#how do i get into scriptwriting 😂😂

[neil-gaiman]

Hey Neil,

Saw there was questions regarding casting, as a film student... I just wanna say screw that how can one be part of the production crew 👏😂 I make a banging cup of tea, looking for work experience to start career in film and will even hand milk almonds and cashew nuts if that's what someone wants in their drink LOL

In all seriousness, I know how basically impossible it would be to get on the crew even as an unpaid work experience but always down for a chuckle and daydream to motivate me to keep grinding to get the career I've been working for 💪💪💪

P.S - Hope all the scriptwriting production stuff is going as smooth as possible!

Well, on Season 2 we had a lot of (paid) trainees in all departments from all over Scotland (thanks to the Financial assistance of Screen Scotland). I advertised it here on Tumblr. I don't know if we will be able to do that again for Season 3.

[yuurivoice]

Say you had unlimited resources; budget, time, energy, etc. What would be your dream project(s)? It could be audio rp related or not. :)

Shit, that's hard to say.

Like really hard.

I think I am incapable of conceiving projects beyond a certain scale with any certainty that it would bring me joy. I've managed to find the right steps through trial and error, and I think developing my creative muscles has been a real thing.

What I mean by that is, if I had not made BS 1-3 first, I could not make anything nearly as cool as what I'm cooking today. If I would have had unlimited resources a few years ago, I couldn't conceptualize anything worth those resources because I didn't understand what I could do or how to do it.

So with that in mind, my ceiling right now might be a visual novel. There are a few projects I really fuck with and enjoy, and I look at those and go...yeah, this is a language I can speak. If I surrounded myself with the right team, I could make something I'd be proud of.

Other mediums like graphic novels or novels in general I think I could do alright with as well.

Going much broader in scope makes me feel a bit too ambitious, also I still have fears about working in a team or being a boss. I'm more capable than I used to be, but it would be daunting.

In another life, I wanted to go to film school and get into directing, but I think my heart really was into scriptwriting. Shocker, I know. I think for my own fulfilment, working on something with Del Toro would have been a delight. Even if all I could swing is getting him to consult in the way that GRRM did with Elden Ring, I think that would be real dope.

But yeah. Hard to really say! Which I think, and this might just be cope, I think means I'm right where I need to be today. I'm putting together stories and performances I'm really proud of. I think I've cleared a couple of plateaus in recent years and need to figure out what I'm capable of before dreaming much bigger.

I made the statement recently that I'd be making these projects of mine even if they were destined to flop. I meant that. I've gotta see what I can make, and if it excites people, awesome, but it excites me. That's what brought me to the dance in the first place. Making shit that excited me.

I think as a creative of any sort, you have to trust yourself enough to risk failure. Make bold choices you have some conviction behind making. Otherwise you'll never figure out how to top that. You'll just sit in a comfortable lane, and eventually get bored and stale.

I ended up here by accident. Where we go next is on purpose.

Can you tell I've been in my writing bag recently? 😂

[idrellegames]

Apologies if this (or anything similar) has been asked before, but how long did Wayfarer take to plan/write/etc before you started posting about it on tumblr or actually.. writing the game?

I'm currently in the very early planning stages of my own IF and I don't want to rush on making the worldbuilding. I imagine lots of planning went into Wayfarer (?) before you started to actually write the game or promote it on tumblr, and I suppose I'm just curious to know? Again, my apologies if this is a weird question or one you don't want to answer.

Oh that's a good question!

To be honest, I wouldn't use what I did as a good example of what to do. 😅 As some of you know, Wayfarer has its roots as a Dragon Age fan game. That game went nowhere (and has no similarities to Wayfarer other than Alexia, Ren, Calla and Aeran were all originally OCs for it), but it did mean that I had an audience from the DA fandom when I made the switch to original writing. I made this blog and did announcement posts and OC questions before I had anything substantially written. I released one demo in May 2019 and didn't get much further than that.

2020 was when I made changes and abandoned the fan game to work on what is now Wayfarer. I did about 5 months of plotting and planning before I made the announcement; I actually did most of the initial worldbuilding and outlines for a video game scriptwriting course I was taking at the time. I had to develop a game bible for a hypothetical game, so I used Wayfarer for that coursework, although that game bible is not very representative of what the game is now since I had to do specific things in specific ways to appease my professor.

The first thing I did after announcing the switch to orginal fiction was commission a portrait of Mel. 😂 I already had portraits of Aeran, Alexia, Ren and Calla and though those ones were commissioned while the game was still Dragon Age, their character designs are still the same. Though I don't think artwork is necessary to have a successful IF, it can be very helpful in terms of gaining an audience. Visuals are eye-catching!

I tried a lot of different things in 2020. Some things worked, some didn't. The first half of the year I was worldbuilding, outlining, and reworking the game bible. I wrote and coded a Prologue that eventually got scrapped, and the beginning of Episode 1 up to the fight with Kane, which didn't. I livestreamed it on my Twitch channel with my partner reading and doing voices (shout out to anyone who remembers Southern Sero because that was... a thing that happened).

I rewrote the Prologue with the one we have now in September 2020 and worked to add more material to Episode 1 before making an official game announcement in November 2020. I can't quite remember how far that first demo went, but I think it was the Prologue and Episode 1's fight with Kane if the player went to Rat Alley and up to the end of the meeting with Zenaida if the player went to the docks. All of that would have been around 51k words of playable content in the game when the demo released.

Looking back, I probably would have done things differently. I also think that there's no one way to make an IF. What works for one person is not necessarily going to work for another, it's okay to find your own path. 💗

But I can give a little bit of advice:

You need to know what you are writing before you go ahead and write it. IF is not a medium that can be pantsed (unless you're creating a short or micro game). Get comfortable plotting and outlining in well in advance. You should have an idea of how your game is going to shape up and the main thrust of the plot before you start, otherwise you're going to get overwhelmed with too many ideas and risk fizzling out.

To promote a game, you need to have a game. Before you launch an announcement post and officially start marketing your game, you need to have a playable demo with substantial content. Think of it this way: you only have one shot to make a first impression and it has to be a good one. The demo needs to introduce the player to their character, the world, the game's main mechanics, and a plot hook. The amount of work this is going to take is going to differ depending on the scope of your game and your writing style, but a character creator and 1000-3000 words is not going to cut it.

Don't use your blog as a way to worldbuild. Keep that offline and between you and your beta group or writing circle. If there's one repeat tendency I've seen a lot over the past few years of IF development on tumblr, it's that there is sometimes more interest in answering OC asks and writing flash fiction and answering prompts then there is in writing the game. These asks can be a lot of fun and can absolutely drive engagement for your blog, but at the end of the day they can either take away from the time and energy you should put towards your game or they will spoil the development of your characters for the players. The line between player engagement and player participation in a game's development is a very fine one that can get tricky to walk.

Worldbuilding isn't something that you do at the start and never again. It's something that grows with you as your write your project; sometimes you'll have to shift things and change them, fill in holes you didn't see coming, scrap ideas entirely. Allow yourself breathing room. I think you're off to a good start by knowing that you don't want to rush the worldbuilding. It's something that takes a lot of time to grow organically, and it's going to change and grow with you.

Good luck! 💖

[accio-victuuri]

SBMS Clowning Series ☀️ v.4

I can’t believe we’re so close to the finale which is episode 36. It’s always so fast when these dramas are released but i’m not complaining that we got it faster than his other dramas. We also have a lot of content — from photos, bts and interviews. 💪🏼

The reason why I want to make this part of the round up is this scene in SBMS, it’s the last scene that the crew shot which is when SY and JB were watching fireworks. Especially the line JB said. I think i’m not the only BXG who thought of XZ’s wish for WYB when they heard this : “I hope you don’t come to the complicated and boring world of adulthood soon. It means i hope you grow up slowly.”

It’s a pretty popular CPN that the long bday messages are made by ZZ so to hear something similar in the show is sus. You can say that it’s a usual “wish” or that ZZ is not the scriptwriter. and that’s right. However, ZZ has improvised a couple of scenes in this drama. ZZ has worked closely with the scriptwriter and director of the drama — so we cannot remove the possibility that he may have brought up this line or idea.

there are instances in this drama when we CPNd and thought that ZZ improvised it and we were right. for example accidentally holding JB’s hand @ the subway or the thing about you s/o being your “charger”. so i’m not gonna be surprised if one way or another we get a confirmation about this. 💓

anyway, moving on to other stuff…

SOME SIMILARITIES/ Coincidence:

• “Eating” the tissue after eating. Normal people will just wipe it or will do that but not for long like they do. With the examples, it looks like WYB does this more and GG was infected. Lol.

• The BGM of recent douyin posts from both sides is the same 🙃. I don’t know how popular this song is now in douyin, cause this is tiktok after all certain sound clips become popular and everyone start using it. But it’s interesting that it’s videos posted the same day.

some are saying that since the SBMS post was “romantic”, this is WYB’s answer. He is matching the BGM. Also the caption ( YBO official ) had a star emoji in it. Why didn’t he just make it the sun 😂😂😂 I think the star can be connected to the Douyin update from the day before, where ZZ was holding a star toy.

• This will make the most sense to those who watched the recent episode, but there is a scene where SY asks the “bear” if Jian Bing is the most beautiful and it lights up meaning yes. Lol. That kind of shamelessness in praising reminded us so much of WYB!!!!!

• XZ WHERE DID YOU LEARN THIS MOVE HUH? Is this one of your improvs? I’m screaming!!!!

It’s like he got tips from the things WYB did before, who was younger than him and what worked to make him like/love the gremlin more. 🤣🤣🤣

• For some next level clowning, in ZZ’s weibo video post — what number do you see? 8? 👀

==============================

Interview highlights. This covers ZZ’s recent content for SBMS promos. Ones that remind us of bjyx clues and symbols. Just to disclaimer that the purpose of this is not to portray ZZ as someone who can’t be his own person. How we always have to connect things back to WYB in everything he says does not mean any harm. It’s all CPN. We are very much aware that ZZ is his own person. 😌

SINA INTERVIEW:

What stood out to me was when he talked about evaluating himself everyday so he can improve. This is something similar that he has with WYB. They only want to be better and expand their skill set. They are also open to criticism.

There was also a part where he talked about equality in relationships when there is an age gap.

“being equal in any relationship, no one is higher or lower than anyone else, everyone is in a very fair and equal relationship and in getting along.”

Do you have some experience in this ge? I have to say they are equal — especially in spoiling each other. ^^

AND LASTLY HOW HE expressed his interest in playing a charming and cute villain. Lol. He said a couple of times already, someone please listen. WYB already did Mister Ye who is sort of the villain. I hope ZZ can play something like that too.

RUXI INTERVIEW

His answers tend to very similar in these interviews and i think that’s largely because the questions are similar. Especially they ask about his experience in the drama or his interpretation of Shengyang as a character.

But in this interview, he was asked about being an actor and his answer 😭😭😭

I’m definitely still on the road to acting and becoming an actor myself. This road is still very long. I have to walk it step by step in a down-to-earth manner. It’s more interesting to me.

I mean. Just look at the tagline of my blog. Yep, the road ahead is long. We will be here for you ^^

FOX FACTORY INTERVIEW

How he talked about memorizing his co stars line as well. Some CPFs are speculating that this started with CQL. It’s because him and WYB were sharing one script book. Which btw, he never did again with his other co stars.

THIS PART which made me giggle. They were asking about the heroine he would want to play with and he completely goes back to his desire of playing the villain 🤭 If you don’t wanna answer it, just say something else. Of course a co star is important, but I think for ZZ, he is more into his role as an actor. He is focused on himself.

Also this one. A very thrifty GG! Practical. It’s in line with the fake rumors that he scolds WYB for impulse buying 😅😅😅

-END.

[esther-dot]

Hey, what do you think about the musical version of the Tourney of Harrenhal possibly spoiling certain upcoming book plots? It looks like the play might be out before WOW, and I wonder how that might play out? I feel like fans are going to lose their minds when their theories are or are not confirmed.

I’m still so incredulous about it I always have a “WHAT?!” reaction even though I know there's a play in the works. 😂 I first heard of this a couple years ago now (2021 with an expected 2023 debut) and they’ve switched the name from Harrenhal to the Iron Throne which made me wonder if they’re shifting the focus of the story, but then I realized, that’s prolly just a name recognition issue? You need something that says “GoT-related” as soon as you hear it, and they didn’t do enough with pre-canon stuff for the general public to immediately recognize Harrenhal. Although, I don't remember reading it was a musical. Do you have a source for that?

Your thought was my first reaction to hearing the news: THE SPOILERS.

But my second was, fuck me. GoT must have given enough way re: Rhaegar and Lyanna that Martin isn’t afraid to green light this. 😬 Obvy, I don't buy the complete whitewash they gave Rhaegar in GoT, but I def think we're not getting Robert's version of events. This was the official description I saw in 2021:

"The play will for the first time take audiences deeper behind the scenes of a landmark event that previously was shrouded in mystery. Featuring many of the most iconic and well-known characters from the series, the production will boast a story centered around love, vengeance, madness and the dangers of dealing in prophecy, in the process revealing secrets and lies that have only been hinted at until now." (link)

A very reasonable description as yeah, I do think we will be getting Lyanna's (short-lived perhaps) infatuation and decision to run away with Rhaegar. I mean, technically, the secrets and lies could be about Jon's identity? It's hard to know what all they’ll be covering, but the fact that they include the “madness and the dangers of dealing in prophecy” bit should alert people to the fact that they aren’t getting the completely romanticized version of R/L either.

Here was Martin's July update:

Last week we had a great meeting with the producers on THE IRON THRONE, the stage play we’ve been working on the past few years.  The scripts for that one are coming along well, and it’s got me very excited.   (link)

Martin's December update:

And since we are talking theatre… one of the meetings I had in London was with Dominick and Duncan, the director and scriptwriter of our own stage play, the one we have been working on for the past few years. Originally we were calling it HARRENHAL, but we have now settled on THE IRON THRONE as a title… until we think of something better. Regardless, things are coming well, I think, and we are hopeful of being able to open in late 2024. Maybe. But you never know. There’s still a lot of work to be done. (link)

I don't think any camp will be particularly happy because I believe Martin has a more sympathetic view of Rhaegar than someone like me (I’m guessing he views this more as a genuine tragedy rather than my “fuck Rhaegar” stance), but the hardcore Targ fans aren’t gonna be thrilled either.

I’m not sure how seriously people will take it though. As in, GoT happened and most of the fandom rejects parts or all of the ending as coming from Martin, so I’m not sure that anything other than TWOW will shake anyone’s conviction. And for some, that won’t be changing their minds either 😂

[scrumptiousstuffs]

Dangerous Romance, Episode 4

In which the directors (and scriptwriters) want us to know Kanghan and Sailom belongs together cause what’s a windmill without the wind?

Well…this is the episode where Kanghan starts to grow up and learn that for every action, there is a consequence. We see him realising his previous mean-spirited actions meant Sailom has no other job apart from tutoring him. And even that is precarious with Kanghan only half-heartedly committed to the tutoring sessions (there is no doubt both of them are friends now but Kanghan still dismissed Sailom when the VR set arrived)… until grandma gives an ultimatum, whereby Kanghan must pass all his midterms or otherwise Sailom loses his tutoring job. And that makes Kanghan panics, cause he likes hanging out with Sailom (but him being a dork, thinks the only way Sailom will spend time with him is if the latter is getting paid for the tutoring sessions). Cue some cute montage of the boys becoming closer and closer during tutoring sessions(🥹🥹🥹…and such sweet scenes - also, kudos to Kanghan flirting with Sailom by using the Kanghan/windmill and Sailom/wind analogy, but heh, Sailom walked into that one 😂)

But despite Kanghan truly showing a significant improvement across his academic scores, he still failed one subject. Cue sad montage of them spending time alone and being absolutely miserable without each other, pining from afar (boys, there is no harm just hanging out without studying/tutoring you know??? 😫😩 it’s like they think they are Romeo and Juliet or something)

And with Sailom’s financial situation becoming worse - his brother’s twisted ankle (is it just me? But I think Saifah is doing some shady businesses with these old ladies he is looking after..like, I’m sorry, but I genuinely worry Saifah is maybe skimming some money from these oldies….the way he kept saying “auntie so and so gave me an extra 1000 baht for medical or auntie X gave me this shoes etc etc.”). Plus no more side jobs - be it tutoring or the car wash, Sailom reluctantly takes a job as an escort under Name (and if that’s not an ominous sign of what to come, cause we know from the trailer Sailom will be doing more of this escort business…)

Ultimately, Kanghan and Pimfah caught Sailom when he is out in his job as an escort. And while it truly looked just an outing, I guess there is always a threat that it could escalate to more. This prompted Pimfah to ask Sailom as a tutor (but both Kanghan and Sailom can see she asked him so that the latter doesn’t need to do any more escorting)

We ended with Kanghan persuading grandma to hire Sailom as a tutor again - “It must be Sailom. After all, what’s a windmill without the wind.” Grandma being the best wingman (ahem, I mean woman) ever told Sailom that for Kanghan to receive the best tutoring possible, he must move in and live with them in their mansion.

(seriously, by the end of this episode with the rain, windmill umbrella and both boys waiting it out in the rain, followed by the absolute domestic scenes of them fooling around and chasing in Kanghan’s garden, I almost believe we are in a fairy tale and these 2 are in their happily ever after era - but we are not even halfway there 🫣)

I know some people don’t like this series. But I personally like Perth and Chimon in this. They have an easy chemistry and as actors, both of them are good at micro expressions - they always make be belief in whatever they are acting out (be it Kanghan/Sailom pining from afar to both of them slowly but surely falling in love with each other) - so, I’m rooting for them, and I can’t wait to see how their relationship developed further (also, they were my favourite pairing in NVLM 🫣)

09/09/2023

[vyxythepixie]

14, 19, and 33 for the writing asks 💚

Aaa thank you for sending these!

14. Write and share the first sentence of a new fic. Just that.

Ok this is both difficult and simple to do lol. Wait, hang on, it says write and share, so it's not actually something I've already done. Right, ok, I'll look at my waiting list of things I plan to do and bullshit a first line I may or may not keep 😂 and not only that, I'm going to steal it from a post from my role-play blog I'm basing it on.

Mischief. Mischief never changes.

(I also cheated by putting two sentences in because the first one alone does not capture the point. I also didn't do 'just that', sorry XD)

19. Share a snippet from a wip without giving any context for it.

I'm not giving context, I promise, but you're lucky there's content of a WIP at all because when I work on a chapter, I usually write in a frenzy until it's done and then it's up and there's nothing new to share (my original work aside). Fortunately... [insert context here], I have something this time:

“Are you shitting me?”

33. Give your writing a compliment.

Oh, no, how dare you! Uh, I like the punchiness of my writing, which came about when my once descriptive style got T-boned by my prose fiction course getting cancelled and forcing me into scriptwriting in my final uni year. I also like my writing enough to re-read my fics for enjoyment.

[radaverse]

1. Are you named after anyone?

No. My name is pretty much unique. Mom got it thanks to a prayer with God. I've never met anyone with my same name, just a girl who got named after me so she doesn't count lol. I am not exaggerating 😂

2. When was the last time you cried?

I think it was in July. Long story short I got emotional because I didn't want to do my hair 💀

3. Do you have kids?

Nah, maybe I might have one or two in the future, but right now I'm not really thinking about that.

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Usually when joking with my mom and my lil bro 💙

5. What sports have you played?

I suck at sports. I've tried playing volleyball, but the only sport I'm truly good at is ✨ chess ✨ ♟️

6. First thing you notice about other people?

If they're sociable. I'm kinda socially awkward myself but I know how to make friends lol. I usually befriend lonely introverts so they don't feel alone anymore

7. Eye color?

Dark brown 🤎

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

I usually write sad, angsty and even violent stories 😳 but I mostly go for happy endings. It shows that no matter how hard life is you'll always be okay at the end and corny stuff like that lol.

9. Special Talents?

I can draw really fast and without much references. I can memorize characters pretty well lol.

10. Birthplace?

Colombia! 🇨🇴

11. Hobbies?

I love drawing, writing, making storyboards and animations. Inventing new stories and making them real with art is so much fun.

12. Pets?

In my house there's a cat, a dog and 2 birds. I own the two birbs, they're my children ✨

13. Height?

I'm actually kinda short. Most girls in middle school were taller than me when I was in senior year. But that's pretty cool to me.

14. Favorite subject in school?

My favorite was biology until they changed it to chemistry in senior. The easiest ones to me was English and Spanish. (I disliked math and p.e.)

15. Dream job?

Animator and/or Scriptwriter. I would love to work for Sega's Sonic stuff one day.

Extra: 3 things you wish you could do

Make "Sonic Wrong Universe" an actual animated show (I'm actually working on that already! I've got a little team with a lot of talented people)

Get a job to help mom (I'm still too young sadly)

Get a degree in animation and scriptwriting

Done! Now it's time to tag some great artists. There you go! @foxflamingo @cattyanon @ali-flaion @remaking-machine @chinchilla010 @welcome-to-green-hills 💙

(You don't have to do that if you don't want to, I just tag you so you can know that you're a great artist and I love you 🫶)

15 questions for 15 mutuals

tagged by @darthdutton, thank you so much for the fun tag game and sorry I took so long to get to it! I’ve been on a much needed social media fast 🙏🏼.

are you named after anyone? No, I don’t think so. I think my dad just didn’t like my almost-name and liked the idea of me being “victorious”. Turns out the only way I’ve lived up to my name is by owning a bunch of dolls, wanting to be treated like a Queen and wanting to meet my Albert.

when was the last time you cried? um. In the shower about a week ago? I had to euthanize my 15 year old dog and I was suddenly struck by the grief of her loss since she’s been in my life for so long. 

do you have kids? I have three kittens.

do you use sarcasm a lot? only all the time.

what sports do you play/have you played?  Anything in physical education class at school. I always sucked at sports and was the last one to get picked when making teams. It was so embarrassing lol. I’m a good skier tho!

what’s the first thing you notice about other people? idk, great question! I’ll pay more attention.

eye color? Dark brown.

scary movies or happy endings? Scary movies! Nothing against happy endings but… they gotta be realistic for me to like them.

any special talents? Overthinking.

where were you born? Wouldn’t you like to know?!!!!!! Even though I was raised in Mexico, I was born in the United States. I am privileged with a USAmerican passport.

what are your hobbies? watching anime, reading, writing, listening to music, dancing,trying out new restaurants/cafes, going on trips ( hate to copy ,but damn we do have the same taste x2)

do you have any pets? More like too many pets. I just euthanized my Min Pin, so now I only have 4 cats and a Border Collie. But I’ll be giving up 2 of the kittens up for adoption and most likely releasing Momo (the mom) once I spay her. 

how tall are you? Wouldn’t you like to know?!!!!! Average height in the US, tall in Mexico.

fave subject in school? Psychology, Math, Cultural Anthropology, Linguistics

dream job? idk because I’ve had amazing jobs where I felt so lucky to get paid to do work that I do but I’ve evolved… it used to be Marketing but I would like to get paid to use my Psychology nerdery next.

No pressure tags @justafrenchlondoner @sixth-vip @noa-ciharu @yamat0 @momoyamaguchi @linkspooky @incensuous @queen-asiad @ashleyfonthescreamofcreation

[moononmyfloor]

New Life Begins ep 1-14 Review!

Before even a minute could pass I immediately loved the intro, and worldbuilding of nine regions. I straightaway made a list so I can keep track of the backdrop.

On to the actual episode, I did like some parts about it but mostly I thought this is too much character introduction for a drama opening. Too many things to keep track of. But it was funny and cute so I kept watching.

By ep 4 I started feeling like...

This drama felt like something written by me (I have ocd and am extremely detail-oriented)

Except that's not a praise. It felt like written by a delulu me out of control 😂

▪︎There are 9 provinces in this universe. You need to remember facts and points about all of them whenever the drama name drops them.

▪︎ There are girls from these different provinces and about 5 princes. You need to remember all their characteristics.

▪︎One Prince has 24 consorts, I kid you not, that he named based on 24 solar terms

A me 10 yrs ago would write something like this, I thought. (Now I have better control 🤭) It was highly amusing to watch in the sense you are reading your childhood diary rambles lol.

I have no idea how the drama makers kept track of who is who. Viewers can watch it with no problem if they don't think too hard, but for someone like me who had to hog on every detail, this was simply overload. It looks like a detail oriented person's catnip on surface, but is actually nightmare.

And once I stopped being pulled in all 8 directions by the various character flocks in this drama, I started noticing tiny loose-plot things about it. Once again, it felt like the scriptwriter/author was too focused on the number-game-nerding with as much as characters possible and making them interact in this wild network, so they didn't have time to work on finer details that would make a story sensible.

I thought I was gonna drop and was like "maybe let's watch today's eps too".

And boy, am I glad that I did.

Like a switch turned on, I suddenly started liking it from ep 6. And I only became more enamoured onwards! I have no idea what caused this, maybe I got used to the numerous background details of the story. Maybe the story *itself* chilled down a bit with its worldbuilding and started on with what it came to accomplish.

It is incredibly feminist! 😍 I realised this by ep 7, which delivered ABOVE and BEYOND and woah, I was suddenly in love.

I was supremely impressed with the portrayal of feminism in Danchuan. When I first saw the summary of the 9 regions, I liked Jichuan the best (obviously) and was hesitant about Danchuan because it sounded like just another stereotypical attempt at toxic feminism where it is not at all different from patriarchy except with genders reversed. Aka what a lot of people imagine feminism to be as shown in Romance of Tiger and Rose.

But Danchuan.... their logic, their values..all so sensible, considerate and extremely progressive. They do not seem like a group of women who terrorised a province and took men for slaves, rather they are a bunch of chill ladies minding their own business and if the men are humbled and mature enough to not be offended by that, they get to stay! There was no unnecessary belittlement to men. Rather they just cared very much (as they should) about equality, consent and self respect and would not settle for anything less.

(The following two lines by Madam Danchuan stuck with me. It really spoke for their core belief: that they would never force a woman to do anything against her will and choice.)

And from that moment it became THE feminist Chinese costume drama of the year! What is it about November? Last year it was Marvelous Women 💕.

*eyeing 2023's November. You better plan on your game starting now on, if you already haven't.

.

And it did not stop at the Danchuan arc!

I already was liking how New Life Begins touches on various ideologies (patriarchy, polygamy, monogamy, matriarchy) all at once. But I didn't expect a 100% satisfying outcome as that is simply too much deep topics for a single simple Web drama.

A complaint I always had about historical dramas' typical portrayal of women is that they always make it look like the ladies had no other use of their time than scheming how to bring the other ladies down so they can have the man's affection to themselves.

And I was like... surely in a society where polygamy was the norm there was at least one or two examples of functional and peaceful families where the ladies were smart, knew their worth and didn't care for a man who didn't care for them in return?

.

Last year's Marvelous Women was a gem that set the bar high on this front, where the women joined forces instead of torturing each other pointlessly. When such nuanced portrayals are a rarity even in the "serious historical" genre, I did not expect any at all in a simple fluffy costume drama like New Life Begins.

But it has already blown my mind with how nicely the ladies are written! How they value themselves first and foremost, how mature and intelligent they are with independent personalities that do not revolve around a man. They are capable of thinking for themselves and change the world and its expectations of them by their own will. Even if there were one or two characters that started too narrow-mindedly, they also eventually flipped a new page by working their own brains!

It is not even halfway aired, but New Life Begins has already set a new high bar, because it is showing how to write cool women in all family dynamic genres, all at once!

Be it an ideal monogamy, or a fantastical matriachy, or even a traditional polygamous society, smart and sensible women can exist in all these genres! If they don't then it is laziness of noone's but the writer.

Good job, New Life Begins writer!

.

What is feminism? For me, it means treating women as the intelligent creatures they are. Accepting that even in the most patriarchal and oppressive societies, women did have their own agency and are not unnecessarily victimised. Letting them own up their decisions and choices. That they did not fall over each other at men's feet all the time and were in need to be rescued and "educated" by a "modern-thinker". This is the narrative a lot of "feminist" dramas/movies push, which is actually disguised savior complex that feeds male supremacy more than they'd like to think.

It is sad just how much viewers are used to crappy female charcter designs in period dramas to the point if we see a woman behaving progressively we start thinking it's unrealistic.

I always wanted a period drama where marriages of convenience happen, but instead of raising a mess of unnecessary misunderstanding and drama galore about it, the characters are level headed and respectful to each other while they use the situation to their benefit. I am not at all mad about the addition of Yuanying's role, because honestly in the overall picture of C costume drama land we have too little of sensible non-toxic AND powerful main wife characters.

This has so far been a VERY satisfying experience because this is everything I dreamed of, and you know how exhilarating it is when you get this very specific headcanon for a fanfiction and then you actually DO manage to find a one that is already written? Yeah, exactly like that.

It is so funny that at the beginning I thought "this feels like something I have written, except 10 years ago and more delulu" because my now revised opinion means I can praise myself! 😂 Now I really want to meet and chat with this writer over tea about our shared delulu and also quite good tastes! 🤭😌

Oh and I forgot to add, I really like that Li Wei hesitates a lot about whether to stay or leave, despite her loving Yin Zheng.

This indecisiveness of her wasn't frustrating to me. I completely get it. She respects other people's lifestyles, but she also has boundaries about what works for her. Also she's homesick, she loves her parents and brother and wants to be with them too!

On the other hand I find it unrealistic when a character falls in love they are suddenly willing to leave everything behind just so they can be with this new person. I never understand this (except in cases where that character's past life sucked and family members were toxic so they wanted to leave).

I'm someone who'd be like: If you want me, you'll have to come live at my place🤣

.

Last but not least, New Life Begins did wobble on its feet a lot as there are too many eggs in the bucket from the get go, but no matter how not 100% strong the writing may be, the drama's heart is in the right place and it will not dissapoint you. At first it might feel like it is quite touch-and-go on various worldviews and ideologies, but it is actually very thorough and raises a number of "Why not?" questions. Quite unexpectedly so for a fluffy costume rom-com. I have literally zero complaints about any character. Do give it a chance!

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More posts by me

[wonderworldwonderings]

So at the end of the game, Lance turns vanilla flavored and then gets dragged into what I can only assume is hell. Was that all a show in your canon? What if someone followed him in to try and help? /Mod silvs

The canon scene for this has always been really interesting to me, and it's somewhat similar to my own AU in what happened.

Grant it, I don't have a lot of my canon perfectly ironed out yet, and a lot of it I may rebuild as time goes on. Admittedly I jumped the gun on all of this because I was so excited for the game, and made up a lot of things from very little information at the time. Can you blame me, I latched onto this hyperfixation so quickly 😂

What I'm thinking right now, is that it was all a show of sorts. Balan and Lance do play their roles and it is usually all an act in my canon, designed specifically to help heal hearts and restore balance, but never upset the balance of their own world and dynamic in the process. Balan and Lance are, in a way, trapped within their roles (or, they assume so at least), so their script is often set to just that. Balan is the benevolent, guiding hand to the visitor, and Lance is the hard-hitting, opposing force which seeks to 'stop' them. They are the support and the villain, the scriptwriter and the complication respectively.

Not surprisingly, this can have a pretty fucked up effect on someone. To constantly be set in a role where they're the villain of the story, and for so long that their role now sort of bleeds into their real character beyond the show. In short, Lance snapped. And in the worst possible ways, because Lance actually had the capacity to hurt real people. Lance attempted to flip the script, mid play, without consulting anyone. They were sick of being cast in Balan's shadow and they wanted to change it, desperately, so in a moment of weakness they manipulated people into a false reality.

As much as I feel Lance is interesting and has the capacity to become a better person, Lance very much did fuck up in the game/novel. There was still heavy manipulation involved, and it's why I think that after the events of the game, it takes a very long while of serious work for Lance to relearn how to treat people. It even becomes a point of contention between Balan and Lance, where Balan has a hard time trusting them for a long while, heck, even all of Wonderworld might too. Especially when it comes to fixing hearts and being around humans in general. It's what leads to the huge spike in tension between them, causes them to fight way more and far more viciously.

So, long story short, what is usually all an act, this time was not. Lance genuinely snapped and went off the rails and hurt people, disrupted the balance, and caused a serious rift to form between themself and Balan. And this in tune demands a long while of working at that to fix it, because it certainly doesn't get better for a long while.

IF someone tried to follow and help Lance into the Negative space (I've just been calling it Underworld to be fitting), I think Lance would be horrified. They already know how much they've fucked up in that moment, and they know the punishment will be severe. But to have someone tail after them into the dark like that would be terrifying, because I can only imagine that exposure to Underworld isn't good by any means. I assume Balan would either yank them out before anything happened, or Lance would force them back out and into Wonderworld.

[artist-fan146]

Hey if you were anything like me, I’ll have you know I was calling @fishstickfeind for about 2 hours on discord, and exactly in order talked about:

Warning there are minor spoilers for Cars on the Road So if you don’t want to look, please don’t tap on this post!

(Images to make post longer):

How was Matt’s drawing of Lightning’s Cars 2 design going?

Me basically forcing Matt to watch A Goofy Movie

Catching up on our lives

How did Mater and Mato get stuck in a tree?

How did Cruz start a racing school, started a charity for snow tires for the lightly treaded, is learning French, became a certified coach during the off season, dabble in family therapy and is a certified wedding officiant?!?! THATS SO COOL I LOVE CRUZ!!!

How do cars play Janga?!?!

For about the first Half Hour of our call I was rambling about the start to the rise and fall of Disneytoon Studios

We don’t understand why people tend to hate on experimental eras of different animation studios

I don’t like how people consider Pixar during 2011-2017 as Pixar’s Dark Age, I consider it more of an experimental era for Pixar!

I though that if characters from both Planes movies at least showed up in Cars on the Road, it could’ve gave Disneytoon Studios its proper and long overdue spotlight back

What were our favorite pieces of the soundtrack from all 3 Cars movies?

What scenes from Cars 2, we related to the most?

HOW DOES CARS 2 HAVE A G RATING?!?!?!

PLANES ALSO HAD A G RATING WHILE PLANES FIRE AND RESCUE HAD A PG RATING?!??!?!??!

How is the first Cars the longest movie in the franchise while Cars 2 is the shortest movie?!

What were our favorite episodes of Cars on the Road?

Is it possible that both Mater and Lightning grew up living with high expectations in their lives? 🧐

I love Lighting’s Costume Design in B-Movie as Deputy Hazard!

Lighting’s new design feels a bit too simple…

I LOVE HOW RELATABLE MATER AND LIGHTING ARE!!!!

That one scriptwriter character from the show is such a mood

I LOVED THAT THEY ADDED MATER AND MATO PLAYING ROCK PAPER SCISSORS BUT IT WENT “1 2 3 Rock”!!

HOW DID THE CLOWN CARS GET IN AND OUT OF OTHER CLOWN CARS?!?!

ANGST!!

WE WERE ROBBED OF SPECIAL MOMENTS OF ANGST

FORGET WORLD BUILDING FROM CARS 2, CARS ON THE ROAD ARE SETTING THE REAL QUESTIONS

How is a show that is supposed to be slice of life raises so many questions?!?!?!

HOW DOES RELIGION WORK IN THE CARS UNIVERSE?!?

Is there actually a Hillbilly Hell for Hillbilliys?

How does Oil work in the Cars Universe?

We talked about much more stuff but I don’t remember the rest!

Extras:

- I made so many references to exposure therapy and Hillbilly Hell! 😂

[digital-corruption]

Hey! I hope you are doing well :)

And...

Do you have any idea how WONDERFUL your fanfics are?

I just started reading 'Haunted by the Past' and I am in awe of your writing style and storyline and every word you put in there!

Your fanfics are so well-structured, gripping and articulate... Honestly, I have no idea how to describe your writing. I love it so much! I am literally addicted!

Are you an author? Because if you are, I would love to buy all of your books!😂

Seriously, I am not joking! You have already become one of my favorite writers!

So... When did you start writing? and How do you do it?

You know, just after I finished reading a few parts of 'Haunted by the Past' I was like- Why am I only reading this now? Why didn't I know about this sooner?

Now, I am going to stay up all night and read all your fanfics!

Good bye Digi (this is what they call you here, right?)

Have a wonderful day/night! :)

Sorry if this long message bothered you

Um um let me find the right emoji.....

😳☺🥰💓😊😇

Ok, I couldn’t find the right emoji so I've gone with a sequence of emojis showing my progression reading your ask. Really I am at a loss of words. This is such a wonderful ask to wake up too! 😁

Um so no, I don’t write professionally. I did study animation with an interest in creating my own series, but I sort of got side tracked as I finished my degree and after many years our pet project FINALLY bore fruit and now can't stress enough how much I love my job. I literally spend my days spreading the love of stories.

Because of my job, I do encounter a wide-range of stories and I suppose it has its influence on me. 😅

So back to the question... aside from fanfics I wrote at the wee age of 13 (seriously they're trash) I haven't actually posted any writing until I started writing Haunted at the beginning of this year. I have started and stopped a couple of originals over the years. I have a habit of coming up with stories that are too large for me to wrangle. 😅 BUT after such incredible feedback from the fics, I have been more inspired to put better effort into it, once my personal life is... calmer.

As far as how I do it... I ramble write a lot actually. lol I try to have an idea where I want the story to go before I start, though sometimes that changes. Most of my storybeat ideas come to me in the shower (and then @rejectedreality complains to me for taking over 30 minutes because I'm lost in my thoughts). I dunno, something about the sound and warmth of the water fuels my imagination. When I start a scene, I try to have an idea where I want it to go before I start and then... I guess I just let the characters in my head play it out through my thumbs. (I write on my phone.) I don't post immediately. I continue on for several parts and then come back to it to make sure it still makes sense and in case I ended up somewhere else, I try to make it feel like a smooth progression. I cull any useless dialogue afterwards, particularly where I rambled too much. Short and sweet and to the point.

My English teacher of yesteryears would go at me for not putting enough description into my scenes but... I get bored doing that. lol My scriptwriting class trained me to reduce description to allow for the director and actors to add their own creative flair. Honesty I think the same can be said of the reader. 🙂 Less is more? Unless you need something to be a specific way.

I never specify the color of Jake’s eyes. 🤭

Um I hope that answers your questions because I really don’t think I do anything fancy. 👉👈 English is my first language so I have a small advantage there. To be fair though I SUCK at learning second languages! So I am in awe at the number of people writing fanfics in English when it isn't their first language!

Wow I've rambled a lot here. My personal life keeps poking and prodding me for attention so I am going to end this there. I probably forgot something... 😅

Um, yes you can call me Digi! I don't remember who came up with it first, but it is cute. hehe

TL,DR: Thank you so much for your lovely comments! 🥰 You absolutely made my day! I don’t have a discernible method to my madness though. 😅

[m-aster-of-spinjitzu]

what about character hcs for Akita?

thank you sm for the ask! it made me smile:DD also, lol - funny story, i kid you not, i stared at this for a solid minute wondering how you knew she was one of my favourites, since i haven't really posted about that or anything-

i literally sobbed with laughter when i realized- dear gosh😂 1: sexuality headcanon: aroace (i hc her kiss with lloyd at the end of s11 as more of a platonic, sibling type thing). like,,, 'romance sounds nice i guess, but i have my brother and my best friend and my dagger, i don't really care about not experiencing love in that way' 2: otp: -- 3: brotp: lloyd, definitely. the two of them have a really cool friendship dynamic:D - i feel like they alternate between 'one has the braincell and one decided to drink like a ton of instant coffee on a dare, help the former', lol. i hc that they relate a lot to each other, especially in regards of being forced to grow up quickly and spend time alone trying to survive, thinking of something that they think for is true for certain, but it's not (kataru being dead, lloyd thinking that he wanted to be an evil mastermind, respectively). 4: notp: can't think of anyone?? 5: first headcanon that pops into my head: okay, this is a bit of a long one, but was the first one to come to mind, lol: so, yk how the spinjitzu burst could only happen if the elemental master was surrounded by their element, right? and how it creates that tornado type thing of elemental energy? anyways- so i hc, or assume rather, that the never-realm citizens absolutely HATE winter, long after the emperor falls. because even if they didn't end up frozen, it's gotta have been a really traumatic time for them too. anyways, so this is like multiple hcs by now oof, but i imagine that lloyd and akita keep in touch by opening the portal from the never-realm side (since traveller's tea in ninjago was all used up in 'the kaiju protocol') and, like, dumping letters through it for the few seconds it's open. anyways, so akita mentions how everyone is really,, not doing well, and kai reads the letter over lloyd's shoulder by accident or smth. anyways, the next time they open the portal, kai just, hecking jumps through it or something. and then he asks a very confused akita if they have any houses they are abandoned or damaged beyond repair. so she leads him to one, still suspicious of his motives. anyways then, they talk and reach some sort of understanding after he tells her that he just wants to try and help, and he knows what it feels like to relieve memories that aren't so great, either (hands of time, basically). so she helps him set the house on fire, and he does the burst, and leaps out of it just before it before he gets hurt. the elemental energy thing from the burst alters the climate a bit, making their winters a bit less harsh. when kai leaves for ninjago, she keeps in touch with him, too, and they become friends in a kind of 'online friends' way, though letters though- sjdkfjfkdf i'm sorry, that turned out WAY longer than intended- actually now i wanna write that- 6: one way in which I relate to this character: being fiercely protective over my brother and arguing with him all the time, but we're actually best friends 7: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character: nothing that i can think of tbh, she's awesome. if anything, i'm annoyed that she never got any screen time after s11 :/. honestly, it's embarrassing for the scriptwriters to have abandoned such a cool character:( 8: cinnamon roll or problematic fave? hmm- i feel like it should be problematic, considering the fact that she wanted to murder the 'emperor', but then again, that situation was super complicated and she didn't go through with it. cinnamon roll feels a bit weird, though, she doesn't really have those vibes yk?

[actualbird]

I read as much as I could and I just can't believe how accurate you are in your analysis! This comes from a person with a bachelor's film degree, with specialisation in scriptwriting and script editing, so when I say you're absolutely incredible in your writing I even have some authority to say that as a fact! 😂❤️ (Vyn's "I have two degrees" moment is living in my head rent free). You're the only one blog on Tumblr I have notifications on for and genuinely get excited when you post!

I'm not sure if you mentioned this but I think the hardest part about their relationship would be how impulsive Marius is, while Luke always takes a step back and thinks it through, planning things ahead. I can easily imagine them arguing quite a bit because of this. But hey, that's just my opinion 🤷‍♀️

P.S. I sent like an ask a few days back (might even be weeks at this point) and you haven't responded to it? If Tumblr ate it, I can resent it, if you need more time to answer it just please say so, because I've got a few asks get lost in the Tumblr void in the past! ❤️🌺

wahhh, hibiscus!!! you are so sweet!!! (つ﹏<)･ﾟ｡

im....ridiculously glad that u both enjoy my analyses and find them accurate, ESPECIALLY, given ur background omg. im mostly just going crazy at canon information with a shovel, digging DEEP into what we have to answer burning questions i have in my mind. what i end up finding isnt Absolute or The Perfect Answer, but i do like sharing what i get at the end, along with the deranged digging process of how i got there, HAHA

OHHHH MAN YEAH THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!!!! i agree with ur opinion very much!!! marius, while he is smart and does think ahead, is much more impulsive than luke who has planned for probably every single worst case scenario possible KJBKSJFG. DEFINITELY, this is an argument point for them, because neither of them are like....wrong

there are times where going with the flow is more suitable. same way that there are times where being prepared is more suitable.

i actually explore marius' impulsivity in my one marluke fanfic "making out with your bro for fun and for profit" where marius just does or says SO MANY THINGS without thinking and then luke busts into the room and says HEY! CONSEQUENCES, ASSHOLE!

also, oh my god, did you read my mind?? because for ch4 of my other marluke fic "got james bond as a bodyguard over here, lucky me", i was planning for another go of marius doing things without thinking and luke going HEY! CONSEQUENCES!!! but this time....much angrier. like, it's gonna be a whole Argument. capital A. im very excited to write and post it >:3c

but huh, now this is making me think that i want to write something where marius is actually in the right zone. where overpreparing gets luke into trouble and it's marius' turn to get his ass. That's Equality!

EDIT: THO, i do think that, by virtue of being in a relationship with each other, theyll learn to balance each other out. they wont drastically change, itll just be like....luke doesnt worry as much about every detail, marius takes a few more moments to think something through. a relationship, among other things, is about putting in work to make all parties better. a relationship is always, always about growth.

(also!!! i havent gotten an ask from you lately!! the last thing you sent me was a submission screencap from the RRG puzzle which i havent posted bc kjfbgkj im tryna figure out how to fix my submissions. i think ur ask did indeed get eaten by tumblr omg. i'd love to see it, if u could resend!!)

hope you have a nice day :DDD

[ms-hells-bells]

I’m watching the show Midnight Mass and the dialogue dunks on ‘pregnant people’ language. The character says something like “pregnant people, pregnant women” and then another character says something like “yeah they do tend to be women” One of the cast members is a male they/them twitter wokebro so I wonder how he felt 😂

lmaooooo some radfem scriptwriter being sneaky. well actually, probably a man, they get to pull that stuff without getting fired.

[7-dreamers]

[200502] Handong Weibo Update:

Hello everyone, I’m Handong from Show City Times.

My journey with Youth with You 2 has finally come to an end! First and foremost, I’d like to thank my fans for being with me these past 4 months, lending me their support day and night, DongDong really appreciates all that 👀😘😘 Also many thanks to the staffs who stayed up with us all the time, the scriptwriters and those who wake us up everyday and took care of us ❤️ Thanks for your hard work! Once again, I realized that I’m kinda slow on the uptake! It’s not until I am sitting comfortably on the sofa at home, with the iQiyi app opened and seeing the QCYN2 banner, that reality truly hits me, that all this has really ended 😅 During the interview, the director asked me, “Why did you come to this show?” I answered rather simple-mindedly that I wanted my parents to be able to see me on the TV in China 😅 This is because every day, my mum spends a lot of time going from app to app just to find traces of me. She’s even faster than me when it comes to getting hold of news and pictures about me! (Aurora’s mum (Nature’s Aurora) and she can definitely have a good discussion on this) 😂 On top of that, she has to use a translator to translate most of the stuff. You’ve really worked hard, mum 💦 The question that I get asked the most for joining this show is, “Did you ever regret it?” To be honest, not even a bit.

Every ordeal has its own purpose, I’ll treat each hardship as a chance to learn, and gain experience from it.

Yet I must say, every day I spend here is full of happiness! The road to success is filled with loneliness but here, I have 108 kind-hearted souls to accompany me. We learn together, encourage each other, talk about stuff and even sneak food to eat together...Cough cough~ In a nutshell, each day is well spent and fruitful as well.

Also, I’d like to give a shoutout to our “Teacher” Xu@QCYN2-Xu Xinwen . Thank you for being my guiding light even though I’m a slow learner, and for being our bundle of joy.

I’ll be going first and I’ll leave the rest to you! But I’m positive that there’s nothing you can’t do well on stage, stay confident and just shine ✨ Also to my friends @QCYN2-Wei Shuyu and @QCYN2-BeeBee Huang, although we’ve just known each other for 6 months, yet it’s as if we have been together for 6 years.

You opened the door for me to explore the possibilities I’m capable of. Dorm Number 11, we’ll be together again someday ❤️ There’s also CaiCai whom I wish we could’ve met earlier, Little Rabbit whom I’ve so much still to talk about with, Xiao Tang who really took care of me all this time, our gentle-hearted leader Little Lu, Zhaoyi, Boss Zhang, Ziyin, QiaoQiao, the whole《Knock Knock》family... I’m not good at expressing myself, but I want to say I really can’t bear to let go of you all...

I’m actually a crybaby, but in the show, I rarely cried because I wasn’t able to do something or because the pressure was too much. I’m sure many of you had wondered, “How come Handong is so optimistic? I’ve never seen her cry...” Maybe it’s because I’ve been through a lot and experienced a lot, so much so that I wouldn’t cry when faced with failures, but it only takes a tiny bit of warmth to get me all teary-eyed. These heart-warming moments must have been so hard to come by ❤️ When I couldn’t fall asleep at night, I’d look at each and every one of those messages. It never fails to surprise me that so many of you have gotten to know me, it makes me feel kinda excited even, haha! Thank you for your encouragement, they have made me stronger.

Many of you said that you didn’t get to see me leave, I’d like to apologize for that~ I’ll try my best and work hard so that we may meet again! Although even a nobody can dream big, I'll strive to become someone, to become the Handong that you would be proud of.

Producer KUN once said, “Let the stage be your masterpiece.”

Stay true to your original aspirations, only then you can accomplish what you set out to do.

Let’s meet again, on stage ⚡

 Trans: 7-Dreamers | Please do not take without credit