#do y'all know how much she hates the idea of fate controlling her actions... and how much i love past lives... so much my friend so much

[quietlyblooms]

memories that linger | love and deepspace

there's always been something pushing against you. and not in the metaphorical, woe is you sort of way, but in the way that... well, you can't quite put your finger on it. there's nothing metaphorical about it, you think, but anyone else would swear it's just your luck. you believe that, too, when you aren't so displeased with the way things are going. there is something that tries to force your hand, change the choices you want to make.

you realize that sounds crazy. that's why you keep it to yourself.

you've stopped resisting the push so much these days. you feel it like a hand upon your back, urging you forward and into the hunter association's ranks despite your dream of publishing your manga. it feels simultaneously wonderfully right and terribly wrong, though the development of certain events quickly steals your attention away from that invisible hand. you want answers. you need them, and you'll march in whichever direction that leads you to them.

additional details

in this verse, i'm writing chiyo as the mc and toying with the concept of past lives like the game does, though i may also sprinkle in a little itty bitty bit of fourth wall stuff -- like chiyo having the thought, " this is like a game, and someone else is making my choices. " as a treat <3

but the focus will be more on fate bc chiyo really hates it as a concept, and that's so much fun to write in this setting :' )

when interacting with other mc's, we can decide if we'd like our characters to just so happen to be in the same boat, having grown up with grandma and caleb, etc. if not, i have no problem writing chiyo in her main verse! there's plenty to work with either way and i'm happy to adapt!

bc chiyo's parents and grandmother play such important roles in her development, they're alive and well until wanderers kill them during chiyo's freshman year of high school. this event leads to josephine taking her in. she was a friend of the family and as good as a second grandmother to chiyo.

i'll likely think to add more when i'm not sleep-deprived and as i progress in the story, but if you have any questions, just let me know <3

[aros001]

Read through light novel vol. 16. Random thoughts.

"Who is this OC looking f**kboy?"

Those were genuinely my first thoughts upon seeing the art of Takt on the throne. And it would seem my immediate dislike was not unfounded.

Seriously though, everything about him is like someone's self-insert original character for their shitty power fantasy Shield Hero fanfic.

"He dresses really cool, like all modern with jeans and pockets, and he can use all the holy weapons and vassal weapons, and his level is above 300, and he has a harem of totally hot powerful women, and he's the king of his own country, and he can counter everything that people use against him, and he can steal powers he doesn't have, and he can beat Naofumi and all the other heroes with, like, no sweat at all!"

I want All For One to come in and kick this little twerp's ass. Show him what a real OP villain who can steal powers is like.

This isn't a critique of the writing by the way. It feels like Takt is supposed to feel like that kind of character who plays to those tropes and is REALLY easy to hate.

I both do and don't like how Naofumi is acting in the prologue. Obviously I don't like specifically what he's doing because it's creepy and uncomfortable, but I really like the reasons for why. The dude is fried from everything that's happened and unlike Itsuki it's not because of a curse. He's grieving from a heavy loss, easily the biggest he's had since coming to this world, and unlike with Ost's death he has no one he can yet focus his anger on, so he's feeling completely lost and mixed up. Another great moment from Sadeena in helping him regain at least some of his sanity. Sex is a common way people try to find comfort after a terrible loss and if that had been the case I think she would have slept with him or even encouraged Raphtalia to be the one for that. But she could see pretty clearly that wasn't the case. Naofumi wasn't looking for comfort. He was practically a zombie, just going through the motions.

“It seems that from among the four holy heroes, the Shield and Bow have been most active over there. Based on their level of activity, there’s also a bias in the legends about the seven star heroes. They mainly talk about the Hammer, Claws, and Whip.” A bias. The Shield and Bow did complement each other well, that was true.

F**k that! Sword and Shield, BroTP!

“Putting that together with what we learned in Kizuna’s world, it sounds like the effects of the fusing of worlds,” I pondered. There was a wave that had combined the Shield world with the Bow world, and then the Shield and Bow world had been fused with the Sword and Spear world to create the current one. It was only natural that a bias in the legends would arise.

"Worlds lived, worlds died. And nothing will ever be the same."

I've talked before that I'm a big fan of the concept of a Multiverse in fiction, especially in superhero comics. Right away I liked that the four Holy Heroes came from different parallel universes and then getting Glass and L'Arc showed that there were also parallel fantasy universes also fighting the waves. And now we get this theory from the characters that Raphtalia's universe is an amalgam, made up of other previous universes that fused through the waves. It's very Crisis on Infinite Earths and JLA/Avengers.

Reading Queen Melromarc describe the king of Faubrey and I'm just remember a scene that I and many Overlord fans love to the depths of our hearts, of Sebas the butler encountering a naked little fat man who got his sexual thrills off beating the women the brothel provided him. Sebas, like any true gentleman, kicked him in the dick so hard he exploded. Is there some to hope that a similar fate befell the king whom apparently married and killed (and probably even worse than that) 9,999 women? Not even Witch deserves that. Nobody deserves that.

Even though it'd probably take him to a dark place he shouldn't go, part of me was hoping for some karma to occur when Witch revealed herself as Takt's ally to Naofumi. He no longer had the shield, meaning he could attack her like he never could before, meaning he could kill her with his bare hands. I'm glad he used the defense rating attack on Takt, because there's been great long-time set-up for that, but yeah, I wanted Naofumi to at least get to break Witch's nose after everything he's been through. And if Witch wasn't irredemable before, she most certainly is now, proving she has no loyalty to anyone other than herself. She used Naofumi and the other heroes from the beginning for her own goals. Her mother had enough control that she couldn't just do whatever she wanted. And Melty was standing in the way of her getting the throne. She's still a terrible person but there were at least reasons for her to be against these people. But Trash? Her father, who has been loyal and on her side since the beginning, who doted and spoiled her from a young age because of how much he loved her? She had no hesitation in ordering him killed along with everyone else. There was no reason behind it. It was just pure cruelly, greed, and self-satisfaction.

And then...there's the Queen. ...F**k. Y'all bastards were really good at keeping that spoiler hidden. I was accidentally spoiled that Alta was going to die but not through this site. I had no idea the Queen was going to die. Of course Naofumi couldn't have the Shield during that part. If he made Mirellia into a shield like he did Ost and Alta he probably would be unstoppable, because she was just that f**king awesome.

We're pouring one out for you, your majesty. May your youngest daughter inherit your great wisdom and unbelievably hilarious slapping ability.

I'm really glad with Trash's development in this book. Like I've said in past posts, I can feel basic empathy for him given his backstory, but feeling sorry for him was not enough to actually put me on his side, because he was not putting in any work to actually be better or redeem himself. He was just acting angry and crazy and then just sad and withered. Here? While he had to be shaken and roused into it (can't blame him for that as he just lost the love of his life), he puts in the effort to make use of himself and holds himself accountable for his past actions. I really like that he wants to continue being called Trash. That is his penance. Not more feeling sorry for himself or blaming the rest of the world. It's time for him to be the man he knows he's supposed to be.

With all that though, Melty was definitely the person I felt the worst for after the death. Of all the younger characters, despite being royalty and mature for her age, she is the person who feels the most like a real kid, and her crying her eyes out while clinging to Naofumi hurt just like it should, because this little girl just lost her mom. No idea what the expectation is in Melromarc for when Melty should take the throne but for her it's always going to feel too soon, because how could it not?

“Daddy . . . thank you for approving my marriage. You’ve finally agreed to let me marry Ollie,” she said dreamily.

“I’ll make you forget this ‘Ollie’ soon enough, although his keeping you a virgin for so long is something to be thankful for!” Takt cackled. It was clear that he was using some kind of illusion to make her think he was her beloved. “Those who don’t give proper thought to their daughters’ happiness have no right to live!”

Oh good! He's a rapist too!

So Naofumi was the Shield's first choice and the other three were the Bow, Sword, and Spear's third choices. I like the credit that's given that the first choice is not guaranteed to be the best, as they can become just as corrupt or egotistical, or the third choices are not guaranteed to be the worst, as they can grow into real heroes. I'm just wondering how the selection process worked and why they all couldn't get their first choices. The Holy Weapons apparently have some sway over the universes they pulled them from, given the promise of granting wishes if they want to return to them. My immediate theory is that the weapons all set up paths that'd lead their choices to being summoned but just through sheer coincidence and randomness all the first choices, save for Naofumi, kept missing the path. Going down the list, the weapons become more desperate and thus are more willing to use more extremes to get their choices, thus why Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki had to be killed in order to be summoned. They missed their window with their first and second choices so now they absolutely have to guarantee they get their third, even if the methods are less than ethical.

With the big final boss, the World Eater as Naofumi called it, I'm theorizing that he/she/it is using the waves to fuse multiple universes into one so that he/she/it can eat it all in one go.

I only have two issues with this volume and they're both kind of nitpicks. The first is with Trash's plan, specifically with the Glawick ore. I don't remember it ever being established before in the series. I really liked the Rucolu fruit being used in the Cal Mira wave battle because it was set up way beforehand, so it feels like a lot less of a Deus ex Machina. Same with Naofumi using defense rating attacks after his battle with Glass. That's good set-up. The ore doesn't break the story, it just feels very convenient that such a thing happened to exist. If I'm mistaken and it was set-up before and I just forgot, please let me know.

The second is Naofumi and Raphtalia being separated again after a trip into another universe. The story next volume seems like it'll be very different from last time but that part does feel like a repeat of what we've already seen. Plus, with the new status quo of Naofumi knowing how she feels about him, I want to see their interactions now that he's recovered a bit from the loss of Alta. Again, it's a nitpick, since I'm certain they'll find each other again, but I don't like feeling like I'm being deliberately kept away from what I want to see.

“The source of your power, the one true hero, now orders you. Reconsider the state of all things once more and bring down a storm of flame upon my target! Drifa Firestorm!” Takt completed the spell.

...

“The source of your power, just a hero, now orders you. Reconsider the state of all things once more and scatter the storm that would burn its target! Anti Drifa Firestorm!” I read the magic Takt had incanted and activated magic to nullify it. With that, the fire tornado scattered into nothing, as though it had never existed.

Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch!

“I’m here to destroy everything you possess,” I menaced quietly. “Your pride, your dignity, everything you treasure. I’ve already half-destroyed your composure and your arrogance. Now it’s time for the other half. False hero, possessing six of the seven star weapons and the shield from the four holy weapons! Now face the reality of being defeated by a regular guy who holds none of the legendary weapons!”

No wonder Raphtalia couldn't be in this part. After hearing that line I don't think she'd be able to hold herself back and would have tackled him like a wild Albedo in heat right then and there.

I am so looking forward to when this volume's final battle is animated, especially the part where Naofumi gets his shield back. That is going to feel like such an epic, heroic moment.

So Rishia unlocked Pay-to-Win. ...I don't really know what to say to that. What do ancient magical relics care about money? ("What does God need with a starship?")

So the person Malty had Ren give a sword lesson to back in vol. 11, was that Takt, King Faubrey, or someone we don't know yet, like the mastermind behind everything?

Is Kizuna marked for death now? From how Fitora made it sound to Naofumi, when a Holy Hero dies a new one can't be summoned if the others are still around. If Kizuna's world works similarly, she might have to die or there'll be no Holy Heroes other than her.

Naofumi really likes his Dragon Ball Z, doesn't he? Which is appropriate given I just realized that the Energy Blast from the Spirit Tortoise Shield is almost literally the Kamehameha. Seriously, Kamehameha translates to "Turtle Destruction Wave".

So...what the heck do I do now? I've spent about a month reading through 16 volumes of Naofumi's rise and I know there are at least 6 other volumes that haven't been translated to english yet. I'll probably go find another LN series to read until vol. 17 comes out in July. Though I am curious if RoTSH has a fan translation site like Overlord and Konosuba do.

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/shieldbro/comments/fot3tj/read_through_light_novel_vol_16_random_thoughts/

[scarlett-olivier]

10 (30?) Questions Writing Game

Hey, y'all. I've been meaning to do this for a hot minute now. Ever since I got tagged by our lovely @faireladypenumbra. So without further ado, lets get started.

1. What do you hope to communicate to your audience with your WIP?

Find the people who appreciate you for you. Even the best of us have hard times. Finally, even if you've had a really shitty past, or are currently in a shitty situation, you can still be the hero of your own story and possibly to someone else too. ^.^

2. What do you find the hardest to write? (Ex: emotion, humor, seduction, etc...)

Anything fast paced is notoriously difficult for me to write. Humor, wit, action, any of those things that live in the fast lane, and are usually just a one-two punch, are horrendous labor. They take forever to write (I'm sure there's some kind of irony in that statement). I love for my audience to be able to savor the moment and live vicariously through my characters, so fast paced moments always feel well, rushed and forced to me. It takes at least 4 drafts of the scene for me to feel alright about it.

3. How bad do you feel your first draft was/is?

Oh, my, holey spacerocks batman, was it awful. POV breaks, spelling errors (their mostly. I before E my ASS. My peeps, beware of the grammar fuckery, it abounds everywhere.), wrong verb usage, and just all around plot and flow shittiness. I kept some of it, but 2/3 got hit in the face with a rusty crowbar, shoved right up in the payload area of a rocket, and blasted off into the sun.

4. What is your favorite genre to read? Write?

Fantasy. To both. All the fantasy. Gimme.

5. Who have you based your style of writing off of?

Honestly, I'd like to think that I've picked up bits and pieces from a multitude of various authors' style and garishly sewed it all together to fashion my own personal brand of magnificent monstrosity. However if you forced me to narrow it down to three specific authors, I'd have to say... Edgar Allen Poe, Jane Austen, and Angie Sage.

6. What made you want to publish your work?

I ran out of books on my bookshelf, and I'd read the ones I had to the point I could almost recite them by rote. While I was writing my first story, I thought that my problem could be someone else problem too, and it was selfish of me to hoard these stories I kept on inventing to myself when someine out there might like them. So, I decided to share.

7. What have you had to research the most for your WIP?

How to write. Due to my upbringing's effect on my mental health, and the fact that I'm a high school drop out deciding to get together and tag team my self confidence into the nearest portapotty and flip it down a hill, I'm incredibly hypercritical of my own abilities. Therefore, I acknowledge that I lack the ability to judge my own work properly and rely heavily upon research, beta readers, and critique partner feedback to appropriately improve and turn out a quality product.

8. What character do you like (that you've written) the least?

Hmmm...... Merlin. He's a douchenozzle in a saint's disguise. If he were real, I'd have to punch him. Repeatedly. In the face.

9. Are you basing any of your WIP off your life and what would it be ( if not to spoiler - ex: people, places, situations)?

Finally, an easy question! Yes and no. Every author draws inspiration from life, but as far as specific instances or anything of that nature? No.

10. Who would you dedicate you book to?

My mom, my daughter, my fiancee, and my critique partner. Without them, the book would've never happened, for whatever reason.

11. If you could steal one idea from a famous author, what would it be?

I dunno. Honestly, even if I were able to do that morally, what would I possibly DO with it? I think the reason some stories are timeless is, in part, due to the author. They've poured their heart and soul into their work, breathing a life into it that could've only been so perfectly captured by them. Even if I took the idea, it wouldnt turn out the same in the end. For example, my Frankenstein would be vastly different from Mary Shelley's, simply because we're two different people with different values, morals, beliefs, and standards. I'm not saying my version would've been bad, per se, but it definitely wouldn't have been Mary Shelley. In ancient times, it was thought that the story (carried by the muses) chose the author, and the author had minimal control over what story they were to write, and I kind of follow that line of thinking.

12. What's been the hardest to write in your WIP so far? (Ex: beginnings, middles, ends, etc.)

Beginnings are the bane of my existence. Like I said before, I'm hypercritical of my abilities, so during the beginning of a story (before I get into the flow of things) I spend a ludicrous amount of time going over, and over, and over, and over my starts. On the plus side though, by the time I'm somewhat satisfied by the "first draft" of my beginning, the rest seems to fly by in comparison. Just gotta get over that initial hump. 😉😜

13. Which characters in your WIP get along the worst? The best?

I'd have to say Merek and Rowan, as the worst. As the best.... Cassandra and Nimue.

14. Tea, coffee, water, or nothing when working?

Tea, mostly. Tea is life. Followed by Redbull and Pepsi. I rarely drink coffee.

15. Is your desk organized or messy?

*eyes a particularly large stack of objects suspiciously.* Hang on a sec. *sweeps the uppermost of the stacks onto the floor with both arms.* Amazeballs! I actually have a desk! How long has that been there?!

16. Can you summarize your favorite piece of writing (that you've created)?

Orphaned girl gets captured by strange creatures and thrown into a world not her own, where she's informed she will finds out that not only is she NOT an orphan, but she will have to fight one of her parents to the death for the fate of the multiverse.

17. How long have you been working on your current WIP?

About a year and a half? Ish. It will, hopefully soon, be my first published novel. 😸😸😸😸

18. Sum up your main characters in three words. (Sorry, not a question)

Nimue- Troubled, stubborn, curious

19. What time of day are you most productive?

1 bloody a.m., when I'm trying to sleep.

20. What's your favorite fictional place?

Neverland. Because Alliteration. Magnificent Murderous Mermaids....

😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😄

21. What book inspired you to write the most?

Probs a toss up between T.A. Barron's The Lost Years of Merlin series, Tamora Pierce's The Circle Opens series, and Cecelia Dart-Thornton's The Bitterbynde series. I love all of them.

22. Do you write by hand, type, or some combination of the two?

Both. I prefer to type because it's far easier on my hands and joints, but writing by hand seems to improve my productivity. Not that I have the option of typing atm... My fan quit on my laptop and I can't afford the replacement part for it. 😭😭😭😭 why, wiritng gods, WHY?!

23. A book you would recommend to anyone?

Well, unfortunately, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all book. Books are usually targeted towards a specific audience, and will tend to go over better with that audience, than with those aren't part of that particular grouping. A book recommendation is a highly personalized experience based on a variety of factors such as; age, gender, orientation, beliefs, and morality.

29. What is the one thing you NEED while writing, that isn't necessarily a writing tool?

Scully, my skull shaped pillow, a warm blanket, and music. 😆 I know you said one thing. I lumped them all together under the comfort umbrella. Comfortability is a major factor in my productivity levels. If I'm in pain, those levels drop, sharply.

25. How much time do you spend writing?

Ideally? When I'm not in the midst of a pain flare up, 30hrs a week is pretty typical.

If I'm in the middle of a flare up? 10 to 15hrs per week. I hate myself for it all the time.

26. How much time do you wish you spent writing?

Again, ideally, I would wish to spend about 8hrs a day, 5x a week on writing. This would leave the weekends open for time with my loved ones.

27. Do you set writing goals? If so, what is your writing goal for this year?

Oh boy. I set myself some unrealistic goals. They are as follows;

- Finish writing my horror short story, edit, and publish it.

- Finish editing my novel 'Something Wicked'

- Send out ARC copies of my novel

- Set a solid publishing time table and sales goal for my novel.

28. What's you favorite POV to write in?

Limited third person will always be my go to.

29. How may WIPs do you currently have?

One short story, two novels.

30. What is your favorite thing about writing?

Watching the world, that had previously only been a seed in my imagination, bloom into it's multi-tiered glory.

And so concludes the 30 questions game! Thank you again, to @faireladypenumbra for the tag. Sorry it took me so long to get around to. Also, in return, I'm tagging @alisonhaines and @alittleredfinch. I hope y'all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed answering the questions. ^.^ Hope y'all have a lovely day.