#i like doing these sometimes bc there’s some concepts and characters’ thought processes i can make clearer outside of comics haha

[sopuu]

Hi yes I want yo uto know that I've just been haunting your champion jesse tag bc. Holy shit. I never thought I'd ever get into the mcsm fandom but I also said that about Sonic and Yu-Gi-Oh and I got into them, so.

But ur art,,,,,, ur au,,,,,,,, I live for this kind of shit. Take a positive character and break their spirit, tear them down, make them into a dead-eyed fighter. I eat that shit like Talenti Gelato - 🖋️

yess!!!! you get it!!!!! the thing about jesse is that he’s very stubborn and determined, so it’s not easy to completely break his spirit. he’s also definitely not the type to voluntarily follow romeo’s orders and he’ll fight against him at any chance, physically or verbally. so in the au romeo never actually succeeds in turning jesse into his champion entirely (and romeo eventually learns that he can’t too). also i don’t think it’s fun if i just changed jesse into romeo’s puppet, fighting with no emotions coz that’s simply not who he is! i wanna do my best to keep his personality while also fitting the champion role into that.

but that doesn’t mean jesse hasn’t been affected emotionally- he has the tough job of constantly struggling between growing self-doubt and desperately clinging onto the hope of escaping, and i think it’s worse than giving up entirely since there’s no concrete answer to his turmoil. and if romeo can’t have jesse willingly be his champion then he’ll take advantage of this struggle and turn him into an unwilling champion.

so so glad you’re enjoying the au btw 🥹 i hope i can make it a good ride!!

[prettyboykatsuki]

how do you reconcile with writing smut about characters who are canonically minors? i’m not trying to attack you or try to change your mind or anything, so sorry if my question reads that way. i’m just genuinely curious 😭

no worries!! this is asked respectfully so i dont mind answering even tho i usually just delete stuff abt this now

idk really know how to answer your question i have not reiterated many times. but like. i want you to really consider your own way of asking this to me critically. like what would i have to "reconcile" with exactly? them being minors in canon?

for me personally there's nothing to reconcile with. i feel no guilt or shame or remorse about aging up characters. or just like wanting to fuck them. or really anything i write in fiction at all, point blank - should i choose to explore it. like there's not crime i've committed other than being horny about some shit i made up, upon the basis some shit another guy made up.

partially this is bc characters in fictions are concepts. they're objects, thoughts, ideas. no matter how brainrotted i am about them, they don't live in material reality. im not harming them because they don't exist. outside of my phone and computer they are not real. harrowing myself with guilt over something that does not even exist is kind of insane. this applies to everything.

you can feel personal discomfort over aging up for yourself, but the reality is no actual minors are harmed in the process of me writing porn about anime characters. bakugou is lines on paper. i am allowed to cut him out like a barbie doll and play with him however i like. he doesn't get a say in that because he is fake lol.

there's like idk. all sorts of nuance to this and if you are respectfully curious im happy to talk to you about it. but they're just not real. no one is hurt in me writing this. so it doesn't matter to me at all. i would never hurt another person because of what im interested in fictionally, either. i have spent too many years becoming a decent human being to wonder about that

nothing i do in the fictional space is of any relevance to who i am, except for what things might cause genuine harm to another living breathing person. i write a lot of dark content in my smut also but

a lot of my content also while being dark, does not specifically deal with sensitive social issues so no one is hurt in that way either. i have enough confidence in my critical understanding of the world to write what i do understand to my ability. i mostly write about noncon and dubcon and yandere, all of which are personal violations and not social ones (OVERSIMPLIFYING THERE A LOT). i sometimes do write about social taboos of course but not whats outside of my ability

all in all its like. i dont know what i'd feel guilty over. no one is hurt and i have no intent to harm. nothing matters outside of that

[jzbnee]

you know what..... i just realized that aquababy has blonde curls,, you know who else has blonde curls??? 😱 and you know what..... garth & joseph wilson is not a tag on ao3 😔 can you make garth and joey interact somehow pls 😻🙏 alternatively, more garth porn is always good uwu

omg hahaha you're SOOOO right

i saw the ampersand so i'll give u some concepts & then i'll probably pick one to elaborate on… but also have some kink ideas too <33

platonic hmmm i think that they could bond just by virtue of being on the titans? but for specifics, i imagine joey playing music & garth enjoying that music?

it's tricky bc they both have 'siblings' sort of that have died, but their trauma doesn't really connect there-- joey is the golden child (sometimes) while garth basically never is… could have something where garth resents joey for that but is trying to hide it and joey picks up on it and is being super nice to compensate and they are both sooo friendly to each other but there's this bizarre tension that all their friends notice & neither of them ever say why haha

could also do some stuff that's more modern where they're dealing with Modern Character issues… but i don't know that much about modern garth beyond him being pretty neglected by canon atm

sexual daddy kink/weird feelings about aquaman-- obviously joey doesn't really look like aquaman, but, as you said, he does have blond curly hair soooo… i could see garth calling joey daddy and doing some roleplay like that??

possession stuff -- joey HAS canonically possessed garth for like 2 seconds lol. HOWEVER, i think that, after the whole uhhh garth joining the church of blood via possession plotline in the comics recently, he has some trauma he could happily process in that way

alternatively, non possession bc i am wondering if joey would still be able to possess garth with all the magical powers he has? so it could also be a thing, rape roleplay or otherwise, where joey is getting off on the fact that he can't possess garth?? very sexy imo

anddd then there could also be this weirdboy friendly energy between them that builds and builds out of control and then they have the freakiest sex imaginable (thinking of garth's line about not being judged as pure of heart due to lewd thoughs & joey's cavalcade of naked ladies he paints idk… now i'm distracted by the thought of garth crossdressing for him uvu)

doomed romantic

catching garth on that tula rebound when he was with the titans right after her death & joey was also there hahaha

wrote a snippet that is included below :) with thanks to some folks on mwse for help brainstorming!

Joey locked eyes with Garth, noting the deep, fascinating purple of his irises. They were gorgeous, though Joey admitted that he was more into the developed swimmer's muscles that Garth had.

'Now?' he signed, mouthing the word in case Garth hadn't learned it.

"Now," Garth confirmed.

With a blink, Joey focused on transitioning from his body into Garth's, shivering as he felt Garth's magic pressing against him. As with most powerful magic users, there was the feeling of resistance, even with Garth's conscious lowering of his defenses. Joey pictured it like gently sliding between them, which made it easier.

He settled in Garth's mind, adjusting his mental presence comfortably. Garth fell back, and Joey flexed his fingers, wondering at the strength in them. If he flexed Garth's arm next, staring down at his biceps, well… only Garth would know.

Garth chuckled, brassy and pleasant, even from this side.

Then, Garth shifted his magic, and Joey felt it as he held on tightly. His consciousness was shackled-- not the way it had been when Raven and Vic had trapped him before, but kept close, with just enough give that he could struggle. At that thought, he tried, testing his bonds.

"Oh," Garth said, delight trilling through his mind. He flopped back on the couch they'd chosen to conduct this experiment on, eyes on the ceiling even as his mind was on Joey.

Joey moved Garth's arm, tugging at his shirt-- starting to, at least. Garth cut him off, seizing control again and pressing Joey down with something that felt like being hit by a surging wave. Joey gasped when Garth let up, but the sound didn't make it out of his throat.

"What do you think?" Garth asked aloud, hand curled on his chest.

Testingly, Joey opened Garth's mouth. Licked his lips slowly, tasting salt.

"I like it."

[chipchopclipclop]

love ur baldurs gate 3 oc so much. idk anything about the game but i genuinely likes him. i wish hes a real character bc i would buy the game for him

thank you anon i know this message is weeks old but ily and also im going to use this ask as an excuse to dump information about him now (swagdor lore (swaglore)) for anyone who cares

general stuff;

hes 49 years old as of game time

necromancy wizard, learned scholar, heavy interest in the boundaries between life and death and undeath, researching different types of resurrection unrelated to god worship (just not a big fan of asking for favours yknow)

stoic even keeled personality, reacts neutrally or stone faced to most things (this does not mean hes uncaring, hes got a curious nature). he used to be very showy and loud when he was younger, he finds that now very embarrassing

used to be a leader of an adventuring band in his 20s, fell apart when his group were defeated in battle leaving him lone survivor, wasnt a necromancer back then

has a distinct lack of self regard, half of him believes he'll be more of use untethered to the chain of mortality (undead in some fashion, or just thinking his corpse more functionally useful) the other half is just still struggling with survivors guilt (lol)

wanders around looking for old crypts and tombs to help his arcane pursuits, do-good's alot accidentally while he does, though most people get scared of him when he reveals the necromancy magic so hes got a mixed reputation (has some sort of misnomer like The Specter of so-and-so that wyll probably recognizes and laughs about)

will go along with just about anything if it amuses him, and has a weird sense of humour. hard to catch off guard or fluster, he yes-and's people alot to see how far they'll go with something or out bluff them (sometimes this causes them to try and beat the shit out of him)

truthful about his feelings when asked, but rarely volunteers his thoughts on things of his own accord, this gives him a weirdly mysterious image at first to most people

treats his raised corpses with care befitting living beings outside combat, and used to even raise some for company even if they were functionally just puppets.

he likes skeletons more than zombies (smell…)

his fake in game quest line is called 'The Wandering Necromancer' and involves inquiring about his old adventuring days of times past and learning why he's so into skeletons. He eventually reveals his past and you can bring up his groups old misadventures (oh my god you were the backstreet boys???) and he is very embarrassed by it. He reveals his group was felled by a lich, and he never found their bodies so hes always been curious on a way to speak with them again somehow.

plot continues BLAH BLAH eventually you find out that lich is still around and swagdor's old friends are now in its undead service so you go to kill it <3 but on the way he considers if he should take the lich's place so he can have his old companions around again (even if they're in his undead service) and try to give them some semblance of new twisted life again. You either help him with the preparations (yay phylacterys) or go bro you need to Move On. Man. and instead choose to release their souls when the lich is killed.

swagdor is stronger as a lich but also becomes even more detached from concepts of mortality (his sense of danger is basically nill now regarding others... its okay if u die ill bring u back somehow :) <- unnerving smile) and also all his dead friends are talking to him in his ear so he's constantly got a sense of being away from everything.

unliched swagdor moves on properly and begins The Healing Process (better late than never king) and seems more present in current ongoings, finding a place he can really set his feet. He's also less obsessed with death but sees his necromancy instead as a means to help and speak with wayward souls of the dead.

useless trivia corner: his names swagdor bc i based him off an old div2 oc i made when i was playing that game with aqua, where i used one of the randomly generated names they gave me and put the word swag into it (lol) i now am using his div2 swagdor's adventures as a semi basis for his new bg3 versions background thats why his younger versions outfit is based off that one captain armour set i never took off in that game

[sunnyyflowerrs]

Hi! I’m currently starting my first ever jjk fanfic and I’m wondering if you have any advice, specifically related to fanfic writing and not just writing in general. Thank you! :)

(I’m going anon because it’s still a secret lol)

omg hi anon!!! omg you’re writing a fanfic?? that’s going to be so funnn! i’m super flattered you would ask me, but i also just starting writing fics (and writing in general), which means IM still figuring out what works for me and refining my style. so, keep that in mind and take my advice with a grain of salt ;)

so without further ado: sunny’s tips for writing fanfic!! (under the cut bc this will be verbose)

fanfic specific:

1. characterization. know your characters!

one of the best and worst things about fanfiction is that you did not create these characters. this is good because you don’t have to work to create them, and often (esp in jjk) they are very well thought out characters that feel real. but, this can be difficult or frustrating if they start to feel out of character when you write them. it’s important to critically think about their role in the story, how they interact with other characters, and what things they would or would not do. one thing that i’ve found helps when they feel out of character is to rewatch certain clips from the show to see how they talk with others/present themselves or see a relationship dynamic they have with another person.

for example, when i was writing one fic, i really wanted to get megumi and tsumiki’s relationship right. i knew he looked up to her, but it wasn’t blind admiration - that doesn’t make sense with megumi’s character. so i went and watched some of his monologues on her, and found that specifically, he thought of her as a good person, and used her as a moral compass. he believes that the world isn’t a good place because it’s a place that doesn’t allow for the happiness of good people like her. i wove this concept into the fic, which ended up making it feel more authentic to megumi! (at least imo)

2. understanding the world

another double edged sword in fanfic is that you don’t have to write the world! but also, that means you have to understand the world. i’m not talking about cursed energy stuff bc cmon lets be real, no one understands that /j. if you are writing a serious fic or a character study set in canonverse, it’s important to understand the overarching themes of the story, so that if can fit into canon. if its set in an alternate universe (AU) it’s still important to understand the world of canon so that you can translate things into your own universe. a (shameless) example from my own writing is the firefighter au im writing; gojo is a lieutenant because this is the position that directly oversees the detectives (megumi, yuuta, maki, and inumaki), instead of a captain because a liutenant best mirrors a teacher. a captain would be closer to the principal, and any other police administration would be the jujutsu higher-ups. and gojo has the power to be higher up in the hierarchy in both universes, but he chooses to stay down to mentor the students/detectives. i love reading au’s with well thought out world building where things parallel to canon, and its an exercise in creativity and is super fun to both write and read!

general writing tips:

ok i know you said fanfic specific, but i had to sneak these in here briefly bc in some ways they do relate to how to write fanfic

3. read! reading other authors’ voices can help you create your own. currently reading a book series and I like to take things from how she writes and see how that translates into my own voice (my author of choice currently is RF Kuang). this is a work that is edited and published so you know its good quality! this can happen before or during the process of writing the fic. also because its a fic, reading other good fanfics can help you gain ideas on fun tropes or other ideas.

4. show not tell (but you can tell sometimes): this is the boilerplate writing advice that everyone gives, and yes, it does ring true! make sure that you are implying the action, emotion or themes rather than just saying it. however, I’ve noticed that when writing fluff/unserious ones, you can explicitly tell the audience some things. fanfic is a very easy to read format, and though prose and implication can be really pretty and impactful, sometimes the comedic effect is best said just by telling the reader what happened, or just being very real about what’s happen to increase the giggle effect.

ok that was A LOT of yapping, but these are kinda the things i would say to a beginner fic writer! believe in yourself and your ability, you will do GREAT!

once again i am also VERY NEW to writing, so if some of this is common sense to you, you can skip it, but ngl everything is new to me, so take my advice with that in mind!! i could also be wrong on some things so authors can also add stuff in the comments to help

also there is this jjk writers discord im in run by @fluffy-bacon363 , and the writers there are always so helpful and its nice to workshop ideas with them in there!! i think the link is on bacon’s tumblr

thank you for asking and hope this helps!

now that i’m rereading this i just realized you said first jjk fanfic and not fanfic …. so if i got this completely wrong u can send me another ask and i can yap abt jjk fanfic specifically ;)

[cranberrysoap]

Any tips n stuff in regards to colors?How do you pick them?Your colours are so pleasing so i was curious ;;

Have a nice day!

Ahh thank you!!! Hmm... I’m fairly instinctive and gut feeling about picking colours, but I’ll try my best to talk about it.

My all time favourite thing in art is how one colour can look completely different in different weather, lighting, time of day, or what other colours it is placed next to. So I pay attention to it a lot when I watch live action films, go outside, or study art/animation that I like.

When I have the patience, I prefer to have control over every colour, even if it means not using multiply and instead shading each separate colour individually.

Also, I get bored if I colour in a character the exact same shades for too many times in a row, so often I will purposely not pull up my characters other drawings and choose all their colours from scratch again.

Sometimes I will try to make a character look like they are in a specific lighting(s) with flat colours alone, and I love to do this as part of normal doodling, so I think certain things and colour combos got etched in my brain.

I think I still have a lot to learn about colour and lighting, and sometimes I overthink it and a multiply/overlay mode was just fine and what I needed, it depends, but yeah, that’s all I can think to say about my thought process right now.

—

Oh and everyone recommends this I know, but James Gurney’s “colour & light” is a good resource. It’s not a ‘how to’, but explains concepts in a kind of technical way, like colour relativity or how your eye perceives colour vs a camera. It has a lot of traditional painting examples but the actual science applies to just how we see colour in general, every so often i give it a flip through to refresh my brain if I’m having a hard time.

Other areas that are good to pickup knowledge from is behind the scenes for live action films when they set up lighting, it’s fascinating to find out when actually, a lot of the lighting in something we saw was picked specifically by the director and had to be significantly punched up because “realistic” lighting did not always serve the story or read clearly on screen.

Older films can be great for this, bc they had to work really hard with what they had at the time to make things readable and couldn’t easily just post-process colours.

Ok I started rambling a bit there oops! I hope my thoughts can be useful in some way haha

[elekinetic]

user elekinetic do you have any tips to spare for outlining fics 😭 i feel like I word vomit any of the concept that I have in my head, and dialogue ,and build off that adding paragraphs as I go and I go so slow bc of it. But ive been trying hard lately to write a list of “scenes” and bullet point the story but yeah.

do you know anything that could help me have an idea of where to go start to finish instead of starting at the random spot I’ve come up with first? I waste so much writing time because I haven’t built a backstory for characters and things like that so i don’t always know how they start the story off, only the situation they’re in. Is that something that could help? Making a list for each character or something? Would love to hear your thoughts thank you! <3

hi! first of all i’m so flattered you asked! to be clear, i am a very slow writer too lmao and i’m relatively new to prose writing, and though in very confident in my understanding of what makes a good story (W screenwriting), i am still figuring out my outlining process. but hey! let’s learn together.

sorry in advance for how long this is. i love talking.

so i basically figure everything out in the outline and write after i feel very good about it. if you have a strong foundation, everything gets a hell of a lot easier. t kind of sounds like your process might be similar to mine, so i’m just gonna explain what i'm doing for my current project.

my key document is my “bible.” i split it up into a couple different sections using page breaks (page breaks my best friend ily page breaks):

pitch/word vomit summary

scene ideas

outline

notes

ok so wtf does that mean.

1. pitch/word vomit summary — explain your concept. bc i've got a film/tv background, im starting off with my logline. (e.g. "after robin learns will is gay, they have a heart to heart in an abandoned video store about insecurity and feeling alone. they learn they're not." sometimes i'll follow that up with a note to myself like, "this fic isn't robin finding out, this is what happens after. starts with her already knowing. will pov, focus on his perception of robin changing. subtly reference toward feelings about mike, dont come out (haha) and say it") then, i write as MUCH of the concept down as i can, like i'm explaining it to a friend. (sometimes i copy and paste rants from dms directly into the document). it can be totally out of order, non-sensical, contradictory. just get as many of your ideas down as possible. you want to be able to come back to this and be like, oh i totally forgot about that. vague chapter summaries, personal notes about themes, whatever you want. i have a list of beats that you find in romantic dramas for inspiration and a paragraph abt ways i want to parallel/subvert s3 of st. just. go ham. 2. scene ideas — this is pretty self explanatory. i take some of the stuff i have in the p/s and flesh it out, or put down new ideas. this is where i'm writing out dialogue in bullet points, or what i want them to be Really Saying. (e.g. "mike: [panics bc he feels seen, tries to flip it back on (redacted) and fails] ") this is for when i can see stuff more clearly or i get out of the shower with a whole exchange in my head. gonna be out of order, a little all over the place. 3. outline — so. this is where you start piecing it together. put the bullet points in order. figure out objective of each scene and what needs to happen to accomplish that goal. figure out pacing, what needs to happen when. this step is where im looking at dialogue and thinking "why does mike say that? why does he feel that way? what needs to happen to get him to this point emotionally?" or looking at scenes and thinking "these are two scenes with people arguing back to back. lets make sure they feel different and give the characters different tactics to get what they want (byler argument where mike is avoiding will vs max argument where max is avoiding lucas. i could use this to highlight similarities and differences in the relationships, but having two scenes with the same tactics back to back might feel repetitive. maybe i move the scenes farther apart or change circumstances. maybe mike and will are having a veiled argument while theyre with a group of friends in a public space and max and lucas' argument is outside max's house.) also asking if conflicts are resolved too quickly, if the miscommunications feel too convenient, if characters disappear or are only around as plot devices. write. troubleshoot. repeat. 4. random notes — everything else that doesnt fit. for me this is literally just taylor swift lyrics (writing the fic vaguely off of a Specific Song that SHOULD BE STREAMED MORE WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE anyway) and links to posts i use as character reference to make sure im staying true to the characters. (remembering will said "i was being a total jerk to el, i deserved it," AND "you're ruining everything, and for what!"/"i wasn't moping!")

i want it to be clear im doing all of this at the same time. im jumping around and pulling new ideas and rearranging as stuff changes. i think the thing that's really hard is that i want to be able to sit down, write the outline, and then move on. but for us scatterbrained writers, you're gonna have to re-outline and readjust like. a thousand times. and that's okay. that's good! it feels tedious as hell but the story is so much better for it.

take your time. let yourself be slow. keep finding holes in your story and fill the world in as you fix them.

here are some more questions i ask myself to make the story better:

What are you trying to accomplish over the course of the story? What is it about? (for the will&robin fic, it was something about feeling seen for the first time.) When you get lost in your story or aren't sure why a scene feels stale, come back to this. is the scene furthering that goal?

What is changing internally for each of your main characters? (yes theyre dating by the end but like. what do they learn.)

Are the side characters people or props? (will pov scene of a party-wide picnic where everyone's talking but will is focused on mike's hands.... where is max's head at in the scene? you don't have to have a super long backstory and she doesn't have to be a big part of the plot, but if she's saying something, figure out why she's saying it. if will is having a heart to heart with el, understand why el is responding the way she is. the scene's goal may be to get will through a breakthrough, but el's circumstances will change in the scene too. figure out how this conversation lands with her. oh, and remember the adults are people too!)

Why is this character saying this/why are they responding this way? (this should answer your "where do i start?" question. start in that random spot and figure out A) why they are there and B) why they are reacting the way they do (see last bullet point).

side note: some of the best advice i ever got was "enter the scene late, exit early." skip the prologue. try starting from that random spot. if it feels like something's missing, figure out exactly what that something is, and go from there

Do the stakes feel high enough?

What do i need to set up to make sure this scene/beat is satisfying as possible? (are will and mike going to have a big argument? oh, so we have to show tension before.... BAM you have another scene to write and your outline is fuller)

i could go on a lot longer but. basically.

i edit while i write. i'm someone who needs a very fucking strong outline and a very fucking clear idea of the story before i can start writing it. i'm putting probably 70-80% of the leg work in at the start so i can focus on making the prose (or script, most of the time) the best it can be.

THAT BEING SAID, this is just the way i do it and i have like. a fic and a half published. im taking my sweet time bc im creatively burned out and this is for fun first and foremost. like i said. i am a Very Slow Writer.

i highly, highly recommend hitting up the ask boxes of writers like @/strangeswift, @/wiseatom, @/astrobei, or @/andiwriteordie. no guarantees on responses bc they are busy ppl with busy lives but i really do think theyre some of the best writers out here right now, and im not just saying that bc they're my friends. abby (strangeswift) and i have been each other's sounding board through a lot of projects and she's almost done with one of her first Big Fics, so its worth asking her about that.

i hope this helps! ah!!

[suffarustuffaru]

What is your opinion on arc 8? For me its such a mess (probably bc tappei improvised arc 7 and 8, they werent in the original plan), i hope it will end soon

i do agree with you there on otto development but im definitelyyy biased *sweats in becoming an otto blog someone save me from the hyperfixation* but in my defense otto arc 8 development was the result of a slow burn since arc 3-4 and otto's various side stories but even without the side stories it feels like the logical conclusion that his arc was leading up to, which feels pretty solid to me for the most part (side eyes otto apologizing to the girl who sent assassins after him.... side eyes tappei's fixation on shipping otto's brothers and then not even elaborating on how that'd even work as dynamics) but. anyway i digress

arc 7-8 ive followed since their conception via reading it chapter by chapter. unfortunately i did also get kinda busy with irl stuff while the middle of arc 7 was happening so i had to do catchup and also my memory is Pretty Bad. if youre wondering how i remember certain lore so well its only bc i have to reread/rewatch/use that info for writing things a lot which is the only reason why i remember it HAH. so. all in all. my memory of arc 7-8 is pretty shaky. i did read the beginnings of arc 7 and 8 via the polished translations though on WCT a while back while the rest was mostly like as each chapter came out.

rn ive started rereading arc 6 and i have several side stories i need to finish (ana camp side stories, the wilhelm-theresia trilogy, and ex 5 are top of my list right now). and then eventually ill get to reading arc 7-8 in their entirety so that i can 1. have more knowledge of it and 2. so i can have more fully formed opinions on it. so definitely i could try answering this question again once im done with that. no idea when that is bc im kinda a slow reader but ill do my best HAH. but i do have some thoughts now!!

(arc 7-8 stuff under cut + a single arc 9 mention)

arc 7-8 i do have a few mixed feelings about, namely louis's arc so far, but im really trusting the process here bc tappeis writing is just like that sometimes. you really need to be patient and definitely while i have things to criticize about louis's arc particularly i do hope that the catharsis of her character kicks in hard later so !! im interested in that.

but generally like. arc 7-8 are pretty solid. as expected of tappei. there were a lot of really really fascinating stuff brought up, a lot of interesting characters that we got to know (and im a really big fan of how much love tappei puts into a lot of the side characters, it really makes the world of rezero fleshed out). subarus arc continues to be interesting even if i personally really dont like that he adopts louis as spica While he looks like hes the exact same age as her, it really broke my immersion a bit.

but anyway yeah like. arc 7-8 was pretty good. like objectively, in my opinion, theres a lot to love, even though personally it did take me a bit to warm up to it in the beginning. i definitely think though that they do feel a bit messy as arcs. with arcs 1-6 they flow really nicely into each other - you can tell they were really planned out and tightly knit. arc 7-8 does something really new - throwing us right into vollachia - which is interesting, but i do think it does feel a bit less planned out, which makes sense bc according to tappei vollachia was a change in his original plans. this isnt bad on its own and we got two giant arcs out of it that were pretty fun. but there are points i feel that you can kinda Tell that it wasnt planned out. the slight reliance on the teleportation throughout arc 7 was like the first thing i noticed haah.

and my big worry after arc 8 is that like. tappei doesnt strike that perfect balance of still keeping vollachia and its cast relevant but like not letting them overshadow other matters that tappei needs to get to before finishing rezero. like i want vollachia to continue to matter after we've spent two really big and complex and busy arcs with vollachia, but i do want the focus to shift a little away from them gradually / bring up vollachia again later.

arc 9 so far in its 2 chapters at the time of me answering this ask has been really really good so far with wrapping up arc 7-8 while building up future conflicts. i do think however that since we spent time with vollachia this now comes with the expectation of branching out into kararagi and gusteko possibly - just bc we already know we're gonna spend a Lot of time in lugunica, as we have for a lot of rezero already, and we've spent a lot of time with vollachia, so narratively there probably needs to be some equality in that we should at least get a glimpse of other nations in the main route. so !! im interested in that possibility too and i think it would fit rezero well.

so yeah thats like. my personal opinion on arc 7-8 and i think reading through the whole entire thing wont change much of my opinions on the above besides me probably falling in love some more with the cast and understanding the story during this time period more deeply (and probably having more thoughts on louis and rem). i do hope that you reconsider your stance on arc 7-8 though anon!!! but if not thats totally fair too.

[weremagnus]

Ok, several questions bc you have my dream job lol:

1. How did you get into the video game industry as a concept artist?

1a. Was it hard?

1b. What kind of degree did you need to work with the company ur currently employed with?

2. Is it hard being a full time artist?

Hi! Thanks for asking these questions. I'll do my best to answer based on my experiences.

1. How did you get into the video game industry as a concept artist?

I spent a year after graduation from college taking on any work that came my way. All really low budget stuff, a real hodgepodge of things: some of it was games, some of it was like... logos for local businesses. In that year I also took a trip to Burbank to attend the CTN Animation Expo (there's another one called Lightbox now) and I brought my college portfolio with me to show recruiters. I ended up meeting some folks who worked at a studio that interested me and they passed my name along to their recruitment department.

I do want to note: I didn't start as a concept artist. My first position involved concept art, but was primarily creating 2D game assets. As I kept working I was given opportunities that eventually earned a concept artist role.

1a. Was it hard?

At times it felt really difficult. Between jobs during that post-grad year, I was online researching what studios were out there and sending my portfolio to any hiring email I could find. Here are some of the places I was looking (originally I thought I'd get into the animation industry)

ANW

Canadian Animation Resources

These are newer resources that I know of since then:

Game dev jobs

Canadian Game Devs Discord

I often felt discouraged and out of my depth. I had no idea how to get in, and it could feel hopeless when I'd never get any worthwhile responses. It took a lot of patience, perseverance and determination to keep at it.

1b. What kind of degree did you need to work with the company ur currently employed with?

I have a bachelor's degree of Visual Communication and Design with a character design specialization. I don't think I needed it to get hired, but it certainly helped. I think it helped most in getting hired for a position that was slightly above entry-level.

I've been part of the hiring process and I can confidently say that while post-secondary education credentials are great to see on a resume, they've never been the deciding factor. I've seen more importance assigned to a portfolio with strong fundamentals, examples of work that prove an artist can match the project they're applying for, and that they interview well.

2. Is it hard being a full time artist?

It can be challenging, especially when you're starting out, but I don't think that's exclusive to the art profession. My biggest challenges were lifestyle changes when I was suddenly no longer a teenager/student but now an employee who has to be accountable to others and be good at managing their time.

Challenges specific to the career: you'll have to learn how to be willing and open about having your work critiqued, by both peers and superiors (art director, professors, etc). You'll have to disconnect yourself from the work you create on the job otherwise you risk taking every piece of feedback personally.

There are many days where you have no will to draw or design, but you have to do it anyway because it's your job. And there's no secret to getting through those days: you just force yourself.

There are also days, sometimes weeks, where you have to work on an assignment that doesn't interest you at all, but you're responsible for getting the work done.

[fruitysalamander1398]

Fanfic Writer Questions

thank you for the tag @cinehomophile !💜💜

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

38

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

84,620

3. What fandoms do you write for?

mainly the deer hunter and mean streets, but i have also written godfather fic in the past (which has since been deleted bc i didn't think it was very good lol). i've also written fic for parting glances (1986) and probably other things i can't remember but yeah.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

1. don't ask me to be lonely https://archiveofourown.org/works/45806962

2. oh, pretty baby https://archiveofourown.org/works/47108557

3. my boy https://archiveofourown.org/works/49263451

4. you're just too good to be true https://archiveofourown.org/works/46031446

5. moonlight lover https://archiveofourown.org/works/49926586

5. do you respond to comments?

usually i message the person privately bc for some reason it makes me a little anxious but sometimes i do! i love getting comments so i try to get back to everyone.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i think it would have to be point of no return: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45937063 bc the literal whole point is that it's a death scene of johnny.

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

i have lots of happy ending deer hunter fluff / hurt/comfort but i think the happiest one is probably my beloved strawberry https://archiveofourown.org/works/46815451 in which mike and nick get a cat<3

8. do you get hate on fics?

thankfully no, but oddly enough i have gotten hate on uquiz before and people suicide baiting me on uquiz seems like a pretty unique experience lmao so lmk if it's happened to you as well.

9. do you write smut? if so what kind?

okay so this might sound dumb but i don't know what actually qualifies as smut like are all sex scenes counted as smut? or is it like more graphic / strictly horny lmao. in any case yes i have and do write sex scenes, mainly really tender and romantic sex.

10. do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you have written?

i haven't personally wrote one but me and @cinehomophile had an idea for one which he is working on and we both kinda co-authored the general concept of. i shan't say more.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

no!

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

not translated but i've had many podfics made of my work by the lovely dmitri!

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

yes! i co wrote with my incredible boyfriend @ulyssesgays1995 a few times and also with @cinehomophile !!

14. what's your all time favorite ship?

this will surprise no one but it has to be mike and nick from the deer hunter. they mean so much to me.

15. what's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

never say never lol. i have a few shorter wips stowed away rn but i plan to finish them i think!

16. what are your writing strengths?

i think i'm good at hurt/comfort and examining the deep pain of a character but then bringing them to a place of healing with the support of their partner.

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

i can never plan out a plot ahead of time i just go in with a vague idea and see where it takes me. sometimes it works out great but i wish i could formulate my ideas more clearly sometimes bc sometimes they feel overwhelming.

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fics?

it's so cool! i have never personally done it but i would love to try.

19. first fandom you wrote for?

it would've been something when i was REALLY young probably like anne of green gables if i had to guess.

20. favorite fic you've written?

without a doubt, my deer hunter sex work au oh pretty baby https://archiveofourown.org/works/47108557 it holds such a special place in my heart and writing it was extremely cathartic from me. tw for sexual abuse in this fic and in my answer to this question but writing the fic was a way for me to process and emotionally externalize my own experience as a victim of sexual abuse.

on that note, thanks to anyone who has ever read my fics, in both their developmental and final stages. (like @fredoesque who i have sent many a wip to.) i love you all and i love writing. can't wait to keep posting my work!!

i tag @melis-writes @meme-streets @rosesloveletters @mr-snailman 💜 no pressure if not ofc.

[aranarumei]

10 17 24 I think was the last one. hi kiri Ask game :)

ask me something from this list?

putting these answers under a cut bc it got long

10: what is the longest amount of time you’ve let a draft rest before you finished it?

okay I need to do some research for this one. I think this question means to ask, like, how long I’ve just… not worked on something before coming back to it and completing it? and that’s different from “how long have you worked on a project” which is… also a bit hard to determine. I’ll just note some interesting spans of time, then. my current WIP has existed in some form since October of 2021, which is fun. I’ve definitely spent a good 6 months not touching it in the slightest, maybe longer during the early years, but I’ve not finished this one yet. I am committed to completing this, though. it’s just a fic that takes and deserves a lot of work. apart from that, I’ve been writing vague scenes related to freed & laxus’s relationship, and snippet #4 was written 2 whole years after snippet #3. so I’m definitely someone who can return to old ideas… especially around 2021 and forward, my style hasn’t deviated enough for me to really never want to return back to any of it. so I tend to add to fics I haven’t touched in a long time. my ideas usually just hang in unpublished limbo for years, sadly. most of it will probably never see the light of day even though I like it. I’m trying to get more comfortable just posting scenes with little context, but it’s tough.

as for published stuff, for “bloom” I wrote the first scene in September of 2019, and then started working on it again in September 2020, which is when I then posted it.

17: talk about your writing and editing process

oh boy… how do I talk about this. I’m unsure even how to describe any of it.

like titles, I think my fic ideas stem from two places: the “point” and “concept” at hand. sometimes I’ll think “oh, this situation would be really fun to explore” (like, hanzawa showing up in the case files of jeweler richard) and work from there to figure out what the main idea of that story would look like (okay, so I think this would lead into discussing how hanzawa puts up a façade, and seigi’s influence would change him in a way that is impactful yet minimal enough to work for merging both canons), and sometimes I’ll think “oh, I really want to express this aspect of a story / character” (I want to write about what interests me regarding hanzawa and tashiro’s relationship) and have to figure out how to get there (I can have them discuss hanzawa’s dyed hair during club practice, and expand that out into various musings).

these usually start out with me just like… writing a scene, if I’ve got a vision of one in mind, but some just start out with like. a topic sentence. it depends how clear I am on what I’m doing. These days I outline more often, so I tend to hash out the concept alone or with a friend, collecting various ideas for how I might expand on whatever I initially thought, so it can actually be a complete piece of work. I first start by outlining various “scenes” or “moments” I think would work, and then I try to break it down into way more detail and build stuff out. for longer things, I might have extra notes just analyzing various parts of the piece.

writing is usually just pretty much… sitting down and doing it. I tend to write scene by scene, and write later scenes only when it’s like, I’ve got a perfect vision of how it’ll go and have to write it down. so I can have snippets of stuff that shows up later, but it’s not usually intentional. for fics where I have a detailed outline of bullet points, I stick that section of the outline in my draft and write while going through each bulleted point. delete a bullet point every time I complete that bit, until I’m done with the scene.

I edit a bit as I go, but to not get too stuck, if I’m struggling for words I tend to put that bit in square brackets [like so]. when I edit, I usually ctrl+f for these square brackets and try to address any notes I might’ve written down. then I like to just read through it and either mark it up as I go or just fix it as I go. it depends on the level of work something might need. I edit scene by scene, though when I edit is up to when I feel like it. sometimes it’s just at the end, or other times I write a scene, edit the scene, and then write the next one. if I can, I’ll sometimes get someone else to read over a scene, especially if I feel unsure about the direction.

lastly, I like to sleep or rest my eyes before doing a final check for grammar, spelling, and formatting. in general I like to try and have “fresh eyes” while editing!

24: how do you recharge when you’re not feeling creative?

…do I? I feel like I almost always want to write and want to be creative. Usually it’s life that’s hampering me. but there’s definitely times when words feel beyond me. I usually just sleep, or I try to switch formats… instead of prose, why not bullet point my way through it first? or talk through it and just vocalize all the dialogue? or I switch to handwriting text, or I change the font so what I’m working on looks visually different to before. I think that helps the work feel less stale. I also love talking to other people, because that makes me get a bit of external motivation.

[goodpointsandbadpoints]

doing this bc @thetentaclecommander did it and it looks interesting.

When did you start writing?

I started journalling when I was seven because I loved the Junie B. Jones books, so I mimicked the diary-style genre to write about my own daily activities. When I was eleven, I got really obsessed with book publishing and novels as a concept, so that's when I wrote my first official story that followed a basic plot rise and fall. It is not good, but it was the beginning.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I LOVE mysteries, but I don't have the skillset to write them. Same for thrillers! I also like stories with extensive lore over a long period of time, but I don't know if my brain is made to build complicated worlds.

As for themes in my reading, I think I usually love things focusing on trust, acceptance, and survival. Yum. I probably end up writing about those a lot as well...

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

(I think I have always done this, as shown by my imitation of Junie B. Jones.)

To me, it's about writing style and atmosphere. I love a delicious writing style.

I think I generally want to emulate good flow; I want the writing itself to be enjoyable, regardless of what the story is. I am fascinated by the styles of Andrzej Sapkowski (I know it's translated and there's a whole discussion about that, but still), Cormac McCarthy, Donna Tartt, and Tove Jansson (also translated). I am also heavily influenced by poets, including Mary Oliver, Morgan Harper Nichols, and Carl Sandburg.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I'll write anywhere as long as I have my laptop, my phone, or a notebook and a good pen. I've written in cars, the bath, my bed, the backyard, the break room during my lunch, etc. As long as I can get into a good posture, I'm set.

I also like to have music going in the background in some way. I'll either play my usual rock playlists, or find one of my soundtrack mixes.

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Probably either by listening to music that makes me feel strong emotions, going through a life experience that I need to process, or being in nature! Another rarer occurrence is to think of an odd character concept (e.g. my OC Tulie, a tulip who turned into a boy) and build off of that.

I also like to read other authors' books to inspire myself. It's one of the fastest ways to get myself into a writing mood.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

I don't know. I tend to be more of a vague theme-writer because I love establishing atmosphere more than anything else.

I'm still learning how to analyze stories for themes. Dare I say that trust, loneliness, and survival are common ones in my stuff? Somebody tell me.

What is your reason for writing?

Writing is my most reliable form of communication. To process, to share, to expand. I have to.

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

People can think whatever they want, I suppose. I want people to feel something in the fibers of my pieces, how I was enjoying every moment of putting them together. And to be completely barefaced about it, I want people to think my pieces are done well, at least for my experience level.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

What do I feel...

I'm not sure! Maybe immersion? Also, I'd like to think I build tension well, though it might be only tension that feels right to me. I love being picky about how authors build tension and emotion.

How do you feel about your own writing?

Depends on the day. I like my most recent pieces and frown at the ones from +3 months ago, but sometimes I'm in a mood where it feels like nothing I've written has ever been what I wanted (edit: it doesn't help that poor self-esteem is mine enemy). I'm constantly finding things I want to emulate or improve.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

I don't think I can write unless I'm fully invested in the story, so it has to be at least 80% for myself. I DO think about what makes a story good in general. What would make this feel more tense? Would people care about this character? That kind of thing. But generally, I have the most fun, fluid process when I write for myself.

I'm tagging my writing buddies! Hop on board, if you so desire.

@samblerambles @silvercap @fonulyn @colesabi @resident-rats

@welcome-leon @geddy-leesbian and @thebrandywine

And anyone else who wants to join! 🩵 I'm so curious to see peoples' writing origins and reasons for writing!

[sirenofthegreenbanks]

2 + 3 + 12 + 33!!!!

had to fish around to find that ask game again!!!!! also hiiiii better late than never :))) :}}}}} <3 i need to tell u smth abt kleo i have Thoughts (not big thoughts this sounds as if its big it isnt i just reconsidered my initial statement that u might not like iiiiit)

2. anything that you'd like to write but feel that youre unable to??

oh yes!!! so much!!!!! even the things im writing bring me constantly into a situation of hair-tearing-out crying-clawing-screaming hitting-head-against-the-wall. i flip-flop between thinking i cant even write what im writing and thinking that im kinda decent. hhhhh. anyway!!!!!

i want to write a solid longfic with extensive worldbuilding. it doesnt matter the genre, just solid and rich worldbuilding where the writing stays consistent and steady until the end is already good. but if i could specifiy, i yearn for it to be a canon compliant/canon divergence/canon era fic with a unique take on canon. i want to write canon era fics in general, but im always hesitant to. i know what happens when i fall into a research hole, it fires up my anxiety. and i want to write scifi or a cool space opera. and i want to be able to write novel fic (of tyk) and not want to die during the process. all these things feel impossible to me :]]]]]]]]

3. how would u describe ur writing style?

i had to think about this for a bit!!!! because my writing style is unfortunately directly connected to my mental stability which is not always. stable. huehe. hmmmm i think my style (given that im doing good!) leans very hard into economical but evocative storytelling; like, i mean the rhythm of oral storytelling. stream of consciousness. prose poetry. poetry slam. i want the words to explode in your mouth and i want it to paint a very clear image in your head. i want people to hear me telling the story! even if the reader (or listener!) cant be there to experience it for themselves, at least i can tell them about it! thats probably because my first experience with story as a concept comes from audio dramas and generally someone reading something to me. thats honestly still the medium i prefer, tbh.

12. if you write in more than one language, whats the difference?

TvvvvvvT

currently i dont write in more than one language, if u dont count non-fictional handwriting bc i write all my notes in my native language. but i still remember how it used to be to write creatively in german. like im always whining about how difficult it is to cast the same image in english as in german; i just dont have that fine motor control over english as i have over german. i can easily switch between gears in german but english still ,, befuddles me pfft. its most noticable when im mucking around drafting and spend more time thinking about fun stuff like correct grammar and correct sentence structure and which word means what in english, than about the story and the characters. it takes so much energy and effort to think about and of all of this, there is barely any space left for the story that im trying to tell. which is def a major drawback for me and one of the reasons that ive been considering to start writing in german again. even though i have uh some baggage there that i dont really want to face. language is so connected to identity and culture. and thats another reason why english is difficult; i know english, aside from school, mostly from usamerican books or from online interactions with usamericans or people talking usamerican. so that has ofc heavily influenced my own english. like, i set all my stories in germany for reasons, but its stupidly hard to draw up the cultural markers because the language itself that im using is already coming with cultural influences from another country. its really strange and confusing, and i would find it fascinating and interesting if it wasnt so frustrating. sometimes it feels like there is a veil between me and what im trying to say, and also as if my thought patterns dont work as they would because the language that should just be a tool to tell a story is already so dominant. thats def smth i hope to change in the future

33. give your writing a compliment!

hmmm. its very earnest. reading my own stuff, even old stuff, i can tell what sort of struggles made it hard to get smth specific onto the page. and sometimes what ends up on the page is not what was supposed to be there in the first place. but its earnest and i can see that. its always the best i can do in that moment, and its always a piece of me because i give so much of myself during the process. thats not always a good thing but its how i am. im glad the earnestness, the sincerity, the love, the faith, the hope, is so visible to the bare eye.

yet another writing ask

[diamondcitydarlin]

I was in the critical tag just because I'm genuinely curious/fascinated by the way these people are processing the text and I know I've said this before but I'm gonna do it again; like, I get that in a lot of fandoms and subject materials we can easily pick out villains and heroes, the morally-pure (bc their actions are always justified by the narrative regardless) from the morally reprehensible and we can conclude from these themes that the villains/morally-bankrupt ones deserve nothing while the 'good ones' (arguable, in a lot of cases, but they're usually conventionally hot and/or digestible so they can't really be bad lmao) deserve everything and while that is to be debated in other places, OFMD esp in this latest season is showing itself to not be one of those narratives. OFMD is a story where flawed, sympathetic people do fucked up things, act rashly, hurt each other, destroy things, etc, and then we watch them have to work their way back from that. I know we have had some one-off villains that don't qualify for this, but for everyone within the main cast that seems to be the concept. If you're trying to figure out why one member of the main cast is just too icky to be entitled to the acceptance of the rest you're already missing the entire point. If you're also trying to figure out why your fave is too precious to be held accountable for the things they chose to do, you're missing the entire point. If you think just one character is having a redemption arc here, YOU'RE MISSING THE ENTIRE POINT (they ALL are actually). And more to the point, if you're looking for any of this to actually happen in this particular story then I think you're watching the wrong show. I really, really do. And I'm also going to go so far as to say I think a lot of people are intentionally misreading these themes, projecting their own hopes on to it, saying Izzy's story 'doesn't feel good' or 'doesn't make sense' because the idea that people can be flawed, make mistakes, hurt each other and still be deserving of love and acceptance throws too much of a curveball at their already very limited world view, one in which there are only 'good guys' and 'bad guys', one in which they are indisputably 'good guys' themselves who have never done anything bad ever (even though you definitely have, we ALL have, YOU HAVE HURT PEOPLE, I HAVE HURT PEOPLE, GROW UP AND REALIZE YOU CAN'T LIVE AN ENTIRE LIFE WITHOUT DOING IT AT SOME POINT).

This is a story of acceptance and forgiveness and the moral greyness in us all, not exclusion and punishment, not the hopelessly simplistic idea that the world is just made up of good people who should never be questioned and always get good things and bad people who have no more nuance than just being bad and getting punished for it. Like, can we please try to wrap our minds around more complex themes than that maybe? Can it possibly be true that Izzy and Ed (the two most often compared) are both deserving of love, acceptance and forgiveness? Can it possibly be true that there's more to these characters than just good vs evil? Must we deny these characters the nuance and complexity that's been given to them just because 'it doesn't feel good'? Like idk babe maybe sometimes stories aren't meant to make you 'feel good' all the time, maybe sometimes they're meant to take you out of your comfort zone and examine your own worldview once and awhile IDK IT'S A FUCKING THOUGHT

[aq2003]

almost forgot. ten's run episode ranking (nine ranking here)

some stray thoughts and opinions under the cut

my overall ranking for the series so far would be 4 > 1 >= 3 > 2. donna sweep babygirl

"i have brain damage" tier would've been called "the qpr meth has gotten to me" but then i remembered how absolutely glued to the screen i was for sound of drums <3 all of the other episodes there are either donna episodes or episodes where ten goes through horrors specifically bc donna isn't there and sound of drums is the exception lmao

by default i think simm!master is the best main villain in ten's run. he is still very goofy like the cybermen and the daleks (and 98% of the villains in this show really) but simm!master has that toxic doomed yaoi backing him and that means everything in the world. rtd drop your simm!master spotify playlist

it is SO CRAZY how an episode called "planet of the ood" can make me cry. but it did. and i love it for it. i love the ood so much. they are my little guys

stolen earth/journey's end was my least favorite arc in main series 4 - which is just a testament to how much i loved the rest of it lmao. like i still rly liked the finale, and the scene of davros pointing out that ten turned their friends into soldiers and how it was framed almost like they were being put on trial. Was so fucking juicy. but it felt overall like the story was doing that "trying to include everyone" thing and the pacing felt off as a result. like i rly needed the donna mind wipe scene to be longer it was goin so fast i couldn't process it

42 goes so crazy and i love it so much bc to me it is the defining tenmartha episode. you have that showcase of deep inherent trust, of swearing to save each other, of being the person the other needs bc is there anyone else. but you also have ten screaming at her to kill him so that he won't hurt anyone and then at the end, deflecting and refusing to talk w her about it. "burn with me martha" is like that previously-unspoken-now-brought-to-front undercurrent to their whole relationship and ten says it while being possessed by a rageful vindictive sun. waow

i really dislike the temporary companions (astrid and christina in voyage of the damned and planet of the dead respectively). not the characters themselves but the timing and role they have in the story and how they're framed. i do understand that part of ten's character is that he gets attached very easily and can't stand being on his own, but also for astrid this was directly post-martha where ten's realized he's been fucking up her life by acting the way he did. and for christina this was post-donna and pre-time-lord-victorious. forming a friendship that ends w/ tragedy or ten pushing them away i can see, but romantic tension is pushing it HARD. which leads me to my next deranged point

ten is aroace to me i'm so sorry society he clocked the aroace meter the minute the story decided to introduce donna and then in series 4 make them the soulmates of all time while there isnt a HINT of romantic tension between them. and there is something so narratively aspec about ten being created by and for love but sometimes his love isn't enough/isn't the right kind and everyone will leave or find someone else. being an alien can be a metaphor for being aroace if i'm crazy enough about it (and also if their humanity is a constant theme to their arc that is hammered in time and time again)

i forgot i was supposed to talk about the episodes hold on a second

one of the most out of body experiences i had was watching love and monsters, really quite liking it (despite finding the ending weird) because it's a grounded and solid episode w strong characterization and really great jackie and rose moments, only to find out this episode is nearly universally despised by the dr who fanbase. help girl

the human ten arc probably has the most underrated villains in the show. i just really love that concept of monsters that need to eat timelords in order to survive, and ten giving them one chance to be spared of his rage and die peacefully by turning himself into a human for a hot minute. it's just really neat idk.

time lord victorious my babygirl. like oh my god i was wondering for the entire time how the fuck does ten go from "vain/overconfident but at heart always driven by his love for others" to "god complex" and the answer to this question is "you take away everyone he cares about and make him watch more and more people die in front of him until he just fucking snaps". at the end of waters of mars i was almost expecting him to knock 4 times on the tardis door himself and was so glad it didnt happen. etc etc. i'm also really glad that it doesn't last for more than 5 minutes. what he does essentially haunts him for the rest of his (short) life and that's so so important

end of time part 2 doesn't get a ranking. it is simultaneously the best episode and worst episode. it made me cry my eyes out three separate times. like it's not even an episode anymore it's like an experience. specifically one akin to watching a good friend you made over the course of 16 days die in front of you. i felt my soul being sucked out and i wont ever feel anything again (until the 60th anniversary specials fix me). god fucking bless

but pairing up martha and mickey out of nowhere was so so fucking bad and i need to actually murder whoever made that decision

[chocosvt]

hi choco! i'm so excited to see you back on my tl; i've missed you and your god-tier fics & i'm super duper excited to read your wonwoo fic as well (140k words? we will all be well fed fr 🤲)

i had a little rant? not exactly rant but something that's been itching my mind a bit haha, i hope you don't mind me sharing it with you! i genuinely want some advice over this.

as a long fic writer, how do you consistently come back to writing your fic without getting bored? i looooove writing long fics too (big lover of slowburn and angst lol) but i always get so impatient and bored of writing the story so quickly :(

i'd posted a teaser for a fic a while back and it got a good amount of traction (something i will always be grateful for) and someone asked me when i would release the full fic, to which i gave them a tentative date. fast forward to the day before the day i said i would post the fic and you have me typing out paragraphs upon paragraphs of stuff that i absolutely loathe in my writing. i ended up posting the fic anyway, but it's been only a day and i already want to take it down—not bc it's not getting any attention, because it is, but more so bc i hate that fic and would do anything to rewrite it.

iirc your joshua fic, 'best friend's brother' was a rewrite of a fic you'd written earlier, right? was your thought process similar to this? where did you start your rewriting process from? did you have any second thoughts when you took it down the first time?

i'm really sorry if this is too many questions 😅 please take your time if you do choose to answer this! much love and have a great day, choco!!! thank you so much :)

(is it alright if i use an emoji to sign off so i can find this ask later?)

— 🍫

first of all, THANK U SO MUCH <3

and i don't mind at all! these are rly insightful questions :o though i'll just chunk my answers a bit so i'm not all over the place.

not getting bored to be honest, i'm not sure if i ever "get bored" of writing out the plot. but i definitely get burnt out, and sometimes i get downright sick of reviewing my own writing, to the point where i just have to close my laptop and walk away. i think the most important & overarching piece of advice i can give--not just in terms of long fics but any fic for that matter--is to never force anything & take breaks!

when i'm busy at uni, there are like 5 month breaks where i don't bother writing at all. i always think that the second i have free time, i should theoretically want to write, but sometimes i just don't. and i make peace with it bc i know the second i force anything i will end up hating it (also takes the fun & enjoyment out of the process).

i think if you're getting bored, it's probably a sign that your body & mind just isn't interested in writing at the moment. so i would step away & take a break and attempt to get your mind off the plot. i think that taking a break also invigorates your mind a bit and gives you newer, better ideas (at least from my experience).

bfb rewrite the reason i rewrote best friend's brother was bc the og fic was from 2016, when my writing style was completely different. i still liked the concept but naturally, as my writing grew, i just detested the way the old ver was written, which spurred me to create the rewrite.

i wanted to give the characters a lot more depth & beef up the plot, so the new fic is actually a lot different in comparison to the old one. i wasn't attempting to do a scene-for-scene rewrite--it was simply just my approach to an old concept that i felt i could now execute better.

as to how i went abt rewriting it, i just picked out moments from the old fic that i liked and built around them. for instance, i rly liked the "skipping stones" scene that shows some intimacy & tenderness between joshua and reader. but it can't just happen out the gate. so i had to figure out the typical "why, when, and how is this moment happening right now?" from scratch.

the thing with long fics for me, it honestly is a test of patience & dedication!! bc it can truly be so frustrating :( a lot of times, you want to jump right into the good parts bc those are like the shiny glimmers that make the fic attractive. but depending on how impactful you want those moments to be, build-up is sooooo key! the thing is, build-up is just so critical in my opinion, but it can also be such a pain to write :p

i find when i review my writing, these are scenes i criticize or change the most--more than the big, hard-hitting scenes. bc to me, it's such a specific thing that you have to nail down justttt right. it's a lot of thinking and finagling and i think this process is what i dread the most? especially when it refuses to turn out how you want it--ugh, so discouraging!! but once you get it's like a silky flowy river!!

the big takeaways (i guess?) 1. taking breaks is so important! 2. don't force anything xxxx 3. take the big moments & build around them i totallyyyyy understand your frustration!! there have been so many moments where i'm like I NEED TO WRITE AHHHHH and then i promptly open the document only to sit there, blankly read a few sentences, and then get this rly big sinking feeling in my gut that is essentially telling me "never mind" and honestly i just listen to it bc if i'm gonna close & open the document 10 times in a row i obviously don't want to write. i'm just searching for something fulfilling and clearly not finding it in the task at hand so i should do smth else.

THIS IS EXTREMELY LENGTHY AND I''M BEYOND SORRY, but i hope somewhere amongst this mumbo jumbo there was something that stood out & may give you a bit of closure!