#even if individual characters are stuck in their first arc lol

[theguardianace]

honestly I wouldn’t even be that upset about people reducing sekai groups to one feeling if they would actually choose the correct freakin emotion to do that to

[rubberduckyrye]

You don’t need to post this, but thanks for caring about antisemitism on a deeper level beyond that whole Kokichi’s hat thing. Just saw a different post that really bummed me out so seeing you being thoughtful about it cheered me up (which is funny bc Gonta’s backstory never personally bothered me, probably bc my standards are low and at least the reptites portrayed as nice there & a video game reference lol)

NGL Anon I'm morbidly curious about the post you saw, but aside from that--

I actually want to give @jacksmusesdrv3 credit here, because for the longest time I did not want to really engage with the antisemitic stuff at all--which while my intentions were good (as in I wanted to just kind of erase them from my rewrite), it made me blind to other antisemitic notions in the narrative, a lot of them being philosenitism, which in this case, is a very specific breed of antisemitism that idolizes the stereotypes instead of condemning them/using them to fear monger.

I knew that the hat was likely a reference to WWII Germany (I still can't believe military officers wore hats with SKULLS ON THEM like how can I take you seriously you are LITERALLY being supervillans in a cartoon I cannot--) and I knew the Reptites were suspiciously similar to the "lizard people" thing, but there's quite a few a bit of philosenitism in it--things I plan on trying to remove if possible.

I also have been discussing the ableism (pardon the extra salt for the post with the links, this one's personal) and racism in the narrative of V3, both of which I also plan to either address or reassess.

I am very neurodivergant (AuADHD), so the ableism is something I face first hand in my daily life--but the racism and antisemitism aren't things I experience, which is why I want to learn about them and rework the story of Twins AU to be rid of them, if possible. Especially since the ableism is baked into the character interactions and Gonta's character arc so that's hard to remove, but the racism in Angie's writing is mostly backstory related so that can easily be reworked and changed. (Namely, I'm stuck on if I should keep the deities she refers to as the Atua, since I'm not sure if that's interchangeable with the Kupua, which is specifically Native Hawaiian, where as Atua refer to deities that aren't so specific.)

For the antisemitism and antisemitic-philosentism, I'll need to do more research on. I know there is something with Kirumi's last name being a reference to a prime minister of Japan, which has something to do with philosentism/antisemitism, but I don't 100% recall it atm.

Still!

I try to be very, very mindful of these sorts of things in fiction, as I want to create a story that isn't going to perpetuate stereotypes or harmful rhetoric, which will isolate readers of those groups from my work. I never have fun seeing ableist shit in media, in fanfic, so I apply that same logic to everything. A Native Hawaiian won't like seeing Angie's narrative racism. A Jewish individual would feel uncomfortable seeing antisemitic characteristics, even if they are being glorified. So I try to eliminate those things from my own rewrite.

And TBH, I am a little ashamed of myself for wanting to shut down any discussion about the antisemitism/philosentism in the past, because I didn't realize it was making me ignorant. I thought I recognized all of it and that was arrogant of me. I have a lot to learn, and I will always be learning! So I've been slowly working myself up into discussing it and understanding what about V3 has the antisemitism and the antisemitic-philosentism, so I can rework that in my own story.

But yeah--sorry for the long response, I just kinda started rambling a bit.

[nuclearjacks]

12 for the fandom ask game !!

What's the funniest or craziest AU idea you've ever come up with?

Apologies for taking a bit to get around to this- had a very busy weekend and needed a day or two to recoup jdjdjddj

But Ouughghghgh you’re making me think here cause I’ve got so many in my head that have never seen the light of day djhfdjdjdj

It’ll all be under the cut cause I *will* be unapologetically neurodiverse about this vvv

A bit suggestive but nothing explicit - and not one of mine but is far more entertaining than anything I’ve come up with since I’m an angst whore™️ jdhdhdhr was probably a silly strip club au that an old mutual of mine back in 2020 brainstormed. If I remember correctly it was something like the autobots and deceptions ran competing strip clubs and of course the deceptions wore bedazzled and glittery speedos and booty shorts and were slay as fuck sjdhdhdh

There wasn’t much to it other than that, the deceptions slayed and that’s what I cared about most iedniencein

Otherwise-

My craziest (crazy in the sense that, this-is-the-thing-I’ve-thought-most-about-and-put-the-most-effort-in-because-holy-shit-everything-fits-so-perfectly-and-you-can-tell-this-is-peak-fandom-crossover-indulgence djnfjeehbd) is my TarnMaRat Phantom of the Opera inspired AU. Spoilers ahead for mtmte and Lost light just in case too.

I’m not the first person to see the parallels between the Phantom and Tarn absolutely not (there’s actually a gorgeous Tarn print I’ve found on eBay of him as Phantom that I will put the link to here), but I *might* be the first (still highly unlikely with how old this fan base is sjchdjdj) to see the parallels between Christine and Pharma and Raoul and Ratchet (and many other characters who I’ve found a way to weave them into for the sake of this AU jdjxjd)

For example, Christine is stuck in a ‘no-good-way-out’ situation due to the manipulation of a man who threatens those she loves if his terms aren’t obeyed. Very easy to see the parallels between Pharma’s situation on Delphi and how he had to steal t-cogs in order to keep him and his staff safe from the DJD. But even Christine’s deteriorating mental state throughout the musical is very similar to Pharma’s through out the Delphi arc. She’s a fairly isolated individual whose mainly only known the Opera for most of her life, she’s been trained to be the next big star by the Phantom and is pretty suddenly thrust into said position to the point she becomes very overwhelmed when things begin to get more and more complicated and terrifying with her understanding of her ‘angel of music’ and the world in turn. Just like how Pharma suddenly found the DJD on his doorstep one day and was suddenly a t-cog supplier to one of the most deadly decepticons and had to start managing how to keep supplies coming in, keep his staff safe AND possibly find a way out of said situation that might get him and the others out as safely as possible. Which causes him to isolate the Delphi station from everyone until First Aid calls for Ratchet. Also very similar to Christine, they both latched onto people from their past who they felt safe with, possibly thinking they could protect them or help them.

That’s only a taste of the analysis I’ve done of these characters cause I didn’t even get onto Ratchet and Raouls ego complex’s or Tarn’s obsessive behaviours over Megatron, that, for the sake of the AU, I switched up to an obsession over Pharma to better suit the parrells between Phantoms obsession with Christine eunceicheuhc

Instead of this au being a ‘I just put these characters in the other characters place so yay! The robots do opera now lol’, I instead took the same storyline and applied it to the Delphi arc and mish mashed things in from the Lost Light comics too. Honestly this would probably make a really good psychological thriller fic the more I think about it iendiencein

Some of this is still pretty wibbly-wobbly but the basic gist is that Pharma is still running the Delphi site but for a much longer indeterminate amount of time so he’s kinda known as the Doctor who runs Delphi. He was thrust into the position straight after graduating med school (cybertronians still have to go to med school for this shit right??? DJXJDJDJ) to match the overwhelming nature of Christine’s position as Diva. Delphi is also a much larger hospital in this AU with a reputation for 50% of its patients going missing/dying/etc, causing it to be severely underfunded, but somehow still able to run and operate. Which later when Ratchet pops around (since I’d like to think this whole AU would be from Ratchet’s perspective, again, very similarly to the Delphi arc in the comics, to increase the level of horror and mystique around Delphi) learns it’s due to the DJD’s involvement who have been uncharacteristically generous to the hospital. Which later Ratchet learns is because Pharma treated a mech by the name of Damus back in the day when the hospital’s mortality rate was much lower. A mech who mysteriously keeps appearing in hospital records for coming in for treatment of seemingly superficial injuries, notes specifying that he’d always request for Pharma, until these appearances just stop one day out of the blue. And the mortality suddenly spikes a few months later.

The rest of the AU is basically ratchet figuring out the mysterys of Delphi while also trying to find a way to get Pharma and co out of this situation as more and more important characters (sorry, Ambulon doesn’t make it in this universe either jcjdjdjd) are killed off by Tarn. With background Pharat and a one-sided Tarnma.

I’d love to do more with this AU in the future whenever my next bout of creativity is, I have so many feelings about them all🥺🥺🥺💞💞💞

[pink-strawberry-kissess]

At least in the OG timeline, I find this running gag of Leon getting turned down by women as very funny, but I have to admit, it’s kinda weird. He’s conventionally attractive even at 21. Unless, the women find this attractiveness as some sort of a heartbreak trap, thinking he’s a player or something? LOL

Good thing the remakes are retconning this, making him act more like the traumatized individual that he actually is. And with DI, it seems like CAPCOM is sticking to this new narrative. This makes me really look forward to the new game titles which will feature aeon.

i mean- i think the problem is that WE as the audience do not live in the re universe. the audience FUCKING LOVES LEON and WANTS TO DO HORRIBLE SEXY THINGS TO HIM

but he canonically does not do well socially. he's awkward and says dumb shit. i mean- have we seen his "okay" when he sees sherry for the first time???

not only that- we have to remember that re4r leon is set in 2004. most of the characters that interact with him find him cringy- or uptight- or stuck up. it doesn't matter how we as an audience perceives him as sexy. sure he's maybe seen as a pretty boy- but i think his personality makes him less attractive to other characters in the same universe. he also seems just very quiet and kind of rude by the time it's re4r, like why would you wanna date that lol

i mean claire is canonically not interested in leon and finds him too uptight. ashley has what people perceive as a crush on leon but it's kinda just like a schoolgirl crush, and by the end she sees him more of a mentor than anything. (i dunno also this is heavily debated from what i've seen, people not interpreting literally anything that ashley does as flirting- while others do. but at the end of the day i don't really see it as anything other than one sided as leon doesn't seem to see her as anything other than a kid)

I ALWAYS FORGET ABOUT ANGELA JKSBFKJFSBKJ

uhhh who else. helena is sick of leon's shit after like 2 minutes of meeting him.

but also yeah when they were working on re2r, they specifically wanted a more realistic version of aeon, they "fell in love immediately, that's not right- there needs to be more interaction first"

i think the most MAYBE is with shen may but it's also just kinda weird- like he just wants food dude

i think that's also why aeon shippers see ada as like a moronsexual, he be saying dumb shit and she's like I LOVE THAT MAN. HE'S SO STUPID AND I LOVE HIM. (but not actually cause Ada thinks that he's very smart)

(anways all i'm saying is that ada seems to be the only relationship they seem to be writing with care. making it more realistic but also have a plotline and arc. there's a lot more emotions rooted in the betrayal and how it affects leon BUT ALSO ADA. it also just makes it seem like the pay off will be so much more rewarding imo)

anyways yeah i'm still kinda excited for re6r if they make it. it'll be interesting to see since the movies are still connected. i'd love a more emotional connection between them and something more substantial and more info about ada as well. she's literally one of the most interesting characters and is so under utilized

but yeah they wanted to remove the campy re4 leon YOUR RIGHT HAND COMES OFF? and make him more realistic. sure he still says dumb shit but it's more grounded.

(also forgot they completely removed the flirting with hunnigan cause it makes no sense why a government agent would be so fucking rude to hunnigan lol) "i was starting to get worried"

"DON'T YOU MEAN LONELY??"

tl;dr just because we think leon is hot- doesn't mean the in universe characters also think he's hot

[aihoshiino]

your analysis are really interesting and are a joy to read! i wanted to ask about your thoughts on the tokyo blade arc of the manga because its really interesting and gives a lot of characters more depth

thank u so much anon! 🥺 I feel like I've said this in like every ask but it really does surprise and delight me how many people vibe with my longform takes on the series when the extent of my fandom engagement for the last few years has been talking about fate grand order in a group chat comprised of like 5 other gay people LMAO

That said, Tokyo Blade is... an arc I have mixed feelings on! It was, in fact, the arc I originally dropped the manga on back when I was first following it in 2020/2021 feeling it was poorly paced and that I wasn't able to get invested in the cast to the degree it wanted me to me. But upon revisiting the series and this arc in particular with fresh eyes, I think I was being pretty unfair to it - though I do stand by my feeling of the pacing being not the best at least when reading it week to week. It's one of those arcs that definitely works better when you can take it all in at once as opposed to having it doled out over what felt like an agonizingly slow 30+ weeks.

As for my current feelings... in isolation I think it's extremely strong and has some incredible moments that I am PUMPED for seeing animated in season 2 but the further we get away from it and see its long term effects on the cast (or I should say, the lack thereof) the more I feel like it ultimately adds up to less than the sum of its parts.

Not that it's a bad arc, mind! Like I said, it has some insanely strong individual moments and I think the character arcs it ends up serving are super interesting. Its commentary is compelling and I literally can't gush enough about the massive glowup Melt gets in this arc. Every time I have new friends get into the series and understandably react with derision towards him in Sweet Today I just sit there crying tears of blood like that's my fucking baby son you don't understand

I also just really appreciate that the arc is willing to slow down and just let us breathe in some of the emotional baggage the characters are all dealing with without needing to shackle it to Aqua's revenge quest. Even the side characters like the mangakas and the production staff feel like they have real, human lives beyond the ways they factor into the plot and again, it feels like there are real weight and stakes to ensuring the play's success beyond just whether or not it will help Aqua do a thing. So many people's careers (and by extension, their lives) are hanging in the balance and you feel the weight of that responsibility absolutely crushing everyone involved. It's great!

This is potentially a sillier point to add but can I also say that I really like how authentic Tokyo Blade feels as an in-universe piece of fiction LOL. Everything from the premise to the designs rings so fucking true to the exact sort of manga it's a pastiche of that I'm half expecting to hear about the Studio Bones Tokyo Blade anime adaptation announcement any day now because it feels so real to me.

On the less positive side, though... like I said, this arc is s l o w. I believe it's still Oshi no Ko's longest arc at three volumes's worth of chapters and change and it's such a change to the story's until-then relatively breezy pace that it can be really jarring when you go in not expecting it. Again, having the arc available in full to read as quick or slow as you like does a lot to alleviate this problem but if you aren't connecting with it, you're stuck with it for an incredibly long time. This also means that B-Komachi in general and Ruby in specific get completely side-lined for almost thirty entire chapters - Ruby basically vanishes during this entire arc and if you were invested in and excited about her as a character, it sucks to see her get so immediately and completely sidelined after what felt like a big triumphant step forward for her, which is a pattern that will unfortunately continue through the rest of the series.

And speaking of unfortunate patterns... Tokyo Blade is the arc where Akane starts taking steps towards becoming the version of herself I like the least lmao. I've said to friends elsewhere that short hair/LoveNow!Akane and long hair/post Tokyo Blade!Akane basically feel like completely different characters to me and while I really love and am invested in LoveNow!Akane, PTB!Akane is easily my least favourite member of the main cast for reasons that are not entirely her fault.

She doesn't quite achieve her final form in Tokyo Blade arc but the seeds of my worst future annoyances with her (lack of meaningful connection to the extended cast, largely just orbiting Aqua, the overly convenient nature of her deductions, etc) start to take root here. There are some teases of interesting ideas and I particularly enjoy the build up, development and reveal of the true nature of her rivalry with and animosity for Kana but I don't feel like these bear any long term fruit.

That's probably my biggest problem with Tokyo Blade - it feels like an arc that should massively advance the story and the arcs of all the characters associated with it. In some ways it does and we get some tasty crumbs about the central mystery but when you take a step back and really look, the broad strokes status quo of the plot and the character relationships really don't get much of a shakeup and even the things that do feel like they should lead to big changes (Akane figuring out Ai's secret, Aqua finding his half-brother, Kana getting her shine back and Akane's reaction) just kind of... don't? Or at least not in ways that are as impactful as they feel they should be.

Kana and Akane's rivalry is probably the worst example of this. It's built up across the whole arc to the point of their on-stage confrontation basically being the arc's climactic high point. Kana finally stepping into the spotlight again and outshining Akane so beautifully really feels like it should have served as a gigantic change to their dynamic but not only have they barely interacted in any meaningful capacity since it happened, but the times they have it's just been the same old shit of hostility and sniping at each other with the tiny flavour difference of "oh gosh, akane is just such a tsundere tee hee <3". It just doesn't feel like the meaningful, impactful change it should have been based on how hard the end of that arc made me FEEL it.

I've said elsewhere before that a lot of the characters feel sort of like they've been stuck in holding patterns since Tokyo Blade and I'm hoping that in the Movie arc, with the cast being crunched together into a single, extremely emotionally taxing and relevant project, it might shake a bit of life back into the proceedings, especially given that Aka has said that he thinks the manga's ending is probably within sight - though that could be anything from fifty to a hundred more chapters depending on what he's got planned so who knows how things might shake out.

I do ultimately feel more positively about the arc than negative, though! I feel like I rambled a lot more about the things I dislike here than the things I enjoyed but that's because I feel like the arc's strengths speak for themselves while the stuff I don't like as much needed a bit more explaining. At the end of the day, I think Tokyo Blade is a really solid arc that I'm beyond excited to see animated - it has one of my favourite scenes in the whole manga (given that I am an Ai enjoyer you can uh, probably guess which one it is) and I'm really hopeful that we might get a sneaky peek at a certain someone if season 2 ends at the point I suspect it might...

[temenosimp]

1. I enjoyed Partitio's story a lot more than I expected to! (I started with Hikari, and also did love his, but I wish he got a little more of a response when [postgame spoilers])

2. RAI MEI IS SO COOL I LOVE HER SO MUCH

3. Temenos 3: Crackridge or Hikari 5. Honestly Ochette 3 was pretty good too, full of bangers all around

4. Choosing to interpret this as favorite crossed path: they were all really good but Hikari and Agnea was sweet

5. God, I just remember going to face the lord of the ocean or whatever a little underleveled but ready to try, and then it just ATE some of my party members!!! Very memorable. I was also screaming during the final boss because I didn't think they'd have the guts to have you use both parties

6. The one where you can only take one traveler into outside of Sai is what comes to mind, mostly because I didn't know you could remove people from the party at the tavern lol

7. Uh, idk. Each one had their place

8. The only secret job I really used was inventor

9. HIKARI APOTHECARY SUPREMACY (Agnea merchant also great)

10. Timberain, it's just so full and lively

11. Uh, the librarian one maybe? Where you have to collect From the Far Reaches of Hell, was a cute touch. Also the little terminally ill girl who's depressed and you have to bring her things to look forward to

12. Ngl, not many travel banters stuck out to me this game. All of the nicknames between characters were cute though

13. At Your Back was stuck in my head for days. Otherwise, the track for the later Leaflands towns always made me smile

14. AKALĀ SUPREMACYYYY

15. I believe it was red boat, sun sail

16. I mean, Deal More Damage can't be beat

17. ...the obvious answer is Temenos and Crick

18. More of an AU fodder, but Temenos is Kaldena's little brother and was blessed/filled with the Sacred Flame their people kept (which, among other things, gives him the Investigation Time powers)

19. Listen. I knew Temenos 3: Stormhail was coming and STILL got SO UPSET about it

20. God. Castti's backstory. Healeaks. Oof. Also, honorable mention to Throné 5 with the woman begging you to kill her newborn

21. The Hikari and Partitio Benkeis travel banter. Also, Temenos 3: Crackridge with that lady trying to seduce him when he is SO gay

22. I didn't pick up Osvald until very late. I left that man lying in the snow for months until I finished every other traveler's final chapter and then sped run his story. I don't know why, I think his was actually very good and would have been better to do slowly, but I started with him on the demo and didn't want to sit through his long-ass intro chapters again. (I also learned that if you skip the first chapter(s), the character's stained glass doesn't color fully until you do!)

23. I got so mad. At Temenos's story especially. I feel like the stories in this game focused a lot more on the NPCs associated with the characters and the travelers themselves didn't have very much character growth or development in their story. The journey for the dawn was super cool and helped but there could have been even more character interaction with the plot there, especially since the game makers can guarantee you have everyone by that point.

24. Yes, it was my favorite game. This one improved on it in almost every way, except I think for the individual character arcs as mentioned above. They responded to and improved upon criticisms well and had lots of good quality of life changes and upgrades to the game system (latent powers and NPC's Next Chapter) which I really really enjoyed. The first one is still very good for its own reasons, but I feel confident in saying this was a better game.

Octopath Traveler II ask game 🧭

Been looking for one of these since I finished the game but I haven't found one, so I made my own :3

Favorite traveler? (And if they were who you started with?)

Favorite NPC?

Favorite single chapter?

Favorite overall path?

Favorite boss fight?

Favorite optional dungeon?

Favorite default job?

Favorite secret job?

Favorite build for [character]?

Favorite town?

Favorite sidequest?

Favorite travel banter?

Favorite soundtrack?

Which companion did you choose for Ochette?

How did you customize your Grand Terry?

Did you have a That One Support Skill that you bought for every traveler?

Best relationship/dynamic between 2 characters (& elaborate!)?

A headcanon for [character]?

A moment that made you cry (or you just found sad)?

A moment that gave you chills (or you just found creepy)?

A moment that made you laugh out loud (or you just found funny)?

An amusing anecdote from your playthrough?

One thing that bugged you / you would change about the game?

Did you play the original Octopath Traveler? (And how does it compare?)

[dorkshadows]

srry if this is out of left field but a while back i remember you reccing a pigsy x wukong fanfic to someone, saying it was the fic everyone that shipped the two in the chinese fandom has read? i cant find the link to the fic or your post now and i was wondering if you still have it on hand. thx!

Hi anon! Sorry it took me so long to come online. You know, I've been trying to stay off tumblr more and more often nowadays (with the exception of chatting with close mutuals), and one time, I did consider saying goodbye to blogging.

Then I saw this ask. And you single-handedly reminded me that I can't do that yet. I am NEEDED. So not a left field question at all! This is the kind of thing I'm here to help with.

I actually didn't have it on hand, so I tried googling adsfasdf and anon, I was literally searching for that fic for a grand total of like, 3 hours. The original fic was part of a large collection of individual stories. But it was pretty "famous" in the chinese jttw fandom, even for people who don't usually ship Wukong/Bajie. The fic was called 呆子 (Idiot) and was basically a 2-chapter story from Bajie's 1st person pov. He was in love with Wukong, who was in love with Sanzang, and the story was an AU take on the White Bone Demon arc. And it has an open-ending where maybe Wukong reciprocates.

It's quite angsty, but very memorable because it's extremely in-character (Zhu Bajie is nicer than his original self of course). The author didn't base it on any adaptation, nor did they "beautify" the main characters (so Wukong and Bajie are very much a monkey and pig lol). Anyway, the fic really stuck out to me the first time I read it. It's just one of those beautifully written rarepair things that sticks to your mind.

ANYWAY, google yielded a lot of people asking for the fic or reccing it, but with no links LMAO. But I knew you were counting on me anon, so I switched gears and went to Baidu. Again, I went through like 5 pages of dead links and questionable sites- until finally, I found a site with the mobile txt book (the entire collection, including Idiot).

So if you're here anon, I do hope you read it :'D

Here's the link.

Enjoy the read!

[g0reoz]

uhhH Beyblade for the fandom ask game

The first character I first fell in love with: ken midori!! i still love pretty much everything about this character (/p ofc), and he (along with daina) was one of the main reasons i stuck with the show early on. he had a really interesting character arc and i’m like 99% sure Middle School Me cried when he left. still can’t believe they pretty much completely got rid of him after season 1 was over, tho, smh my head ://

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: ruwei was Just Some Guy until i got a few more episodes in and realized his facial expressions and mannerisms are super similar to someone i know irl (who also happens to be a shortish violent individual with long braided hair and a bias towards birds n the color blue). now he’s more than just some guy. he’s the SAME flavor of just some guy as one of my oldest and closest friends :)

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: idk? i like a lot of the characters in some way or another. i don’t like lui as much as a lot of other people, though i don’t hate him either. and a lot of the protags (except drum) were Not Really My Faves ig.

The character I love that everyone else hates: bro idek who‘s super hated that i Also Like. who do you people even collectively agree to hate aside from like ashtem

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: i am neither a coward nor a fool. i have a list of faves that i continually add to.

The character I want to be like: listen. i think this happened subconsciously, but my fashion sense nowadays is basically what would happen if you put shuu and xhaka’s wardrobes in the same closet. i have to blame beyburst for every outfit and color scheme i have ever thrown together so i don’t have to live knowing it was a choice made free of outside influence 💔😔🤙

The character I’d slap: yugo nansui (derogatory (affectionate)). i want to fight him in a parking lot but that parking lot has to be in front of a cafe so i can take him there afterward. the duality of mankind.

A pairing that I love: i literally have not shipped anything since like 2016, and even then, i had no concrete pairings. it was more of a “haha what if this happened? let’s give it some thought *moves on immediately after*” so i don’t really think i’m well equipped to answer this lol

A pairing that I despise: shuvalt. i do not care for shuvalt at all and have never really seen that being something that works out. this is coming from my experience as That Guy Everyone Talks To When They Have Relationship Issues And, Later, Need Someone To Talk Them Through Their Breakup.

anyways yeah that‘s about it! thanks for the ask lol

[lliaq]

mhm man do I have conflicting feelings about Vol 2 (this is prob gonna be kinda rambly and all over the place but I have Thoughts™ and I need to put them down)

okay first of all I gotta commend Sadie, like she absolutely killed it this season. Definitely one of the highlights. Caleb too. That attic scene- oof. I was just straight up bawling. Max and Lucas were never my favorites (didn’t dislike them either, they were just sorta in the middle for me), but they really felt like the heart of the show more than anything or anyone this season. Which is ironic given Will’s whole speech about Mike being the heart like-the fuck where? 

I just- do not like Mike. At all. idk what it is, if it’s the acting, writing, or both, but he feels so incredibly unsympathetic as a character. He was also one of those middle characters for me at first, but unlike Max and Lucas he’s just been dropping down season by season and I literally can’t stand him now. Slow clap for that A+ character assassination. He only exists as Eleven’s bf now, and doesn’t seem to care about any of his friends, or anyone, really. And don’t even get me started on how they used Will’s feelings and sexuality “storyline” to further Mileven. there’s already a hundred posts about that, so I’m just not gonna even go there.

Another slow clap for the incredible Queerbaiting (listen idec that much if Byler becomes canon or not, but they 100% used Will’s sexuality and the potential of Byler to hype up the show and string queer audiences along(during Pride month, no less), it is textbook queerbaiting)

Mileven is also one of those ships that I don’t care about. Might have to do with my dislike for Mike, but something about it just doesn’t click for me. And boy did I feel that lack of investment during Mike’s monologue. Made the entire scene just completely fall flat for me. But where I was mostly ambivalent about them in S3, I’m actively rooting for them to break up now lol. Eleven, girl, get out of there.

Like, genuinely, her character feels like it’s stuck. Or like going in circles. I think she’d have more room to grow without Mike. idk I’m too tired to be big brain about this rn

Anyways, moving on. Dustin felt a little sidelined this season. Like what even was his arc? Being Eddie’s friend (just for Eddie to die)? Wow, great. Amazing. But y’know, same thing with Jonathan and Will. Maybe they just have too many characters at this point. 

Couldn’t care less about Jonathan and Nancy as a couple. I’m not a big shipper (regardless of canon status), so if a relationship isn’t actually interesting...I just won’t care. They’re boring to me, that’s all I really have to say. I’m not fully on board the potential Steve/Nancy train, if they’re even going there in S5. Def felt like that’s what they were setting up. I’ve seen some people say that them getting back together would undo their character growth and I don’t know if I agree with that either, like... if they got back together, it would literally be because they spent time apart, growing as individuals. What they had before wasn’t working, but they’re not those people anymore, that’s the whole point. It would only be regression if they got back together and went back to being exactly like they were in S1/2.

I mean, in an ideal world I would hope for Ronance, and Steve ending up either with someone else or single, but...I’m not gonna hold my breath for that, lol. After all, they gave us copy-paste lesbians. Great representation, pack it up everybody. You know what, I’ll give that one another slow clap.  I’m always down for more wlw rep, but that was half-assed at best. More like quarter-assed. 

Steve also felt, idk, sidelined in the sense that he just went back to pining about Nancy and that was really all there is. Idk honestly it felt like a lot of characters were just kind of there, this season. Like, they participated in the plot....and that was it. And some barely even did that. Again, might be an overcrowding issue.

I’m sorta meh about the Russia plot. Murray is ok, I guess, but the over the top kind of comedy they use him for isn’t my cup of tea, so he’ll never be my favorite. I’m pretty ambivalent about Jopper as well. It’s one of those ships where I’m like I’m fine if it happens, and I’m fine if it doesn’t. I will say that my perception of Hopper still hasn’t fully recovered from whatever the fuck they did with his character in S3, but it’s getting there, I guess?

Joyce...went to get her man. Good for her, I guess. idk, don’t really have much to say.

Eddie though- man. Boy. He’s like the definition of deserved better. My man thought 86 was going to be his year and then it all went to complete and utter shit. I can’t say I’m surprised they killed him. He’s the Barb/Bob/Alexei of this season, with the exception that he was probably more of a fan favorite than any of the other 3. The thing about his death is just... it seems so pointless. I know they painted it as this whole Hero moment, he decided to fight instead of run, yadda yadda. But really he died in a “sacrificial” act that was ultimately meaningless and didn’t accomplish anything, he died being hated by an entire town, and I assume they left his body in the Upside Down bc he was officially “missing” still, so...he didn’t even get a burial.  He’s like one of the very few characters that went through actual character growth this season , and he died for it. Good one. (here, I’ll toss in another slow clap) I did feel the lack of reactions was odd at first, but then I thought about it a bit and remembered that the timeframe of this season is pretty short. Idk how long exactly, but I’m pretty sure it’s a week or less, and he spent a decent amount of that time in hiding. So most of the others spent like a couple hours total with him, maybe. I’d have expected something from Lucas, though. Mike apparently doesn’t care about anyone other than El, so that tracks lol. But the only one we’ve seen affected at all was Dustin (and Eddie’s uncle). So, it was still a little lackluster.

Anyways, yeah idk. Visually, the show is still stunning (even if the CGI was actually not that great in a lot of shots, imho), and there were some standout moments. I loved the one-take shootout (I’m a sucker for long one-takes, DD hallway fights my beloveds), and of course the entire Running Up That Hill Sequence, which might be my favorite scene in the entire show. But some of these writing choices really soured it for me.

This very much feels like a case of It could have been great, the potential was there, but they didn’t stick the landing.

[leefi]

Hi, I noticed you did the MBTI types of the ORV characters, and I was wondering what you think the MBTI types are for the Revue Starlight gals :D

Anon, I want you to know that this google doc is 14 pages single-spaced, and I'm still not done.

WITH THAT BEING SAID, I'm so glad you asked!! I'll be breaking this up into four parts so we don't have to scroll through one massive wall of text. The other schools will take a bit more time to publish as I'm still working on a couple from each (I think I have four girls left!).

But without further ado:

Starira MBTI Part 1 - Seisho

Siegfeld

Frontier

Rinmeikan

I had a lot of help with all of this reading @HalfACape’s wonderful character analyses of so many of the girls on twitter, as well as consulting the Personality Database page for the characters I was less sure about (though there were a few I disagreed with on there - none in Seisho, we'll be discussing the others later). But everyone feel free to discuss if you disagree with anything!

Karen Aijo: ENFP

ENFPs’ dominant function is Ne (extroverted intuition) (that running gag Karen has in the game where she mishears words, spouting off suggestions even if they make absolutely zero sense to the situation at hand - “telescope? telephone? telenovella?” - is such stereotypical Ne). Ne is always running towards any possibility, no matter how unlikely it seems, and I don’t need to spell out for you how much of that we saw from Karen in the anime. Ne-Fi feed each other to create a rebel/free-spirit type of personality (Ne seeks all possibilities, Fi holds strong inner values and selfish desires - what do I want, what do I need? How does this make me feel?). Her Te isn’t too developed yet, which is fine because it’s tertiary and she’s still so young. That tertiary, undeveloped Te shows up in her scatterbrained, lackadaisical, go-with-the-flow attitude (but when dominant Fi gets fired up by something - like an old childhood friend coming home - it kicks Te into high gear). Inferior introverted Sensing shows no respect towards rules or regulations - see her revue with Junna (Si-dominant) and the anger she draws out of Maya for (a child of the system and traditionally hard worker) in their Revue of Pride. Karen is the natural rebel, the forever optimist, the sunshine girl - textbook ENFP.

Mahiru Tsuyuzaki: INFP

If you want to see what leading with an introverted function looks like compared to an extroverted function, compare Mahiru to Karen! They share the exact same functions, just flipped on the I/E axis. So Mahiru is Fi, Ne, Si, Te. Karen is Ne, Fi, Te, Si. And Mahiru is a very clear example of an INFP - such a warm, brilliant, awe-inspiring person, but can also be her own worst enemy and others tend to underestimate her. And it’s hard, I don’t blame her! Leading with Fi and not having that physical/in the moment Se to support it (like ISFPs do, just compare her to Kaoruko--yes--they’re only one letter off from each other) means that it’s extremely hard for INFPs to naturally advocate for themselves...so instead, they retreat into their own imaginations where it’s safer (Ne). BUT THEY’RE SO INCREDIBLE!! THERE’S SO MUCH THERE TO RESPECT AND ADMIRE!! *shakes her like maracas* IF YOU WOULD JUST SHOW US!!!!!!! (and this is her whole arc in the anime i don’t need to tell her lol). It’s actually so interesting how she and Karen’s Fi and Ne escapism manifests in their respective introverted/extroverted personalities. These two really are more similar than most of us think!

I love INFPs so, so much because they’re like sleeping giants. Once they get a hold of and develop that inferior extroverted Thinking it’s over - nobody else can compare. They’re like the characters in video games that start off super weak, and then you blink and suddenly they’ve become the most powerful units near the end of the game.

Kagura Hikari: INTJ

ENFP’s stereotypical partner (I swear every other reserved person A/sunshine person B couple in fiction is this type pairing) and while it’s tropey it works because these two types play off each other so well. I actually originally had her pegged as an ISTJ, but I think that her bullheadedness earlier in the anime is more indicative of Ni being stubborn. Hikari is cagey, reserved (tert Fi/inferior Se), and an incredibly high-achieving individual (dominant Ni sets specific goals, auxiliary Te implements). Her tertiary Fi (which INTJs LOVE to keep locked up, right here, forever, until they die) is so obvious as you slowly learn just how much of a sap/romantic she is. It’s her weaker Fi that holds that sentimentality towards Starlight after all these years, her Fi that struggles to hold on to that childhood promise, her Fi that has her following Karen (and eventually Mahiru as well) around like a duckling (though we initially get the impression that the dynamic is the other way around). She grows to care deeply for all the other girls around her and that’s all her tertiary introverted Feeling getting stronger as the story progresses! Like so many people in the fandom have realized, she isn’t a mean person, she’s just socially awkward. Not too much to say on her inferior Se, that mostly manifests in how she’s a homelier person who would rather stay in than go out, and doesn’t actively try to seek new experiences (this was what had me thinking ISTJ at first).

Junna Hoshimi: ISTJ

Karen’s polar opposite - they actually share the exact same functions, just in reverse! So Junna leads with introverted Sensing where it’s Karen’s weakest, and Karen leads with extroverted Intuition where it’s Junna’s weakest. And we see this play out in their revue!

Junna is one of my favorite characters in the series for a reason and it’s because it’s SO rare to see the ISTJ in a rebellious role. Si is all about following and respecting order, and Junna breaks all of that to create her own! We see that dominant Si show up in literally every other facet of her life, though - from her by-the-book attitude to her stringency with deadlines and tardiness to her respect for the creatives of old - Shakespeare, Nietschze, etc. She’s an incredibly bright and successful student as well (any type can be of course but the “kind of student” she is is very much Te supporting Si - super studious and placing heavy weight on studying and getting straight A’s). And her Fi is SO GOOD. SO SO SO SO GOOD AND SO APPARENT - MUCH stronger than IxTJ’s sibling Hikari’s at the start of the anime. That’s where the rebellious part of her spirit comes from - her values, her strong sense of self and desire for autonomy (EXTREMELY Fi thing - Fi is all about the self, how I feel about something, what I want out of this, not feeling trapped by others’ expectations, etc.). Inferior Ne manifests in how she struggles with improvisation, ends up tunnel visioning (see her revue with Karen), and can sometimes struggle to accept new ideas or ways of doing things (Junna works so hard, but it’s evident in the anime and a lot of her starira bond stories that she can end up getting stuck in her old ways if someone else doesn’t come in to offer a new perspective -- see her Jekyll bond story dialogue with Maya!). Another example we see is when her extroverted xSTJ sibling Akira, who has Ne a step higher than her but understands where she’s coming from with their shared functions, guides her towards using it in the High Priestess bond story!

Nana Daiba: ESFJ

Textbook ESFJ!! Caring, motherly, affable; Fe doms are always looking to appeal to the group and make sure that everybody feels comfortable (and, likewise, are very keen on suppressing their own insecurities/emotions/discomforts). Nana is not ambitious for ambition’s sake, and in fact suppresses her own talents to appeal to the group. As for that Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :) Si aux… :)

Unhealthy Si can manifest as an extreme fixation on past experiences and a fear of moving on (we’re going to see this later with Si-dom Fumi too). Her poor tertiary Ne had gotten absolutely quashed by her stronger auxiliary Si in the anime - it doesn’t want to change anything! Claudine and Maya can be the leads again. We don’t need to modify the script. The first one was already perfect, why are we risking failure by changing things?! Also, holding herself back for the sake of everyones’ happiness is so Fe dom it hurts. If you want to see the difference between ESFJ and ENFJ (the two Fe-doms of MBTI), compare her to Michiru, who also suppresses her talents -- yes to cultivate the other girls’ (specifically Akira’s) brilliance but also for the sake of her ulterior motives to one day create her own troupe (aux Ni at work vs. Nana’s aux Si). Nana’s is more deferrant, but still just as ferocious - she’ll defeat Maya 60 times over to get what she wants. And the craziest thing is that all of this comes out of love and fear - she’s scared, and all of that is coming from her unhealthy Si aux. Junna is a very good example for her to follow for healthier Si.

Claudine Saijo: ENTJ

“DON’T IGNORE MY LINES!!!” ENTJs LOVE being at the top - the leaders of the pride, the people in charge, the ones you have to answer to (AND she’s a Leo too. Jfc girl pick a struggle LMAOOOOO). You get the picture - except Claudine isn’t in that position. Maya is. Claudine doesn’t even get a revue or her own song, because she’s Maya’s eternal second. This is a really, really uncomfortable spot for an ENTJ to be in, and it’s evident in how hard she pushes herself - and how antsy she gets whenever Maya is around. But Claudine never blames an outside system or factors like Karen (inferior Si) does for her situation - she just gets angry and more driven to succeed, bulldozing her way to the finish line (dominant Te-tertiary Se interacting). The tragedy of her character is that she will never surpass Maya, so we see her Ni begin to reframe achieving the very top to becoming the only star in Maya’s eye (little does she know that she’s already succeeded). That ripping off of her cloak at the end of the revue duet - “the only loser here is me” - is her inferior Fi poking its head out. At the end of the day, Claudine is an interesting character because she’s a walking contradiction. She’s a star denied a spotlight, but she isn’t a failure either, so she’s forced to grapple with this ambiguous, there-but-not-quite-there middle ground. It’s one big identity crisis in the making, and it’s clear to see why so many people relate to her and love her as a character - a lot of us can empathize with never quite being satisfied, and looking up towards heights that can appear insurmountable.

Maya Tendo: INFJ

She seems so normal and established and then you look closer and realize there’s something seriously wrong with her and oh my god where did this massive god complex come from. Typical Ni dom

From her detached, more “mature” personality to her altruistic and often surprisingly keen insight towards people, she has so many key makings of an INFJ. That dominant Ni is strong in Maya - everything is poured into theatre. Everything. From her hobbies to her interests to her personality, everything Maya does in her life is deliberate and all of it is for the sake of theatre. Ni bitches LOVE to fixate on just one thing, and for Maya, that is the stage. “I have no need for those who lack willpower...Come climb up here if you have the resolve...A single step forward is a step closer to my dream” is just...yeah I’m being redundant. Dominant introverted intuition. Ni Ni Ni Ni. This girl embodies it - while Hikari is also a Ni-dom, Maya shows a TON more of it than her (can’t say I blame the writers - Ni is probably the most difficult function to write because it requires thinking so many steps ahead for your character). We can see a marked difference between INFJs and INTJs here in how Maya and Hikari practice solitude - Hikari purposely isolates herself from Karen to avoid hurting her, while Maya purposely isolates and crafts herself into an untouchable God to serve as an inspiration to others (auxiliary extroverted Feeling). Want to see how this looks with the INFJ’s extroverted sibling, the ENFJ? Look at how Michiru crafts Akira’s public image. That’s Ni and Fe at work, just in different priority slots (Maya is Ni dominant, Michiru is Fe dominant - they share the same functions, just flipped on the I/E axis). That tertiary Ti is very prevalent too - Maya mostly keeps her thoughts to herself, and loves to mull over things. She definitely isn’t the first one to shout out an answer, she prefers to think things over.

One interesting comment that really stood out to me on her personality database page was how she’s an INFJ with an INTP persona in the anime, and I think I agree (INFJs and INTPs tend to present similarly and can be easily confused with each other anyway)! But I want to add on to that - I think that INTP presentation is her auxiliary Fe at play crafting a persona that better coincides with Claudine’s, as ENTJ/INTP matchups are extremely compatible (not saying Maya was thinking about MBTI LOL but rather she brought out and exemplified aspects of her personality that would better complement Claudine’s - their partnership is not a one-way street at all! Maya does so much for her!!). Just compare anime Maya to stageplay Maya, where she gives no headway and is absolutely brutal to Claudine.

Futaba Isurigi: ISTP

Futaba is such a great example of what a healthy ISTP can look like! Dominant Ti shows up in how she communicates with others - she's honest, direct, and to the point, but it's never utilized in a way that’s mean-spirited (contrary to how her girlfriend often can be) - it’s just how she communicates. Claudine (a Te dom which works SO well with Ti) actually points out in Starira that this is why they get along so well. Aux Se shows up in her physicality - her love and strength is in stage fights, she's into mechanics with her motorcycle and does all the maintenance herself, etc. Funnily enough, I think that tert Ni, while a slot above Fe, is actually Futaba’s least developed trait (or, at least, the one she's most guarded about) - she went into Seisho to follow Kaoruko, and her aux Se dominates that tert slot and gives her a … little bit of a lackadaisical attitude? Obviously not as much as someone like Karen, but in many senses she doesn't outwardly display a strong fear or anxiety towards the future like the other girls (completely understandably) do - and it’s that tert Ni getting angry when she feels as if Kaoruko is stagnating in her plans. There’s some inklings of her own plan for the future, but Futaba’s own individual plans are mostly kept to herself, so we don’t know how much or little she’s done about them. (I have more to add but will not continue as I’m venturing into movie spoilers territory, but for those that have watched/read them, try to draw your own conclusions based on what I’ve said!). I think that having such a close relationship with Kaoruko is what pushed her to develop that inferior Fe so early to support her girlfriend's dominant Fi. I actually originally had her typed as ESTP for how strong her Fe was (ESTPs have it a slot higher than their introverted siblings), but she really doesn’t strike me as an extrovert, and ISTPs with developed Fe can be very warm, affable people too!

Kaoruko Hanayagi: ISFP

“Kaoruko Hanayagi’s dream is world domination.”

Kaoruko is such a great example of what an unhealthy ISFP can look like! LMAOOO but no, I’m dead serious - if you want to know what unhealthy introverted Feeling looks like, look to Kaoruko. Everything is me me me me me me me, to hell with what anyone else wants (if you want to compare unhealthy Fe to unhealthy Fi, compare Nana and Kaoruko). Tertiary Ni shows up to support Fi in how surprisingly sharp she is towards other people - what makes them tick, exactly where to hurt, their inner thoughts and feelings (see her bathtub conversation with Mahiru).

BUT THAT DOMINANT Fi IS ALSO SUCH A POWERFUL THING. That “me me me me me me” is going to turn into “my vision, and what I want to create, and what I’m going to do” (once that inferior Te finally develops - which Kaoruko is going to be forced to put work into eventually). This is why, like Mahiru, I think that Kaoruko is seriously going to blossom later on in life - ISFPs and INFPs, the Pisces of the MBTI, have this weird penchant for going under the rader and then becoming insanely fucking successful OUT OF NOWHERE??? Like, they aren’t super motivated and driven with a specific plan like Ni-strong xNxJs, or disciplined and hardworking like Te-strong xSTJs, but???? You blink and suddenly they’re millionaires with four creative projects going on simultaneously (but if they get bored with any of them they’ll drop them instantly - you could not pay me all the money in the world to be an IxFP’s manager it must be an absolute nightmare <3). Just...legends out of nowhere? Rihanna is an ISFP Pisces so I have real world evidence to back this up.

[hopeswriting]

Okay but you know what, I will talk about how Uni and Tsuna could have paralleled each other, because I really think they could have!

Uni is at most (for me) Tsuna's age, but I think a little younger, so we have these two kids, straight up kids, who are the Boss (to be) of their respective famiglia.

And they're both kind-natured people, who love and care deeply, who are against violence if they can help it at all, so very ill-suited for being mafia, let alone leading it.

And I think it's fair to say neither of them want(ed) that. Tsuna makes that obvious multiple times, but even though it's never said explicitly, I think it's the same for Uni.

She grew up away from her mother, so much so that no one in the Giglio Nero family knew Aria had a daughter, or that she ever was pregnant to begin with.

It seems like Aria tried her hardest to keep Uni from ever becoming mafia, and even though Uni already knows everything that's happening when she shows up, she's only there because she has to.

Aria dies, the family is in an all out war they're badly losing, so it's not like she could have not showed up (and that's not even talking about the fact she had to take upon the pacifier, but for once we aren't going to talk Arcobaleno business here lol).

But here's where things get interesting.

Because these two young Boss, who aren't one by choice, who the job was thrown upon them and they couldn't be more ill-suited for it, walk two very opposite paths.

Uni looks at the Decima title dead in the eye, and every expectation and responsibility and duty and sin that come with it, and says "I'll do it".

She doesn't shy away from it. She doesn't let herself be cowered by it. She bears it, and she does it great, goes even leaps and bounds beyond that (she literally saves all the universes).

And it's strength, it's how she wins from being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Uni looks the Decima title dead in the eye and says "I'll do it. I'll do what is expected of me, will go along with the way of our world, but I will not lose myself while doing it."

And then she doesn't.

She's kindness, and love, and care, and understanding, and forgiveness, and sacrifice if it ever should come to that, and an iron will to remain all of that no matter what.

And it matters, it makes a difference.

Genkishi spends only three months around her, and for how much Byakuran is his god and the only one he's loyal to (and we discover later in the arc how deep and genuine these sentiments are), one look from her falters him.

For that matter Gamma knows her for only three months, and dies with her rather than lives without her.

Uni takes upon the Decima title and says "I'll do it, but I'll remain Uni first and foremost through it all".

And then there's Tsuna.

Tsuna, who from day one categorically refuses the title, and then keeps refusing it at every turn with the same fervor, if not more (definitely more).

And it's framed as this comedic cowardice at first, but it's always been very understandably and reasonably and because he's a good person, "of course I don't want to, why would I ever want that?"

And the more he gains friends he comes to care about, the more determined he becomes in that stand, because no way he's about to lead them in that terrible world.

And it's also strength, and how he wins against the fate that literally runs in his blood.

Because he roots his feet so fiercely in the ground and absolutely refuses to step back, the mafia has to adapt itself to him.

Of course, not like, at its core, but individually? There's his Guardians of course, but more interestingly his enemies.

I could give examples but I'm sure we all read the manga lol, so long story short, they all become his allies, more or less (and often more than less, and sometimes they straight up become his friends, he's literally best friends with Enma).

By the end of the manga, Reborn himself says how awesome it is Tsuna didn't change, because that's essentially his character arc.

Tsuna looks the Decimo title dead in the eye (well, ish lmao), and every expectation and responsibility and duty and sin that come with it, and says "I would rather literally destroy the mafia myself before that ever happens, and I will".

(And then there's canonically TYL!Decimo!Tsuna but like, 1) It's implied he's working into getting the Vongola back to their vigilante origin, and 2) shonen gotta shonen lol, idk what to tell you.)

And here's where it becomes even more interesting.

Because even if they have opposite stands, at the end of the day it's both love that fuels them. It's their kindness, how deeply they care.

Except Tsuna is fiercely selfish in it, while Uni—

You know what, I was going to say she can't afford to be that selfish, but I don't actually think it's about selfishness at all in her case.

Uni just cares that much more, that much widely, even when it's not personal to her.

So when she tells Byakuran her family will understand after he threatens to kill them, it's still her caring and loving.

Because the worlds deserve to be saved, all the people Byakuran hurt and killed deserve to be saved and have their happiness back.

It's even still about her caring about her famiglia, because it's not like they would have had a happy ending if Byakuran won.

You could say Uni has priorities in how she cares, for lack of a better word because this one doesn't sound very positive (when I'm definitely not putting her down here), so hopefully you know what I mean.

And to be clear, they're both super valid. They're both a driving force in their own narrative while more or less stuck in a role they don't want, and they both manage to create good out of it.

And like—I don't know, I guess what I'm saying is that it would have been interesting to see them interact more?

Not so their different point of view could clash together, or even to see them confront their different stands, let alone influence each other, but like, I don't know, bond together?

To see them give each other some comfort and understanding and solace, to see them come to respect each other and their respective strength, because they'd see there's value in both what they're doing.

Because even if you might say Tsuna is the one with the moral high ground, someone has to be a Uni. Byakuran would literally have destroyed all the worlds if there wasn't one.

At least until there's enough Tsuna and Uni aren't needed anymore, someone still has to be Uni in the meantime, and I think Tsuna of all people would see how brave it is for Uni to be, well, herself.

And I would have loved to see that actually.

[enn-tea]

When I was younger, I used to play otome games, which were and continue to be hilarious for their absurdity e.g. getting transported back to the Warring States period and romancing Oda Nobunaga et al. I’d play these with my friends because of the bad storylines, and frankly questionable love interests and we’d spend all our time literally breaking down how bad these stories were, like jfc please actually do something, protagonist. Also in no way feel obligated to read this because this is just...word vomit for my own personal reference haha. Honestly don’t read this. Maybe one day I’ll turn this into some kind of actual essay about the impact on these games on wider culture or something (after I write about why romance in AOT is fine and everyone’s just reading it wrong and actually Isayama is peak romance writer and should write a massive Mills & Boon franchise around uh...some characters). But anyway. 

However, amongst all of these was probably the game with the most generic concept was Wizardess Heart, which was this magic school which the protagonist attended. Over the course of two weeks, she would have to be partnered up with a “buddy” and they would help each other with their magic (they also fell in love over these two weeks LOL and quite honestly her best romantic choice was her roommate, which was never an option :( She was, for a while also the only other female character in the school who actually had a personality).

Anyway, the point is - the setting was clearly a riff on certain franchises, the whole system was super basic...but. These stories had no right to be as good as they were. Or perhaps they had every right. Because from the ones I played, they were...genuinely really interesting. Each storyline was a season, and there were three romanceable characters, who all had their own individual plotlines but...tied into one coherent plot, as either a protagonist or an antagonist, which I still find - kind of revolutionary for an otome game haha (I’m not counting Mystic Messenger bc I actually enjoyed getting to set up a bakery and cult investigation).

But honestly? These were within the universe, believable but also super crazy stories. I only ever played two “seasons” fully, because of the ticket mechanic, but the second one has literally stayed with me in terms of really interesting perspective, and the characters themselves because if the first season was mildly crazy, season two was insane and focused on these three characters: Klaus Goldstein (...no comment lmao, I do hate how he’s the figurehead of the game), Serge Durandal (the best character tbh) and Azusa Kuze (a piece of shit and not in a good way, what are the messages this game is telling us). Each season had a mystery as a premise, and the second one was about mysterious animal deaths occurring around the school.

I don’t think I’ll ever really be able to explain Wizardess Heart comprehensively, but the personal lives of these characters? Was crazy. I loved they all had cameos in each other’s storylines and were so tightly linked. Like you have Klaus who does actually have the least interesting plotline, but a shared tragic backstory with Serge (more on that later, because this is literally peak melodrama lmao). You have Azusa who comes from fantasy Japan in that universe, which has been overrun by nature spirits who are taking over because they think humans are overstepping their boundaries, and Azusa has signed a deal with one of them to bring back his dead brother, and in fact is being manipulated by visions of said brother (and even with that in context, he’s still actual trash for other reasons, and I can’t believe the happy end for his route is to get married and have kids with him EW). 

My favourite character in this however was Serge Durandal who is also a premium shit-stirrer but never super maliciously haha (apparently I have a favourite character archetype I’m a fan of). Even now he’s literally the best character because he’s such a passive aggressive individual to Klaus (who deserves it).  But their shared backstory cracks me up, is kind of sad and ridiculously absurd because they’re both so fixated on the past. I also personally find his storyline interesting from a character progression viewpoint, because he’s the main character’s idol when she starts at the school, but has mysteriously disappeared.

So basically in Klaus’ storyline, he always references this dead friend he’s hung up over (although the “friend” part is debatable maybe haha) and you help him investigate the dead pigeons. Ofc you then find out that polite, charming Azusa is the antagonist of the season and you have to play through the next routes in order to get a better picture of this. But throughout Klaus’ route, this character called Randy March (unfortunate name lmao)  keeps on popping up. He’s funny, doesn’t treat the main character as inconvenience (best friend goals right there) but what’s more interesting is how he’s never in the same room as Klaus; as soon as he hears that he’s approaching, he just...disappears. And this continues for the whole of the story until the end, when they finally meet each other face to face, and Klaus reacts badly. Not quite in an upset way, more shocked - but it’s clear that they have a History. 

So - cue “Randy’s” route. He is the same as he is in Klaus’ route, and still dodges bumping into Klaus, but then - then, they bump into each other far earlier in his route (one thing I do like about these stories is how the main character does actually have some impact on the plot. It all follows the same storyline, with the same conclusion, but they do diverge because the character happens to interact with different characters and some things can’t happen if she isn’t there for it). Leading up to this, Randy has been very cagey about being the main character’s “buddy” and insists he already has one, and he really, really gets awkward when the main character states that she really idolises Serge Durandal (who in this is like, IDK good at animal magic like the main character). 

And then, my god, the reveal. The fact that Randy March is not, in fact, Randy March, but Serge Durandal (which honestly is such a cool name comparatively lol, I named all my other otome protagonists Serge Durandal). And that Randy March, is in fact, the dead friend of Klaus who Serge has been impersonating for literal years. On top of this? Serge was also a best friend of Randy, who was his “buddy” and leading up to Randy’s death, he and Klaus were involved in a rivalry over his friendship (and I’m not joking I do actually think this was some kind of unvoiced love triangle, because both Serge and Klaus genuinely say that they’re attracted to the main character because she reminds them of Randy, they need to get over this before they can actually engage in a romantic relationship with anyone else kthx. Also at some point, Serge actually says he loved Randy in a way that really can’t be construed as entirely platonic, and the main character says it as well, and considering her personality and the way she interprets things, when she says love - she definitely means romantically). 

Klaus holds Serge responsible for Randy’s death, as the two were working on a project together which led directly to it. His first reaction on ever hearing Serge’s name is “the murderer” which continues all the way up until the end of the story when they resolve their character arcs (also incredibly satisfying). 

Apparently the reason behind Serge impersonating his dead friend is because he felt so guilty and so ashamed and willingly accepted the blame that Klaus placed on him, he felt that if he became Randy, it would basically be like letting his friend experience the life he didn’t get to have, and he’s spent years searching for a cure to revive him. This has taken him to Hinomoto, where he’s become friends with Azusa (drawing him into the storyline) and back to the main setting of Gedonelune. Side note, Azusa, I’m not going to even go into your character because you’re such a piece of shit and I only played through your storyline because I felt compelled to get the full picture. 

Ofc, this all links to the main plot - because at this time of year, there’s a whole thing related to a unicorn appearing in the nearby forest. This is a unicorn who has struck a deal with Serge years prior to the main storyline who is Serge’s last hope of reviving Randy, and Azusa finds out about this and wants to bring his brother back etc. and this all culminates in a massive showdown. 

Intense.

Anyway, at the end of this, peace returns etc. and there’s a sequel I haven’t actually played but you know what’s perfect about the ending? Serge ends up staying on as a prefect - the same role as Klaus and they have to share a room. I cannot describe how funny their interactions are for the rest of the story and the other storylines they have to live together.

I’m not entirely sure what the point of this was, apart from an exercise in pinning down precisely what I liked about this story but - it’s certainly one that’s stuck with me through a LOT of otome haha. 

[aerixlee]

Hi, I love After Sunset and have reread it multiple times lol. I wanted to ask if you had any particular method to writing Azula for the fic? I usually don't like the more off the rails depictions of her in fiction but something about the way you write her is viscerally enjoyable to me.

*shows up 3 months later with no hesitation bc getting this ask made me vibrate out of existence with excitement* hello :)

the timing for this ask couldn't have been any better - it genuinely made me so unbelievably happy to read? this exact topic is one of the main things i was (am?) worried about in after sunset, specifically that i wasn't doing it right. i've been nervous since the very beginning that i was writing azula in ways that was difficult to read but fuck this is such a fantastic question and i'm so excited to answer it - this is going to be.... a really really long answer. i definitely got a little (a lot) carried away. sorry in advance lmao

(also it never fails to make me emotional when i hear that people are still rereading) (i might've cried a lil) (just a bit) (i can't believe people haven't forgotten about this fic) (to everyone who has stuck around: i love you more than anything)

for context, i put like..... a lot of thought into how i was going to go about writing azula. like i have pages and pages of notes analyzing her so i could write her character properly and do her justice - i still think i could've done a better job, but it was important to me that i at least do my best. my main thing when i was writing azula was keeping in mind that she is a 14 year old, a child, one who has been the victim of an extreme amount of abuse and emotional manipulation. i posted a response to a comment under chapter 15 back in january that asked for writing advice regarding azula that i think sums up my thoughts fairly well if you want to take a look at it. azula is a traumatized teenager first and foremost; she's not going to accept help easily or trust anyone easily, and i planned her arc out in a way that has multiple ups and downs. it really does get worse before it gets better, and if i end up writing more for this fic, i can promise that the worst has yet to come. we're nowhere near the height of azula's arc yet, and i don't even mean that in a dramatic breakdown sort of way. this has been part 234978 of me wishing that i could skip ahead in my own fic so i could post the scenes that were written months before we even reached the search......... kill me

and i said this in my comment: progress isn't possible unless the person who needs to heal is willing to heal. force doesn't work, coercion doesn't work - it has to be a decision that the person in question makes in order for them to actually take steps forward. healing isn't linear. neither is progress. that's the most important thing to keep in mind.

azula's breakdowns were definitely the most emotionally taxing parts about writing her. i personally tend to avoid reading fics that show azula's breakdowns to the extent that i wrote them for some reason? and i was very hesitant to write it myself, so i was really really careful in how i approached it. i didn't want to take things too far, but i also knew that i had to push the boundaries of what i tackled a lot more than i already was. i needed to show how bad she was getting, not just tell it, and i needed to justify the reason behind each moment of her behavior. not sure if i did it right, but i tried.

(as a side note, i wrote a lot of this fic during a time in which things were uhhhh not so great mentally for me, so azula and zuko are written in a way that is very very close to my heart. that could also have something to do with the way scenes are written, so i thought it was worth mentioning.)

azula is an incredibly calculated individual. her breakdowns, by contrast, show her doing things out of pure instinct, doing what she "wants" to do rather than what she's put a lot of thought into doing. and that fascinated me to no end when i was reading the comics; i thought the authors' approach was really interesting despite some of the less favorable aspects of her portrayal. in other words: catharsis!!!!! i wrote those scenes to be cathartic to azula specifically!!!!! not for the reader, not for me as the writer: for azula, the character, and what that meant for her in the scene and the moment - especially within a larger context. and it was so so so fucking emotionally draining to write, but that's what it was. i did my best to ramp up the emotional intensity to the max, and i also tried to make sure that every single thing that azula said or did had that element of reasoning behind it. because yeah, she's not thinking everything through like she would if she wasn't in full breakdown mode, but she's still azula. and azula doesn't do anything without reason, even if those reasons are superficial and weird and vaguely questionable. i tried to make sure that nothing azula did or said was without motive, and i'm not quite sure if i managed to pull it off, but hey, that was my goal.

hopefully all of that makes sense? i'm not quite sure if it does or not but i could genuinely talk about this fic for hours. i might be writing other things now, and i might be mortified by the absolutely horrible writing of the earlier chapters, but i will still talk forever about literally anything with this fic. that's a threat and a promise.

i reread some comments and looked through my inbox bc of this ask and now i'm emotional lmao wow i miss this fic and you all sm. also specifically to anon: i hope this answered your question! and if you wanted clarification on anything, feel free to shoot me another ask - i know a few things here are probably a little confusing lmao i was rambling a lot out of excitement. and thank you again for the ask!!

anyways. love yall <3

[mira--mira]

Question from an aspiring writer:

How do you stay motivated on one project for such a long time?

I personally have the attention span of a goldfish, and whenever I have an idea I either have to write down everything my brain can spew immediately or have it be lost in the void for eternity.

Never mind going back and turning my outline into a fic or gasp editing.

Do you have any tips and/or tricks you use?

Ok, I got completely carried away with this just fyi, but hopefully I ended up answering your actual question 😂 tl;dr at the bottom.

To be honest, staying motivated is a tricky thing, one that I feel I'm still learning how to do even now and varies a bit between shortfics/oneshots and multi-chaptered fics/longfics. For a bit of background, I've been writing fanfic for about a year and a half, but I've been writing original fiction since I was seven, over a decade and a half, and I still wrestle with it. It's definitely a learning process.

One thing I wish someone would have told me when I was starting out was the power of ~scenes~ in either multi-chapters or one-shots. All writing is ultimately made up of scenes, but if you're struggling to put things together, focusing on an individual scene, or multiple short scenes, might help you focus on getting something completed, and it's something that eventually can be applied to longer works as well. Writing has been a snowball process for me and once I started getting anything completed, I felt more secure in knowing what I could write comfortably and what was out of my comfort zone, eventually getting to the point where I felt comfortable tackling bigger and longer projects and knowing I could stay with them.

OoT's interlude chapters and the snippet series are both good examples of scenes because I wrote them with that intention...even if most of them are actually two or three scenes combined. "Gai meets Hashirama and Madara", "Hashirama gets revenge on Kakashi", "Tatsuki and Hashirama pick flowers for Madara, then give them to him" etc. were all my starting points.

If you're first starting out and feel comfortable with outlines of some sort before you start writing I would encourage you to try and write down a bullet point list of your scene(s) and what you know you want to happen in it.

"Gai meets Hashirama and Madara"

* Hashirama meets Gai first, mistakes him for Lee.

* Madara is shopping for a gift for Hashirama

* Madara finds Gai and Hashirama, they spar, Gai kicks his ass, both of them love him.

This is how my initial outline looked for the first interlude chapter, technically each one of these "points" are their own scenes stuck together. Outlining is different for everyone, some people like super specific points, others even less detail than this. For me this is a nice middle that gives me a roadmap for the chapter, but allows plenty of room to naturally diverge and add detail. Play around with outlines and see what you're comfortable with/what gives you the best results.

I'm not sure of your individual situation, but if you're struggling to put together fics in general something like this might help. Doing this process again and again personally helps me stay on track and gives me a sense of progress.

This sense of progress is ultimately key and why I think motivation differs slightly between one-shots/short fics and longfics. If you confine the individual scene to a one-shot, that might give you the motivation to complete it. Even if you start writing and you get interrupted/can't finish having in one setting, bullet points sometimes help inspire me to finish because I'm not starting from scratch when I return to writing. The whole "eat an elephant one piece at a time" thing was difficult for me to learn, but ultimately proved true. Learning to chip away at something bit by bit is going to be the only (healthy) way to write longer projects you can't complete in one sitting.

For longer projects, it's a similar beast just on bigger levels and with an added dimension. I would actually suggest something similar to OoT for a starting project because it is ultimately broken up into arcs that you know and can reference, instead of making a lot of og content for a fan setting. Maybe not go into it thinking, 'I'll do a complete rewrite' but once you feel like you're ready for a longer project 30K+ or so, the rough outline method and the ability to follow arcs was what got me started when I eventually decided to make the fic multi-chaptered. Try writing one arc and keep yourself contained in that. Now the added dimension aspect in general for longfics is that you eventually want to plot individual chapters in a multi-chaptered longfic and individual arcs (character, plot, etc). This comes with practice. I honestly don't think there's a way to get around that. It's something that I'm still trying to work on and I can look back at my early work and see how I've improved, how I can recognize where things didn't go well in certain places, and how I would change them if I was writing today. That's a good thing to be able to do, it means you've grown! The other thing I find that helps with staying motivated week after week for longer projects is to roughly know where you're going and to try to be excited about a plot point/scene/chapter/etc that you're going to write. Really try to hype yourself up. For me, it's a moment that comes at the very end of the chunin arc and I start grinning even thinking about it because I know it's going to be awesome. It's always what gets me through the rough days, imagining the moment I'll get to actually write that scene in its entirety (it's definitely already outlined and I mentally play it out at least twice a week lol) and is a big motivating drive.

So far I think this is pretty standard stuff if you're an outliner and you've been writing for a few years, but the other thing motivational-wise for me is having a schedule. From reading this message alone, I would not suggest it for you right away. Get comfortable finishing small things and feeling confident that if you let an idea sit for a week or two, you can pick it back up and continue. But if you eventually dip your toes into longfics (and don't plan to pre-write everything before you publish) that routine and rhythm really helps keep me going. I've made a commitment, I've posted it online, I'm going to stick to it. No one is going to jump down my throat if I fail to keep it (this is still a hobby and having fun is the most important thing) but in my mind I should commit to it unless something irl prevents me from doing so. Don't put a tight deadline on yourself, I'd start with once a month or if you write shorter chapters every three weeks. This also would help you build up and get a readership, interaction being another big motivational key.

Also, it's important to accept that sometimes you bite off more than you can chew, and when you feel completely demotivated from a fanfic project...it's okay to drop it. It's okay to take a step back and work on something else. Maybe you'll come back to it, maybe you won't. If you can, try to pinpoint what it was about that project that made you demotivated, were you pushing yourself too much and you got burnt out, was it an ongoing series and your interest for canon lagged and so did the fic, was it just too stressful to keep juggling plotpoints, etc. and keep that in mind moving forward. Every experience can be a learning one and eventually make you a better writer that can eventually tackle those bigger projects. Don't be afraid to take on big aspirational projects, but don't walk into them blind either. Above all, and this is repeated a lot because it's true, enjoy what you write. Some days you might not. That's true with anything, but any project you take on the good should outweigh the bad.

This is my wrap up of the motivational section but I also wanted to throw my two-cents in about editing because "oh no editing" is a perspective I've seen from a lot of writers, and used to have myself, but I think is going to stifle your progress in the long run.

Here's the thing: you need to look forward to editing.

You don't have to be jumping for joy, but editing, imo, should be a positive thing. You have all these great ideas, you made it into a fic, something you wrote, and now you get to go back and make it even better! This is a tough attitude to adopt. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. It took me a long time to unlearn the negative attitude and even then sometimes I still wish the editing was already done once I type in the last period. But I've learned to at least appreciate what editing does and I try to think to myself as I'm going through and making changes things like "wow, this suddenly became so much better. X plot point that I thought of ten pages from now is suddenly being hinted at and doesn't come out of left field. The transition points are a lot cleaner, it's not so jarring anymore. I bet the readers are going to love this little detail. Here's some foreshadowing that I hope someone picks up bc it's going to come back in like 5 chapters from now" it's hard, especially when you start, but this is something you made, and now are actively making better and that's something to celebrate.

I hope this helps anon! I know it's a lot and I'm by no means an expert but I've been doing this for more than a decade because I love it and I want to help others get into writing to! I have no problem answering any writing questions you may have if you find this helpful!

tl;dr

-motivation is slightly different between short/long fics.

-starting out, learn to outline by scenes and focus on finishing small projects and getting to a point where you feel like you can put something down and come back and pick it up again in a week. Completion is key and will help you feel satisfied/know your limits.

-long projects also can work on the scene-to-scene outline but now with individual chapters and individual arcs. It's tough to balance both but comes with practice. Bit-by-bit is key, as is having 'one moment you can't wait to write', possibly a schedule if it works for you, and reader feedback are all huge long-term motivational points.

-editing is tough but learn to look forward to it instead of dreading it.

edited: added a bit more/few typos fixed

[painted-crow]

How do you write stuff (like novels) as a Bird secondary? Do you do a detailed outline and plan it all out?

My Rapid-Fire Bird, plotting novels with very loose outlines?

(It's more likely than you think)

Personally? Nope. You can, and it would be a very Birdsec thing to do, but I usually don’t. I have one (1) novel where I did a detailed outline, and it didn't start that way--the outline came into being because I was trying to rework/fix the novel.

The novels I wrote as a teenager? Almost all seat-of-the-pants writing (and it shows). I can work like that for a while before the plot stops making sense, tbh.

In fact, it's often easier to come up with an outline after I've gotten to know the characters and the world a little bit, and this is something I've heard from other writers too. Nobody keeps the first chapter they write of their novel anyway, that almost always gets thrown out wholesale and rewritten.

My one giant outline

The hacker novel I have on the back burner is the only one where I've done what you'd call a detailed outline, but like I said, I didn't start by writing the outline.

I wrote 4 or 5 versions of the first 20Kish words of that book (and some random scenes from other places) by pantsing them, which is inadvisable--it's actually a common beginner trap to just keep rewriting your first act--but I almost couldn't avoid it because I was making these attempts with huge time gaps between them, I kept coming back to the story in between doing other things (university, mostly).

But there was also something in the structure of the novel itself that was keeping me from moving forward.

Finally, I decided I was thoroughly stuck. I merged two major characters, split up the cast (turns out it's incredibly difficult to write an ensemble cast if they're all in the same place for very long), retooled the conflict some, and wrote a 10,000 word outline detailing what happens in each scene and breaking it all up in Scrivener into individual files. This seemed like the only way to have a chance at taming a novel with 9 major characters and about 5 major plot threads, most of which happen simultaneously.

Honestly, *having written* that outline is helpful, but when I once again take it off the back burner and start fiddling with it again, I don't think I'll necessarily follow my scene list. I did actually write a good chunk to the outline, but I ended up half-writing and then cutting a lot of the scenes it called for, because it made more sense for those things to happen offscreen. I also found myself expanding some of the other scenes because they were interesting or going in different directions than I expected.

I don't think I like using long outlines like this, though. It feels a bit like I've already written that book, and honestly the whole thing is a little too complicated for my liking. (Maybe this is part of why I steered into writing middle grade for my two newer projects.)

My usual outlines

The two middle grade novels I'm working on more recently both have outlines, but they're nowhere near as long. There's nothing super fancy about them either; no spreadsheet, character profiles, maps, whatever people do--for either of them.

Their outlines live in my phone's notes app, or in one Scrivener file, and they're just descriptions of the plot, as I'd describe it to someone else. If they happen to fit neatly into some structure I've learned about or whatever, I'll note that, but I don’t structure the plot around those things.

I don't always start with a complete outline, and sometimes the outline I have gets thrown away because it's not working. The first of the two novels actually started with a vague description of what I thought would be the story arc (which turned out to be only enough material for the first act) and then... nothing. I got stuck and set it aside for a while. I do have a better outline for it now, but sometimes this happens--the story won't tell you what it's about until you're partway through writing it, and sometimes you have to be patient, or try a direction and throw it away if it isn't working.

The other novel, unusually for me, actually started with an outline! It came to me in one solid piece at 4am. I got halfway through writing the actual book in February, before burning Birdsec again at the start of March, and it actually stuck to the outline as laid out (so far).

There *is* an inverse correlation between the complexity of a story and its ability to stick to an outline, lol. The more characters and plot threads you have, and the more complex your worldbuilding is, the less likely it is that your outline can pin down all those nodes very well. It's like trying to use a GPS on stacked highways: weird stuff happens.

Tools and software

In case anyone's curious:

I love Scrivener (and wish it worked on Linux) because it's basically like tabbed browsing for text documents. It autosaves reliably, doesn't try to force you to use a specific file structure, and you can even import and open pdfs and stuff in it (useful if you're using ebooks as reference material).

I bought a fancy WorldAnvil subscription when it was on sale, hoping it could replace Scrivener on Linux, and it does not. The interface is confusing (it's got a bunch of instructional videos but I have limited patience), and its "Scrivener-like" text editor is still in beta and quite slow/buggy/clunky.

[mego42]

hi! a song inside the halls of the dark is an absolute masterpiece of plotting and pacing (and prob my fave fic I’ve read for the show so far), so for the ask a writer meme, I’d love to hear about your planning process(es). the idea of even plotting out something like that, let alone actually finishing it, just breaks my brain lol. do you do a lot of outlining? how much does the outcome end up looking like the ideas that sparked it?

adsfghgsj okay well first off, thank you! that is unspeakably flattering and i don’t know how to cope! my weird robot emotions are misfiring! but also, thank you for this question bc this is the kind of nerd shit i LIVE FOR and up until, idk, 5? 6? months ago my answer would’ve more or less been ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but sometime in between now and then i leveled up how much of a nerd i am.

okay so, the short answer to your (first) question is yes, i do a lot of outlining though the scale of outline varies based on the complexity of the story. in song’s case, how i outline actually evolved significantly over the course of writing it (see that level up) and if i were to outline it today, it would look very different from what i originally started with.

the short answer to your second question is in song’s case, the original idea was a v short, almost fluffy stuck in a hotel room for a night one shot i daydreamed up while listening to a halsey song (is there somewhere, if you were wondering). obvs what it turned into was uh, v different.

digging into how i outline is going to get long, excessively nerdy and borderline terrifying so i’m hiding the rest of this under the cut, read at your own risk.

I preface everything here with a couple of reminders:

1. i am a crazy person who straight up does not know how to have hobbies like a normal person

2. i am actively trying to push myself and grow as a writer including developing new skills and training myself to practice certain habits bc at some point I would like to push myself out of the nest and try my hand at original fiction one day with a vague goal of maybe seeing if i could get it published. idk if i’ll ever actually do that BUT in the meantime, i do stuff like the nightmare that follows to myself

initial outline / what happens next list

okay so the most basic of my outlines (and how i originally outlined song) are p much just lists of what happens next. i do them as bullet lists bc my brain finds them less intimidating and i just start with one and then ask myself what happens next. sometimes the bullets are v vague, sometimes they get so specific i end up writing what becomes dialogue, i try not to think too hard about it, i just keep asking what happens next.

it’s really specifically about what happens next, not asking myself what i want to happen in the story, bc next implies the bullet before informs the one after, so you end up with an overall picture of what you want with a base level of causality built in. it also gives you room to surprise yourself (i think literally every what happens next outline i’ve done has had me going oh, okaaaaaay at some point).

sometimes, this is all you need. for trade my heart for honey, i started and stopped here bc at the end of the day, the skeleton for that fic is super basic: beth and rio attempt to play pool without tripping over their horrendous sexual tension. they fail. the end.

for your monster looks like mine, i did a version of the what happens next list, but i brought in some of my tricks from the pace structuring method i’ve been honing for the multi-chapter i’m currently planning. instead of mapping tentpole beats by story pace, i mapped tentpole beats for what points i wanted beth and rio to be scoring against each other and then mapped out the lead-up and fallout to connect the two and also what they were doing to each other physically at the same time so i could see how it all played together so the conversation supported the smut and vice versa. it was a TOTALLY normal approach to writing pwp. not over the top at all. 

song’s original outline was basically a SUPER long what happens next list and if i could go back in time i would slap myself upside the head like bitch you have no idea what you’re getting into and you are WAY TOO COCKY ABOUT IT, but it’s okay i learned.

the spreadsheet method

somewhere around when i was in the middle of i want to say ch 9 of song, @pynkhues posted about her outlining process including a super awesome spreadsheet she uses (i cannot for the life of me find the original post, forgive me but know that it was hers) and i immediately jacked a version of it to use as my own and oh my god it changed my whole life. 

iirc hers was a bit more in depth but since i was sort of baby-stepping into it, i stripped it down into the following and did a sheet for each of the remaining chapters (well, ch 10 and ch 11, ch 11 ended up getting wildly out of control so i split it in two and mushed the epilogue i’d been planning onto the end of it as a closing breakout scene:

plot

character

it’s a lot of repetition, tbh BUT once i started using it, i found the repetition was incredibly clarifying and by making myself take the time to go through each column and go through the same stuff over and over, it honed in on the strongest, most relevant bits of what i was planning and helped me see patterns and connections i maybe hadn’t been thinking of on the onset.

when i outlined swear i used this method and added a layer to my chapter overviews where i track the lies and corresponding truths worked into the chapter narratives (bc that’s a key theme of the story), and color-coded the beats that corresponded to the main plot vs individual character arcs vs foreshadowing so i’d have an at a glance visual reference to make sure nothing was getting lost and all of the characters (even minor ones) had stuff happening to them and didn’t just feel like cardboard cutouts coming in and out of the story as i needed them

pace structuring

these are all fine and dandy but one thing they’re missing is pacing! for song’s pacing, i will be real with you, i v much went a lot with my gut. i’ve spent most of my life consuming and paying a lot of attention to stories. i’m fascinated with how they come together and literally cannot shut off the part of my brain that likes to pick them apart to examine the pieces to see how they all fit together. as such, it’s left me with a p instinctive grasp for how a story should feel when it’s working which is fantastic when it is, but really useless when it isn’t bc i struggle to identify where and why sometimes so i can fix it.

for the buffyverse, once i started to realize (with no small amount of horror) the scope of what i wanted to write, i realized p quick i needed some kind of tool kit to help me figure out the arc and pacing bc this was going to be a lot closer to trying to plot a whole novel from the ground up (which is great bc one of the things i want to practice is pacing and plotting out novels from the ground up, hahaha)

i’ve been working with a two main docs (and neither of them are spreadsheets, yet, bc one thing the spreadsheet method taught me it’s that while i find them very soothing, my brain works in bullet lists so i’m starting with bullets and then i’m gonna strain it through a spreadsheet):

1. Thoughts:

just a doc where I word vomit out anything I’m thinking, I don’t worry about keeping it organized, I just throw whatever I’m thinking in there so it’s memorialized and I can sort through it later.

2. Act Timelines / Scene Breakdowns:

basically, i have a basic three-act story structure with tentpole story beats broken out by general ballpark percentages of how far into the story/act they should occur for the pacing to feel right. i use that as the framework i run my plot and character beats through and do it in a couple of passes:

high level: i go through and break out what’s happening in the story for each tentpole beat (what the specific story and plot focus is)

by character: i go through and fill in (at least) one sub-bullet beneath each plot tentpole beat with what’s happening with each main character in their individual subplot, how they got there, what their general feelings and mindset is, if they’re having any revelations, etc (one thing i fucked up with song is not making sure i had stuff going on for all of the characters, the plot was super focused on beth and while i generally knew what rio was doing and why, ruby and annie more or less floated in and out of the story at whim and i hate that, so i’m trying to be better about it going forward)

by relationship: now i go in and fill in a layer of bullllets with how the plot and character beats are shaping relationships and how they’re progressing through each tentpole beat

at this point i’ve got a pretty fleshed out outline hitting on plot, character and relationship development at least in broad, general terms. i can look at it like a map and see how characters are growing and changing throughout the story and look for areas where the plot is pushing the characters vs the other way around and places where it seems weak or poorly connected/supported and i tinker with that for awhile until i feel like it’s in good shape.

next step is applying the what happens next approach to the scene by scene breakdowns. i’m trying an experiment with this one where instead of breaking the fic into chapters first, i’m breaking it into scenes and working out the beats of them so they incorporate all of my outlined stuff and then i’m gonna go back and see where the chapter breaks look like they fall.

I’m like, 75% of the way through my scene breakdown for this particular fic and once I’m done with that, I’m going to take everything and plug it into the spreadsheet I worked with for the last couple of chapters of song and highlight/color code like I did for swear to make sure my chapter breakdowns align with everything I’m trying to do and I’m tracking all of my themes and details and setting things up to pay them off later.

so, you know, an absolutely normal amount of planning for a hobby i do entirely for funsies in my largely nonexistent spare time. 

(sorry this was i am assuming WAAY MORE INFORMATION than you ever wanted or needed to know but once i started i couldn’t stop)

(and seriously, thank you, am truly verklempt that you love song like that 💖)

bts fic writing q’s IF YOU DARE hahaha