#i do like this character narratively but do i myself like them romantically?

[strawberrisoulmate]

okay but consider: you can (self)ship two characters just for the angst of it all :)

you're right. that's definitely true.

i just get a bit of imposter syndrome at the thought of shipping a self insert with a character just for the hell of it if i'm not sure of how i actually feel about them, ya know?

but it shouldn't be that deep and i'm absolutely overthinking it haha

[bad-system]

— let's talk KCD3

i finally collect my thoughts and speculations on the possible continuation of the KCD franchise in this post - but please march into this knowing these are speculations born of my own biased narrative and hopeful bastardizations of real events. unlike KCD, i will try to adhere to the real life dates provided primarily by wikipedia as no dates or years were specified for KCD3. and finally - this is only a speculation of what a KCD3 plot might look like IF it was confirmed. as of today's date, no confirmations about the sequel of the games has been announced. PS: i am not a historian. i just like history.

PART: 1 2 3 4 5

_________

my primary speculations will be aimed at the main protagonists of the KCD franchise - henry of skalitz and hans capon (jan ptaček of pirkštejn) with the assumed relationship between them being romantic post KCD2.

— jan hus

the reason i find myself making this theory at all is because a couple of very important things are about to happen in a very close future in bohemia. among political tensions that followed wenceslaus iv with every step and the beginning of the anti-church sentiments sown by one jan hus, the next 10-20 years will turn out to be formative for the future of bohemia.

to be extremely brief, jan hus' teachings targeted the body of church as a whole, denouncing the popes, bishops, priests and the acts of paying for any kind of dissolution of sins. jan hus believed church to be leeches who got rich off of poor people and demanded the clergy to be stripped of any worldly possessions if they wanted to preach. he also believed only jesus christ and the lord could be the judges of sin; that no body of church could sell forgiveness or blessings.

— hussites

following the teachings of jan hus, the hussites emerged as soldiers from the commonfolk following the death of jan hus in 1415 (burned at stake). two prominent factions formed within hussites - the radical taborites and the moderate utraquists.

it was in the taborites that jan žižka emerged as a prominent figure, and he had made his first significant mark on history in 1419 when he participated in the first defenestration of prague.

so, as you can see, there was a significant gap between jan žižka's time as a roadside bandit in 1403 and his rise to fame in 1420s. that had been in part because it is speculated he had been serving as a king's courtier to king wenceslaus iv and his family. (funny detail; at some point wenceslaus calls žižka "faithful and beloved" in a special letter LOL)

_________

— and your're still reading this probably wondering "where is the part where he talks about hansry" but worry not, it is here.

if you checked hans capon's (jan ptaček) wiki you would have seen that later on, he follows the lead of his poweful neighbour petr of šternberk on the anti-hussite and pro-sigismund side. petr of šternberk was prominently pro-sigismund, had very strong anti-hussite views and was a famous hussite killer and enemy of jan žižka. hans will do this for reasons unknown to us and reasons that the game will probably improvise on.

this is where i would put the heart of henry and hans' conflict. both henry and hans have been vocally and actively pro-wenceslaus since KCD1, which would also translate into being pro-hussite in the future.

here is also where i mention the not so subtle moment in KCD2 when žižka approaches henry with the offer to join the fight by his side, because that was very deliberate and sets us up pretty well for the next installment of the game if it comes to be.

this is also the point i would consider crucial to the testament of henry's character. up to this point, henry had been following people; radzig, hanush, hans, jobst, prokop, john of lichstenstein on the side of wenceslaus. i think it would be important for henry to decisively choose a side in this conflict, not only because it was sigismund's forces that razed skalitz, but also because this is a cause he himself believes in rather than follows for the sake of loyalty or revenge. and i'll say - those are both valid motives, but i feel like it would mean a lot more and feel like a big step in his character development to choose a fight he believes in rather than feels obligated to.

thus i believe henry would join the side of jan žižka and subsequently hussites.

but wait! it gets better. henry's own father, radzig kobyla, would go on to join jan žižka in waging guerilla campaigns against the rosenbergs while in service of king wenceslaus. i believe this was happening during the years 1406—1411. so, henry running with this band would make a lot of sense to me from the perspective of both henry's motives and loyalties. so by the year 1419, which i'm naming now for malevolent reasons i will reveal further down, henry would be established as not only pro-wenceslaus but also as a hussite in the coming years.

and now you're probably wondering "but what about hans and henry kissing?" well. the story of KCD is about henry more than hans, and i believe the emergence of anti-sigismund movements that henry would be required at just as hans is about to be conveniently married off presents the story with an opportunity to separate hans and henry for a while, and sets us up with the heartbreaking promises of "i'll come back for you," while hans settles in as the new lord of pirkstein if the game lore allows it. we do not know whether warhorse will follow the timeline of wikipedia on the matters of hanush refusing to give up his estates to the rightful heir, hans capon, or whether they'll force hanush to hand the estates over to hans in the coming years when his son is born.

if that does happen, hans would be presented with the opportunity to show what he's learned about responsibilities during the events of KCD2 as a newly appointed lord of his own estate.

thus, henry is whisked off to fight for the king, father and the people as hans takes over his lordly and familial duties as a new father if we're to believe wikipedia that his son heinrich (hynce), named after his lover henry, was born in the year 1404.

so why did i mention the year 1419?

well, for reasons you're probably not going to like.

it is my firm belief that up until the year 1416-ish henry and hans would have enjoyed eachothers company often, as lovers and as envoys of the highly politically important subjects such as john II of lichstenstein, margrave jobst and prokop, radzig kobyla, jan žižka and king wenceslaus iv himself. this probably doesn't satisfy the needs of many of you for their fluffy happy ending, but i am taking into account primarily their duties to the crown/class/people and then their romantic relationship, because that was unfortunately the hand they would most likely have been dealt.

why up until 1416?

it was in july of 1415 that jan hus was burned at the stake, and the hussites movement grew stronger than ever, to the point in 1419 where the first major hussite battle happened. battle of živohošť, an event that occured in november of 1419, was fought under the command of petr of šternberk, with hans capon in tow, as he had decided to side with his powerful neighbour as mentioned earlier.

now this would present the story with a unique opportunity of putting hans capon and henry of skalitz on opposing sides.

hans, while loyal to henry and the rest of the wenceslaus + hussites, was ultimately forced to join the side of opposition, and thus had political obligations he had to fulfill owing to his duties as a lord of his estates.

it is during this battle that i could see henry getting killed off for the sake of driving the plot. poetically, two lovers find themselvese on the opposite sides of a battlefield, one fighting for something he believes in with the traitor on the other side, fighting in accordance with duty.

according to hans' wiki, it was after this one, singular battle that he switched sides and even signed a declaration in favour of the moderate hussites, even with petr of šternberk still alive at this point.

with his documented presence ceasing here, it is presumed that he had died in 1419, as his son hynce, 17 years old at the time, succeeded his father's estates in 1420.

in my tragic telling of the story of KCD3/4/5, henry's death on the battlefield is what spurs hans on to sign the declaration in support of the ideology his henry had died for, perhaps as a last gesture in favour of his dead lover.

and in true KCD2 galehaut and lancelot fashion, hans capon would perish from grief, mourning his best friend and the love of his life.

this, in fact, perfectly sets the franchise up for KCD4/5/? if this were the case; with hans and henry both out of the picture, you emerge as the young nobleman heinrich, aka henry, named after the greatest man his father had known - the year is 1420 and the hussite wars have lit the flames of the bohemian people's revolution.

[sky-scribbles]

hi, skyscribbles!

as an aroace writer myself, i struggle a lot with writing romance. how am i supposed to describe something so foreign to me?

i love how you've written your romances, so i guess what I'm trying to ask is - any tips? help?

Never fear, I have one easy trick that will solve all your romance problems (okay, that's an exaggeration, but it has been a massive help to me):

Just make them influence each other's character growth.

Here's the thing. I truly believe that we don't need to describe romance. We can sit here all day trying to imagine the sensation of romantic attraction, and we can try to capture it in words, but will that make the readers actually care about the pairing? We can say 'A was attracted to B, and it felt like this,' but can that alone convince a reader that A and B have a satisfying narrative to tell together?

We need to structure the story so that it feels as if everything is leading to these characters being together. We need the audience to feel that every interaction between them has payoff. We want them to crave more interactions. We want them to believe that these characters are better together than apart.

So how do we do this? We make each character shape the other one's growth. The result? At the end, each character is a different person to the one they were in the beginning, and it is because the other character was around.

Congratulations! Now these characters are inextricable. They are made from what they learned from each other.

Here are some of my favourite ways to do this:

They push the other character to grow past their flaws. Let's say Character A's flaw is that they struggle to stand up for themself. Have Character B be someone with a strong sense of justice who is horrified by how A lets other people push them around. Thanks to them, A realises they deserve better.

They correct false beliefs about the world that the other character has. For example: have Character A be someone who's been through some shit and thinks the world is universally harsh and cruel. Have Character B be unconditionally kind. Watch Character A go '???' and reconsider their whole worldbiew.

Make the characters have something in common, and then hit them with some good ol' 'learning to love yourself by loving your mirror.' Let's say both characters have done some messed-up things. Character A thinks they could never be forgiven. But hold on - they think B could be forgiven, and if B is just like them... oh no! This means they might not be beyond redemption after all!*

You don't need to describe the feeling of romantic attraction. If you make these characters change each other, the romance will write itself. Because there'll be interesting emotional conflict in how they challenge each other. Because there'll be satisfying narrative payoff in watching them grow past their flaws.

Make the important beats in their personal growth also be important beats in their relationship. Make the growth of the romance plot be inseparable from the growth of them as individuals. Not soulmates as in 'bound by fate', but soulmates as in 'our stories are intertwined, and I would not be myself without you.'

And one last thing: trust yourself. Seriously. As aroace people, we are not missing out on any crucial thing we need to be able to write romance. Think of the people you love most. Think of how they have changed and shaped you. Think of the phrases you started using because they said them; the hobbies and fandoms they introduced you to. Think of what you've learned from them. Think of the memories you share with them.

Think of how you've grown as a person because of them. Think of all the pieces of your loved ones that you have welcomed into your sense of self.

Trust me: you understand love.

—

*Yes, this is just Shadowgast. I'm predictable like that.

[schattenhonig]

The A in LGBTQIA+ doesn't stand for aspec because they're not repressed!

(please read the disclaimer at the end of this post)

Ummm, excuse me? Would you mind telling me what your definition of repression is, then?

Because I feel repressed when a doctor asks me about my sex life, and if I say I have none, it gets marked down as a symptom without being asked if I suffer from it.

I feel repressed when my gyn tells me I can't get a hysterectomy yet despite losing so much blood on every period that I need to take iron supplements all the time, because I could change my mind about not wanting children (which is a whole other post, I know, but it's most likely linked to sex).

I feel repressed if I can't use dating apps or platforms because my sexuality doesn't even exist there, and the one time I tried, I got called names because I didn't want to meet for because it was clear where this date would go, despite my explicit "what I'm looking for".

I feel repressed when I think about how recently a paragraph was finally abolished in my country that considered sex a vital part of a marriage, basically entitling the spouses to having sex with their partner (both gender neutral, because entitling people to having sex with somebody else by law is wrong. It's basically a rape permission).

I feel repressed when I can't watch any film or show without it being about love and/or sex, no matter if it fits the narrative and furthers the plot.

I feel repressed when I plot my own stories and automatically put a romantic couple in there as main characters, even though I have no idea why this would be important for the plot. Not even my own stories, my own thoughts are mine.

I felt repressed when I was asked accusingly in a relationship if I wasn't missing something before I even knew asexuality as a spectrum was a thing, and having to lie about this being a side effect of my medication instead of genuinely not feeling attracted to someone in this way.

I feel repressed when I can't tell people I'm not sexually attracted to them because they will take this personally no matter how well I explain myself.

I feel repressed when everywhere I look there's advertising relying on naked skin, suggestive posing and objectification. Why are expensive cars still presented by women considered beautiful and tempting? It's not like that's necessary to convince people of spending so much money on a thing that gets you from A to B. Couches with women in smart dresses and high heels. That's not what a normal person looks like on a couch. But the worst is a truck in the town where I live: it's from a small fruit and vegetable stand, so whenever I see it, it comes from the warehouse, delivering groceries. On it is a woman clad in very little, presenting fruit. I'm sorry, but why? Does a misogynistic picture convince you of the necessity to avoid scurvy?

I feel repressed when I tell people and get the answer "you just haven't found the right person yet", because there are two possible assumptions from that point: I'm either not trying hard enough (so it's basically my own fault) or something about me is not right, appalling even (which circles back to I'm not trying hard enough or frames me as a victim of my genetics, upbringing or circumstances to be pitied).

Do not tell me how I feel. Do not try to tell me everything is fine and I shouldn't complain or ask for acknowledgement if everywhere I look, I'm reminded of how odd, how weird and how not normal I am. How much it inconveniences you to even acknowledge my existence, let alone respect any of my traits, views and choices.

And while I can only write from my own asexual point of view, I wrote this with all kinds of flavours of aspec in mind, so I'm explicitly including aromantics, aroace people and every shade of the spectrum in this. Not all my examples may apply to you, but I hope you can find something to relate to.

ETA: please feel free to add your own experiences of repression!

[catboy-beckett]

Someone on the Tokyo Debunker subreddit brought up ships for MC (as in, not just the characters players like/are attracted to, but ones we actually think would go well with the protagonist) and I haven't stopped thinking about it. I find it an interesting question, because my preferences for myself are pretty noticeably different from who I think she would like! So here are my compatibility assessments!

Disclaimer: I have only played through most episodes once, so my memory of TDB lore may be lacking in certain areas. I also have not completed all affinity stories and have not spoiled myself on them. Also note I will be using "you"/"me"/"us"/"I"/etc. to refer to MC interchangeably with "MC"/"her" because that's just how I'm used to talking about video game protagonists. Spoilers avoided for newest episode but only newest episode.

JABBERWOCK

HARU: I honestly think he is MC's favourite! He's the one she's most often happy to see, and in return he is always grateful for her help. MC seems to volunteer at Jabberwock reasonably often and with little prompting; this isn't necessarily because she's infatuated with Haru, but rather I think it shows they have similar priorities.

REN: He's giving a whole lot of nothing. A lot of the opportunities given to him in-story to bond with her, he outright rejects. He doesn't seem interested in getting into a relationship, or even forming a friendship that could lead to a relationship. I'm all for "enemies to lovers" but you've gotta show the attraction from the beginning! Otherwise it just feels like a shoehorned-in plot twist.

TOWA: Very romantic. Very mysterious. Compelling, and they clearly like each other. My biggest complaint here is that Towa is someone who needs more screentime for an arc. He's not a simple character. I also think MC would be a little afraid of him if it ever really clicks for her what he's capable of. (Both power-level-wise and morals-wise.) I know fans love Towa's yandere tendencies but MC shows no enthusiasm for that type of man.

SINOSTRA

TAIGA: My favourite man! Terrible for MC. She is pretty much trembling in her boots whenever he's around. I can't see a romantic future for them. Taiga's ideal wife is Romeo, and MC just doesn't have the backbone to be Romeo. That said, I think MC having an inconvenient physical attraction to Taiga would be narratively interesting (and fuckin' hot), as who doesn't love the tension between a dangerous violent freak and a shivering field mouse? There are a couple of other points in Taiga's favour too: the fact that he's the ghoul who seems to react to MC's personality the most (he's always noticing how timid she is and seems to find that cute/attractive) and the fact that he eats anomalies (😳) set him apart from most other love interests. Taiga is down to fuck but he's not really a viable option to date.

ROMEO: This might be controversial but I think Romeo is one of those ghouls who has his own love interest, and it isn't you. I'm not even sure he likes women. I've never once felt like Romeo had an interest in my character and the only time he flirted with us was to make Kaito jealous. Honestly that felt more like ship teasing between him and Kaito if anything. As for how MC feels about him, I think she's about as intimidated by him as she is by Taiga, though it's slightly easier to get Romeo to Not Murder You than it is Taiga. Romeo can at least be reasoned with.

RITSU: Never shows an ounce of attraction or even warmth. Even when he smiles at someone, it feels more like professional courtesy than a reflection of his feelings. How would someone like Ritsu fall in love? It's a fascinating question, but the game is not yet interested in giving us an answer. He tends to bully MC into doing what he wants just like Romeo does. He uses social pressure rather than violence, which I think she finds preferable to Romeo's method, but not pleasant. There's also the fact that Ritsu is dedicated to becoming Taiga's lawyer, and I honestly think he would continue trying to defend him if MC ever wanted to press charges for, say, the time he shot her, or the time he tried to throw her out of a train. Taiga's romance potential is already shot because of these things; what can we say of someone who would take Taiga's side?

FROSTHEIM

JIN: Oh boy. Okay, this is the "canon" ship. Jin gets all the tropes, all the sparkly panels of heroically rescuing MC, all the jealous NPCs treating MC like she's already his girlfriend, the works. They could not be pushing this any more clearly. And... it's serviceable. It feels a little out of place in a game like this, and maybe that's why I'm not fully on board, but it works when it works. I just think Jin doesn't have enough screentime to really make the "canon bae" thing stick. Does he KNOW how close we've been getting with 20 other ghouls while he's been absent for several chapters in a row? Does he know he's on a 1-year timer for his slow burn bullshit? I like Jin, and he's one of the most shippable-with-MC characters for sure, but I just think it could be better. It should also be noted that MC is scared of Jin in a similar way that she's scared of Taiga or Romeo. I think honestly she would pick one of the men who hasn't threatened her life yet.

TOHMA: Like Romeo, I judge him one of the "does he even like women?"/"I think he's just using me to get to his husband" type ghouls. He has a flirty manner, but he uses it with everyone, so it means nothing to me when he talks to MC with that same expression. That said, he's more of a simp than Romeo, so while I think Romeo wouldn't care if you fucked his husband, I think Tohma wants you to. I think Tohma is into MC in the way that a stalker might be into a pair of dirty socks once worn by their crush. (And, on a less perverted note, he wants MC to pull Jin out of his depression since he realizes he can't do it by himself--especially now that they're fighting.) I don't think Tohma/MC works as a ship unless it's a complicated situationship with Jin.

KAITO: I don't think MC likes Kaito. She might just be very oblivious (very very VERY oblivious), but she's had many opportunities to respond to his advances and she just kind of no-sells them every time. To me, that kills off any possibility of romance. If MC were more of a self-insert avatar for the player, this wouldn't be an issue, as it would be up to the players to decide whether they liked Kaito or not; but TDB MC has her own thoughts and feelings, and we see them frequently during the episode where she meets Kaito, and the lack of reciprocation is deafening. Another, more possibly controversial point: I don't think Kaito likes MC. I think Kaito wants a girlfriend, and he has gotten it in his head that MC Is Girl, Therefore Perfect For Be Girlfriend. He treats her in a way that he's heard you are "supposed to" treat girls. He doesn't even NOTICE her suspicious behaviour when they meet because he's too busy metagaming the situation; he even gets it into his head that she's "nice" while she's lying to him. He never updates this perception of her. There is nothing about the character, or the way that players play the character, that Kaito actually LIKES. He just wants a girl. Any girl. Bad ship.

LUCAS: Another character who never really expresses attraction to the player character or anyone else. MC has a better relationship with him than she does with Kaito; Lucas doesn't freak out or get jealous or play 4D chess trying to get MC to fall in love with him, so MC can speak to him more honestly. That said, I believe Lucas isn't the sort of person to hide his feelings from MC (or even be able to), so I can't help but read his complete lack of flirtation as a lack of interest. I could believe MC has a one-sided crush on Lucas (which would also make for a really funny group dynamic), but that's about a best-case scenario.

HOTARUBI

HAKU: He really is just "the nice, chill guy" of the roster. Normally those don't compel me at all but Haku is really enjoyable. He's also, at unpredictable points, one of the more horny/flirty characters. Definitely has an attraction to MC, which is a big plus. MC never really gets the chance to respond to his advances, which in this type of game is the closest we get to a canonical attraction from her. (Because of course, they don't want to force players into a romance they might not want.) Good ship! Hard to write about or anything considering Haku is such a mysterious character, but I believe the attraction is real and not part of a dastardly plan, at the very least. Haku definitely puts MC at ease and I think she needs that in a partner.

SUBARU: Another "not sure if he even likes women" situation. Subaru doesn't even come close to the way he acts around Sho, when he's around MC. Subaru is a very cute-and-flustered-around-crushes type, and I think if he were into MC at all, we would see it. I think MC likes Subaru okay as a person but that's it.

ZENJI: This is going to be my most subjective one yet, I think. Zenji is very in his own head. What do I mean by that? I think he would compose seven love ballads for MC and none of them would really be for her. I think he's more attached to the artistic value of love than the feelings themselves. This harms his compatibility with anyone, MC included. As for MC, she actually seems to like Zenji more than the average person does! Or at least more than Haku does. Haku seems to mostly tolerate Zenji, while MC shows enthusiasm for his art in campus stories. Note: this ship becomes untenable in the event that Jiro demonstrates feelings for MC, as I don't think Zenji would compete with him.

MORTKRANKEN JIRO: Does not demonstrate feelings for MC. There are crumbs there, but you have to squint and squeeze to make a ship out of them. I could see MC being attracted to tall, gentle, reliable men, especially ones who made her feel secure during a difficult time in her life... but all we know for sure is that she didn't want to watch him undress for the bath.

YURI: I can see this guy as being the #1 strangest relationship she has with any of the ghouls. At times, he bullies and belittles her, like Ritsu or Romeo or Jin do. Other times, he is working tirelessly to cure her condition and taking the curse more seriously than she's seen anyone else do. He is a very confusingly-supportive love interest. I do not think MC would realistically find romance with him; tsundere that he is, she would need to be more active to really get through to him, and she's a pretty passive person. For Yuri's part, he is embarrassingly infatuated with MC. The man goes beet red when she grabs his hand, for fuck's sake. This is very funny as a one-sided ship and would be equally funny if Yuri decided to actually try confessing, but he is not the best match for MC.

VAGASTROM

ALAN: What do you get when you cross two shy people? Nothing whatsoever, that's what! Alan likes MC but has trouble expressing it and worries about hurting her. MC has a tendency to make herself small and placate people. I'm not sure their relationship can get off the ground in the first place, but if it does, I expect them to have communication issues right away. Mutual conflict-avoidance is not a great foundation for a relationship.

LEO: A great ship for MC if you hate her. Leo is toxic for anyone, but he openly hates MC and wants to get rid of her. If they get into a relationship, it will be one of those dastardly plans I warned of in the ancient scrolls (Haku's paragraph). Has the potential to be really hot though. I don't think MC hates Leo, but I think she avoids him because he seems to hate her. She could be easily manipulated if Leo is so inclined.

SHO: Viable! Sho has never been anything but nice to MC, and it shows in the way she greets him without hesitation. Sho in turn seems to actually like MC, in contrast to Leo. I can't say whether there's any attraction, but there's mutual trust.

OBSCUARY

RUI: Easily one of the most viable ships! There's the romanticism of their mutual curses (as is immediately pointed out by Rui), Rui's open flirtation with MC, the convenient excuse for why they can never hook up (because as stated before, when the excuse is botched it just makes it look like one or both characters isn't interested), and in addition to all that, Rui is one of the nicest and friendliest characters, which is something MC responds well to.

EDWARD: Definitely also a viable ship. MC isn't as intimidated by Ed as she is by characters like Taiga or Jin or even Yuri. The fact that he can overwrite her curse by making her a vampire adds to the intrigue. Ed is both openly horny for MC and expresses interest in being with her forever. The only potential speedbump here is that MC doesn't seem to consider Ed's offer a significant option; her default fear is still "I'm going to die/become a kyklos" rather than "I will have to become a vampire".

LYCA: Has a little potential, but once again the attraction is lacking. I could see Lyca growing to have feelings for MC over time, but it doesn't seem to be the case yet. MC seems to trust Lyca even if he is capable of violence.

In summary BEST SHIPS FOR MC: Haru, Rui, Ed MOST INTERESTING SHIPS: Yuri, Leo WORST SHIPS FOR MC: Taiga, Romeo

[eddith]

After watching the fan letter i kept thinking how one piece is a masterclass of showing how a story doesn't need to be driven by romantic love to explore the beautiful romanticism of relationships in a real and heartfelt way.

Fiction is so oversaturated with romance that relationships between characters are most often than not so superficial and goddamn repetitive, I swear if it were another author writing marineford I would 100% expect the the plot to revolve around the main character saving their romantic interest.

I feel like writters dont really give platonic bonds this type of love and attention, and I do believe a part of it revolves around a societal context to what we as a society considers beautiful, romantic and worthwhile telling a story about.

And also the epidemic of loliness, the lack of connection and the isolation are all factors to why we see romantic love stories being pushed this much, this attachment of the idea of romance that most people seems to have.

And this is why i dont like the narrative of “separating the artist from their art” because I think this it is such a poor way of analyzing art. You can’t create a story like one piece, who explores platonic bonds and prioritizes them again and again and intentionally puts them at the forefront of your story if you, the writer, don't view those bonds as something special and worthwhile writting about.

Because after being caught up with one piece I kept asking myself why did this story had such an impact on me? The backstories, the bonds, they all shock me to my core.

Me being a older sister who wasn't ever that close to my little sister and who always felt this disparaging loliness since i was a child, watching mariford hurted me in a way that no story ever could, I can't imagine the impact one piece would have on me if i watched this when i was younger.

And I believe it's all because of Oda's view on relationships, how he seems to have a deeper understanding of people and how they work.

One piece transforms the “ordinary” bonds that most of us have in our lifes into something so extraordinary.

This why I not only respect Oda as a writer, but also as a person.

A person who could so beautifully show us the true beauty of life, that is, the people around us who love and support us.

[yakichoufd]

People...Stop telling me to ship wade/logan, so it fits the narrative you want me to draw.

You don't like nathan/wade? Well, too bad because I do. And I ship logan with scott, so picturing logan and wade romantically together feels terrible off to me haha!

I love my ships dearly and I hate when people force me to love new ships so they can hope to see my fanarts of them.

Shipping is personnal, it is something that need to come naturally to me and not all popular ships are a hit for me. I don't want anyone to force me enjoying something. That is not how I enjoy my fandom time. Forcing online strangers to like the same things as you is so childish.

And many many AMAZING artists draw wade/logan fanarts. Go cheer on them. Let them know how much you enjoy what they create and leave me alone!! I don't owe you anything. I just happen to enjoy drawing Scott Summers with a lot of lovers. That's it.

And just because you enjoy what I draw does NOT mean that I have to draw only things that you judge interesting.

I draw anything that I am inspired by. I DRAW FOR MYSELF FIRST. You are not the main character of my life. Stop being self-centred and being rude. And I am an adult, so ofc I am going to explore adult themes in my art. If you are too young or not comfortable for that, then do NOT follow me. Block me. My art is NOT meant for kids. My art is NOT meant for everyone.

I post what I want on my own space, thank you very much.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

i hope this isn't too invasive or personal to ask, but i'm curious: why do you read romance novels if you're aro? are there any tropes you prefer to others? full disclosure i'm romantic but romance novels aren't for me, so i'm not super familiar with the genre, but i thought the purpose of romance novels was to scratch the itch people have for romantic desire? i can't imagine you're reading them for the writing lol

okay I am trying so hard not to answer this in a way that comes off as snappy or mean because this is like. I respect that this is a good faith question.

the thing is that this question kind of hits the same as like. asking why I read books about Black characters when I'm white, or books about men when I'm a woman, or otherwise wondering how I could be getting anything out of a story about people who aren't exactly like me having experiences that I don't relate to. that's kind of the whole point of books, dude. I'm not reading to see myself, I'm reading to see somebody else have a weird time.

romance novels are fun. they're silly and frequently unhinged and easy to read and they make for a nice break between books that require heftier brain power. the fact that I personally don't experience or want to experience romantic attraction does not undermine that. I also don't want to do vigilante justice with a bunch of maladjusted teenagers but I still like Batman, you know?

like idk what to tell you man I'm just aromantic. that's just a thing about how I personally experience life, it doesn't have any sway over my ability to enjoy a lighthearted narrative about two dipshits falling in love.

[harmonicpearl]

Something i don't know how ppl still dont understad is how OBVIOUS it is that no Mark is gonna outtake the other, no love (neither for Gemma nor Helly) is gonna outgrow the other. And it's not only a matter of if that is possible (it is, its a tv show) it's a matter of narrative and thematic ideas.

The writers have briliantly gave Mark and Gemma a 5-year marriage and Mark s and Helly a half life relationship (because even if they are very young they have known each other for a huge portion of their concious life). This balances the stakes and validation for each Mark, and makes their battle so interesting, because they are literally equally deserving. And since they are equally deserving, having one of them "win" would be contradicting that claim. It doesn't matter if you as an individual have a preference, as liking one of the Marks more (hell, i myself like one of them more, that's human) but ethics dont work like that, ego death doesn't work like that either and obviously the show is trying to say that. This opens two crucial themes to discuss:

First things first, this impossible-winner situation is the fucking dramatic drive of the show. I wouldnt phrase it as Helly and Gemma because they're characters in their own right, but Mark's relationship with Helly and Gemma is there to represent a battle of the ego and conflicted desire. I really think the show chose to make this a romantic conflict because, yeah who doesn't love romance, but most importantly because we are so monogamous as a society that it was the clearest way to show how these two Marks are different people. We can't fathom the idea that you can love more than one person romantically at the same time (it doesn't matter if it's true, it's the predominant thought of our society). And i think they use this aknoledgement of how society works and they were so right to do so because look what everyone is talking about. That's why im so really shocked that some people are trying to bend the laws and philosophy of this show to theorize which Mark will win or which love will he choose at the end. Neither will, and both will. And simply because narratively, thematically, thats the only coherent choice. One of the Marks "winning" or Mark choosing completely either Helly or Gemma, would destroy the very points this show is trying to make. The love for Helly needs to be a rightful pushing force just as equal as the love for Gemma, just as Mark S needs to keep existing as a foil to Mark Scout. The show is trying to say that (to put this coloquially) doesn't matter how shitty or brief or undeserving your life is to a system or to others you are deserving of human rights, freedom and autonomy.

Which gets me to the second point: This goes both ways. Because even if Mark Scout belittles Mark S's experience, lumon did the same to him when they kidnapped Gemma and lured him into severance. They are both being used. After all, i very much think this is a postmodern show dealing with the residue of modern capitalism. This is a show about the problematic and complex relationship between revolution vs establishment. A modern show made in the past century would have framed this as a straight up victim vs victimizer problem but this is different. Capitalism creates this micro-power relationships. Corporations expoit the white collar worker and the white collar worker exploits the cleaning lady. And even if they are both clogs in a machine, the white collar worker and the cleaning lady may have different ideas on how a revolution should play out, or even if a revolution should occur in the first place. And sometimes revolutionaries can have disregard of the lower classes in the name of grater good. With all the shipping stuff (that i also fully enjoy) we forget that THIS is also the conflic that's taking place between Mark Scout and Mark S. Even if they clearly arent aware of all this shit at the moment.

Even so, they, again, are equally deserving of happiness and compensation. And to put Mark Scout in the position of opressor and opressed at the same time is amazing. They both need to win. But how can they both win? Will they both win? And how would a win-win situation look like? This is why i think severance really is something else. I'm at the edge of my seat because i don't have a fucking clue how they will resolve this. But i trust this show to be better than simply make him choose one of his loves or make one Mark overrule the other. They won't do that, mark (jk) my words. Both Marks need to truly work as one, to understad the other's struggle and see it as equally valid and well, negotiate. Just as the white collar worker will have to negotiate with the cleaning lady if they truly want to make an impact should a revolution actually happen. Both Marks need to understad they are not the real enemy and even more, that the real enemy is the cause of this friction in the first place, a friction that only diverges them from the real goal. Helly's and Gemma's love is only the cathalyst to put in motion this conflict. A GREAT choice because just as the Marks, they too will have ideas of their own on how to navigate this situation, yes, but they will also have a say in the innies vs outies vs lumon conflict and well i think these four are gonna surprise us.

[danielsarmand]

guys i truly hate to be the one to tell you this but jayvik was never gonna kiss on screen. i don't know why some of you actually believed they would, and are therefore disappointed now. they are not the type of ship that “goes canon” and seals it with a visual representation of their romantic love for each other, this is not how they were written. i am begging you to be honest with yourselves and stop expecting stuff you weren't promised by any means.

i'm not trying to be mean, but as soon as an ounce of content comes out instead of celebrating it like we should i find myself drowning in doomposting. i need you to keep track of jayce and viktor's storylines so far and how deeply interconnected they are. really, neither can exist without the other. if you take one of them away, the other lack motives, means, guidance, reasons. they were clearly meant to be each other's narrative foils, every single step in their storylines had to do with the other and THAT is jayvik.

reading between the lines is sometimes a requirement, but not even that—you just need to let go of traditional expectations when it comes to them, and embrace the fact that some people can be destined for each other even if you don't see them fuck nasty on screen.

i don't even want to mention the whole sky thing because it gives me a headache just to think about. sky was never her own character which is why i never cared about her, she was always a symbol for something else. draw your own conclusions! (hint: she still is)

[chocolatepot]

(This has been in my drafts for over a month [<- written in the summer of 2022 lol], let's just finish chewing this thing ...)

Part of the reason I'm obsessed with Our Flag Means Death is the magic of hyperfixation, but there's also something about it that just ... certain scenes, certain gifs, I see them and I absolutely melt. And I'm no stranger to romantic media, especially historical romance, so I had to ask myself why this, so much?

And I think the thing that really gets me about the romance in OFMD is that it's so entirely different from mainstream het romance (and again, especially historical romance) and that mainstream het romance is so often lazily written.

How often do you go to read/watch something where the protagonist and love interest immediately have a positive rapport, understand each other, smile at each other, admire each other, have fun together? And in contrast, how often is the love interest marked out by having immediate hostility with the protagonist, sniping, irrational disagreement, disapproval?

I watch Sanditon and Bridgerton mainly just to be aware of what's going on in them, because like it or not I'm kind of a Regency historian of sorts, but I can't really stand them. In the first season of Sanditon, the heroine, Charlotte was presented with two potential love interests, Sidney Parker and James Stringer. The former was the classic "we act like we hate each other because of our sexual tension," the latter was really adorable and full of smiles and care for each other. And ... Charlotte barely seemed to realize that Stringer was a real possibility, all narrative heft was given to her plotline with Sidney and of course they turned out to be in love. Then the second season rolled this back and brought in two new love interests, again with one having a positive relationship with her and the other constantly arguing and criticizing; the apparently positive one turns out to be a creepy Wickham while the one she initially dislikes turns out to be a good Darcy with manpain to deal with. (Same thing with her sister's love triangle.)

And there are loads of other examples where a potential love interest who is immediately pleasant turns out to be deceptive/meh while a potential love interest who spurs fights is endgame. Basically, this is because you need some kind of obstacle to stop the characters from getting together immediately. In historical romance written in the present day, social class and money aren't acceptable obstacles unless there's a pressing need for them written in (hence the prevalence of "father gambled away our fortune and you must marry well, my dear, to save us from the poorhouse" plots), and "we met in an awkward way and will not get over it" works, narratively, as an obstacle.

In contrast, what goes on in OFMD s1 is so much more complex - the characters liking each other but having internal reasons not to recognize their feelings or act on them gives more room for showing why they actually are good together.

[trashybugs]

Oberon Vortigern and the Golden Witch Beatrice

hello, this is a character analysis that I've been planning to write since last year when I just finished reading Umineko last August.

during my reading of Umineko, i have reach a conclusion that by far Golden Witch Beatrice is by far the most "Oberon-core" character that I even encountered in fiction and how Oberon whole character basically embodies the whole message of Umineko

full disclosure before everything. i finish Umineko last August and might forget some details. both Oberon and Beatrice are complex multi-layered character and there might be more parallels that I missed between them. LB6 and Umineko is also incredibly long stories and again, there's probably stuff I forgot or missed. so please give me your feedback in the replies if you have any!

This analysis will also be really heavy on Oberon's part, as I consider myself more knowledgeable about Oberon than Beatrice, as confident I am with how I understand her. Finally, English is not my first language!

[HEAVY SPOILERS FOR UMINEKO NO NAKU KORO NI AND LOSTBELT 6]

so what do we know about the similarities between Oberon and Beatrice on a surface level? both are suspicious characters with butterflies as their motifs. both pretend to be something they are not and yet that aspect of their persona holds some truth to their character in a way. both craft such a perfect chessboard of lies to spin and control their own narratives in the story.

both Oberon and Beatrice are deutragonists to their stories. except they develop oppositely.

Beatrice played the role of antagonist since the beginning, fully embracing the role of a thousand-year-old cruel witch. although you can see her sprinkling hints and trying to sway Battler to the right track. giving him a lot of chances to beat her. As the story progresses she start to become more soft and genuine with Battler, and we start to see a more into the eye of her seemingly evil action. that it might be something that's driven by an act love. and then we reach the conclusion of the truth of her character and everything change since then.

Oberon played the role of a guide or mentor character at first. being basically and info dumper, claiming to have been summoned in the Lostbelt 6 months earlier and managed to gather information. and yet for some reason, he knows too much and has control over an army... Oberon has been guiding the LB6 gang for their mission since the start. but with Ritsuka his guidance over them is more personal. with their nightly talk about how Ritsuka shouldn't overly worry with Mashu and need to believe in her. how Oberon also told them about his greatest desire to see Titania. both shares an intimate worries with each other night by night. as the story progress we start to sense more feelings of something not right with Oberon, and more darkness with his character with how Castoria mentioned that Oberon is "always angry". and finally the big reveal when Oberon admitted that he was always Vortigern and everything he do is driven by hate and disgust....but is that true?

see Oberon and Beatrice (or so we should refer to as Sayo) are idealistic, yearning and romantic type of characters. they yearn for something that they see are out of their reach due to circumstances in their life and self-hatred. they're full of fantasies but are forced to be grounded to reality.

both are characters that are so full of love and yet are "born in a body that unable to love"

Sayo with her gender dysphoria basically sees herself as worthless without functioning genitalia. unable to fulfill her and George's dream of having children. in her self hatred sees herself as someone that is impossible to love. a "furniture"

Oberon who is forced to always lie. whatever words he said, the bigger and the more "truthful" his trues are, the more the world twist into a lie. cursing him to always acts like a terrible person and treat someone he love badly. he sees himself as someone who is impossible to be loved, someone that can only be loved by a woman who is not real even. because fantasy is only where his love will come true. he sees himself as a "device".

speaking of love that can only come true in a fantasy:

how Oberon's Abyss and Beatrice's Golden Land is basically the same thing AKA a Cat Box

those two are the places of final destination to the two characters we're discussing right now.

Abyss basically an equivalent to hell, hence its translated as "Naraku" in JP (is also a double meaning to a backstage). a land closed of from land and reality, Oberon's and Britain's final end. a place where every role come to an end, hence he is the embodiment of the end. the backstage of all the actors

Golden Land is synonymous with heaven in Beatrice's eyes. a land where everything can become real, all of the love will become real. and a place where Beatrice can finally rest in peace.

both of them have a desire to take everyone and everything into it, a whole island. and while its true that its driven by hate and disgust (Oberon with his hatred of the act of consumption and how Morgan is basically forcing a never ending story) (Sayo with her disgust at her family and the deeds that Kinzo has done in the past)

in their eyes they also see it as an act of saving everyone. its an act that's driven by love in a twisted way. for Sayo by taking everyone in her murder-suicide plan and repaying the sins that her family has committed. they all can enjoy a life of happiness in her twisted version of the afterlife

for Oberon. the act of ending a rotten corpse that is Britain is an act of mercy. a tale shouldn't be forced to go and on for eternity. by destroying Britain and also his new plan to take PHH with him, its his way of trying to destroy reality so that Titania could exist in a world of only fantasy (the lostbelts)

both of them are desperate to create a fantasy because that's the only place their love could flourish

on that note. Oberon's abyssal proposal towards Ritsuka in his summer lines. makes me think that both of their relationship could only flourish in death or the end after they both finish their respective role. and more importantly to Oberon, the abyss is a world where there's no audience to interpret his meaning. means he can truly acts truthful as he can, which reminds me exactly of Golden Land AKA Cat Box. a love that can only become true in a cat box where there's no absolute truth and all the audience can do is make endless interpretation = endless possibility

(note that this is how it works in dreams too. hence why he doesn't have wings and insect hands on the scenes because those are fakes lol/// Oberon able to tell the truth in dream land. and LB6 final scene where he confess to us in the dream world is basically The Confession of The Golden Witch moment)

Oberon Vortigern, his personas and how they conveniently fits Yasuda Sayo's multiple personas too

i would like to talk about how Sayo Yasuda's multiple persona fits Oberon. The most common misconception about Oberon is that Vortigern is his real personality, while Oberon is a fake one, when both of them are a lie that contains an essence of truth in him

Shannon is the ideal self that Sayo imagines. As the perfect woman with her ideal type of a body and is a capable hardworking maid.

Similar to Oberon's prince persona as the ideal reliable prince. the ideal look and the extroverted and cheerful personality that he can use to charm faes across the kingdom

Kanon is the more darker personality where Sayo can channel the negative aspect of her personality to not ruin her kind maid persona. Making him gloomy and cold. he's also her way to explore her identity in a male body

Similiar to Vortigern where its his personality that he can drop the pretense of ideal prince and rant about his hatred and annoyance of others.

i see Beatrice the Golden Witch as the mastermind aspect of Oberon. someone who's fully absolved in their role and acts in a way to spin the narrative to hide their true self while also desperately wanting to be found. the aspect that needs to be seen with love to see the truth in them

Claire is the "observer" aspect of Oberon. despite being an actor, Oberon claims he and Guda are only an observer in LB6 to Castoria's much more focused journey.

oh and Claire's theme song is basically just Oberon, give it a listen!

and finally Sayo Yasuda. this may be a reach but I think there's another aspect that we never seen in the story similar how we never see Sayo Yasuda in the VN.

its the Oberon Vortigern without his mental debuff immunity. in the latest Kazuradrop event it is shown that his immunity truly works as he unable to feel fear or insanity from primal fear of Kazura's giant form unlike Ritsuka and the rest.

i do think the reason why Oberon have never went insane due to his circumstances in his current incarnation is that immunity. all we ever see is the rational and sane side of Oberon.

Sayo Yasuda is the despair aspect of Oberon Vortigern. someone who laments about their fate and injustice. the mix of genuinety behind their goals but also the desire to be stopped and punished. she's the aspects of consideration to look at people and their idealism, the inability to tolerate injustice They both yearns for something better for everyone and then themself

note that this aspect of Oberon who hate injustice and have his true desire is for everyone to have happiness and not sacrificed by the system is scattered through LB6 but only clearly confirmed by Nasu in the FGO's 9th anniv interview

In the end all personas are a lie but cannot be denied, as it hold some truths in them. And only if you accept all of them will you able to see the true person behind it

Relationship of Oberon and Beatrice towards the protagonist

beaches and sea

the moment Oberon found Ritsuka's unconscious body in that beach. that time, he knew. that they're his destiny. they're the one who decide his fate, the final piece in his chessboard that will end his thousand years role as an end device. at first that's what he thought of as his "destiny"

he never expected them to have bigger implications towards his ideals

"Titania. one who was created for a single purpose then discarded the moment it was served"

"maybe he's already meet someone similar to her"

if we all catch up to all the current stories and situations towards Ritsuka. we all know what this all implies. (we all could argue its referring to Blanca, but there's just too many hints by Nasu that it mostly refers to Ritsuka, I'll get on it in another analysis lol)

for Sayo. a lot of her fate deciding factor happens in the beach. Battler's proposal towards her. the destroying of the shrine during her bomb testing, setting her fate for the absolute certain death of everyone on the island. and finally, the ultimatum if Battler will arrive after 6 years of waiting of that promise. if Battler arrives, she will continue her plan of massacre, and if not she will leave the island and try to live her life with George.

Battler similar to Ritsuka was the destiny and the fate deciding factor of each characters. they are the wheels of fate. both Oberon and Beatrice while acting as if they're in the higher grounds compared to them, was at the protagonist's absolute mercy.

both of them lies and created an over convulted ideas as an excuse to not be loved

Beatrice desire to be chased and seen by Battler behind all of her cruel games of murder mystery. the contradictory of her actions of seemingly wanting Battler to fall into despair but also want him just to just keep and keep going. just please understand her, see through her. don't just accept everything as the narrative tolds. she despairs and gave up on her game after Battler himself given up

if we're talking about meta world. even during the epitaph solving quest, Beatrice was still hoping someone but most importantly Battler to realize the truth and stop her before she committed to her plan. but alas it doesn't happen that way.

Battler still ended up accepting Yasuda Sayo in the end despite everything, as they went into the boat ride...

for Oberon his entire character is a one big puzzle game. he is desperate but he have a more extreme restrictions by the system than Beatrice does. showing himself in the storm border and basically showing his weakness while still talking about how evil and hateful he is. and as Ritsuka keeps calling him out and out with their red lines. he started to become more desperate insisting on his disgust and how never cared one bit about everyone

but then...

that's it. at this moment Oberon lost. they figure him out, they see through his lies, they see the truth in him. they saw the love in him

this is the deciding factor where Obe decides that yeah, he lose to you Pan Human History.

Oberon proceeds to claim that he has no love unlike those Beast. and then proceed to debuff himself heavily by putting his level at 85. he doesn't give it all at the fight.

Ritsuka is his destiny. and as his wheel of fate, they stopped him from committing a mass genocide to the entire world

in the end both Beatrice and Oberon realize that there's someone out there who truly can accept who they are despite everything. and sadly it contradicts their nature

Sayo who's convinced she had made way too many sins with the pre-meditated murder plans. convince herself that she's a witch that unable to live in a human world and jump off the boat, drowning herself with the last Ushiromiya gold

Oberon, who has way too much hatred for himself and is cursed to forever lie. being born as doomsday who's unable to love. ended up purposely losing and falling into the abyss

both yearn for love and yet that love are too bright for them

may they rest in peace in the depths of the abyss

and yet...maybe they won't be alone afterall

Final message

i believe Nasu was hugely inspired by Umineko when he write LB6. there's too many parallels between love, hope, lies, fantasy and the concept of denying them.... oh and a lot of traumas!

not too mention the obvious red lines of truth

LB6 also at that time was the most nuanced chapter of FGO with a lot of characters being morally grey due to the faeries being constricted by their roles for survivals

the story about Umineko is about creating your own truth, how you shouldn't believe in something just because its what the narrative spins to you. but you also shouldn't stomp on those fantasies and lies with your truth. see them truly from the deepest of your heart. because there has to be truth for a lie to exist

the act of only wanting to find truth without a care and then discarding them the moment you find the truth is nothing but the act of consumption

you wouldn't want to be like Erika or the goats right? or Chaldea as Oberon prefers to refer them as

so i ask you to see Oberon's character with this in mind. no he's not just a silly fae king that loves everyone. no he's not just a hateful fae prince that hate everything and just wants to destroy. he is nuance incarnate

he is made out of multiple layers of lies that also holds the truth. he is the Cat Box of Fate/Grand Order. there is no absolute truth in him unless it is stated by Kinoko Nasu himself

and only in a world where there's no audience may he confess himself

without love, it cannot be seen

[physalian]

“How do I know if my story needs work or if I’m just being hard on myself?”

As I sit here accepting the fact that at 70k words into Eternal Night’s sequel while waiting for my editor for Eternal Night itself, that I have made an error in my plot.

Disclaimer: This is not universal and the writing experience is incredibly diverse. Figuring this out also takes some time and building up your self-confidence as an author so you can learn to separate “this is awful (when it’s not)” and “this is ok (but it can be better)” and “this isn’t working (but it is salvageable).”

—

When I wrote my first novel (unpublished, sadly), years ago, I would receive feedback all over the chapters and physically have to open other windows to block off parts of the screen on my laptop to slow-drip the feedback because I couldn’t handle constructive criticism all at once. I had my betas color-code their commentary so I could see before I read any of it that it wasn’t all negative. It took me thrice as long as it does today to get through a beta’s feedback because I got so nervous and anxious about what they would say.

The main thing I learned was this: They’re usually right, when it’s not just being mean (and even then, it’s rarely flat out mean), and that whatever criticisms they have of my characters and plot choices is not criticism of myself.

It did take time.

But now I can get feedback from betas and even when I hear “I’d DNF this shit right now unless you delete this,” I take a step back, examine if this one little detail is really that important, and fix it. No emotional turmoil and panic attack needed. I can also hear “I didn’t like it” without heartbreak. Can’t please everyone.

The only time I freak out is when I'm told "this won't need massive edits" followed up by, in the manuscript, "I'd DNF this shit right now". Which happened. And did not, in fact, require a massive rewrite to fix.

So.

What might be some issues with your story and why it “isn’t working”.

1. Your protagonist is not active enough in the story

You’ve picked your protagonist, but it’s every other character that has more to do, more to say, more choices to make, and they’re just along for the ride, yet you are now anchored to this character’s story because they’re the protagonist. You can either swap focus characters, or rework your story to give them more agency. Figure out why this character, above any other, is your hero.

2. Your pacing is too slow

Even if you have a “lazy river” style story where the vibes and marinating in the world is more important than a breakneck plot, slow pacing isn’t just “how fast the story moves” it’s “how clearly is the story told,” meaning if you divert the story to a side quest, or spend too long on something that sure is fluffy or romantic or funny, but it adds nothing to the characters because it’s redundant, doesn’t advance the plot, doesn’t give us more about the world that actually matters to the themes, then you may have lost focus of the story and should consider deleting it, or editing important elements into the scenes so they can pull double-duty and serve a more active purpose.

3. You’ve lost the main argument of your narrative

Sometimes even the best of outlines and the clearest plans derail. Characters don’t cooperate and while we see where it goes, we end up getting hung up on how this one really cool scene or argument or one-liner just has to be in the story, without realizing that doing so sacrifices what you set out to accomplish. Personally I think sticking to your outline with biblical determination doesn’t allow for new ideas during the writing process, but if you find yourself down the line of “how did we get here, this isn’t what I wanted” you can always save the scenes in another document to reuse later, in this WIP or another in the future.

4. You’re spending too long on one element

Even if the thing started out really cool, whether it’s a rich fantasy pit stop for your characters or a conversation two characters must have, sometimes scenes and ideas extend long past their prime. You might have characters stuck in one location for 2 or 3 chapters longer than necessary trying to make it perfect or stuff in all these details or make it overcomplicated, when the rest of the story sits impatiently on the sidelines for them to move on. Figure out the most important reasons for this element to exist, take a step back, and whittle away until the fat is cut.

5. You’ve given a side character too much screentime

New characters are fun and exciting! But they can take over the story when they’re not meant to, robbing agency from your core characters to leave them sitting with nothing to do while the new guy handles everything. You might end up having to drag your core characters along behind them, tossing them lines of dialogue and side tasks to do because you ran out of plot to delegate with one character hogging it all (which is the issue I ran into with the above mentioned WIP). Not talking about a new villain or a new love interest, I mean a supporting character who is supposed to support the main characters.

—

As for figuring out the difference between “this is awful and I’m a bad writer” and “this element isn’t working” try pretending the book was written by somebody else and you’re giving them constructive criticism.

If you can come up with a reason for why it’s not working that doesn’t insult the writer, it’s probably the latter. As in, “This element isn’t working… because it’s gone on too long and the conversation has become cyclical and tiring.” Not “this element isn’t working because it’s bad.”

Why is it bad?

“This conversation is awkward because…. There’s not enough movement between characters and the dialogue is really stiff.”

“This fight scene is bad because….I don’t have enough dynamic action, enough juicy verbs, or full use of the stage I’ve set.”

“This romantic scene is bad because…. It’s taking place at the wrong time in the story. I want to keep it, but this character isn’t ready for it yet, and the vibe is all wrong now because they’re out-of-character.”

“This argument is bad because…. It didn’t have proper build-up and the sudden shouting match is not reflective of their characters. They’re too angry, and it got out of hand quickly. Or I’m not conveying the root of their aggression.”

—

There aren’t very many bad ideas, just bad execution. “Only rational people can think they’re crazy. Crazy people think they’re sane,” applies to writing, too.

I just read a fanfic recently where, for every fight scene, I could tell action was not the writer’s strong suit. They leaned really heavily on a crutch of specific injuries for their characters, the same unusual spot getting hit over and over again, and fights that dragged on for too long being unintentionally stagnant. The rest of the fic was great, though, and while the fights weren’t the best, I understood that the author was trying, and I kept reading for the good stuff. One day they will be better.

In my experience beta reading, it’s the cocky authors who send me an unedited manuscript and tell me to be kind (because they can’t take criticism), that they know it’s perfect they just want an outside opinion (they don’t want the truth, they want what will make them feel good), that they know it’s going to make them a lot of money and everyone will love it (they haven’t dedicated proper time and effort into researching marketing, target audiences, or current trends)—these are the truly bad authors. Not just bad at writing, but bad at taking feedback, are bullies when you point out flaws in their story, and cheap, too.

The best story I have received to date was where the author didn’t preempt with a self-deprecating deluge of “it’s probably terrible you know but here it is anyway” or “this is perfect and I’m super confident you’re going to love it”.

It was something like, “This is my first book and I know it has flaws and I’m nervous but I had a lot of fun doing it”.

And yeah, it needed work, but the bones of something great were there. So give yourself some credit, yeah?

[petitepatateuwu]

Have some rants about my fav Sonic ships

Trust me when I say this is not what I intended to do for Valentine's day, but my access to the proper materials for my next big project is currently fairly limited, so instead have this (I didn't think I had so much to say I got a bit carried away 👉👈). This is heavy with aro/ace/aroace discourse because as an aroace myself I cannot help it, and huh, reminder that this is just for fun and everyone's opinions are accepted around here as long as it's respectful :3

Espilver is so wholesome I am willing to temporaly remove the aromantic label I put on both these guys. And when an aroace person is ready to drop this label for a ship you know it has to be good. (They're still both asexual idc tho)

I am prone to shipping Sonic with pretty much everyone (elligible for that at least) while thinking he's the biggest aroace mood ever (but I know I am not alone on that one)

Since I've started posting Sonic fanart, there has not been a SINGLE sonadow ship art, but I still really love this ship. Like it's mostly what got me into Sonic in the first place but I don't want to draw it (honestly I think my mind is just drawn to less popular things, I mean sonadow is already everywhere on my dashboard)

Because (except for espilver) my top ships are sonjet and surgamy, I'm basically shipping your two main hedgehogs who are sometimes implied to have feelings for eachother in a gay relationship with a green person with spiky hair and an attitude, and I thought it was funny because it was NOT on purpose xD

Speaking of sonjet I have like three different timelines existing in my mind with this, because I love the "they never dated but they are definitely exes now"/"they tried smt some time ago it didn't work out" narrative, but also the one where Sonic can be the perfect boyfriend and respond to Jet's needs and issues I imagined for him, and also the one where Jet is a total girlfailure of a man who tries to rizz up someone who has zero clue.

I have thought over and over about Blaze ships and my mind just blocks it. At first I thought it was just Silvaze because I was overprotective of my Silver's orientation (when I first saw it I thought "yeah he's aroace", and I'm not a fan of shipping a guy and a girl just because they interact with eachother and are close). But it's everything. Sonaze? I mean she blushed around him on several occasions, so what? I feel like she's just not used to social interaction. Blazamy? I see the fluff, I see the awesome lesbian couple (and I'm an Utena fan, I gotta love the pink/purple yuri), but it doesn't light up anything in me. Are they any other Blaze ships? Idk, but I can't see her with anyone romantically. Never has a character given me so much aroace vibes that the very forces of nature are preventing me to ship her.

Vectilla activates my brain chemistry like crazy. TF you mean the only "sega-approved" ship is between two grown ass people who are not even part of the main character group? And one is a single mother too? Like it's very simple but it's already a norm breaker in my opinion. Though usually a bunch of male characters have their own personally-crafted love interest, they fall in love for no reason and the love is immediately reciprocal because of course it is (*cough* looking at you ninjago). I think it also work because both Vector and Vanilla have their own things going on, and the romance is just a nice plus. And since Team Chaotix is already the peak of Sonic found family, it's also cool to think about the shenanigans with the children (aka Espio, Cream and Charmy). I am a strong Vectilla shipper and I will make you care about them >:)

[tourmaline-dream]

I think the only TRULY disappointing thing about BTVS s7 for me is that it's very underbaked; there are so many amazing concepts/story points (The First, Caleb, Spike's mania/redemption, Willow's recovery, Buffy's isolation) that were so fucking cool and I just feel like we never spent as much time on them as we should have.

The First is a great villain! And having it's avatar Caleb be introduced so late feels like a gigantic misstep. Why does he come in so late? It feels incomprehensible, and then:

I've seen the Potentials maligned the whole time I've been watching this show and I expected them to not be That Bad but I was wrong, feels like another misstep that costs the audience valuable time with all the characters we've gotten attached to over 7 seasons. Like I get the point, Buffy is free at the end because they spread the power out, but...there were other ways to do this I think, that didn't require 30 girls taking up space in the narrative and pushing all our mains to the sidelines. I could not bring myself to care about any of them.

Sad that we got so much less Willow and Dawn and Anya in this season, for the very reasons stated above. Mad that Xander is treated as a wise and beloved denfather when he was fantasizing about all those girls at some point.

Buffy and Spike have some of the most romantic imagery and lines associated with them, like??? I'll never be over it. "Were you there with me?", the burnings hands? gtfo. nobody's doing it like them. my brain chemistry is permanently altered because of them. I hate that he died (I know he comes back) but they arrive at a satisfying place and for that I'm glad. that endgame shit.

It will never not be funny to me that Angel had to get his own show to grow a personality.

Anyways the show is great and I can't believe it took me this long to get to it. I wish we still got shows like this anymore, the people crave camp.

[ixloom819]

So I recently started getting into LADS and I do like it - the lore is very interesting and I’m excited to learn/figure out more. So I want to talk about the LIs and my thoughts on them, mixed in with my opinion about the story.

Rafayel

First off, Rafayel. I’ll be honest, I don’t like Rafayel, so I don’t have a lot for him. Yes I know he’s an interesting and complex character, but his bratty/dramatic attitude is a deterrent for me. For what it’s worth, since they’re both reincarnating beings and seem to fall for each other in a lot of timelines, I would ship him with MC as an entity, just not necessarily the main game MC. He’s probably the best out of the has-a-past-life-with-MC group.

Xavier

Next, Xavier. Xavier is adorable, and he does seem like a sweet, loving boyfriend. I can totally see him enjoying lazy days together and just being comfortable with each other. However, I do think he would want to take things pretty fast. While I’m sure he’d ultimately respect what you/MC wants, I also think he’d do everything he can think of to change their mind. Also the jealousy thing is cute at first, but it would become exhausting trying to convince him that just because a male was nice does not make him a threat to his relationship.

Do I ship him with in-game MC? Not really. From what I can tell, he’s known and loved different MCs as she’s reincarnated, definitely at least the one that gave him the star tassel(?). But it’s Queen MC that gets him to actively try to stop the cycle of sacrifice, and while he’s trying to find a solution to save both, I think it’s clear that he would choose to save Queen MC over Philos. But then he gets stranded in the past and while he’s trying to find a way back, he’s also falling in love with main game MC, which for how devoted he seemed to be to Queen MC makes it feel like a bit of a betrayal.

Sylus

Sylus is honestly the LI I’d prefer, but I ship him with MC the least. He meets MC for the first time in the main timeline and expects her to be like Sorceress MC, which as I understand is more self-serving and wicked (I could be wrong, sorry if I am). That’s why he’s so forceful at the beginning, with trying to force the resonance and making her shoot him. It’s only after he realizes and accepts that she’s a different person and she’s not going to remember that he starts becoming more of the soft, loving Sylus he is now.

And THAT Sylus I want for myself - the one that has the thrill, charisma and magnetism of a dark romance lover, but we see that once you break through the barriers he puts up, he’s such a gentle and loving man. He does everything for his beloved’s comfort and pacing and would never dream of making them do something they didn’t want to, let alone hurt them in any way. But with game MC? I’m sorry, narratively he’s the least satisfying match-up, especially since he only had one life with her.

Caleb

Caleb is a very interesting blend of a character. He’s got the fluffy growing-up-together childhood friend trope, the angst of his backstory and the whole pretending-to-be-dead-for-a-year thing, and the yummy yandere content. Caleb doesn’t have a myth yet, and I’m kinda hoping he doesn’t get one. I’m all for equality with LIs, but it’d be nice for MC to have someone who falls in love with her for the first time in this timeline. Plus I feel like Caleb and MC’s shared backstory along with the memory loss stuff fills the role pretty well.

At first I was thinking “good but not for MC” because of how toxic he was acting. But after seeing MC’s behavior with him later on- yeah no, she’s just as bad with him. And if I understand it right, the memories MC has with Caleb from their childhood show that she canonically liked him romantically as well, but was afraid of messing things up. And now things are complicated with his personality change. In my eyes, Caleb is the one MC wants. They strike me as a blaze-of-glory kind of couple, one that would rather hide away from the world and keep the other for themselves. This post explains it better than any way I can think of, but Caleb’s solution is to take away the problem to make MC happy.

Zayne

While that’s good and all, I think loving someone means that you feel safe being yourself around them and you want to become better for them, and that seems to fit MC and Zayne very well. The whole reason Zayne pursued medicine was to be able to save MC, and from this post, we can see that they’re constantly checking in with each other to make sure they’re okay. This post does a better job at showing how proactive MC is with Zayne versus reactive with the others (and how husband-wife coded they are), but regardless MC is the joy in Zayne’s otherwise work-centered life. They look out for each other and improve each other - they need each other. Zayne, rather than taking the problem away like Caleb, helps MC address the problem, get over it, and grow into a better person from it.

Regarding his other lives… Zayne’s a special boy. Unlike the other LIs, he seems to be existing in multiple alternate universes, and he doesn’t really think they exist. We know for sure that he sees Dawnbreaker’s universe as dreams, so I’d guess that he sees the other versions of him the same way. He probably thinks he’s seriously down bad, because why else would he be having all these romantasy dreams about MC? (He doesn’t realize he’s the romantasy) Regardless, he loves MC for who she is now, not for who she is in other universes.

Extra

Maybe controversial, but LADS has revealed an ick for me: reincarnated lovers. In theory it’s cute, “Oh look, these two are in love across timelines”, but in practice it just feels… off.

Sure, there are probably some points that stick with a person as they reincarnate, but circumstances and environment does affect a person. The MC we play as lives a much different life than Sorceress MC or Queen MC, so there’s going to be some changes in how they act and think. The important part of this is that main game MC is not the same MC that the LIs initially fall in love with.

If I were MC, I would be totally weirded out by this. Imagine you meet someone who’s a total stranger to you (and you are as he’s getting to know this new you) and yet he seems to know you very intimately, maybe things you don’t know yourself until he shows you. He has this knowing look and a nostalgic fondness that doesn’t make sense. It would drive me crazy and make me feel uncomfortable.

This is why I like Zayne and Caleb best as romance options for MC: because they love her for who she is in this timeline, while the others love a different version of her who lived very different lives. If I found out the truth, I’d constantly be doubting which version the man I loved cared for the most and think he was trying to find traces of other-me in me. Heaven knows I couldn’t take that blow on my mental health, and think about MC who’s life is a whirlwind right now. Girl does not deserve that kind of stress on top of everything.