#i have stuff written but its not in the correct order of the timeline so i need to

[a-pale-azure-moon]

WIP Wednesday

It's done.

There will be revisions and tweaks to make between now and when I post it in a few days, but I have finished the final chapter of Someday We'll Shine Together. At long last, it is complete.

I'm struggling to distill all of my emotions into words at the moment. This fic has been a part of my life for about three years now. I'm feeling accomplished and proud of myself for really and truly finishing it despite the fact that when I first had the idea, I was convinced this was another of those fleeting inspirational flashes that would never go anywhere and would forever languish in my WIP folder. I got very attached to this story in the process of creating it, and I got even more attached to it when it was one of the things that helped see me through a very difficult time in my personal life. As such, I'm also grieving that it's over and that I now must let it go. Sure, it'll always exist for me to revisit whenever I want, but that feeling is never the same as the one derived from actively working on it.

While I'm still digesting all of these emotions, here's a rough timeline and some background of the fic's development, so you can all see how I finally got to this point. This is pretty personal too, because the two are irrevocably intertwined. (Content warning: death/grief)

Summer 2020: Initial inspiration hits after I rewatched Utena during COVID lockdown.

Fall 2020: Brainworms are on-and-off active, writing short blurbs in a Google doc when they come to me, but there's no true shape to the whole plot yet, it’s just random scenes. It's more or less still strictly a 3H-esque retelling of Utena, and I'm not expecting anything to actually come of these blurbs.

Winter 2020: More blurbs trickle in here and there. The story in my head is starting to divert more drastically from the show.

February 19, 2021: Draft of the pivotal scene at the end of Chapter 15 written. I remember the specific day for this because I wrote it the same day we put down our dog, Clancy. (Writing emotional scenes often helps me process my own emotions.)

April 11, 2021: Creation of my dedicated author's notes file to keep track of the various threads and ideas I'd come up with, especially the backstory about Faerghus and how Dimitri became the Lion Prince. I filled it in like an extended summary or wikipedia entry about the 'verse and the overall plot of the story. I jotted a lot of stuff down between April and June as the brainworms really got to work again.

Summer 2021: I'm starting to entertain the idea of actually seeing this project through. Chapters 1 and 2 are drafted over the summer months, but I hit a block and the self doubt comes roaring right in to deter me.  A LARGE part of my struggle with getting this fic out of development hell was me being unable to get out of my own way.  Every stumbling block I hit (especially early on) was an invitation for my inner critic to resume browbeating me into giving up this “stupid” idea.

September 2021: I finally make up my mind that I'm really going to do this, and I spend the next six weeks ironing out the bumps in the plot and making a chapter-by-chapter outline highlighting the key scenes/plot points/character beats within each one. I organized the various blurbs I had into chronological order and put them under the correct chapter headings. I also started thinking of the best way to get myself to see this project through, as well as what would be a realistic timetable for its completion. I estimated that the final length of the whole thing would be around 350 pages or roughly 150K words. (This is hilarious to me in hindsight.  I severely underestimated the scope of this fic!)

November 2021: I try to do the NaNoWriMo challenge (50K words in a month) to draft as much of the fic as I can. I "only" produce about 35K words in the end, but it was enough to draft Chapters 3 and 4 and write at least one decent-sized blurb within each of all of the remaining chapters.

December 2021: I took a short hiatus from working on SWST to finish Beneath the Ethereal Moon. When that's done, I went over my outline yet again to refine it further and then cleaned up my draft of Chapter 1 with an eye on posting it after right after New Year's. I determined that posting (and writing) one chapter per month should be doable, especially since I have a generous buffer to start with.

January 2022: I get a bad case of cold feet/anxiety and don't post Chapter 1. I'm having trouble getting a feel for Chapter 5 and fail to finish it before the end of the month. (This naturally doesn't help alleviate my self-doubt or silence my very loud inner critic.)

February 2022: Cold feet strike again and I fail to post Chapter 1 a second time. I'm still stuck on Chapter 5 (though I've at least made some progress), and while I'm extremely aware that I'm being my own worst enemy, that doesn't make it any easier to beat back old habits.

March 2, 2022: In the wee hours of the night (it was after midnight), I finally posted Chapter 1 and went straight to bed after. I slept terribly of course, haha.

I wish I could say "and you know the rest from here," but that's not true. Posting Chapter 1 was a huge mental hurdle cleared, but there were other things going on behind the scenes that almost derailed this project for good. The timing was such that if I were more prone to hubris, I'd think that the universe itself was testing my resolve. Or possibly mocking me.

On March 3, 2022 (yes, the day after I posted Chapter 1), my father was admitted to the hospital with a debilitating pain in his lower back. Initially, we thought it might be a flare up of his sciatica or maybe something like a kidney stone, but the truth was far worse. What he had was a spinal epidural abscess caused by a bacterial infection in his blood. He was transported to the ICU of a larger (further away) hospital once the severity of his condition was discovered, and he was pumped full of massive doses of antibiotics. Thanks to that, he stabilized, but what followed after was a long period of uncertainty as he would start to make gains only to suffer a setback. Even once the infection and his pain level were under control, he'd been so severely sick that the bacteria had ravaged his various body systems, leading to issues with his kidneys and his heart.

For 91 days, my family and I were stuck on a wretched rollercoaster of getting hopeful (he was transferred to a rehab facility three different times when it looked like he was improving) and then having our hopes dashed when something would happen that would see him sent back to the hospital (falling out of bed, chest pains, difficulty breathing). Hope began to fade in mid May when he was transferred back to the ICU due to diastolic heart failure, which caused his lungs to fill up with fluid. They tapped his lungs thrice, removing at least a liter of fluid each time, but they kept filling up again despite all the diuretics the doctors were giving him. Then his kidneys began to shut down too. We kept hoping right until the end, but he passed away on June 1, 2022, the day before what would've been his and my mother's 49th wedding anniversary.

(Proof that real life can be even crueler than fiction.)

I was only able to continue updating SWST while my father was sick because of that buffer I'd had, and I very nearly deleted the story from AO3 altogether after he died. I remember ruminating about how futile it was to continue with this project; I'd written almost nothing while he was sick, so my buffer was now gone and I questioned whether or not I'd be able to write, let alone write consistently, with the promised months of grief and general upheaval ahead. Even writing a story that I had, to that point, been passionate about felt utterly pointless.

It was strange though. I woke up on June 2nd thinking that maybe I should go ahead and post chapter 4 anyway, since it was already done and it was one of the chapters I particularly liked. So I did. And in the following days, we had my father's funeral and a part of me felt like I could breathe again. I was grieving yes, but the constant daily stress and uncertainty from his illness was gone, and I think that freed my creative drive to start working again. I remember the first day I sat back down at my computer with the intention to write and how much better I felt in general after I got some words onto the screen.

It's hella ironic that I planned SWST with grief and loss as major themes and it turned out I'd be processing such things myself while writing most of it. I know my own grief affected the story, though it's impossible to say to what degree; I get a lot of catharsis in general from writing emotional scenes, so I tend to go hard on them regardless. It didn't change the plot or direction of the story at all, since that was already planned, but it's certainly safe to say that I channeled a lot of my own feelings into some of the most intense moments. The ending of Chapter 9 stands out in particular as something that felt like it was coming straight out of my own heart.

Even on the hard days when I was feeling too overwhelmed and/or the words just weren’t coming, this story gave me a reason to keep going.  Just keeping the goal in mind and reasserting my resolve to be consistent and see this project through to the end helped me cope.  It both kept me grounded and helped me process what I was going through and it gave me something to look forward to when I uploaded each chapter and anxiously waited to see what the readers would think.

I started this fic as a means of testing myself: testing my commitment to writing consistently, to finishing a long-term project, and to getting over at least some of the many, MANY mental hurdles that have held me back from writing for way too long.  I knew that this story would always be near and dear to me if I managed to finish it, but it became even more precious than I ever could’ve imagined back in 2020.  It hurts that I must say goodbye to it, but…it’s forever mine.  I can say with my whole chest that I MADE THIS THING and I’m so very proud of it! <3

[kotoneshiomiofficial]

it sucks that i am committed to writing kotone as close to her canon characterization as possible, something that is tricky but doable for the others, because she really does not have many consistent characterization moments. they're either player determinant or from pq2, which have their unique issues

if you go by just p3p, assuming all social links were maxed and only aigis was romanced (the others are player determinant and ultimately, you end up with aigis anyway so im assuming platonic relations all around), you have to go by social link dialogue options and very little else. luckily, s. links have objectively correct answers and thus contain things that canonically kotone would and would not say. this at least gives us a little bit; she's kind, a good listener, and willing to show her fierce side if the needs arises (see saori's social link). but everything else?

now what we have left are the choices during s. links or story events that have NO consequences. this is where things go off the rails: depending on what you choose, you can end up with wildly different versions of the same character. for example, at multiple points, you have the choice between attempting to use violent force to solve a problem or trying to get others to help/resolve it peacefully. we see this is yukari's social link where kotone can try to straight up fight three dudes harrassing yukari, and in saori's where she can try to punch a girl who slapped saori over something that wasnt her fault.

depending on what the player chooses, we get two very different results: either someone who can and does fight well, but chooses to talk out her problems, or someone who seems almost eager to start a fight. its important to note that no one else in this entire cast except maybe akihiko displays this much willingness to throw hands. and again the problem with determinant choices: what do the choices you didn't select mean? was it something kotone was thinking about but didn't do or an abstract method of building your own protagonist? we don't know.

i mentioned pq2 earlier, and my main issue with it is despite kotone being a fully written character, we dont get any more information you couldn't get from p3p or just by looking at her. yes, she's pretty and social and bubbly and fun but she's a little sad too! and now shes back to being fun. yes, you can put together that she's pushing her own emotions down to not burden the group (as it her role in p3p to help others shoulder their burdens) but we really don't see any of it past that one scene. meanwhile in p3p, especially with ryoji near the end of the game, she can say some fairly haunting stuff. like when she's asked what lovers talk about, all she can think of a depressing or (and this is the really worrying one) pointless things. what does that mean? what is kotone's definition of a pointless thing to talk about? it could well be she deems her own emotions as "pointless" because beyond these perhaps unintentionally revealing lines, she never ever talks about how she feels. like ever.

this makes it really important to me to have a very strong interpretation of kotone in order to accurately write her (i dont mean to insult anyone, but i am not a fan of works where her personality is not pulled from the text. i once read a fic where for no reason whatsoever she was portrayed as very immature and described as "childish" and it really did not make any sense to me). so here's my take:

i think kotone is a girl who has a very carefully crafted persona of cheerful indifference; not so much "i don't care", more so "i don't mind". she's clearly okay talking with people, but has no motivation to become close until she connects with SEES (whether because of the wild card ability urging her to do so, or if you're like me and writing an alternate timeline, a golden opportunity to make friends for once.) she is genuinely kind, friendly, and a good listener, that is not a mask; rather its the non-existence of negative emotion she seems to display, using her inherent selflessness to keep everyone at arms length, to make sure things are "about her" as little as possible. she shoulders the burdens of others to avoid talking about or dealing with what burdens her.

however, that negative emotion still absolutely exists: we know she was bounced from one foster home to another, signifying neglect or worse from the parents and/or because kotone was (or perceived as) doing something wrong. this rough childhood shows us the cracks in the mask, as she can be standoffish, depressed, angry, or outright violent towards those who wrong her or the ones she loves. she doesn't want to talk to and gives a nosy girl who just wants akihiko's secrets so she can date him attitude, she's more than happy to tell maiko's parents exactly what she thinks of them, makes at least one actively suicidal comment ("i wish i was dead..." when talking to junpei and yukari), and even attempts to kill takaya after defeating him in battle. the only reason she doesn't is because aigis asks her not to.

in short, her cheerful and energetic exterior is just armor to cover up her severe depression, anger issues, and an unwillingness to open up to others (whether because she doesn't want to be vulnerable, because she doesn't trust others with how she feels, or both).

anyway. this was just a very long-winded ramble. feel free to toss in what you think in the tags, comments, whatever. i honestly love talking about characters like this and am happy to discuss

[luxusdollhouse]

Its really interesting actually irt old au vs what we got now is that i had actually developed luxu a LOT more, originally what i was gonna do when i DID decide to start writing was i was gonna have two fics which is what we got now and then ANOTHER fic that was the same timeline wise but was from luxu’s POV and it also would’ve ended very abruptly on account of her. Yknow. Resting in peace. But i chucked that idea out of the window like a few chapters in (this fic is probably gonna be still going after I graduate because i take months to update and my chapters are slowly getting longer + i have no idea how many chapters im gonna write exactly . I do have the last 2 chapters fully written already tho (i write heavily out of order)) because it didn’t feel… appropriate? I think thats the correct word . Like i didnt wanna write that and no one needed to read that.

But bc of that i also chucked a lot of luxu’s character and now shes kinda like… half developed? But honestly im completely fine with that because it honestly works with the story, like her being so young when she disappeared and never getting to develop into her own person before everything happened so it works, like legit with my friend charlie we had a big characterization conversation irt gloria and then Luxu (if you wanna hear about gloria characterization stuff LET ME KNOW!!! Because it’s definitely not gonna be seen a lot in the fic) but I literally couldnt think about anything luxu would like or what she would do with her friends . Like she liked watching aced fix clocks and watches at the dinner table and playing board games and that was preeeetty much it, she didn’t have the chance to be ABLE to explore new hobbies yknow

Also there’s so much character STORY going on in the background that isn’t shown at all in the fic and so even tho im not gonna write the two parter fic anymore i AM gonna write little side stories for the fic because they’re important to me, especially Blaine’s like i wont say what his deal is (yet. I am currently writing the chapter where he’s introduced into the story so look out for that soon i’ve got a three day weekend coming up 👀 LMAO) but it is. Hough.

And even things im not gonna write about i still have developed! Like luxu’s familial history about her grandma being a holocaust survivor and freida and talia fleeing the iraq-kurdistan region to escape persecution and then talia being a field nurse and even eden!!! Eden being this very stubborn and strong willed woman during her youth and then being a factory woman during ww2 and dealing with raising children during it all and just how similar her and gloria TRULY ARE, even if Gloria would never in a million years admit that

I definitely have “over developing back stories” disease but i dont CARE its so interesting to think about all these stories and little histories and how that can influence someone who never even Went through that but their parents and grandparents and ancestors went through things and SURVIVED IT and now YOURE here!!!

OKAY. Sits in front of you . So no to me i dont think it veers to close into spoiler territory because it was SO different to what we have now so im okay with sharing :)

So originally this au was actually supposed to just be a personal art project bc when i first started having ideas for it i was having a lot of mento illness bc someone i knew was murdered + i was becoming interested in missing persons cases (kinda as a result? Not really) and i kept seeing all of these different cases where these kids just disappeared and were never seen again and to this day have never been found and it made me really sad like i wanted closure for their families so, as i do, i made a story about getting closure to cope with it

Something really funny about this au is that actually the very early stages of it were canon compliant, but somewhere along the line i changed it to be a mod au, then I changed it again to take place in the south in the 90s, but then i changed it to Missouri (my home state! I’m sure i’ve mentioned it before but Potosi is a real town in Missouri that i’ve visited multiple times and is an area i love, the creek that i mentioned luxu/gloria being dumped in is an actual creek called Breton Creek, here’s a photo of it! (Idk if i’ve mentioned it before, either, but Ira/Bia’s church is the Breton Creek Baptist Church, here’s their facebook page))

Another thing is that i originally didn’t have Ira doing all the silly bullshit that theyre doing now, i think i made an offhand joke about it to matt ONE time and i actually really liked the idea so i made it canon LMFAO, a lot of ira’s character came to me like that, i didnt think of them as being cajun until a bit in

Thats just SOME stuff about it but yeah i’ll bounce off you when you respond so i dont send like a 5+ paragraph essay about my au LMFAO (also the walmart iraced go to is real but i’ve never been to it sadly so thats an iraced landmark me and matt have to make the trek to)

I thought I remembered you saying something about the story originally be made to cope with things! Man, though, that sucks to have to go through; hopefully the story's helped with getting a little bit of closure, at least.

Oh, interesting that it used to be more canon-compliant! What were the original thoughts for how that'd play out? And were the ideas for the modern AU similar to what ended up actually being written or still pretty different?

Haha, characters...really are just like that sometimes. "Wait, that's what we're doing? ...Okay I guess that's what we're doing." Interesting that so much of Ira's character ended up being like that!

[insertmesoftly]

Reasons To Keep You Here (Yuri x AFAB Immigrant Reader Trying to Get a Visa) Part 1

I got this idea as I was messing around with the original concept I thought of with you being the Forger's neighbor. I feel this Y/N needs to be gendered, as the anime is set in an old timey period with very conservative views being a big part of the character conflicts given. So everyone regards you as a woman, but not one that fits the country's idealistic mold. Along with dressing mostly in gender-nonconforming ways and taking on jobs of any kind (including some that are considered masculine)-

You were not born there. While not from the opposing country they're at war with, Westalis, you came from a neighboring, smaller and poorer nation as a baby with your mother. Your mother managed to marry someone here. They've had other children and managed to live in some normalcy… except you’ve always stuck out and been slightly ostracized by your family.

You love your siblings, and would’ve stayed if only for them, but your step-father kicked you out of the house as soon as you turned 18, and you've been living alone since. It hasn't... been easy. Despite living there all your life, you’re still considered an 'outsider', so the only work you were able to find has been low paying jobs. You took anything and everything, leading to you gaining a lot of odd skills. Though you were always a good worker, you lack any real presence… and you never really reached out to people anyways. You haven’t had much luck making friends as your life continued.

Finally, you found an opportunity you couldn’t pass up. A job you can actually enjoy and do from home as an artist for Sunday paper cartoons. You use a masculine pen-name of course, the paper demanded it. You were worried at first about failing getting any attention, but to your surprise, your cartoon is mildly popular with kids.

So you’re content as is, even as you barely scrape by with rent being so high. The apartment is close to the editing office and its crime rate is low, making it worth it for you. Still… it has its downsides too. There's been moments where the neighbors have caught your bizarre outfits, things that people of your low background wouldn’t blink at, but with their middle class sensibilities… they have begun to talk.

An adult woman living alone and looking like that? There's something wrong with you. Not meddling with the neighbors, you stay blissfully unaware of the rumors spreading.

Hmm, perhaps you have been hitting a rough patch and were running out of ideas for your comic just as the Forger family moved next door. Though you would normally keep to yourself, a mix up with you trying to snoop around to get ideas has Anya take an interest in your line of work. Though your identity was meant to stay a secret, she quickly realized who you were. She’s a fan of your cartoon and has taken a passion to better her art skills as a way to get closer to Damian. So, she begins asking you for lessons and now you’ve been roped up with befriending her. Her mother, Yor, jumps in too, coming in for lessons sometimes just to talk to you. She’s so excited over the prospect of having a close female friend! And her father, Loid… is using this as an opportunity to seem 'more normal' to others and to use you as a babysitting service that’s much more reliable than Franky.

So, you are firmly stuck now as their solidified family friend. It’s been relatively alright, though you’ve had some confusing moments, you always chalked it up to your anxiety making you feel out of place and never that the Forgers are genuinely all weird people.

Enter Yuri. The way Yor always talked about him, you had the mental picture that he was smart, kind, soft. A sweetheart intellectual who would never hurt a fly. You remember all this as you hesitantly approach the figure sitting in front of the Forger's door with wilting flowers. He's been there for an hour.

You know he is Yor's brother by his features. It's unmistakable. Feeling a sense of duty as her friend, and a bit of sympathy, you approach him to tell him that the Forgers went on a cruise.

Yuri glares but asks when they're expected to be back. You crunch the numbers and suspect it'll probably be one more day. He gets up to leave and you offer to call him to let him know when they return. Yuri does not take the offer.

He thinks you are hitting on him, and making an obviously disgusted face, he tells you that you should pay more attention to your dressage rather than trying to meddle with the brothers of your neighbors. Your initial friendliness is immediately revoked and now you dislike the guy.

But the days go on and more adventures are had by the family out of public view. You have more run ins with Yuri. From him visiting as you were helping Yor with dinner, to run ins in the streets, you're both still not on friendly terms but he's grown more accustomed to you. It helps that he knows your entire life story with the background check he did on you. He knows you're an immigrant. With a new law passing, you'd probably be sent back soon anyways. It wasn't his concern. Until...

There's another day where he wasn’t informed of Yor having plans. He crashed the night of the couple's supposed monthly anniversary. Yuri is livid at first, drinking all their alcohol and planting his feet to stay and not let them have their romantic day but Yor is firm with her orders that night.

He is interrupting.

He needs to leave.

Yuri is... heartbroken by her tone. He stumbles out of the apartment in a daze. He's still standing outside the door ten minutes after they shut it. You were getting out to take the trash and nearly scream when you see his depressed, dark, and drunken figure. After calming yourself down, you can guess what's happened.

'Yor didn't tell you today was their anniversary?'

Yuri's shoulders slump a little more. You sighed but move to the way of the trash cans anyways. You're sympathetic to his plight, but you’re dealing with your own issues. With a new law being implemented, you’re going to have to marry someone soon to be able to stay in the country. Not even your work would vouch for you; they were already planning to lay you off if you didn't find someone soon. Their last words in their letter, 'It was about time you stopped anyways.'

.... a devious idea formed in your head. You dropped your garbage off. You return and he's still slumped on the wall between the doors. Instead of going inside, you sit beside him, nervous but desperate.

You know about his creepy obsession with his sister. You know about his disgust with other women. You've respected it and he's let you be. Now to put that trust to the test...

Yuri, even inebriated, could sense something was coming, and he hardened his face on instinct. He looked you dead in the eye.

'What do you want?'

Your breath is shaky. 'I need help...'

'And?'

You take a gulp. You work your nerves to be courageous. And you finally tell him. 'I have a deal for you… if you're interested.'

~

He has to find you a husband.

What. The hell.

Getting up the next day had been a challenge, but the hardest part of his morning came as he finally recalled the deal in the middle of a work meeting. Now he had a throbbing headache AND regrets distracting him. Getting up from his chair as the briefing was over, Yuri curses the alcohol he consumed.

It deceived him into taking the deal. He always wanted to know more about his sister... to have a tighter hold on her schedule... but the morality. The possible disappointment from his sister. It always stopped him before. He was able to hold off his curiosity with just the occasional check ups. With casually asking his friends to keep an eye on her… It used to be enough. But maybe it isn’t anymore. He feels desperate as he sees Yor changing into someone he couldn't recognize anymore.

It had been too tempting. And the deal seemed... simple.

You are young. There'd be plenty of older men looking for a wife... this could be easy!

.... except that his reassuring himself was immediately interrupted. You called him at work to 'make sure it was the right number.' You’ve added conditions to who it could be. Now you were beginning to annoy him. They couldn't exceed an age. They had to be employed. He should probably check their criminal record too... and their temperament. Basically-

You ordered him to find someone he'd let his sister be in the same room with.

That. Was a tall order.

... it would be easier to revoke this deal. It didn't have to be you that did the spying. He could easily deport you and find a replacement neighbor for his beloved sister to befriend. Someone more worthy...

He mulled all this over as he finished work and went back to Yor’s house with gifts to apologize. Yor greeted him warmly and accepted the gifts, inviting him to dinner to make up for yesterday. Yuri was excited as always to try her cooking, but today it was something new.

... It’s a recipe you taught her. Yor is excited as she recounted how patient you were with her. She felt so lucky to finally have a friend like you… The warmth in her tone makes him stop the thoughts he previously had. She's endeared to you in a way he hasn't seen before. She considers you so close...

... she would cry if you left. He can’t let you be deported.

Stupidly, he resolves himself to his fate. He knocks on your door after his visit to his sister. You open it, and though you were surprised at first, you quickly flashed him a smile. You both negotiated the terms better and agreed to have more visits in the future. Thus begins an awful partnership for survival and love.

Part 2: HERE

[serendipitous-magic]

What is your writing advice for young people who want to write fanfiction and original stories in the near future?

If this is just Way Too Much, skip to the end (#16). My most important piece of advice is there. I also happen to think #5 is pretty good.

-_-_-_-

1) Literally just write. Write whatever you want, and do a lot of it.

_-_

2) You don’t have to post everything. In fact you don’t have to post anything. You can, don’t get me wrong, but it can be intimidating to sit down and think “I will now write something that other people will see and read and judge with their eyeballs.” Because that’s probably gonna lead to nerves and writer's block. Just write down the ideas that you have, the things you want to write, whatever’s in your brain that you want to explore and expand upon and make into something. And then if you want to, share it. Or don’t share it. I have plenty of half-baked ideas and documents and random story chapters and shit hidden away on my Google Drive that will never see the light of day, for a whole number of reasons. I wanted to write it but it wasn’t ~Spicy~ enough to warrant posting, or it’s only like an eighth of a good idea, or it’s like one scene with no story around it, or it’s just something incredibly self-indulgent I just wanted to write for my own enjoyment.

Point being, don’t write for other people. Don’t write so that other people can read it; write what you want, write for yourself, and then if you want to share it, do.

_-_

3) You can pretty much ignore any and all of these for fanfiction. In fact, you can ignore pretty much any rules or guidelines you want for fanfiction. Fanfic is a sandbox. You don’t have to be a “professional writer” to post fic. No one expects you to be Stephen King or Margaret Atwood. Fanfic is just for playing in a fandom and having fun. If you wanna write a 50 chapter slow burn with very little plot aside from the OTP slowly getting to know each other, and no real stakes or central conflict, I guarantee people would read that. Really, fanfiction is the Old West of writing: lawless, wild, unpredictable, and free.

However, here are the rules you must follow:

-Separate your paragraphs. (I’m sure you know this already, but I’m gonna say it anyway just in case.) Do not post one big block of text. Make a paragraph break when someone new is talking, when the characters are in a new place, when a new event occurs that changes the scene, when a chunk of time has passed, and when there’s a major change in subject.

-I know it’s obvious, but... grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. They exist to make writing easy for readers to read, and more people will read your stuff if they don’t have to stop and try to figure out what you meant.

-Use tags and labels, as is possible with whatever site you’re using. Especially if you include possibly triggering content in your story. Again, I know it’s obvious, but it’s common courtesy. Bonus: tagging the themes and content of your story helps readers find it and read it :)

-If possible, limit the use of all-caps and exclamation marks / question marks. 99% of the time, one ! or one ? will do. If you overload the page with a lot of all-caps and long rows of exclamation marks or question marks, it hampers readability.

... That’s literally all I can think of. And, like I said, it’s all pretty basic stuff. You were probably rolling your eyes like, “Uh, yeah, Gwen, I know.” But that’s literally it. You can pretty much do whatever you want in fanfic.

That being said, here’s my advice for both fanfiction and original work...

_-_

4) A quick and dirty rule for coming up with a plot, starting a story, keeping up pacing, or maintaining tension: figure out what dreams, desires, and goals are nearest and dearest to your main character’s heart (see #16). Then set up the main conflict to be directly in opposition to that goal. It doesn’t have to be in a tangible way, though it could be. But, if your main character wants more than anything to reach the ships on the southern coast of your world and sail to a new life, make sure the main conflict immediately prevents them from doing that - in fact, make sure to send them north. If your main character just wants to keep their loved ones safe, kidnap the loved ones. If your main character just wants to date their best-friend-turned-crush, make sure they think they have no chance - or, make them cocky about it, and make sure it makes Person B determined not to ever like them. You get it. Figure out what your character most wants, and then keep them from having that. Boom - your conflict now ties in with your character's motivation. It's like instant yeast for plots.

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5) If you’re anything like me, you want your first draft to be Good, despite all that advice about how the first draft doesn’t have to be good and it’s just to get words on the page, yadda yadda. And if you’re somewhat of a perfectionist (like myself), it’s easy to get stuck looking at a blank page because you don’t have The Perfect Words, and you want what you write to be Good the first time.

Here’s how I cheat that:

Instead of trying to write a Good First Draft from a blank page, hit the enter key a few times, skip a little down on the page, change your ink to red (or blue, or whatever - just something immediately identifiable as Not Black) and just thought vomit. Write whatever the hell you’re thinking, exactly as you think it. Don’t worry about it being readable, don’t worry about narrative flow for now, don’t worry about covering all the details, don’t worry about anything except either a) getting all the details of your idea out onto the page, whether that’s a lot or whether it’s just a sentence or two, or b) if you don’t have an idea yet, finding your way there.

Because this method is also very good for finding your way to ideas when you’re stuck in writer’s block.

Because of how human brains work, getting this stuff out onto the page - in all its messy, stream-of-consciousness glory - will likely spark more thoughts. As you write your original idea about the scene, it’ll likely spark more ideas. Creation begets creation. If you just start thought-vomiting your ideas onto the page, chances are you’ll think of more things as you go, and you’ll start filling out description or dialogue or tone or action or whatever, and pretty soon the scene starts writing itself.

Not sure where you’re going with the scene or which ideas you wanna use? Use a lot of ambivalent language in your “thought-vomit draft.” My pre-writing notes are chock-full of the words “maybe,” “perhaps,” and the phrases, “At some point...” and “...or something like that.” In this way, I don’t tie myself down to one idea; it’s just an idea, and I’m keeping it on the page in case I use it, but I might chuck it in the trash or change it or whatever.

And then, once your ideas for the scene (or story, or chapter, or whatever) are on the page, then go back to the top and start translating them into a “real” first draft. Use black ink, and start copy-pasting chunks of the thought-vomit up into the top part of the document and translating them into Draft 1. Separate out paragraphs where paragraph breaks should be. Add the correct punctuation and whatnot. Change “describe the lobby here - include potted plants, fancy carpet, blood stain, etc.” into an actual description of the lobby. Flesh it out, or condense, or whatever it needs. And if you’re still stuck, change back to red ink and ramble some more until you find a path that feels right, then plug that in. This keeps you from looking at a blank page, and it allows you to generate a kind of Draft 0.5, somewhere between a plan and a first draft.

You don’t have to use every idea. Like I said, jot down whatever comes to mind, put a “maybe” before or after it, and keep working. If the idea grabs you and you wanna keep expanding on it and exploring it, cool. If you just wanna jot it down so you don’t forget it and then move on, also cool. Red-ink draft / “thought-vomit draft” is your time to jump around in the timeline, add or finesse details at whatever point your brain moves to, etc. Don’t try to do it exactly in story order, because you will get tangential thoughts and ideas, and you will not remember to write them down five pages later when you finally get to taking notes on that scene. Trust me. On that note...

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6) Write everything down the moment you think of it. Seriously.

“I’ll remember it when I get around to writing that scene in a couple days / weeks / months (/years).”

You won’t.

Write it down.

Phone, journal, google docs - hell, my family regularly laughs at me for grabbing a napkin during dinner and scribbling thoughts down alongside pasta sauce stains.

And then, once you have it written down somewhere...

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7) Consolidate your writing ideas in one place.

Maybe this isn’t really your style, and that’s totally chill.

Buuuut, if you’re Type-A like me - or if you tend to be somewhat unorganized and you know you’ll lose track of your writing notes if they’re scattered across multiple notebooks, journals, napkins, phone notes, etc. - having one consolidated document of notes is a life saver. I keep mine on Google Docs so I can access it, add to it, and look through it for inspiration anywhere at any time. When I have one of those Shower Thoughts that I jot down on my phone or on a napkin during dinner, I set myself a reminder on my phone to type it up in my Story Ideas document later.

(Or, if the idea I had was for a story of mine that I’ve already started planning / drafting / whatever, I put it in the document for that story instead of the Big Random Story Ideas doc. You get it.)

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8) Have other ways to collect and save writing ideas, besides just writing stuff down. If you like Pinterest, make pinterest boards of your characters or stories or settings or whatever. If you’re big into playlists, make a playlist for your character / setting / story / etc. Or both. Or something else. I’m not good at drawing, but maybe you are, and maybe you like to draw your ideas. Whatever form it takes, having another way to save ideas and think about your stories is invaluable.

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9) Some writers can just start writing with no idea where the story is going, and they just kind of figure it out as they go. I envy those writers. And I do that sometimes for fanfiction, where the stakes are somewhat lower and the audience is reading more for scene-to-scene enjoyment (and to see their OTP kiss) than for a Driving And Compelling Narrative.

But here’s the thing: especially if you’re just kind of starting out, writing without some sort of plan is really, really hard, and will likely lead you into a slow, meandering narrative that will likely frustrate you.

Even if you think you’re someone that just can’t write with a plan (and again, I have the highest respect for pansters out there - I don’t know how you do it, you crazy bastards, but you keep doing you) - even if you think “I can’t work with plans, they’re too prescriptive, I just want to write and see what happens -”

Try at least making the most skeletal of plans.

Even if you have no clue what 90% of the story is, yet. That’s fine. But you need to have some idea of what you’re building to, even if that’s nothing more specific than a feeling, or a turning point for your character. Even if your entire plan for everything beyond Chapter 1 is, “At some point, Charlie needs to realize that Ed was lying to her.”

This is where those Draft 0.5 notes come in handy. Because, more than likely, working on your current scene that way will spark ideas for later scenes, which you can put down at the bottom of the document and save for when they become relevant. In my experience, the line between planning ahead and making a Draft 0.5 is exceptionally thin. One can quickly turn into the other.

If you’re really, really resistant to the idea of planning ahead, that’s okay. It’s not everybody’s style. But for the love of all that is holy, write down your ideas for future scenes, even if you’re a person that doesn’t like to plan and writes only in story order, because you will not remember that idea once you get to that scene.

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10) You don’t have to write in order.

Here’s the thing: I’m a person that can only do my Draft 1 in story order (meaning, chronological order). I just have to be in that flow; I need to write in story order for me to best channel where the character is at from scene to scene, both narratively and emotionally.

But my Thought Vomit Draft is another thing entirely. By using the brain hack of putting my notes in red (or another color, it doesn’t matter) and going down to the bottom of the document / page and taking notes there, and then integrating them into whatever plan I have, and then translating them into Draft 1 once I get there in the story - by doing that, I can get my good ideas onto the page (and expound upon them and let my muse carry me and ride that momentum while I’m in the moment of inspiration) without writing out of order.

Maybe that’s just me. But if you’re a person who really prefers to write in story order, that could be hugely helpful to you. It is to me.

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11) Emotion and motivation will do more for your story than technicalities of plot.

If your characters really care about something, and their journey through the (shaky or weak) plot is emotionally engaging, it will be a much more compelling story than a story with a “perfect” plot and unrelatable or unmotivated characters.

If your characters care about what they’re doing, and it means something to them, and their goals and actions are driven by dreams or fears or emotions that are integral to who they are, your audience will care too. If you have a perfectly crafted plot that hits all the right beats and has high stakes and fast pacing and drama - but your characters don’t connect with what’s happening in a way that’s deeply meaningful or emotional for them? You’re gonna have a hard time engaging readers.

When in doubt, prioritize character emotion and motivation over plot. Emotion is what drives story.

This power is highly exploitable. (Just look at pulp novels and shitty but entertaining movies.) You can even use it to glaze over plot holes or reinvigorate a limp narrative. Use it that way sparingly, though. It’s a band-aid, not a surgery. 

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12) Evil villains are hard to write - mostly because there are very few truly evil people in the world. (There are a few. Billionaires and several big name politicians come to mind.) But by and large, there aren’t that many evil people. There are plenty of bad people, but bad people have some good in them, somewhere in there. Trying to write an evil villain is hard, because they often turn very cartoony.

Here’s a tip: it’s much easier to write antagonists who aren’t evil. Even if they’re bad people. Of course, there’s no reason you can’t write a villain that’s just truly evil - a serial killer, or an abuser, or a billionaire, or someone who legit just wants to hurt people or blow up the earth or stay in control of an oppressed population, or whatever. But chances are, it’s gonna be really hard to make them feel real, and even harder to create a plot around them that doesn’t feel forced or contrived.

Instead, try writing an antagonist / villain whose motivations and goals directly clash with your protagonist’s - but not because they want to take over the world or see people suffer. Write an antagonist who’s chaotic good, but whose perception of the situation is completely opposite from your hero’s. Write an antagonist whose only desire is to save people, and who will do anything to achieve that goal - anything. Write an antagonist who believes in the letter of the law, and will hinder and oppose the hero’s methods even if they agree with the hero’s motivation. Write an antagonist who got in way over their head and did some things they regret, and now they don’t know how to get out, and they’re doing their best but whatever they set in motion is too powerful for them to stop now.

Write villains who are human. Write a killer who thought they were doing the right thing by taking their victim out of the equation, who vomits at the sight of the body and sobs over the grave they dig. Write a government leader who truly believes she’s doing what’s best for her people in the long-term, even if it might hurt them in the short term, and is willing to endure the hatred and belligerence of the masses if it means securing what she thinks is a better future for her people. Write a teenage bully that thinks they’re the one being picked on by the world, and they’re just fighting back, standing their ground. Write a scientist who will break any code of ethics and hurt anyone he needs to - in order to bring back his baby sister from the grave, because he promised her he’d protect her and he failed. Write an antagonist who is selfish and self-centered and capricious - because in order to survive they had to look out for Number One, and that habit ain’t about to break anytime soon.

Write villains who aren’t even villains. Write antagonists who oppose the hero because of moral differences. Write antagonists who are trying to do the right thing. Write antagonists who treat the heroes with kindness and dignity and respect and gentleness.

They don’t have to be good. They don’t have to be Misunderstood Sweethearts who “deserve” a redemption arc. They can be cruel and nasty and dismissive and callous and violent and etc. etc.

Just hesitate before you make them Evil-with-a-capital-E. Because evil is hard to write, and honestly, boring to read. Flawed human beings with goals and motivations that directly oppose the main characters’ are much easier to write and much more interesting to read.

Ask why. Why is your villain trying to take over the world? What does that even mean? Are they trying to create a Star-Trek-like post-capitalism utopia, but they know that won’t happen in a million lifetimes, so they’re trying to do it by force? Are they actually super in favor of human rights, but they got very impatient waiting for the world to do anything about poverty and war, so they decided to take it into their own hands? Are they determined to fix the world - no matter the cost? Are they terrified and overwhelmed, but committed to see it through to the end? Or - maybe they’re just doing it on a dare. Maybe they don’t really give a shit about world domination, they were just a mediocre rich white guy who decided to fuck around and find out, and now he’s kind of curious how far he can take this thing. And now he’s kind of an internationally-wanted criminal, so he’s kind of stuck living on his hidden private island in his multi-billion dollar secret base, strapping lasers to sharks’ heads for the hell of it. Gross, selfish, uncaring, and dangerous? For sure. Evil? Depends on your definition. See, now we’re getting somewhere.

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13) It’s tempting to let the plot control the characters. It’s easy to drop your characters into a situation and see how they react. But here’s the thing: that doesn’t drive plot. In fact, it bogs down pacing. Instead, try to build you plot off of your characters’ actions and decisions. Let your character build their own situation. Not to say it should go they way they wanted it to go; in fact, usually, their grand plans should go to hell very quickly. But having the characters take action and make decisions, and letting the plot develop based on that, is much easier to make compelling than making a rigid series of events and then trying to herd your characters into them.

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14) Having trouble justifying a character’s actions? Consider having them make the opposite decision, or having them approach the situation in a different way. For example: you need your character to go meet the bad guy, for plot reasons, even though there’s no way it’s not a trap. If the character goes, readers are gonna be groaning with their head in their hands, because c’mon man, that was really fucking stupid. But he’s gotta go, because the plot needs that. Two ways you might handle this: a) He knows it’s probably a trap. He decides not to go. The plot conspires to get him near the villain anyway. Or, b) He knows it’s a trap. But he needs to go, for (insert reasons here). So, he approaches it in an unexpected way. He brings backup, recruiting a side character we met earlier in the story. Or he arrives on the back of a dragon, because ain’t nobody gonna fuck with a dude on a dragon. Or he goes - early, and ambushes the villain. It may work, it may not. He may get himself kidnapped anyway. But it moves the plot along without having Stupid Hero Syndrome.

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15) This is a legit piece of advice: if all of this sounds overwhelming, literally just ignore it and write what you want. For real. Writing should be fun, and every single writer operates differently. If you’re sitting here like “I’m getting stressed just reading this,” just flip me a good-natured bird and get on with your life. I promise I won’t take it personally. Same goes for literally any other writing advice you see. Lots of rules and guidelines can very quickly make anything thoroughly un-fun. Just write. If you’re passionate about it and you do it for long enough, you’ll start figuring out the tips and tricks on your own.

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16) Here’s the best piece of advice I can give you: know your characters. More importantly, know what’s important to them. Build their personality and decisions off of that, and build your plot off of their decisions.

I see a lot of character building sheets that ask a shit-ton of questions like “What’s their most prized possession?” “Do they like their family?” “What’s their favorite food?”

And while these are good questions, my problem with this type of character building is that if you start there, with the little stuff, you’re building on nothing. IMO, to make a truly strong character (not strong like Inner Strength, strong like effective), you need a strong foundation.

Here are the things you must know about your character:

a) What are their greatest fears / deepest insecurities? And I don’t mean “wasps” or “heights.” I mean the deep shit. I mean fears like “living a meaningless life,” or “turning out just like their parents,” or “that no one will ever love them,” or “being powerless.” You may say, “But they’re really scared of wasps! They fall into a wasp nest when they were little and got stung so much they almost died!” Great! That’s a fantastic bit of backstory. They should absolutely be afraid of wasps, and that should absolutely be an impediment later in the story. But dig deeper. What about that event actually scarred them? Was it the helplessness? Stumbling around, swatting at the air, not being able to do a single thing to stop what was happening to them? Was it that they were alone, and no matter how loud they screamed, no one was coming? Was it the bodily horror of feeling themself turn into an inhuman creature as they swelled up from the stings, unable to move their fingers or face normally anymore?

And don’t forget insecurities, because those factor in, too. Are they deeply insecure about their identity? Do they believe, deep down, that they’re ugly? Did they grow up poor and they’ve always been really touchy about that? Why? Dig deep. Figure out what really, really bothers them.

b) What are their hopes and dreams? What do they truly want out of life? What do they consider the most valuable to their experience here in this thing called life? Is it the freedom to forge their own path and be independent? Is it the approval of their family or peers? Is it a home? Is it knowledge, or understanding? Spiritual fulfillment? Is it deeply important to them that they contribute to their community, or protect those they love? What do they need in order to feel truly and deeply fulfilled in life?

Figure out those two things (each one encompasses several things, btw, you don’t have to stop at just one for each), and then use that to inform how they behave and the types of decisions they make within the story. 

It also informs character behavior and personality. 

Let’s say we have a character who’s afraid of helplessness. They’re probably gonna be the person that always wants to do something, try something, no matter how hopeless the situation seems. They’d despise just sitting and waiting, probably, because it makes them feel powerless. They might even be the person that makes rash decisions and acts impulsively and puts themself in danger unnecessarily, because in their mind it’s better than being at the mercy of fate. This is one way you could use a character’s personality to inform their decisions, which in turn helps to inform plot.

Or, let’s say we have a character whose greatest fear is being left behind or forgotten. We may have a chatterbox on our hands. They might be obnoxious. They might love the spotlight, constantly vying for attention no matter the situation, because deep down they’re so afraid that they’d be forgotten otherwise. Or, it may go the opposite way. They may be so afraid of people leaving them that they’re terrified of bothering people. They don’t want to do anything that could annoy people, anything that might give people a reason to leave them. They might be exceedingly polite, quiet, accommodating. A push-over, really.

These are two nearly opposite types of personalities, both stemming from the same core fear/insecurity. You can go a lot of different ways with it. But if you build on that strong foundation, you’ll have a strong character, and a stronger plot.

Likewise, the structure of your story can and should inform the design of these character traits. If you need your characters to team up near the end, it may be impactful if you give your main character a deep fear of commitment, an insecurity about being unwanted or left behind, and make them highly value independence and freedom. That could make their team-up for the final battle very meaningful. Conversely, you can use your character’s deepest fears and desires to help design the plot. Is your character deeply insecure about voicing their opinions or taking a stand, because of trauma they faced in the past? Make them face that. Build that into the climactic third act. Give them the big inspirational speech where they stand up and talk about what they believe to be important, what they think the group should do. And then design that character arc to run through the story, giving you more handholds and stepping stones, more pieces of foundation on which to design the plot.

In this way, character should inform story as much as story informs character. It’s a feedback loop.

Bonus: if you build your character and your plot off of each other in this way, it automatically starts to build in the foundations of that emotional investment I mentioned earlier. If your character’s decisions are based on what they most want and do not want in life, you basically have your character motivation and stakes pre-built.

Note: you need to know these things about your villain, too.

-_-_-

I’m genuinely sorry about the length of this, lmao. But you did ask.

Best of luck!

Edit: I forgot an important one:

17) Start when the scene starts and end when the scene ends.

What do I mean by that?

If your notes say “Danny asks Nicole out after school and majorly flubs it,” start the scene when Danny approaches Nicole after school. Better yet, cold-open the scene on “I was wondering if, you know, you’d wanna. You know. Hang out some time?”

Don’t start that morning when Danny goes to school, unless you’re gonna cover the school day in like one or two sentences. Don’t spend whole paragraphs going through the school day, unless it’s to cover other plot points first (in which case apply these same guidelines there), or if the paragraphs are there for a specific reason, like to illustrate how stressed he is and how it seems like every little thing is going wrong. Even then, trim the fat as much as possible. Expounding and describing everything Moment-to-moment is for the meat of the scenes, not the leading-up-to and coming-away-from.

Here’s my rule of thumb: study how and when movies cut from scene to scene. Movies have exceptionally strict, limited time for storytelling; they’re excellent examples of starting a scene when the plot point starts and ending when it’s over. If you can’t picture a movie showing everything you showed, start the scene later and end it earlier.

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Ask Answers: April 13th, 2021

And we’re back again with more replies so soon, haha. Thank you for the asks!

Your game literally saved me this hell ass year. Thank you so much for the most perfect piece of art I've ever laid eyes on 😫 ... Do you guys have a rough idea when step 3 DLC will be released? I hope I'm not coming off as rude. I just really really love your game.

I’m sorry for the late reply on this! You might’ve already seen the answer by now, but the Step 3 DLC is coming out on the 16th. We’re almost there :D

This may be a silly question but did Jeremy's parents ever find out that Pran had lied about his age and if so, when/how? :3

Pran came clean to them after a couple of years, when he felt secure enough that it wouldn’t ruin the relationship. The Kings were a little embarrassed, the dad more than the mom, but they’re quite good at brushing past those kind of mistakes so it was all water under the bridge pretty fast.

hi! i know you’ve answered a question about alterations in the our life moments by playing them in different orders, but i was wondering if there was a canon order that the moments for each step happen in? i figure with such a customizable game the “canon” timeline for the moments is whatever order the player completes them in, for example in step 1, i like playing the runaway moment pretty early, since cove trying to run away early in summer makes more sense to me personally. thanks!

Yeah, there’s no canon order we’d insist on. Whatever you like can be the official route for you! And that’s a neat way to look at that event.

What if your character isn’t that into physical contact but still wants to be in a relationship with Cove? Would he be offended if you shy away or something along those lines?

He wouldn’t be. Cove knows how hard that can be and is very understanding. If you set his initiative to low, the game always checks to make sure if you want to be touched or not rather than assuming that you do. And if you do choose that you don’t want to, there’s no stress or drama about it. Cove will just say that’s okay!

Hellu! First off, I want to thank you all for such a wonderful game, it's been the best feel-good game I've ever stumbled upon and I can't express enough how much it has meant to me. Second, I've seen lots of people having trouble with making Cove confess before MC which makes me wonder if people will have the same problem in the dlc when you can propose to him. Is it possible to post a guide for that as well when it no longer could count as a spoiler? Again, thanks for such a beautiful game <3

I’m really happy you had such a nice time with it c:. We’ll answer questions about it on tumblr/in the discord if they come up and, if need be, we’ll find somewhere to upload a guide.

Do we get steam key from buying dlc on itch io?

I’m afraid not. That’d be unfair to those who get it on Steam. Plus, Steam isn’t super cool with giving out thousands of keys to be handed out for free on other sites anymore. They can refuse to give us the keys if they feel we’re trying to take advantage of their system.

hi! so if we reject cove's confession in step 3, can we still have MC and cove get together in step 4?

You can confess to him, yeah. But Cove won’t ever try confessing again if the MC turns him down in Step 3.

What if MC acts like someone Cove doesn't like, like Lizzie or Baxter lol

You can’t do what Lizzie or Baxter does to make Cove dislike them. You can play the game and try, but it doesn’t work out. The MC is just too compatible with Cove if you’re fond/crush/love, haha.

Hi! I absolutely love your game, I love the characters they’re all so amazing, thank you for the game haha

I was wondering if you would get the NSFW DLC no matter what Patreon level you were at, or if you would could get it at any level? :)

&

What pateron tier do we need to get the 18+ content for Our Life? It's my new favourite game, keep up the good work!

It will eventually be available at the $5 tier and anything above that! Glad you both like OL ^^

On a scale from 1 (being the worst) to 10, how well do the XOXO jerk squad including JB handle horror?

JB: 8

Everett: 5

Nate: 4

Shiloh: 10

Bae: 10

Jeremy: 8 for non-gore horror, 2 for gory horror

Pran: 9

hello!! i was wondering if any of the boys from the Jerksquad would ever wear a skirt/dress?

None of them wear skirts/dresses out of personal preference. But if there was some kind of reason where they had to do it, none would be that bothered.

How does the jerk squad feel about Christmas? 

Everett: He fucking loves it. That’s the best time of year.

Nate: Commercialized nonsense.

Shiloh: It’s wonderful! So he claims.

Bae: He likes it quite a bit, but only for the joy it brings children/family. He thinks that’s sweet but is too mature to be whipped up into a festive fervor himself.

Jeremy: It’s awful.

Pran: He hates it.

does cove have any pet allergies? yes I know this is a little weirdly specific

He doesn’t! The lucky boy isn’t allergic to any animal.

Very important question: Would Lee and a musical-theatre loving MC run around belting Into The Unknown from Frozen 2? Because I feel that they would 

Probably, haha.

This might seem like a dumb question, so I’m sorry, but with the Derek DLC are we gonna get to hang out with him in person instead of just calling him in step 3? 

The Derek DLC adds events in Step 2 and Step 4. It’s part of his story that you don’t really get to be around him in Step 3. But you don’t need to apologize for wondering!

hello! i'd like to ask if it's possible to play the android version of the game with the dlcs after buying the dlcs from steam. i wasn't expecting my android version to have my dlcs since i bought them from steam, but it had my step 2 dlc for some reason. is this a glitch or does the apk actually detect what dlcs you already have on your pc? if so, how come i don't have the step 1 dlc appearing on android? thanks!

That is some kind of glitch. It isn’t possible for the Android DLCs to be unlocked by having them on PC. Maybe in one of the old builds we accidentally didn’t lock the Step 2 DLC properly. Sorry for the confusion!

Does Derek and Baxter have canon sexualities? Will Derek still flirts with the MC regardless of their gender?

They’re both pansexual and can like the MC regardless of what gender they have.

I was wondering if Miranda had a crush on Cove in Step 3? I'm not sure why, but I got those vibes from her?

She thinks of him only as a friend. Cove isn’t her type, haha.

This is probably a dumb hope, but I hope Cliff find someone he loves after Cove is grown up and everything. Or at the very least he has someone he's very close with after Cove leaves. 

That’s a really sweet thought to have. Cliff stays single, but he’s graysexual and not-particularly romantically inclined. He only dated when he was really young ‘cause that’s what everyone did. Family and friend relationships are more important to him, and he has plenty of that in his life ^^.

Heya! I was curious if there might be a nickname system in N&F? I kind of pull an Elizabeth when I play and choose a different variation of a name like having Rosie in step one and changing it to Rose in step two, then maybe Rosetta in step three for example, but it also feels a little bit odd being scolded using my nickname hehe. That's all I was wondering about, thank you for your time and the wonderful games!

We are hoping to include the option to go by a nickname in Our Life: Now & Forever. But nothing has been programmed yet, so we can’t 100% guarantee it, haha.

Just curious, what would Liz's and Cove's relationship be if MC wasn't around? I feel like they wouldn't get along as well as they do now, especially during the first and second step 

They’d definitely have a lot of friction growing up and they’d likely avoid each other as much as possible. Once they were both older, I imagine they’d be decent neighbor acquaintances. But they still wouldn’t be nearly as close as they are with the MC bringing Cove into things.

What do the customizable eyes look like in the game? Do they look as they are in the creating avatar section? Or do they look different when actually playing the game?

That’s up to you! The doll is just meant to be a general idea. You can apply it to your imagined MC as much or as little as you prefer.

Did Cove go through a "phase" during his adolescence? I don't really wanna headcanon it so I wonder if there's anything (cringy) canon since we missed out on the ages of 14-17 hahaha

Not really, aha. 14-17 Cove is pretty recognizable to his 13 and 18 year old self.

Hello! I'm sorry to bother you, especially with all the messages you get. I was just wondering if the religious wedding venue was exclusive to a church or if there will be different religions of weddings? Also, I love this VN so much, it's so well written and every character is so amazing, thank you for making such a beautiful game.

The church is treated as a historic building rather than anything actively religious, but it’s not the only option like that. There’s a historic synagogue and stuff too! And that’s really nice of you to say <3.

How differently would it play out If MC told their moms about the 20$ deal back when it happened? 

They wouldn’t have been happy and would’ve been far more skeptical of Cliff, aha. But they wouldn’t want to keep Cove away from the MC, so it wouldn’t have been too different in the long run.  

Hello may I ask what Cove's favorite fudge/ice cream flavor would be? Its alright if its not answered 

He appreciates them all, but his top favorites would be the fruit flavored ones and the ones with nuts.

Hi! I really wanted to make mc's house in a game and tried really hard to figure out the floor plan, but I wondered if you have the floor plan of the mc's house so that i can try again with more accuracy?

Thank you a lot for this game, i loved it a lot! (my first play took me 8 hours lol)

I’m really sorry, we don’t have anything like that. But at least you can headcanon that what you did is correct and nothing can prove it wrong, haha.

Hello,I recently started playing lake of voices (I put it off for a long while since I’m usually not very good with horror) and I’m really happy I did!I’m a big fan of your games in general and lake of voices was absolutely great as well.I loved the characters and the dark setting of it,I adored the beautiful art and music and the story was great too,sometimes unsettling and sometimes very sweet.My favorite Route in the game was definitely Lu,I liked his character and was really shocked and distraught by his Route at least two times.I didn’t see the plot twist(s) coming at all!

Besides these ramblings I’ve also wanted to ask if you still remember how to get the lower two CGs on page 5?I seem to always miss them and would appreciate any help.Anyways I hope I wasn’t too much of a bother and I wish the devs a great day!:)

Thank you for all the kind words <3. You get those DLCs by going through the end of the Guide’s character path. You can use the guides on Steam to help you find it/reach the end!

—– —– —– —–

Thank you again for all of these questions :D

We released a new FAQ! It answers common questions and we’ll keep adding more to it. Please check there before sending an ask. FAQ   Also, if you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

[autisticsupervillain]

Judicious Reaper AU

Hiveswap/Death Note Crossover

Tyzias Entykk is going heading home for the night when she stumbles across a strange black book on the ground. She picks it up and reads the five rules, written in plain Alternian.

The troll whose name is written in this note shall die.

This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.

If the cause of death is written within the next 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen.

If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.

After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

She shrugs it off and stuffs the "Death Note" into her bag, figuring it's just some weeb thing that Tegiri dropped and she could return it to him tomorrow.

Later that night, she finds herself mulling over the Death Note with the TV on in the background, wondering what it could be from. Tegiri's never been shy about his interests, so it does strike her as odd that she's never heard him mention it. It's not like it could be new either, as Tegiri would've bragged about his new notebook the first chance he got. Just as Tyzias resolves to look it up, Trizza appears on the TV screen.

Trizza subjects her audience to another one of her narcissistic tyraids about how much better she is than everyone else and how she's definitely the rightful Empress. Tyzias, already tired from a long night of work and throughly fed up with Alternia's bullshit for that night, decides to write Trizza's name in the Death Note. Just as Tyzias dryly remarks to herself that "i wwwwish it wwwwas that easy", Trizza drops dead on stage. Tyzias drops her mug in shock.

Alternia is sent reeling on the inexplicable death of its Heiress and Tyzias is left staring mortified at the Death Note in her hands. She quickly throws the book in the trash and resolves to try and get to bed early that day, knowing she'll have a long night of work tomorrow. She doesn't get much sleep that night.

Predictably, Alternia has descended into absolute chaos by the time Tyzias wakes up. Trizza's death has inspired the rebellion to be more overt and violent, actively organizing raids and invasions while highblooded rebels like Fiamat try and seize control of the power vacuum. This leaves Tyzias swimming in so much paperwork that she barely has time to even think about the Death Note in between tending to the emotional needs of a shocked and confused Stelsa and trying to get her work done on time.

In the coming weeks, the Purples and Violets loyal to the Empire begrudgingly unite to try and get a handle on things. Chahut is elected as a stand-in heiress, as she's the only one persuasive enough to convince the castes to work together for the time being. Marvus, however, has a different reaction.

He knows for a fact that Trizza didn't just die. The Messiahs gave him the script, told him how everything was supposed to play out, and Trizza was much to important to drop dead. She was assassinated, she had to be. It was the only rational explanation, even if he didn't understand how just yet. His only choice was to find this assassin and play damage control to try and correct this timeline. Part of him knew that was impossible, that they'd gone so wildly off script that their timeline was doomed now, but that's what made the challenge so appealing.

It's only when her work load had died down several weeks later that Tyzias thinks to pull the Death Note out of the garbage. That's when she found Ryuk standing over her. After she panics and tosses her mug through his head, Ryuk laughs and intoduces himself.

He explains to her what he and the Death Note are and why he dropped it on Alternia. Sure, Ryuk is typically supposed to be one of Earth's shinigami, he's had a lot of trouble finding good entertainment sense "that Light kid died" and figured a more bloodthirsty species could provide it.

"You, however, seem to be an exception to that rule. Most trolls in your place would be thrilled to have this much power. But you seem almost afraid of it. Afraid of what you could do with that power and afraid of what that power could do with you. I can't say any if its human owners had that same wisdom."

Tyzias admits that she doesn't really know what to do with it. She'd always wanted to stage a nonviolent revolution, to reform the system from inside while killing as few people as possible. But, that was before she had the Death Note. With which she could control the Rebellion's body count, only burn down what she needed to so she could come and rebuild it into something better.

Tyzias decides to take her mind off the dilemma by chasing down a case that interests her. Lowbloods had been going missing in her area lately and she wanted to investigate. It would've been easy to just chalk this up to violence in response to Trizza's death, but there were no bodies. No signs of struggle even, suggesting that either the lowblood community had either taken the opportunity to evacuate en mass or they'd been abducted during all the confusion.

She finds her breadcrumb trail and follows it back to one Zebruh Codakk, who'd taken the opportunity to lure lowbloods to his hive with the offer of safely sitting out the violent rebellion. True to form, he immediately enslaved those who accepted his invite.

Unfortunately, this is where Tyzias' case would hit a brick wall. Highbloods enslaving Lowbloods wasn't illegal and it would take months for her to forge enough evidence to convict Zebruh of an actual crime. But.... Tyzias has the Death Note. With the flick of a pen, she could remove Zebruh from the picture and free all his slaves.

So, one night, Zebruh mysteriously dies of a heart attack while a strange troll in a cloak frees his slaves. She introduces herself as a "judicious reaper" and advises them to take as much of Zebruh's stuff as they can and run. Their hives aren't safe anymore, the authorities would likely pin Zebruh's death on them.

Marvus, meanwhile, has been blindly searching for leads on Tizza's killer and hears about Zebruh's death. Through this, he puts together that the assassin is a genuine revolutionary and not just someone grasping for power, given both their targets were cruel towards Lowbloods and killing Zebruh wouldn't likely solidy any kind of power base for them given how unpopular he was. After he tracks down one of the escaped slaves, he learns about the "judicious reaper" who saved them and deduces that the assassin might actually live nearby. After all, they didn't show up at the scene of Trizza's death, but they did show up here. Or, at least, sent one of their operatives here to free the slaves.

He decides to test this theory. He orders a squad of bluebloods to seize control of the town, cutting of the wifi and intercepting all incoming signals, before rounding up a random selection of five trolls from each caste. The plan is to publicly execute them in the town square under the excuse of "quelling rebellion". If the killer does indeed live in that town and they're as altruistic as Marvus suspects, they'll likely kill these executioners to prevent any deaths, inadvertently outing that they live in that small town.

The killer clearly has supernatural means available, as Trizza and Zebruh seemed to die of natural causes, which means that supernatural system likely has rules and limitations to it. This gives Marvus the hunch that the killer might need names and faces to kill people. As such, only some of the executioners will publicly announce their names or take off their masks.

Tyzias is unaware of the ploy and of the full extent of Marvus' knowledge, as she has no reason to believe that anyone suspects that there even was a killer. As such, she's trying to figure a way out of this situation that won't give anyone looking for patterns a reason to think that there might be a killer. Unfortunately, Stelsa is one of the trolls selected to be executed, so her hand is forced.

Luckily, Stelsa's executioner gave both his name and his face, so Stelsa was saved, but Tyzias couldn't save all of them and a good chunk of trolls were still executed. She suspects now that this was a set up, given how weird and candid it was that some of the executioners gave their names and faces but others didn't, but her attention is currently on comforting Stelsa.

Marvus is ecstatic at having his theory proven correct and decides to investigate. Not personally, but by proxy. He's a celebrity, so he can't exactly go asking around himself, nor could any of his associates without raising suspicion. So, he decides to outsource to the last kind of troll that the killer would suspect. Boldir.

Boldir has been a pretty open pain in Marvus's neck for awhile now. He knows she's constantly poking around where she shouldn't be and he knows she's good enough at it to not leave any kind of tangible, solid proof. He'd only been tolerating her because the script said he needed her alive, but now she can play into his hands a little more directly. Marvus tracks her down and meets her in person at her hive, both because she'd figure out he's involved if he tried to deal with her indirectly anyways and because it makes the statement of "I know who you are and where you and your loved ones live". Boldir initially refuses to cooperate, but her interest is peaked when he offers her a favor. Marvus knows about Fozzer and he knows about how his personality has changed. Marvus offers to use his chucklevoodoos to get to the bottom of Fozzer's strange behavior if Boldir investigates this "judicious reaper" for him.

Meanwhile, Tyzias is comforting Stelsa. She's hesitant to open up to Tyzias, as they're matesprites and not moirails, but ultimately, she has no one else to turn to. Stelsa nearly breaks down going over how, not only is Trizza dead, not only does the Empire seem to be collapsing all around her, but the very Empire she trusted just tried to kill her for seemingly no reason. She's scared. Exhausted. Confused. And she just doesn't know what to do.

Tyzias considers revealing that she killed Trizza, all she'd have to do is hand her the Death Note, but she doesn't. Tyzias and Stelsa have always just politely ignored each other's political leanings. Tyzias has never had to lie about it before.

Putting those heavy feelings to the side for now, Tyzias realizes she has to get out of town. Killing those executioners was a big giveaway towards her existence and even potentially her identity, and, if it was a ploy like Tyzias suspects, it's likely the Empire's noose is closing in right that second. Luckily, Tyzias finds her answer online.

It turns out The Mask is one of the trolls Tyzias saved from Zebruh's clutches, and, after going through her files on Zebruh's case, Tyzias is able to figure out she's Chixie Roixmr. Chixie had been singing about the "judicious reaper" who saved her and had gotten people to rally behind them as part if the rebel movement. Tyzias sends Chixie a letter as this "judicious reaper", using her position to fudge the paperwork so this can't be traced back to her, and asks Chixie to perform live in her home town in three nights. Chixie announces her schedule change to her fans online, which sends swarms of The Mask fans to Tyzias's town.

Tyzias spins this to the now very paranoid local government as a potential rebel invasion and gets them to agree to an evacuation. Boldir keeps Marvus updated on this process and Marvus realizes that the killer is making an effort to escape. Deciding this would be the perfect opportunity to just get rid of them in one swoop, Marvus uses his resources to hire Azdaja and Konyyl to attack the evacuation train and kill everyone aboard.

This turns out to be Marvus's fatal mistake. Azdaja abd Konyyl start arguing at a crucial moment, allowing Tyzias, Stelsa, and Boldir to escape unharmed. Boldir even realizes how badly Marvus has shot himself in the foot as now the killer will know for a fact that someone powerful is after them.

Indeed, as soon as Tyzias, Stelsa, and Boldir make it to the next town over, Tyzias looks into the two assassins who tried to kill her. Realizing how expensive their fee is, Tyzias realizes just how powerful the person hunting her is. They're clearly onto her and have no problem bringing as much of their reach to bear on her as possible. So, she decides she has no choice but to take the fight to them.

So, Tyzias writes Chahut's name in the Death Note, effectively beheading the pro-empire side of the conflict. The should force her pursuer to back off and focus on the chaos going on above them, and it does. Marvus has to address this new power vacuum because otherwise he'll be next in line to fill the Heiress' throne, which would put him next on the killer's chopping block. Knowing he can't leave Boldir to handle this case unsupervised, he decides to kidnap Fozzer and use him ti threaten her into line directly. Now, Boldir is forced to wear a recorder all night, every night to make sure she doesn't try to betray him while he sorts things out between the purple bloods and the violet bloods.

Unfortunately, Marvus doesn't have to wait much longer to get results. Boldir is able to pin down Tyzias's identity after she pickpockets the Death Note and gets a good look at it. While Boldir doesn't meet Ryuk, as ahe snuck off before the two could notice each other, she does see that the names written down perfectly match the killer's known victims. That, alongside the rules listed up front, gives her enough proof to pin Tyzias as the killer. Boldir quietly returns the notebook so to avoid alerting Tyzias before informing Marvus.

After getting the rundown on Tyzias's personality from Boldir, Marvus kidnaps Stelsa to strongarm Tyzias into surrendering, broadcasting his demands to all of Alternia. Tyzias calls him and sets up a time and place to surrender, agreeing to come unarmed. In Tyzias's last gambit, she bribes Ryuk into staying out of sight on the night of her execution before sending Chixie a letter containing a page of the Death Note and the front page instructions how to use it. Thus, when Marvus attempts to execute her live before Alternia, he ends up dying as Chixie writes his name in the Death Note.

Marvus puts the pieces together as he dies, realizing that the strange black book filled with names that Tyzias had was how she killed her victims. He laughs and congratulates her for putting on one hell of a show before his heart stops.

With the pro-empire side soundly decapitated and with no one as competent as Marvus or Chahut left to carry the torch, Alternia swifty falls to the rebellion. Tyzias is offically given the title of the Judicial Reaper after her rebel friends rescue her and offer to shower her with awards. But, Tyzias puts all if that to the side. She needs to talk to Stelsa.

Stelsa is hurt, bitter that Tyzias did all of this behind her back. For as long as she had known her, Tyzias had said that she wanted to change Alternia peacefully. And, as much as Stelsa tried to dissuade her, she respected that. But, Tyzias assassinated the Heiress the first chance she got and now, one sweep later, had effectively taken over Alternia.

Tyzias tries to explain everything to her. She didn't want to overthrow anyone until Zebruh and Marvus forced her hand, she even hands Stelsa the Death Note and introduces her to Ryuk to prove it, but Stelsa is done.

Tyzias had the chance to tell her everything. Explain everything. Maybe even convince her of everything back when Stelsa was looking for comfort when the executioners showed up. But that moment is gone now. Stelsa leaves Tyzias behind with tears in her eyes.

Boldir catches up to Tyzias drinking at a bar. She introduces herself, explains how shes knows her, and apologizes for everything. She explains how someone she cared about was threatened and how she was currently tryinf to convince the rebels to let Fozzer out of containment due to his imperial bootlicking attitude. Tyzias symoathizes and the two bond over shared stories. Ryuk is bemused by the fact that Boldir doesn't seem intimidated by him.

After being given a high rank in the Rebellion's new regime, Tyzias is able to bring about the world she'd always dreamed of. Turning Alternia into a better world, step by step. After Glybglob is killed and the Condescension defeated, Tyzias finally works up the courage to confront Stelsa again.

After Tyzias took over, Stelsa wasn't really sure what to do with herself. So, she hid and watched the world change around her from the safety of her hive. Fear turned to curiosity and that turned to wonder. Stelsa has, during her sweeps in hiding, seen the ways that Tyzias had improved upon life on Alternia and is, after countless sweeps, willing to forgive her.

Sweeps later, after the Alternian Empire has been reshaped from the ground up and after Tyzias's body finally starts to give out, Ryuk comments that Tyzias is probably the only person he's seen win when handed the Death Note.

"Most people I give this thing too tend to lose. Usually because they try to cheat death, play God, or win big. But you? You didn't do any of that. And you won because of it. Sure, it made things a bit boring in places, but ut made things pretty fun too."

Ryuk writes Tyzias's name in his book. "Well, Tyzias, so long. It's been interesting."

[justanotherpersonsuniverse]

How I’d rewrite/reboot Miraculous Season 1/2/3

And I mean, like, if I got handed Miraculous and I was allowed to direct an entirely new show.

These are just a few notes, maybe I’ll write more on just character stuff, but that’d just be me complaining about how the writers write their characters and you’ve heard me complain about that already.

Anyways though, I’d give Chat Noir more powers definitely. I always thought that little black hole thing in the concept art was cool. 

Also god almighty I’d make the show have an actual timeline

I always thought the “watch it in any order” thing was BS.

Anyways, my main change though would be the episodes in general, and this is why the timeline is important:

First season wise, I’d cut a few akuma episodes (maybe move Puppeteer from season 1 to 2 as well as Numeric and Guitar Villain), but make sure every classmate gets their own episode. (I’d also give Vanisher her own fucking episode cause she deserved one)

The kicker would be that the akuma episodes would be almost ENTIRELY character driven, and not on Mari and Adrien no no- About 50% of the episode would be about the akumatized character. Their motivations, their past, their personal goals and ideals. About 15% is just Marinette, the other 15% is just Adrien, because they’re BOTH main characters here, the twenty percent is both of them, and the rest is the akuma

There would be a moment in every episode where the akuma would mutter “What am I doing?” As they wonder why they’re so angry, justifying it or cementing the fact that they are in the wrong, before continuing the fight.

This can become a moment to Volpina as Lila asks herself “What am I doing?”, only to shake her head- a short flashback goes across her, very brief and very close curtained to give mystery as she corrects herself and says “No, I know exactly what I’m doing.”

Volpina would be more about Adrien and Marinette, especially because this episode is testing them and is a season finale.

Then. There would be episodes that are entirely unrelated to the akumas. About the kids. About the class. About Marinette and Adrien.

Then, in Volpina, which is put on its head because Lila’s put in more mystery as a potential villain with a secluded past- we get the cliffhanger that is Chat Noir and Ladybug meeting Master Fu, but with more build up as he drops the damn mic.

But how I’d end the season isn’t a cliffhanger of meeting Master Fu, no no, that’s not the cliffhanger I’m ending it on, here’s a.. I guess screen play on what i’d write:

...

Master Fu: Ladybug and Chat Noir..

[The akuma alert rings out on three new people’s phones that you cannot see, as Master Fu’s voice continues to speak over]

Master Fu: the powers of the miraculous is a tricky thing children. You two..

[Chat Noir and Ladybug rush through the city to see a giant roaring Kaiju like Akuma breaking through the streaks.]

Master Fu: ..are the mirrors of each other. The yin and yang to this world. The Creation and Destruction. You hold the balance of good and evil, and the future of whether we shall fall or rise.

[Chat Noir looks softly at Ladybug who looks back, as they’re standing on the edge of a building, their hands intertwined tightly as they share a determined gaze]

Master Fu: But you are still children. With the weight of the world on their backs, and it is a terrifying battle you both face, and though I shall guide you on this journey- My shield has long been shattered. [The camera pans back to his Parlor as he grips tightly to his cane, however his wrist is barren. No bracelet attached.]

Master Fu: But..

[It snaps back to Ladybug and Chat Noir, as a foot steps into frame, the two turning around in confusion, before it clicks back to Master Fu one last time as he smiles] Master Fu: You are no longer alone.

[The music rises as looking towards the hero’s with glowing eyes of their respective colors are three new figures. One with a fox pendent, one with a turtle bracelet, and one with a Bee Comb]

[End]

..

And then with the start of Season 2, we would be introduced to our three new Permanent heroes and Main Characters! Rena Rouge; the slightly bullheaded but well meaning fox hero who’s stubbornness and idolizing of Ladybug occasionally gets in the way of her true brilliance. Carapace; the laid back protector, who’s overwhelming passion to keep his friends safe is challenged by his insecurities and fears. And Queen Bee; the snarky lancer to Ladybug despite her clear admiration to the red hero, who has much to learn and much to do. 

While our two centric disaster kids are still the main POV characters who we’ll see every episode, Season 2 would feature Alya, Nino, and Chloe in their own special and unique to themself episodes, as we travel in their shoes now as heroics are placed into their lives as people.

Like the show, Mayura would show up by the end of Season 2, just when the new hero team just got used to being a team and felt confident for like five minutes. It only gets worse with the return of Lila Rossi.

Season 3′s conflict would be less about Love and more about the theme of Trust and Support. 

Lila’s battle of minds against Marinette as the trust of the class and support wavers from these two; Master Fu grows old and maybe even senile as the years catch up to him and his trust in the other users besides Ladybug starts to become fragile; Adrien’s growing paranoia on whether or not Ladybug trusts him anymore grows more and more; Alya is split between two of her good friends and isn’t sure what to do; Nino does his best to support everyone, and Chloe has to learn to trust herself to make the right decision with the return of Audrey.

Also, how Kagami and Luka’s different acts of support for Marinette and Adrien affect them. Meaning their impact isn’t just because they’re love interests, it’s because during this stressful season, they bring peace to Marinette and Adrien, which throws around the Love Square not for plot sake, but because the characters genuinely like Kagami and Luka.

Instead of Miracle Queen, it’s actually Marinette who snaps. I’ve written this akumanette season finale idea before here’s the link to it: https://justanotherpersonsuniverse.tumblr.com/post/629706086227771393/i-feel-like-if-she-was-going-to-snap-itd-be

ANYWAYS

That’s just some main things I would do if I rebooted miraculous, save Chat Blanc for a finale. Uh. Hope you liked this? Send me feedback I could be fun to talk about these ideas I guess?

[incorrectstarwarslegendsquotes]

Hello! Did you happen to have a book list for someone who wants to start reading the EU? Or can you direct me to someone who has one?

oh god this is such a late response but i haven’t been like a person for a few years. i hope this helps someone lol

I personally don’t have an exact booklist, nor do I know where to find one, but I can definitely give some recommendations.

Always start with the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn, it was the first major trilogy in the EU and it really helps dip your toes into the water of reading Legends books.  It’s also really good, and introduces a lot of the major Legends characters like Mara Jade and Thrawn and whatnot.

After that, it really depends on your tastes.  You might be able to tell from who shows up most in these quotes, but I personally like post-RotJ Legends the most, so if you’re looking for stories just after the original trilogy, I’d suggest the X-Wing series.  It’s a 10 book series following Rogue and Wraith Squadrons, written by Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston.  I prefer Allston’s books, especially the Wraith Squadron trilogy (#5 - 7 in the series, and you can pick those up with no prior knowledge) but they’re all cute.

If you want stuff further in the timeline, especially for the Solo kids, then Young Jedi Knights, New Jedi Order, and Legacy of the Force would be what you were looking for, but those series are pretty long and the varying authors means varying quality.

For Prequel stuff, I’m not very well-versed in that, but I think its generally agreed upon that the Jedi Apprentice covers a lot of that?  Maybe Republic Commando?  I haven’t read those books though, so I can’t attest to their quality.

For way back thousands of years stuff, I know even less about, but I think the Darth Bane trilogy was fairly popular?  I usually rely on the Knights of the Old Republic games for my way back knowledge, so if you like video games definitely check those out.

For more info, there’s like timelines on most of the books for which book goes where, and wookiepedia is also a solid resource.  If you want the vibes of books before you read them, there’s dozens of star wars book club podcasts out there.  There’s also all the comics, which is a whole other thing that I know even less about.

In general, try a few out, and especially find authors you like.  For me, I think pretty much all of Timothy Zahn or Aaron Allston’s books are bangers, and they cover a decent bit of time, so you can read them and get a good idea of what’s happening.  But folks have different tastes, so find your own thing and read whatever works for you.

Also please correct me / elaborate if anyone knows more lol, like I said my knowledge is limited and these are just recommendations. 

[mc-critical]

Since you said you just rewatched Isabella's arc, what do you think really happened at her end? Was she really killed or just sent away by boat to a monastery in Vienna like Suleiman said to Ibrahim? Hurrem told Nigar and Gul aga to throw them to sea, but scene was cut after Gul aga then said princess was still alive. A little hesitation seems to happen in Hurrem's face. Or maybe that really happened and Suleiman knew everything and just wanted to exculpate Hurrem so he kinda lied to Ibrahim? What do you think? :)

It remained more of a plot hole than anything, since the show didn't confirm it outright still, but I think there were much more hints given that Hürrem actually killed Isabella and SS eventually learned about it and covered for her than any other possible resolution for the plot line.

Hürrem was very adamant in throwing both Karmina and Isabella to Bosphorus and despite of the look she gave after Gül told her the princess was alive, there wasn't any indicator that she might have changed her mind. (or else they would have shown us, because think about it, would the show miss a chance in showing that Hürrem has some remorse/humanity left inside of her, even in regards to her enemies at this point? Highly doubt it.) Isabella and the servant were already gone in the morning and while I get why, say, Gülşah would wait until the morning to tell Mahidevran about her discovery through eavesdropping (she wasn't the brightest crayon in the room and the plot demanded it for a reason.), why would Nigar and Gül Aga wait until the morning to execute Hürrem's order? They knew full well that it was risky to keep her there, for that someone would find her sooner or later, Hürrem also knew that and wanted them to quickly deal with this problem (Nigar has shown her agency when it came to the orders of someone before, but given she helped with the poisoning, ordered by Ibrahim, that brought Karmina's death, would she risk Isabella being around to expose everything? And Gül Aga was unconditionally loyal to Hürrem.), so that's why I think they threw them both into Bosphorus before the morning came and were done with it.

Now, it would be something else if someone from SS's people found Isabella, told SS and he somehow intervened. Alright, but how and when exactly did that happen when SS had no idea whatsoever of what had happened to Isabella in the morning? Did he simply pull an act then? That would have been too much of a stretch, even for him. He wouldn't scold everyone and call for an investigation if he did. Even if he found out eventually, was there even a time for him to intervene? The episode was pretty tick with its plot threads, the pacing was very fast and we quickly, very quickly transitioned with Hürrem declaring her victory in front of little Mihrimah when we were still in day, while SS's confrontation with Hürrem was at night. How would he intervene and what would he do?  Make up a story and send Isabella back to her country instead? Actually, Melike Ipek Yalova once claimed that this is what happened in an interview, little Mustafa had that suspicion while Mahidevran was looking at the SS-Hürrem nightly confrontation as well, and that could be the truth and it makes what the show showed even messier as a result, but dizis are usually written week for week and Meryem Uzerli mentioned in her confession interview about her disappearance in S03 that the script was constantly changing due to Meral's illness, hence that could've been only one of the versions of what happened and Melike might have had no idea about what they ultimately chose. (similarly to Cansu Dere, who, as I discerned due to her take on Firuze's relationship with SS in the MC: "Secret World" documentary, had no idea about the poison twist, probably because that was revealed after Cansu left and they simply hadn't planned the twist in advance. Melike's last scene as Isabella was her confrontation with Hürrem before Hürrem gave the order to get rid of both Karmina and her.) In-universe, SS couldn't have possibly brought her back to her country in my opinion, why? Because he was so ready to use Isabella as a tool for his political game just until a while ago, wanted her as close as possible (that was his reasoning for having her in the harem) and while he may have given a sign to Ibrahim that he may do an exception with her as a state matter due to him having a halvet with her, wouldn't sending her to his country thwart all he had in mind entirely? Wouldn't that be a little too risky when SS declared her dead? (yes, Gritti sent a message to Frederick that Isabella was actually alive and Frederick planned to get her back somehow, but no one else next to him believed him about that and told him to stand still, hence most people still thought of her as dead and SS has no idea that Frederick and Gritti know.) Okay, maybe he wanted to protect Isabella from Hürrem doing something to her since she's too valuable as a state matter and he didn't want strife in his harem (or at least that's what he convinces himself), so he might have put her somewhere far from everyone. But wouldn't it be more logical to send her to Carl, just as he planned, again not a while ago? Maybe he wanted to have her somewhere no one expected her to be, but why in her country, he would lose political points like this?

If he brought her to a monastery for her to cleanse herself of her sins like he actually said, he gives up from using her as a political tool entirely.... why exactly? Because of Hürrem and because of protection, when he still prioritized politics over his harem after all? (and he said a few episodes ago that the empire cannot be ruled when you're influenced by a woman or her tears) He may have thought she was played enough and maybe he wanted to give her a closure, but again, we're back to when did that happen exactly when the events were running one after another? Yes, this way he would have a win-win and Isabella would be far and secluded from everyone, but where did all the grand plans with her go, how did it happen? He demanded investigation while Isabella was gone after all and if he found out from the investigation, I doubt he could've interfered, because I doubt Isabella survived a throw into Bosphorus or she somehow escaped herself or found a ship that could save her or something. Besides, what happened to Karmina then? If SS found out, she would've been thrown into Boshorus anyway, because she was dead and no one would leave Isabella hanging until he waited for the investigation results? And if not, what, his people would just drag Isabella along to a monastery off-screen? And would Isabella trust they even were SS's people after what happened to her in the harem? This would've been much of a chase. Even without people, how did SS order a boat in the middle of the night when what happened happened in the morning after? etc. etc.

I believe SS found out about this whole ordeal at a point when he couldn't have interfered anymore and made up a story to cover for Hürrem and the loss. This simply makes the most sense given the timeline of events. While we were still wondering what happened to Isabella, Valide heard Hürrem's words to Mihrimah, her telling SS and after a conversation between the foreigners that had nothing to do with Isabella, a transition between day and night happened. Then Hürrem is called by SS, Gül is worried and Hürrem tells him the following: "If you acted like this all day, everyone must have understood that it was you." (along with him being worried about Mahidevran telling SS about her suspicions, which hints even more that they were correct.) This says more than enough for me. Hürrem sees her order as executed and the results of SS's investigation must have come to him at the night and then he couldn't have done anything, but simply make up a story to save his dignity and Ego, what's done is done. The confrontation with Hürrem itself shows that SS already knows more about Hürrem's involvement in the matter than simply Valide's accusations: he looks madder than he would if Isabella wasn't a lost cause, he started to speak about how his kids should always know who he is and then switched to asking Hürrem to remember who she's standing in front of. She has apparently crossed a line, a pretty big line that went over SS's own head. He also says: "What kind of love is this, Hürrem?  Is love destroying? What's the limit of it? When will you stop? When will you be stopped?". Would he say that if she hasn't gone on the road to no return regarding Isabella? Yes, SS has punished her for something she hasn't done before in the past, he has played both with actions and words her and everyone else more than once, but this time these words leave room for something else. They hint that Hürrem has gotten what she wanted and that she couldn't be stopped, not even by him.

The confrontation with Ibrahim happened only the next day, after SS confronted Hürrem and came to terms with what happened. After all, he can't say outright, not even to Ibrahim who knew was against Hürrem and already doubted for other stuff, that Hürrem has done it under his nose. It would accommodate him much more to project the image of a higher authority who doesn't allow for stuff to happen without his knowledge and consent, for people to respect him as such and reconsider working behind his back or betraying his trust. SS wants absolute loyalty and when he can't get that or he suspects that he hasn't gotten that, he tends to remind everyone of how above them he is, no matter how much has he messed up himself or how right or wrong are his deeds.

I may be overthinking, because all this arc turned out to be was pointless fuel at the end of the day and I doubt they applied so much logic to it, but this is where I stand on its resolution.

[savrenim]

hi hi hi. so I just got into the Hamilton fandom, I swear I am four years late where did everybody go, and, well. I am apparently a hamburr shipper. bcs that is my life now. anyway I saw your fic ifmlam and I swear it is my favourite of all the fics I've ever read (and trust me I've read literally thousands). I love it so so much, how do you write fics like that??? I cried about four times during the whole thing, I stayed up till 4am reading it even when I had to wake up at 7 because it is just. that. good. I could not stop thinking about it for days afterwards and ifmlam has just ruined me. I can't think of listen to Hamilton without thinking of ifmlam anymore.

on to my qursttion: is it abandoned? of course it's perfectly FINE if it is. don't let anyone tell u differently, your fic is YOURS and u are amazing.

but pls I really need closure from ur fic, it has been haunting me if its abandoned or ongoing and I've read ur other fics and they are just chefskiss and thank you so much for writing them all. thank you thank you thank you, I will never be able to thank you enough for writing this fic and for everything it's done for me. I am probably thousands of miles away but I am sending you virtual jugs through a co.puter screen right now.

(don't feel pressured to reply to this or update it flam, I know how overwhelming it can get with so many messages and after a while u get desensitized to it. u can literally reply "thx. itfmlam is abandoned" and I would still be amazingly star struck. anyway has gotten way too long and I need to sleep and I'm sorry u probably won't see this so I'm just talking to myself right now but bye!!)

and thank you so so much for writing itfmlam.

aaaah hello anon!

thank you so so much???? I am so??? honored??? that ifmlam rates so highly to you, and also that you've read my other fics??????

the answer to the "is ifmlam abandoned" question is probably the worst possible one, which is pretty much "I do want to finish it, both for the folks that still want closure as well as it bothers to me have abandoned projects that are in the public eye/ already partially published, but also, it is last on my current writing projects list"

my current actually active writing projects list, kind of in order of priority, is

I'm literally three chapters away from being Actually Fully Done with the not-quite-first-not-quite-second let's call it 1.5th draft of an actual?? full?? original?? novel?? Opus which of course then goes out to beta readers and then gets who-knows-how-much edited and then maybe beta readers again if a lot does change and then a copyeditor my mom, my copyeditor is my mom, and maybe my little brother he's one of the betas but is very good at catching typos and then I!!! get to publish it!!!! which is the single thing I am most excited for!!!!!!!!! this should be closed up in the next week or two, and then take a while for people to actually read the draft and get back to me.

I really desperately want to finish my open-but-like-90%-written fic, which means we raise it up, the final chapter of to the bottom of the river bc I realized that it was kind of incomplete, and the second chapter of a buried and a burning flame because any more work there will need to wait until the author publishes the next book in the series. this should be closed up in the next month or two.

Speedwrite the draft of the second book of the Opus series so that hopefully by the time book 1 edits are happening, I have an almost complete draft of the second book. this is mostly me side-eyeing myself about taking nearly four years to write the first book, but that is solidly in part because I had so many other open projects which point 2 is about clearing that docket. this should be done in the next year.

And then just have my major projects be, at least until books 1-5 are written and published, books 1-5 of that because that is arguably the first major 'plot arc' of the series, so if I'm looking for a pause point on writing, that's probably where to stop.

There are two or three other short side projects (a weird fun second person short story tentatively titled witch-queen, a collection of four short stories Memoirs about a not-so-evil necromancer and the shenanigans he gets up to trying to rule a kingdom, working title Perfectly Normal Recipe Blog which is a collaborative project about a perfectly normal recipe blog that definitely doesn't include anything out of the normal) that will happen when they happen

There are other projects that are on the backburner -- The Numanok Files, a series of probably 12-15 short novellas about a mercenary/ bounty hunter esque person in space whose specialty is dealing with hauntings, but, like, 80% of their jobs is actually "you are effectively a space home inspector pointing out faulty wiring reacting to solar flares/ there's a weird alien fungus/ it's carbon monoxide okay change your atmosphere filters" and 20% of it is punching ghosts; there's a post-post apocalypse novel that I want to write that I know characters and general pacing and half the setting but need to work out the other half and figure out how much aesthetic I want to commit to; there's Strangeside7 aka spacerace book that is my reaction to how much I love how Redline the anime movie commits itself to "no we are about a race, like 60% of the screentime is just fully going to be an utterly ridiculous sci fi space race"; there's even a ridiculous YA trilogy that I would have to completely transplant the setting but might end up writing because the interplay between angel-physics and physics-physics was one of my favorite things in the world. and I guess the weird ridiculous technically a sequel series to ifmlam that was going to be published as original books that was basically me having fun with 'okay I fucking love star wars prequels old rotting space bureaucracy galactic republic style' except with seers and that also still might happen because it does have some of the coolest sci fi concepts and honestly I thiiiink that's all?

but the tl;dr of that timeline is I'm trying to finish a punch of projects Right Now, so that I can write books 2-5 of Opus, and then when I'm done that (which honestly, my average fiction-writing output is close to 100k a year. if I'm concentrating purely on one project, and writing books that are about 100k, we are talking four years. although my job situation is super up in the air in that period and writing might get put solidly on the backburner as I try to make it in academia, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) I will re-evaluate which projects go next, and that's when ifmlam is likely to come up for review.

I do not have any expectations that I will make it as an original author. I'm planning on posting all of my stuff online for free, but, like. it is incredibly difficult to convince people to try out even a piece of free and easily accessibly original work even if one has a huge following, I am a very small fanfiction author, and from what I can tell the majority of the people who are interested in my work are mostly interested in me finishing ifmlam. writing is a hobby for me, and while I'm writing mostly for me--and hence the for me bit at least for the next five years is pretty solidly going to be this series that I am deeply excited about and have sunk my heart and soul into every single aspect of--I'm human, and I don't really like shouting into the void, and I expect if I spend five years publishing to absolutely no response I will either stop writing for a while and do other things gods know my life is busy enough, return to fandom in general to write some other fanfic about whatever I get deeply into, or return to a work that I actually get response to. so ifmlam will probably start getting worked on a bit at that point one way or another. unless, of course, we are in the incredibly rare timeline in which I do make it as an original author, there are people who are deeply hyped for my original works and an actual demand for them, in which case as you may have noticed there are enough ideas there to keep me busy for a decade or two, and they will just get my full attention instead of fanfiction*. in this timeline, I will do what I was considering doing a few years ago, which is officially declare ifmlam otherwise abandoned and make one more giant chapter update which is a full and cleaned up outline of what I was going to write, interspersed with the scenes already written, and have ifmlam be given at least that closure.

*I want to make it clear that I very much love fanfiction and am proud to have been a fanfiction author and in my heart of hearts would keep writing it forever, I just also have a lot of ideas for characters and settings and magic systems and Aesthetics and I have been biting at the bit to write something that is //mine// and all mine and only mine for a while, I don't see original work as superior so much as there are a dozen fandoms that I am currently in and bursting to make content about except oops these fandoms currently only exist in my head, and I want to correct that

of course given how much as writing is my vent activity and I write what I'm in the mood for, there's a chance I'll feel ifmlam cravings before then, just... expect it to take a couple of years for an update, but also for there to be an update one way of another in a couple of years? but as for right now, I'm turning to original writing, because that is what brings me joy.

but I am really deeply honored that it brought you so much joy!!! and while I will never publish spoilers in a public place, if you message me off anon I am perfectly happy to give a run-down of my current plans for the ending, bc I know "wait a couple years and see" is not the most satisfactory of answers! and hey maybe you'll be like me and once you've given Opus a try you'll decide you like it better too, it does have Seers although they are deeply different Seers than in ifmlam but imo it's very gay and fun and at least politics on one side

[bookworm-2692]

About a week ago I finally finished bookbinding @airdeari‘s beautiful Zero Escape fic The First Nonary Game. It took about a month (between all the waiting for glue to dry and also several days each week when I was unable to work on it), and was so much fun! It’s so satisfying to just... hold this book in my hands. 

Details about how I made it, along with additional photos (and commentary) below the cut.

So I came across this post on Tumblr, which immediately inspired me to try bookbinding myself. I spent a few days watching so many tutorials from the youtube channel linked in the post (I’ll link the specific tutorials I used in this post), and googling how to actually manage to print pages so they form proper signatures, because the inbuilt booklet creator in Word doesn’t exist in my Word apparently so that’s fun.

Anyway, once I started, I asked @airdeari for permission to print and bind his fic, and he immediately said yes, so that was good. Then I spent a good couple of days copying the entire fic into a Word document, and fiddling with formatting so it would look like an actual book (section breaks, page numbers, headers with the fic title on the left page and chapter title on the right page (this took ages to work and I kept on stuffing it up), and making sure things just... looked nice. I added in the art After The War that @keycrash created specifically for the fic (third pic above), and an “afterword” containing credit and links and the author’s notes from AO3 (because even if I’m the only one who will ever see it, it still feels weird to not add the credit stuff in so it’s there).

I then saved the document as a PDF, and used CheapImposter to correctly shuffle (impose, hence “imposter”) the pages so when folded into signatures, each page would be in the correct order. This program was the first free one I could find, and was great because you could specify the number of sheets you want per signature, rather than stuck with a default. I chose to have 11 signatures of 6 sheets of paper, since that was the amount that would have the least blank pages and the end of the book. The file was 261 pages, so with two pages per side, and two sides per sheet, you divide the number of pages by 4 to get 66 sheets of paper

I then printed. There was only one (1) paper jam in the process, which was great. Unfortunately, I realised after I printed that one of the headers for one chapter was wrong (I hadn’t properly disconnected the two chapters), but fortunately that only involved reprinting 4 sheets of paper.

I used the following tutorials to make the books: DIY Textblock, a general “how to make a textblock” tutorial; DIY Kettle Stitch, a specific look at the stitching for a textblock, since the first tutorial doesn’t focus on this; DIY Book Cloth, since I chose to use fabric for my cover; and DIY Hardcover Book, how to put all those pieces together.

So then I started folding all the signatures. I was watching so much Brooklyn Nine-Nine during both the folding and stitching sections, since it was repetitive actions I didn’t need to concentrate on that lasted hours.

It was at this point that I sliced each signature one by one to make the end smoother and less pointy. In future I recommend not doing it at this point - wait until the very end. Instead, move straight onto stitching. 

I don’t have any photos of the stitching portion, since my phone died the morning I started the stitching, and I wasn’t able to replace it until after all the stitching was done. In fact, originally all the photos from before the stitching were lost too. It was only about two days ago that magically the My Photo Stream thing kicked in and brought back all the photos - if it had worked two weeks earlier I would’ve had more. As it is, all photos from September to January are gone forever, unfortunately. But that’s another discussion entirely.

The above is the first book photo on my new phone, so as you can see, all the stitching was completed, the spine was glued, and the purple paper attached. I couldn’t buy two A4 sheets, so instead I had to buy one A3 sheet and cut it in half. Which was difficult cycling home from the city with an A3 sheet that didn’t fit in my bag on account of being A3 and not A4, but oh well.

I don’t have a book press, so I used a pile of DND books and my brother’s weights instead, as shown below.

I then had to re-slice the book after this point bc my first go wasn’t even, on account of slicing each signature separately. Next time definitely I’ll just do it at the end like this. I then also sanded it to make it smoother. It’s still not perfect, but it’s something that’ll take practice and patience so.

Next I made the book cloth, which involves using appliqué sheets to combine cotton fabric and tissue paper. But first I want to talk about the fabric I chose for the cover, because I’m quite proud of it. I spent ages wandering around the shop, trying to find something that fit the feel of the book. Spoilers for the content of the fic if you haven’t read it yet, and also for the source material (999/Zero Escape). I was thinking about some sort of blue swirl thing, because of the Gigantic sinking. I found that, but hesitated because it didn’t fully fit, and my favourite colour is blue so I always pick blue. I also considered flames/fire because of the incinerator thing, but couldn’t find any. I can’t remember if I just couldn’t find any four leaf clover fabric, or if I’ve just since thought about that as a cover. But instead I chose the butterflies below. They fit in several subtle ways that I’m proud of. The colours of blue and pink(/red) matching the receiver and transmitter coding all throughout 999, as well as the moments of purple as well (I don’t think I need to get into that, I’m sure it was analysed to hell and back when the game first came out). The butterflies also point towards the butterfly effect, and in turn the different timelines present in the series. So together it just works. /spoilers over

It’s also just a pretty fabric.

Now the making of the book cloth. I had to make it twice, because I was too impatient the first time, so the iron was too hot and it steamed, which wrinkled and warped the tissue paper, so the fabric was all wrinkly too. The second time took ages and was a worse quality appliqué sheet, but worked well enough anyway.

(My parents: did you have the iron out? what were you ironing? you never iron)

And then I cut the book board to size, using the measurements from the tutorial video. I’ll repeat them here: front and back cover: width = width of textblock minus 3mm, and height = height of textblock plus 6mm, and spine width = width of textblock spine, spine height = same height as covers

I then glued the board onto the book cloth, and put it under the book press. The dnd books are not large enough to cover the whole thing, and also I really wanted the board to stay flat and not curl, so I grabbed way more dnd books and way more of my brother’s weights. I also accidentally started putting the glue on the wrong side of the board (bc one side is smooth and the other is rough), hence the colour difference as well.

The corners were cut and folded and glued over...

And then the textblock was glued in, and put in my book press for a whole weekend. I added a sheet of paper to absorb the glue so the pages wouldn’t become wrinkly, but instead the sheet I added was fine and every other page in the book is wrinkly. So I dunno what happened there. After the weekend I took it out and looked at it, and then put it back for another week to be sure.

And then the complete book is shown at the top of the post!

As I was starting I was talking a lot about it, like about the process I had to go through, or how I was going to obtain what I needed, etc. Mum asked if she could read the story. I froze, like a deer in the headlights... because this is a fanfic. She saw my fear and immediately backed down, explaining she only wanted to read it because if the story was that important to me that I was going to literally turn it into a book, she wanted to read it to yknow like know me better or something? Which makes sense. And when I got over my initial reaction, and remembered that indeed it was technically my dad who introduced me to fanfic, and thought about it more, I said okay. Because since the fic is technically a prequel to the first game, and most of the characters are technically OC’s (like, from the first game we know that all eighteen children must exist, but most of them don’t have names or anything so they are effectively OC’s), then knowledge of source material isn’t strictly necessary. This fic can probably be enjoyed on its own. I mean I’ll probably have to explain the concept of morphogenetic fields, and the last four chapters might not make sense? But I’m okay for my mum to read it. So when she’s less busy at work I’m going to download the epub onto her phone for her - we’ll see how it goes.

Anyway, this fic is a masterpiece, extremely well written and I highly recommend it. As said, most of the characters are effectively OC’s, and yet they are all given such rich histories and personalities. All of them have access to the morphogenetic field, so I’m just so glad that @airdeari​ explores nine unique relationships with the field - nine unique sibling dynamics, and esper powers and abilities. It’s just so good.

[sunevial]

Reflection

Author’s Notes and Commentary

Well, here we are at the end.

When I started writing The Followers, I genuinely didn’t think it would come this far. I wasn’t setting out to write a literal novel’s worth of content (122,655 words between everything before I edit the original Followers fic, to be precise) about some self-insert OCs that some friends and I ended up creating on a whim. When I started with this project, it was supposed to be some fun little things between friends, a little like DMP in that regard: a fun fic writing with friends where plenty of bad things happen. Except like its source material, it turned into something much greater than even its creator could’ve imagined. 

Nearly everything that we came up with was pure speculation, because at the time, DMP didn’t have a lot of solid lore to build a more canon-compliant AU (not that I/we were ever trying to do that in the first place, but I digress). Part of me is a bit sad that I was never able to incorporate other Awakened or even write fics centered around the Awakened as opposed to the Followers; at the time most of this was being written, there simply weren’t enough characters in DMP for me to have a cast I could write with. By the time there were, there was no way I could take on another project of this size. The Followers fit that niche of having a relatively large cast with varying interpersonal dynamics that DMP now has, and at the very least, I am glad to see I was able to predict something in the major narrative.

This being said, as a person, I love making self insert characters for stories and media. In my eyes, if I can see myself or a character I have made interacting with a world someone else has created, that piece of media has made a world that others can see themselves in. Even in its early days, DMP created a world that I felt could be expanded upon beyond what we were explicitly told, which is how the Followers really came to be in the first place. Even if none of it is canon, the lore of the Followers still reasonably fits with the information we were given in Season 1, and that makes me happy.

(No, I’m never updating this to explore what we know as of season 3.)

A lot has changed since I started writing the Followers, and more broadly, writing anything for myself again. For those who didn’t know, I had a lot of hangups writing fanfiction for a long time due to some events in my past, and it wasn’t until DMP that I felt both inspired enough and comfortable enough with the community surrounding it to branch out into fic writing once again. Throughout this two and a half year journey, material and backstory elements were fleshed out behind the scenes, quite a bit of stuff got retconned within the Follower’s AU, and overall, I have quite simply changed as a writer and a person. I’ve made a lot of amazing friends (and a significant other) in this process, interacted with a lot of wonderful people, and in something that surprised even me, some of the DMP cast themselves have read my work. It’s really helped me break out of my shell and branch out into other avenues, and I genuinely don’t know where I’d be without writing the Followers.

So, to everyone who has been here on this journey, whether you helped develop the characters (shout outs to my fellow creators, Onyx, Missfoxx, ArcherOwl, Arahul, CollectorOfMyst, Caaarl, KyleTheWarrior, you guys are sincerely wonderful and amazing people to work with), been an avid fan of the series, or have simply enjoyed watching all of this from the side lines: thank you. I couldn’t have done this alone, and I’m glad to have gone on this journey with you all.

The Followers: Agents of Stories

I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t have a working theme going into this whole novel long journey, but I will be touching on some of the various themes I began to weave into the story as time went on.

The truth matters.

The truth is the single most driving factor throughout the series. Characters uncover each other’s backstories, Young Priest learns the real reason why the stories of the Followers have been so inconsistent, Vincent learns the truth about his wife, and even the readers of this fic learn the truth about the lore I’ve created for this AU. Wanting to know what is really going on is really the driver of any modern narrative, because it’s often the readers who are in the dark since we can only experience things from (typically) one perspective as we read. 

Truth, like history, is often written by the victors and people in power.

Murder God and the Followers are experts at lying. To them, truth is a tool, and whoever knows the truth has the most power. The truth is complicated, the truth is messy, and for beings that powerful, the truth is objectively dangerous. If word gets out Gale is the Witch’s daughter, if too many people know Young Priest’s sister is in the Void, if people learn that Priestess actually cares about Lieutenant, that gives other people power over them. This is where the idea of unreliable narrators also comes into play; there’s simply things that the reader doesn’t know because of who’s POV they’re experiencing the world through and what they’re going to care about letting other people know. They don’t want people to know the truth. I

A story’s message is more important than the truth.

Good narratives and good historical records rarely intersect well. There’s always going to be embellishment, stuff that is left out or skimmed over, or timelines that are changed to better suit the story someone is trying to tell. Because the truth is often written by people in power, it makes sense for the general scope of the narrative to be prioritized over getting every single detail correct. No one actually cares if Witch lost her pregnancy, if Huntress was killed by another god, if Advisor actually feared something happening to him. People care about the Witch, the human who has fallen from grace. People care about the Huntress, bringer of vengeance and the hunt. People care about the Advisor, collector of knowledge and secrets. As long as the mythos is served, who cares about the truth?

General Questions

What is the order the Followers joined?

Old Priestess, Lieutenant, Witch, Bookkeeper, Advisor, Huntress, Part Timer, Young Priest

What do all of the Followers represent in terms of game rolls?

Old Priestess and Lieutenant are the Murderers, Witch is the Witch (you can save someone and you can kill someone), Bookkeeper is the Minion (aids the murderers but does not partake in the killings), Advisor is the Seer, Huntress is the Gunslinger, Part Timer is the Doctor/Bodyguard (protect one person every night), and Young Priest is the Gardener.

How many of the Followers have been replaced?

Less than you think. Witch is the last in a long line of typically human or quasi-immortal witches who didn’t survive. The Young Priest position has changed hands multiple times due to that role actively needing some human morality to work properly, which usually results in minds being broken or rebellions taking place. 

Can Old Priestess and Lieutenant bleed?

Old Priestess, yes. Lieutenant, no, but I suppose he could make blood if he really felt like it.

The Masquerade chapter mentioned something about Priestess having "ichor" that helped stabilize Bookkeepers' blood. What is that quote un quote ichor?

It’s just her own blood. Priestess donated her own blood to help stabilize Bookkeeper.

How many years did it take for Bookkeeper’s legs to heal? Are there any scars?

Time doesn’t really exist in the Void, but if I had to put a number to it, about ten years. There are some very small scars, but they’re not easy to see. Bookkeeper also never wears anything that isn’t long sleeved, so take that as you will.

Could you stick your hand through Part Timer’s eye hole? How does he function with half of his skin gone? Does he get blood everywhere?

Yes, you can, but you’d soon hit red strings. His muscle tissue and bones are held together with magic and magic alone, so his ‘undead’ side needs blood only in the vaguest sense. That being said, his clothes are almost always bloodstained to some extent, so that blood has to come from somewhere.

What are the Followers’ opinions on sleeping? Do any of them need sleep?

None of them need sleep. Most of them are too busy to ever want sleep. Huntress occasionally lies down for a nap, and Witch slept a fair bit while she was raising Gale.

How do Advisor's…emotion switches work? Could they get unwillingly triggered by something?

The switches are more metaphorical. The idea is that since he understands how emotions are processed and created and how he responds to them, he can willingly enable or disable his ability to feel them. This also means he can, in theory, control his mood at all given times. However, as shown in Inter Spem et Metum, if he has had no reason to experience a certain emotion until that exact moment, it can temporarily render that control useless, as he doesn’t know enough about it to control it.

Can any of them get sick? If yes, what could cause it and how would they get better?

Biological illness, no. Curse based illnesses, yes. Typically if one of them were to get cursed by something strong enough to hold, Witch would be the one to break it. She’s their primary curse breaker. If Witch gets cursed, the others know enough about curse breaking to get her out of it.

Can they get sick from something their own bodies do (ie. hives from stress, allergies)?

Almost all of their bodies are so infused with magic that most problems that would plague mortals aren’t as much of a concern. It would be a little bit like, say, Aphrodite getting hives from stress. While she might look human, she’s definitely not, and a lot of the problems that come with being human don’t apply.

When did Retribution take place?

Before Part Timer joined. That’s the closest to an actual answer you’re going to get.

How many of the Followers actually know each other’s stories?

Everyone has an inkling of the truth of the others, but only Witch and Bookkeeper have let the others know their full story. Bookkeeper has never really cared, and Witch was all but forced to tell her full story. 

Are there any ships that the creators ship among the Followers?

Old Priestess and Lieutenant is shipped by Old Priestess’s creator (Missfoxx), Lieutenant’s creator (Onyx), and me. It’ll never be canon, because Lieutenant doesn’t know what love feels like and Old Priestess will never admit her own feelings, but it is a strong ship between the three of us. Bookkeeper’s creator (Caaarl) and I actually ship Bookkeeper and Witch due to their unspoken bond they developed being the only former humans amongst ancient deities and eldritch entities. Again, non canon, but it’s definitely an exploration for both of us how the two of them would cope with such traumatic transformations.    

What actually happened with Vincent’s wish in Chapter 20?

This was intentionally left vague due to it being from Vincent’s point of view, and Vincent calls himself not a smart man. Essentially, Murder God and the Followers caused a timeline divergence due to their canon ability to fuck up timelines as they so desire. Gale still married Vincent Marshall Reid, but he simply just died in the war overseas and never took Murder God’s deal. Vincent Marshall Reid of DMP canon instead grew up in West Virginia and married Abigail Crane. Essentially, the two of them exist in different timelines now, unable to ever interact again in any meaningful way.

Is Gale going to be okay?

Gale is Witch’s daughter. Witch refuses to let Gale get mixed up with the cults. Even with her current actions and making a deal with Murder God, Gale is considered a free agent and always will be a free agent. She and the kids will be fine. Star sickness isn’t a thing in the Followers AU either, so she won’t be coughing up goop.

What is actually going to happen to Young Priest in Chapter 21?

That’s meant for reader speculation; part of the horror of the Followers is not knowing specifically what they’re willing to do to someone and how far they’re willing to go to make someone into the image they need. I’ll probably expand on how I think he turns out once everything has been done to him, but I can tell you this. His eyes are turned a solid sparkling blue.

[ganymedesclock]

So I saw a tag on my last post:

#i dont think we were supposed to think to hard about some of this

(via @mamamittens​ here,)

and I think in a way, that’s correct- the Zelda games are actively written in a way that discourages curiosity about Ganondorf. The “final fight” of the game is rarely an environment of Ganon’s making or in his favor. We are overwhelmingly kept away from Ganon himself- there’s no game where we can just talk to him, and I don’t think there’s been a game yet where we can choose dialogue options in a cutscene with Ganon.

We’re very rarely allowed to talk to Ganon’s subordinates. Those relationships are cast heavily in the dark. We don’t get to see Ganon grieving any of the people and monsters we carve through on our path to get to him.

We’re told things about Ganon in a way that is intended to be dismissive- we’re told he’s Cunning and a Schemer so we assume that he’s working towards some sinister agenda any time we’re looking at him or not. We’re told he’s underhanded so we can accept that events that seem completely unrelated are all his doing. We’re told he hates, and that he covets power, because that’s inherently how he is. We’re told he’s an usurper and an unworthy king so he is set across from the Hyrulean royal family, whose right to rule is never questioned by anyone we’re “supposed” to listen to.

We’re not supposed to think about Ganon. We’re not supposed to wonder about Ganon. We’re not supposed to listen to Ganon.

And this is unnerving, when people don’t tell us things about Ganon. 

In Wind Waker, there is a small detail where Ganon is only stated as “Ganon” by Daphnes. The time we hear him called “Ganondorf” is when he introduces himself to Link. That’s one of the first things he says to Link in this game- calmly and indifferently giving us this tiny, but fairly notable, detail of his history that Daphnes never told us.

And Daphnes omits a lot of Ganon in that game. The word “Gerudo” is never mentioned. We only know that Ganon didn’t come from Hyrule because again, he himself tells Link about his country and the disparity in climate- that Hyrule had something his people didn’t, and at least in that timeline, seemingly, the Gerudo were struggling. (One can argue in OoT they don’t appear to be struggling, but, why would Ganon, a king among his own people, keenly know and be able to describe the experience of poverty and living close to death if he never experienced it? He isn’t pulling this out in anticipation of pity; it’s a moment’s introspection before he braces himself to fight Link and Tetra for the triforce, with no suggestion that they could back down or negotiate)

And even just in a sense of immediate relevance of the game- Daphnes doesn’t tell us the Master Sword was used to seal Ganon. He doesn’t tell us that there’s consequences to drawing it whether or not it still had the sages’ power. In fact, Daphnes casually justifies withholding information- when he reveals his true identity, he outright tells Link that as long as Link was able to kill Ganon, Daphnes saw no reason to reveal Hyrule or his own identity.

Considering Daphnes is literally sending Link on a politically motivated hit on another ruler, this is really bad. It’s bad that literally all of the context we have on Hyrule’s downfall is either directly given by Ganon- who at no point is shown to lie to further the obvious agenda he’d have of Not Wanting Link To Kill Him- or prompted by Ganon’s actions and words raising questions that Daphnes admits he needs to answer.

In Twilight Princess, Ganon talks to Link less, but he’s still conspicuously wearing a crown. He is still overtly not Hylian- we can still imagine that he is from the Gerudo, which is very concerning, when the only inhabited structure in the Gerudo Desert in TP is a massive, extremely haunted prison full of torture equipment that was presided over by servants of the Hyrule royal family. Whether or not we were supposed to think deeply about it, having Ganon, overtly crowned, when there were no other Gerudo, and the sages claiming they merely executed “a bandit” who was blessed with the gods’ power basically by accident- literally only thinking about it as far as “but Ganon didn’t just sprout out of the desert at random, where did he come from? In other games, he’s from a people called the Gerudo who lives in the desert, but it doesn’t look like anyone lives in the Gerudo Desert except the Bulblins, and Ganon’s obviously not a bulblin” tells us that the nicest thing that possibly happened is famine or disaster wiped out the Gerudo, destroyed their city, and left Ganon the sole survivor.

It’s not a good look if you can’t admit the person you’re executing is royalty.

But we’re Not Supposed To Think About Ganon.

And in another sense, we are- we’re supposed to hate him. We’re supposed to think about the bad things that happen and think they’re his fault. We’re supposed to think about the bad he could hypothetically do, and allegedly is doing, somewhere we can’t see him, or where we can see the results but not anything that explains why Ganon did this or how.

We’re supposed to think about Ganon as an adversary, a beast, a monster, a tyrant.

We are not supposed to think about Ganon as a person who was ever a child, who ever had a homeland. We are not supposed to think about how Ganon frequently empowers or takes the side of people who feel like they were kicked around by the established order.

We’re supposed to think about Ganon as avaricious, but never Ganon who wants things. We’re supposed to think about Ganon as wrathful, but never someone who knew lack or suffering or punishment. We’re supposed to think of Ganon as vindictive, but never someone who has any reason to feel he was wronged. We’re supposed to think about Ganon who hates Hyrule, but never Ganon who was ever given a reason to hate Hyrule, or resent it, or be envious about it.

And more than these factors being only implied or not implied or only there if you ‘really think hard about it’- they are frequently implied or explicitly spelled out in canon.

Wind Waker Ganon tells Link that he was a person who lived close to death in a barren wasteland of a country. He says this was his experience, and motivated his desire for Hyrule. It’s threaded into the way he phrases his wish. He states this at a point when he has nothing to gain, is not telling Link to stop fighting him or that he’s justified, but merely, with the benefit of introspection, contemplating on how his ambition began. Daphnes is right there, perfectly able to hear him, and does not contest or argue this. 

There is nothing here that suggests Ganon is a liar- especially when, in Wind Waker, Ganon is a more reliable source of exposition than Daphnes is. He doesn’t lie in any part of the game- if anything, he tells us several important things before Daphnes does (that Tetra is carrying a piece of the triforce, that the Master Sword was used to seal him, that it has lost its power, that there’s a connection between the weakening of the sword and the “pathetic fools who made it”)

Which I think takes things a step further than merely shoddy lore- because, some of this stuff, like Ganon no intuitive motive for planting Kalle Demos where he ostensibly did, and no obvious means for creating, taming, or controlling this creature, genuinely is just shoddy lore- they made a forest dungeon for the players’ enjoyment and gave it a forest boss and then contrived a reason to be there and then put it into the boss rush because everybody loves boss rushes, right? Why is there a monster there? Pin it on Ganon.

But things like literally having people lie about Ganon, when Ganon conversely doesn’t lie to Link and half the time actively explains more than the mentor figure has at that point in a way that only partially feels like monologuing- it comes back to what I said. Ganon in Wind Waker suggests that he’s not the only one spurned by the gods, but so are Link and Zelda- and, once again...

...Nothing in the series really calls him a liar about it.

But we’re not supposed to think about Ganon in the way that we wonder about him at all. We’re especially not supposed to think that there might be any way to deal with him besides killing him. In Twilight Princess, we can guess he was potentially given a trial, because of the “Arbiter” in “Arbiter’s Grounds”, but in a context where the Gerudo were decimated, and it was the direct servants of the royal family trying him, in an isolated environment that clearly condones doing all kinds of horrible things to people, far, far away from any civilians or witnesses... how fair a trial could that possibly be? 

And what does it mean about Link’s morality in that game, if he defeats Ganon by tearing open that execution wound, following the steps of the sages, and the only real rationale is he started off trying to rescue the people of Ordon- who we’re never given a good reason why they were kidnapped and then abandoned, or something that ties it back to Ganon’s orders- and tries to defend Midna, restoring her to the throne (and basically ignoring Zant’s accusations that Midna’s family abused him, because we never meet said family, or hear anything about them from anyone else) and Zelda (who’s nearly a non-entity in Twilight Princess until the final fight).

Link is presented as an ostensible neutral party because he’s not a soldier of Hyrule, but in practice, he’s kept very ignorant about the situation he’s conscripted into, and he’s given all of his cues from Hyrulean perspectives and especially those of their royal family. And we, interacting with the world through him, are similarly kept in the dark.

So- yeah, so much more of Ganon makes sense if you just don’t think about it. This was clearly the stance we were supposed to take.

But...

On the other hand...

Are we really comfortable, through the character of Link, of playing the role of an unthinking executioner, who sharpens the sword because we were told, who cuts down someone we barely know anything about, who doesn’t give us that many reasons to oppose him not filtered through things we’re told by other people? Who virtually never directly attacks until we personally chase him down?

Even if Hyrule has only the best intentions, why write a story where we just have to take a bunch of confusing and downright concerning information at face value and kill a guy because destiny says so?

If this isn’t supposed to look like we’re the unwitting servants of evil, why are we supposed to be unwitting servants at all? After all, you don’t usually hear the term “unwitting servant of justice” because the general idea is that a just cause is one that doesn’t need to lie to people.

[bessiemae]

I saw the 2019 Little Women - and I didn’t like it.  Reasons under cut -long.  I’m talking about the whole movie.

Okay, I saw it a couple of weeks ago, and only once, so my remembrance of all the details may not be exact or completely accurate.  But, first, I’m not going to criticize anyone for having trouble with the out of order timeline.  It’s not that I had trouble following it.  I grew up on the book and read it too many times to count, and watched numerous adaptations.  But, I could see someone not that familiar having trouble.  And, not (like some critic said), because they have problems with “stories about women”.  Maybe that is true for some, but I think just dismissing everyone who found it hard and saying that it’s objectively easy to follow for everyone is insulting.

But, anyway, it wasn’t hard for me to follow, but I found that it shortchanged almost every story.  It’s like each scene wasn’t played out long enough to get fully invested.  Like they wanted to cram a whole bunch of things in, without giving them enough time to give you the emotional impact.  And again, going from memory, but I can’t really think of any good reason why one scene came after another. 

Something I read long ago, that I’ve always remembered.  Fiction is supposed to give the illusion of real life.  (Or maybe it was dialogue)  It’s not supposed to be a direct imitation.  So having the characters all talking over each other doesn’t work.  Sure, in something like a screwball comedy, where things are meant to be fast paced and wacky. But, not here. And to cram in entire chapters worth of stuff into one scene?  Beth makes slippers for Mr Lawrence while Amy gets her foot stuck in the plaster and I don’t even remember what Meg and Jo were doing.  Beth gets so little, couldn’t she have gotten just that for herself?  I just found the whole set up too chaotic.

And now on to more specifics beyond the structure.  I HATED Marmee’s hair.  I’m no expert on historical accuracy of hairstyles.  And it doesn’t have to be completely correct.  But, at least it has to look like it could fool someone who has a vague notion that things were different in the past.  That hair didn’t even look like they were trying to be at all old timey.  Little Women was written in the 1800′s.  Unless you’re doing a modern retelling, let it stay in its own time.  And besides, it was ugly. 

And there was the infamous Jo and Friedrich scene.  You know, the criticizing the writing thing.  And I can’t blame this one, because EVERY version gets it wrong.  But, I will say, I would have liked it if these had been two completely different characters.  Man Character actually gave a good defense for why he was direct and honest.  He felt Woman Character had talent and deserved the opportunity to hone her craft which wasn’t going to happen if he patted her on the head and told her that something was good when it wasn’t.  But, these aren’t just original characters, so it fails. 

Also, great that people seemed to sympathize with Amy after this movie.  She’s not my favorite, but I will defend her against baseless hate to the death.  But, I don’t see what about this version of Amy was the turning point.  There was nothing negative, but I couldn’t see the light bulb moment.  Was it her saying she felt second to Jo?  Was it her being told she had to marry rich? 

Meg Goes to the Vanity Fair scene was okay.  The Pickwick Club was okay.

They actually show us Beth at the sea, and make it all about Jo’s writing!!  Jo is always going to get the brunt of the focus of the story. That’s a given.  And even then there could have been some focus on her difficulty in accepting Beth dying.  But, we should have gotten more than “the tide is going out.  Okay, enough about me, how’s your writing coming?”  We should have gotten that it wasn’t easy, that she was trying to accept but still wanted to live.  Especially since this was one of the few scenes that seemed to slow its pace long enough to give you that emotional feeling.

And now to the scene that I hated the most.  Jo being upset that Laurie got married.  ARRRGH!!!  I thought, oh, cool, they put in the “care more to be loved” moment, but they were careful to make it clear that she still wasn’t in love with Laurie.  They’re laying it to bed. And then what does she do?  Write some un-canonical letter and is all bent out of shape.  And it was even worse when I read the script and it said she momentarily wanted to slap Amy! 

I could go on and on, but some other things are things that I have problems with in every adaptation, so they aren’t particular to this one.  But, at least there were more aspects that I liked in those.  I didn’t even get emotional about Beth dying. I should always get emotional about that.

[theavenir17-blog]

Just how Condo Buyers Can Stay away from Paying Too Much: Ten Crucial Tips

Whether you're some sort of first-time buyer or a expert professional in the real estate online game, purchasing a condominium can be an daunting task, fraught with economic pitfalls as well as potential income. It's an emotional course of action filled with difficult choices-and each and every decision you make has funds riding on it. Finding the right rental for your family's needs will be tough enough; knowing how in order to avoid paying too much for that amazing living space is another job totally.

As a professional Realtor® who have helped countless buyers locate their dream home in addition to save money at the same time, I've produced this guide to help you avoid the prospective hazards inherent in the condo-buying process. I'll show you making certain you've found the correct home, as well as how to loan provider a price to your advantage. These are classes you truly can't find the money for to learn through trial and error.

Suggestion #1: Determine Your House "Minimums" Ahead of Time.

Understand that you can find two condos out there eager for your attention-one that fits your needs and one that suits your desires. In a excellent world, you could choose that will three-bedroom condo with area for your family to grow, nevertheless have the perfect floor policy for entertaining and social get-togethers. Is that big kitchen more vital to you than a few added rooms?

When you begin shopping for your own personal condo, you'll encounter qualities you'll fall in love with for different causes. It's best to list the features you want before you start shopping. Break your personal list into two categories-"Needs" and "Desires"-and prioritize those items accordingly. Understanding what you genuinely need in your condo rather than what you'd like to have will help you keep your priorities straight when you shop around .

Don't let emotion impair your judgment. Satisfy your preferences first, and if you can accomplish some of your desires at the same time, so much the better. What's crucial is to understand the difference before getting caught-up in the excitement in the hunt.

Tip #2: Obtain a Pre-Approved Mortgage.

In case you are not buying with dollars, getting a loan pre-approved could be the smart way to shop for a loft apartment. It tells sellers that you are currently a serious prospect, and you realize in advance the maximum mortgage it is possible to afford.

I've seen customers make the mistake of understanding what they qualify for, but not having pre-approval in writing. You've removed this far, so take next step-get it written.

The good news is that it's easier than ever to be approved for a home loan.

Tip #3: Communicate with Your Realtor.

Coming from finding the right condo to examinations and negotiating the best package, the condo search practice can be exhausting for the particular hardiest souls. That's why smart condo buyers have a Realtor® in their corner. Most vendors you encounter are undoubtedly going to have professionals particular side. Having a pro on your own team is the safest solution to ensure that you get the best deal achievable.

Once you have a clear, detailed photograph of the condo you want, make sure that your agent has the same graphic. This communication is critical. In any other case, you'll both waste time considering homes that hold little curiosity for you.

Also, make sure your Agent knows your priorities. Your own personal shared goal is to it is worth it to find an excellent condo that complies with all of your needs; your Will give will then try to satisfy as much of your desires as possible.

Idea #4: The Cliché is valid... Location, Location, Location!

The particular desirability and resale associated with your condo-to-be depends on place more than any other single aspect. Again, don't let emotion get involved the way of a wise investment. Simply no condo is an island, as well as the value of yours is influenced in what surrounds it. The Avenir showflat

There are several factors that combine to create a fine location. Your first consideration is a neighborhood itself. Every local community has its own unique character; you should make sure you'd be comfortable inside the one you're thinking of moving into. Take a long walk as well as observe carefully. Do folks take pride in their building? Speak to the neighbors and ask concerns that give you a better sense for the property. But try not to appear judgmental-you might be conversing with a future neighbor.

If the developing is to your satisfaction, try to find units on the market in the area. Incredibly large units surrounded by more compact ones tend to appreciate not more than a large condo among some other large condos. Conversely, the actual unit in the building is commonly "pulled up" by the additional units in the building. Nonetheless it might take longer to sell a smaller sized unit when the time will come because many people are unwilling to cover extra for the neighborhood. The Avenir showflat

The outside edge of a neighborhood is normally not good for resale value. You can find noticeable dividing lines in between dissimilar neighborhoods. It could be a change in architectural styles, property or home use or something else. Search for a condo in the middle of a location of similar buildings; it will eventually hold its value far better.

An exception to this rule can be a building on the edge of your neighborhood bounded by h2o, parkland, a golf course or maybe other open space. Normal boundaries appeal to buyers, and the "edge" condos can actually command word a better price. Be mindful, still of the planned use for that open space. A community park is nice; a fresh freeway, strip mall as well as industrial center isn't.

Other stuff that can negatively affect residence values are traffic, seems, smells, etc . Be sure to supply the neighborhood a long, hard seem. The condo you're interested in could be perfect, but if the neighborhood provides problems, your investment defintely won't be worth as much when the moment comes to sell.

Tip #5: Enjoy the Present, but Look at the Future.

Buying a condo is often a big investment. If you can stretch out a little today financially to obtain a unit that you can grow with-whether it's having a child, operating a home-based business, or turning an extra room into your personal gym-do it. In the long run, it will oftimes be less expensive than moving up into a marginally larger unit if the need does arise.

Hint #6: Pay Attention to Red Flags While Evaluating a Condo.

When assessing the advantages and drawbacks of a certain property, be sure you know the big difference between acceptable and unwanted problems.

Some issues-peeling fresh paint, worn carpeting, ugly wallpaper-are cosmetic and can be easily dealt with. You can even use these "problems" during negotiations to lower the particular asking price. After all, you'll need to spend some money to bring the condo around snuff.

Make careful take note of the issues you realize that can be used to your advantage. May nit-pick, however-if taken to two extremes, you could end up alienating owner and creating a hostile ambiance.

In my experience, spending a few hundred or so dollars on a professional condominium inspection is the best investment likely to ever make. A professional inspector brings experience in evaluating a great many homes, good review standards, and an neutral perspective. And a written review can be an excellent negotiating application.

Don't let a condo's optimistic attributes blind you to extremely real problems. If you do, the possibilities are good that you'll end up wasting much more money than you ever before expected at some point down the line.

Fortunately for buyers is that the regulation now requires sellers for making complete disclosure of identified material defects. Make sure to fully grasp this in writing. And carefully take into account how these defects may possibly influence what you're ready to pay.

Tip #7: Some Fixer-Uppers Are "Good-Byes, " Negative Buys.

You may be the sort regarding person who looks at a condo looking for significant work as "a challenge" and an opportunity to make money. Many individuals have bought fixer-uppers at below-market rates, invested a little sweating equity or more than a tiny money on renovation, and after that eventually put it back on the market with a profit.

But if your unit basically priced low enough, you may not recoup your investment of the time, trouble and expense. Prior to deciding to proceed, do a careful examination of what you'll have to spend. Then, consult with your Realtor to master what you can reasonably anticipate to earn when you put the model back on the market. And be certain to consider the unexpected-there's no such thing as being a "sure thing. "

Word of advice #8: Put on Your Best Holdem poker Face.

One of the costliest blunders you can make is letting the vendor know how much you love their condo. Once you've let it fall, you can just about forget about settling the price-the other area knows how motivated you happen to be. In fact , a seller often see this as an opportunity to squash a little more money out of an individual even when you've made a good offer you to start with; no matter how wonderful a property is, keep it to on your own.

Keep your own situation for you to yourself as well. Information can be utilized against you. How much most likely willing to spend, the size of loan you can afford, your move-in deadline-it all can be used to acquire more money out of your pocket. Make sure you tell your agent everything he / she needs to know to be effective with your behalf-whether you plan to pay income or the size of the home finance loan you can afford, etc . Nevertheless , keep your personal circumstances and also timeline to yourself.

Inversely, knowledge is power. The causes behind a sale can often be accustomed to your competitive advantage in the course of negotiations. For example , a vendor whose company has transported him to another city may perhaps be more motivated to sell as compared to someone who is still looking for a fresh home.

Other signs of a new motivated seller include a vacant system, or a condo that's been in the marketplace for several months with savings in the asking price.

Tip #9: Don't Be Pressured, but Carry out Negotiate.

While you want to proceed expeditiously once you're inside negotiations, don't let the other edge pressure you into a speedy close. It may be a sign there's something you should know, but may. And the reason could be well worth money.

Sometimes, the seller's Realtor will try to discourage a hesitant buyer with all the threat of another significant potential buyer. Don't fall under this trap-it will only cost money. If there is another consumer, then the seller's agent will endeavour to get a bidding war started out. In these situations, whoever benefits also loses because the client ends up overpaying.

If there just isn't another buyer, there's a excellent chance that "the various other deal" will fall by means of and the seller's agent should come calling. Be sure to let the different side know that you might be fascinated if this were to happen, prior to deciding to walk away.

You may be the type of person who also prefers a hard-and-fast cost on everything. "I don't like to help haggle, " you point out. But negotiation is the key to secure a good deal! If your goal is to get the best house possible for the least amount of money, then you certainly better be prepared to play. Your personal Realtor can assist you with these sometimes-stressful negotiations.

Tip #10: All set - Set - Obtain!

Good properties move quickly! Once you've made up your mind to get a condo and you've prearranged your Realtor, be prepared to help to make decisions quickly. If you find the ideal unit today but usually are ready to buy until down the road, you may already be too late. Is actually that simple-if you have decreased in love with a particular condominium, somebody else in the market probably has also.

If this all sounds like plenty of work, it is. But this is certainly to be expected when you're getting anything of such fantastic value. And you'll thank by yourself and your Realtor when the result is to your satisfaction.

You should feel free to call me if you'd like further explanation on some of these tips, or if you have virtually any real estate questions at all.

Our mission is to share the information and insights I've obtained from years of experience on the market in order to help you optimize your house investment.

The Avenir by GuocoLand. Hotline 61006768. Get Discount, Direct Developer Price, Brochure, Floor Plan, Price List & More. Former Pacific Mansion at River Valley