#fanfic writers: director's commentary

[gerec]

Last question, this time for director's cut of The Hideaway and specifically chapters 42 and 43. Usually vampire stories aren't my cup of tea but I like that dark!Charles too much.

For The Hideaway:

I love vampire stories, and I especially love writing Charles and Raven as monster siblings who enable each other's bad behaviour. I'm generally neutral to uninterested in Raven as a character, except in this one type of situation where she's almost always his co-conspirator lol. And I think an unhinged and unleashed Charles is much more frightening than a similarly inclined Erik if only for how his power can be twisted to take free will away from his victims completely.

In this verse, I imagine Erik has lasted longest out of all the 'victims' the siblings have become obsessed with, because of his resilience, his smarts and his strength of will. So they play a game with him, letting him 'get away' until he starts to think he's finally free and then they swoop in and claim him again for a while before the cycle continues. I imagine they've been dragging this game on for decades at this point and will do so until they finally turn him against his will...

Fanfic Writers: Director’s Cut

[icedteaandoldlace]

⭐️

Oh, thank you so much! This is going to be fun! Gonna dig a little into my favorite moment from Reversing the Damage (chapter 1 of Nights That Never End). I have the snippet here, for context. I think it probably speaks for itself, but I'm gonna elaborate on it, anyway.

So what's happening here—and throughout most of the chapter—is that Cisco is trying to explain his Reverse Flash trauma to Kamilla without oversharing and making her uncomfortable. And when she has an emotional reaction to learning about both what happened and how it still affects him, he tries to play it off like it isn't as bad as it sounds. He doesn't want her to be upset, or to feel obligated to listen and be supportive every time something bad from his past crops up again.

My semi-canon headcanon is that Cisco knows exactly the kind of relationship he wants, but doesn't feel entitled to expect or to ask for the amount of effort it would require from his partner to achieve the level of closeness that he wants. So he's in this place where he feels like giving 70% and receiving 30% is a reasonable exchange, because that's what he's used to (see: asking Cynthia if they could work out a better arrangement than the one they had, instead of asking her to leave the collectors and move in with him, which is what he really wanted). He doesn't really know how to have a girlfriend who is truly a partner. So he tries to convey to Kamilla that he's fine, and she doesn't have to take on all his emotional baggage, and he makes the joke that he doesn't expect her to hold his hand every time he has a nightmare, both in an attempt to lighten the mood, and as a subconscious deflection; he's basically offering to shut up and not bother Kamilla with his problems if she'd be more comfortable not knowing about them, before she has the chance to make the suggestion first, that way her setting that boundary would feel less like a rejection.

But of course, that's not what Kamilla wants. And she knows exactly what he's doing, even if he doesn't fully realize it himself. And she kinda wants to argue with him about it, but she doesn't know how to reassure him that she wants to be emotionally available for him, without sounding like she's just saying that to be polite. So instead of saying anything, she just holds his hand—literally—because that was the thing he said he didn't expect her to do. Without saying it outright, she's telling him that he should expect support and comfort from her when he needs it, because that's what loving someone means.

And Kamilla doesn't even consciously realize she's in love with him yet, but she's about to. Yeah, I know, canon says she knew he was the love of her life the moment she met him, but I see that more as her being instantly attracted to his personality, and recognizing that he was different/better than the guys she'd dated before, and someone who had the potential for her to be truly happy with. But actually falling in love with him was a process that required spending time with him and getting to know him. And my intent with the last line of this chapter is that this is the night Kamilla realizes she's in love with him. Because this isn't easy for her. Secondhand trauma is a very real and very not-fun thing, and the chapter ends with her lying awake, still thinking about the fact that Cisco's life almost ended before she even got the chance to meet him, and about the danger that the Reverse Flash still poses. Knowing what Cisco has been through and knowing that he isn't safe from it ever happening again is going to haunt her for a while, and that's gonna take her some time to emotionally recover from. But she is actively choosing to be Cisco's confidant and to go through all this with him, because to her it's worth it if it helps him heal. That's the thing that causes her to realize that she loves him, because she wouldn't be choosing this if she didn't.

As a final note, when I wrote Kamilla holding Cisco's hand as a way of telling him that she would be there for him whenever he needed her, it was 100% meant to be a precursor to this moment:

Because I LOVE this little moment so much and I wanted to give it some layers, and expanding on where Cisco's head is at the beginning of their relationship, and connecting that to where it is when their relationship is more developed shows just how good having Kamilla in his life has been for him.

[anna-pineappel]

directors cut for Walk Through Fire? I’m especially interested in how it developed into a plot and evolved over time, what scenes you thought of first, and anything else that comes to mind!

Thanks for the ask, @meatsouuuuup!!! Just getting around replying to this now. How much time do you have? lol

(Note: at the time of this reply (July 4, 2024) I still have 2 Chapters to post, so I'll answer this without giving away the end, but I can circle back once the whole fic is posted).

Warning: this is a bit long, sorry not sorry!

Plot Origins:

So, I have 2 headcanons for Klogan and how they get together:

They are playing chess in Klink's quarters, they're drinking, and things happen - This is my fic Letting the Liquor Talk

They Banter/Argue in Klink's office and sexual tension... snaps - Which is what inspired Walk Through Fire

Walk Through Fire was supposed to be a one-shot, Chapter 1 - Unravel, like Letting the Liquor Talk. But then I decided it needed to be a two-parter because... I just kept writing lol. I wrote Chapter 1 kinda from Klink's perspective and Chapter 2 - Surrender to the Darkness, is more from Hogan's perspective.

However, it didn't stay a two-parter and before I knew it, I had a whole +40k fic on my hands! 😅 Let's get into it!

Evolution/First Scene(s):

I had Chapter 1, then 2, and Chapter 10 thought of first. After writing those chapters, I had a vague outline about scenes/plot points I wanted to include:

Schultz walking in on them - Chapter 3

The gang confronting Hogan in his office - Chapter 4

The Paris trip - Chapter 5

Hogan's disguise on New Year's Eve - Chapter 7

The gang listening on the coffee maker at the wrong time - Chapter 8

I wrote the main ideas for those chapters and then... I had to connect everything with a Plot™️. Luckily, once I wrote Schultz walking in and Chapter 3, it was a bit of a catalyst to other plot points, like the Paris trip.

I also decided that I needed something between Chapter 5 and 7, and then I got the idea for Klink to tell Hogan that he is Nimrod and then Hogan shows him the operation. It was with that chapter that the fic felt like an actual fic, since the relationship deepens.

Then, I was able to write the last half of Chapter 8, all of Chapter 9 (latest update), and changed some things around in Chapter 10. Chapter 11 was the last chapter I wrote, and the fic was almost only 10 chapters. But then I had an Idea™️.

Anything Else?

I wrote Chapter 4 - Secret Affair, while at the mechanic. There was something wrong with my vehicle and I waited 3-4 hours. At the time, the mechanic was an hour away, I couldn't get a shuttle, and my partner was at work so I brought my laptop and wrote some smut while I waited, like a Normal Adult.

I was going Through It™️ when I wrote Chapter 8 - Betrayal, and it got angsty very quickly. It was quite cathartic to write Hogan being angry and having a nightmare! And it inspired a whole other Whump WIP.

I wrote Walk Through Fire before any other fic. And my other fics served as a procrastination strategy when I didn't want to work on Walk Through Fire. Nothing like procrastinating on a WIP with other WIPs/Fics!

Hope you enjoy all that! 😊

[writer-and-artist27]

⭐

Thankie for the star, Carim <3 What to comment on...

In Morgan's chapter of Passing Days, Day 65, the "Tonelico" name she used for disguise was actually written in on purpose. I was really surprised when playing through the NA translation of Lostbelt 6 to find her past self's name had been changed to Aesc, but since Morgan chose to come to my Chaldea on NP3 in the name of violence, it felt like she would also choose the name mainly to throw off any remaining Fairy Knights/Tam Lin and Oberon when trying to guide Chaldea.

"Tonelico" was the original name JP used for Morgan's past self as an Avalon Le Fae in saving Britain, so why not honor that when trying to play herself off as Arturia Caster's predecessor faerie? It works out. :)

[sokkas-first-fangirl]

Do you have any director's commentary about what happened with the cracks during the big blowup argument between Bruno and Alma?

Ooh man, it took ages to decide how far to take the cracks! I knew I wanted the mountains to open, but did I want Casita to fall too? All I knew for sure was that the courtyard still needed that dramatic crack in the centre and it still needed to stem from Alma. Eventually, I decided to keep poor Casita standing; after all the stress I've put that sentient house through in this story, I owed them a break

I knew I wanted the "final" argument to be between Alma and Bruno, but I also debated having Pepa or Julieta step in. In the end, it felt more fitting to let Bruno have his say by himself. It's one more misunderstanding, one more crack so to speak; Alma and Bruno once more not understanding each other. It's the moment Alma finally understands that she has to confront her own trauma, because she's hurting her loved ones by lashing out. Pepa and Julieta have both asked her for explanations that she wasn't ready to provide, but this? Nearly losing her home and the mountains opening? Bruno blaming himself and Mirabel blaming herself? It was the wake-up call that Alma needed.

The crack in the courtyard is still there! It is clumsily hidden under a rug while they try to patch it 😂 Currently, no one but the Madrigals are meant to be allowed into Casita, lest they comment on it (besides the Rojas's of course, because they wouldn't know to question it and the Madrigals are best suited to help them) The crack(s) will be discussed again in the next chapter! We're nearing the end of the story after all; the cracks have to heal somehow 👀👀

[shiningstardan]

A ⭐star⭐ for the director cut prompt! :D

What is that you have been dying to talk about your current wip? or something from a finished fic that no one noticed but you have being waiting to mention it to everyone?

I felt chills writing the scene where Hinata is washing the dishes while angry with Neji, omg, the sweet tension, I don't know if people have perceived it the same way, but I love that scene soo much.

In my mind by this point Hinata has just had it, she doesn't want to hear more excuses from Neji, she doesn't want him to keep maintainting their distance as Clan leader and branch house. So she is adamant on him not calling her Hinata-Sama. But he decides to tease her calling her Hime-sama and Ojou-sama.

In this scene she is standing up in front of the sink and Neji is behind her almost trapping her, and she can feel her neck tingling thanks to the close distance between them~

Neji is still hesitant about the implication of blurring the lines both in a personal and social way.

I feel I need more experience about the depth of the situations I want to describe but I had much fun with that one!

[distort-opia]

What kind of non lethal crimes do you think Joker would pivot to in a relationship with Bruce? I'm thinking about your REMS characterization. Also thinking about a line from Joker in the last chapter, about not throwing his career down the shitter and killing to defend himself. What would a career look like for him being with Bruce? Surely he would still be incredibly silly about them, with varying levels of violence that *just* teeters the edge. Love your work!

Glad you like my work, thank you! Hmm, what I had in mind when writing that in REMS (or for a sequel) was Joker's penchant for... well, breaking people and exposing hypocrisy, but minus the murder. With his love of drama and performance sprinkled on top, of course; as you say, he'd never stop being silly.

He usually kills indiscriminately, yes, because he considers himself as just playing into the cruel meaninglessness of the world. But the reason why Joker fixated on Batman, and why his M.O. includes using a gas that basically forces people to see the world like he does right before they die, is Joker's need to prove a point. He wants people to admit that there's no order to life and that tragedy can strike at any time; he wants Gotham to realize how arbitrary rules are, and Batman happens to be the perfect embodiment of that.

So I think that a Joker who won't murder anymore would basically create situations in which people's darkest sides are exposed, to various degrees of seriousness and violence. And not only that-- he would do things that would expose the ridiculousness and heinousness of the world people live in. Capitalism and its self-cannibalizing focus on profit, the skewed interests of the government, the suffering of the poor... Joker's already done this sort of thing, it's not much of a stretch. For example, seeing how many people we're being hurt as a result of superhero fights, one time Joker promised to pay the medical bills of each Gothamite that posted a video on the DC equivalent of Facebook... but only if they shouted the word "Balyushka" and then did something ridiculous to make him laugh:

Batman: Gotham Nights #6 ("Balyushka!")

And he keeps his word! But of course, this creates utter chaos, because people are doing fucking crazy shit to get that money. And the thing is, he doesn't do this just for funsies. He has a point, and Bruce can't help but admit it:

Batman: Gotham Nights #6 ("Balyushka!")

Joker exposed the problems that Batman could not tackle with fists, and then Bruce listened. He actually used his money and influence to help.

Ironically, again, it's not the first time Joker did something that made Bruce go "Hmm, maybe I should look into the systemic corruption":

Batman: Gotham Nights #4 ("The Dragnet")

I won't go into too much detail, but Joker paid Harleen Quinzell's tuition without much prompting, he went and helped (in his own way) a child who wrote to him and was clearly being abused... it's about the cases he can empathize with. And they're all connected to his own life-ruining trauma. Red Hood fell into the vat most of all because of poverty. Because he had no choice except to turn to crime-- otherwise him and his family would not have had food to put on the table. So of course he hates the society he lives in, one that had no safety nets or mercy for people like him who were drowning.

This is a very long-winded way to say that I imagine a non-lethal Joker being a mix of this and... stupid ass pranks on a massive scale, because let's be honest, he wouldn't give them up. He just wouldn't kill people at the end (because it'd make his boyfriend sad).

fanfic writer ask game - director's commentary

[teddywesworl]

ok y'all said you want director's commentary so I'm gonna start by saying a couple things about 🪑 since it recently celebrated 2k kudos

🪑DIRECTOR'S COMMENTARY LET'S GO

1.

A fun fact about the poems at the beginning of each chapter is that I took two of the poet's classes in college, and she might be solely responsible for convincing me I was a good writer and should pursue the skill. I don't know how she'd feel about me using her poetry to thematically frame an explicit fanfic, but that's neither here nor there.

As a poet, she (I'm not naming her here in case she might possibly name search on tumblr, lol) is obsessed with transformation and with the discord between the material and spiritual self. Blackberries, Brambles in its entirety goes as follows:

Akhmatova wrote, "O look!—that fresh dark elderberry branch is like a letter from Marina…" And she was right, branches criss- cross, words sharpen. We lop them down, fit them into envelopes. But I forget: you don't do letters: Too much tangled in thickets and desperation. Did I say envelopes? I meant elevators. See, I've snagged favourite sweaters in high rises, snarled hair in hedges, given up skin scrapings for blackberries, tongueburst, the sweet stain, explosion under light canine pressure. Don't you just wish you were a dog sometimes? No panic. Romping through brambles. Even in delirium, near death, Akhmatova remembered. Her bitter friend had been dead a long time. Love. Don't think I'm thinking about you. Anything but you.

Akhmatova here being Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, and the Marina in question is Marina Tsvetaeva. You can go on as much or as little of a research spiral about them as you like; many of the layers of this poem are in the reference to Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva, but I was mostly interested in the commentary on the cost of pleasure. I've snagged favourite sweaters in high rises, snarled hair in hedges, given up skin scrapings for blackberries. What are you willing to pay for happiness? Wouldn't it be nice not to think about it? Wouldn't it be nice not to be afraid to pay?

2.

Obviously the other major literary framing device is A Room With A View. The movie, specifically, but obviously the Forster novel as well. A Room With A View is about the clash between tradition and modernity, familial duty vs. adventure and romance, etc. etc. etc. And like, listen, the Duffers have not put this much thought into Steve Harrington, but his arc, despite them, is that of the ultimate privileged 80s all-American masculine symbol taking a slow, deliberate turn toward Otherness. He was supposed to die a static character. He did not, and now we're all writing fic about it.

I probably didn't need to have Eddie literally whack the point home with a hammer with the you're Lucy line in chapter 2, but here we are.

3.

The other bits of ~Art~ in the Steve chapter are Elton John's The Fox and Bruce Springsteen's The River. As follows:

But if you’re wily, you will leave them lying, snared up in the traps that they set for you, Elton sings. And it’s an evergreen affair— Steve lifts the record out and replaces it with The River. Springsteen sings, you're walkin' tough, baby, but you're walkin' blind and that’s not really better.

The Elton John record, you may recall, was a compromise between Eddie and Nancy. The inclusion of these lines in particular was very vibes-based, but hopefully the vibes are semi-coherent. Snares. Traps. The hunter, the fox. Btw the next lines after these are:

As temptation taunts the fox Into the hunter's waiting lair

Which, okay. Teasing out the vibes just a little. Argyle interprets Nancy as Lucy (and implies, without meaning to, that Steve is Cecil--a character that represents old money and tradition and duty and, like. Being trapped). Nancy would probably also view herself as the titular Fox. And Steve has bought into this line of thinking! He sees himself as the snare! He has internalized the idea of life with him being a trap! He is Bullshit, etc.

Eddie complicates this self-concept. Through him, Steve becomes the Fox and Lucy. Temptation taunts the fox into the hunter's waiting lair, after all. And, you know: 🪑🪢

(The Springsteen lines are just. All Steve.)

Ok I have to go feed some horses. More.... later. eventually.

[herefortayloronly]

Since the very beginning, I said it was a mistake to make Colin a "rake" because that's not his character and it's a complete misunderstanding of his character.

Colin is never meant to be the sexy flirty ladies man. He's a little awkward, silly and mild-mannered, if you can recall that's what he was like in season 1 and 2. He's a soft cinnamon roll but we never got to see him be a soft cinnamon roll. People tried to convince others who criticize this choice by saying it was done on purpose, you are supposed to get "the ick", you are suppose to not like Colin's new personality because it's fake!! That people lack media literacy!!! The point is to show that he's pressured to be a rake because society pressures men to be a MAN™ and Colin will eventually learn that he doesn't have to conform to society dont worry!!! It's a commentary on toxic masculinity!!!!!!!!!!

I disagree lol

Actually the thing is I usually would agree with this except there are many glaring errors and inconsistency that suggest that's not what the writers went for. That's not the message and theme they were going for. They definitely did not intend to make Colin's rakish behaviors cringe and icky. They seriously wanted him to come off like he's this suave hot playboy. They wanted us to believe he is a catch and that he is hot and sexy.

1) No one in the Bridgerton world found him cringey.

Now people are gonna say the writers are going for a dramatic irony where we, the audience, are meant to find it cringe but the characters don't. But when has Bridgerton done any sorts of irony ever?? It's not that kind of show and it's not that kind of story. We are meant to find him sexy and hot because the characters, the young debutantes of the ton, find him sexy. What is the purpose of having the people in-world find him sexy if not to signal to us that we are suppose to find him sexy too? Why would a romance show want their predominantly female fanbase to find the male lead unsexy and cringe? When in the history of good rom-coms have you gotten "the ick" from our lead hero?

2) If he was faking being a rake then why do we never see him be..... himself?? LOL

Let's say he was faking it. If he was putting up an act then why do we never see him break from that act? The way he was behaving at that brothel with those prostitutes is exactly the same way he behaved with his friends and family. No difference!

This is probably the most glaring issue with the writing because they spent way too much time dealing with the LW situation and all the subplots that they forgot to really lay the groundwork for Colin. If they truly had the intent to show us that he is just faking being a rake then we should see him when he's not faking it. We need to see him when he's just being himself. We need to see him when he has his guard down but for all 8 episodes I never see that. The only time he really let his guard down was to admit he was jealous of Penelope's writing but that doesn't explain why he started having threesomes. What about his insecurities for his writing all of a sudden made him horny? We just didn't get to spend enough time with Colin to really understand him. Sure we can infer and read between the lines but we're veering into fanfic territory for me. We shouldn't have to headcanon who Colin is because the writers are too lazy to flesh him out. I don't need to be spoonfed but I was definitely not fed at all lol.

I don't want this post to be too long but I'm just gonna add this. Even the Luke Newton was surprised people found Colin icky!!! And he knew it was a wrong choice for the character but the director and writers have other interpretations clearly.

Now how could they had done Colin differently? Of course I can't make a critical post without actually giving some constructive criticism. First, if they really did mean to make him cringe and icky then we need to see him get rejected. We need to see the ladies turn him away because he is so bad at flirting that they can't take him serious. We need to understand clearly that the people of the Bridgerton world also find him cringe and weird. I personally would love to see him fumbled during sex with the prostitutes. It would be funny to see him try to force himself to make the act work and realize he is completely out of his depth. If he's faking it then we need some scenes where we see his real personality. It would be nice to see scenes where he's flirting and hamming it up at balls and then later at night he goes home alone and work on his writing.

Second, his character would improve so much if we see him have some sort of direction. We know he writes. I kinda hate that they made his love for travel into him having sex across the continent of Europe. Would be great to see Colin's love for writing be about his fascination for linguistics and literature and that's why he travels because he wants to learn about other languages and culture. He could've come back from traveling with a new found love for knowledge and learning instead he came back as a manwhore.

Finally, I said I rewatched Emma (2020) the other day and I had an epiphany. I realized that Colin has "Jane austen's male lead" energy. Now I'm not saying Julia Quinn/Brigderton and Jane Austen are even remotely comparable. They are not even in the same stratosphere. However, Colin has that sweet, mild-mannered, calm and subtle humor personality that a lot of Jane Austen's male leads have, at least the Colin in season 1 and 2 did. They could've played into this in season 3. I need to see Colin chasing after Penelope the same way Mr Knightley chased after Emma all the way to her house after dancing with her. I need to see Colin be all disheveled and distraught when he realizes he's in love with Penelope. I can't believe there is a scene right before the fingerbanging scene where Colin does chase after Penelope's carriage but we don't actually see it happen. We don't actually see him running. Like that's actually a great moment to see Colin fully realize his love for Penelope. Mr Knightley getting all flustered running after Emma's carriage and then missing his chance to tell her he loves her is hotter than Polin's fingerbanging scene! In fact now that I'm writing this there is a lot of what Emma (2020) did with Mr Knightley that the writers of Bridgerton could've done similarly for Colin that would've helped his character a lot more especially with the LW situation. But that's another post I think!

Ultimately, the writing failed Colin. This has nothing to do with the lack of media literacy or people not finding Luke Newton attractive and hot. It's just the writing did Colin and Luke a huge disservice.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk!

I was gonna include some quotes from some of my favorite reviews of the season about Colin but I just really wanted to put it all in my own words but here are the videos that made me finally put my issue with Colin into words. Video 1. Video 2. Video 3.

[merakiui]

For the fanfic writers directors cut:

Could you give some commentary on sea glass? Particularly, why azul and the tweels had such an obsession with the main character and not her brother as well?

Thank you for asking!!! I will gladly give Sea Glass commentary.

(ask game)

To begin, the man who was keeping Reader captive is not their brother. The two figures from the man's diary are himself and his (presently deceased) sister; they aren't blood-related to Reader. Reader is just the unfortunate soul who happened to become entangled in this years-long scheme.

In the story, this is noted:

And that was how it began. Grand wishes were to be granted with grand payment. It was decided that every two years the house would provide the trio with a human and in return they would grant the boy’s wish regardless of how outlandish it might have been. He could have anything he wanted—riches, health, or power—and all it took was one person’s sacrifice.

The deal Azul arranged with the man is, essentially, one in which the man benefits at the cost of a human life. Azul needs humans because he's experimenting [redacted for Moonbroch spoilers] (which he cryptically touches upon in the fic when he says his research has concluded), and the most feasible way to attain humans is to get them from another human (i.e. the man). The man keeps one human within his home for two years, caring for and conditioning them according to what Azul instructs, and by the end of the two year period he must relinquish them to Azul and the twins no matter what, as per the terms of the contract. In exchange, Azul grants the man's wish.

Normally, the exchange is emotionless, but this time the trio took special interest in Reader. Most of the reasoning for this will be explained in Moonbroch (the sequel), but I will note that they have all grown obsessively fond of Reader after a few very important events in the story's plot prior to the murder and what follows in Sea Glass. The trio have something of a business partnership with the man; they never cared much for him (or his sister) to begin with, but they do care a lot for Reader. >:)

Additionally, for further context, the story (and hints of the deal) are told from Jade's pov in these tiny snippets, which may just provide more background into the situation from an objective perspective:

i. the house on the hilltop is curious. two bipedal creatures enter, but only one ever leaves. as for us, we are confined to the shadowy depths of the sea, bearing silent witness to the tale of unwilling coexistence.  ii. every other year we receive a gift from that peculiar house on the hilltop. when the debt collector makes his biennial trip to the surface and collects what’s owed, we are permitted to relish in the scraps of what’s left behind. as per the agreement, we grant a single wish to those who can pay the steep price. iii. humans often throw coins into wells and fountains, but such beliefs are rooted in false hope. the house on the hilltop is devoid of such hope, yet its human comes to us with materialistic wishes every two years. perhaps his own fruitless ‘hope’ began when the price for a single wish became the life of his kin. iv. the house on the hilltop is blood-stained. a caged angel exists within, hiding claws and fangs. we are not strangers to the food chain, but the carnivorous nature of a once domesticated angel is certainly a curiosity to behold.  v. the house on the hilltop sits serene and abandoned. there is no business to be found inside and we no longer watch from a distance. having freed the angelfish from devious clutches, there is no reason to regard an empty, hopeless place.

[fractualized]

For the fanfic writer's director's cut thing. I'm obsessed with this exchange from Line in the sand:

Any thoughts about it are welcome, I pretty much just want you to know it lives in my brain rent free (and that I'd still give you my firstborn for a sequel).

Oh god, what do you say about the conversation that you knew the whole fic hinged on and knew you would revise fifty thousand times so it sounded like thoughts Bruce would brood over instead of… too writerly and whatnot? Case in point, the fourth paragraph in that excerpt was originally going to be somewhat longer, with at least one more version of "you ______, but ______" until I realized, duh, shorter works fine. The rule of threes is not obligatory.

But yeah, I wanted this bit to be Bruce's l'esprit d'escalier of sorts. Just stuff he's wanted to yell at Joker but hasn't because it didn't come to him at the time or previous moments didn't allow it or it seemed pointless. Including letting Joker know that he doesn't think it's foolish to reach out even if Joker will only bite back.

In this story's infancy, the final line of Bruce's speech was meant to really disarm Joker, and his kiss would be in earnest, which would disarm Bruce and result in them sleeping together. But that's the kind of idea that you realize does not work while writing it. 😂 So then the kiss turned into its own form of pushback.

It was also while writing this that I started thinking I've gone to the well of The Killing Joke too much? LOL That seems stupid to say because it's such a key moment in Bruce and Joker's relationship. There's often no avoiding it, especially in a fic that finally pulls them together. But writing about TKJ enough can start to feel like you're rehashing instead of making a point. Of course it was key for this story, so it's all still in, and I did reference TKJ again for "No Apologies." But it is a minor reason I want to focus on the mpreg comedy, so the story pivots on something else.

(ask game- fanfic director's commentary)

[justapalspal]

10 Questions for Fic Writers

thanks for the tag @quoththemaiden !! tagging @ninjam117 & @millenniumringg too because why not <3 + feel free to snag it @ everyone else if you wanna!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? Six! But one of them is a collection of artwork that I don’t particularly count as an ao3 work in my head anymore lmao. So five written works!!

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 12,979 words <3

3. What fandoms do you write for? ygo dm bay beee (is bakurae enjoyer a sub-fandom? do we count as our own little sub-fandom lmao)

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes!! I love a good comment discussion and love getting to give director’s commentary on my fics about things ppl commented about!! I try to get to every comment eventually <3

5. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of lmfao (aside from ao3 getting mirrored with “pay the app dev” stuff every so often)

6. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Me and my siblings when we were younger co-wrote ridiculous amounts of self-insert fanfiction together. What a lovely time that was

7. What's your all-time favourite ship? tendies owns my heart forever <33 I used to periodically come back to it every few years before coming back to ygo permanently and now it’s like ahhh we’re almost at ten years of consistent bakurae goodness <33

8. What are your writing strengths? I like to think I have strengths in comedy and dialogue because those are pretty fun and easy for me to churn out… but at the same time perhaps like. Minute details could be a strength of mine. I definitely used to think unusual and innovative prose/emotional descriptions were a strength of mine but I’ve kind of let that skill atrophy so I definitely need to work to regain that skill lmao <33

otherwise I do like my plot bunnies (when I’m able to cultivate them) I like to think developing plot bunnies is also a strength of mine!

9. What are your writing weaknesses? Consistency lmaoooo but nah if we’re gonna like talk real weaknesses it might be like… pacing and connecting scenes together! And also not rambling endlessly. Like. Rambling has its place but often I would find in my work I went on just a tad too long in areas and the pacing would suffer minutely for it. With yami b’s got a crush I really strove to be clear and concise, and I think it paid off so far <3

otherwise also like. choosing a point at which to start the action of a story is hard hard hard for me to do haha. that might also count as a weakness!!

10. First fandom you wrote for? oh gosh. It’s gotta be code lyoko because code lyoko was one of the first two if not first fandoms I ever read fanfic for. The other was I am legend (yes the will smith movie) and I never ended up writing for I am legend so. LMAO

first fandom I ever created stories for and didn’t post tho? idk I cannot remember that far back to what me and my sibs first did as kids lmaoo (we did write a lot of self insert for Narnia and Marvel, tho)

[cha-melodius]

hii!! for the director's commentary asks, i'd love to hear bout the celebrities' bakeoff au 'All The Old Showstoppers', the cheese shop worker!Henry AU 'Will You Brie Mine?; and lastly, 'Please Don't Let Me Be So Understood'!! ⭐Feel free to talk about any sections you'd like!⭐

Ooh ok tidbits for each:

All the Old Showstoppers: I’d always wanted to write a Bake Off AU but a FULL Bake Off season was gonna really require a long multichap to do it justice. I realized that I could do a Celebrity Bake Off AU and that’d be only two days of actual Bake Off. Of course it still took me 20k but that was a lot more manageable when I was just coming off a 66k fic. I loved the idea of Alex and Henry coming together a little later, having had a few more years to mellow out. A lot of people assume Alex has already had his bi awakening in this fic based on how he flirts with Henry, but I’m honestly agnostic on that front; tbh I feel like he might have started having thoughts but never really completed that journey until Henry (kinda like movie Alex I guess, though this was written before!). Also keep an eye out for more ATOS trivia later lol, I have another ask for this one.

Will You Brie Mine?: written for a prompt for ‘Harrods food hall’ by @tintagel-or-cockleshells, I considered Henry at a few different counters (pastry, chocolate), but ultimately decided cheese because of Henry’s canonical cheese recs in Paris. I did a bunch of research like “most unusual cheeses” to find ones that’d be lots of fun and also romantic. I took a while picking out the right fancy Mexican cheese, but my faves are probably the tete de moine and the story behind the Neufchâtel, because I got to have Alex call it ‘occupier cheese’.

And oh goodness, Please Don’t Let Me Be So Understood: god I was terrified to post this fic because it was SO difficult to write all those therapy sessions and I wasn’t sure people were gonna want to read 20k of therapy?? And it performed beyond my wildest dreams tbh. I wrote the initial setup for this and then almost abandoned it when I started doing research about couple’s therapy because I was convinced I couldn’t pull it off. I didn’t want it to be a caricature of therapy, I wanted it to be real. But I posted a snippet of it and @celeritas2997 came into my dms to yell at me about it and also to offer her professional assistance, which made me feel a lot better. She’s the entire reason it got written, so everyone say “thank you, Cee!”

My favorite therapy session to write was the ‘sex talk’ one for obvious reasons lol, but also because it features Alex ‘coming out’ in therapy before he’s fully realized that he’s bisexual, and I just loved that moment so much. Another fun fact is that this is the second time I’ve written a Coney Island date into a fic (the other is a different fandom). I guess I just love a Coney Island date. 😂

(Fanfic Writers: Director’s Cut)

[ape-apocalypse]

Road To The Kingdom - Prelude and Contagion Comics

This post will focus on two short comics that were published around the first reboot film, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.

The first is a prelude comic with a story that the writers (Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver) and director (Rupert Wyatt) always had in their minds for the film but had to be cut for time (they mention this in the DVD commentary and in interviews). Knowing how passionate they were about this piece of backstory for Caesar's origin, I'm very glad it was given life in this comic. It expands on the capture of Caesar's mother and her time in the GEN-SYS labs, scenes that are featured briefly in the opening of the film. 

Director Wyatt and the writers have all said they thought it was important to show this backstory of Caesar's parents to demonstrate that, even prior to the drug that enhanced him as an unborn baby, his parents were above average apes. The comic shows a group of poachers following a troop of chimps, intent on capturing them to sell to laboratories for testing. Alpha, Caesar's father, is more intelligent than a regular chimpanzee, demonstrated in how he outsmarts the humans to keep his apes safe. He even lures them into a trap in order to kill several of them. 

Likewise Caesar's mother, Bright Eyes... who is named Bright Eyes in the comic for her rare blue eyes which doesn't make sense since she was named that in the lab for the changed eyes Will's drug gives her and also she doesn't even have blue eyes in the opening scene of the movie but that's just bad continuity, I guess... Anyway, Bright Eyes is shown to be exceedingly compassionate to her troop, ensuring no one gets left behind as they flee the poachers and fiercely defending Alpha. Though it is very brief, it is nice to see the united front of Alpha and Bright Eyes that make up Caesar. Human drugs may have given him true intelligence, but Caesar's determination, loyalty, and compassion all came from his parents.

The rest of the comic arc shows Bright Eyes' time in the lab prior to giving birth. We see her intelligence grow to the point that she is able to escape from the lab on her own and return when she realizes she's far from her jungle home. There's a story of another lab ape named Burke who gets smart but decides to hide it, so he's retired to a sanctuary as a failed experiment and starts to plan his own escape. It's interesting to see the progression of the drug and its effect on the apes but the best part is getting to know Bright Eyes a bit better than her brief time in the film. 

Shifting to Contagion, it is even shorter than the prelude comic as it was a one-shot set between Rise and Dawn. The focus of the comic is Ellie, the human in Dawn who is the love interest of Malcolm and the nurse who heals Cornelia. Her backstory is briefly mentioned in the movie but it is fleshed out here. We're shown the death of her daughter, Sarah, during the Simian Flu outbreak and her time with the CDC trying to find a vaccine. She ends up escaping the destruction of her lab with the help of a test chimp and the two go their separate ways (which makes me think an interesting story in this universe would be a human and an intelligent ape who actually successfully survive together but I guess that's what fanfics are for). Though very fast paced, that is the nature of a short one-shot comic. It does probably set the feeling of losing your daughter as the world falls apart around you, all happening in a very quick blur. Her time spent with the test apes and her rescue by the chimp Betty show her gentle nature that will have her seeking peace with Caesar's apes in the coming film. 

Though these comics are short compared to the longer arcs that will be featured later, I like these stories for their background on two female characters, Bright Eyes and Ellie. While the original films had Zira as a main lead character, the female characters in the reboot series definitely suffer from being primarily love interests to the lead characters and not having much to do in the films. So it is nice to let Ellie and Bright Eyes have comic book expansions of their characters. Both of these stories have been hard to find in the past, as the prelude was online promotion for Rise that seems to be gone from the Net and Contagion was a San Diego Comic Con 2014 exclusive. However, they can now be found in the Planet of the Apes comic omnibus entitled After The Fall.

Intro / Previous / Next

[writer-and-artist27]

⭐star⭐ writer's choice. have fun talking vy vy :)

Thankie, Osie ⭐ Now, what to comment on...

Actually, that reminds me. The first chapter of The Sea and Stars - I remember the final lines of dialogue were really important to me because it was when I was just starting to get to know you and Lang, Osie. You both knew Kingdom Hearts in a way, and for Tomoko and Kei to really know each other as "reincarnation buddies", it felt right referencing the opening dialogue from Kingdom Hearts 2. Especially when I still have fond memories of the game.

“Tomoko, I’ve been having these weird thoughts lately. Like, is any of this for real? Or not?” “It’s real to me.”

That exchange still reads so well a few years later.

[cosmos-dot-semicolon]

(⭐fanfic writers' commentary)

@plutosoda hi

Ooh, time to reread my old writing, huh? Always a fun trip, especially given I'd totally forgotten like half of it including that repetition trick you'd mentioned…

fair warning, i only got like 3 asks for this thing so I'm gonna commentate on pretty much the entire fic here. This post never ends.

Here's an entire director's commentary on All-Nighter! Enjoy!

"The covers were warm… But at least it'd get something done before passing out again."

I'm still fond of this intro. I'm terrible with being succinct, but this is somewhere where my rambling writing style really works; this section is written from experience of many a 'stayed up too anxious now you can't sleep' nights, and someone who has read a lot of the techniques to fix that problem, then didn't (ADHD lol). That is in fact what my internal monologue tends to be like at night - a mix between recalling every single way you've ever learnt to pass out, worrying about what happens tomorrow, 'why is life like that. what did i do,' and just a pinch of 3am self loathing.

I never really thought of it until an AO3 commenter pointed it out, but it was a fairly natural way of worldbuilding/expositing/characterisation all in one go. Establish the premise of the fic, Robot only bothering to process things when it's on the brink of exhaustion, the way it's kinda obsessed with productivity and efficiency and self-improvement.

I'm proud of it!

Also I like to think Lady Luck only does the weird scheduling thing for Robot. She'd be the type of person to try and make the Dungeons a personalised hell for everybody.

“Hey, could I get a coffee, do you think? …I’ve been sleeping so badly down here.”

I'm quite happy with the intro to the next bit too. My goal going into most fanworks (still) is to emulate what drew me to the original story. In this case, that's Dicey's tone and dialogue, with a bit more direct focus on the characterisation of everyone. So this is sort of a meta plot device that signals all that to the reader. I love how efficient that is. also I just like throwbacks and references okay

"The canteen was a dense jumble of kichen counters…"

I could've been a little faster with this scene and Robot subsequently making the coffee. One of my weaknesses as a writer is that I hallucinate some of the scenes in my head, and try to write down everything in that instead of just drawing a comic (cough that one unpublished Ninjago fic). I'm a sucker for describing scenery for days on end.

That said, I'm really glad I got the vibe of 'light-blue-grey' morning over to you in your fanart. It was exactly what I was imagining as I was writing this.

"Pre-ground. …But this was just evil."

I think I'm funny. Anxiety cube can put up with a lot, but terrible coffee isn't it.

"They taste horrible compared to freshly ground beans. It’s not worth the convenience."

haha. because you see. that's its heart's desire *gets turned into a dice*

"Pouring a generous portion for its new friend, Robot masked its complaints with a long sigh." "…But thanks to the innovations of modern day life-” An overhead swig downed half the mug."

A commenter pointed out that some of my lines have really good flow in them between actions and characterisation. I didn't notice that until then, but I'm inclined to agree. Some of these drive in the point really well.

"At least its fellow patron was enjoying themselves – not even flinching at the concoction and savouring the coffee raw. It was tempted to start a commentary on how dark roasts were overrated, but soon became a little more concerned about them drinking through the 100 centigrade burns. This place had quite the collection of creatures, it seemed."

I like to think Robot's a little snobby about the things it enjoys. I like to think Lady Luck tries to throw people off as much as possible.

"So, how’s the self-improvement going?" they started. "I only want top quality minions in my dungeons."

Very fun fact is that I was worried about spoiling the twist in this fic because of this line being so blatant, but I wanted to put it in anyway because it's a good character-establishing moment, and a good… re-interpretation of the line in another context? I love recontextualising canon in a slightly different way that still works for the characters in question. it's so fun

Anyways. Turns out I didn't need to worry about that because at least one reader totally missed this too so got hit with the full twist anyways. Isn't writing great?

"So, what’s keeping you up this late?” they asked. “Nightmares? A looming sense of regret and existential dread? Unfinished essays due tomorrow morning?"

essays due tomorrow morning. haha so true. i'm glad I don't take much coursework nowadays.

"You know, as useless as it looks, sleep’s rather important for you folks. It’s how you deal with all the terrible things that happen during the day, since your brain can just wipe the slate clean and try again. But funnily enough, it’s always the first thing that’s left behind whenever someone wants to better themself." "Life’s painful enough as it is. Why not change things up if your current routines aren’t working?" "Nobody ever plays the cards they’re dealt perfectly, dear… Time always slips you by when you’re not paying attention. And nobody ever knows what’s coming next. You’ve just got to learn when to raise and fold them." "Well, part of being human is never being a hundred-and-one percent efficient. If you folks still count yourself as that. I’d apologise but I remember you were quite nonchalant about your little transformation anyways."

One of the main points of this fic was that while Lady Luck is blatantly on the offensive and absolutely insulting Robot to its core, she's not technically… wrong?

It's not bad advice. Lady Luck, in-game, seems very perceptive of the various insecurities mortals go through. And I like to think she does start this conversation just for genuine fun, to pick someone apart. See if they bounce back against it or just crumble. It's just a bonus that the recipient finds it harder to refute her offers afterwards.

"It might!" it snapped back, getting them to at least try and contain their mockery under a silent, wavering smirk. "You know what? I think it will be, I can feel it!"

Robot sort of does both. It's definitely very very anxious. But it's stubborn. I really like that about its character: how there's a contrast between its organised and disorganised sides? How robots are usually associated with hard numbers and calculations, but Robot's mechanic is blackjack. also it's SO autism/adhd coded. listen. in this

I don't know if there's a trope to call either of these, but they're my favourite things about both characters, and they're surprisingly introspective for a game so short on story. (I will write more about that in another post. lol).

It's a bit indulgent in how long it goes on in some areas, but eh. It works for the fic's pacing.

"The figure leaned forward to highlight its obvious obliviousness…" "I thought you were supposed to be the overly organisational optimist."

I love alliteration. yippee!

"A gentle chuckle filled the air, restrained from its usual projecting echo. "You wound me, Robot. Games are always more fun when your players at least get the chance to try and fight back."

I like to think Lady Luck's main motivation is entertainment. Which mostly involves watching people suffer. But I think it's in the spirit of luck to have it so that someone's downfall was their choice. Determinism versus free will and whatever.

The chance that somebody could escape makes things spicier. And makes it sting all the more for all those that didn't. Hooray!!

Also given Lady Luck's usual loud persona, I planned (plan) on giving her quite a few more subtle but equally threatening moments in this series. It's a thing that wouldn't really work well in the actual game, but it does in a slower medium like writing, and I fucking love that trope.

"Statistically unlikely, but I’ll humour it," she commented to an invisible aside."

You should picture this scene as her directly staring at you through the fourth wall. Like in a sitcom.

"But it’s not so bad, being a minion… I’ve heard that’s about as stable as a job as you can get these days." "…though surprisingly she was not the worst boss it had had to deal with."

I always thought this line, used on Thief in-game, would've been an absolute killer on Robot. The job market is pretty fucking shit these days under capitalism and you would be lying if you said there aren't at least some parts of the Dungeons that seem better work-wise. Inclusivity, stable employment, accommodation.

Yeah, you have no freedom, but that's also the goal of capitalism up here as well. At least in Dicey it's ridculous and ironic. And you'd get to use your degree in maths/statistics/acounting etc to its full extent! Can you fucking imagine the paperwork for a game-show/dungeon hybrid business.

"But then again, I think you’re plenty used to the grind."

I believe this was an unintentional-turned-intentional coffee pun. Boooooo

"Funny how they think that’ll discourage anybody. …Folks hear that the house always wins and immediately think they’ll be the exception."

She would be the one to know that. This was intended as a followup to Robot's entire argument before. I'm very happy that at least one person picked up on that :D

"So whatever you pick, it'll be a decision from Robot alone, no matter what your mind or body drags you into afterward.”

I believe this was also supposed to be a callback, but the wording got changed slightly. I think it was the "It feels like my mind and body won’t stop working against me" bit.

"Normally, Robot would’ve stayed to socialise and make new friends, and in all likelihood, skipping breakfast would leave it starving later on in the day. But right now, it needed some time to itself: to think and recover and remember where it was going with this."

This was another callback (that actually made it into the story). Robot immediately making another bad decision after the first, with the exact same words echoing it coming.

"Just another day in the dungeons. It could handle this."

I wanted the ending to be very short and open-ended, in that it was up to you to interpret whether Robot took the offer or not, and when. But regardless I wanted it to be like a regular intro to an episode, but with the hint something definitely fucking changed that the audience can only speculate on.

…oof. 80 minutes on this essay. My poor neck. I think that's it for now, though.

Overall I'm really happy with this piece - hence why it's one of the few things I actually put online. It's three years old, and I could've fixed the flow in some bits (there's one part where I think Robot answers a different question than was asked).

But I achieved pretty much everything I wanted to say in this piece of fanwork, it pushed me to think about characterisation a lot and my writing and editing techniques. There's a lot of neat little things I put into it, and it really got me to grips with what I liked about my inspiration in the first place.

I think that's an exercise worth trying for every fan-work creator. Stretches you brain. Almost lets you re-experience what you loved about a thing years later. Points you towards your possible future diagnoses. It's a fun time!