of saving.

[ephemeronidwrites]

💛 and 🦋 for the fanfic ask game!

🦋 Which character is your favorite to write?

The closest I could get to an answer for this question is probably Varric?

That probably comes from the fact that he himself is a writer. With any other character, it's very obvious to me that I am the creator and they are my creations (in a sense... obviously in the context of writing fanfiction they are not 100% mine, but the point still stands). I'm putting them under my microscope and poking them to get interesting reactions. Whereas writing Varric just feels different: inhabiting a scene with him almost feels like I’m dialoguing with him about it and the whole thing is a collaboration. There's definitely something special about it.

That being said, in terms of the sheer enjoyment I get out of the process of writing another character—their voice, their quirks, what drives them—I do not have favorites. I'm not always good at bringing my characters to life, but I always have way too much fun doing it.

💛 What is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing?

The most helpful lesson (and honestly the one I still continually struggle with) has been that, at the end of the day, the most important thing always will be and always has been your own vision.

It goes without saying that the haters aren't worth your energy or time, but what's harder to remember is that even the fans—as lovely as they are—probably like your work for reasons that are entirely personal to them and nothing to do with you specifically. So while yes, readers are lovely people and we adore them to bits, it's wise to not rely too heavily on what they say to calibrate our craft... that's what alpha/beta readers and editors are for. And it's an even worse idea to base your creative direction on what other people want you to write.

Don't get me wrong, it’s very valuable to get that opportunity to connect with another person! But the moment you start to think it's worth it to compromise on any aspect of your vision in favor of that kind of validation, imo that's when you know your priorities are starting to skew towards a creatively sterile place, and it's time to step back and take a break, try and find yourself again.

Ultimately, the best reason to write is for yourself, because no story would ever have existed if the author hadn’t loved it and dreamed it into being. There’s a deep and inherent—and irreplaceable—worth in acknowledging that love.

A better writer than me has expressed a similar idea much more elegantly here.

[six-demon-crafting]

look! a project i actually finished all the way!!

🧵 Bye by TheLonelySeaman

[wiihtigo]

these frauds

[mechanicalinfection]

MY GOODBYE.

w/o text under the cut (+ au lore?)

They're both hurt by each other's actions, they're both suffering and dealing with their grief in their own way. Clara lashes out in response to being hurt, meanwhile Phil just stays silent and keeps to himself, not uttering a single word as he lets himself register what has been done.

They're both good, but also both in the wrong. Just unfortunate events, and unfortunate timing. And to clear and add things up:

Clara has no relation to Phil (Springtrap), they've only known each other for a short period amount of time (which means they aren't married or any of that)

That also doesn't mean they weren't friends during this though, but unfortunate things happen. A lot more than people would want, so their relationship is very rocky and bad, as for now.

Clara and Phil have a potential of getting together, but it isn't guaranteed. Nonetheless they care a lot about each other and act like a sweet old couple, with occasional teasing the other here and there, but it's all in good fun

Both have lost someone during this.

They'll still remain friends later in the story, their relationship isn't tainted forever

Both fought each other during this, the only sign of it happening is Clara's subtle bruises on her face in the panel. Phil can manage himself just fine, however Clara is just human. (?)

[schneiderenjoyer]

Arcanist's "Perception" & The Unseen World

Hello! I'm back at it again with a fascinating look into analyzing new information from the recent event in global that help solidify certain headcanons and theories I have about arcanist genetics/behavior and how much more they're different from humans.

It focuses on the Meditator's Realm and how it supports something I've already had assumptions on and that is:

Arcanists can tangibly see and interact with things others, mostly humans, can't. This apply to other arcanists as well even if some can theoretically perceive them.

This is a long read, so take your time.

Let's start with what I mean by their perception creating tangibility on what an arcanist can see and interact with. Arcanists are highly sensitive to strong emotions and their thought process works differently on how they manage it. Using Kaalaa Baunaa as an example, we can see how she manifests stress and anxiety as a literal monster stalking her with the proposal papers as its "anchor" or main source of the strong emotions:

This is one of the many ways arcanists "perceive" emotions that makes sense to them and through Deep Meditative Thought (Gnosis), they can compartmentalize it into a more coherent structure that would be more similar to how humans deal with strong emotional response without it manifesting into strong "hallucinations."

But are they really hallucinations?

Not quite. While the emotional state can be seen as delusions, they're very much real to arcanists for one specific reason: Their core. I forgot the actual term they use for it (it could actually just be Gnosis honestly), but one of the biggest biological difference between humans and arcanists is that arcanists apparently have some kind of stone in their brain that's theorized to be the deciding factor of how they can use arcanum and "perceive" wild things.

But the "delusions", according to humans, are actual solid things the arcanists can interact with. They're tangible and real, but invisible to the naked eye with only a particular set of individuals being able to "see" them. These unseeing things becomes what's known as "myths" or "cryptids" to humans. But even arcanists find it hard to perceive these things as they're not specialized in it.

We can see this in Tooth Fairy.

While other arcanists can see the tooth fairies in her jar (which has unique properties meant to contain them), the "other fairies" that surround her constantly and more freely are invisible to them both in sight and hearing.

This leads me to believe that each arcanists see many "unseen things" differently and purely based on their skills and capabilities, but have the potential to "see" what other arcanists see either with the right tools (anchor) or enough practice.

People who try to "perceive" these things without proper training or equipment to "observe" them carefully can lead to a lot of mental distress, even insanity. Commonly humans because:

Humans are creatures that go by the motto of "Fact over fiction" or "Seeing is believing", but when actually facing the truth of things, they buckle under the pressure.

But that doesn't mean arcanists are immune to these effects either.

This is one of Baby Blue's "items" that she brought back from "Wonderland" and it's unstable and imperfect. Even UTTU's arcanist staff slowly lose the sense to properly "perceive" the item if they look too long both because it's incomplete and it's an "unseen thing" that only Baby Blue has fully deciphered in her head. It's a tangible, solid shape to her, but a confusing distorted attempt to mimic the real thing to others. It could also be due to the fact it's not from their world, but from "Wonderland", a place slightly different from their own.

But how did she manage to bring it into reality that even untrained arcanist eyes can "perceive" it with only minor consequences of lengthy observation to it?

This is where the Meditator's Realm comes into play.

It's described as a Realm that "mirrors" reality that can be entered through a special meditative form and connects the Deep Thought (Gnosis) of arcanists to it, allowing them to explore and interact with it to some degree.

Kaalaa Baunaa even compares it to dreaming, but more specifically she's referring to what humans call Lucid Dreaming. It's a form of astral projection where the soul disconnects from the body after entering REM sleep. A deep meditative state achieved through sleep. This is further supported from Baby Blue's interview about "Wonderland":

The implication is staggering as this could mean that even humans can enter this realm through lucid dreaming, but can't achieve as great of an influence there as arcanists who are naturally born to view everything in reality as different. The Meditator's Realm could be proof of a parallel world anyone can access with enough skill and resources.

Like the Manus Vindictae.

Their goals for wanting to reverse the world is still unknown, but with the new insight about the Meditator's Realm, we can speculate that how the Storm operates is through the collapse and bridging between "Reality" and a "Mirrored Reality." And with the Manus' intention of "bringing the world to the right course of history", the possibility of them selecting one of these parallel worlds and attempt to merge it with theirs by "erasing" parts to later glue fragments from another into it is more and more possible.

And an arcanist's ability to "perceive" the unseen realms becomes a very prevalent key to surviving a Storm.

Because with this, they can see the "in between" and the moment "reality" and the "mirrored world" starts conflicting before the Storm takes everything away due to the unstable consequences of bringing two worlds together.

They're still not immune when the Storm actually arrives, but just simply being able to "see" the signs gives them an advantage in braving it.

TLDR; Arcanists not only think differently from humans, but can see and interact with things far beyond the scope of "reality" that even other arcanists find hard to understand without training or an anchor.

The Meditator's Realm could be potential proof of parallel worlds and could be how the Manus dictates the course of what era they want to reach. As well as the unstable collision between "reality" and the "mirrored world" could be how the Storm operates.

Thank you for reading! Hope this fascinates you into thinking other theories about the Meditator's Realm and what could this mean for the world lore and arcanists.

[slimeandsadness]

Handedness in DanAndPhilCrafts - Slime

A documentation and analysis of the hands that Dan and Phil use in the new Crafts video. Obviously some of this stuff is just due to filming and seating angles, but as with so much else about this video, I think some really interesting things can be intuited from it. Sorry if anyone has already done this!

This whole idea came from a post @lesbaurinkos pointing out that Dan - who's left handed - uses his right hand to sacrifice Phil, and comparing it to this exchange from Glitter Faces:

Phil: If you're left handed, ask a friend. Dan: Why am I left handed? Phil: Everybody makes mistakes.

This implies that there is something wrong with Dan's left handedness, and I've seen some suggest that this is what leads him to do rituals with his right. Others still say that perhaps this shows a transition of some sort, so that he is not the same person. While these are valid and interesting readings, I'd like to put forward a different theory.

Traditionally, the left hand has been seen as sinister (literally the Latin word for left, while the right was 'dexter'), so one would think that Dan's left handedness would actually be a boon for a Satanic ritual. It's a mark of otherness, of queerness, that was historically punished by a Christian society who saw it as deviant and wicked.

Indeed, it isn't just Dan who uses a hand different from his dominant one for ritualistic practice. Although we don't see Phil make the cut on Dan's hand, when he holds the knife, he holds it in his left hand.

Likewise, once it cuts to the next shot, the knife is at an angle that suggests it having been put down from his left.

Dan's wound is on his right hand, and he uses this hand for many of the ritualistic elements to come, including - while still in Crafts mode - anointing himself and Phil in slime and holding the knife while telling us that He wants it 'straight from the source'.

This might be because his left hand is out of action due to all that blue slime on it. How did that blue slime get there? First, a word on the slime itself.

The two slimes serve different purposes. Dan's slime is intended to be a vessel and Phil's will be 'fun to touch'. Thus, while the red slime is only for Him, I would argue that the blue slime is for Them. After all, creativity is nothing without friendship.

That homoerotic hand grab with Phil - which squishes together the friendship slime, the same colour as Phil's eyes, as Dan points out - represents 'friendship' as the other force alongside Him. In this hand grab, Dan's dominant hand becomes covered in slime, leaving only his non-dominant hand for ritual purposes.

Interestingly, Phil is using his left hand here (his ritual hand), perhaps a sign of their differing priorities. I won't go into too much detail here, but I've seen others make interesting posts about Phil doing things for Him, and Dan doing them for Phil. This isn't too important here, as it's Dan's deliberate choices after this about which hand to use that become particularly interesting.

Indeed, after this, Dan draws the sigils on the walls with his right hand, and he also walks into the room to complete the sacrifice holding the knife in his right hand. If his right hand is his ritual hand, this makes sense.

However, and I haven't seen anyone mention this yet, he leaves the room with it in his left hand.

I think this is fascinating, since - as with the cut in Dan's hand - we don't see what happens between these two shots. We hear Phil scream and assume Dan has stabbed him as planned, but we don't get to see which hand he actually wields the knife with. Going with my above thesis, perhaps this is because it is muddy and unknowable to what extent Dan is doing this for Him (the right hand) and to what extent he's doing it for Phil (the left).

We can also view this in contrast with the hand cut from earlier, where the discarded knife indicates that Phil completed the whole thing with his left (ritual) hand.

Dan also has a bloody handprint on his shirt, presumably from Phil in his final moments, and it's a right hand print. This is Phil's 'friendship' hand. Despite Phil's ultimate devotion to Him, during the moment of his greatest sacrifice, it is the deep intimacy of this act between the two of them that is most important.

In the final ritual scene, Dan begins by holding the knife in his right hand (his ritual hand).

However, he then holds it in both hands, just as he holds Phil's heart in both hands a moment later. Both ritual and friendship are working together here, and he continues for the rest of the scene to use both hands to anoint them in Phil's heart's blood.

In the final shot, they are stood in their usual formation (Dan on stage right, Phil on stage left) and they each hold an item of ritualistic significance in their non-dominant, ritual hand. Dan holds Phil's heart in his right hand; Phil holds the knife in his left. What they each hold in their dominant hands is each other.

As a few others have pointed out, the rope of Baphomet behind them also evokes imagery of handfasting. That suggests that this is not just a summoning of Baphomet, but also a marriage ceremony of sorts. They are bound not just to Baphomet, but to each other.

A lot of this is, of course, because of their standard way round of sitting, so that their dominant hands are always between them, but it is fascinating that they made the choice to continue with this motif even once they were roaming free.

This is my final thesis, then, that throughout the video they both use their non-dominant hands for acts of ritualistic significance, while their dominant hands become important for their relationship. This is especially true for Dan, whose devotion often seems split between Him and Phil. Dan's left handedness could additionally act as a metaphor for queerness, so it's especially notable the way that this hand is reserved only for Phil.

Basically: