#i made this post about lorem ipsum

[moreclaypigeons]

Guys I'm thinking about the character.......

[winxwannabe]

Winx Season 9/Reboot Leaks

Okay here's the tea: earlier today a twitter user by the name of Cataclysm_Power started posting a video they claimed was from the new Winx season/reboot. When pressed for further information, they linked to a telegram chat with what appeared to be assets from Rainbow (17 screenshots/2 videos). After some C-grade internet sleuthing, I am here to give my (worthless and possibly wrong) opinion on which ones I think are real and fake.

A note before we jump in: I'm not posting full images on my blog, because again I do think some of these are real and if the leaker is to be believed, they hacked Rainbow to get them. You can look yourself through the telegram link, or others who've posted them on the Winx Club tag. I also think the leaker themselves is scammy because they've tried charging for Miraculous leaks before. Do NOT give them any money if they ask.

Real: Bloom, Stella, and Icy's asset sheets, Bloom Full Body Pose

A lot of these leaks are 3d modelling assets, and these 3 are the ones I'm totally convinced are real.

The biggest clue of their validity is the bottom banner. All 3 sheets have them, along with the same episode code and notes in Italian. They're all also linked to the same person: Pasqualino Masciulli is Rainbow's 3D modelling supervisor, and has been with the company for at least 9 years. He's done videos on Rainbow's youtube channel as well, using his shortened first name Lino. My main point is that's way too niche for someone to fake just to make some convincing leaks, and it would make sense for the assets to be tied to him.

Likewise, there's a full-body frame post of Bloom with fucking ugliest denim leg warmers credited to a g.riccobono. This is likely Giulio Riccobono, who is listed on Linkedin Italy as a Rainbow employee.

Probably Real: Tecna's asset sheet, Bloom's detailed asset sheet

Both of these are likely real but have weird things about them that make me pause. Bloom's more detailed asset sheet is missing the name, date and episode reference on it, and the notes are in English. Tecna's is missing the bottom banner entirely, and there's some weird cutting around her head that makes it look like someone hastily made a png and stuck it on there.

Unsure: Computer File Tab, MD Concept Photos, Videos

There's a screenshot of a folder with both 2D and 3D assets of all the girls. in the files. I'm not sure if this is from a computer at Rainbow or the hacker's personal folder, so it goes in unsure. I do think most of the assets in it are real - it's low res but the eyes on the 2D sketches are so similar to the ones on Rainbow's newer images of the girls I think they have to be connected.

There are also some full body concept photos for Bloom, Aisha, and Stella. They all look pretty legit (as they're updated version of images we've already seen) but Stella's has other images for 'possible pallets' included. She's the only one with it and the images look like they came from a flash dress-up game, and it gives me pause.

Lastly, the teaser videos of Bloom are probably real based on the outfit, animation and that stupid fucking Bloom shelf being in the background, but I'm placing it in 'unsure' because of the bandicam.com logo burned into the top. If it really came from Rainbow and everything else was downloaded, there was no reason for the hacker to not get the raw file. I think it's real, but I don't know if it came from Rainbow.

Something Ain't Right: Group Shot

What gives me pause in the fully-rendered group shot (even though its shown in the computer file tab) is it shows transformation we haven't seen teased and has a 'Lorem Ipsum' placeholder text. Aisha's hair also looks like it was done with AI - the back of her wings clip through the hair, and parts of it look copy-pasted. I'm stupid, it's the end of her braids. The 'Lorem Ipsum' thing still stands, but I'm re-filing this under 'unsure.'

Probably Fake: Darcy and Damien's asset sheets

I'm showing things from here on out because I'm so convinced it's fake please let me be right. Unlike the other character sheets, the ones for Darcy and 'new character' Damien have no bottom banner, are marked as 'Winx Club Season 9' with an outdated Winx logo, and have notes written completely in English. Darcy's has a bit of 3D modelling, but it's too different from Icy's. Maybe they're super early concepts for Darcy, but Damien...go home, buddy.

You're in the Wrong Place: Rainbow Pants Girl

I'm convinced this girl is from a different show and was saved to the 'Winx Club' folder by accident. Different clothing, hair, and shading. May you end up somewhere better than this reboot, Mystery Girl.

[serendertothesquad]

Seren's Studies: Odd Squad UK -- "Should Odd Acquaintance Be Forgot" Episode Followup, Part 2

Ooooooh Ozzie origins. Oooooooooooh big bad origins. Ooooooooooo origins. Does it scare you?

Let's continue below the break!

(A post-editing note: I was informed that Leonie is, in fact, a girl, and not a boy like I thought. I'm keeping the LGBTQ+ theory because we've already gotten gay triangle villain and they could extend that to child villains too, but keep in mind that Leonie is a girl and not a boy. That's my bad.)

Setting aside the fact that they used the right flashback effect this time...Orli, please. Stop talking about math, just for a second. I'm begging.

Equilibrium! Starlight Glimmer! Equality!

...Sorry, I'm just tossing stuff out there.

Ohhhhhhhh...Barb E. Q.

Okay, that's actually kinda clever, NGL. But man, they are taking any schtick and applying it to people, huh?

I get that Oxandra is part of the Terrible Three, but...Onom was unique in that he went out onto the field a lot. Why are we extending that to her as well, as opposed to her staying in the Lab?

Kinda feeds into my complaint about departments not being a thing anymore.

To be honest, I expected all of them to hate even numbers, so restricting that to one of them is a nice touch.

LMAO WHAT THE FUCK????????? I JUST DID A WHOLE COUGH AT THEM HAVING OWLS??????????????????????

You guys think Agent Owl is there too? From "Follow the Leader"? In disguise?

OH OH F U C K GEE JESUS CHRIST ORWELL JUMPSCARE HNNNNNNNNGH.

Fucking threw my phone because whoof was I not expecting that.

No, no, no, that's the TripAdvisor bird. Or...uhhhh...shit, that one owl mascot for that one glasses company who I forget.

You can easily get them mixed up, Orwell. 'S okay.

"Well, they were smart, but they needed some guidance."

Congratulations, Ozzie! You just described every fucking child villain in this entire fucking franchise.

HoooOOOOOOOOOOLD UP. He made them a manual? He...didn't tell them to read the thick red book seen in past seasons, which definitely sure as hell wasn't written by him?

That's...very stupid. Give 'em the Agent's Handbook and go re-fictionalize that instead of breaking continuity like this, Ozzie.

See, this is actually playing into the psychology of children. You show a kid floating stuff and they'd probably laugh at it.

Look at all those Eggman's robots Lorem ipsum text!

He...oh my God, he printed the manual backwards?

CASE IN FUCKING POINT. Even putting aside the fact that this is incredibly flawed, there's an Odd Squad printing press that would have spotted the mistake like *snappy fingeys* that. Ozzie is not a part of the Odd Squad printing press.

This seal man thing is both hilarious and creepy at the same time.

And this is just stupid and contrived at the same time. Poor Ozzie's got such a lack of confidence that he has to make a cake to celebrate not 6 years of working together, but 6 days.

So if the almighty leader likes symmetrical numbers...man, he'd have a hell of a time with Villain X then, huh?

AND WHAT THE FUCK MAKES YOU THINK HE QUIT BEING A FUCKING DIRECTOR BY RUNNING AWAY?????????? THEY'RE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE BRUH WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS LOGIC.

...Okay, I blame Tasha more than I blame Ollison, but still. Ozzie got overwhelmed and ran away. That doesn't mean he quit on the spot; if he had, that would have been enough reason for Ollison to drop this promise of revenge. Ozzie still quit, but it was far away from their prying eyes.

Making a case in point as to why this show really should be animated: if it were, he could've gone to the Big O or the Little O and gotten this straightened out. But both Millie and Shazdeh are too old to reprise their roles now, in this live-action hybrid feature, and so this is what we're stuck with: Captain O doing what they should've done.

Ohhhhhhh, so the Department of Help was created just for him? Okay, makes sense! I kinda thought that was the case!

But it doesn't explain why he plopped Opie into it (or why Captain O did) after he got promoted versus just dissolving the department and letting her stay in Mail. AFAIK, we never got an actual reason for why Opie became the new head of the Department of Help beyond "yeah, you're nice enough and you'll do great". She's nice, but she's insanely stupid, which doesn't bode well for a help-based department.

...Unless they put her in there because she's too stupid for the field...?

For a half-second, I actually thought this would be Silly String, which, in this universe, has binding properties.

...'Scuse me while I go weep.

No...no, Ozzie, no. You explicitly said they were smart but needed a little guidance. "Smart but needs guidance" does not mean "is brain-dead enough to not recognize a book was printed backwards".

God, this is just so painfully convoluted. Olando's backstory made more sense than this and it was tainted only by bad writing! Even The Shadow's backstory made more sense than this and the only problem with her was strictly in her reformation!

I hate everyone who told me Mark wrote this episode, because y'all are fucking liars. And if Mark, Tim, and/or Adam had written this episode, it would have been so much better.

Fool them once, okay, sure.

Fool them twice, fine, I guess.

Fool them thrice, it's getting a little concerning.

Fool them four times, now it's irritating.

Fool them five times, your ass is getting ground into the soil before you're dead.

"you left us! abandoned us!"

uses a gadget that's designed to put their ex-leader out of commission

Leaving you, putting them to sleep, it doesn't matter. The point is that, either way, you have no guidance.

Considering we saw Oxandra wielding at least one gadget as a villainess, who's to say she doesn't have more on her person that can inflict direct harm on her enemy that doesn't put them out of commission, but instead wounds them enough to where they can't do much of anything, like, say, the pies from the pienado?

I've heard talks that this gadget is, in essence, a gun, and firing it at Ozzie would kill him. I'm...somewhat inclined to agree. It's a little muddled because of bad writing (and again, we've had death allusions written by more experienced writers who did it much better, like the aforementioned pienado), but sure, fandom founder deems this a murder attempt. It's about the closest we're gonna get in this trainwreck of a series/season. (I also wanted my "stuff that got past S&P" count to go past 75 and straight to 100. Thinking back on it now, there's no way 12 episodes can amass 15 incidents.)

...Oh.

Huh.

Well then.

WELL THEN.

Talk about fuckin' unexpected 'cause WHOT???????

The fact that she has enough power to fight off the effects of the gadget before succumbing to them is fucking wild, and frankly, huge props to her.

That being said, this has impact, but with more episodes and more time to explore this story, it could have hit so much harder. I'm feeling the same emptiness as I did with Olando and his backstory. And funny enough, both backstories can be attributed to one thing:

Shitty fuckass writing.

History really is doomed to repeat itself, and this franchise is slowly getting cooked.

This, on the other hand, is just incredibly bad editing.

Now, see, if I enter into a state of delusion big enough, I can imagine that the pattern on this key is the symbol of the Big Office department.

Which would be cool, but no one decided to really think of that because we're playing by Precure rules now where seasons aren't canon to one another. (And Precure actually does it a lot better when you don't have someone screeching in your ear about the franchise timeline.)

Can...can the oddness get out by itself? Because there is no way they got into the lift and released oddness themselves, on their own physical power, within se- hold the fuck up, is that our first look at Headquarters?

...Oh my GOD IT IS. WHAT THE HELL. LITERALLY JUST A WHOLE-ASS FIXTURE IN TOWN LMAOOOOOOOOOOOO.

It's not in the death context, of course, but given how Captain O is out of commission and given the fact that this is a finale episode, they got balls to drop "dies" like this outta the fuckin' blue. They could have easily gone with "I hate it when my battery goes!" or a simple "aw man, I lost the video!"

(On to Part 3!)

[lotus-flower-ebola]

Menacing intro post

Hey!! This is my attempt at an introduction post (brackets someone please be my friend)

Name - Raven (change over time but Raven is always good, it’s usually in my server name)

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Pronouns - Pronounfluid (change over time, please ask!)

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Gender - Genderfluid, Galactian Alignments, Maverique

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Orientation - Omni, Arojump, Ambiamorous

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Ethnicity - Hungarian (part Romani)

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Likes - Pokemon (special interest :)), art, music, medicinal herbs and plants, books, alone time, dogs, caramel flavored things, cheese pizza, slam poetry, poetry in general, Japanese culture and mythology, Hungarian culture, Made in Abyss, Land of the Lustrous, Vocaloid, Pjsk, HI3, Magical DOREMI, Touhou Project, Onibi series, Sister's story, Maha's story, Liar's story, Secret story, Seventh brother, Kemono friends, I am not okay with this, Devil’s candy, Nanbaka - the numbers, Flying witch, Danganronpa, Argo, Repo! The genetic opera, Heathers, Fack ju göhte (Suck me shakespeer), Üvegtigris, Macskajaj, Kontroll, Hell’s Kitchen, COPS, Kitchen Nightmares, Bar Rescue, internet drama, lolcows and similar media, Ghost And Pals, Shakespeare, Wuthering Waves, Magical Girl Raising Project

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Hobbies - making songs, daydreaming, playing the recorder, playing the djembe, biking, learning Japanese, playing video games, traditional art (pencil, watercolor), digital art, writing (books, poetry)

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Dislikes - Basic dni, rctas/ectas, endo systems, etc…

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DMs - mostly open

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Alt acc - @lotus-flower-rabies @lotus-flower-flu

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Extra - fav song: Shikyou Amanojaku/Ryan & Dave, fav artists: masa works design/Penelope Scott/rie20s, fav characters: Tsukuyomi/Arceus/Subway twins/Volo/Shikyou (there’s a lot but they have priority)

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Important - I am mentally unwell so please be careful around me if you don’t know how to deal with it, I get very defensive over my interests so just be prepared :{{, I HAVE DAs. I WILL BLOCK YOU IF YOU TALK ABOUT THEM.

I have anxiety, maladaptive daydreaming disorder and autism

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DNI - basic DNI criteria, proshippers/comshippers, if I know you irl and we aren’t close, assholes in general,

>>ANYONE WHO LIKES MY DAs. Automatic block.<<

I will use this blog as a sort of main account as I am way too lazy to make different blogs for all of my fandoms 💀

I might add more to this later on lol so

Lorem ipsum

[TAGS ARE FOR REACH]

SOMEONE PLS BE MY FRIEND.

[piedoesnotequalpi]

Multiples of 6 for the writing thing!

Howdy <3

(Weird writing questions!)

6. What is your darkest fear about writing?

There are two: one, I don't want to put too much of real life into my writing and lose friends over it again (...long story); two, that I'll be unable to finish a WIP that I've already started posting.

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules.

Improved ability to develop the middle sections of longer plots

More energy to write after work

Magic formula for tweaking my fics enough that more irl people (like my family) can read what I write without noticing it's all Newsies fanfiction

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end.

I already answered this one, but it's okay because I'm insufferable and can do another passage! Since I've converted you to the CrutchieAlbert camp ( >:) ), I'll do the Albert-trying-to-flirt passage from chapter 7 of How It Will Be.

Again, this is a longer passage, so it goes from "How'd you get into climbing?" Albert asked suddenly to He winked.

I knew Albert and Charlie needed to kiss/admit their feelings this chapter (and had planned for that to be the case), partially because they were reaching a tipping point in terms of being able to hide it and partially so the story would make sense. The problem was, I needed one of them to make a somewhat ambiguous move (they're both very nervous) that would push the other to wonder if they were being flirted with and then make a more unambiguous move as a result. I remembered that in an earlier chapter, Charlie had suggested to Albert that a good beginner flirting method was to just ask the other person about their interests, so I decided Albert would try to actually put that into practice.

If I remember correctly, I had the idea for Charlie and Jack to have their very euphemistic conversation before I had the idea for this scene, so to provide a bridge from Albert's flirting attempt to that conversation, I had Charlie notice what was going on and also timed the conversation so Albert would be pulled for a date right after it (since the date had been set to happen for quite a while), which gave Charlie an opportunity to talk to Jack without Albert around but also stressed him out enough that he was willing to have that conversation in the first place - the show and what it could lead to was starting to feel a little too real at that point. So yeah! Their confession of feelings was more complicated to write in some ways, since neither Charlie nor Albert knew for sure that the other was queer before they kissed, but that made writing their interactions really interesting.

24. How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?

If it's a longer story/more complicated AU I'll usually have to figure out all the characters' roles, AU-specific traits, etc. as well as the overarching plot, and then I need to get at least some idea of what happens in each chapter/when key plot points take place. That can be fun, but it's frustrating when I'm trying to write and realize I need to plot out the chapter in detail before I can keep going. Writing longer stories was a weakness of mine for a very long time (and still is), so I have to do more detailed plotting than some of the other writers I know.

30. Talk to me about the role dreams play in your writing life. Have you ever used material from your dreams in your writing? Have you ever written in a dream? Did you remember it when you woke up?

I don't think they really play a role! I don't remember most of my dreams, though I do remember last night's dream (my coworkers showed up to move my stuff to my new apartment and I was Not ready at all).

36. They say to Write What You Know. Setting aside for a moment the fact that this is terrible advice…what do you Know?

So much random stuff: Juggling, the ins and outs of college organizations and their leadership/admin interactions, rock climbing, various other outdoorsy sports, the ins and outs of moving companies, an unfortunate amount about customer service for online retailers...the list goes on and on because I apparently need to learn something about everything.

I've written fics that feature most of these topics, oops

[samuraiko]

CR musings - Orym, Vax, and where the Hells go next (SPOILERS AHOY)

HERE BE SPOILERS

YOU KNOW THE DRILL

LOREM IPSUM

So after letting my brain mull over the most recent episode for a day or so, now I can finally write about it. This is, of course, just my OPINION on the subjects -- your mileage may vary.

ORYM

Yes, I legit cried for Orym at his new title, and his recognition by Keyleth for what he and the Hells have done. I was so happy for my favorite little cinnamon roll. I still think he's going to be struggling with his anger for a while because there's still SO much to be done, and he still feels so very small, but Keyleth's choice of title was an incredibly apt one.

Saviour Blade of the Tempest.

A marvelous callback to two episodes prior, where he begs her, "Allow me to be your blade, Tempest," in response to her intention to utterly destroy Ludinus and the Vanguard. But not just that - by calling him her Saviour Blade, she is reminding him that his job is to SAVE people, to PROTECT people, *NOT* just vengeance.

(I admit, I briefly wondered if she might name him the Shield of the Tempest, in memory of Derrig, but a shield is solely to protect. A sword can attack as well as defend - and that's what Keyleth needs right now.)

This coming on the heels of the 6-Sided Dive episode where Liam talks repeatedly about how Orym's 'bedrock' is crumbling, and how he feels so small and tries to shoulder so much of his burden by himself... to have the woman he refers to as "the boss lady," "our leader," "the Voice of the Tempest," and so on refer to HIM as HER FRIEND... oh, you could see it in the widening of Liam's eyes when Matt said that, he never expected to hear something like this.

(That WHOLE affirmation speech, Liam just sits there and you can see the hint of tears in his eyes. He NEVER looks away from Matt the entire time.)

So, yeah... when I mentioned in another post about wanting to see what he'll do to try and shore up that bedrock before it completely gives way, I think this is a solid step. But it's not over yet - not by a long shot.

VAX

The dark angel stuck in an orb... there's (apparently) been a lot of discussion/argument/whatever about what Vax is, and what it means about him being stuck in an orb, and what will happen if/when he's freed.

I look at Vax's role as something similar to Charon, Thanatos, or Hermes in Greek mythology - the psychopomps whose job it is to shepherd souls to the afterlife.

The MoR tells Vax (both in-stream and in LoVM) that her purpose (and now his) is to safeguard the moment where the soul transitions to whatever its new purpose may be - passage to the Astral Sea, to the realm of whatever deity has potential claim to that soul, or even to consecution, I would suppose. And the moment that Vax TRULY accepted that deal, he stopped being afraid - he was more at peace with himself, he saw his purpose and understood it. And even more than that, it made him so much more aware of the inherent need to live life and enjoy it while you have it.

--

My theory is that Vax being trapped in the orb is why resurrection magic doesn't work. Don't get me wrong - souls can still transition WITHOUT him - the MoR had no champion (as far as we know, lore-wise) between Purvan Suul and Vax, and yet people still died, and people could still be brought back. But presumably their souls were more vulnerable to outside influence.

And right now, the MoR (in addition to mourning) is doing everything she can to protect the moment the souls pass… but only in ONE direction (life > death > beyond), and whatever safeguarding of the tapestry that she can muster. She has no energy to spare to protect or facilitate that moment in the OTHER direction.

--

I also don't think that if/when Vax is freed, that's going to end his service to the Matron. That deal was PERMANENT - "you will return to me, my champion, evermore." I think MAYBE, *MAYBE* when Keyleth FINALLY dies and her soul passes on, the MoR might let Vax go so they can finally be together. But otherwise, nope - he is the Matron's.

NEXT STOP?

Part of this is me conspiracy-theorizing again, part of this is just my personal hopes. Again, your mileage may very.

I am HOPING that the Hells head straight to the Shattered Teeth, instead of faffing around trying to collect allies before they even know WTF is going on yet. They will have far more success trying to recruit people when they can provide concrete evidence of what they're doing, whom they're fighting, and SOMETHING REMOTELY APPROACHING a strategy on how to defeat him.

I'm not 100% saying I don't want them to go to the Menagerie Coast in search of Devexian because anything that helps FCG better understand his own capabilities could certainly help, but I DO NOT want them going to Nicodranas just so they can relieve C2's Greatest Hits. Send them to Port Zoon or something - where they will not run into Fjord, they will not run into Jester, they will not run into Yussa and Marion and the Brenattos... save all that for the live show.

Get them on a boat and heading toward the Shattered Teeth ASAP.

Also (here's the conspiracy-theorizing part) I think that Kathula is a possible language-shifted name for Cathmoira, the land-based half of Toramunda from ExU: CALAMITY. And the tree that Keyleth is talking about (Evontra'vir, the Great Tree of Atrophy) is almost certainly the tree that Laerryn Blight-ed. As far as the woman that Keyleth was talking about, I'm wondering if she's a member of the Ossended Host, one of the two prominent groups that inhabits/controls the islands of the Shattered Teeth.

(I also wonder if Keyleth is perhaps hoping that Jirana will help Orym deal with his grief over losing Will and Derrig the same way that Jirana helped her try to deal with losing Vax.)

--

I can't wait to see the next episode - give me Orym visiting the graves of Will and Derrig, give me Ashton and Orym's new outfits, give me Alma's reactions to her boy getting a promotion, give me more of Ashton's conversation with Thollo about the Hishari... I WANT MORE.

[visions--of--collisions]

For @its-just-a-glitch who asked for 4(T):

There's one spot left on the requests post if anyone wants it :)

EXCERPT: Argey Bargey (Spiderverse, Hobie/Miles, Rated T, Post-BtSV)

The portal spits him out on the waterside, is the only thing Miles can tell for sure, at first. Earth 138 is always a shock to the senses in the first couple minutes, from the colors to the contrasts to the torn paper edges you could see if you focused on your peripheral vision long enough. Pav and he had freaked each other out once by concentrating hard enough on a magazine spread to make out the Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet hidden inside the body of the printed text itself.

The smell and the sound of the water is enough to reassure Miles he’s where he should be, anyway, despite the mist like flecks of paint hanging in the air. He shivers a little in the damp chill and pulls up the messenger on his phone: Hey man, I’m here. Where u at?

Omw mate, stay put, comes the response.

Miles huffs and fires back a kaomoji. Staying put's a solid option, he figures, considering he has basically no idea where he is and can barely see six feet in front of him, even with enhanced senses. He's pretty sure the faint gray gradient up above is the sky, by process of elimination. There's some  over-saturated weeds growing through the paving under his feet, and the jagged outline of tall grasses growing along the edge of it. The rippling breadth of the canal is clearish in front of him, but when Miles peers upstream or downstream it recedes into a vague, dark road behind the fog.

Are we really in New London, here? He’s turning a slow circle, squinting in all directions to try to make out any sign of a high-rise or a smoke stack, when his Spidey Sense comes skittering up the knobs of his spine to set his scalp tingling. The hum of what might be an engine follows, steadily growing closer. Miles pushes back his mask and squints in the pertinent direction. He steps closer to the water’s edge, just as a shape becomes visible through the mist, gaining definition as it approaches.

He blinks and the silhouette becomes the nose of a boat. Miles stares as it drifts toward and then past him. There’s spraypaint and … paint-paint in arcing splotches all over the - hull, Miles wants to call it? Flyers are littered across the walls (and roof) of what he figures is the cabin. Someone’s drawn dumb faces in the holes made by the lifebuoys mounted on the sides of the craft. He’s so occupied with trying to take in the whole … thing, that it takes Miles a minute to notice he’s being watched.

Hobie is at the rear of the craft when Miles finally clocks him, one hand on the tiller, the other stuffed into his back pocket. He's wearing a frayed white battle jacket, and the neutral expression of a guy who has no idea he's the coolest thing his friend has seen in the last week.

And it’s been a Week.

He nods, once, eyeing Miles sideways. 'Alright?'

‘Alright,’ Miles parrots, gawking. ‘Sure.’ He shakes his head and jogs forward to keep pace as the craft trundles onward. 'Wow. Shouldn't you have one of those cable knit sweaters and the little, you know,' Miles mimes the shape of a brim, 'Captain's hat on?'

Hobie only looks at him, seemingly impervious to the baiting. He shrugs, finally. 'Yeah, but I flogged them, innit?'

Miles makes a face, and Hobie cracks a smile, at last. 'D'you need permission to board or something?’ he asks, curiously. ‘Or were you plannin' to walk?'

Miles raises his palms. 'I dunno, man, you're the boat guy! Don't you gotta put down the anchor, or blow your horn or something?'

The neutral look returns to Hobie’s face in response, accented with a judgemental tilt. Miles keeps his smile fixed and his pace steady, even as the barge drifts ahead of him. Hobie turns his head slowly, owl-like, to keep him so pinned.

Miles is just starting to worry about losing him to the fog when Hobie reaches for something, still staring, and he jumps when a hollow noise, like a foghorn sized down, bounces off the water and the paving stones under his feet. Something up ahead makes a high, honking complaint and takes off in a flurry of wings; Miles chuffs at the sight of its pale belly and webbed feet passing overhead, barely visible through the mist, and bends his knees to hop aboard.

[TBC]

[feminaferitas]

//ooc; the way my brain is trying to convince me every song on Dessa's album "parts of speech" can be YJ coded if you squint hard enough

beekeeper is lottie-coded:

Here comes the beekeeper With her pitcher full of smoke She'll put us all to sleep I hope it's dreamless and it's deep Sweet Prometheus, come home They took away our fire And all that this scarcity promotes Is desperate men and tyrants

call off your ghost is jackieshauna coded:

I don't think badly of her I hope she makes you happy It's just a lot to ask to watch your future walking past me I know that jealousy's a perfect waste of time But left to my devices I've spent far too long wasting mine I've spent far too long wasting mine

dear marie is also jackieshauna coded:

Dear Marie, you were right, you were right You said that I could leave you lonely in a crowded room By smiling bright for everyone but you And I'm embarrassed to confess it, but it all rings true You said that charm of mine was easy to abuse And if I'm so smart How can I learn so slow? You had the hard part I was the last to know

idk, the lamb has taivan and jackieshauna and mistynat and lottienat vibes to me, it's all about grudges and power dynamics and forgiveness:

I don't quite come in peace But times like these ask us To set aside old grudges Duty calls, I heed But I don't love it The night nurse leaves Just you and me You give a look Could freeze gasoline I don't believe that you're reformed Or you're redeemed

fighting fish is natalie coded (it's also my #1 faith lehane song):

My mother says I've loved too many men But I took and left something in every single bed The rook can look left, right, just turns his head But the knight might rise up, investigate the grid Gender, genre, guess I'm on one, bent both Just the constructs of the old world gone broke Women, children, let me tell you, I've been both And it's a myth we all swim for the life boats

warsaw is van-coded:

And I'm still living by my maiden name The name I came with The name I made And I'm bare-faced at your masquerade Filled a flask up before I came Because night falls We all wanna hear that fight song Car running like a nylon Brights on Times right but the clocks wrong

the man I knew is travis/nat coded:

By the time that you told me It was already plain that you've changed But your conscience was clean And as white as a line of cocaine My back to the wall of your bedroom apartment You're talking in circles Got two cigarettes burning And I couldn't hide I'm afraid I was to see you so strange

it's only me is tai-coded:

Hello, it's only me, I know it's late Hoped to catch you still awake And maybe I was wrong to call Guess tonight broke my resolve I've been having that dream again It seems I always will I don't know what the thing means Except it sends me to the telephone, and still I know that love is never free It bows your head and bends your knees But there's no sword without an edge And I sleep uneasily when you're not in my bed

annabelle is shauna (post-jackie, if she's ever truly post-jackie) coded:

Out there in the garden, motionless for hours Yeah, it's just like there's a statue dressed in Annabelle's old clothes And part of me is afraid to wake you from the dreams you're having Scared the scattered pieces won't come back together whole Annabelle, come back to me I'm calling you from home Annabelle, come back to me I'm living here alone

skeleton key is misty-coded:

Don't waste your worry on me I always find what I need Come and go as I please I've got my skeleton key By now it's just a simple trick Not much to see You hear the tumblers catch and click Then turn the key But I've found work and welcome Everywhere I've been 'Cause everybody's got someplace They wanna be let in

and finally sound the bells is just generally s2 wilderness, hopelessness coded:

Looks like our writing on the wall Is lorem ipsum after all A higher tide will wash it all Wash it all away The lighthouse keeper's last relay: Hand shadows and a final wave Now's the time to rouse yourself Spend the strength you've saved Go lift your sails up For one last swell Go lift yourselves up To sound the bells

[coffeebanana]

3 and 9 for the writer asks?

3. What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

Current favourite is Say Something. I just crammed a lot of my favourite tropes into it and I love the balance of hurt/comfort. Plus it's definitely the fic I've put the most effort into writing so far!

9. Do you write every day? If you wrote today, share a sentence of what you’ve written!

So, I write most days. And currently I'm on a 31-day streak!! But I've learned it's important to listen to how I'm feeling and if I really don't want to write then I don't try to force it. And what often ends up happening is that after I've told myself I don't have to write today, I'll end up. Sometimes it's just a few hundred words of absolute word vomit on my phone right before I fall asleep at night--why do the ideas always hit right when I'm trying to sleep?! 😭--but hey, it's still something!

I've been using this website called 4thewords and to maintain your "streak" there you're supposed to write 444 words a day (you also "defeatmonsters" as you write. Different monsters come with different word counts/time limits and it gives you a nice little dopamine rush 😂. And I think part of why it works for me is that it actually counts the words even if I delete them after. Because yes, drafts don't need to be perfect. But sometimes I'm just really not satisfied with something and I CAN'T get past a certain part of a fic until I figure out something that DOES work.

Part of the fun in writing for me personally is having that moment where everything just clicks and I feel like I've made magic with words--that's why I like editing, I think. So, when the deleted words count, I don't feel bad if I delete things. I don't feel like I've done less writing. I tried things, and if they didn't work, they didn't work! But I still tried. It makes me feel better about spitting out nonesense, actually, which means I can work my way to the stuff that DOES work quicker. And on editing days I'll just post lorem-ipsum into it so it counts as a writing day to keep the streak going or whatever.

I think another part of why I've been writing so regularly lately is because prior this I did take a little over a week off (well, okay, a week and then i wrote one day and then a few more days until i was really motivated again). Sometimes I just need a break! And learning to be okay with break days has sort of been a struggle? But I actually think I'm at the most healthy place I've been with my writing in a while. I'm learning how to write what I'm feeling when I'm feeling it and to not worry so much about how much actually gets done. (which ironically means I'm probably getting more done 😂)

As for something I've written today...

The dish Marinette had been scrubbing half to death clattered into the sink, and she had to resist the urge to scream at the reality of one more thing slipping from her fingers.

Thanks for the ask!! 💜

Fic Writer Asks

[wildelydawn]

4, 6, 12, and 14 for the ask game you just shared. Hope you feel a bit better soon! (Love you!)🫂🤍💛

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

Hmmmm, I'm not sure. I like the way Australians may or may not say no/"naur." I think it's very cute. But I don't think that counts, right?

6. What is your darkest fear about writing?

I promise I am not planning something fucked up or anything, but ever since Chester Bennington took his life, everyone around me keeps saying, "well, we should have known, look at the albums Linkin Park made." And like... yes, people process a lot of stuff through writing. And I am sure Chester did too. But I really am afraid that one day, if things were to happen, someone would look through my journals, articles, fanfics, or even this blog and say, "Well, we should've known." I have a good life. A much better life than many people I know. And sometimes, really terrible things happen (whether by choice or fate), but that doesn't mean my entire life, or Chester's, was awful and that we only make/made art because of bad things. My really sad writing (or even my writing about IRL problems such as war, etc) shouldn't become evidence for living people's crimes or neglect. I don't know if this is making sense, but basically, I'm afraid everything I write will unconsciously be classified as a symptom of my depression/suicidal ideation. (And maybe Chester is a bad example because a lot of his music was "sad" or "troubling" or whatever words people like to use, and I in no way knew Chester intimately, but idk. I'm just uncomfortable with people saying, "'Heavy' was definitely a sign that he was fucked up" when "Battle Symphony" is on the same album.)

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules

Hmmm. 1) The ability to not talk myself out of writing. 2) To always find the perfect source/research needed. 3) To never have to worry about a works cited page/have all my citations perfectly done.

14. Do you lend your books to people? Are people scared to borrow books from you? Do you know exactly where all your “lost” books are and which specific friend from school you haven’t seen in twelve years still possesses them? Will you ever get them back?

I constantly lend books to people, and I don't particularly care what they do with them because most of the time, I have writing/annotations, post it notes, etc in them. I think I have gifted/gave at least 6 copies of The Picture of Dorian Gray to several people. They ask to borrow a copy, and I almost always give them one and then find another copy in a thrift store. It's basically a cycle. I am perfectly fine with never getting a book back. If I'm ready to give it away, then it's done it's job with me, and it's time for that book to change someone else.

Tenks my friend :3 I adore you!!

Send me weird writer questions.

[cmdonovann]

Accomplishments! Quantum Break fansite in progress!

(originally posted June 8th, 2023; crossposted from dreamwidth.)

Well, I removed Tumblr from my phone to prevent me from wasting so much time there, which means I now have nowhere to easily and quickly post my inane thoughts (at least not without feeling like I'm bothering people on Discord or in direct messages, though perhaps that's something I should work on). You know what that means! It means I'm probably going to try posting them here instead. Thing I want to post about: I'm making a Quantum Break fansite! I've been wanting to do this for ages, and actually started putting together a couple of little graphics for it during the "Quantum Break Appreciation Month" event I ran on Tumblr in April, but I hadn't made much progress on the project since then... until the past few days, anyway, when I started brainstorming what I actually want to do with the site, how I want to lay it out, and so on. Yesterday I put together some CSS for the site, and today I did The Hard Part: I set up a git/GitHub repo for the site, and got the "deploy to neocities" script working for it, so I can easily and quickly make updates to the site in VSCode, then push from there to GitHub to neocities all at once, like I do with my personal site. Was this an absolute pain to set up? Yes! Somehow, it took me even longer to do it a second time than it did the first! But I did it myself, with a lot of encouragement and rubber duck-ing from a few very helpful people in the Fandom Coders chat. Can't say I'm not proud of myself for that. I would not have had the skill or confidence a year ago to do something like this, especially not all the mucking about I did in the terminal trying to set up the git repo in the first place. Anyway, I am, to put it mildly, extremely fucking excited to continue working on this site. I've got big plans: first order of business is to get an archive set up of all the Quantum Break fanfic I can get my hands on (and get permission from the authors for). After that, I'm probably going to do the same for fanart and image edits like photosets and gifsets from Tumblr, since the CSS page styling for those will likely be similar (though I expect to run into some attribution problems with older Tumblr posts, what with so many deactivated or moved blogs post-2018). Once that's sorted out, I'm considering looking into the best way to archive fanvids, but honestly that might be put off for a while longer, as video hosting and video players are way out of my skill level currently. Maybe I'll import some of my Quantum Break playlists from my personal site, too? Oh yeah, and at some point down the line, I want to make a searchable wiki with transcripts of all the in-game narrative objects. But "searchable" is probably going to be a stumbling point there, and transcribing takes ages, so this will be last priority, I think. Wow, that's... a lot, actually! Damn! This is gonna take a while. Not that I mind spending a couple of years poking at a project, obviously. *Gestures at my longfic that took four years to finish...* I've been neck deep in this fandom for over seven years, what's another five or ten? XP

btw, since it's fairly easy to post images on tumblr (compared to dreamwidth, anyway), here's a screenshot of the section that's currently in progress: the fic archive index!

(ignore my filler text... i usually use karkalicious as my lorem ipsum, so at least i'm not committing THAT particular crime here.)

i'm still futzing around a little with the styling (negative margin my beloathed) but it's coming along pretty well! i've already got a branch where i've started... you know, actually adding fic to the site, but i won't merge that into the main and add a link to the front page until the style problems have been fixed (or at least, fixed enough to be easily navigable on mobile, which... is not the case right now, lolrip).

[flamethrower-seagull]

Dear people using screen readers! I will just write this in the void and hope somebody with a screen reader or maybe knowledge about screen readers can help me. I have question about how to create better Alt text:

In the last post I made, I used a screenshot of some text where I have highlighted some lines. So in the Alt text I copy-pasted all of the text in the image. However, doing it this way I omitted which part of the text I highlighted. I feel like in this context that is okay, because the highlight is more meant as a way to better skim the text and right after I talk about the text and it is clear which part of the text is important without the highlights.

However now I am wondering how I could have done this better.

I don’t think you always want to put all the text in the Alt text (please correct me if I am wrong). If there is a lot of text but only a small portion of the text is important, it doesn’t seem right to me to quote everything in the Alt text because people with screen readers cannot skip the unimportant text.

But sometimes the not highlighted text is context for the highlighted text and should not be omitted. I see several options (apart from not mentioning the highlights at all):

1. I could quote the whole text, then say some text is highlighted and quote the highlighted lines again.

Example: “This is an image of text. It reads lorem ipsum the lines lorem ipsum and lorem ipsum are highlighted.”

However this could be potentially very long (because I quote text twice) and still confusing (because the context for the second quote is then missing.

2. Potentially I could also do it the other way around:

Example: “This is an image of text. Some text is highlighted, it reads lorem ipsum. The full text is lorem ipsum”

which would mean screen readers would know which part is important when hearing the full text.

3. A third option I could think of is to mention or mark that a part is highlighted during quoting. So I could write.

Example: “This is an image of text, some lines are highlighted. The text reads lorem ipsum (now begins the highlight) lorem ipsum (end highlight) lorem ipsum“

The last options seems like the best one to me, as screen readers could hear the highlighted text in the same context as a reader would. However, the editorial note that highlighting begins might be either confusing or too long. I could also use symbols like * or ~. Then I should maybe mention that I am using them to mark highlighted text.

Example: This is an image of text. Some of the lines are highlighted, I will mark the beginning and end of the highlight with *. The text reads: Lorem Ipsum *Lorem Ipsum* Lorem Ipsum.

However I am not sure which symbols are audible with screenreaders?

I would really like some feedback which option is best or if there is already a convention for this. Thank you!

[ajcrwl]

coding adventures part++

it's been a little over a month since the last one. i'm almost done with building some basic stuff including comments!

last time comments were completely non-existent. i had already picked a text editor which i wanted to use, but it was so hard to understand how to configure it, so i switched to tinmyce.

i added it to the page and started figuring out what i wanted to do with the design:

i immediately somehow made the toolbar become a rainbow that changes colours, and decided to keep it that way 😂

took me a while to figure out how to implement character count, submit button and notify button all within the editor's toolbar. but honestly, tinymce is so good, their docs describe pretty much everything i needed, so it was only a matter of learning what it can offer and figuring out how i could use it.

what you see above was just a bunch of lorem ipsum coded directly into the page. so the next step was to write the whole post -> save -> display pipeline and show some actual comments.

why use lorem ipsum when you can adfadsfsdfsdadf ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

then i did the thing which i always wanted to add: my own emotes! btw, we use all of these plague doctors and others in my discord, and i keep drawing more and more of them.

and then i tried to use them along with a better emoji font, and uhh

oops xD yes, you can stretch an image, even an emote, but you can't unstretch it back and return it to its original proportions.

figured out how to ban people, because honestly, no comment form should be released in the wild without the ability to restrict annoying users, you know? x)

and another thing which i figured out: how to make emotes big if there's no text next to them. same as in discord. took me about half an hour ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

now i'm fixing bugs and adding some small unseen things here and there.

the next step will be uploading all of this to the live website and testing there.

and after that.. whooo boooy, do i have so many more features planned. just some of them off the top of my head:

display names. that bit in lighter text before "@ yourname". i want to let people set a different name.

upload your own avatar.

badges. currently only a moderator has a badge. i want to add badges for people who support me on Boosty too.

non-email notifications. i get only 1000 free emails from mailgun, and we could quickly run out if everyone subscribes to reply notifications. however, i learnt to keep my expectations low, so this may never happen due to low engagement (sadge). some non-email options via bots could be: discord, telegram.

ability to keep track of your own comments.

profile pages to look at other people's profiles?

linking tumblr/discord/etc/whatever. still need to think how i could use that. maybe link your tumblr, so that people could see your blog? or for alt login options.

btw, none of this will be ever released as a stand-alone piece of software. it's heavily linked to my current cms framework, so i can't be arsed to separate it, and also i have no idea what i'm doing 😎

-------------------------

here's the first post

ps. managed to fix a few bugs while writing this post :)

[serendertothesquad]

Seren's Studies: Odd Squad UK -- "The Odd Ness Monster" Episode Followup, Part 2

The process of elimination of the weird-ass calendar seasons continues, below the break!

"And autumn."

"Or fall, as Orli would call it."

Behold: the first moment in the episode to make me frown wider than a mile. Stolen joke from "Trials and Tubulations" which did it much better, mixed in with a ham-fisted Orli mention that includes the entire damn pig.

Onom, I love you, but don't. Just...don't.

I mean...to be fair, Captain O could lock them in here if she wanted to be a sadistic lil' shit.

But she's not, so she won't.

FUCK YOU AND THE TIME CARDS YOU RODE IN ON, EDITOR.

That aside, this episode is gonna fuck with the timeline so much and I'm sure every OG crew member fucking knows it.

And shockingly, they went five entire months without Captain O noticing them. Which, considering how often she leaves her office, is some bullshit.

Oprah? Sure. I can believe they'd avoid Oprah for five months.

Captain O? Not on your never life.

"Onom, Orwell, it's June the 1st. Isn't there somewhere you need to be?"

"...At the...be-"

"I am armed and loaded with an anchor that has killed more men than in World War II. Don't make me have your heads as part of my own raffle. Get down there and check on the monster."

I do like how it cuts to them back down in the multi-sub basement mid-groan.

The Rockington Club Smasher? Either the Guardian of the Rocks has another relative, or it's the first caveman villain in Odd Squad's history.

...Okay, well, fuck. I wanted it to be a caveman villain. But my whims are too unrealistic doo-bee-doo.

"How dare you! It's the second best-selling Odd Ness Monster book!"

How much you wanna bet that information he left out prevented it from becoming the top best-selling Odd Ness Monster book?

Man's whining about being stuck down here until June 30th, but put it in perspective...is it better or worse than being stuck down there for an entire year?

I mean, personally I'd say it's better, but y'know...

I actually forgot I passed by a tweet that mentioned this wizard, which was posted by their actor. I also forgot I was howling at the name "Destructo McBaddington" because it's either the world's silliest name made up by a child or the name of a D&D player with whimsy.

It's so stupid but so charming! I love it!

Methinks Destructo could take a few tips from The Shadow when it comes to cool stuff done with capes.

Wrapping yourself up in it like you're cold ain't it.

elderly lady

has a biscuit that turns people into frogs

So this is a witch, and they just don't want to namedrop "witch", perhaps because it carries negative connotations or because it sounds like "bitch" too much.

Mm. Okay. Got it. Fuck you because I'm pretty sure witches have been mentioned before in PBS Kids Halloween episodes.

I hear it's truncated to just Exposition: The Book. Title character limit, y'know.

Okay, if there's one thing I don't like about this episode, it's how absolutely ham-fisted Orli is shoved in here. Clearly either Asha was getting paid per namedrop, or there was a gun to Paul's head in the form of "mention Orli at least once or you're fired."

Could mention Ozzie to mix things up, but no...no.

There are two kinds of Main Character Syndrome.

Self-inflicted, and forced into.

"...and everyone knows the Odd Ness Monster doesn't work weekends."

I will choose to ignore this bullshit contrivance because it's one bad seed in a flourishing garden.

Doesn't mean I can't hate it and wish for its death, though.

Orwell's got about as stellar of a time management skill as Owen, without the frequent breaks.

*deep inhale*

No. Based on how this season has gone thus far? No. I can't say anything about the Lorem ipsum text. I can't. It speaks for itself.

I'm not keen on calling this a meme that has made its way into Odd Squad...but hearing Captain O saying this is fucking sending me.

That's why you put Creature Care agents on the job, ding-dong. That's what their department does. It ain't much, but it's honest work for 'em.

Orwell remarking that it was a hard job is once again reminding me of Owen. Truly, he's following in the footsteps of the greats.

ALL OF THAT...TO PLAY "TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR"?????? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?!?!?!

Oh, bro...dear God...I'm sorry, but that is the most ridiculous shit any episode in this season has ever built up to. It's simple, it's stupid, but I'm cackling all the same.

See, this raises some questions, though. How does she eat and drink? How is she living this long? If she's immortal, fine, but exactly how long does she live for?

All of these questions and more will be answered when Seren divorces her husband, which is never!

Omar had to throw in his own two cents at the end, just for funsies. Just because he can. Just because it's a silent plea to Paul to take him to the doctor. Just because he was offered a hefty check if he put 'em in.

At least Orli meandered over to the swivel chair before collapsing. Orwell didn't even make it to the bed that is five steps away from him. (And looks like a bed in a jail cell, but that's besides the point.)

And your credits for this episode. We even get a voice credit for the jackalope this time around, which I guess we can contribute to all its other appearances in the season as well.

(Though...who, exactly, is Thrug?)

----------------------------

Overall...yeah, y'all were right, this was a good episode. I wasn't sold on Onom and Orwell as a pairing in "Miss Information", but I like the dynamic they put on display here. It's just a silly goofy ahh fun time with two agents who looked at Owen and went "lol okay we can do that." With Captain O as backup for good measure.

Also, Destructo McBaddington. Best bitch witch in the west. Just don't pour water on her.

Next up on the list is "Oddtober the Thirteenth", which is the last episode in this week's batch. For some reason, "Agent Overhill's Last Day" isn't lumped in with it, so we'll have to wait for that one. Here's hoping both are just as good as this episode was.

Seren out!

[void-star]

7, 12, 19, 35

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

That moment when the scene comes together and you feel it. It's the most satisfying thing in the world.

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules

I would wish for:

More confidence in what I'm doing as I'm doing it, so I can stop getting blocked by the fear of criticism and spectre of perfectionism.

The ability to focus on what I'm writing for longer than 15-20 minutes a day, so I can get more than 200 words done.

A 3-day work week with extremely high pay so we all have more time to dedicate to our crafts without risking losing our basic necessities.

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

I started writing with play-by-post roleplaying on (various) forums back in the 2000s. I love characters, character development, and interpersonal drama a lot; all the rest of the aspects of a story are certainly fun, but those remain at the core for me.

I started cause I was a traumatized, lonely, and deeply alienated kid.

I was scared to write fanfiction for the longest time. Then I was scared to write original fiction. I've been through phases where I think my writing is better than it is, only to find that my skill isn't well practiced and I can't achieve what I'm trying to achieve.

I stopped writing for many years. I don't know how many, because my memory is terrible.

Eventually I took two years of creative writing courses in college and discovered that I preferred to write in community with other writers. My first writing group very quickly dissolved as all my college friends dropped the craft and went in very different life directions.

Three years ago, I had the lowest point of my entire life. I died and I came back. I only came back because I discovered a new, fun art form that made me want to write again... that made me want to commit to creating something multifaceted and full of depth.

So that's what I did. I started writing again. I sought out a new writing community. I made new friends and discussed writing with people who are both very enthusiastic about stories and books and writing in general, and know what they're talking about when discussing storycrafting.

Now I'm here. I'm writing... I'm mainly playing, to be honest, and by proxy, learning to get through the entire process. Challenging myself and seeing myself be able to reach the reasonable goals I've learned to set for myself.

I don't know where I'm going. I don't even know how much time I'll have to get somewhere. But I would like to write a novel, in fact I have loosely started one... and I would like to work on writing and producing audio dramas... because I wouldn't be here right now without them.

35. What’s your favorite writing rule to smash into smithereens?

The idea that there's only one correct way to write fiction, and only one way to be taken seriously as a writer. This is vague, but every time I write something new, I am playing with a new way to write the thing I'm writing. I want to stay exploring what it means to write and tell a story.

Maybe that's to be expected with how relatively little experience I have for how long I have technically been writing, but every writer and writing advice in the world about what POV to use, what words to avoid, what types of sentences to delete, etc. can honestly go all the way to hell. The only thing that matters is knowing what you're trying to do.

[incorrectpizza]

#7, 12, 15, 17, and 18 for the writing asks?

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

Hmmm....I think it's the way that I can share how I feel with others, without feeling like I'm ranting or an undue burden. Don't like what you see? Scroll past! But it's therapeutic to write through things, and sometimes you can end up really blessing someone else in the process.

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules.

One: The ability to come up with the perfect titles in less than ten minutes.

Two: A fearless internal editor that would correct my pieces without judgement.

Three: A great free writing program that wasn't Google-owned AND would offer super-duper-easy import for all my preexisting Google Docs.

15. Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not? Do you judge people who do these things? Can we still be friends?

I did not for the longest time but I've actually started writing in my books! All thanks to an English professor who made me rethink it. I used to think that it was too personal and/or "ruined" my books. But then I found out that it's actually SUPER helpful for researchers to have margin notes from regular old people! He's working on Shakespeare research and reading one of the earliest annotated texts (people didn't like some of his work as it was coming out!). Now I like to think that maybe my meager notes will have an impact in a couple hundred years.

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

....what is this "current WIP" you speak of? Jk...kind of. The current thing I'm working on is a 1,700-ish word essay on my relationship with Star Wars, and the things that won't make it into the text are, unfortunately, name-drops of characters or plot synopsis. I accidentally got WAY too nerdy in the first draft. The lore and history is that I was given a choice: to write about conflict or death. I chose conflict with a franchise because I hate conflict with individual people and right now I can't handle emotionally or mentally writing about death in depth.

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

I...have no braincells. I don't know if I've shared enough of my writing on here to come up with something I have posted off the top of my head, and I don't have energy to sort through my Google Docs right now. Can I have a raincheck for this one?