#i need to write a character study/rewrite <- doesn’t write fic

[cavewretch]

i love him . he wouldn’t have stayed in england btw idc

[ninadove]

For any fandom(s): 12, 15, 16, 19, 23! 💌

As always, you spoil me! 💌

12. Compliment someone else in your fandom

GOD I HAVE TOO MANY FRIENDS TO COMPLIMENT

@beezonia comes up with the coolest AUs and designs. I’m always blown away by their Pokémon team compositions — they’re spot on to the point I consider it its own form of character analysis!

@purplecatghostposts is the genius who showed up out of the blue and took us all by surprise with their amazing prose. Soap, reminder that the reference to Copycat in consider the spare legally binds you to pay for my therapy.

@trishacollins is single-handedly remediating to the lack of platonic bedsharing between the cousins and I can’t thank her enough! She’s also one of the chillest and most approachable people I know.

@luckychatons is our favourite entrepunpurr and constantly lifts our mood with the cutest, most joy-filled sketches! Patting her OCs on the back because they sure need it.

@graythegreyt is such an awesome artist you’d almost forget they’re also one hell of a poet who wields mythological references like Odysseus wields his bow. Did you know they wrote me a poem inspired by God Games? I think everyone should know they wrote me a poem inspired by God Games.

@hartwign is a talented translator and draws hair like no one else. Seriously. I want to run my hands through the cousins’ hair and nestle in there forever.

@phieillydinyia is the picture of dedication! Can’t recommend Candle In The Wind enough, it’s a roleswap rewrite of the Miraculous movie that includes the songs. How cool is that. Thank you for your regular comments on my fics, they always make my day!

@alexandriaellisart words cannot express how much I love your depiction of Feligami. Your writing has made me tear up so many times! AND YOUR ART LOOKS SO SOFT AND COLOURFUL. What a double threat!

@faiirygrahamdevanily we need more fics about the Sentiplot as a metaphor for othering experiences and you’re doing God’s… I mean, Duusu’s work with yours!

@bbutterflies did you know your piece for Sentitwin Week is the best characterisation I’ve ever seen of Felix? This is what people mean when they say a picture is worth a thousand words. And of course your Adrino is always brilliant!

@bittersweetresilience not only are you an extraordinary writer, but you’re constantly looking for new ways to express your love. Always GIFing and weaving and canonising tags and making AMVs and running zines… I can’t wait to see what you do next!

And there’s so many more people I’m forgetting! To say nothing of my friends outside the Miraculous bubble! People are amazing!!! 💖

15. The character that always makes you smile

At the end of the day, it’s all about Clive. He’s been my muse for nearly 15 years! 💙🕊️

16 was answered here! 💖

19. Your current fandom(s)

Professor Layton, forever and always. I can’t wait to share my Big Bang fic and the amazing art that I was blessed with! 💙💛

RWBY, even if I’m lurking more than participating… I love love love love RWBY, yet it doesn’t strike my creative and analytical chords the way Miraculous does. Sometimes you just need to let yourself be swept into a story, you know? Although, it did teach me a couple of writing tricks I’ve used for other fandoms!

EPIC! Wisdom Saga coming soon! 🩵🦉 It makes my little mythology nerd heart supremely happy. The music is a banger and you can feel the knowledge and passion of all the people involved in this project. Jorge in particular is always so excited to share his progress, engaging with creators, explaining his musical choices in a fun and pedagogical way… And the lyrics! It’s free real estate for a fanfic author looking for inspiration and/or titles!

I’d love to start Monte-Cristoposting like I’ve been Cyranoposting and Draculaposting, but I’m afraid of spoilers so for now I’m just screaming in your DMs. As you know. I’m also slowly getting into Honkai: Star Rail, and I’d like to pick up Pokémon Black and White again because a N character study would look great on my AO3 resume.

And of course, Miraculous! 💚💜❤️ It’s the most creative I’ve been in years and it’s all thanks to these sad beautiful silly genius kids. Heart emoji, peacock emoji, sob emoji, etc.

23 was answered here!

Thanks for the ask! 🖤🪶

[etchedjade]

A friend asked how I would rewrite Acosf, so I came up with everything listed below and it kinda makes me want to write a fic now!

Let me know what you think!

If I had Acosf my way…

The Beginning: Nes stays in the Night Court but Feyre and Elain are the only people trying to stop her from spiraling. No IC involvement. They recommend Nes visit the HoW library where the priestesses have therapists. Elain has been seeing them and she thinks it would be beneficial for Nes as well. Perhaps they have incentives for Nes to visit them after recommending it a couple of times (no threats of unpaid rent or forcing her to be at an IC gathering).

Again, Nes isn’t forced to do anything for or with the IC.

The Found Family: We see her begin to make friends—who treat her like a person—in the library AND in Velaris. She makes friends with both high and lesser fae, maybe helping them in the process—you know, because Velaris has slums and homeless refugees. She could even bring this to Feyre’s attention.

Nes either joins a dance studio or starts sneaking into one to dance. This helps her come to terms with what her grandmother/mother did to her. She faces those memories and pushes past them because she likes to dance. (Imagine her doing 30+ turns while crying?! That would be so emotional).

The Valk storyline still happens because it’s so integral for the entire story going forward—and yes, including Cassian’s involvement, but he sexualizes and uses her WAYYYY less. Training is more of a group thing and because Nes makes it very clear she doesn’t want to be involved with him (yet), Az is the one instructing her.

The Dread Trove: Nes begins to heal before Feyre alone asks for her help with the Trove. This will also include Elain’s help. Feyre doesn’t think Elain should go out to search for the Trove because she has no combat training. Nes does have some training at this point. Feyre makes this choice completely optional and urges Nes that she can say ‘no.’ But Nes accepts… because the Mother is nudging her to do so and she feels this need to look for the Trove.

Nes’ SA by the Kelpie is addressed. Nes’ vision from Lanthys is addressed. After finding the Harp, Nes will not longer face ANY SA scenarios or be sexualized by men at any capacity. (This could factor in with her choices with romantic interests because Cassian does it so often canonically).

The Conflicts: Nes is never forced to stay in the HoW (I know we miss out on that relationship but she’s making other friends). Feyre’s pregnancy is not a thing. Nes does get kidnapped with Em and Gwyn for the Blood Rite—and still holds the pass (her Ordeal). After holding the pass, she makes the Drop, using her power to defeat Briallyn, who is more formidable than what we got and Cassian isn’t there (because I’m sick of her saving his *ss in every fight).

The Power: Nes doesn’t lose her power. She begins to train it, with Merrill or with one of the priestesses studying the Cauldron or old magic. It’s an extension of her Valkyrie training. We also get allusions to Nes’ connection with the Starborn and the Dusk Court.

The Romance: Hear me out… she meets Eris in Velaris (I don’t believe he is allowed in but let’s pretend he is now). We see Nes get to know Eris–verbal sparring, casual clashing, shared interest in dancing. 👀 Coffee dates? Random run-ins? We also get to see Eris’ true character through Nes’ eyes.

And again, yes… Cassian is still an option. He’s less gross than he is in Acomaf, Acofas, Acosf, and Hofas. (That turnaround would be a tall order though). Maybe that’s his growth and character development—treating women with respect.

Now we have a situation where readers are on the edge of the beds to see who will woo Nes first. Aka, an actual romantic plotline for a romantasy book.

Conclusion: Honestly, this could be two books. Nes’ healing, training, friend making, romance, and locating the Dread Trove split so that it feels like more of a difficult, longer process.

This is all out of order but if anyone would like for me to lay out a timeline of events, let me now!

[orchidyoonkook]

Do you have any tips for new writers/accounts to get popular???

Hello!!!!!

SO:

I was a shit writer for a very long time cuz I never wrote. But one day I wanted to change that so at 19 I made up a story and wrote down all my plot points and then did a DEEP DIVE on Pinterest of all things collecting every bit of advice I could. I’m talking ideas, how to do this, how to not use the word said, how to start sentences. How sentences should flow and their lengths, big uncommon words. EVERYTHING.

Anything and everything I could get my hands on. 

And on top of that I’ve been a reader for forever. I have so many books I don’t even know how many I have. And so I use that knowledge when editing. I don’t read it from a writing POV after I write it. I turn into a reader and think about how I would feel about it from a readers POV and if something doesn’t work. I fix it.

I have a small background in script writing from my college days which definitely helped a bit. But if you’ve ever studied script writing you know it doesn’t really help creative writing outside of structure.

And when I write I’m someone who writes until I think the story is done. Not the arc. Not the characters. But the overall story of what I’m trying to portray. I don’t actively think about putting the climax of the story here or some foreshadowing there. I write intuitively if that makes sense. I try to sense out what feels right. And some of that comes naturally, some of it doesn’t and I have to work on it.

Me and @violetsiren90 were actually talking roughly about this last night. Our differences in how we write and how my advice from her last fic that I edited had already helped her with her new one cuz she can now see all of the little things that I pick up on from my style of writing versus the times where she tells me why she writes in that specific way and why she will be keeping it as is. Vi if you wanna add anything in the comments I’m forgetting, by all means feel free.

Most writers will tell you to practice. To tell you to write something even if it’s just a sentence everyday. But that didn’t help me. The stuff on my blog are the very first things I’ve written for myself ever. I didn’t write in highschool or college outside of what I was forced to write and my one story that the Pinterest board was initially for.

For me it was about researching style and reading posts like these from other writers, being confident in your style and learning what rules to break and when to break them. It was about reading over your work a hundred times and to be impartial when you read so you can fix the mistakes that won’t work.

The benefit of writing is you can go over something you’ve written a hundred times until you think it’s ready. A thousand times. I can go back and rewrite that first story if I want too. Nothing can stop me.

But don’t get me wrong. I go back and read all my works on here from time to time and I still constantly find things I would change now. Word changes. Phrasing changes. Everything. But that’s just another sign of improvement. Writing is a constantly improving art form. There is no limit. Only growth.

And the last thing I do is write down everything. I have a TERRIBLE memory. So I write down every single idea. On a scrap piece of paper. In my phone. On a computer. In a notebook. Cuz you never know when you’ll use it.

My most recent story, The Devil Wears Valentino, I got the idea for that name sometime in the immediate aftermath of Valentino Yoongi. I was in the shower after watching the devil wears Prada and my mind just connected the two. And then it sat unused in my notes all until the week before Halloween 2023. I would’ve forgotten had I not written it down. But there it was right when I needed it, a gift from past me. And here we are.

As for popularity, dude I have no goddamn idea. I don’t even think I count as a popular/big blog. I utilize the HELL out of aesthetics, formatting and tags and I’m nice. That’s my spiel on that. Aesthetic. Format. Tag. Kindness. Talent, sure. I guess. But writing is one of those things, ESPECIALLY in fic, where it doesn’t have to be the best cuz folks just wanna read their comfort character or person in the same scenarios over and over again. Source: I do that. And I’ve read stories that don’t have the best writing. But the story was good, or vice versa. People are way more forgiving on here.

I didn’t come on here(tumblr) with the intention of writing let alone giving writing and popularity advice. I just wanted to read and support people and then the community I’ve built for myself has just grown and grown and I’ve been so incredibly fortunate, which is where kindness comes in.

Leave reviews and like and reblog stuff. Tell people how much you love their work. Let them know you write too. Create friendships with people who wanna support you. And people who you wanna support. Community is the base of everything.

[alpinelogy]

Can I ask for 5 and 10 for your chalex one (unless that was the time loop one then you can choose any fic you’d like) and 7 for the redubull oscar one? The character is Oscar. I am very fascinated by that idea🫶🏽🫶🏽

Yes the chalex was in fact timeloop asdf. Executive decision therefore all will be about rbr!oscar. Heads up that I originally plotted that back in August last year and I have been rewriting it on and off for the past few weeks so everything is very stc and under heavy construction

5. Is there any scene you're excited about writing? I am making Logan and Oscar go on a road trip at one point! Genuinely one of my favorite parts of the fic and one of the few if not the only one that has so far survived the carnage that the doc is currently going through.

Important lore but is the fact that here, Logan never did F1 (or at least is now racing in Indy) so he is US based unlike Oscar over in the UK. So original plan was Logan to take Oscar on a road trip through the US to get his mind off of the season but the fic has been getting less depressing through rewrites so I might move it to Europe. Because I know it better lol. But yes, a road trip

7. What are your plans for Oscar? Oscar initially had a very messy and not well planned character arc that felt like I have been putting him through shit constantly and his character is the primary reason why I am replotting so much of it.

The original idea was uh... well look at what happened to the other two Aussies in Red Bull so far haha. But with timeloop where the ghost of Max Verstappen hangs over everything I am not particularly too fond of writing a fic where his ghost hangs over everything again. I need variety. Also idk how I feel writing Red Bull heavy fic rn so things will have to change on that front.

But the current plan is to stick him in a Red Bull for 2025 and have him face the fact that he no longer has a teammate that he gets along with like a house on fire and the idea of adjusting to a very different team from McLaren. But he is still an Aussie in a Red Bull. Some suffering will be required (affectionate)

10. If unpublished, can you show a sneak peek of what you've written? I am lowkey not happy with anything from it cause it is from a time when I was still super rusty but this has survived the carnage so far and will probably survive. Important context is that originally, this took place over the winter break but timelines might be condensed and this might be summer break instead

He spends Christmas in Australia with his family. During the limbo week between then and New Years he flies to America. Despite flying first class, he still doesn't sleep on the plane and feels like collapsing when he finally gets to Miami. He is coherent just enough to pick up his luggage and find Logan in arrivals but not much more. The hug they share can barely pass off as friendly but hey, Oscar is exhausted, it's a reasonable excuse. It’s on the correct side of too friendly in this context. When they get to Logan's apartment, Oscar manages to take a quick shower before collapsing to bed. He doesn't even bother to check which bed in which room, Logan would tell him if he minded. So he doesn’t give it any more thought and lets himself fall asleep, exhaustion finally winning. He wakes up to see the room bathed in the golden light of a sunset, slightly confused before he realizes where he is. Right, he's in Florida, at Logan's place. He looks around, properly studies the room now that he doesn't feel like collapsing again.

[winkle-pickers]

🦈🎁🚀 for the ask game! (If you're still doing it ofc)

Omg YES, I am doing all ask games in perpetuity 😂💞 Thank you for checking, and I'm delighted to answer!

🦈 Which character is the toughest to write?

I think last time I answered Jounouchi, and that is still true to an extent, but oh my god BAKURA. I just tried writing my first Bakura fic recently. Like yes I know being mysterious and strange and (deliberately?) confusing is like his whole thing, but if you haven't been steeped in the Bakurae/Ishtar side of the fandom for the last 20 years...it's a lot of meta to catch up on. A LOT. So many good takes, many in direct opposition to each other, many of them equally compelling despite that. WHEW. I tried my best, I hope I didn't write an offensively wrong Bakura, everyone's gotta start somewhere right?!?! ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

🎁 Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

Ooooh, yes!! A little Kaibros character study from years ago that has been languishing in my drafts, that I'm re-working and may actually publish someday. I'll stick it under a readmore, tell me what you think!

🚀 Do you like to outline your fic first or create as you go?

Unfortunately, I don't have the kind of brain where I can sit in front of a blank document and think a story out in bullet point form. I desperately wish I did lol. But alas I must charge in headfirst and get a few thousand words in before I have any idea of where I want things to go. Sometimes (often) I blast through the entire thing without outlining. Sometimes I hit a snag somewhere and realize I done fucked up and need to put myself back on the tracks.

And then there was the time I got 100k words into a YGO/Zelda crossover and realized oh no i think this will be MUCH more than 100k and wrote a very rough outline, then another Zelda game came out halfway through the fic and I had to spend a solid month rewriting my outline to accommodate lore from the new game, and also I somehow accidentally turned the whole thing into a huge ensemble cast with multiple concurrent plot threads balancing both YGO and Zelda character arcs, Hyrulean politics, and an imminent multiverse collapse. My Scriv file now has a 120k word planning & research section. (Oops.)

tl;dr I have exactly one fic that is well outlined and the rest are me doing the writing equivalent of a Leeroy Jenkins. congrats if you get that reference and are ancient like me

ANYWAYYYYSS thank you for the ask!!! Kaibros snippet under the cut 🐉

“Come on, nii-sama,” Mokuba pleads. It comes out weirdly desperate, more pathetic than he’d intended. “This is so unfair. It’s unfair enough that I don’t have parents, and it’s even more unfair that you won’t tell me-”

“You do have a parent.” Seto's reply is so sharp that it makes Mokuba flinch.

“I know, I know,” Mokuba replies, irritated at the pedantry. “You’re my parent legally. But you’re not, you know...I just want...”

Mokuba realizes as he’s talking that he’s said something terribly wrong. The change in his brother’s face is minuscule and significant and makes his stomach flip in shame. He trails off, the words curling up and dying as they fall off his tongue.

“Please go to bed,” Seto says. His tone of voice is so perfectly even that Mokuba gets up and leaves without another word.

Mokuba doesn’t go to school the next day, opting instead to stay in bed and stare at the wall. Seto either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care.

For the first time in years, he cries. And then he thinks about the fact that it’s been years since he last cried. Mokuba spends so much time wondering what the fuck is going on in his brother’s head that he’s maybe neglected to turn the same scrutiny on himself. And he’s maybe leaned a little too far into his role as the ‘normal’ Kaiba - the charming one, the easygoing one, the one who exists to balance out the bombastic, powerful force of nature looming tall at his back.

But who had cried - just once - after Gozaburo hurled himself from the top of the Kaiba Corporation building, and who had watched the coroners wheel away the black-draped gurney with impassive, bone-dry eyes?

[sexy-sapphic-sorcerer]

for the wip ask game - anything you want to share about "In a New Light"? (and/or, are there any merwaine fics in your works in progress?) thank u <3

ooh this is an idea that I've had for ages and am slowly committing to writing. Part of this fic is loosely inspired by the legend of the red and white dragons, where a druid boy asks Merlin to help him build a fortress for sorcerers near Camelot. Merlin refuses to help, saying that the land is too unstable due to an ongoing fight between two dragons beneath the surface. The red dragon represents Camelot and the new religion, while the white dragon represents magic and the old religion. Merlin argues that it isn't safe for sorcerers to assert themselves on this land and it's all kind of social commentary, y'know me.

But also, this plot mainly serves to engineer scenarios where Arthur hears a lot of things out of context that leads to him coming to the conclusion that Merlin is queer and dating the aforementioned druid guy, and also that Morgana is queer and has a secret girlfriend, and that Gaius is some kind of conversion therapist, it's a real comedy of misunderstandings. This all results in a scene where Arthur confronts Merlin about his secret, which he believes to be his sexuality, but which Merlin believes to be his magic. I actually already posted a draft excerpt of this scene here.

As for merwaine, yes! 'No Strings' is actually kind of done, I just need to proofread it. It's a rewrite of the episode Gwaine, basically just Merlin and Gwaine hooking up but it's kind of a character study about Merlin wanting to detach himself from destiny for a moment, and to just be a brief romantic interest in Gwaine's story, rather than the tragic hero of his own.

Here are the first few paragraphs:

Merlin doesn’t often get the chance to unwind. His life is a tangle of strings of fate and heartstrings, binding him to the people around him. He often feels like he is defined by his relationship to others: Arthur’s servant, Gaius’s apprentice, Hunith’s boy. Even his destiny is not his own, it’s Arthur’s. But Merlin doesn’t particularly mind being tied to him, or any of them, really. He likes being connected to something bigger than himself, it makes him feel secure. Gwaine is nothing like that. He seems to drift through life like a tumbleweed, floating from town to town, tavern to tavern, bed to bed. Merlin considers it a rare stroke of luck that he should end up in this town and this tavern, pressed beside him in a cosy corner of The Rising Sun. Gwaine leans across the table on his elbow, propping up a tankard that jostles with every gesture he makes to accompany his equally turbulent tale. “I dunno, I couldn’t really understand the man’s accent, I just heard something about travel and fun and I wasn’t gonna pass that up. It wasn’t ’til he got out the motley leotard and juggling balls that I understood.” Merlin laughs at this, earning a smile from Gwaine. “Wild month, I tell you. Most of the crew only spoke Romanian so it wasn’t much conversation,” he takes a sip of ale and shrugs, “but I got pretty good at throwing knives by the end of it, so it was time well spent.” With each story Merlin has heard about Gwaine’s adventures (and there have been several in the past two days), he finds himself less interested in the stories themselves and more interested in the care-free humour with which Gwaine tells them. “Don’t you get lonely?” Merlin asks. “I make friends wherever I go,” he replies, motioning towards Merlin with another slosh of drink. It’s thrilling that Gwaine already considers him a friend. Merlin likes the idea of being in Gwaine’s life, hopefully for more than a few days. “But what about something more serious? You know, companionship.” Gwaine lowers his head, “I make lovers wherever I go too,” he says with a smirk. Merlin giggles, “that’s not what I meant.” “Isn’t it?” The glint in his eye makes Merlin question if Gwaine knows him better than he knows himself. He can see Gwaine becoming a good friend. But he has seen Gwaine laying shirtless in his bed, flexing his defined muscles and combing his luscious hair. And, well, memory is more vivid than imagination. Merlin sips his drink to avoid responding.

[lunanoc]

2, 13, 17 !

2. Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to?

In general there’s a few, but not all of them would work with the pairing I write primarily at the moment (PingXie from DMBJ) because I’m a big believer that just because you enjoy a trope doesn’t mean you should shoehorn it into every ship you like because they just would not work. Unless it’s an AU setting, and even then you’d probably need some serious mental gymnastics for some. Anyway 🏃‍♀️

For PingXie specifically I’d like to try a Hanahaki AU because I don’t know that anyone’s ever tried that (I have a specific scenario in mind, we’ll see if I ever get to actually writing it), or an A/B/O AU, which I know is a trope a lot of people dislike for understandable reasons, but if done correctly and from a certain angle it could be interesting (and not necessarily for smut purposes, I may or may not also have a scenario in mind for this 🏃‍♀️). This isn’t really a trope but I think the biggest thing I’d want to try is writing a real Long Fic™️. And by that I don’t mean word count, I mean something with a real intricate plot where there’s character development, plot twists, etc. because there are very very few of those for DMBJ, and that I know of a lot of the ones that do exist are for my no-no ships or tropes.

13. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?

I don’t know that I’ve ever come across advice that I tried to replicate mostly because when I write it’s vibes for better or worse 🏃‍♀️ BUT that being said, I think the best indirect advice I have that isn’t even advice per se, more observation, is that studying literature is a good way to realize that taking cues from commercial writing advice isn’t necessarily a ground rule for good writing. Can it help you and get you started? Absolutely. You might resonate with it and that’s fine too. But anyone who calls themselves an “expert writer” because they’ve read a lot of books on writing and takes the liberty to police others with way more confidence than they should have about how chapters need certain word counts to keep the reader interested, that scenes need to be structured a certain way etc. is a red flag to me sorry. Saying art has no rules is a little bit exaggerated because it does, but in a sense it’s true. If there was anywhere where rules were meant to be broken or subverted it’s artistic creation, and though that might not be palatable for commercial publishing, doesn’t mean artistic license is worthless. There’s no one way to write, even commercially successful authors have their own distinct styles, so as long as it’s something you can make work and hone into a cohesive body of work, commercial writing advice in those “How to Write For Dummies” books aren’t the be all end all, and anyone using those as the exclusive guide on how to write and never evolving away from them are using them as a crutch they feel they can use to belittle others, but that’s just my hot take 🏃‍♀️

17. Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?

From start to finish more or less. Cohesion happens as I’m writing and no amount of planning is going to account for what actually ends up making up the filling of whatever framework I’m going off of. I’ve tried writing a few scenes out of order once because I got frustrated and skipped ahead, and I hated myself when I went back to edit/rewrite (because editing for me isn’t so much editing as it is rewording and sometimes rewriting entire portions because I’m not happy with the flow of the first draft). I think I write too streamlined to ever be able to cut things up like that 🫠

[thatsdoctorlindsaytoyou]

I kept waiting for someone to write a Byler fix it that rewrites the first part of s4 so that Will is the main character, where his choice to do a project on Alan Turing is not only acknowledged but intrinsic to the plot, where he is the target of bullying instead of El, but those bullies still get what’s theirs, where Will and El love each other like siblings and care about each other deeply, where Jonathan is a protective and supportive big brother, and most importantly where Mike has significantly less internalized homophobia, doesn’t emotionally curb-stomp Will, and actually makes the first move and confesses his feelings first.

So finally I just wrote it myself.

Here it is on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/40081770/chapters/100382982

And also on Wattpad (my first one over there!): https://www.wattpad.com/user/OctopusQueen91

Also I wrote a follow up to it one day instead of studying for an exam: https://archiveofourown.org/works/40306020

And before you ask, yes, I am still working on my Reddie fics, I just had a lot of feelings about this and not a lot of serotonin so I needed to temporarily shuffle my priorities.

[palmofafreezinghand]

Hi! Wanna do 🤗, 🧠, and ✅?

Thank you for the asks @jessicanjpa !!

🤗 What advice would you give to new fanfic writers that are just getting started?

The idea of me giving advice to anyone else is…comical. So I’ll instead pass on some of the advice I use most often: 

Act out your dialogue! (I think this is because I am someone who learned how to write by writing plays but most often I hammer out an entire piece’s dialogue start to finish, add-in blocking, then all the other details come last). 

When you’re stuck in edits rewrite. Type it all back out, no copy and pasting. This piece of advice I use religiously which is why things take me forever to publish. I usually add a couple of thousand words of reflection or richness the first iteration was missing but critically needed. 

Read! 

Also if able to listen: to audiobooks, movies, interviews, musical theatre (yes, even if you think musical theatre is stupid), whatever way you can listen to a story do it! Words are purposeful and timing is critical. My absolute favorite pieces of literature, even if I’ve never heard them spoken aloud, I can hear. 

Now the most important one — JUST WRITE! Throw out all the advice and write! It doesn’t have to be good. It doesn’t have to go anywhere. You don’t have to like what you come up with. Just write the damn thing. 

🧠 Pick a character, and I’ll tell you my favorite headcanon for them.

I know the headcanon Esme is into Grey’s Anatomy is popular and I love it in addition I propose: Carlisle loves HGTV. The hospital break room will usually be playing the channel. Esme on the other hand hates HGTV. When he asked for shiplap in his study, which was not an appropriate room for shiplap, she thought he was cheating on her. When he suggested she paint a historic brick fireplace white she almost filed for divorce. 

✅ What’s something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don’t mean to?

Answered this here, but I thought of another one: Weird little tidbits of history sneak themselves in whenever I’m writing a prequel piece (which is often). I’m not a history nerd but I am a weird fact fiend so I won’t write a historically accurate piece about Carlisle on the battlefield but there will be some light commentary about how heatless curling methods have changed over the centuries. 

[loveofafangirl]

The Right Thing

[Baron Zemo Masterlist] [Marvel Masterlist] 

Pairing: Baron Zemo x Reader (no gender, race, body type given)

Synopsis: As Zemo is sneaking away from his abode in Latvia in search of freedom, he is pulled back when he notices the fight in his home above has become dangerous for those in the streets. *Fluff:Comfort/Care*

Word Count: <1,500

Author’s Note: This is my first time writing Zemo. I don’t know what happened but he is living (and dancing) in my head rent-free so I hope you enjoy this little fic. I typically write third person; second person/reader is not really my area of comfort, so please excuse any mistakes. Not betad. A/N2: This reader becomes “Reader A” on my masterlist. Most fics can be read as this reader with their relationship with Zemo developing (even though they are all mostly one shots)

TW: non-graphic mentions of blood and injuries

He averted his gaze, pulling the collar of his coat up, attempting to blend in with the crowd forming in the street as he slipped out of his Latvian home. He could hear the clash of Vibranium echoing on the floor above. Children gathered in the street below, looking up curiously at the unusual sounds. He wanted to warn them. He knew the threats of fallout that followed from being too near those so-called heroes better than anyone. However, he feared the delay would cost him his freedom and what he must do. He quickened his pace away from them.

The shattering of a large window sounded behind him as the building took a beating from those fighting. He turned at the noise, too late to do anything more than observe the shards of colorful glass rain down on those below. 

He watched in horror as the debris struck a few people. You caught his attention when you protected a young boy, which caused you to suffer the most. He admired your resolve. You did what he wasn’t strong enough to do. He turned back the way he was heading, trying to forget the damage he saw.

You were curious about the cacophony of sounds coming from the building. You had heard that some of the Avengers were in town. You had secretly hoped to catch a glimpse of them. Not because you were a fan, more because you wanted to see them—to size them up. You had always been a good judge of character, and you wanted to determine for yourself whether they were essentially good or not; although, you already knew the world was far grayer than most people gave it credit. 

The noise above grew louder, and you could tell a battle was ensuing. You watched the number of people growing beside you, more specifically, the number of children enchanted by the unusual sounds. For a moment, fear flashes on your face, remembering Sokovia and the damage left in the wake of the last Avengers fight in the area. 

Before you have time to warn them, screams fill the air as glass and bricks begin to fall. You turn quickly, covering a small boy standing beside you, shielding him from the brunt of the crumbling debris. You cry as the glass pierces your skin; you feel blood begin to drip from some of the larger wounds. 

“Are you okay?” You ask the boy whose body trembles in your arms.

He nods, his lips quivering. He runs off down the street, following the crowd away from the scene without a word to you. 

You drag yourself away, too, hoping to find a quiet spot to nurse your injuries. You’re grateful they’re not worse since you can’t afford to go to the doctor. You turn a corner and sit on an old crate in the quiet alleyway. 

You peel off your shirt and turn to pull the first piece of glass from your back. You cry at the pain but continue on, gritting your teeth.

“Let me?” His voice was soft as he held his hands out in front of him, gesturing toward your wounds. 

Weary of the new stranger, you pull back defensively.

“Please.” He remained where he stood, not moving on you, giving you space. “I can help. You saved that child. Let me help you now. You won’t be able to reach them all on your own.”

Reluctantly, you nod, allowing him closer.

He slowly moves beside you, keeping his hands up, showing you he meant you no harm. 

His touch is softer than you imagined. You don’t even feel his careful fingers removing the glass. Eventually, you work up the nerve to ask, “Are you a doctor?”

“No,” he replies simply and continues his work. “Unfortunately, I have seen more destruction and loss than I would like.”

You sit in silence until he is done. He takes a minute to carefully inspect you, making sure to have removed all of the pieces to prevent infection. 

He wipes the soft fabric of his trench coat over your skin, collecting the blood that had spilled. 

His movements were so tender and warm that you can’t help but relax at his touch. The pain in your back seems to disappear under his care.

“There. All better.”

“Thank you, truly.”

His lip curls up in the corner. “You were a hero today. Many only delude themselves to be that. Few actually prove themselves to be so on occasion.”

You search his face for more. There is pain there that cut deeper than any shard of glass could. The two of you shift closer. There’s something in his eyes that lets you know his thoughts had drifted away from you. You know that look‚ the look of loss—of longing. It was all too common in the recent months and years. 

Before you can step back and thank him once more, his lips brush over yours, slowly. It feels like a dream, and for a moment, you’re afraid to breathe, as it feels like the wind whispering quietly on your lips. His eyes seem brighter at that moment like something had changed. As you decide to give yourself over to it, he pulls away, startled.

“My apologies.” His tone is honest as he steps back. He almost sounds surprised that it had happened.

“It’s okay.” You aren’t in the habit of letting random men kiss you and get away with it, but there was something genuine about him. Your eyes widen, truly focusing on the man in front of you for the first time. His brown eyes are warm and kind. You could tell he had been through a lot, but he had still taken the time to assist you. “It wasn’t you. Well, at least not completely you. It’s been a long time since someone was that…tender to me.” You swallow hard at your confession, unsure of why you had told this stranger that. “Most men want more. Demand it when it is refused.”

His eyes fill with what you think is concern, but he’s hard to read. You wonder if you’re fooling yourself, and it’s a look of pity that you’re trying to rewrite. 

He looks around nervously as people rush past the entrance of the alleyway. “I should be going.”

Filled with courage you didn’t know you had, you take a step forward and brush a kiss on his cheek. Your fingers linger on him. “Thank you again.” 

“My pleasure.” 

His smile, as he begins to move away, left you wanting more—needing to better understand him. You watch him walk toward the busy street. “Wait.”

He turns toward you, his head tilted to the side, waiting for you to continue.

“Why did you help me?” 

“It was the right thing to do.” He stated plainly. 

You nod thoughtfully. Not many people would have helped you like that without wanting more. Not many people know what the right thing is anymore. You’re not even sure you know all the time. “Can I ask you something else?”

He looks around again as if waiting for someone to find him. He offers a curt nod. 

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but do you need a place to lay low for a day?”

His head tilts further to the side, “why would you ask that?”

You shrug. “I don’t know. I guess, you just look like a man who’s running.”

“How very astute of you.” He marches closer again, studying your face more carefully now. 

“You can stay with me...just for the night,” you clarify quickly.

“You don’t know me. Why would you make such an offer?”

“It’s the right thing to do." You look down, bashful for a moment, before continuing. "Plus, you helped me; I owe you a debt.” Both were partly the truth, but the third reason you couldn’t bring yourself to admit to him was that you weren’t ready to let him go. 

He considers your offer, as he proceeds to attempt to understand you. "One night." 

"One night," you agree. You reach for your shirt, attempting to shake out the remaining bits of glass and put it back over you. 

"Here." He stops you, pulling his lavish coat off his shoulders, and wraps it around you in one fluid motion. 

The gesture catches you off guard, and you let a little noise of surprise slip from your lips. 

He doesn’t seem to notice, or if he does, he isn’t smug about it. He buttons the coat closed, shielding your body from the outside world. Stepping to the side, he extends his arm, a gentle smile on his lips. "After you."

You're not really sure what you're doing or why you made the offer you did, but you do know that for the first time in a long time, there's a smile on your face that you can't seem to wipe away. You touch your fingers to your lips, still mesmerized by the delicate kiss. You step forward, ready for whatever the future has for you. "Follow me." 

[Next Part: A Promise]

Permatags: @the-soot-sprite

Zemo tags: @montypythonsholysnail​

Please let me know if you would like to be added or removed from my tag list.

[sicahyart]

Bonds of Blood - Chapter 1

Fandom: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Characters: Pyra, Mythra, Amalthus, Rex, Fan la Norne

Read on Ao3 - next

What if Amalthus used Rex and Pyra/Mythra to get his hands back on Malos instead of aiming for Elysium? The Master Blade might be broken, but it doesn't mean he's beyond repair. And definitely not beyond being experimented on.

A XBC2 rewrite from the meeting in Indol

- I have no idea where this fic is going, this was originally a one shot (ch4), before I realized the setting had too much potential to stop there and ended up with multiple chapters. I'm not putting too much thoughts in the full plot, I'm more interested in exploring the characters's feelings and relationships in this AU, writing as it comes. -

—

“You want us to what?”

Rex asked aloud what Pyra was thinking. Although she barely heard him with Mythra’s own shock resonating in their head.

Mythra, indoor voice, please.

Sorry, she apologized. But this..!  

“I am asking you to help me retrieve the Aegis, Malos,” repeated Amalthus, with the same nonchalance as if he was asking them to get some bread at the local market.

“But why? Er, Your Eminence?”

Pyra kept silent, letting Rex lead the conversation. She was wary, yet curious about all of this. Observe first, act later. She could feel Mythra being on edge too.

“You want to reach Elysium. But the path won’t open without him.”

Rex scratched his head.

“But I thought he’s trying to capture Pyra because he can’t open it?”

“That is correct,” nodded Amalthus. “In fact, as it is now, the way to the World Tree cannot be reopened without both Aegises being reunited. This is why he needs her. And why you need him.”

“But the bastard tried to kill us,” protested Zeke. “There’s no way he’ll cooperate.”

Us? Since when is it a us business? This guy wasn't there when Malos attacked, scoffed Mythra.

Pyra ignored her, waiting for the Praetor’s response.

“Not of his own volition. But I am his Driver, and after all this time studying Blades, I believe I have found a way to bond him to me again. My problem is, I need to have him here to help him out of this rampage. And he won’t come to me. Hence my request: will you help me bring him home? Fan la Norne can help you restrain him. But I need someone to take him to her. I believe he would be willing to listen to a fellow Aegis.”

Pyra wasn’t sure about this. She wasn’t really eager to face the other Aegis again. Was it really the only way to the World Tree..?

I don’t know, admitted Mythra. Our main problem is Ophion, unless something or someone has sealed the World Tree itself. Maybe we do need both of us to open it now. Or maybe Ophion will only listen to both of us. It should be MY Artifice, but since it’s been damaged in the fight with Malos... It’s possible he might have tampered with it.

Pyra turned to look at Rex. The boy seemed deep in thoughts too. He eventually looked at the Praetor again.

“You could really save him too?”

“I believe I can,” said Amalthus with calm confidence.

“Alright then, I guess we can try. Whaddya say, Pyra?”

The Fire Blade hesitated. If it really was the only way, and if Amalthus was convinced he could get Malos out of his quest for destruction… Maybe they could bring Jin back to reason too.

Mythra?

The Light Blade didn’t seem convinced either, but…

If there’s a single hope to save Malos from his own rampage, Rex will want to try it. That’s just how he is. Plus Malos isn’t at full power, and we destroyed his Blade at Olethro. If we can separate him from the others, it might be our best chance. If Amalthus’s plan fails, I guess we could still drag Malos with us to Elysium… and beyond. Tell Rex I’m in.

Pyra nodded.

“Alright. Mythra agrees too.���

Rex grinned.

“Then let’s do this!”

The Praetor smiled softly, thanking them for their help.

None of them saw his lips distorting into a smirk as they left the Audience Chamber.

—

Fan la Norne accompanied them back to the Praetorium’s guest rooms.

“So, how shall we proceed?” inquired the ether specialist.

Pyra let Mythra take control of their body.

“We turn back his own plan on him. Remember how he tried to isolate Pyra to capture us in Uraya? I can contact him the same way he did. If we can convince him to meet us alone, it should be easy enough to restrain him with H- Fan’s power.”

“Will he come, though?” pointed Zeke.

Mythra looked at him, then back at Rex and Fan la Norne.

“I think he will if I’m alone. With Fan of course. But no Driver.”

As she expected, Rex opened his mouth to protest. She interrupted him by raising her hand before he could even speak.

“I know. I’ll be fine. Fan’s ability works on him, and he’s weakened. And if anything goes wrong we can just run away.”

Which you should have done at Olethro. Would have spared me the trouble of dealing with this.

Pyra pushed gently on her mind, reminding her that he merely wanted to protect them. Mythra ignored her. She did know that. It didn’t make being back more pleasant. She and Malos never should have returned to this world. She’d make sure it would never happen again this time.

Rex wasn’t doing a great job at hiding his reluctance to let them go alone, but Nia shoved him lightly and he eventually nodded. They had a plan.

“Where should we meet with him, then?” asked Fan la Norne.

Mythra considered their options.

“Leftheria,” she eventually proposed. “It’s close enough to Indol to shorten the journey back as much as possible, and we can isolate him on one of the islands to limit potential casualties.”

That sounded like a good idea. Everyone seemed to agree, and they parted ways with that plan in mind. Fan la Norne took her leave with the promise to procure some Ether Chains to bind Malos during the transfer. They would leave for Leftheria first thing in the morning.

For now, Mythra had someone to meet in her dreams.

[wander-wren]

Wren’s Concept Box

i always have a thousand ideas for different fics in my head, so this is where i keep track of them! since these are just ideas i’m throwing around, you’re also welcome to take them for yourself, as long as you tell me so i can go see it and hype you up!!

my current wips generally take priority, but i’m always down to just chat about everything here. i’m also a rlly big pushover and easily convinced to write things, lol, so do with that what you will. obligatory disclaimer that there’s no guarantee i’ll write anything here, and if i stop being interested in a concept i’ll delete it.

Upcoming Fics

these fics are almost certainly going to be written eventually bc they’re connected to current wips/completed fics, i just haven’t gotten to start them yet.

three of swords- power of three rewrite following my other rewrite fics. main changes: three are born in windclan, sol actually has a purpose, and their powers have been…reimagined. also hollyleaf has a power.

sign of the four- omen of the stars rewrite. main changes: dovewing is the fourth cat, not firestar. other changes TBD.

hold my hand (i’ll lead you through)- working title, third installment in the emetophobic!adam verse, but WAY fluffier than the others. more montage/character study style of the gangsey helping adam.

Other Ideas

everything not 90% guaranteed. ordered alphabetically by fandom, and in no particular order after that. a few have titles, most don’t.

BNHA

there’s beauty in the bleeding (at least you feel something)- touch-starved!todoroki who doesn’t know how to get touch except via sparring. eventually some?? people?? figure it out and there is fluff

snowed in- huddling for warmth/mission gone wrong bkdk with todoroki third wheeling, and potential ot3?

only time we’ve held hands (i threw a punch and you caught it)- the title is the concept i just Like It. definitely bkdk, maybe…soulmark fic? idk.

dabihawks old guard au- i wrote in this universe for whumptober and had a lot of fun, so i’m definitely down to write a full longfic with it at some point. when i have fewer longfics in progress lol.

The Old Guard

joenicky character study- them through the ages. for the express purpose of writing their final death bc i have Thoughts and Opinions on it but i don’t just want to write it by itself, yknow?

The Raven Cycle

gansey and the ship of theseus- the world needs more gansey angst! i imagine my guy has weird feelings about being resurrected twice. sarchengsey roadtrip era

pynch & possession- just adam post That Scene at the end of the raven king hating himself/being terrified bc he hurt ronan

cambridge, take two- a different version of ronan going to harvard in cdth, with no murder crabs but still angst. honestly i don’t remember what i thought with this and my notes have like no details but i’m intrigued.

soulmarks- au where people get to choose soulmates, and they can be unrequited. once you choose someone, a mark appears on the first place they touched you, like a tattoo, that represents them. if they choose you back, same thing. ik that destroys the idea of soulmates but i like the idea of the gangsey choosing to be bound to each other.

pynch mind reading- after cabeswater possesses adam, either he can hear ronan’s thoughts or ronan can hear adam’s, or both. then they fall in love, or something.

genderbent pynch- no thoughts i just rlly like lesbians. girl!ronan owns my entire soul.

Six of Crows

character studies- thats all, just. getting in their heads. a little series. i have a nina one i wrote for a friend as a gift but that was like two years ago and i’m afraid to check if it holds up. but i like doing them.

Warriors

mosskit lives au- i had this idea ages ago where mosskit survives and somehow manages to reach bloodclan? and becomes it’s leader instead of scourge? idk about the logic there. but they (they’re nonbinary to me) are obsessed with revenge on bluestar and become the Actual big bad of tpb, pulling the strings on everything.

swiftgorse- i was introduced to swiftpaw/gorsepaw and idk what i’d do with it but i’m very interested

Welcome to Night Vale

ripping at the seams- cecil finally cracks under the pressure of being night vale’s voice. the “stuck in my booth, only able to narrate and not to help” quote inspired this.

carlos 113 aftermath- i have a note about carlos learning about the events of 113 and freaking out but i don’t fully remember that episode or my thought process. i’m still intrigued.

[fktonofwhatnow]

The Rhys/Tamlin 180 in ACOMAF makes me mad! Like there’s wasted potential there, even if Rhys is endgame. The concept of after the happily ever after is actually pretty cool. There’s real potential in looking at how Tamlin and Feyre deal with the trauma of Amarantha. Having two people realized they’re not right together while still respecting each other is a more adult take than “surprise, Tamlin sux now”, and allows for Feyre to actually make real choices and grow. What's your ACOMAF rewrite?

Damn YALL ARE SPOILING ME WITH THE TAMLIN ASKS ☺️☺️ thank youuu for the ask @havenfable

THIS IS AGREAT POINT TOO WAIT WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT ALLOWING FEYRE TO ACTUALLY MAKE REAL DECISIONS !! YOUR BRAIN !! you guys are spectacular eat a cookie you have earned it 

Ok my thoughts are not quite coherent rn so I’ll try to make sense. I’ve tried writing this like 4 times and every time it just doesn’t work so bear with me here thank you I love you ok here we go. 

Ok I’m gonna start by saying that there is something to be said about Feyre as the narrator and her being an “unreliable” narrator of sorts. The story is about her, told from her perspective. I don’t expect her to have objective views of what happens around her. one thing I found interesting was that she said in conversations with people that she knew Tamlin was struggling, but when we would be listening to her internal monologue, when she thought of him it was mostly to blame him for not knowing she was struggling. (or if he did know, he didn't do anything about it) So like, same thing with the whole thing with Rhysand's mom and sister, we don't know what Tamlin thinks or feels about the situation because he doesn't talk about it and Feyre never asks. (But oh DAMN Sarah should not have given me room to speculate.) Like, UTM broke Feyre right, she tells us that much. Why are we not allowed to believe that it destroyed Tamlin too.

Here we are again, just like with Rhysand's family. I don't blame Feyre for literally needing help, and I do blame Tamlin for not helping her, but to a degree. I hated how the whole situation was handled like Tamlin was shit for not trying to help Feyre (even tho he was, just not in the way she needed), but then Feyre literally not lifting a single finger to try to help Tamlin is ok because he's a man and he can just suck it up and take it. ???? No ? That's not how we handle trauma? Like, my homeboy is fighting a losing battle against this shit and he's the one who's gotta fix everything for Feyre?

But like you said, just a tiny little bit of helpful communication would have done wonders. How about a lil, "hey you ok?" ???? LETS TALK ABOUT IT! Let's talk about how we're falling out of love, let's talk about what Tamlin experienced under the mountain, let's talk about what Feyre experienced under the mountain, let's talk about how maybe we were never good for each other and how we move on with our lives from that! POTENTIAL !! LETS HAVE THEM GROW "Surprise! Tamlin sucks now!" bitch how. Literally how. How did this happen. How did we get here. Tell me. I want to know SJm. Stop being a coward and tell me. You know what, I'll do it for you.

Damn this is about to be super duper long I'm so sorry. 

Alrighty guys once again, I love Tamlin with my whole chest, but I do put a hefty chunk of this on him. From what SJm tells us about Tamlin, he is a fearful individual. His responses to fear are either to freeze or to explode. Both extremes hurt people around him. His actions hurt people, and his lack of action hurts people. Also, for as often as he says the word sorry, he doesn't really show any signs of change or improvement. While I understand that yes , changing your behavior is hard, especially if you're not getting help and don't know how, Tamlin still could have tried a little more, pushed just a little harder, and yes, he could have been better.

But Tamlin is scared. He's scared of things outside of his control, he's scared of change, he's scared of people he loves leaving him or getting hurt. I'm willing to bet he's scared of himself, and rightfully so. He lashes out and it only ever hurts people. I can't believe he's blind to it. When he destroys the study, he's clearly afraid he hurt Feyre.

(i think I’m gonna do my acomaf rewrite headcanons in a different post, every time I try to write them here it doesn’t flow oooof lemme know if thats something you want ahahah I could talk about this shit forever) 

And like, being subject to someone else's fear is stifling. I don't blame Feyre for getting the hell out of there.

BUT AT THE SAME TIME, I know I've said this before: in my opinion, Tamlin has the best depiction of trauma in the whole fucking series. PTSD is a bitch and Tamlin is losing to it. The thing I loathed about acomaf/the beginning of Acowar is how Tamlin isn't given help and then treated like an absolute asshole for it. SJm could have done so much if she had Tamlin learn to ask for help. We can't all just have a Rhysand who knows every thought we have. Sometimes we have to ask for help, as much as we don't want to. That would have done wonders for Tamlin's character arc. And I think that he should have leaned heavily on Lucien for that.

Now look, Lucien deserves a lifetime of free chiropractor visits to relieve the soreness from carrying the entire series solely by himself on his own back. If I'm the one to pay for that for him, so be it. I would do anything for this man.

Lucien deserved so much better than to be bulldozed by the narrative. I refuse to believe that he would let Tamlin use him as a doormat. Lucien deserved to tell Tamlin off on his behavior ok. Lucien deserved a fucking backbone that he had all of acotar and then SJm decided that he was the character who got to suffer for the decisions of every other characters so they didn't have to. Stupid. (At this point I wouldn't be surprised if Rhysand's cum from having sky sex with Feyre fell directly on Luciens face. That's how much SJm likes pummelling him)

Lucien deserves to be strong and tough and emotionally available, especially for Tamlin. I don't think he deserves to be abused by his best friend. I've read fics that make Tamlin like this jackass who's not sad at all that Amarantha forced him to whip his best friend. Are you fucking kidding me. I feel like if Tamlin was going to cling like hell to someone through all of the shit before, during and after UTM, it should be lucien. But no SJm needs us to know Tamlin is a bad guy now. He hurts everyone with no remorse!!! What a villain!!! That was a sin.

Acomaf deserved to be two people talking about how maybe this relationship wasn't going to work out. This book deserved to be Tamlin getting up the courage to as Lucien for help. This book deserved to be Lucien always telling Tamlin that he would be there for him and us getting to watch the two of them overcoming their hardships together. This book deserved to be Feyre choosing her own path, choosing her own family, choosing to live her life as she wanted.

But nah. Rhysand's got a fat cock and uhhh y'all need to like it more than y'all like Tamlin's dick. Also Rhysand is a feminsisist. So suck it.

(If this book was really about giving Feyre a choice, SJm would let her make actual decisions that actually impacted herself and the story instead of just having Rhysand give her two extremes with one of them being obviously the right choice and then tell her whatever she wanted to do was her choice. Feminism.)

Did any of that make any sense. Any at all. No? Yeah I didn't think so anyways I've spent like a week on this I'm tired and I wanted to get it out there. Acomaf was a mess but at least it wasn't Acowar hahahahaha

[snat-snailcat]

TLDR: we gain more from being critical in our consumption and analysis of problematic media than we do throwing it away.

There’s already been essays written about it but I just am having one of those times where I feel I shouldn’t have to justify still being able to enjoy a media even if there are problematic elements. Just because a clearly bad take was made doesn’t mean I have to throw the whole book in the trash.

It feels harder and harder right now to be like “here is a thing I hyperfixated on for months/years and really care about” when I *know* that somewhere in the history of that thing is some racism. I know it, I acknowledge it, I learn to be better, and I move on still being able to hold these characters and stories close to me.

Need some sort of stamp that I can smack on things like “I know that this media has some Issues, I have come to terms with them, acknowledge them, and will still enjoy the parts of them that really mean something to me”.

I really like Dungeons and Dragons. I just do, I love Forgotten Realms for how vast a setting it is, and for the decades of world building and details that it has put into it. I know that there’s a history of the game and its lore having some Issues. Some pretty bad ones too. As someone who loves to plunder the (digital) pages of books from the older editions (AD&D 2e is my current baby), I see a lot of it. Some of it has been addressed and changed to be less racist in the years since, some of it has been retired or shuffled away altogether, but I trust myself in having a critical eye to see the parts of the game that aren’t as inclusive or thoughtful as they ought to be, and I change them for my games.

I love drow. I’ve always been fascinated by the ideas of underground worlds since I was a kid, reading books like City of Ember and writing Warriors Cats fics about sprawling underground mazes. I love the aesthetic of caves and tunnels, of luminescence and strange fungi. And I love reading War of the Spider Queen, a series of nothing but drow and their betrayals. It’s far from unproblematic, but it’s a study in magnificent bastards, in characters who are so far from being moral paragons that they stand out. And from the moment I first read of her, I love Eilistraee. It’s that same story over and over again, about enduring all that is horrid and still choosing to be kind, to be better than those before you. But I also will not deny that in these books, especially the older ones, there is racism. There’s white authors depicting struggles far from their own with clear analogies to real world people.

I enjoyed a lot of shows, especially in grade school; Steven Universe comes to mind. And some issues do exist with this media, but at the same time, I enjoyed it. It did things that had never been done before for a network cartoon for children. Are there much better shows now that have similar, if not better representation? Yes! Absolutely. But someone had to walk so that others could run.

We learn nothing from tearing down the world behind us as we all move forward. It’s important to have it there to see how far we’ve come.

Part of being a good consumer of media is being able to identify that, take it, and reflect on it. What is being said? What do you believe the author’s point was in trying to include this? What were the common views/rhetoric at the time this was written? Was there intention to cause harm by this, and if yes, how can that intention appear in other places? What can we learn from this in what not to do, and what we can do to fight against people like this in our world today?

I’m not saying to ignore the issues that many pieces of media have, but to be able to use those faults and flaws to better yourself. When it comes to a media as vast as TTRPGs, it’s easiest to rewrite and disregard issues, because it becomes *your* world, your rules, and your place to exist.

There’s no easy way around it. Hate still exists, there are still terrible people out there, a lot of which we should not be supporting. But there are also people who make mistakes, who mess up, who are still learning. And there are ways we can learn from those before us, or those we watch.

It’s all about how we work with what we have.

[queer-as-used-by-tolkien]

Storyline Study: Order Mentor

When you joined your Order at level thirty and met your mentor at level forty, each of the three was instantly revealed to be a different person altogether from the other two.

Tybalt Leftpaw, Lightbringer of the Order of Whispers, was on his first-ever field mission. He was very blatantly calling for you in a sort of undercover way, and simultaneously panicking when you tried to mention the full name of the Order. Your supposed mentor was as new to this as you, had a (sometimes very human-teenager) sense of humor, and had a rather sad backstory balanced by his good nature. You knew he liked apples.

Sieran, Magister of the Durmand Priory, was full of reckless abandon, disregard for authority, boundless curiosity and a heart for the little things. She was confident in her role and her ability, and unhesitatingly took you into dangerous places for the sake of exploration and adventure while brushing off rebuke like a tree sheds sap - even when it was heartily deserved. You learned to be rather frightened for her.

Forgal Kernsson, Warmaster of the Vigil, was an archetypal gruff, stern old mentor whose every drop of praise spoke volumes. But he also carried a sort of wildness to him, that rough edge from growing up a hunter in the Shiverpeaks, coupled with every willingness to say it like it was if it was true. He could be surprised, he could observe calmly when something was new, he could snark like the rest of them and even say things he didn't mean from time to time.

They all fought the dragons - they each more or less took it seriously. But Tybalt was a partner and friend, you were keeping Sieran in check, not the other way around, and Forgal trained you mercilessly.

You all grew together - they had each changed for the better by the time they died. Tybalt had learned that he was worth something, Sieran had learned friendship was worth everything, and Forgal had learned... well. He'd found a student to be proud of, a partner to fight with, a friend to trust... a child to carry on his legacy. But I'm not sure, exactly, what Forgal learned - what the point of his story was.

Sieran was more-or-less well suited to her role in the story; she symbolized innocence and cheer and optimism and the beauty of the world - so you could recognize what was being lost by the dragon's onslaught. Tybalt's story was one extremely well-suited to his character; he taught you that working together was vital to survival, even when neither of you knew exactly what you were doing - a valuable lesson as the story progressed. Both of their stories fit well enough into the three-mission story sequence concluding in their death.

But Forgal was different. He was the mentor who dies partway through. He was the one who trained you and taught you all he could, who died imparting one last gem of wisdom. Or, he should have.

I am not attacking Forgal. I am attacking ArenaNet. We had too little time with Forgal for the story Anet was trying to tell with him. He was like Obi-Wan but without showing up again as a ghost, without the prequels, without being able to send Luke to Yoda - without, most significantly, being able to explain why he'd said Luke's father was dead.

We don't know Forgal. We don't understand him. We only know his family died to Icebrood... but why is he with the Vigil, specifically? Why is he a good friend of Almorra's - allowed to butt in and insult a diplomatic ambassador with barely a reprimand? Forgal is the character that tells me the Vigil has been around decades, not a mere five years. Was he in another military? Forgal was over a hundred years old. You don't join a military at that age and, five years later, are a highly self-disciplined warrior such as he was. Maybe he was Lionguard? Hear this: Forgal is actually older than Lion's Arch. If he'd survived, he would have been old enough to bear witness to all three incarnations of that city. But, apart from being able to recognize the Orrian Scout on sight, this is only a trivial piece of lore.

After he judged us worthy, we should have had long training sessions with him - sparring matches wherein he would easily fend off our blows while simultaneously teaching us about the world, all the wisdom he'd gathered, expounding just a bit on the history of the Elder Dragons (perhaps customized for player's race!) - and then we go off and have a real Vigil mission. Perhaps remove the racial sympathy 'choice' and have all five! A sparring match before each one, with a different lesson (the racial sympathy missions were awfully short anyway). And if you want to keep the idea implied by the term 'racial sympathy,' you could change the tone of some of them, make the player more reluctant and Forgal more impatient, have a middle-of-mission lecture on why it's important to work with everyone - this way you joining an Order feels less 'oh you've always been sympathetic to other races' and more 'wait who are these people.' But you know the real kicker? These training sessions would have made us actually feel like we were a treasured part of his life, the kid he never had, that he takes the effort to train us and takes the time to correct us when we're wrong, that he shares his history with us.

And then, at Claw Island, he would place a hand on our shoulder and tell us - hey - don't worry. You did good. You tell my tale and you take my lessons and put them to good use, you hear me? Listen to Trahearne over there - I've told you a bit about him - he's a good kid, he's smart and he knows what he's doing. And - partner? Partner, I need you to put me down if that blasted dragon raises me.

And we're in tears and Trahearne standing there also puts up a fight and tells him not to go, but Forgal goes anyway, roaring his defiance at the dragon - and his famous line, "you may win the battle, dragon, but you will never defeat our spirit!" And maybe he adds - "you may defeat me, but I will be avenged!" like some cartoon villain only you know - you know that means you.

That is the storyline Forgal deserved. (I selfishly also fixed it just a bit with regards to Trahearne, but...) I don't care if we add an extra ten or twenty levels to the game to account for the four extra racial sympathy story chapters.

And see, now you'll argue that that's biased in favor of Forgal, to do all that with him but not the other two - and that's part of the idea.

Forgal isn't like the other two. He shouldn't be compared to the other two. The storyline we have is good for the other two. Extending their stories would feel... false. Yes, there are supposed to be parallels between the three Orders, but... in that case, ArenaNet should have done something entirely different with Forgal.

How about this: Almorra assigns us to someone else for a mentor, but we show such epic promise she switches us to Laranthir. His storyline? It's right in his idle dialogue at the Vigil Keep - he's always sought love. This puts his storyline on par with Sieran and Tybalt. What about Forgal? He's a Lionguard that all three Order mentors know well. We do racial sympathy with Forgal plus our Order mentor (doing those with only one ally is kind of absurd anyway). This can help set-up and foreshadow the tactical significance of Claw Island, too - and hey, maybe Forgal can even survive that! Or maybe he doesn't survive it but our Order mentor does! (Yeah, that fits better, since Laranthir is important in HoT.) And then, once the Pact is formed, their stories end more naturally without regard for the Order parallels, which would keep the story unique - where your choice of Order still matters even when it doesn't anymore. Tybalt didn't have to die - in fact, it's kind of absurd that he did since his story was about finding his own heroism, and then he dies. He can die later, perhaps, after he's thoroughly proved himself. (And hey, throw in an encounter with his old warband! Bonus lore points!) And Sieran 0 maybe Sieran could go through a heartbreaking transformation in Orr, the land of the dead - you see something far more heartbreaking than her death as she loses her spirit, and you and Trahearne both resolve that even if you're super-busy with the Pact, you can still cleanse Orr together to save Sieran. (This makes cleansing Orr a personal thing for you as well as Trahearne!) And Laranthir - well, I don't know what he was doing originally. Maybe he stayed back at the Vigil Keep to manage things, but you still see him now and then and he gives good advice and (since his storyline was about falling in love or something) you get to tease him about whatever's going on in his life, and then later he shows up again in HoT.

I'm going to stop - I already just presented a rough outline of a whole rewrite of core PS, I'm not going to step into HoT territory. (But since his storyline was about falling in love - ? Anything could happen really. Maybe his love died in the crash (we don't actually know of any characters who died in the actual crash. Awful shame) and that's why he takes the lead against Mordremoth. That would give him a cool motive.)

Anet I want this now.

I only wanted to say how unfair Forgal's story was to him, and then I came up with this whole thing - ? Some of it included a few helpful fixes for the Trahearne hate - this isn't something I can write out into a whole fic since I have a main fic and while this is a significant AU it's not quite enough for a whole fic but also far too much for just a headcanon - maybe I'll invent a new Commander.