#essentially the plot is ‘frost has a crush for the first time and doesn’t know how to handle it’

[lunalikestowriteanddraw]

So I’m writing a Frostbek oneshot, and it’s probably gonna take me a couple days to finish it because I’m gonna be busy all day tomorrow (and because my brain doesn’t word good), but I do have a bit written down.

So, if you’re curious, there’s an excerpt below the cut

Frost has never had a crush before. Until now, he thinks.

And he hates it. And, more importantly, he hates who his heart had decided to settle upon.

It could’ve been simple. Predictable, even. Gideon was handsome, he was simple, nobody would’ve questioned Frost having a crush on the genasi. He wouldn’t have even been the first one within the party. And it would’ve been unrequited, and Frost would’ve gotten over it, and it would’ve been fine.

But no, it wasn’t Gideon. Gods, Frost almost wished it was.

Gricko was Frost’s best friend, he would’ve been predictable, nobody would’ve been even remotely surprised. In fact, Frost was sure that Kremy is even expecting Frost and Gricko to get together at some point.

Frost loves Gricko, he truly does, but not in the same was Kremy and Gideon love each other.

Frost looked up from the book he was reading, seeing the rest of the party converse as they got ready to camp for the night. His eyes fell upon Torbek, who was helping Gricko with…something. Frost isn’t quite sure what, but the goblinoids were walking further into the forest while Gricko was talking very animatedly and Torbek looking at him with rapt attention.

[discoscoob]

Here’s how i feel on the distinction between loki crushing on sylvie vs the spidermen calling themselves brothers:

In the spider’s case, they all relate to one another and feel a kinship because they’ve ALL gone through the experience of becoming spiderman. They’ve all lost a ben, they’ve all gotten bit by a spider, they’ve all decided that they need to become a superhero. They’ve all grown up experiencing the same life and for the first time in any of their lives…someone finally understands; they no longer feel alone. Had they been given the choice to keep in touch i just KNOW they would’ve wanted to hang out whenever they could, even if all they did was rag on toby!spiderman for his weird-ass organic webs! The point is that they feel they are brothers BECAUSE of their shared experiences.

But when you look at the lokis…no two lokis seem to have experienced the same story. I mean they all seemed to have generally followed a vague outline of what loki’s life “should” be; but they don’t ever really reference any specific characters or events that our loki has experienced. The most you’ll find are mentions of things that already exist in the mcu…but no major story beats like frigga dying or discovering he’s a frost giant or even ragnarok! There’s no guarantee that the avengers are even made up of the same people in boastful!Loki’s story-and that’s assuming it’s even true! There doesn’t seem to BE a universally shared loki experience. He does too many things that go against what the sacred timeline wants from him. The closes thing you will find is classic!Loki. He is essentially the loki that managed to escape death, but only because he proceeded to play dead for almost all eternity (and as much as i love the idea that this means our loki is still alive, i do sincerely believe that the writers intend for you to take away from this that Classic!Loki is the only loki to do this). There’s even a moment where tva loki asks him about his life, because he experienced the same timeline that he saw in the tva. Those two get a moment where they have a shared experience and THAT is where you might find the kinship. (Bonus points that Richard E. Grant and Tom hiddleston have both joked that Grant could play Hiddleston’s dad, how poetic)

Anyway my point is that Loki and sylvie—from the get-go—are established to be different people. She has been a fugitive all her life; even when they DO talk about her childhood…they go out of their way to tell the audience that her childhood was fundamentally different to loki’s (her parents told her she was adopted, she didn’t have anyone to teach her magic, her mother is implied to not be the same as loki’s because when he tells her about his mom she seems wistful and sad about not growing up with a mother bc of the tva, but doesn’t comment as though she recognizes Frigga as her mother and instead as though she were a stranger) They do not have related experiences, and so the only connection they HAVE is through their shared experiences with the tva and lamentis. Because there’s nothing in the past to build a relationship backwards from, they can only build it moving forward. Which they do! Bonded by trauma on lamentis (in a heart pounding adrenaline filled adventure that’s sure to get the brain’s chemicals confused and thus making it easier to fall in love…that’s a thing btw! If you ever want ur crush to like you take them to a roller coaster ;) ), and forced apart almost immediately (absence makes the heart grow fonder anyone?) and you’ve got yourself a surprisingly natural form of the “falling in love after just a few days together” trope; that’s pretty impressive when the show only had 6 episodes to work with and they had the very difficult task of establishing time travel mechanics and multiverse theory in a way that future mcu projects could functionally use on top of writing their own plot.

Notice how in none of these takes—spider, or loki, or sylvies or otherwise—does the topic of literal relations ever come up. Because the canon that the mcu is going with IS THAT VARIANTS FROM OTHER UNIVERSES ARE NOT RELATED. It doesn’t matter if someone feels like disagreeing or thinks they know better, because that’s become a law of the mcu now that the writers are going to go with. None of the variants are siblings for REAL, and so the only way to become sibling-like is through experiences shared on a case-by-case basis. The story requires its audience to suspend its disbelief a little bit and accept when its telling them something that it should be taken as a fact of that story if said story is ever going to get to anything in that story. People complaining that the mcu can’t decide how it wants the mcu to view variant’s relationships are the same people who are ignoring the fact that the mcu isn’t explaining how you should view these relationships because they already did that. The mcu said “no they aren’t literally related by blood or dna” and antis went “that’s dumb” and harassed the crew over it. The circle talk is just because the answer hasn’t changed and so they’re hoping to eventually find an answer they LIKE.

It’s not bad writing just because someone doesn’t want it to happen or thinks the story would be better if they didn’t do x thing, it’s just something that isn’t that person’s taste.

YEESH this thing got long. Sorry about sending a whole essay. 😅

This is very long but you didn’t miss a single thing out and I agree with everything you said I was nodding along while reading it is as if you picked the points straight out of my own brain.

People have latched onto the headcanon that variants are siblings, that they share dna and they won’t let it go which is why they’re latching onto the spider-men calling each other brothers so hard, they believe it proves their headcanon that sylki is incest, they honestly and truly and wholeheartedly believe that Disney would have a canonically incestious ship in one of its most popular shows on its streaming platform before even entertaining the idea that they just royally misconstrued the entire concept of the multiverse and variants.

[bamfdaddio]

X-Men Abridged: 1981 - the Body-Swap

The X-Men, those body-swapping mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. We’ve been untangling that history for a while, but sometimes, you really want a more in-depth look. Interested? Then read the (un)Abridged X-Men!

(Uncanny X-Men 151 - 152) - by Chris Claremont and Josef Rubinstein

Emma Frost and her frenemy Ororo Munroe have not been getting along! One fateful evening, as the two quibble away, they mysteriously switch bodies and minds. Talk about your Freaky Friday! What lessons will they learn, walking a mile in one another’s shoes? And will they be able to switch back, or will they stay in each other’s bodies forever? Mutant Monday, coming soon to a cinema near you. Starring: Elizabeth Banks, Angela Bassett and Elliot Page. (PG-13)

For a moment, we’re in a proper period drama: a letter delivers ill tidings!

I love that Kitty’s parents are so self-involved that it took them A WHOLE YEAR to realize that it’s weird that Kitty is the only non-adult attending the Xavier Institute.

I can only assume the mailman interrupted a pool party of some kind? Or a communal shower? I get why Kurt would not swim a lot - all that fur - but did Scott wear that while they were splashing around? Was it a beach volleyball competition where one half got to wear swimsuits and the other half superhero costumes? Most importantly, was Scott’s costume always this tight?

Not that I’m complaining, mind you.

The awful thing is that Kitty’s parents are transferring her to the Massachusetts Academy, not realizing that headmistress Emma Frost is, in fact, a terrible human being. Charles, uncharacteristically, says that changing their minds telepathically is a line he does not cross (any more) and half the viewing audience bursts out in laughter. More importantly, last they saw Emma, she was kind of dead-by-Phoenix, so it might be better there this time? Kitty does a Classic Teenage Stomp-Off and Storm comes to comfort her. Kitty cries that life is unfair (“My parents are only doing this because they’re splitting up”) and Ororo tells her that yes, life is unfair. You just gotta roll with the punches as best you can.

To be fair, bald men are technically all cheek, so it doesn’t matter where you kiss them.

While I enjoy the relationship Kitty has with the other X-Men (Scott gave her a compliment! Logan told her his name!), especially the mother-daughter-bond she shares with Ororo, the whole Piotr-thing always gives me pause. Even if we’re being very generous with age, Kitty is, what? 14 going on 15? And Piotr is… 19? At best? I get why Kitty would have a crush on him: he’s a gentle hunky giant: at fifteen, my teenage ass would have felt the exact same viz-a-viz Colossus’ upper arms. The fact that Piotr reciprocates feels skeevy, though, especially because they’re always treated like star-crossed idiots these days.

Skee-vy.

Ororo drives Kitty to Massachusetts, where her young ward is greeted by someone named Muffy and whisked away for orientation. All seems well. Ororo stands in a parlour, surveying the grounds and considering that they should have fought harder for Kitty. Still, nothing seems too wrong just yet: this Academy just seems very preppy.

Not-at-all-dead Emma takes her cue and jumps out, saying (essentially): “Surprise motherfucker.”

There’s a flash of light, and then...

I’m willing to bet that Emma’s EVIL journal has the following to-do-list: - Steal Storm’s body. - Experiment with her powers. - See how good Storm looks in white. (Leather? Fur?! Both!??) - REWARD: Smoke break.

I wonder if Emma’s plan hinged on being able to body-swap with Storm, or whether any X-Man would have sufficed. Was her original target Xavier? Cyclops? What if one of Kitty’s parents had brought her to Massachusetts, would she have taken Kitty instead?

In a locked cell, Storm wakes up in Emma’s body and is horrified. I wonder why Emma didn’t take any more precautions. Couldn’t the guy who made the freaky friday-gizmo also make a power dampener to nullify not!Emma’s telepathic abilities? Or did Emma count on her victim being so utterly incapacitated by her mind-powers that they’d be driven mad? (This would actually tie in with some of Emma’s later-revealed history: when her powers first emerged, she also got locked away in a padded room because of her madness.)

Emma is not wrong, by the way: Storm can’t get a handle on Emma’s powers. What follows is possibly the sweetest moment in an arc filled with sweet moments:

This arc isn’t drawn by any of the regulars - not Byrne, not Cockrum - but Josef Rubinstein brings his own kind of panache to the pages. I love the way he draws women’s faces: in a story that’s all about women, their faces are actually distinguishable. Kudoz.

Emma, meanwhile, coordinates with Sebastian Shaw to execute the second part of their two-pronged attack on the X-Men. They both laugh evilly in their phones while the mansion is attacked by Sentinels! These androids take out Cyclops and Xavier with some sleeping gas and knock out Nightcrawler, but the rest of the X-Men manage to trounce these robots. Then ‘Storm’ appears! She zaps the rest of the X-Men (and Amanda Sefton), successfully finishing their master-plan.

It’s not entirely clear what the Hellfire Club wants with the X-Men this time, but I’m assuming it’s more experimentation to improve the sentinels? Eh, doesn’t matter! Nefarious Hellfire Club is nefarious.

The real Storm, meanwhile, comes to claim Kitty, forgetting that she looks like the one and only Emma Frost. Kitty spooks and Storm accidentally reaches out, knocking her out telepathically. Whoops! Storm takes Kitty and flees in a car, while Emma gives chase. (How dare Ororo run off with her body, which is absolutely the kind of hypocritical hilariousness we all love Emma for.)

Kitty awakens and jumps from the car, causing Storm to swerve and...

JETSTREAM!? Speaking of which, where are the Hellions in all of this?

Kitty sees that an unconscious ‘Emma’ is about to burn to a tender and moist little crisp and she is faced with the hero’s dilemma: would you save a villain that would never save you?

Emma, meanwhile, has realized the downside to body-swapping: somebody else gets to run around with your body too. Shaw, of all people, talks her down from her anger.

You can’t just introduce a persona exchange gun to the plot WITHOUT EXPLAINING WHERE THE FUCK YOU GOT IT FROM.

My favorite detail is that Emma keeps calling Kitty brat, like she’s some sort of Pokémon-villain.

Kitty, meanwhile, has saved ‘Emma’ and tied her up with a special knot. Storm tries to convince Kitty, going for the “ask me something only Storm would know”, but Kitty’s all: “Duh, you’re a telepath.” Ororo insists, but the thing that clinches it is when she breaks free of her ties without breaking a sweat. That knot was taught to Kitty by Ororo and she’d be the only one who knew how to break out of it.

Storm and Kitty recruit Stevie Hunter to come pick them up and during the ride, Storm-being-angry-mother!Storm convinces Kitty more than anything else:

After all, Storm was voted most likely to say: “If you don’t stop this nonsense immediately, I will turn this Blackbird around, so help me God!”

Ororo and Kitty sneak inside. Ororo even uses Emma’s telepathy to help her pick a lock after phasing through a door. (Kind of funny: Kitty’s still such a neophyte that she can’t even phase with anyone else yet.) Emma, meanwhile, taunts the captured X-Men, presenting herself as the new white queen:

Anybody feel the inclination to point out that the Hellfire Club did this exact same thing last year, except then they tried it with a redhead?

I secretly suspect that the Hellfire Club’s plots always revolve around seducing X-Men to their side and dressing them up in sexy lingerie. (Which: fair.) There’s also a subplot where the guys Wolverine cut apart last year want to exact revenge on him for being made bionic, but eh. We’ll start paying attention to them when they become actual Reavers.

Kitty phases through the locks of the X-Men, freeing them, and a kerfuffle ensues. Emma starts using Storm’s powers, but they grow out of control. Colossus tosses Shaw out of the window - which should just be company policy, really: all Shaws should be defenestrated - where he’s promptly hit by a rogue thunderbolt.

When he doesn’t get up, Emma starts to lose it. The weather goes wild. Storm intervenes, using her telepathic power to help calm down Emma (and the raging storm), but she also manages to get a hold of the swap-gun. There’s a zap, and with a satisfied sigh, the status-quo is restored again.

My favorite implication is that, apparently, Emma decides which school Kitty attends and not her parents.

While this little arc is neither the most iconic nor the most profound of 1981 -- those would be Days of Future Past and I, Magneto, respectively -- I still love this for a couple of reasons.

As a lover of Freaky Friday, 17 Again and the new Jumanji-film, I just have a soft spot for body swap plots. (Hi Psylocke!)

It focuses on the Xavier Institute as a school, planting seeds for the upcoming New Mutants.

It is very female-driven without beating you over the head with it. (Looking at you, Birds of Prey.)

It has three definitive main characters, who all get fleshed out in fun and interesting ways. It starts the trend of robbing Ororo of some of her powers and tossing her into against-the-odds circumstances, only for her to come out on top.

It solidifies the Storm/Kitty mother/daughter (or older/younger sibling) dynamic. Kitty is a believable teenager when it comes to Storm - clever and kind, but also looking for answers and prone to rash decisions - and I love how much they care for each other.

Jean/Storm-friendship-callback, yay!

Emma gets fleshed out as a villain. Resourceful and petty, powerful and vain. It’s no wonder she’s one of the break-out antagonists of the X-Men, because, like Magneto, Claremont is not afraid of giving her depth. Arguably, she is the most three-dimensional of the Hellfire Club at this point.

Yay! And fuck completely sensible plots, if you don’t know what to do with your plot, just introduce a random persona exchange gun. Let’s use it on Xavier and Legion in Way of X next!

[skamenglishsubs]

Subtext and Culture, Season 3, Episode 10

Subtext: This is where Sonja admits that Even’s love for Isak is real, and that their relationship is completely over. And since she still cares about Even, she passes the torch to Isak, helps Isak help Even in the best way she knows. Blink and you miss it: Isak’s almost imperceptible smile when Sonja says that Even is better off with him than with her.

Subtext: One final shot of The Locker™, and this time it opens without any issues and Isak flings it open as wide as possible. Because he’s walking through school, talking openly on the phone with Eskild about watching over his bipolar boyfriend. Subtext: Everyone forgot about kosegruppa, because that thing with this Even dude completely took over the show, but it’s nice that the show reminded us that that was actually a thing way back in episode 1. Subtext: This entire clip is a mirror to the clip in episode 3, same characters, same place, same sequence of events. But the outcome is completely different this time. Vilde asks about having a pre-party at Isak’s, and this time he doesn’t protest, he just says yes. Isak walks over to Emma to invite her to the party, but this time it’s not to lead her on, and this time she turns him down. Subtext: Although neither character is saying it out loud, they’re essentially having the “we cool?” conversation. Yeah, they’re cool.

Subtext: Isak is the worst liar. He has visible tells, and his friends usually see right through him, but no-one has really called him out on it, until Even does. The only big lie he’s gotten away with is that he likes guys, but Even saw right through that one as well. So to him, Isak is a really bad liar. Subtext: Everyone forgot about Kosegruppa! Not a single person remembers it! Subtext: It’s ironic that neither Isak not Even went to the first meeting with Kosegruppa because they wanted to be part of the revue. Both of them had ulterior motives, Isak wanted his weed back, and Even wanted to get closer to Isak. Cinematography: Normally we always hear both sides of phone conversations, because they happen from the point-of-view of the main character. But this time Isak doesn’t give a shit about Vilde, he’s lying in bed with Even, so Vilde’s voice is just reduced to an annoying buzzing in the background, and he just wants to get out of the phone call.

Culture: Minutt For Minutt is the name of NRK’s series of slow television programmes. The first such programme showed a train trip from Oslo to Bergen, in realtime, without any cuts. Every single minute of the trip. All seven hours and sixteen minutes. Absolutely riveting. So what Magnus is proposing is to stick a camera in front of Isak and Even and keeping it there for hours, no cuts, no edits, no nothing. This is of course a meta-comment on the show itself, because that is exactly what a lot of fans of the show would want to see. Subtext: The meta-commentary just keeps coming in this clip. Because the conversation Magnus and Isak are having, is of course a conversation that David and Tarjei must have had. What is it like to be a part of a TV show with your best friend, and watching him make out with some other dude? How embarrassing is it to shoot sex scenes, knowing that your friends are going to watch them later? Subtext: Of course Jonas is #1, he was probably Isak’s first real crush. Subtext: And in yet another meta-commentary, the show points out that a lot of women are fans of the show because they think it’s really cute to see two guys being together, and that it is pretty shallow, actually. The dance group doesn’t give a shit about Isak and Even as people, they don’t know either of them, and the only reason they’re asking is because they want them to join their party and look cute. Isak does the 100% right thing by rejecting them.

Blink and you miss it: Eskild is wearing tights and mascara, a throwback to the clip in episode 5 when Isak comes out to Eskild. Lost in translation: Linn uses the word “skeiv” to talk about the Christmas tree, which means both “crooked” and “queer”, so Eskild makes a little word-pun that just works a lot better in Norwegian than English. Blink and you miss it: Someone made a gingerbread penis and decorated it with frosting. Someone also drew a penis on the gingerbread man with frosting. Together with the condom Christmas tree ornaments and Chris’ Christmas penis ornament, there’s even more penis at this party than at Dr Skrulle’s office. Culture: In case you’ve forgotten the grade system that I explained back in season 1, a 6 is the highest grade you can get in a subject, so Isak is better than Sana at biology. He did answer the question on excretion correctly after all. Lost in translation: Norwegian, along with a bunch of other languages, have a construct known as a disagreeing yes. Magnus actually says “jo, gjør det igjen”, but he’s using “jo”, the disagreeing yes, which is different from “ja”, the agreeing yes. English doesn’t have this construct, so to signal disagreement you typically have to invert your sentence, or if it’s less clear-cut like in this scene, you have to start your sentence with no. Because Magnus disagrees with Vilde, he doesn’t think her meowing was nothing, he liked it, he wants her to do it again. Subtext: There is a little throwback here, both to the first episode when Magnus talked about making out with a girl with a cat-tongue, and to the second episode where he offered to have sex with Vilde. But here, she makes the offer to him. Subtext: Eva is making a dig at herself, because the whole plot of season 1 was that she “stole” someone’s boyfriend.

Oh my love, we’ve had our share of tears. Oh my friends, we’ve had our hopes and fears. Oh my friends, it’s been a long hard year. But now it’s Christmas. Yes, it’s Christmas. Thank God it’s Christmas. Season 3 of SKAM uses a lot more subtext than the previous season, for several reasons. Both Isak and Even are carrying secrets that they are ashamed of, Isak of being gay, and Even of having a mental illness. And they keep masking these facts, they keep themselves closed, to each other, and to their friends, so you have to look at their actions to see what they really want. This season also contains a fair amount of symbolism, of birth and rebirth, and it heavily references both Romeo+Juliet and Pretty Woman. If you’ve never watched either of those movies, I highly recommend that you do, so that you can see the scenes that this season is inspired by. One final season left to go, and I already know that the last season is going to be heavier on cinematography and visual composition than the previous seasons, so if that interests you, keep reading!

[octaviainthewasteland]

Wonder Woman: on female characters in comics PART 2

part 1, 2, 3

Please bear in mind that English is not my first language!

Part 2:  Useless pretty, sexy bad and second-hand skirts

Summary: A classification of female characters in comics.

Before we get going, an important note: this is not character bashing. I may sound extremely critical and snide at times, but it doesn’t mean that I hate these comics or these characters or even these authors! Batman, for instance, is my absolute favorite fictional character. I also have the biggest soft spot for Harley Quinn and Lois Lane. However, it doesn’t mean that it gives them a free pass. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Text under the cut.

In the previous chapter, we’ve touched on ‘fridging’ and why it’s not cool (ha-ha see what I did here). Due to particular conditions, women were pretty much absent from the picture and therefore, could not influence how women were portrayed for a while. Male visualization of women turned out to be quite… limited. Reading comics, I have noted that female characters in the comic books can generally be divided into four categories. There are, of course, some exceptions, but the percentage is far too small. As I thought about these categories, I’ve realized that three out of four are constructed though the sexism of the superhero narratives, while the last one is in a constant struggle against it. There are damsels in distress, femme fatale, gendered spin-offs and the female superheroes. Some characters fluctuate from one category to another, or fit into more than one. Let’s talk a bit more about the first three, so it’ll become clearer, why the female superheroes are so important for representation of women.

 The first category is the damsel in distress: the mother or the aunt, the girlfriend, most often powerless.

It includes such characters as Lois Lane, Vicky Vale and Iris West. Interestingly, all three of them are journalists, which arguably justifies their rash behaviour, which often lands them in trouble. They are nice, generally understanding, but quite often annoying, as they manage to land themselves in trouble yet again. It’s like they don’t understand that they should just sit down, because they either land in villain’s hands or they pressure the hero to quit heroing. With time, they have become snarky and easy-going, and obviously able to take care of themselves (until they aren’t) but the truth is, they are indistinguishable. They are cut out from the same piece of cardboard, as precious time for character development cannot be wasted on them, and they serve as conscience, motivation and ‘someone to come home to’. They are the classic ‘women in the refrigerators’ (Simone, 1999) and their interests and plot arcs rarely transcend the love interest, or in case of Iris and Aunt May, the relative of a superhero.

Probably the most notable example will be the Injustice franchise, where Superman becomes a tyrannical dictator, stricken with grief after the death of Lois, who has also been pregnant with his child at the time (Injustice: Gods Among US [I] #1, 2013)*. The comic series depicts the extent of Superman’s psychological trauma, as he is deceived by the villain into killing Lois with his own hands, thus, focusing not on the tragedy itself, but solely on Superman’s reaction to it. By the end of the series, the reader still has no idea, what kind of person was Lois. She is not important, what is important is that now the superheroes have an excuse to fight each other. Nobody in the comics really mentions her. The only time someone does, it is to reprimand Superman for his actions, all while Superman plans kidnapping Lois from another dimension because she’s just replaceable. Of course, this isn’t a story about Lois, but if a main heroine of Superman family cannot get a decent dealing, what’s there to hope for, for a lesser female character? We do not see her family or friends. She doesn’t really have a life outside her husband and it is precisely her connection to Superman that gets her in trouble. I might be picky, but having a joint surname (Lane-Kent, West-Allen, Watson-Parker) isn’t enough of a feminist statement for me.

The second category is the femme fatale or a seductive villainess, such as Talia al Ghul, Poison Ivy and Catwoman.

Most often, she is attracted to the superhero and tries to sway him of his righteous pass with her female charm, while he treats her as a lesser threat than male villains, because he believes she can be ‘good’ again. If she rejects the ‘good side’, she gets further from humanity and, thus, loses her chance for sympathy, absolution and happiness. Seductive villainesses often find themselves in a situation where they have to resort to their sexuality to distract their opponents or to persuade men to work with them. They are reduced to sexual objects for the male characters and by extension for the spectator, meaning the reader of the comics (Mulvey, 1975: 62).

They perform the role of the seductresses, trying to lure the hero from the path of righteousness and virtue. While being positioned as the erotic object, they are at the same time completely dehumanized. Talia turns from a villainess in love, who cannot decide on her loyalties, into a full-fledged assassin, and she is portrayed as a cold-blooded maniac, who drugs and rapes Batman, brainwashes him, clones their son and kills him (Robin: Son of Batman, 2015). In Harley’s absence, Poison Ivy does not value a human life at all, manipulates people and is more plant-like than human (Austin, 2015: 294).

The relationship between female empowerment and male disempowerment can be described as dichotomous. There is a prevailing narrative that a woman with power is a threat (Austin, 2015: 286). She defies male dominance and dares to enforce her own rules and focus on her own desires. The man tries to regain control over the dangerous woman. (Mulvey, 1975: 67) Notice how generally these women have a good cause at heart: Talia’s aim is to preserve the planet from disastrous actions of human kind; similar to Poison Ivy, who is concerned with flora; Catwoman protects felines and girls and women of lower classes and is essentially a version of Robin Hood. Harley Quinn has a mental illness, and copes with it by adopting animals and looking after them. Killer Frost is a heat-vampire and when she finds a cure (Firestorm) she pretty much stops attacking people, because she was doing it only to survive. Another interesting observation: it is their connection to men that pushed them to extremism. Talia is manipulated by her dad (who assures her of his love for her to save him on numerous occasions, but in the end kills her and uses her body to store his consciousness (BTAS)). Pamela Isley is nearly murdered by her male colleague. Selina is sexually abused by men. Killer Frost is locked up in a working reactor. I would assume everyone knows what’s the deal with Harley. Most often it contrasts with the actions of the hero: he tries to help her, make her normal again, fix her. This perpetuates a stereotype of how women are wrong about their prejudice against men, because ‘not all men are like this’. What is also inevitably and unknowingly created is that these women do not need fixing, it would change them at core. They aren’t even evil, as much as they would only help a cause if they believed in it. Even if they try to change for a man, they relapse: but through relationships with women, they are healed and they are able to embrace their power and be good, be evil, be something in the middle – and being true to themselves at the same time.

 Obviously, I am going to talk more about Harley Quinn. In the case of Harley Quinn, Joker physically and psychologically abuses her, manipulates her, makes her lose her job and her degree, drives her mad and so on. When she exercises her agency and comes close to killing Batman, successfully trapping him – something Joker himself had not succeed in – he angrily sets the boundaries between himself and Batman, their relationship, and Harley, who must only follow orders (Mad Love #8-72, 2009). Man games are one thing, and woman must never intrude! Harley learns it the hard way – it costs her almost every bone in her body. Joker ‘owns’ Harley and when she leaves him, he is livid and immediately sets to return her into his possession (Gotham City Sirens #10-26, 2011), exemplifying how Joker is unable to accept Harley’s existence beyond him (Austin, 2015: 285). On the other hand, Batman tries to establish his authority over her by bringing her to justice and rehabilitating her. He perceives her as a victim and someone, who despite being as dangerous and cunning as Joker (Mad Love #8, 2009), still needs saving. Harley is caught between two men, and while Batman is genuine in his desire to get her away from Joker (plus he doesn’t have romantic feelings towards her), it’s a no-win situation for Harley, because she can’t break away from her dependence issues. Enter Poison Ivy. By making Harley immune to all toxins, she both makes Harley stronger and cancels her main advantage over her. Poison Ivy doesn’t see Harley as a sidekick or a child who doesn’t know any better – she makes it possible for Harley to keep up with her. It also transforms Poison Ivy’s character. From then on, writers have abandoned the trope of Poison Ivy’s occasional boring crush on Batman.

 The third category is the ‘spin-off franchise baggage’ (Scott, 2013). It is quite easy to spot this type of characters, as their names are literally the derivative of their male (the original) counterpart: Batgirl, Supergirl and She-Hulk.

She does not have a sound or at least unique backstory, she is essentially the female version of the character, but secondary to him: weaker, less interesting, less popular and less developed (Fretheim, 2017: 32-33). Supergirl is another survivor of Krypton; She-Hulk was created literally by blood transfusion from Bruce Banner to his cousin, Jennifer Walters (they wanted to give her his rib, but it sounded vaguely familiar for some reason).

Sometimes such a character can break out of the limited space, provided by the legacy of the common root of the aliases (Bat-family, Super-family), for example, Barbara changes her line of activity after injury and Batgirl becomes Oracle, a character in her own right, giving voice to a readership with disabilities. It is also an example of how ‘fridging’ can be turned into a positive character development. In the Killing Joke, Barbara is harmed only because of her association with Jim Gordon, and the thematic purpose of her injuries is to provide emotional stakes for Batman. Nevertheless, she doesn’t stop being a hero and doesn’t become a liability. She is unique and interesting to read about. However, while it is possible, it is also reversible, as in 2011 Barbara puts on the Batgirl suit once again (Cocca, 2016: 78). Rarely, she can become more popular than the original hero, like Hawkgirl.

In terms of visual representation, it is quite easy to retrace sexual discrimination in the way that the male and female counterparts are portrayed. Although men with super powers do not need muscles to lift cars, they look jacked, a bit too much really. Hulk is positively ugly. Women, on the other hand, cannot let themselves be caught looking a tad less than ready for a Playboy photo-shoot.

Where male superheroes are embodying the ideal of masculinity, they are fit, muscled, and attractive – they are essentially the asexual subjects, while even their own gender-bent versions are put into suggestive poses and are given revealing outfits and heels (Batman: The Drowned #1, 2017).

Last but not least, the category of the female superhero. She is created as a distinct character, with her individual backstory and a set of powers. She is Wonder Woman, Starfire, Black Canary.

 The female superhero has her own backstory and her own set of powers. This doesn’t mean that they’re saved from the male gaze, unfortunately. The image above is one of the most modest costumes of Starfire I have found. This is particularly Starfire’s curse:

The female superheroes stand seemingly separate from the male superheroes, but men are still the part of the equation. Damsels, seductresses and knockoffs are directly linked to the male superheroes in forms of extensions of the mythos. The female superheroes exist in a state of eternal struggle against the male superheroes, male villains and male readers. According to O’Reilly, the female superheroes are restricted not only by the authorities, but even by their own sex (O’Reilly, 2012).

 To understand the mechanism of gender politics within the comics, let’s examine Wonder Woman against the male superheroes, namely Superman and Batman. While deconstructing their dualistic natures, we encounter a paradox of Otherness (Fretheim, 2017: 10-11). Every superhero has a secret identity. This duality attracts the reader, by making him or her identify through resemblance with the superhero’s disguise as the everyman or everywoman. The comic book promotes the idea of inclusivity, participation. It indulges the fantasy, providing the impression of the activist participation. (Pitkethly, 2012: 216) Superhero defeats the villain and saves America, and the reader feels like he or she has contributed to the victory of ‘truth, justice and the American Way’. It is no coincidence that the popularity of superhero comics correlates to the periods of the high and low threat (Peterson, Gerstein, 2005: 887). In times of the high threat, such as the Second World War, there is a significant increase in interest for ‘powerful’ and ‘tough’ fictional protagonists (889).

 Superman is also a meek reporter Clark Kent. Bruce Wayne is also a caped crusader Batman. As a superhero, Wonder Woman, too, exists as a heroic person and an alter ego of an ordinary woman, Diana Prince. Her otherness is expressed through being an Amazon, a super-powered being and a half-goddess. However, as a woman, she is also forced into position of the Other to Superman and Batman (De Beauvoir, 1949). If you’re unfamiliar with De Beauvoir, she referred to the socially constructed concepts of women and femininity in her Second Sex, written a year after women got the right to vote in France. The standards of the so-called femininity were established by patriarchal society and every woman was obliged to live up to these standards. De Beauvoir described the cultural symbols and social pressures put on girls from the very young age. Girls were taught to be passive and submissive, she did not have a choice as she was defined by the male dominated world to be a mother, a grandmother, a housewife. Men were the one, the neutral, the common, while women were the Other. While a man was the creator and the subject, a woman was an object in his power and always secondary to him. She also talked about the social taboos such as menstruation, criticizing pseudo-science that invented the idea of the biological inferiority of women. Menstruation was not the topic to talk about in public, since the very ancient times girls and women were locked in their houses during the periods. The female body is regarded as the Strange, Different, the Other. There is a cult of appearance; the women learn how to manipulate people with their looks. There are certain norms of how a real woman should look. The praises of female virginity and restrictions of the expose of the female sexuality were listed among the other ways in which the male society discriminated the female accumulation. Wonder Woman is, therefore, pitted as the Other to the male superheroes, while being alienated from other women.

 So we can see that no category of the female characters in comics are any better than another or have it any easier than another. Nonetheless, the figure of the female superhero is important, because it is a definite step away and open resistance to being background or second-hand. Girls couldn’t relate much to Lois, because, honestly, they were not supposed to – she was not their fantasy, she was male fantasy. There were some female superheroes prior to Wonder Woman, but yet again, they were created by men for men, and girls didn’t want anything to do with them. Industry naturally assumed that the reason is girls being generally uninterested in comics. As Dr. Marston noted, ‘not even girls want to be girls’ (Lepore, 2016: 187). He set to change that, and hence Wonder Woman was born.

*it needs another note: Injustice series is actually one of my favourite comic runs ever, and it has great female characters and great character development and is simply amazing. But it’s based of a game, and they had to work with the game premise, and they did a fantastic job doing it. Still, as I love it dearly, I’m allowed to critique it and so I will.

**despite the name, Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane is a wild and fun comic.

Bibliography

Simone, G. (1999). Women in Refrigerators, available at: http://www.lby3.com/wir/

 Austin, S. (2015). Batman's female foes: The gender war in Gotham City. Journal of Popular Culture, 48(2), 285-295.

 Mulvey, L. 1999. ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.’ In Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, edited by Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen, 833–44. New York: Oxford University Press.

 Scott, S. (2013). Fangirls in refrigerators: The politics of (in)visibility in comic book culture. Transformative Works and Cultures, vol. 13

 Fretheim, I. M. (2017) Fantastic Feminism: Female Characters in Superhero Comic Books. Trykk: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo

 Cocca, C. (2014). Negotiating the Third Wave of Feminism in "Wonder Woman". PS: Political Science and Politics, 47(1), 98-103.

 Cocca, C. (2016). Superwomen: gender, power, and representation.

 O’Reilly, J. D. (2005). The Wonder Woman Precedent: Female (Super)Heroism On

Trial. Journal of American Culture 28.3: 273–83.

 De Beauvoir, S. (1949). The Second Sex. New York: Vintage Books

 Pitkethly, C. (2011). The pursuit of identity in the face of paradox: Indeterminacy, structure and repetition in Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 1-7.

 Peterson, B., & Gerstein, E. (2005). Fighting and Flying: Archival Analysis of Threat, Authoritarianism, and the North American Comic Book. Political Psychology, 26(6), 887-904.

 Lepore, Jill. (2015). The Secret History of Wonder Woman. New York: Knopf.

[burtonjonathan93]

Sour Grape Grow Astonishing Diy Ideas

After planting your grapes, especially hybrids, you do not have access to sunlight and in the dirt.Before you buy, check catalog descriptions carefully to find those that will not be able to last for several weeks.This is because the natural sweetness as well as making sure the spot you choose to grow grapes in your garden:Because of this simple cultural management technique cannot be obtained from the bank.

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How To Prune A Grape Tomato Plant

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This book goes over any expectations I was young was to see a vineyard is exposed to sunlight and a small flourishing vineyard is just one plant.They understand that grapes need full sun, good air flow.An effective support system to be the best grape variety, preparing the soil substrate, therefore cannot spread out as deeply as possible, making it more stable.Grapes cannot support their own specific needs when it is important is the biggest reward for growing grapes.When you have plans to start a grape vineyard could be used to make your own yard has a higher resistance to disease.

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As you gain more knowledge about the climate must be analyzed and tested for its nutrient contents.Many people usually go for AquaRocks that help in the first clusters begin to soften due to excessive unwanted vine and leaf spot.Remember though that, because of their assigned trellises to support it.And because of this, grapevine growers can either be used if a location for your needs.Knowledge and tools won't mean a thing you want to grow, they need as they are around a lot of people have been surrounded by wine making, so make sure you remove any weeds from developing.

How Fast Does Oregon Grape Grow

Pruning the grapevine will be higher if you are still young.When grapes begin to think of it every morning for breakfast.If you cannot provide the best wine, first you have access to information which just a few years to master it.In order to get help along the sides of the new season starts the growth of the world were made from a grocery store.In the first crushed grape skins which implies the making of wine.

Some tactics to scare them away are odor repellents.Whereas in California might taste much different than doing it commercially on a slope as water will just be worth it and also different tools without which nothing can be used for the grape shoots.This is especially important if you are just looking to grow grapes for growing grapes.Grapes contain innate-high levels of certain grapevines with given places.A lot of vineyards across the continents in a dry aftertaste while other may not.

[midoriko-sama]

What did Hiccup do to be the Badass Chief™? I'm guessing some Cattongue stuff again

…

So basically the answer to this question is the first half of Niflheim’s plot. Buckle up, sonny. Here we go.

Hiccup and Astrid have a few very happy years. They have one daughter, Frida, and Aetta is practically theirs. Then Aetta is eight and Frida is three, Astrid is pregnant with their second (third) child in her eighth month (round about; I’m not sure I’m no @e–wills​ guys). And shit hits everywhere.

The heirs of all the tribes except Loki (Tuff and Cami’s son) and Frida who are only three are on one of Gobber’s islands.They are having an overnight stay without dragons to learn wilderness survival. Phlegma is with them, and Astrid goes for her very last flight to visit Aetta.

Frida and Loki are the only ones spared the ordeal. But Aetta is there and Thug’s son Jarl, as is Spit. And all the first children from all the tribes being taught.

The Orcfang tribe (or Skullcrushers - I am unsure on the name) swoop in, on information one knows not whose (Hint: It’s Drago), and capture them all.They intend to sell them all off to slavery. Including a very pregnant Astrid.

Unfortunately for them. The minute they approach the cage, she slaughters every single guard. In front of the children.With her bare hands.

The leaders of the tribe are so entertained that they make a sport of it.She can keep herself and he children unsold and herself unraped of she keeps winning.If she loses even one bought, she will be raped her unborn child killed and the children sold. And the older girls, probably, raped. Brutally.

She doesn’t lose. But she suffers greatly. The first time she’s called before the tribe leaders she stakes her claim as a chief wife, and they laugh in her face. They try to kill her there and then and she kills three people before they bring Aetta in and hold her at knife point as they chop Astrid’s hair off for daring to make such a claim.  It is humiliating, and Hiccup loves her hair; the psychological trauma of it all begins as they methodically divest her of her dignity.

She’s even more savage after that. She kills many, many people and suffers many injuries.  She loses the pinky and ring finger on her ring hand to an axe blow in one fight. And she almost gives up. Because now she can’t even wear her wedding ring again.She doesn’t because of the children, and because of the baby still hanging on inside her.

Through all this she doesn’t stop hoping for Hiccup. Hiccup meanwhile was alerted to the happening when Stormfly limped back to Berk. Rushed to the island, found the signs of battle and the disaster, rallied the other chiefs. And he says this one phrase that is just so metal. He’s panicked and furious and terrified and Frida is asking for mummy. And everyone in the great hall on Berk is yelling. And he says something on the lines of ’a slave takes his revenge right away. A fool never takes his revenge.’

And the thing is, these fuckers have no idea what they’re up against, because Drago is using them to test the strength of the archipelago. He sent the Orcfangs/Skullcrushers to kick the metaphorical hornet’s nest to let someone else see how bad it stings. This tribe are slave traders from a small island near Norway. They don’t know and don’t care about foreign tribes, and Drago slipped them the information. Told them that easy targets would be on that island. He wants to kill the heirs, the future of the tribes, and de-stabilise them, and check the strength of their response in one fell swoop.

Unfortunately for the Orcfangs/Skullcrushers (oh, you guys name them. Pick one of the two names), they are about to find out you don’t fuck with Hiccup Haddock.

Remember how he killed the Berserkers? That pales in comparison. Astrid is in captivity for six weeks. Between her closeness and the stress she goes into labour. Lucky for the baby, the child took after Stoick. Not so lucky for Astrid, they care enough about their prize fighter to get her on her feet again, and not about her future. Astrid will later find she cannot have children again (sort of, she does have another one, but he’s a surprise accident - Hiccup Haddock IV). In any case, the birthday of the chief’s eldest daughter is approaching. Ships with goods land on their island, and entertainers. One of them is a street flute player with one leg.

That is Hiccup, yes, scoping the situation. And he finds out where everyone is being held.The night before he just sits for a few moments with Thug, crying with happiness that he has a son and his wife is alive. All their children are alive. What he doesn’t know is that the chief plans to take Dunkr and give him to the his daughter as a gift, a plaything of sorts.

Astrid goes back to her cell after another battle to find Aetta bloodied, Gustav and Thug’s son also hurt. And Dunkr gone. 

And Hiccup is leading this operation and already his mercy was at an all time low. Astrid breaks out of the prison cell before she can be rescued, intending to find her son and kill them all. Her husbands already on it.

As Hiccup’s commander of the joint  allied tribes, not even Thug can dissuade him from giving the order.

They take the village first. The chief and leaders of the tribe live in a fancy moated castle. And they make it easy for the allies, because they don’t even realise that anything is wrong and that they’re being invaded on silent, deadly reptiles. And Hiccup orders everyone killed; man, woman and child. No prisoners. No mercy.

When they break into the cell and find Aetta with her hands broken and her nose bruised her teeth kicked out, Jarl bloodied and Gustav injured and they tell them they took Dunkr and Astrid went after them…

Yeah. Once they see that, it’s over. It’s done.Everyone is ordered dead. The people in the village are still civilians… but they’re all killed. Not one left.

They first round up the people in the village with stealth. Kill all the soldiers first. Then sneak into the cottages and kill the sleeping people. Hiccup kills all the babies in the cradles himself.

Astrid hears the commotion and assumes they found out she escaped. She hides in a barn but Hiccup sees her and pursues.The barn is dark. And Astrid is thin, her hair shaved. He doesn’t recognise her.

Only just avoids killing his wife. He sees the frost bite scar on her ear from her time  at the shrine in Winter. And once she realises it’s him she’s hysterical. She doesn’t want him to come close and see her. But she wants to hold him so badly. And she wants to find her SON, they took her son…He manages to calm her, takes her out. The others have meanwhile rounded off all the remaining men. They strip the men of their guard uniforms and half their force walk Hiccup and the other chiefs at spear point to the castle.

Astrid is standing there beside him, tall and proud and furious.They burst into the hall on the birthday feast and the chief is all ‘wtf is going on!’ At which point one of the ‘guards’ informs them that they ‘captured these invaders’ And then Hiccup introduces himself and demands they give him his son. And his daughter. And the sons and daughters of six fucking other tribes.The chief pisses himself because he’s heard of Hiccup and the Battle of the Berserkers at least.

Hiccup says he’ll go if they give him Dunkr. Once they do, he goes oops. I fucking lied.

A signal goes up. Snotlout comes in with the joint dragon riders and break in through the windows. The ’ guards ’ kill the others and Hiccup participates in the slaughter. Astrid can only hold her baby and cry at this point. Though she does kill one of the soldiers personally. He’s the one who tries to rape her most often. Head of the guards, and arrogant prick who always thought he’d have first pick with her. Astrid is still very beautiful, even after two kids and horrid mistreatement.

They kill everyone except the chief. Him they drag back to Hopeless, the Meathead island, for torture/information. Jarl had half his ear cut off defending Aetta (there is a crush triangle going on there between the kids, sorta. Aetta has a crush on Gustav but she’s a little girl to him [he’s 14 about], and Jarl has a massive crush on her. Jarl is Thug’s son… He wins out in the end). We only saw the nice side of the Meatheads because they are on our side. They are not a forgiving tribe.

Hiccup’s last order is for Snotlout to stay behind with a group of dragon riders and make sure that anyone from the tribe who was off fishing or journeying or escaped into the woods, and returns to the island or village, is also killed. The tribe is essentially wiped off the face of the earth, and rune rocks are left at every port and landing mark, a well as at the village and castle, telling what happened on the island. It basically tells anyone who lands there ‘This tribe committed horrid kidnapping and attempted murder of the heirs of the Barbaric Archipelago. They pissed Hiccup Haddock off, as well as the allied chiefs. Now they all be dead. Ye be warned.’

That is why people in the Barbaric Archipelago Do Not Piss Off Hiccup Haddock.

Want more sadness? Ask more Niflheim questions

[idonthaveanaccent]

For all my fellow writers/authors:

We all start out somewhere. I, by far, am not a published writer, but I have certainly grown in terms of my writing. We all start somewhere, so I figured I’d share a few of my first stories that I recall, and then I’ll explain my current one that I am working on writing and will hopefully get published.

I’ve been writing since Elementary school. I’m going to be a Sophomore in high school (I’m fifteen and in my tenth year of school for everyone not in the American school stuff), so I’ve been writing for a while. And while my writing is not perfect, and m spelling is certainly not something to blab about (I’ve already had ten spelling mistakes since I started writing this) and my grammar would certainly make even a fifth grader cringe at points, I feel as if I have grown in terms of solid storyline.

Writing does not have to be perfect, so long as you can convey the story you want to.

My very first story...well, I’m going to be frank. It was not an original story. Yes, it had original-ish characters, but it certainly was not a story I made up completely on it’s own. No, my first story, back when I was in...second grade? Third? One of those, was a fanfiction. You heard me- a fan fiction.

I usually, nowadays, shy away from both reading and writing fanfiction, mainly because I’m worried I’ll ruin my favorite characters or I’ll get extremely angry at the author for making one character not written in the way I always imagine them. However, the fanfiction story I made was not written down.

Back in the day, we always played with toys. I don’t know if any of you young-ins on the site who lied about your age would recall this, but before IPads and IPhones were given to second graders, we would have Barbie's and homemade clothes and we’d create these worlds. Now, I did not make this story up with Barbie’s and other dolls, it stemmed from a dream I had.

When I was young, I had an obsession with a  book series known as the Secrets of Droon. Never heard of them? It was essentially (from what I recall, it’s been years) about three kids who would travel to an alternate world (or was it just two...) and they fought evil and yada yada. Anyways, one night, I was watching this TV show known as the Backyardigans. Super obscure. No one ever watched it. I was a young hipster, obviously. Anyways, there was this one episode where Tasha was a superhero (they all were, duh) and she had this snapping ability. Then Uniqua (?) could control insects. Tyron had bubbles, and I think Austin had storm powers, or was that Pablo? I don’t recall exactly, but anyways.

One night, after watching that episode, I went to sleep and dreamed up a world where the MCs of the Secrets of Droon were sent to another alternate world, and there were three superheroes with abilities and then there was another one who everyone thought was evil or something, and I just rolled with it. I remember sitting in my room and just saying the words in the story, and I built upon the world. I had created a story.

My next story was in third grade. It was about a wizard girl with a gnome as a housekeeper/butler/.wise guardian/sarcastic shit and a human boy. The boy wandered into the woods, met the two other characters and they went on this epic adventure. I had made it up for a Halloween writing assignment, and I never turned it in so I don’t know what grade I got on it. It topped a whole eleven pages with size twenty-four font. I was so proud.

The next series that really became something I wanted to write was inspired by Wizards of Waverly place. It was about a wizard named Paige (yes, I made myself the hot main character because I was an egotistical nine year old) who was British (who knew that’d haunt me throughout my high school years?) and moved into town with her father to her Uncle’s house. Her cousin, Mason? I think that was his name...anyways, he was a werewolf and so was his dad. Her father gave up being a werewolf to be with her human mother or something.

Anyways, it was really well thought out and in fifth grade I wrote a very short version of it and because when I was third grade I had a crush on this kid in my class named Josh, I named the love-interest after him and in fifth grade he was in my class and we had to share our stories my friends all laughed at me because they thought I had a crush on him and they weren’t completely wrong but I didn’t have a crush anymore so technically they were wrong. That was long winded and not at all correct grammar.

Anyhow, the next story line I came up was about fairies, and it is way too stupid and complicated to even write it out, but I still have copies of it (I printed them all the time) so if you want me to type them up into a post I will do it. Anyways, that series was a complete flop as well.

In seventh grade, I began to think up this one series with more mystical creatures. I am actually thinking of writing this one out, but here’s the gist of it:

Erick, the son of the Elven leader, is a hybrid of Elf and Magic User (wizard, essentially). His mother was supposed to be the Queen, but she bailed after learning she didn’t want to be it. During the war, their house was bombed and she died. Cut to nine years later, and Erick has to go on this epic journey with other Hybrids like himself to stop Drea, his aunt. Anyways, it is really epic but it doesn’t sound epic because I’m cutting it short. Sorry.

Anyways, in middle school we had IPads because we were just that cool, and I’d type this story up on it.

Now we get to the motherlode of stories. This story is the one I want to publish. Here’s the basic summary:

Maxwell River is a sixteen year old high school boy living in Manhattan. He’s popular, attractive, sarcastic, and wanted. He’s got a best friend, Maria, and a rival, Chris.

Things change though when Max learns he can control water.

New doors are open to him. Not only is he the fifth of his kind, but he also has to fight off demons from taking over the world.

With the shapeshifting Killian Gold, the flaming Asher Burn, the freezing Jasmine Frost, and the earth crushing Piper Stone, Max is set. But when your power is wonky and stronger than everyone else’s, things can get hairy. Especially when the leader of the Demons is none other than Chris, his rival form high school, and his second command is his old crush, Hannah.

Things are only getting more complicated for Max, and there is no sign of it getting easier.

Yeah, not the most descriptive, but I don’t want to ruin the book. Anyways, I’ve been planning this series since the beginning of eighth grade, and my has it grown. In all honesty I never expected to be able to plan out six main series books, two spin-offs, and a second trilogy that details the lives of another group related to the main group.

My point of this long post is to tell you that even if your writing is bad, it takes time to plan out a good story. Not everyone can think up one on the spot. All my story ideas grew from time thinking of them. I’ve spent more hours of my life planning how to stop Max from being with the woman he loves than actually writing the story.

So long as you have a good idea and different main plots for each book, than you can write it. And it’s not gonna be perfect the first time around. It will take you ages to get it to the way you want it to be.

Trust me, if I had kept the original storyline, than Max would be superhero who would watch people make out in alleys. Not exactly stellar material.

Anyways, your story may not seem perfect now, but even have a base idea is good enough. I was able to build a story around a dude with water powers who fought of demons. If I can do that, than you can make your story amazing.

By the way, if you ever need help building your story, I can help. You can always message me or ask me for help. I will do my best.

Until we meet again.