#edit bc of a syntax mistake

[morgines]

Honestly it's so so so good that Ocoho is the one who gets to have a romance with Seth instead of Mélie in Radiant.

First of all, she's a black female character getting the spotlight, as in leading-female-protagonist spotlight, in a shonen-style manga. Like this manga was already really good at introducing poc characters but this is next-level, this is awesome.

Second of all, this is so much better in terms of character development for both Ocoho and Mélie.

For Ocoho it means she will have to juggle romance with her future duties as a queen (what will happen when she has to choose between staying with Seth or staying with her people ?). It also gives her a real, concrete motivation for staying with him right now, instead of just "she needs to travel and see the world for herself"

For Mélie, it gives her more room for development than any other character. As she is right now, she has the potential to become the best anti-hero in the whole manga, Grimm-like but with a lot more angst since she has a past connection with the protagonists and with us readers (apparently volume 18 is out but I didn't rezd it so I don't know what happens to her after becoming a domitor. I just saw spoilers of Ocoho and Seth's romance ^^")

It ALSO gives her even more angst towards Ocoho, as we know she has some feelings towards Seth. And what will happen when her old personality resurfaces and discovers that Seth and Ocoho are now much more closer together than they are with her ? Will she feel left out ? Will she be terribly jealous ?

Lastly Ocoho and Mélie's friendship is really important for both of them, and Ocoho already feels really bad about what she did to her. She WILL feel guilty about getting together with Seth when she's alone and thinks about Mélie, because she doesn't want to leave Mélie behind.

It's really rare to see the first female hero presented in a manga not have a romance arc with the protagonist, especially a character-driven manga like Radiant (the characters themselves move the plot more than external circumstances), and especially a character like Mélie. She had everything honestly : she was likeable and kind, she was there since the beginning, and Seth was her first friend who could truly understand her (with both having a part of themselves they couldn't control)

[sixty-silver-wishes]

screaming crying throwing up

so for the blog I work for. the owner of the blog gave me editing privileges bc she was impressed w my work. which is great! But then I'm just. kind of depressed that the other blog contributors go overboard on the SEO terms, but their grammar, spelling, and punctuation needs serious work. Like, I may not be super invested in this job, but it's kind of sad that we're prioritizing clicks and views over being actually readable. And like, people make fun of you if you're nitpicky about grammar but 1) I'm an editor. that's my job. and 2) have you read a professional site with bad grammar? It sticks out like a sore thumb, and it's embarrassing to see easily fixable punctuation mistakes and syntax errors everywhere. It's an important skill that's devalued until you actually see a lack of it in practice.

[conduitandconjurer]

Hi there! I’ve lurked for a little while and just recently followed. You have a really interesting take on Klaus and I’d like to ask: what kind of things do you do to get into character so to speak? Are there any important things about his character you like to keep in mind when you write him? And as someone who has written for many years but is considering rp, any advice for a first-timer? Thanks and hope you have a wonderful day/night!

First of all you should know that I’ve been rping on various platforms for over 15 years at this point, and messages like this still MAKE MY WHOLE WORLD BETTER <33333  Thank you SO much for your gracious and generous kind words.  You took a second to extend a hello and compliment my hard work and it means so so much.

So Klaus and I are NOTHING alike, which is exactly why I choose to write muses like him.  It provides me an outlet of escape from my own life (which has its ups and downs) and it’s a creative and intellectual challenge to understand what makes a person so behaviorally different from myself tick. Most writers like to write characters who are like them.  And I do that too, but for me, I just need some single trait in a character that I resonate with. For Klaus, it’s his innate sweetness and vulnerability (which he tries and fails to conceal) and his need (and failure) to establish boundaries (with family and with ghosts), and finally it’s his fear of being insufficient as a person his family can rely upon (which he copes with by creating artificial emotional distance, and abusing substances, whereas I the mun marinate in guilt and try to overcompensate lmao).  While we’re still not alike, I can BEGIN to understand WHY he behaves the way he does, and I can build my portrayal off of that. 

Put another way, most of my muses are queer nonbinary he/him/they pronoun users, often neurodivergent, who are undergoing a moral struggle, usually somewhere in the antihero category, or even villains. I on the other hand am a queer cis disabled woman with PTSD who is a Lawful Good......and I think that, having a point for relating to but still not being exactly like my muses,  I almost begin to see myself as these characters’ mother or advocate of some kind.  I want to see them GROW and THRIVE.  From that urge, I derive the compassion that every writer needs to have for their character to (try to) portray them authentically.  

And that also means that the character is not going to remain within the bounds of their canonical portrayal. The way I write them will always START and be BASED ON that.  But the character will grow far afield of it.  Take Klaus, for instance. I sense you call my portrayal “interesting” (correct me if I’m wrong) because I choose to write Klaus as almost always post-season 2 AND sober.  He’s more at peace with himself than he was during the first season, he’s begun to properly process his grief for Dave Katz, he’s getting clean and staying clean, he’s becoming more emotionally reliable.  But he still makes mistakes, he still has the most severe, frustrating and painful (for him) case of ADHD I have ever seen, people still don’t “take him seriously” (his own words) and he has to grow a thick skin about their dismissive behavior.  

The fandom, even a number of Klaus rpers, like to keep Klaus in this depressing stasis chamber where he’s constantly nihilistic, selfish, and strung out, and a lot of people see Klaus’s addictions as the brunt of jokes, and while that’s cool for them, and I’d never ask them to censor their portrayal, that makes me uncomfortable. As a person who’s worked with, still works with, at-risk youth at the college level, I just can’t jive with it.  Addiction is an illness and it’s not funny, and there are underlying reasons for Klaus’s addictions.  And what I want to do is excavate those underlying reasons, and watch him get the support he needs. He is still a snarky, sartorial, chaotic, quirkily sweet goofball when he’s sober.  He’s still Klaus.  

Things I do to get in the headspace:

--Listen to playlists that I make for the character or mood. Music is crucial.  --Watch videos of Robert Sheehan talking. Doesn’t have to be as Klaus, but sometimes is.  If you can’t hear the character in the dialogue (not only word choose but little mannerisms and speech patterns), rewrite it. Don’t settle until you can hear the actor’s voice.   --Scream to my friends on Discord about how much I love specific elements of the character, to get psyched up. I’m so sorry, @apocalypsejumped, you are the main person I do this to with Klaus, lmfao.  

--Never EVER look at my follower count, because it’s gonna either depress or intimidate me. 

--Look at pictures of the character. I’m incredibly visual. Just looking at my own screenshots makes me want to dissect him more. 

For advice? Oh lordy!   Uhhhh..... 

Write a lot. Practice a lot. I have a PhD and have written book manuscripts exceeding 600 pages, but you don’t have to go that far, lmao. That drabble in your head at 3 am? Get up and write it down. That passing bit of funny dialogue you think your muse would say? Write it down. I used to carry around a physical journal. Now I use my laptop. 

Write fast and only edit minimally because this is for fun, avocational, and you don’t want to spoil it with too much plotting and refinement.

Drop threads that aren’t working for you. Again, this is not a job, and when it feels like one, scale back.

Resist the urge to over-format.  If your posts cease to be easily legible, the aesthetic will only impede the flow of your prose.   It’s okay to vary your writing voice character by character. My syntax, vocab/word choice, sentence length and structure, vary from one muse to the other, bc the standard rp pov is third person singular, present-tense, meaning your muse is narrating it all from their specific pov.  Klaus and say, a very serious, formal character, would not have the same internal monologue, or even exposition. 

Beware of writing partners who are passive aggressive or possessive, who get jealous of your writing with others, and guilt you for spending your time elsewhere than catering to their needs.  I spent eight years in one of these writing partnerships and only escaped last March, and I am still recovering emotionally. Writing partners can absolutely be abusive, so make sure to enforce healthy boundaries and when they are violated repeatedly, run.

Pick a blog theme that is clearly organized and accessible. 

Don’t pick “main” or heaven forbid “exclusive” writing partners until you have experimented with your chemistry with a number of “versions” of their character (especially canons).  Take your time and see who you gel with. Sometimes you can have a great friendship with someone and your writing together still doesn’t click. It all depends on chemistry.  

Pick a small group of like minded friends and write with them. Do not worry about “exposure” or “popularity,” they are over rated.  Fandoms are genuinely crazy.  Just sit in your sandbox with your trusted buddies. <3 

Anyone else reading this, chime in with some writing advice for nonnie! <3 They’re an experienced writer but new to rp! 

[jimlingss]

pt.2 of yesterday

I don’t want to flood people’s dashes, so hopefully answering your messages here will suffice!

anonymous asked: Hi! I wanted to tell you how much I love your work and how you make me enjoy every Monday thanks to your regular updates ! I saw a previous anon telling you how your writings lacks of emotion and I totally disagree with them... obviously everybody won’t like it but your stories just DON’T lack of love or emotion this is madness I want to thank you for publishing your amazing stories freely here for everyone to read. (Sorry if my English is weird I’m french ejfjekfjd)

“this is madness” LOL

You’re hilarious, anon. And your english is perfectly fine!!!

anonymous asked: Hello! Im the culinary student anon who sent you an ask a while ago and i saw you received an ask about the lack of emotion from your stories. I read kitchen romance and i actually really really like it and don’t quite understand how it lacks in emotions as I interpreted the stories more like the beginning of the oc and jin’s love story and they are only starting to open up to each other so i guess thats why anon might feel like it lacks romantic vibe from both of the characters. (1)

Anonymous said: Just want to tell you that you’re one of the best writer and ive been following you for 2/3 years now, you never failed to amaze me with your writings!! All your stories are so well written that i sometimes wonder how do you come up with such an amazing plot every single time and your stories are always nice to re-read and the effort you pour into creating your stories is also admirable (2)

while i was reading kitchen romance and ive only started s&c (currently on chapter 4) i can say that its pretty similar with how it is irl (and the part where we find out jk is an iu fans reminded me of my ex-crush whose also a culinary student, i would like to tell you a story about it but ill just waste your time lol) , just want to send you a few encouragement and love for you and your writings *sending virtual hugs* (3) -👩🏻‍🍳anon

You’re too kind, thank you (and also, welcome back!). I’ll be frank, there was a hot second I was considering taking down Kitchen Romance but I didn’t cause I don’t want my efforts of editing it to go to waste asdfghjkl. I can’t believe you’ve been sticking around me for so long :’) it’s always nice to know some folks stay. Anyway, I’m glad that Sugar and Coffee is pretty similar to how it works irl since I tried my best to do research. I definitely love a good storytime as well so don’t worry about wasting my time :>

Anonymous said: a good majority of your fics display an unfathomable amount of DEPTH. regarding character development. plot. even the shortest lines of dialogue reveal so much more to the character and unveil their true emotions. i personally think the more REALISTIC side of love may be perceived as 'bland.' ‘emotionless.’ whatever you want to call it. nothing’s wrong with portraying a relationship that isn’t overboard with a whole lot of tooth aching fluff or lowkey annoying pda. +1

Anonymous said: there’s nothing wrong with taking out a bit of emotion to fit the PERSONALITIES of the characters. some people out there don’t necessarily feel a lot of emotions. so it’s honestly not really a mistake if a story lacks it (unless it was unintentional). subtlety is an art that is hard to master, but you’ve done it! and to respond to the anon, sometimes, if you skim through a fic without reading every word the author intended for you to read, +2

Anonymous said: then it’s quite common to not feel the full extent of the emotions you were supposed to feel. just a thought but no hate. we’re all entitled to our opinions. but besides that, kina, you write on a vast scale ranging from hardcore angst to diabetes-inducing fluff. and you do it beautifully. sure there are some stories that are better than others, but i believe a LOT of it comes down to personal preference and taste. +3

Anonymous said: even if you are feeling creatively limited, you work hard to continue writing for your readers, and your determination and diligence wILL NOT GO UNNOTICED. i just want you to know that you write amazingly. your syntax is practically immaculate, your characters feel real… the endings of your stories always wrap something up and the strings are tied—even if it isn’t necessarily a happy ending. you can convey hundreds of different characters through WORDS. +4

Anonymous said: i’ll have you know that it’s hard to write. it’s even harder to write about people who aren’t YOU. so as someone who looks up to you a lot, i want to commend you for your writing. some of your fics that i read on a monthly basis: tears of a villain, a piece of the moonlight, head over heels to hell, ghost in the machine, a mark of betrayal, a kiss of poison, until yesterday, the truth between us and arcadia. +5

Anonymous said: to be fair, there were way more fics but i didn’t want to make this message any longer than it already is LOL. i find these pieces wonderful. heart wrenching. and SO DAMN EMOTIONAL IT PLAGUES MY MIND FOR DAYS. also you’re literally one of the few fucking people who can use the em dash correctly. thank you so much for sharing your talent with us! +6

Oh my goodness. I don’t even know what to say, anon. This is a whole damn thesis and it’s about my fics :’> You know, it’s easy to brush off fanfiction as a ‘whatever’ thing and indeed, it isn’t that big of a deal compared to some things in the world. But I really do take all my stories seriously and put forth a lot of effort - so to see it recognized and appreciated it makes me beyond happy. It’s good to know that my efforts haven’t gone to waste at all and that there are people out there who will support me no matter the endeavours I take. Thank you so much. You don’t know how much this means to me.

((Also, honestly I picked up the em dash usage after I wrote The Truth Between Us with gukyi who used it. I’m pretty sure I’m not using it right but to hear that I am, god damn that’s a breath of relief right there))

backtobleuside submitted: Are you kidding me!? Your stories don’t lack love at all. They’re the kind of fics that you read, soak it all in and then come back for more. I’ve cried so much when I read Beyond reach, Boo-lieve in me, A piece of the moonlight, His name, Tell me lies etc. etc, and also laughed and felt the emotions of not just the OC, but also the other characters. Kitchen Romance was also so fluffy and sweet and personally, I don’t think that anything needs to be added to it. Anyway, your fics do not lack emotion—you’re probably the first author I send a message to because your stories impacted me a lot and left a strong impression on me. I even imagine your characters as real people who have real lives that continue on even after the story is done.

asdfghjkl thank you :’) I see you every week and sometimes several times at that. I really appreciate your consistent feedback and following. You never fail to send me a message too which I appreciate a lot. I’m glad you’re enjoying everything I’m producing!!

youngfleurever said: Would just like to say that your fics do in fact make me violently sob to the boy where my eyes are so swollen I have trouble opening them the next day and I wake up feeling like there’s sawdust in my mouth because I’m dehydrated.

oh my god. please keep yourself hydrated hahahahhaha more importantly, how do you know what sawdust in your mouth is like. WHAT have you been doing LOL

Anonymous said: I’ve felt emotions that I’ve never felt before when I read your fics.... so as a person that has read your entire masterlist, I DO NOT think that your fics lack emotion.... I hope you don’t feel disheartened because you’re one of my favourite writers, not just on tumblr but like, evER 💓💓💓💓💓💓

Please, even if I was disheartened, the overwhelming amount of feedback and praise has completely overridden it :’)

joonie-mono said: when tumblr deletes the first part of your ask 🙄😌✌️

LOOOOOOOL

haylo4ever said: Sorry had to add my 10 cents. You're such a talented writer,,, I WISH I could write a smol smol 1/1000000000 that you write,,, like I remember when I followed you bc I was in awe of your writing.... I mean?? Sure maybe not every fic hits it with someone but it's just ridic to name drop (a friend nonetheless) when you're all extremely talented writers.

Trust me, writing comes with practice!! I should honestly just tattoo that on me. God knows my first fanfic was absolutely GARBAGE. I didn’t know pacing, didn’t know that I should separate chunks of paragraphs, how to write dialogue or describe scenes properly. I went in blind. Even my second, third and fourth fanfic was garbage. You could definitely get to “my level” or even far surpass it with enough dedication and practice. I mean I’ve been writing for four years, so thank GOD there’s been improvement. I wouldn’t be natural if there wasn’t. But clearly the more you practice, the better you improve! That applies to anything.

The me in ten years will certainly be better now.

Anonymous said: Hi kina! I’m here in support of kitchen romance! I actually didn’t feel like it was missing a ton of fluffy moments (and I say that as a huGE LOVER OF FLUFF) but the story was just as entertaining in the whole chase of them getting closer to each other! It’s honestly one of my favorite one shots I’ve read lately and I’m not saying that lightly! Also, that anon that said your work lacks emotion has probably not read like half of your masterlist bc oO MAN QUEEN OF MAKING ME CRY- black heart anon🖤

Thank you :’]

Anonymous said: Ok I’m very offended wow the audacity!Specially coming for my baby kitchen romance like that story made me feel so much and it’s only one of the many fics you have written kina like I’m literally baffled like dynasty has made me cry scream happy and hot all at the same time and I was literally just thinking about it that whole weekend and this anon has the nerve to say your stories lack emotions?When you are literally the queen of show casing all types of emotions in your stories!You did it all

Anonymous said: Also 😭😭😭😂😂😩hoooooooow and whereeee did they see any lack of love and emotions like have you read jungle park???? Inside my mind??? FREAKING SUGAR AND COFFEE (like this fic is made with love and I- ) Actually you know what , just read the whole masterlist😩😩💗💗💗

LOL tbh I didn’t expect Dynasty to receive the love it has. I was actually kind of wary when posting it cause it’s kind of Wild. 

bangtans-peaceful-piegon said: just gotta say u handled that whole anon thing so well which not only makes me admire u as a writer but even more as a person :] (i mean i knew u were gr8 before the whole deal but yeah love ya 💛)

tbh, I’m not sure how well I handled it cause I was flooded with over 30 messages afterwards (evidently) ;_; which I love and appreciate but I’m not really as hurt as some people think hahaha criticism should be received well but it’s still hard not to take personally tbh. It’s gonna have to be something I work on or perhaps it’ll be one of those things that I’ll take better with age.

[sonicenvy]

i have (4) top peeves in fanfiction that make me close a fic immediately:

first-person from a canon character (this is just a personal preference tbh, rather than an actual writing issue) a first person narraration requires an even deeper analysis/understanding of a character and is just weird if the author doesn’t completely nail that character’s voice. I can do first-person from an OC because you, the author know your OC very well and have a consistent and satisfactory voice for them.

S P A C I N G. attn. all: USE PARAGRAPHS! do NOT put your entire fic in one giant paragraph. use a new paragraph for every line of dialogue spoken by a new character. use indentations when appropriate. put a space between each paragraph -- paragraphs and lines of dialogue all smushed together are really difficult to read. I will deadass close a fic immediately if it is improperly spaced/all one paragraph, because I am not about to waste time trying to decipher your story, and many others aren’t either. I was guilty of this nonsense for a longass time. im pretty sure if you go on my AO3 page you will actually find fic where I, age sixteen made this particular offense in spades.

Epithets! use a character’s personal pronouns, make love to them. i would rant about them here, on this post, but I’ve already done it before on this post so im going not continue that discussion here. the tldr; version of that post for you non-link clickers is that epithets should be used with intentionality: use them because you want to use them, because they add to your text and not because you don’t want to use a character’s pronouns. using multiple different epithets for the same characters instead of their personal pronouns is confusing and disrupts the reader’s flow because they have to expend more effort trying to piece together who is doing/saying what. use full sentences of exposition to describe your character’s physical features/professions/etc, etc.

apparently someone, somewhere taught loads of us that using the word said gets repetitive and boring -- so it should be replaced with other words when possible???? unfortunately this is BS in the highest order. (full disclosure: i bought in too). Use other words besides said with intentionality, that is: when you use a word like whispered, murmured, etc etc, use it bcs you want to use that word, not because you don’t want to use said. use descriptive dialogue tags thoughtfully. use the word said, and follow it up with descriptions. Even more fun: you can actually drop dialogue tags in a conversation between TWO characters on occasion if it helps your flow, but be careful.

some other tips:

if you are self-editing you might want to try:

reading your fic out loud to yourself

having some kind of screenreader read it to you (this and reading to yourself are both great ways to find repeated words, missing words, misspellings and weird syntax. i know that i sometimes move whole chunks of stuff around using cut and paste, which can sometimes leave out or add words that I don’t know about) 

walking away from your fic for a few hours/days and coming back to it to read it through and edit. (this is also helpful in getting yourself less attached to a line you might really like that doesn’t really fit into the fic. this is also helpful because it allows you to forget some of the mental context you had for things while you were writing them; you are then approaching the fic like a non-you reader would and can find places where your narration is confusing or missing some kind of crucial context.)

change the font that your fic is in and re-read it (this sounds weird but the text does look completely different in a different font/font size and it can help you spot mistakes you didn’t see before)

effectively using tags is the best way to get your fic found among the thousands of other fics out there. i think AO3 has some kind of post somewhere from their tag wranglers that has some really great tips for this. I’m still learning how to effectively tag shit myself, but I have found that it helps me to think about what kinds of searches i might make to find a fic like the one i am about to publish. 

i would also like to add that you do not need to (and really should not) tag all of the minor characters in the fic because it junks up tags & isn’t particularly representative of your fic. your tags should represent the MOST important things about your fic.

you should also make sure that you do not place a anti-xship fic in xship’s tag; that’s just kinda a dick move i dunno know how else to get that one across to you. 

on that note: make sure that you tag your fic as anti-xship if it is. same goes for fic that is anti-xcharacter.

tagging for common triggers (ie: rape, graphic violence abusive relationships etc etc) is a really neat thing to do too. if you feel like this is spoilery for whatever reason you can do what the lovely allegoricalrose did for a fic of hers some time ago and create a separate post/document listing these things that you can make a link to in the summary/author’s notes.

another note about tags: use characterx/charactery as the sexual/romantic ship and characterx & charactery for friendship, parent/child mentor/mentee etc etc. ok i think im done with tags now.

summaries are super important for getting your fic found and read. like your tags, your summary should be representative of the most important things about your fic. your summary is your trailer for your fic; this is your time to convince me that i need to be reading your fic right fucking now. 

when im looking through a fic search/tag im not going to spend too much time reading summaries, so you should keep it short and sweet. i have some good examples of fic summaries on my AO3 and some terrible examples. a good fic summary is like a good didactic: it hits the important points and does in less than 100 words.

if your fic came from a prompt, mentioning the prompt is a great way to sell your fic, since the prompt is likely a key part of your fic.

think about the main events of your fic. if you were trying to tell your friend who knows nothing about your fic what you’ve written what events would you mention?

is there some kind of significant canon divergence/placement in canon for the fic? this might also be helpful in your fic summary.

This is just what I (twenty-one years old, english literature major) have on my mind right now. y’all should, tag on what kinds of peeves/tips you have for fic.