#i also dont think youre a bad fallout fan or anything if you had fun w the show

[kyngsnake]

fallout tv show thoughts

Sat on it for quite a while because I didn’t want to be a cynical lore snob but all in all I don’t like the Fallout show. Inconsistencies and weird lore changes aside, I take the most issue with the show’s shallow understanding of Fallout’s core themes. Aesthetically the show was on point in a lot of areas, it hit a lot of surface-level tropes the franchise is well known for. For me personally, the show left a bad taste in my mouth because it felt like the writers didn’t care much for the source material. The Fallout tv show took a setting that invests a lot of time and care into human tenacity, hope in dreary environments, the desire to rebuild and form communities, imperialism and capitalism disguised as the American Dream, and turned it into “Look how wacky and evil the world is now because Capitalism tm!"

[pynkhues]

I love brio and I've read almost every fic on ao3. I've made little notes here and there of some fics that I would like to write, but I've never wrote anything like fan fiction. I can think up scenes in my head, but I just can't seem to get it out on paper. What are some tips you can give me to help? Because I would really love to write, i just dont even know where to start?

Hi, anon! And how cool! Welcome to the wonderful world of writing. :-) 

My advice on how to start – as wishy-washy as it sounds – is always just to start. Pick up a pen, or open a word document, and just start throwing words together. See what comes out, and try not to edit or self-police as you write, particularly when you’re just starting out. It’ll cripple you creatively – gosh, it still does sometimes for me, and I’ve been writing for over 15 years.

A good way to try this out is to set a timer for fifteen minutes or half an hour, and just free-write – so just write, and don’t let yourself re-read any of it until the timer bings. Give yourself the space to write words – some will be good, a lot probably terrible, but you can always make bad words better. 

You can’t make nothing better. 

And look, I’m going to maintain that that’s the most important piece of advice here, haha, but I get that that sort of advice can also be sometimes frustrating to people who are looking for more structure, so hey!

Here’s some more meat-and-potatoes advice too.

(Put behind a cut to not eat your feeds!)

Plotting a story in three questions

Building a plot really comes down to asking three questions: 

1. What does your character want? 

2. What’s standing in their way stopping them from getting what they want? 

3. How will they overcome this to get what they want? 

It might sound basic, but it forms really the backbone of every story. Take the Harry Potter series for instance, for which these questions are crucial. 

1. What does your character want? 

Harry wants a family.

2. What’s standing in their way stopping them from getting what they want? 

Voldemort is a direct threat to the new family Harry’s found. A threat he feels acutely because Voldemort murdered his original family.

3. How will they overcome this to get what they want? 

Harry will do anything to save this new, found family – the stakes of which escalates with every book. 

Of course, stories are more than this too – they’re themes and settings and arcs and dialogue, and character motivation tangles up in those things which means that the story world appears to expand well beyond those three questions I listed above. After all, Voldemort’s never just a threat to Harry’s family, he is for the whole world, right? But the thing is the threat to the world is never what drives Harry through the story, and therefore isn’t what drives the story overall. 

The plot is always the threat to Hogwarts and the life and family Harry’s found there.

Good Girls is exactly the same. 

1. What does your character want?

Beth, Ruby and Annie want to provide for their children. 

2. What’s standing in their way stopping them from getting what they want?

All three of them are in dire financial situations because Dean’s lost everything, Sara needs a transplant and expensive medication, and Annie can’t pay for her son’s needs. 

3. How will they overcome this to get what they want?

They’re going to get into crime and make enough money to save themselves and their children. 

The answers to these questions can change and evolve too – after all, the ‘what’ has certainly grown more complicated for Beth, Ruby and Annie across the show’s run, but those changes should evolve out of plot progression aka cause and effect. 

Beth’s original want was for financial stability for her children, and she still wants that, but she wants more than that now too – something that has been explored through the instability of her circumstances, and her growing attraction to power after having lived a powerless life.

So let’s talk about cause and effect a little more.

Cause and Effect

With those questions in mind, it’s important to remember that the way a story takes shape should be a sort of domino effect of cause and effect. Scenes aren’t placed together in a haphazard order. They’re not stacked on top of each other like three children in a trenchcoat! One scene should always cause the next, and that scene should lead onto the next, and so on, and so on. 

The enemy of good storytelling is ‘and then’. 

So when you write a scene, don’t think ‘now what happens?’

Look at what you’ve written and say ‘okay, what does what I’ve written here mean? What is the fallout of this? What is going to happen to these characters and this story now given what I’ve just written?’

This is also a good way to reverse engineer a story (and something I often do!) If you have a scene in your head, but you know it’s a middle scene, or an ending to something, ask yourself what happened that made that scene happen. 

In one of my most recent standalone fics, Drive You Mad (wear me out), I actually started with two scenes in my head – one where Beth and Rio were soaking wet for a mystery reason I didn’t know yet, haha, and the fact that it lead to them having sex in his car, and I had a vague idea that I wanted it to be  related to a crime job. 

Similarly with the pornstar!AU! I just wanted Beth and Rio to make a porno, haha, but I wanted it to feel like a genuine choice for these characters, so I needed to think of authentic reasons that would put them in that room, opposite each other, about to throw it all to the wind and bone on camera. 

I reverse engineered  both these stories by just asking myself ‘but why did this happen?’ What choices did these characters make to get them here? How did Beth and Rio end up soaking wet? Why would they have sex in that car? What would get somebody like Beth to shoot porn? What would make somebody like Beth connect emotionally with somebody like Rio in this AU (and y’know what? It was the exact same thing as in canon – a combination of parenthood and validation).

In other words, your story should never say this happened and then this happened, it should always say this happened and so this happened. 

Agency

Every character in your story should make choices. Good choices, bad choices, choices they think are not choices at all (because never forget - you always choose to do nothing. Nothing is never thrust upon you). 

Your characters are what drive your story forwards, and they drive your story forwards by making choices, not by standing still and waiting for the story to come to them. And look, it’s great if they make the right one, but it’s so much more fun (and opens up so many and so possibilities!) when they make the wrong one.

Grounding Your Story

Grounding stories in a place or a space is something I think a lot of new and emerging writers struggle with, and it was something I was really, really bad at when I started writing and worked really hard to get better at. Characters should never be interacting in vacuums. We don’t exist in them after all. 

Stories come alive when characters are engaging with spaces, or when those spaces are utilised effectively. Horror does this especially well, but a lot of other stories do too (again, Harry Potter is actually a great example of this!)

This is something Good Girls pretty consistently does fabulously too – think of any of their heists for starters, but particularly the one in 1.01. Settings can open up and close and add conflict and provide release. Use them! Think about them! I can guarantee you’ll become a better writer for it.

When I was really struggling with this area, I got some incredible advice that I still use to this day from Kim Wilkins, a gothic fantasy and horror author from my home town. She told me that when I start writing a new scene, go through the five senses - what can your character see, smell, taste, touch, hear. Write all of it. Then pick the best two descriptions, and dump the rest. 

Then think about the function of those descriptions. Okay, so the character’s in a park and can hear the metal whine of a rusty swingset. Does the chain link snap? Harming their child? Or maybe they can hear thunder in the distance while they’ve been trying to have a romantic anniversary picnic! Do they make it to the car in time? How does that affect their dynamic? Does it lead to a passionate make out in the rain? Or a furious fight in it? (Notice how this is all cause and effect too?)

These descriptions don’t always have to lead to a plot point – sometimes they can be reflective of an emotional state – an oncoming storm can foreshadow an oncoming fight between characters as much as it can lead to those characters getting caught in it after all – and sometimes it can just be for atmosphere too! 

All of this serves though to build your story into something evocative and grounded for the reader, plus it can be really fun to play around with. 

Love it or have fun! Try for both, but never have neither. 

Sometimes writing is a slog. 

Sometimes you sit down for a session and want to pluck your own eyelashes out because the story’s not working or the words aren’t flowing or you know your characterisation is falling flat, but there’s a difference between not enjoying a writing session, and not enjoying writing overall.

Writing can be really hard work sometimes, and when it is, you either need to love it, and love the story you’re trying to tell, or you need to move on to something else. 

That can be your silly, fun crack fic that evades all logic and you just straight up enjoy writing, or it can be something that isn’t writing at all. 

You’ve got to make it work for you – and if you don’t love it, and you aren’t having fun? It’s not worth it. 

You can take a break and come back to it, or you can take a break and never come back to it. Just do what’s right for you. 

Don’t get turned off by The Gap

Ira Glass describes this perfectly in this interview, and it’s something I always recommend to people starting out. Writing is, like practically everything else, a trade. It’s something you grow and develop and should never stop growing and developing and learning about. 

Writing though I think is also something that’s really easy to give up when you feel like you aren’t immediately good at it, and, well - - 

I think he says it better than I ever could:

[sigurdjarlson]

u dont need to put Guin in skyrim 2 make her a werewolf. be free! make her a werewolf in-universe for shits and kicks! my sole is a werewolf canonically! live ur life! reject restraints chained to you by cringe culture and people who want u to abide by their rules of realism and authenticity! do what u want!!!

Fun fact!!!! Someone was making a werewolf mod for fallout 4 but I think it was cancelled sadly. And I don’t think you could play as them. The werewolf of far harbor I think it was called? It was an awrsome concept.

I support your werewolf sole and I love them already. God I love werewolves.

Also I agree 100%. Fuck cringe culture

Honestly I don’t mean to go on a tangent but that made me think.

A lot of the most popular characters would fit into what people call “cringy” online. Yet no one says anything..hmm it’s almost like people just like bullying people online ;)

imagine if some mainstream characters were just someone’s oc on deviant art or something and not famous, beloved characters. (Not shitting on these characters because they’re awesome characters, just making a point)

Ex: my oc is a Billionaire dresses up as a bat due to childhood trauma. He is super smart and can fight and all the ladies want him!

Ex: My oc is Daenerys Targaryen. She has blond hair and purple eyes. She walked into a fire, somehow survived came out with three dragons. I call her the Mother of Dragons.

My oc’s name is Harry Potter. Also known as the boy who lived. He has a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead because he survived the strongest dark wizard ever trying to kill him as an infant. He has shit tons of prophecies about him and can talk to snakes

You get the point. It just shows a couple things

1) people have been making those “cringy” characters since we’ve been able to create stories. Those characters I can almost guarantee would be considered “cringy” by assholes if they weren’t part of mainstream media. (Also do people realize all characters are OC’s technically. It just means original character lmao. Harry Potter is JK Rowling’s OC)

Humans love stories and in stories we can honestly do whatever we want so why don’t we? Make weird crazy stories! Make characters with weird powers! Stretch your imagination to its limits! Go nuts. It’s fun. And it makes for unique stories. If you don’t like something just move on. It’s literally that simple. And not liking something doesn’t mean it’s bad either, art is entirely subjective.

2) people just want excuses to bully people online

When fans do “silly” things it’s “cringy” but if it’s canon it’s not? Makes no sense.

I’ll jump off my soapbox now. I just hate cringe culture as a whole. I hate how eager people are to bully others online.

Also just to shit on the dudebro’s who so viciously attack anyone who strays from realism...the funny part is you could probably find a plausible way to integrate werewolves into the fallout universe honestly? The paranormal already exists in the fallout universe? I mean fucking moth man exists. So do ghosts and all kinds of other shit (that one mineshaft in fallout 4 had people worshipping some kind of old god creature thing) FEV man.,it does some weird shit

Or Maybe a wereclaw or something.

But yeah I could definitely dig an au where something like that happens with Guin in the fallout universe. It’s a god damn tragedy that mod was abandoned honestly.

All games should have werewolves honestly. @future game developers. You can always improve your games significantly by adding werewolves

[fuzzyizmit]

Fun!

Fallout ask meme

How to play: send a # in an ask to a user who has reblogged this + if you rb it try and send one to the person you rb'd it from! Be nice!

1. Whats a NPC from your favourite fallout game you woulda liked to have had as a companion?

I think Travis (FO4) would have been fun. I also would have liked to have an option to have the deathclaw mama who you return her egg to.

2. What biome/state are you hoping gets a Fallout game next?

Canada or New Orleans. I also saw some fan art revolving around (I think?) Kansas or something and instead of being 50′s-centric, that area latched on to a 1980′s ascetic. It looked f-ing amazing.

3. What is one Really Specific Landmark or place you would like to see in fallout?

Detroit. I have a headcannon that it is completely radiated and is a ghoul colony.

4. What is your favourite city in the series?

New Vegas... so much character!

5. Do you have a favourite quest/questline?

I have a real love for anything in the Big MT, even though it is really hard (I tend to go as soon as possible, so I am lower level than I probably should be)

6. Whats the most annoying quest in your favourite fallout game?

I hate just about everything in the Divide... I only do it to get more ED-E (I love that little bot)

7. Which fallout doctor MOST deserves to get their medical licence (that they probably dont have) revoked?

I think Doc Crocker is probably the first on my list.

8. Which fallout tyrant/antagonist/bad guy do you MOST want to see get guillatined?

I hate Caesar’s Legion... so all of them.

9. Has a character/questline/enviornment/something in the series ever made you cry?

I hate that you can’t reunite Veronica and Christine. They deserve to be happy together.

10. Next fallout game involves transit as a major important feature: How do you want the new player character to get around? (i.e. horribly mutated horse, bike, car etc.)

For the love of god... give me a car or motorcycle!

11. What is the most horrifying area/aspect in the fallout series to you?

The destruction/loss of art and literature. It’s such a huge component to my life, to loose all of it would be so sad.

12. Are you creeped out by the giant, super deep, completely empty ocean in fallout 4?

No... I just wanted to see that damn ghoul whale.

13. Do you have a favourite unmarked area?

I don’t think it is marked... but that shack on a hill, kinda by the Nuka-World entrance in 4 where there are all the gas cylinders are lined up. Playing with those is a lot of fun!

14. Whats one animal not currently present in the series that you REALLY WANNA see in the irradiated hellscape?

Moose and WHALES. Sentient deathclaws would be nice for companions.

15. What two colors would you redesign  vault suits to be?

I don’t know. I really like the blue/yellow combo. It is so iconic. Maybe they could be army olive green if there was a ‘military’ vault or something.

16. Who had the dopest #look in the series so far?

Hancock ;)

17. When you play fallout do you max out luck, leave it at 5/6 or pop it down to 1?

Depends on the playthru... I make different characters for different reasons.

18. Which type of robot would you want most as a companion: Mr/Ms Handy/Gutsy, protectron, eyebot, Assaultron, robobrain.

I was really disappointed that we couldnt make a eyebot companion with the Mechanist DLC. I wanted my ED-E back!

19. Who had a scripted death in the series that REALLY DIDNT deserve to die?

Glory. She should have lived.

20. Dopest place to set up a player home in NV/FO3/76 Or favourite settlement location in fo4?

I know it is pretty vanilla, but I think Starlight Drive-In has so much nice level ground to play with that it makes it a joy to build there.

21. What are your favourite DLCS for each fallout game you've played?

3: Mothership Zeta

NV: (this one is soooo hard...) but I think Old World Blues beats out Dead Money by a hair.

4: Far Harbor for story, Nuka-World for style

22. Which would you ACTUALLY rather drink IRL: Sunset Sasparilla or [insert flavor here] Nuka Cola?

Vim Refresh, baby!

23. Whats your alltime favourite weapons in the series?

I have a love for sniper rifles (like the Overseer Guardian)

24. When playing do you dress your character stylishly or functionally or do yoy try and balance the two?

Since I play survival most often, functionality is primary.

25. I actually do want to hear about your fallout OCS! PLEASE give me a fun fact about each one you have!

Payne: She is technically a ghoul, but she is specialized (functionally a vampire)

Liz: She is completely driven by the need to protect her family, even if she is a truly nasty Overboss (I can’t wait to have the time to write her backstory)

26. Which two factions overall/across all the games do you hate & love the most?

I universally hate slavers... so I think you can surmise I have never joined Paradise Falls or Caesar’s Legion. I’ve tried to do ‘evil’ play thrus and I just can’t do it.

27. What is one thing that really bugs you that you would rewrite/change about one NPC/Companion?

WHY CAN’T FAWKES GO INTO THE MELTING DOWN REACTOR INSTEAD OF ME?!?!

28. Which side NPC character with 2 lines of dialogue do you desperately wish had more content?

Gob... he needed more ‘screen time’

29. What is one thing in one fallout game you really wish you could do/see for the first time again?

New Vegas

30. Favorite cosmetic/clothing/armor item in the series?

Stealth Suit MK II. Hands down, she is the best non-companion  ‘companion’