#i publish it again because i had 2 important errors and everyone was seeing them

[dukeofriven]

Y’All Should Actually Read Barthes (Or: Why Your ‘Rings Of Power’ Critique Is Bad)

I think what really gets under my skin about the many, many lousy critiques about Rings of Power[1] on Tumblr dot Com and Reddit[2] that I see out there is that, firstly, they frequently seem to come from people who don’t seem to realize that their understanding and memories about Tolkien are shaped far, far, far more by the Peter Jackson movies (which were hardly ‘canon-compliant’) than they are by the original text. Second and more crucially, I think, is that everyone really wants to get pissed about canon that Tolkien never actually codified. Here’s what I mean: Tolkien didn’t ‘write’ the Silmarillion. He wrote a whole bunch of essays, letters, notes, scraps of ideas, poems, plot outlines, and ramblings, some of which he earmarked for a project he one day planned to compile as something called The Silmarillion. Then he made a slight error in his scheme by dropping dead. So his son Christopher Tolkien and his pal Guy Gavriel Kay stared at this enormous pile of stuff that went back decades, pulled out some of the bits they thought were most polished, did their best to link them into some kind of narrative, edited the crap out of it, added punctuation, and published a book they called The Silmarillion after JRR’s planned, but never completed idea. And was what was in The Silmarillion everything JRR planned to be in the final volume? Not necessarily. In many cases, not remotely, but Christopher Tolkien and Kay tried to take the stuff that was most polished, even if it was thirty year old material that Tolkien had changed his mind fifteen more times on, because the old stuff often had a clarity of completion that the later revisions did not. They usually took the stuff that complete sentences over the stuff with sentence fragments, even if the latter was more ‘fresh.’ Because they realized that The Silmarillion was more a simulacrum of Tolkien’s ideas than anything definitive, Christopher then put out The Unfinished Tales, which contained some more of Tolkien’s ideas: spme that had made it in other versions into The Silmarillion, some that had not. And since the very large pile of notes and scribblings and essays and letters and old recipes didn’t seem any noticeably smaller, he then spent thirteen years publishing The History of Middle Earth, comedically large tomes stuffed to the brim with Tolkien ideas, variations, variants, and late night side-table Kleenex notes. And then they kept putting out more books. And more. And then Christopher made the same silly mistake of dropping dead too! But other people put out even more books, with even more untouched material. There’s a new book coming out in November and JRR Tolkien’s been dead for fifty years! None of this was published under JRR’s aegis. And let me tell you, JRR Tolkien had a pretty weighty aegis: the man was famous for berating his publishers for edits and corrections. Part of the reason he never got around to completing a definitive Silmarillion was the fact that the man never wanted to publish something with which was not completely satisfied. Everything that has come out after his death, compiled with all the love and care in the world, is nevertheless pretty damning evidence that Tolkien was rarely satisfied. What we know about old JRR is that he changed his mind again and again, and we can’t know that on his death bed, his last thought wasn’t some brilliant revelation that finally made the One Ring work in the context of Sauron’s timeline in the Second Age. If he did, he didn’t get a chance scribble it on a napkin for his son to later try and make sense of. And so we will never really know what his true canon decision on, say, elven pregnancy was: sometimes he thought it should take about 108 years. Sometimes only 9 years. He would change his mind, or change his math, again and again.. So when you talk about the ‘canon’ of Tolkien, it’s important to remember that even if you’re just speaking about ‘definitive’ works, you’re left with those published with his approval in his lifetime. namely The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, and The Road Goes Ever On songbook with Donald Swann. Even with those four books there’s complexity: what version of The Hobbit are you talking about? The original? Or the one he rewrote after he changed his mind about the entire nature of the ring Bilbo found in a cave and decided that actually it was the most important piece of jewelry in existence. Honestly, given world enough and time Tolkien probably would have made a third edition of The Hobbit because those two ‘canonical’ books, The Hobbit and it’s ‘sequel’ Lord of the Rings, don’t even fit together very well, as poor Peter Jackson learned to his sorrow and our pain with his wretched, tonally disjunct Hobbit films. It’s funny, because everyone on here loves talking about Roland Barthes’ Death of the Author. Almost none of you have ever read it, but it sure is a thing that’s a super important, inviolable concept... until we talk about an author the internet isn’t mad at, and suddenly the author’s word is inviolable and all adaptation choices are wrong. I don’t know how to get this across any clearer: anyone who has ever dug deep into Tolkien’s lore knows that speaking of things like ‘canon,’ ‘definitive,’ ‘authoritative,’ and all similar adjectives is often a fool’s errand. Tolkien left us with a lot of ideas about the second age, but very little in the way of clarity, much less ‘this is the true thing unchanging.’ Even the ‘authoritative’ timeline of the Appendices in LOTR is stuff he was changed in the writings he did in the years after. So I am begging you. Please. Please stop giving the Akallabêth a level of authoritative definition that even its compiler admitted it did not possess. Until you can prove to me you brought the shade of JRR Tolkien back from beyond the Veil to speak True Authorial Intent,[3] I am going to treat your recourse to ‘but the canon’ with the level of exasperation it deserves. --------------------------

[1] Besides the general problem on this website that everyone’s heard of critical theory and almost nobody’s ever read any. [2] There are plenty of valid critiques to be made, especially about pacing and awkward racial optics, but it’s really not the unhinged shit I’m seeing, as usual. [3] Let’s be honest: in the fifty years since he shuffled off his mortal coil, the shade of Tolkien will unquestionably return with a ghostly second pile of essays, letters, notes, scraps of ideas, poems, plot outlines, and ramblings, and they won’t be remotely definitive either. And we’re all going to be super disgruntled when the ghost insists that the only good adaptation is his work is Khraniteli.

[violettelueur]

ITADORI YUJI + FUSHIGURO MEGUMI + GOJO SATORU + RYŌMEN SUKUNA || HOW THEY WOULD APOLOGISE TO THEIR MAD S/O

| featuring : itadori yuji + fushiguro megumi + gojo satoru + ryomen sakuna from jujutsu kaisen

| warnings : grammar errors and a lot of my side comments

| form : headcanons

| published : 27 november

| request : Hello! How are you? Hope you’re taking care of yourself :3 can I request headcanons for Itadori, Megumi, Gojo, and Sukuna making their s/o really mad for x reason and what they would do to make it up to them/apologize? Thank you have a great day/night!

| barista’s notes : hiya! this one was kind of hard for me to do since it was hard to come up with reason on why you were mad at them (some of them are really stupid in my opinion...ʕ ﾟ ● ﾟʔ) but this update is going to be the last one for the night since it is 12am aka midnight and i’m going back to school after being in isolation for 14 days!＼ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ／thank you so much for requesting for a cup of classic black coffee (jujutsu kaisen request!) and please come again soon!

ITADORI YUJI:

Itadori will be the most clueless boy ever and doesn’t even know that you are mad at him in the first place.

It might take a few days or a few hours at best for him to realise that you were mad at him - probably Fushiguro will tell him that you are pissed at the boy.

Once he FINALLY finds out that you are angry at him, he would try to think back on what he could have done to make you angry at him - and boy, does he think long and hard because once again to remind you: he is clueless.

Did he do something stupid again? Did he accidentally eat your food again? Did he forget something? DID HE FORGET AN IMPORTANT DATE? 

Yes, when he tries to recall what he did that made you annoyed at him, he does tend to overthink it.

You know what you were mad at him for? He had indeed eaten something of yours by accident. The reason why you were mad at him was because he ate the last of your ramen that you were saving after the mission that you were set was finished.

Now since Itadori thought he was completely screwed, he would full-on plan a whole game/movie night with you. 

Sukuna would lowkey mock the dude as Itadori was preparing his room causing our poor boy to worry even more since Sukuna was making him feel more nervous.

This preparation of his will include the game consoles set up, piles on DVDs on the table for you to choose for the both of you to watch and your favourite ramen that he brought from the closest store - that he also still doesn’t know he ate accidentally ate - cooked and set on the table for you guys to munch on.

Once everything is prepared, he would slap Sukuna’s mouth if he is still talking and would make his way to your room.

Now, this can go two different ways:

1. You are too stubborn to give in and refuse to leave the room that he would beg you and lowkey will physically drag you out of your room.

2. You would sigh and agree to follow him to see if he realises what was the issue and see what was going on because there was a lot of ruckus in his room from what you heard.

Once you see his room, you are generously surprised at what he had prepared since you didn’t think he would put this much effort to apologise to you - you generally just wanted a verbal ‘sorry’ but this was too cute to not forgive him.

Once both of you settle down and get into what YOU had chosen to do, he would apologize in a nervous tone since he STILL doesn’t know why you were mad at him.

“Yeah babe, I’m really sorry for what I did, well...I still don’t know what I did but I kinda notice you were mad at me and I didn’t know what to think since I thought I forgot a date that he planned or-”

This boy will ramble and ramble until you stop him by kissing him since you didn’t realise that he was overthinking it.

“Baby, don’t overthink it, I was mad because you ate the last ramen packet that I was saving but this whole thing really was a lot then what I expected, but thank you so much for preparing this whole thing! I love you!”

“Am I forgiven then?” - this boy I-

“Yes yes yes you are, I forgive you Yuji”

FUSHIGURO MEGUMI: 

Fushiguro Megumi. Now how do I say this? This pretty boy will be between not realising that you are mad and realising instantly that he had angered you.

When he doesn’t realise that you are mad at him, he would notice the small behaviour changes that you express from a slight frown on your face or now you would give him short answers.

Short answers being: “yeah”, “alright”, “okay”, “nah” ect, with the longest answers being “that’s fine/cool” or “I’m not feeling it”

But! That was only towards him, with the other guys you would give more detailed answers to them, making him surprised since he probably asked the same thing.

Once he realised that you were annoyed, (like Itadori) he would try to wonder what he had done wrong and (unlike Itadori) he would most likely figure out what he had done wrong this time.

The reason why you were mad at him? You were angry at the pretty boy because he was hiding his feelings again.

Even though you knew that Fushiguro wasn’t one to express his emotions freely like the others, you both promised each other that you would go to each other when either one of you was having issues or problems that were bothering you.

And since you knew that Fushiguro held in his emotions, you allowed him time to come to you when he needed - but this time, you knew there was something that was bothering him extremely to the point where he was getting distracted during missions

Distracted to the point where he was nearly hit if you didn’t come to protect him and allow him to snap out of his daze.

Now that the reason was identified, Fushiguro would quickly try to figure out how to now apologise to you. 

Since Fushiguro is a good listener, he would most likely buy a small bouquet of your favourite flowers since he remembered you mentioning that random fact from a conversation that you both had around when you and Fushiguro first met, trying to get to know each other.

He doesn’t apologise in front of anyone because this little issue was about you and him and not everyone else.

So when he found you somewhere in the hallways, he would lightly place a hand on your shoulder before shoving the flowers in front of your face - since he didn’t want you to see his flushed face.

Of course, you are really surprised since who wouldn’t be when a bunch of your favourite flowers just randomly appear in your face.

Once you take the flowers from his grasp, he would probably have a hand scratching the back of his neck - why was he nervous now when seconds before he was just fine?

“I’m really sorry…….for not telling you what was going on, I just didn’t want to bother you with my issue and all that,” - this would be said in a low mumble that you nearly couldn’t catch what he said.

“Mimi, telling me what is bothering you isn’t a bother, I want you to be okay, just please when you’re comfortable to come to talk to me, if you need a shoulder to lean on, I’m right here,”

There are times when Fushiguro forgets that you don’t mind him ranting off when he needs to and that you are a shoulder that he can lean on - he just used to keeping everything in until he met you.

“Also, you remember my favourite flowers, thank you so much, Mimi, you are forgiven, I love you,”

Just seeing you smile at him again after so long is enough for him to smile as well, knowing that you have forgiven him.

GOJO SATORU:

Mr Gojo ‘steal your girl’ Satoru. 

Now this man will make you mad on a daily but not to the point where you are now.

And Gojo will notice INSTANTLY that you are mad at him because he is so used to making you mad due to his constant teasing.

But this time you weren’t mad at him because he took his teasing over the line. No, no, no, you were mad at him because he was late for your date.

Even though Gojo is known to be very handsome and the ‘perfect’ person to everyone on the outside of the shaman world, his lateness was one of his worst traits about him.

Sometimes you ask yourself if he does this on purpose - but in the back of your mind, you know that he attracts many curses and that he had to fight them - but this time, you knew that he was late because he was just late.

So while you’re waiting for him with a slight scowl on your face, you would constantly check your phone to see if he texts you or just to check the time.

Of course, he would send the usual ‘I’m going to be late’ with a cute emoji at the end - like that was going to make your anger lessen at all.

But when he does text you that he had arrived at the date location, you were ready to explode at him for making you wait - for like how many dates now?

However, once he arrives with his fashionably late safe, he would come prepares - Haha try to get mad at him now~

In his hands, there would probably be a white bag containing the souvenir that he had been wanting to give you after his mission but didn’t have the time to, or a white box containing your favourite cake from your favourite cake shop/cafe/bakery.

Damn it, this guy knows that food always solves every issue~

“Sorry for being late to our date honey~ I wanted to get you your favourite cake that I forgot that there was going to be a long line at this time, hope you can forgive me~”

THEN THIS MAN WILL TILT HIS SUNGLASSES GLASSES TO LET YOU SEE HIS CRYSTAL BLUE EYES - LIKE WHY????

Damn it, now you can’t stay angry at this man.

The fact that he dressed up so nice, got you your favourite cake and let you see his beautiful eyes made you realise that you can no longer be mad at him.

Like the boy put in the effort today…

Taking the cake from his hands, you would probably blush and say “thank you...but I’m still mad at you”

If you say this, be prepared for this man to cup your cheeks and continuously kiss you, trying to affectionately make you forgive him. 

Okay okay okay, now he’s just trying to be very very cute.

“Am I forgiven now honey~ I’m sorry that I made you wait, please don’t be mad at me”

“Okay, okay! I forgive you!”

Expect that cheeky smile that he would give you after you forgive him - I mean like, you have to now.

RYOMEN SUKUNA:

Apologise? Would he? Does he even know what ‘sorry’ means? Do you think he would?

If he really cares about you, he would probably push away his pride and there would be a 50/50 chance that he would apologise, so don’t expect it much.

But if you were really mad at him and ignore him for most of the day, he would probably get very very annoyed.

Why weren’t you paying him any attention? Why weren’t you looking at him? Why weren’t you asking for him to shift with Yuji and let him have you all to himself? Why?

The reason? You were mad at him because he exorcised a curse that you knew you had the capability to do yourself.

Does he think you're weak? You were just angry at the thought of Sukuna thinking you were frail since you were an independent woman and he had no right to do your goddamn job.

Once he gets to his boiling point, he would demand Itadoru to switch with him and if his vessel would ignore him for your sake, he would continuously shout at the boy even when he is trying to sleep - poor Itadori……

Once it gets too much for the boy, Itadori would run to you and just randomly grab your shoulders to stop you from what you were doing and quickly explain what was going on.

“Okay, I’m going to switch with Sukuna and you are going to talk to him. He’s been annoying me ever since you stopped talking to him, please shut him up!”

Then before you would even get a single syllable out of your mouth, he would just switch quickly to let the both of you deal with your situation.

“Okay woman, talk to me! What have I done?”

You would probably just stare at with an annoyed look and tut at him before turning your head away like he doesn’t exist.

However, he doesn’t take this action of yours lightly and would probably grab your chin - gently since you are mad at him - and would just start leaving biting your neck.

“Sukuna! Stop it, the marks are going to show!”

“Not until you tell me what I have done wrong woman”

“Sukuna! OKAY! You think I’m weak and I hate the fact that you think I am, I can exorcise curses myself you know!”

Ha? You were mad at him for protecting you? Sukuna thought that it was ridiculous that you were mad at him for that reason - but will just go with the flow because even though you were just a powerful sorcerer to him, you being angry was a slight fear of his (Sukuna fears Oh my….)

“Idiot, I was protecting you”

“I can protect myself dickhead”

“Ha? I apologise, then, there done, do you forgive me?”

Sukuna….what type of apology was that?

If you say no, he would just continue to bite on your neck to make you forgive him since he really wasn’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer.

“Sukuna! Stop it!”

“Not until you forgive me little one,”

Ah, that nickname always gets to you, doesn’t it? - Girl, I don’t blame you….

“FINE FINE FINE! I forgive you, just stop biting my neck”

Looking up at you and looking you at dead in the eyes, he would literally say, “I don’t think so, I was actually having some fun marking your neck, let me continue little one”

I-.....go ahead…….

[felassan]

DA4 Lead Producer Scylla Costa’s BIG Festival talk, “Challenges of Dragon Age production during the pandemic”, can currently be rewatched on YouTube here starting roughly at timestamp 8:57:02 after a lil presenter blurb/intro. It’s 1 hour long. When it was streamed live, there was an English translation ‘voiceover’. There isn’t in this vid, however I want to post the link for Portuguese speakers, and also it’s neat for everyone to be able to see all the slides he presented with for themselves in context.

I don’t know if an English-language version will get put up so I’m sharing the notes I took during the talk below, in case anyone’s interested and because I might as well since I wrote them. The rest of this post is under a cut due to length.

Edit: Found a place to re-watch the English version of the talk

(Quick note: I didn’t note down everything, mostly things that caught my interest, so this isn’t exhaustive, and when I was watching I was real tired, so pls bear that in mind and don’t take these notes as bullet-proof 100% accurate gospel or direct quotes. If you watched it and think I’ve written down something wrong/misunderstood, let me know and I’ll fix. Also if you’re a Portuguese speaker and I’ve gotten something incorrect or missed something important etc, again just let me know.) **

** Edit: I’ve now gone through my notes while watching the talk again. I’ve filled in some of the gaps (although they still don’t cover everything said) and so forth, and now I’m no longer worried about there being possible errors in this post.

-----

For some context, this slide contained the breakdown of the talk’s structure. Bear in mind there are other slides present in the talk than the ones I’ve posted here, I didn’t include caps of all of them, just ones which were of note to me.

In the talk, chief Producer Scylla goes over challenges of DA4 production during the pandemic. He discusses the adaptations - necessary skills and learning from remote work - and he ponders on the future of teamwork.

After the launch of ME3 he became a producer, all his MMO and other experience helped a lot. He was on DAI for 3 years and MEA for 9 months, then Anthem. Today, on DA4, Scylla and another Lead Producer were the heads of the whole project, and there is his boss is the Executive Producer Christian Dailey. 

^ the usual AAA game development cycle (brief introduction)

AAA games are games that are launched for several platforms simultaneously. 

In BioWare’s case, the pre-production phase of the game development cycle can have from 5 - 30 people, and up to almost 60 people when they’re just about to go through the gate to production. 

In the pre-production phase, they go through the game’s concepts and prototypes and start developing systems. They seek the game’s concept and focus, and its key features. They do lots of market research. In the case of BioWare, all their games are strong in narrative, so they have lots of tools related to game narratives and supporting the development of a narrative (cinematic design, dialogue system etc) that get focused on in this phase. Other parts of the team such as writers and cinematic design need these systems to do their own roles. 

In BioWare’s case, the pre-production phase through to launch can take 4 - 6 years, but it does depend on the size of the team during development.

With regards to Dragon Age 4, they were coming close to the time when they would shift from pre-production to the production stage when the pandemic hit.

During the production phase is when the development of content and features takes place, with the systems mostly already existing from the pre-production phase. A few new systems may be developed in this phase. In the production phase is when things start escalating, and the team really starts growing, to like 2- or 3-fold the prior pre-production phase size. 

(DA4 is currently in the production phase.)

In the alpha phase, features have to be fully implemented and systems all have to be running / working. All the game features should already be in the game by now. They test from pre-production onwards, but this phase is when they run heavy technical tests with lots of players trying to play at the same time. In the beta phase, the idea is that you should now have full content and that now you’re balancing it and running more and lots of different tests with players before launch. There are final tweaks and then the final launch, when in the weeks prior to launch, all the different business units and areas e.g. marketing team, technology team, publishing team, get together once a day and all of the game’s issues are reported and brought to the table to be prioritized. Then they decide the next steps re: these issues (this is known as ‘the war room’).

After the launch there are usually patches like day zero patches and other patches, this being standard industry practise. The last stage is the new content stage where there are DLCs and a game with more content.

On March 12th 2020, the team gathered to review the DA4 story in the new office. Everyone was very excited. (They had spent over 10 years in their last building and had noticed that with the team growing they needed more space. In August 2019 they found the new studio in the city center.)

Anyway that evening, they got an email from the CEO which contained instructions and said that due to the pandemic, they should from now all start working remotely. They had known that this happening was a possibility so they had been planning on how to have all the devs working from home, but initially less than 50% of the devs were able to work from home successfully/efficiently due to various issues e.g. you need a VPN to be able to log in remotely to do your job normally, varying home office setups. The day after this, the office was basically deserted, except for Scylla, the IT infrastructure people and one or two odd devs.

Scylla was part of the team that was working on allowing the devs to work from home. They first started looking at the short-term changes they needed to make to allow this.

“First, take care of our developers”. 

When the pandemic first hit, their and Scylla’s [as Lead Producer] first priority was to look after the devs. Many of them are parents (schools and day-cares were shut, children were studying from home), others have relatives living with them, others have other personal circumstances which of course need to be taken into account when it comes to assessing what needs to be taken into consideration for this new scenario. So, they looked at each dev on a case-by-case basis in order to evaluate, speaking to each one and asking them what they could do to support them.

One of the first changes/adaptations they could implement was flexible working hours and flexibility around deadlines. Generally speaking the devs got a lot of support, EA was really good and really supported the devs especially in the first months of the pandemic (and they are still supporting them). Initially not all devs had suitable office spaces at home, some were working from the living room from laptops or at the kitchen table. The whole covid situation basically just happened over night and nobody was really ready to deal with that change. So their first step was to enable their devs to work remotely. As a producer, Scylla’s main task is to communicate with the team such as via a number of daily meetings. He doesn’t depend so much on powerful hardware.

“Enable developers to work remotely”.

This slide shows some of a BioWare audio team. Different teams have varying and specific needs in order to do their jobs and therefore in order to do them remotely. For example, the audio team need good-quality speakers and amplifiers, while the lighting and art teams need other specific equipment such as tablets and large screens. So there was a lot of work they had to do to go through each dev to understand their individual needs and what needed to be done for them. ‘Could they download the builds? Did they have the right performance [tech-wise]? Could they submit their changelists, their codes to the server?’

Some devs needed a more powerful internet connection as it would take 6-8 hours to download a build (some devs live rurally). Some needed a lot of cable, as they were working far away from their routers (sometimes up to 50m). As time went by things got better and better. 

The chair devs work from is also important; a kitchen able chair etc is not suitable to sit in for long-term desk work, possibly leading to health issues like back ache and blood circulation problems in the legs.

Every 3 months they had money given to help devs buy new mice, keyboards, monitors - anything they needed really in order for their office setting at home to be improved. For a while, because lots of people [generally, in society] were needing and buying them, it was quite hard to buy things like webcams and microphones.

On mid- and long-term changes:

In terms of DA, we have to look at this from 2 perspectives, the change in the personal and the professional environments. 

As a consequence of working from home, people tend to be less active during the day (even in an office, you go between meeting rooms, up and down stairs etc). Physical activity supports life quality and therefore work quality. Scylla noticed that he began to feel listless and such, and found that he needed to change his routine that he had initially developed when he started working from home, for example; having a normal start time (as in, have a semblance of structure in your day as if you were still working in the office site), get dressed at the normal time, not having meetings over lunch etc. This wasn’t just him, lots of other devs encountered this and had this experience too. Devs which adapted faster had better productivity and became more productive faster.

Scylla bought a stand-up desk which he can raise up and down, and at meetings he would be delivering a talk while standing or even while walking on a treadmill. Other devs also got stand-up desks. He tracked his body’s data on a Fitbit. These sorts of things helped improve physical and mental wellbeing. Other devs did similar things, like starting going out for jogs or began practising yoga. Essentially, everyone needed to make changes to their daily routine in comparison to what they had been doing prior to the pandemic. 

The pandemic has been a thing for over a year now. In their location, every couple of weeks a new restriction is put into place or a rule is changed, and every two weeks there’s a new thing that you can and can’t do. Scylla also started moving around his property. He worked on his desk, fixed it up and painted - taking up a new hobby. Other devs picked up new hobbies too. These are good ways to be active and also to be somewhere else, i.e. to break up the working day and not be spending it all in one home office-type location. Scylla found that when he made these sorts of changes to his routine to improve his lifestyle, the data output by his Fitbit as indicators of his health/wellbeing etc improved, e.g. number of steps taken in a day, heartbeats per minute while at rest. As stated many of the other devs went through a similar process.

On the professional side of things:

They had to improve remote delivery of builds. Accessing things from home as a dev requires a VPN. They need to download a build every day and then upload it to the server after making their changes to the game. They had to work with infrastructure and research other tech, such as streaming tech to allow remote console access, in order to better facilitate this process. For remote access, they also had to work on adapting communications channels.

“Adapting channels of communication.”

In this slide, the team are working on the storyboards. Before you can implement motion capture & performance capture, you have to ‘run the storyboards’ like this. These are small illustrating drawings which reflect the drafts and are meant to quickly reflect the intention of the scenes that are to be built. Before the pandemic, the team would go to meeting rooms like this, sit down, talk and interact in person. After the pandemic, the question became ‘How do you do this over Zoom?’ You can, but it’s not quite the same; it’s harder to see peoples’ expressions, some people are embarrassed speaking over Zoom etc. Therefore they had to adapt their communications systems, and unlearn the ways in which they developed before in order to relearn and learn new ways of communicating.

Slack was a tool that they adopted on this front. Communications channels can be confusing on Slack, so there was a need to develop structure. For example, how quickly should someone reply (as a recommended convention for the purposes of work)? They had to define the process/procedures for the channels so it was clear for the team as a whole how it would all flow (this is important especially if you have a team with say 30 people or as a whole hundreds of people). Before the pandemic, they had stand-up meetings where they’d go around in a circle every morning and talk about their activities - what they’re going to be working on, any roadblocks they had encountered etc. The question arose ‘How do you replace these?’ They ended up doing Slack messages at a certain time of day and updating their statuses with some details on what they’re working on and color-coding (green - fine, yellow - need help, red - busy/blocked out).

Another issue that they faced was unforeseen - the number of meetings that devs were having really shot through the roof. When there wasn’t a good structure of communications channels, any conversation would become a meeting. Everybody began scheduling meetings left and right, and at the end of the day they would have little time left in which to actually work on their to-do lists. Hence, they had to work with the team to really analyze and be very pragmatic. ‘Which meetings needed to happen? Which didn’t? Is a specific meeting really necessary? Which meetings should be recurring? What can be done over Slack?’ This guideline had to be given to the team to help, and it improved things a lot. The number of meetings decreased a lot and they got more effective. For example, by making sure to set an agenda for meetings beforehand, and by having meeting notes (then a dev who didn’t really need to be at a meeting could skip attending and just quickly review the notes output after instead). They also decreased the standard length of meeting times from the default Outlook blocks of 1 hour and 30 mins to 55 mins and 25 mins respectively. This 5 minute change gave devs time for things like bio breaks (also 4 hours in a row at a computer in a home office with one meeting after another just isn’t good for a person).

“Adapting p-cap and mocap”.

On content:

From a content point of view, the most difficult thing in terms of the pandemic was adapting p-cap and mocap (performance capture and motion capture). They hire actors and it’s a large studio. The pandemic meant big limits to what they could and couldn’t do. The actors had to be masked and 5 meters apart in distance (although it doesn’t look like it in some of these shots due to angles). Also there could be no other person around in the studio - only the actors. The directors instead would ‘patch’ in remotely on big screens (you can see this in the second photo in the top right). 

Before the pandemic, they felt that they wouldn’t be able to do p-cap or mocap properly remotely, as the directors would usually stand right next to actors giving guidance on their performance. The techs would also usually be near. But they adapted! The keyword is adapting, changing process. It’s harder and it’s different, but it is possible, and people start rethinking what is possible. What was said to be impossible before now is possible.

P-cap differs to mocap in that it also captures voice and facial expressions.

On the future of work after covid:

There will probably be more working from home and more flexibility for workers e.g. being able to work say 3 out of 5 days from home. It does depend on what a dev’s specific job is however. For example, the audio engineers require lots of specialist equipment and said equipment is of higher quality and quantity in the office. So, depending on role, devs might be working more often or less often from home.

Another development is that lots of devs are moving house. In lockdown etc people started reassessing what’s most important in life. Some are moving further away from the studio to get a cheaper rent or for example couples who both needed an office space to work from home from but their current place only had one area. Others are moving closer to nature for a better quality of life, and still others have other different reasons for doing so. Over 10 devs that he knows in fact have recently moved, including Scylla himself.

The pandemic changed certain skills being used by people on a daily basis. Scylla used as an example of this one of his soft skills, being able to tell from looking/interacting in-person with someone if they are stressed out. Obviously it’s less easy to tell if someone is stressed out when you’re remote, so you adapt different ways of checking in with people in the new situation. To continue carrying out his role as Lead Producer, he began checking in with his team pro-actively on the new comms channels and asking how they were doing.

Also, now that companies are more open to working remotely, there is going to be increased competition for hiring devs. They saw both sides of this coin at BioWare. They were able to hire devs from many places that they couldn’t hire from before e.g. Montreal, Vancouver, the US, as there’s less need for devs to relocate to Edmonton or Austin. This opens up opportunities to hire really intelligent and skilled people that they would not have had access to before.

Question and answer segment:

The pre-production phase has been concluded. They’re in the production phase.

They are not giving out a lot of details yet but Scylla is really excited as a big fan of the whole series. He thinks that with DA4, they will have the opportunity/possibility to launch the best story out of all DA games. He feels that the characters they’re making are amazing. He’s dying to say more but can’t. 

When you work from home you need to keep your team as productive as possible. During the pandemic, when people started working from home, they noticed that some people became more productive and some people became less productive. They were analyzing it on a case-by-case basis so as not to make assumptions. They were interested in seeing what they could do to help. At the beginning of the pandemic, they were looking at the devs as people and seeing what they needed.

Production of DA4 still needed to continue during the pandemic because they want to be able to launch the game.

This slide shows a writer. Writing is an example of a role which is more able to work from home easily.

Their productivity did go down in the first month of the pandemic. After adaptations, some people then became more productive than they were before (this was role and personal situation-dependent, examples of this being artists and coders who were able to art and code at home without being interrupted, thereby being able to produce more). Covid has affected productivity in general, but this is part of our new reality. They have adapted and adjusted some deadlines. They have enough data (Scylla LOVES data) now to understand how long it will take them/how long they’ll need to launch the game. They have always had historical data for this purpose, but they’re doing more of this sort of thing now to ensure that they are doing things at the right time.

Remote hiring opens up the door to more talent joining, so if someone has talent geography will hold them back less. Some companies though may choose not to hire people from other countries due to labor issues, cumbersome legal aspects, time zones. But even in such cases there are activities for example that can be carried out while the rest of the team is asleep such as testing or working on the build, or there are cases where those companies still will want to hire a specifically/highly talented person even in spite of the potential legal aspects and so on.

On mental health: People were affected. There is the mental, physical and social impacts of the pandemic situation on people. EA supported them during the pandemic in terms of their mental wellbeing, there are specific companies (services offered, speaking to a therapist) that they can contact if they need something or help. EA had always been good at supporting them with this sort of thing but this has improved further during the pandemic. Another change was that they could/can take a couple of days off if they needed/need to because of the pandemic e.g. to take care of children, who were obviously not at school at the time. As a producer he had to be very mindful of all of this. How much they were monitoring peoples’ wellbeing really went up during the pandemic.

A question that was asked - in terms of DA4′s storybeats, is there anything in there that they decided to change due to the pandemic as it wouldn’t be sensitive or appropriate to include anymore, for example a plague plotline or something? Scylla’s answer is that DA and ME are games in which they try to have narratives that are relatable, which include things which people will identify with, so that players understand what characters are going through etc. Nothing in DA4′s plotline/storybeats has been changed (in the frame of this question, relating to the pandemic), as it didn’t have anything in it that could be specifically or a directly connected to a pandemic-type situation or anything. Of course the DA story has Blights and the Taint, but these are different & fantastical things and existed long before the pandemic situation. So this wasn’t the case with DA4 and there was no need to change anything, but this has happened to other games where they decided to change a storyline due to a strong correlation with something in the real world.

There were then concluding/closing remarks. The message he wants to send is that a crisis will always spark opportunities. Look at a crisis and try to see how you can grow.

-----

[☕ found this post interesting or useful? my ko-fi is here if you feel inclined. thank you 🙏]

[nintendousimp]

Train of Thought...

Part:1 Getting Caught

Master 👉Next

Pairing: Akaashi Keiji x Reader, Miya Atsumux Reader.

Character: Gender Neutral! or I want to everyone to feel comfortable so any pronouns welcomed for this story.

Warnings: 18+ NSFW, Some angst and colorful language, mentions of cheating and getting caught in the action, mentions of also thinking to forgive unfaithful partner, some grammar errors 😅 ( I need to emphasize this by saying that English is not my first language and although my English is great I still have a lot of trouble so constructive criticism is welcomed 🥰)

Word Count: 2k

Released date: January 19th 2021

I feel like I need to emphasize that all of the characters in this story are aged up! I’m not comfortable with talking about sexual topics if the characters are still in high school and are underage so,this is a timeskip!😅

Before we go any further into the story, I plan to post part 2 of this! Part 2 will take me a bit longer to post due to personal matters but it will be posted!

Enjoy my first ever Haikyuu x Reader Fic!!!

——————————————————————-

You’ve been working late into the night for the past few months so he must’ve thought that this would be your same routine from your previous nights. He's always been a careful person. He knows you have your location on. He always knows where you are but not just for your safety but to also bring her over.

He knows this is wrong. He loves you and knows he could've talked to you about maybe spending less time at work and maybe make a bit more time for him. Atsumu knows that your work is important and he's not gonna take advantage of you like that, especially when you come home from work tired, and with his volleyball schedule and his career you guys barely got to spend time with each other.

He wants to stop this but his need never stops. He knows what he has with her is just something done out of lust and that’s it. Atsumu only wants her around just to make his cock feel good and that’s it. He's already made it very clear he does not plan to leave you and to not get any crazy ideas.

He thought that tonight would be just like any other. He couldn’t have known that you were on your way home. He couldn’t have possibly remembered that today of all days was the release day of your book that you've put months of work into. Who knew that by mistake you left your phone at the office. All he knew at that moment was that your best friend's pussy takes him so well.

As you were driving your way home all you could think about is to hug your husband and yell to the world that you've finally finished your first written work! You felt such accomplishment that this book that you've put all your heart, sweat, and tears into was finally released! So many people believed in your dream but you felt you really couldn’t have done it without the love and support from your husband.

There have been many times where you felt like you haven't been given Atsumu much attention. You've been working long hours and at times late into the night to get this book out before the deadline you've been given. All those hours of hard work you felt paid off, now all that’s left to do is celebrate and who to celebrate better than your husband. After all, he's the inspiration behind your book.

You get out of your car making your way towards the entrance of your house. You notice a car that you've seen before but you can't remember where, so you just brush it off and make your way to the door. As you're unlocking the main entrance door, you don’t notice anything out of the ordinary. The house is dark and there's no one in the living area, I mean what did you expect its one in the morning. You were going about your routine trying to not wake Atsumu up when you hear some strange noises coming from your shared master.

As you're approaching the hallway that leads to your room, you've noticed the noises are starting to sound a lot more like sexual moans. Your first thought would've been that Atsumu might've fallen asleep while watching porn, and you'd believe that. But these moans sounded too real to be coming from the tv in your shared bedroom. You can see from the small gap underneath the door that the lights are still on.

You're getting ready to enter your room when you notice that the door is slightly open. If only someone were to prepare you for what you were about to see. As you enter the room you see what no woman ever wants to go through. Your husband Atsumu on top of another woman.

"I can never see myself with anyone that wasn’t my husband," you said.

Who would’ve thought that my marriage was falling apart… not me right?

Have I been so oblivious this whole time?

How long has this been going on? The question I proceeded to ask myself...

How did I not see this coming?

But now that you saw everything with your own eyes, you realized you’ve put all the pieces to a puzzle you didn’t even know you were solving.

Today was publishing day and you were gonna surprise Tsumu by coming home after the book release, you would have called but your phone may have been misplaced somewhere in your office. You didn’t have time to go back to the office, you’ve been missing Tsumu a lot. But the surprise you got when you entered your shared bedroom and watched as your husband was on top of another woman was not something you ever expected to happen.

As you stood there watching your husband fuck another woman and not just any woman but your best friend all you could think about was, Atsumu the man that promised to be with you for the rest of your life was in your bed fucking your best friend. You want to be angry, you want to run and scream at them, you want to ask why they did it. Not that any explanation would fix anything, you just couldn’t say anything. As you stood there for what felt like a lifetime. Did you lose your train of thought? Did you forget how to talk?

He finally notices that you’ve been standing there. He panics and gets off your best friend as he tries making his way towards you.  All you could think to do at that moment was to just close the door and run out of the house towards your car and make your way out of there. You started driving with no destination in mind, you just wanted to be anywhere away from this bomb. As you're driving, you end up taking the route that leads you to Akaashi’s place. You get out of the car and make your way towards his door.

It’s like you came here out of instinct.

How can you not when you guys have been working on this project for the past several months. He’s a great editor and a great friend too! He appreciates your hard work! You remember when you told him that you wanted to give writing another try and had an idea for a book he immediately offered his services as an editor. He’s always offered his help to you. Even goes out of his way to help you research some titles or genres that you could find interest in writing. He’s a great guy and you’ve grown very close to him.

Now you’re at Keijis place late in the hours of the night. You decided that you couldn’t do this by yourself so you knock on his door.

“Y/N are you alright, What are you doing out so late?” He asks.

You shake your head no. How were you gonna tell Akaashi your world was falling apart. He’s your editor, he shouldn’t need to know that your husband just cheated on you with your best friend.

“Would you like to come in? We can talk about whatever is troubling you?”

He doesn’t give you a second to answer before he grabs your hand and guides you to the living room. He has you sit on his sofa while he makes you both some tea. Some time has passed since you arrived at Akaashi’s, you���re telling him everything that happened an hour prior to being there. Akaashi is tracing small circles on your back. He tells you that this wasn’t your fault and you're not one to blame here and that

“Hey Y/N?”

“Did you say something Keiji?” Y/N says looking up from his shoulder. He can tell they’ve been crying. Akaashi hated seeing them like this. These past several months, he got to know Y/N as a very kind and goal-minded person. He saw someone who only strived to make her and other’s visions come to reality. The months Akaashi spent with Y/N were by far the best few months of his life. He would never tell Y/N that.t He hates that the book is done because now they won’t get to spend as much time together as they used to.

The months he’s been with her he got to spend a lot of time getting to know her world. He observed the way she would get when she had writer’s block. The number of times he’s watched her get frustrated at how she didn’t like the ending of a chapter for the book. He saw how countless nights she felt helpless and wanted to quit. She would fall into a negative state where she convinced herself she wasn’t a good writer. He also saw the nights where she would vent to him about Atsumu becoming distant once again. NIghts where they would drown themselves with work just so they didn’t think about crying.

He saw all of that. Nights where y/n needed Atsumu. Late nights where he was fucking his wife’s best friend.

“What’s your next move?” Akaashi asked.

“I think the best thing right now is for me to go home and get an explanation”

Your expression is giving regret all over it. How were you gonna go back home and look Atsumu in the face? What more could he explain that you don’t already know? You keep going back and forth between blaming yourself more than blaming him. You want to put this in your head as if it was your fault. But you know deep down that if Atsumu really loves you like he says he does he wouldn’t have cheated. At the end of the day, he cheated on you, not the other way around.

“I think I'm gonna call Yachi and see if she’s okay with me spending a few nights at her place just until I figure out what I’m gonna do. In the meantime, I gotta get back home.”

You sigh, you're getting ready to get up when Akaashi takes a hold of your hand

“Wait Before you go, I have a suggestion for tonight if you’d like to hear”

Akaashi doesn’t want you going alone but he also feels as if he’s overstepping his boundaries. He knows this is none of his business but why does he feel like it is?

“How about we go get some of your things and you spend the night here?”

It was a nice offer from Keiji, but you already feel like a burden. He’s been so kind as to listen to you, you just don’t wanna cause him any more trouble.  

“ I appreciate the offer Keiji but I don’t wanna wrap you up in my troubles.”

“ Y/N you’re no trouble, I just want you to know that you’re more than welcomed to stay here.” Akaashi knew you’d reject his invitation. He knows you’re not the type of person to rely on others' help, you’re a giver not a taker after all.

“Can you promise me if you don’t wanna be there with Atsumu you’ll call me and come here?” Akaashi the overthinker, always worrying about others.

“ I promise I’ll call you Keiji, if anything happens I promise to come back here.” The answer appeases him, he lets your hand go.

“Thank you Y/N Can I walk you out?” You nod and make your way towards the entrance door.

“Thank you for having me over at this time of night..” before you could finish your sentence, you were pulled into Akaashi’s arms.

“You don’t have to thank me Y/N, I’m glad you trust me enough to open up about what happened.”

You don’t know why but his words are making you feel safe. You trust Keiji, he’s not the type of guy to hurt anybody.

You thank Akaashi again as he walks you to your car “ Can I check on you tomorrow?”

You reply with a nod “ See you tomorrow Keiji.”

Both of you say your goodbyes. As you’re leaving Akaashi’s house, you can’t help but feel nervous about the conversation you were about to have with your husband. What was gonna happen with your marriage? Can this be forgiven? Questions that kept plaguing your head. Only one question stuck out more than the others…

Do I wanna divorce Atsumu?

Summary:

L/N F/N a young adult working on their first ever book with the help of editor and friend (Akaashi). Discovers that their husband has been cheating on them for the past few months that they’ve  been working nonstop. Heartbroken y/n decides to drown herself in their work. Will they be able to Forgive their cheating husband from his infidelity or will they approach the man who fell in love with them while working on their book?

© All fiction rights of the story belong to @nintendousimp​

Characters belong to the Haruichi Furudate.

[thewritershelpers]

Improving Your Writing when English Isn’t Your First Language (mega-ask)

As you can see above, we've gotten more than one question about writing, improving your writing, and even publishing in English when it's not your native language. First off: that's awesome. To anyone writing or even consuming in a language that's not your first, kudos to you.

You can google any variation of this question and get different articles with a ton of the same advice, and some with conflicting advice. Not only have I compiled the most commonly repeated information, but I've also reached out to people on our Discord server and others for their personal experiences.

I'll start off by listing concise versions of the advice and then expound on them further on in the article. Remember that we are not experts on your writing and that everyone learns in different ways and at different paces. These are in no particular order.

-be patient

-practice

-get feedback from native sources

-don't undermine yourself to your audience

-Grammarly

-research

-don't get discouraged

Be patient

That's first because, well, duh. Patience is so important for both yourself and your writing. Writing is hard enough of a passion without the added difficulty of doing it in a language that doesn't come naturally. In the world of literature, writing/publishing in your non-native language isn't just a matter of translating words. It requires translating of ideas, concepts, and even cultural norms, which is why just slapping it into Google translate won't work.

Part of the reason for the advice of having patience, too, is that writing in your native language needs to take time. It doesn't really matter how fast you can whip out 20 pages of a first draft--it'll still be a simple first draft. Writing is a craft that requires not just love and passion but time. So what if you need a little bit of extra time--or a lot of extra time--because you're accomplishing a feat most don't even think about attempting?

Next is to practice.

That goes hand in hand with what I said about being patient. Again, writing in and of itself is all about practice and doing it daily (not that I'm an expert on getting that done, but you know). But when it comes to practice another language, there are different ways you can do that. You can reach out to native speakers (for English, there are going to be so many people willing to help, even just in our community! you just need to ask) and practice having conversations or ask them to look over your work. Practice by turning on your favorite movie or TV show in English with subtitles in your native language. Watch videos on YouTube, find a Spotify playlist/podcast, in your target language. There's also plenty of people who have done what you're trying to do who have shared their experiences and what helped them on those same platforms.

Get feedback from native speakers

This is a bit of an expansion on what I mentioned in the previous paragraph. In my experience, and from what others have shared, writing in a non-native language can be pretty clinical. Writing with figurative language or in metaphors won't be as easy or come as naturally as it does in your own language. Things like idioms and even pop cultures reference aren't always going to translate even if you have the exact words. That's where native speakers come into play. If they're willing to look over your work, whether as a friend or in an editorial position, they can give you advice about whether the wording in one spot sounds clunky or if a phrase doesn't make sense or if there're synonyms for what you already used to help convey your message even stronger.

Don't undermine yourself

This is something that I personally am saying. It's not mentioned on any of the linked sites, and no one I talked to said it. But as someone who is a native English speaker (and even has a degree in it) I think this is super important. This point goes towards native English speakers/writers, too. Don't undersell yourself and undermine your work to the audience before they have even picked it up. Disclaimers are different, and it all comes down to the words you use and how you use them. Let your readers know, whether it's people on AO3 or a literary agent, that English isn't your first language. Let them know concisely that they may find some basic errors--but stop there. Don't grovel. You have nothing to apologize for, especially once you've given that warning (those is it really a warning? what's so dangerous or scary about a few mistakes?). You're writing is not going to be any less of an accomplishment for a few grammatical errors, or mistranslated phrases, or even typos. I've seen so many mistakes in published works that it's kind of ridiculous. But if you put something out there for someone to read and in the same breath say "I don't know that this is worth reading" I'm going to need extra convincing to pick it up. *kicks soapbox away*

Grammarly

*NOT sponsored*

Grammarly is a wonderful tool that you can use, for FREE. It not only (with the free version) helps correct spelling and grammar, but can also help point out the tone you're writing with. For example, right now, Grammarly is telling me that this writing sounds mostly informative--which it's meant to be--and a little appreciative and friendly. When sending emails I've had it tell me that it sounds formal (which I was going for), and I've also had it not say anything because the text was a different kind of writing (like when I'm proof-reading something being posting it on AO3...). I honestly don't know what else it helps with once you've paid because I've been happily using the free version for about 3 years now.

Research

Don't be afraid to pick up a book, or head to the library, or pull up Google. Research is paramount to writing anyway, let alone once you're doing it in another language. Your research options are limitless and can include your mutuals on social media as well as those dictionaries that translate from one language into another. Research can also include (in my humble opinion) binge-watching/reading your favorite things...in English. In four years of university, one of the most frequently said things was to improve your writing 1) write every day and 2) read every day. You're never going to learn from worrying or overthinking, and you're also never going to learn from just doing DuoLingo (that's more conversational than literary anyway).

Something a member of Discord specifically said in relation to research was to look at morphology, at the roots of words (and root words). Morphology is, in linguistics, looking at how words are formed. For example, let's look at "biology". There are parts to this word that each has a different meaning, that formed together created a new/elevated meaning. "ology" means the study of something, and bio means life. So biology is, simply, the study of life. Once you've got those basics of things like "ology" under your belt it'll become easier to not just translate words but the concepts (if this works with your learning style).

Last but not least, don't get discouraged.

Writers of all kinds get discouraged when writing in their native language. Even those of us who speak English as our first language make mistakes worth discouragement (you will never know how many typos were corrected by Grammarly as I wrote this all out the first time). English is not an easy language. It's not the hardest, but it's far from easy (learning another language isn't easy regardless of what languages are involved). This is a post from someone who is a non-native English speaker but you would never know unless they told us.

While researching for this, I found some articles/blog posts that said mostly the same thing, and are where I got some of the information

This one is from a native English speaker giving advice

This one is for writing for non-native English readers, but still has good advice

And finally this one is a blog post (I think) from someone who is a non-native English speaker!

In specific response to some of the asks:

English, like any other language, changes. It's a very dynamic language, actually, and from region to region, there will not only be different accents but different frames of reference. 1950 isn't so far back in time for the English to be drastically different from what is spoken today, but I'm in the USA and you're asking about Oxford. English in England has very different nuances, even more so than you would get between California and Texas and New York. This is a link to the Oxford English Dictionary list of words that became more common in the 50s. However, this is a generalized list, not specific to any English-speaking country let alone region or city. If you're wanting to look at how to convey the accent of people from/in Oxford, there are videos on YouTube of people speaking in different accents so that you can have an idea, a comparison, at least in your own mind. With the 50s it's going to be more just thinking really of what words and lifestyles and things weren't around yet; cell phones didn't exist yet. Here's another link to some stock images of Oxford in the 50s. Remember, this time was very close to WWII so there'll be lingering effects of that, especially in England.

About fight scenes and curses, there's a ton of resources on that. If you just search "fight" on our page, you'll get a ton of posts answering that question. Also, here's a link to a superb and excellent source on writing fight scenes. When it comes to curses...just watch Rage Quit on YouTube, or spend a while on TikTok. If you want to dive right in just Google "English curses" and there'll be YouTube videos, entries on Urban Dictionary, you name it.

When it comes to publishing, once you've gotten your manuscript is a perfect time to have a native-speaking friend look it over. Whether editing is their thing or not, they'll be able to help with the things that are really obvious. I don't have any experience publishing in a different language, though, so there might be other resources along the different stages to help you. Some general publishing advice I've gotten: when wanting to publish fiction, literature, start small. Start with short stories in literary journals, online and in print. You really can't make much headway with large publishing houses without a literary agent and it'll be easier to attract one if you have evidence that you can write, and write well enough people want to read it. When it comes to poetry, just start submitting. Get familiar with the process, and educate yourself on things like simultaneous submissions and a good rejection. Publishing is an ever-changing game that isn't cut and dry in any language or country. We can't tell you what's best, but my advice is to go with your gut and try your best. Don't be afraid to try again, too.

Everyone overthinks their writing. Or at least, everyone I know who writes does. Honestly, in my opinion, if you're not overthinking at least a little bit, you're not worried enough. You will never be able to fully know whether you've explained or described enough. A good chunk of the experience is up to the readers, so you have to leave them some wiggle room for imagination. But that doesn't mean you have to cheapen your story or short-change your characters. You mention specifically that you're POC, which I'm gonna guess also means that your characters will be POC. It's never too much to specify the race/ethnicity of your characters, even in a fantasy work. How you go about writing those descriptions might need to change but it's kind of like chocolate chips, in my mind: you decide those things with your soul.

So, there you have it. A ridiculously long way to say: you're awesome, you do you, practice, love yourself and your writing, and don't be afraid to put yourself out there (in any way).

(images read:

Anonymous said: Im writing a book based in Oxford in 1950s. how was the language different from now. I am not from an English speaking country at all. Never been outside my country either. And Im going to write a book based in England in English

Anonymous said: Hi there, I’m a writer for almost 3 years now but since English isn’t my first language I get discouraged easily if things I write come off strange to myself. Do you maybe have any advice for me, on how to motivate myself and not comparing myself with native English speakers? Thank you in advance!

Anonymous said: Hello! I starting to work on this shortfic but it’s been really hard. It’s like I’m trying to building a house alone and with my bare hands. Even though I’m already used to write in mother tongue. Any advice for non-english speaker trying to write their first story in English?

Yaelburstine said: Hi. Do you have any tips about how to write a good fight scene and curses that people speak English get cus’ it’s not my first language

gyger said: I am not a native english speaker, but most of the books I read are in english and I generally prefer writing in english as well. However, I am worried about making mistakes that I can’t recognize myself. I have no idea how good my english is to a native english speaker, plus some things are easier to write in my native tongue (such as dialogue). I’m also worried about publishing, since that definitely would be easier in my country than abroad. How do I decide what language to choose?

Anonymous said: As a POC writer and English as their second language, I overthink all the writing I do. I feel like I don’t describe my ideas thoroughly or my character descriptions are vague or not good enough. I’m currently working on a YA novel but I plan on writing a YA fantasy novel but I feel like my lack of vocabulary and grammar structure makes me give up on finishing my book. Is this normal for native English speaking authors or is this considered a language barrier thing? Thanks! Love your blog!

Thank you for your questions, and for your patience as we do our best to answer them.

-S

[justabrazilianwriter]

The Request (SHIKATEMAWEEK 2020 - DAY 2)

It is past midnight here in my country (it’s past 2 AM, actually), so technically it is the second day of ShikatemaWeek. My contribution to the best Naruto couple is this little fic that has been hanging around my mind for months and that I only now saw an opportunity to put on paper. It is also published in Ao3. It is my first Shikatema fic, so I hope you enjoy it! 

DAY 2: Marriage  

SUMMARY: Shikamaru wants to propose to Temari, but his fears prevent him. A conversation with Gaara changes his perspective.

 (2338 WORDS)

English is not my first language, so I translated this story through the google translator. If you find any grammatical or concordance errors, please let me know!

There was something extraordinary about watching Temari at Suna's sunset.

Shikamaru was always taken by this thought whenever he ended up being honored by fate, that allowed him to visit and see her in that position.

Temari was in the distance, on one of the hills in the landscape, with the wind on her face and the color of the sky mixing with the tone of her golden hair. Her arms and hips were supported by her huge fan and she had her head tilted slightly to the side.

She shone like gold, with her feet buried in the sand and her eyes fixed on the horizon. She seemed to have been made by and to that place. She looked like she was home.

And that thought, as extraordinary as it was, brought him enormous pain in his chest.

Because seeing her there, so at home, so comfortable, so in love, made his wishes seem even more selfish. His dreams for the future seemed silly and unreachable. The small box he had carried in his pocket for weeks seemed to weigh five hundred tons.

How could he ask her to leave that place? Leave her land, her people, her place in this world, because of him?

Shikamaru thought, when the idea of marrying her seemed more important than breathing, that maybe he should be the one moving. Why should it be Temari? He could go to Suna. He could move to her house, become part of her people.

But his village was gradually rebuilding after the war and his work was one of the most important of all. Kakashi told him whenever he could that without Shikamaru, it would all fall apart. And his father died. Shikaku died in the war and Shikamaru was now responsible for the Nara Clan.

And there was also his mother. She was a widow now. Shikamaru was all she had. How could he leave her? How could he get married and move on a three-day trip away, probably only being able to visit her every several months?

Shikamaru could not move from his village. But then, how he could ask Temari to do it? She had her brothers. Her job. Her people.

He was a strategist, he was the man who always had a plan and could see all the different results that his actions could cause. But, with fear growing in his chest like a poisonous plant, all that Shikamaru was able to think of were two results:

She would say no. And they would be unable to move on, their relationship would end and he would lose the woman of his life, the love of his life, his partner and best friend, forever.

Or she would say yes. But there would always be a resentment lingering between them, a pain he caused by asking her to leave everything behind. And time will pass and Temari would never forgive him and their marriage would end and he would end up alone and depressed, without her and and and...

Shikamaru's shoulders fell. A resigned sigh came from his lips. These thoughts have been prowling his mind every day for weeks. For the first time in a long time he was completely lost. There was no plan.

"The view is beautiful, isn't it?".

The voice behind him startled him. Shikamaru jumped slightly, turning quickly and facing very light eyes and a familiar face.

"Oh, Lord Kazekage" he sighed placing his hand on his chest. "You scared me".

"Sorry," replied him, giving Shikmaru an almost invisible smile. “You seem distracted. Mind if I sit down? ”

Shikamaru shook his head and indicated the empty spot beside him, on the bench he was sitting on. Gaara sat down and they both turned to Temari, who was still standing in the distance.

"She always comes here to watch the sunset," said Gaara in a soft voice. Shikamaru looked at him curiously. "I always saw her coming here every evening, since we were kids. I think that's where she likes to think”.

Shikamaru nodded, not knowing what to say. Gaara was always a distant figure for him, even though he had been dating Temari for many months. He was kind and polite, but shy and didn't speak much. Sometimes Shikamaru wondered if he was in favor of their relationship or if he thought he was worthy of his sister.

"You know, when Temari told us that you and her were starting to date, I didn't know what to think about" murmured Gaara as if he could read his thoughts. "But I know that you and Naruto are close and he always speaks very good things about you, so I trusted my sister's critical sense."

Gaara looked at Temari on the horizon. The expression on his face was calm and gentle, as was his tone.

"Time has proved to me that you are good for her" he continued and Shikamaru's heart raced in his chest. “I see her smile whenever a letter arrives or when you call. She always seems lighter every time she comes back from Leaf or whenever there is a chance for her to visit you”.

A warm smile appeared on Shikamaru's lips and he looked back at Temari again. He loved her so hard that he sometimes felt like his heart would explode in his chest.

"And I see your smile too."

Shikamaru looked at Gaara with slightly wide eyes. He gave him a small, rare smile.

“I see how you smile at her whenever you talk and how you look at her whenever she passes. It is visible to anyone how much you love her”.

They were silent for a few seconds. Until:

"That's why I wonder why you haven't asked her yet."

If it were possible, Shikamaru would have swallowed his own tongue at that moment.

"What?" he exclaimed, feeling his cheeks burn. Gaara almost seemed to want to laugh.

“Every time I see you watching her, it's like if Temari had invented oxygen. And every time I see you leave, it's like if your heart is being left with her. So it's confusing to me. I am not a person who has much experience with love, so there are many things that I don't understand. This is one of them. If you love her and it hurts not to be with her, why don't you propose? ”.

It seemed like a genuinely curious question. Shikamaru found himself speechless for a few seconds, with his mouth open like a fish out of water, trying to make his own thoughts make sense.

"It's not that I don't want to," he said softly, moving his hand instinctively to the pocket where the box with the ring rested. Gaara's eyes followed his movement. "I want to. More than anything I ever wanted ”.

And it is the truth. Shikamaru wants everything with her. He wants to see her every morning when they wake up, with her hair spread across the pillows and her bare shoulders against the sheets. He wants to hear her humming around the house, talking to his mother in the kitchen, laughing with Ino in the gardens. He wants to hear her footsteps through the halls, her voice every day, her laughter at every moment. He wants to be able to kiss her in the comfort of his home, in the comfort of their home, and see her cheeks redden. He wants to feel her skin on his fingers. He wants to hear her sighs echo in his ears. He wants to have children with her, if Temari so wishes. Small children with black hair and green eyes or blond hair and black eyes or simply blond hair and green eyes. If he can see her there, in that new life, her smile, her look, her attitude, then it is worthwhile that the future of the Nara clan does not look anything like its ancestors. 

He wants everything.

"So what stops you?".

Shikamaru understood at that moment why Gaara was a great Kazekage. He seemed to have captured him in a fog that melted Shikamaru's brain and made him suddenly want to open his heart and tell him everything he was feeling. No one could deny anything to those eyes.

"I'm scared," he admitted, so quietly that he barely heard himself. "Her answer scares me".

"Do you think she'll say no?" asked Gaara with a frown. He almost seemed to find the idea absurd.

"I don't know" replied Shikamaru looking at his hands. He needed a cigarette. “I just don't want to put her in an uncomfortable situation. I thought about it a lot and I can't leave my village. They need me more than anything right now. So asking her to marry me is asking Temari to leave her home. And I know that you and this land are all that she loves most. I'm afraid she'll say no. I'm afraid she will say yes and regret it later”.

Gaara was silent for a moment, his eyes on his sister. Shikamaru's hands were sweating. He would never expect, even in a million years, to have this conversation with Gaara. The last time he heard him say so many words was when he threatened to kill Lee when everyone was twelve.

Shikamaru knew that Gaara had changed. He might not be outgoing like Kankuro or incisive like Temari, but Shikamaru could see his personality change in his eyes and his light, rare smiles. It didn't make that situation any less strange and uncomfortable, but he decided to keep talking. He wanted Gaara to like him and he was completely lost, after all. Shikamaru was so desperate that even Naruto's help would be welcome.

"It is true that Temari loves this place," muttered Gaara. “And that she would miss the sand, the heat and us. But is also true that no one forces her to do something that she does not want to".

Shikamaru did not answer, being able to just stare at him in silence.

"I don't know if you know, but Temari was against the invasion of your village in our chunnin exams." Shikamaru looked at him, jaw slightly dropped. Gaara laughed lightly. “She was the only one to question those actions. She was only sixteen, but she confronted our sensei and said that it was not a good idea. And do you know what that proves? ”.

He looked at Shikamaru and smiled. It was the first time that he saw Gaara's smile so big.

“It means that Temari is intelligent and wise, but that she acts with her heart. If she thinks something is wrong, she speaks. If she is against anything, she acts. And if she wants to marry you, she will. It will not be a few thousand kilometers away that will prevent her from doing it”.

Shikamaru smiled, turning to Temari in the distance, looking at her with all the affection he possessed.

"Your sister is as uncontrollable as the wind," he said. Gaara laughed through his nose, affectionately.

"She is. And I think you should keep that in mind. If Temari wants to marry you, nothing will stop her. You will not force her into anything. I mean, Suna's sages try to convince her to accept arranged marriages since she is eighteen and they cannot. It will not be you who will force her to do anything ”.

Shikamaru laughed, feeling his eyes sting. Gaara's words entered his heart and were able to ease the tension in his shoulders.

"She doesn't know that I'm having this conversation with you, but if you want a sincere opinion from her brother, know that I don't believe she would say no to you" he says and Shikamaru feels such overwhelming relief going through his body that it almost burst into tears. “I think what I'm trying to say is that I understand your fear, but I believe it is preventing you from seeing her side. If you make her happy, I don't see Temari repenting in the future, for the simple fact that she didn't make that decision unless it is what she really wants ”.

His eyes burned. If that conversation didn't end he would cry in relief right in front of Temari's brother and she, if she found out, would never let him forget that.

"But what about you and Kankuro?" he asked softly. "Won't that be difficult for you too?"

Gaara looked at the end of the sunset and at Temari for long minutes.

"I got used to loving people from afar," he murmured quietly, his eyes still fixed on his sister. "I will be fine".

Shikamaru swallowed a bowling ball in his throat. And after a few seconds:

"Kankuro, on the other hand...".

Shikamaru groaned sadly. Gaara laughed.

"Oh Lord, he will kill me" he cried.

"Kankuro likes you," said Gaara. “He will be happy. It will just be more difficult for him. He and Temari always had each other ”.

Finally, he chuckled.

“Besides, you can always have a child and call him Kankuro Junior. It will make him forgive you” he joked and the fact that it was Gaara, there, making jokes, made a laugh pass through Shikamaru's lips.

The sunset ended and Temari turned to where they were. Shikamaru saw her beautiful eyes widen in surprise and she raised her hand, waving. He waved back and Gaara stood up.

With a last smile, he murmured as he watched Temari walk towards them.

“Remember, this is not an individual thing. It is not your decision. You are a team. A very smart team to be honest. Talk to her. You will find out what to do ”.

Then he was gone, quiet as always. And when Temari arrived with her beautiful smile lighting her lips, Shikamaru smiled back and felt that the small box in his pocket didn't seem to weigh that much.

[elliemarchetti]

Red Queen Pride and Prejudice AU (Part 4)

I wanted not to publish this part until I had reached at least a dozen notes on the third, but I’m a clown and I wanted to share this so bad, so, here we are. Hope someone is still interested, hope someone could enjoy something so silly in this trying times. 

Tag list: @lilyharvord

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Masterlist

Words: 2456

The day passed practically as the previous one: Miss Samos and Lady Haven spent a few hours with Wren, whose health continued, albeit slowly, to improve, and in the evening Mare joined the others in the living room. The table game, however, hadn’t been organized and the General was writing to his grandmother while Miss Samos, sitting next to him, controlled the progress of the letter, of a considerable length, and continually diverted his attention with messages for the recipient and congratulations for her friend’s handwriting and the regularity of the lines which, together with the complete disinterest with which they were received, formed a curious dialogue, in perfect coincidence with the opinion she had of both.

“You write at an extraordinary speed.”

"I'm sorry to admit you're wrong, in fact, I write rather slowly."

"How many letters do you have the opportunity to write in the course of a year?" she asked, though she didn't seem particularly interested in the answer. "Many will be about business. I guess you’ll find them hateful. I certainly would."

"Your guesses are becoming less and less correct day by day, my dear Evangeline," he replied, sardonically, and although she didn't seem particularly pleased with the answer, she asked him to tell her grandmother that she wished to see her again as soon as possible, which she must have already done, given his reaction. A brief period of time passed, in which all three were silent, when she started again , this time asking him if she should fix his pen, but the General replied he was fine and that it was anyway a job he always did by himself. The more time passed, the more Mare could understand that young man, whose pride was gradually diminishing, revealing he was actually unable to converse or stay in a company, a sign he must’ve had a cold and rigorous childhood, without friends or confidants, full of mentors and teachers, books and lessons.

"You always write her letters so long and beautiful?” she asked, and just then her brother walked in, accompanied by Lady Haven, which annoyed Mare a little, since she still hoped he and Wren could soon begin an official courtship.

"They are generally long, but as for always being beautiful, it’s not my job to judge,” replied the General who, although he had registered the newcomers, didn’t lift his head from the sheet.

"For me, it’s a certainty: a person capable of writing a long letter can't easily misspell," interjected Lady Haven, who had quickly rushed to snoop in turn. Mare didn’t agree with her, anyone could write long letters, even with a not particularly large vocabulary and a bad grammar, yet she said nothing, determined not to draw further attention to herself and too interested in the conversation, which had shifted to the General's use of extremely refined terms, evidently also in the letters addressed to his friends, something in sharp contrast with the writing style of Mr. Samos, which his sister defined as a set of sloppy scribbles.

"My ideas flow so quickly that I don't have the time to express them, hence sometimes my correspondents can't understand practically anything."

"It means that you let your heart write and not your mind," Mare commented, "and this does you credit, because you show yourself vulnerable to the people you love, something in stark contrast to your character with the rest of your acquaintances."

Mr. Samos seemed surprised by the compliment, while the General didn’t seem to like it, but Mare wasn’t in the mood to endure his malevolent comments, which always showed an ill-concealed wickedness and a stubborn decision to contradict her, so, before he could reply, she asked him if he didn't care about the influence of friendship and affection.

"The respect for the writer often leads me to overlook possible errors of little importance, but I would do better, perhaps, to wait for Mr. Samos to write something for my eyes before judging."

"It wouldn’t be advisable, before pursuing this topic, to agree with a little more precision on the degree of importance to be attached to this letter, as well as on the degree of intimacy existing between the parties?" the General asked, and before Mare could reply, it was the person directly interested who interrupted the discussion, which almost resembled a quarrel, with a joke, bringing his friend to end his task , while the three young ladies devoted themselves to analyzing the music sheets placed on the grand piano that dominated the right side of the room. Lady Haven sang with her friend, and while the two were busy, Mare couldn’t help but notice how the General's gaze stopped very often on her. She certainly couldn't suppose to be the object of the admiration of such a great man and that he looked at her because he disliked her would be even stranger. Eventually, she could only imagine that he turned his attention to her because there was nothing more out of place and reprehensible, according to his ideas of correctness, in any other person present. The hypothesis didn’t bother her: she liked him too little to hold on to his approval. After playing some Italian songs, Miss Samos started something more lively, and soon after General Calore, approaching Mare, asked her if she didn’t feel the strong desire to take the opportunity to dance. She smiled, but didn't answer. He repeated the question, a little surprised from what could be interpreted as a shy reaction. The truth was that she had heard him the first time, but had found herself undecided on what to answer, as she was sure that her interlocutor hoped for her assent, so he could denigrate her good taste, but for her it was always pleasant to upset these kinds of plans and deprive people of their premeditated contempt, so she replied negatively, with the sole purpose of offending him just as she had been offended by his comment when he called her not beautiful enough to tempt him. He, however, was incredibly gallant and found himself thinking that if it weren't for her humble origins, he would’ve found himself in serious danger because that young woman had bewitched him like no one before. Though she seemed too busy at first to notice, Miss Samos saw everything, and her strong impatience for Wren's recovery was somewhat reinforced by a desire to get rid of Mare, which risked to seriously jeopardize her plan. In this regard, she tried to instil in Cal a dislike for her own guest, talking to him about the alleged marriage and offering him a glimpse of the happiness that would follow such a union.

"I hope," she said, as they were walking in the grove next day, "that you’ll give your mother-in-law some advice, when this desirable event takes place, about the advantages of holding her tongue, and that you can limit the younger girl’s desire to run after officers, not to mention the delicate subject of your lady’s presumption and impertinence.”

"Do you have anything else to propose for my domestic happiness?" he asked, but before Evangeline could answer they ran into Lady Haven and Mare herself, coming from another path.

“I didn’t know you were going to take a walk,” she noted, a little embarrassed for fear of having been heard.

"You treated us horribly," Lady Haven replied, glaring at her, "running away without telling us you were going out."

Then, taking the General's free arm, she left Mare to walk alone. The path had room only for three and when the young man realized the rudeness he immediately proposed to move to the avenue, but Mare, who had no intention of staying with them, replied laughingly, before walking away with a brief farewell, that they formed a charming group and that a fourth person would ruined the picturesque appearance. From the window, Wren, who had felt strong enough to get up, saw everything and decided that she would come downstairs for a couple of hours that night. Making sure she was well protected from the cold, Mare accompanied her into the living room, where she was greeted by her two friends with many manifestations of joy; she had never found them more pleasant as in the hour that passed before the gentlemen’s appearance, and the demonstration that their remarkable ability to converse weren’t limited only to describing precisely the receptions they had attended but it was also extended to reporting anecdotes with a sense of humour and laughing at their acquaintances made her feel invigorated nearly as much as Ptolemus’ attentions who, on his arrival, spent the first half hour poking the fire and made sure she sat on the side of the fireplace farthest from the door. When he finally sat down next to her, he barely spoke to the others, which Mare noted with great pleasure. Once they had tea, Lucas Samos reminded his cousin of the game table, but in vain: Lady Haven had learned, in a completely confidential way, that the General hated cards and the few times he had played it had been only to not offend them, so suddenly everyone had lost interest in it, and seemed much more determined to devote themselves to reading, although Miss Samos's attention was much more concerned with checking the progress of the one she wished to make her husband soon than to read her own book; she never stopped asking him questions or peeking the pages, but she couldn't draw him into the conversation as he just answered her questions and kept on reading.  Finally, completely exhausted from her attempts to amuse herself with her own tome, which she had chosen only because it was the second volume of his, she gave a loud yawn and said: "How pleasant it is to spend an evening in this way! I feel like saying that basically there is no entertainment like reading! How quickly one gets tired of anything other than a book! When I have my own home, I would feel really miserable not to have an excellent library. "

No one replied, then she yawned again, put aside what, in her words, should’ve been her new favourite pastime, and glanced around the room for some amusement when, hearing that her brother was talking to Miss Skonos about a dance, she immediately turned to him, reminding him that for some of those present a dance would be nothing but torture. It was evident that the dig was thrown at the General, but he let his friend answer for him and raised his head only when Mare joined Miss Samos, by invitation, to stretch her legs. The platinum-haired young woman invited him too but he refused, noting that he could only imagine two reasons for that choice to walk back and forth in the room, both of which his participation would interfere. Miss Samos was dying to know what he meant, and as Mare was of no help to her, she insisted on her childhood friend, who replied that the first reason was that the two women had suddenly become intimate and had private affairs to discuss, and the second was to be admired, which he would’ve been able to do much better while sitting.

"I've never heard something so disgusting!” exclaimed Miss Samos. “How will we punish him for such a speech?”

"Nothing easier, if only you feel like it," Mare said, perplexed by the fact that her interlocutor had taken her by the arm, as if they were great friends. "We are always able to torment and punish each other. Tease him, laugh at him. As intimate as you are, you sure know how to."

"On my honour, I don't know. I assure you that intimacy still hasn’t taught me to tease such a quiet temperament without losing in the attempt, and as for laughing, we shouldn’t expose ourselves for laughing for no reason. I suppose he can congratulate himself.”

"Miss Samos gives me more credit than how much is due. The wisest and best of men, or better, the wisest and best of his deeds, can be made ridiculous by a person whose main purpose in life is to joke."

"Sure," Mare replied, "there are people like that, but I hope I'm not one of them. I hope I never ridicule what is wise and good. Extravagance and nonsense, tantrums and absurdities amuse me, I admit, and I laugh at it every time I can. But these things, I suppose, are just the ones from which you are immune."

"Maybe this isn’t possible for anyone, but in life I’ve always tried to avoid those weaknesses which often expose even a remarkable intelligence to ridicule," he replied, and it soon became apparent that a conversation of that rank would only take place between the two of them, though it also attracted Lucas and Elane’s attention.

"Even vanity and pride, then."

"Yes, vanity is undoubtedly a weakness. But pride... where there is real superiority of intellect, pride will always be under careful control."

Mare had to hid a smile, and Evangeline, who hadn’t understood what had just happened, asked her what the outcome of her study was.

"I am perfectly convinced that General Calore doesn’t have flaws. He himself admits it without a doubt."

"I've never demanded such a thing," he corrected her. "I have several flaws, but they don’t concern, I hope, the intellect, even if I certainly cannot vouch for my character, which I believe is very little accommodating, certainly too little in the eyes of the world. I cannot forget the follies and vices of others as much as I should, nor the offenses done to me. My feelings don't shift at each attempt to move them, my character could perhaps be called touchy and my respect once lost is lost forever."

"This is a real flaw!" Mare exclaimed. "A relentless grudge is a stain in a character, but as a flaw it’s chosen well, so I can't really laugh at it. In mine opinion, you’re safe."

"In every temperament there is, I believe, a tendency to some particular sin, a natural imperfection that not even the better education can defeat,” he went on, "and if in my case it may seem that I hate everyone, which isn’t true, in yours it certainly is obstinacy in misunderstand them."

Mare would’ve liked to continue that conversation, but Miss Samos, tired of hre inability to take part in it, proposed to make some music and after a brief moment of reflection, Cal decided that it wasn’t a bad idea: he was beginning to clearly feel the danger of giving Miss Barrow too much attention.

[mehrauli]

Notes on Kashmir history

The way I learned about the history of Kashmir was actually living there. I’d go to the bookstores and just read books there, so I don’t have an on-hand list of online resources. Also, people would tell me stuff, which I would then investigate or not. This is going to be almost entirely from memory, based on not-that-much research, and so it’ll have huge omissions and possibly errors simply because I do not know those things. The point of this isn’t so you can read this and call yourself an expert, it’s so you know what to ask for further questions. Also, if I do link to big books people won’t read them, but maybe they will read a post.

Kashmir’s history is contentious because hindus have made many attempts to recuperate its history in order to justify their settler colonialism. The hindu mythification of Kashmir is intense. So hindus will tell you a very different story about this than anyone else. Some articles on, for example, wikipedia, consult these hindu myths as real history. This is something to be aware of when doing independent research on Kashmir.

Kashmir is not a part of India, never has been, and never will be.

Islamification

As far as I know, Islam was first introduced to Kashmir by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1015, who did not make serious progress conquering it but did station some Muslims on the outskirts of the valley. Marco Polo (who traveled asia in the late 1200s) reports that the butcher castes in Kashmir were all Muslims. This is consistent with other evidence that Kashmir’s islamification took place over several centuries, and was a bottom-up affair; butchers are a low-caste group.

The first Muslim ruler of Kashmir was Rinchan (r. 1320-1323). He was an heir to a Buddhist dynasty, who considered a conversion into shaivism, which was a form of brahminism which had entered Kashmir somewhere around the time of Muhammad of Ghazni. However he was turned away from the brahmins who considered him to be low-caste. Brahmins at this time called Buddhism “the religion of the Shudras”.

Rinchan accepted Islam instead, and took the name Sadruddin Shah, under the tutelage of the Sufi missionary Bulbul Shah. The first mosque in Kashmir was a converted Buddhist temple which instututed a twice-daily charity meal. To this day, inter-dining between castes is still a really big deal in a lot of parts of India.

Throughout the late 1300s, Sufi missionaries were active throughout Kashmir including Ali Hamidani. Other important figures include Lal Ded, who was a Shaivite poet who has been disowned by Hindus due to her emphasis on social reform and embraced by Muslims for the same reason. Ded is said to have been incredibly influential to Nund Rishi, AKA Sheikh Nooruddin Noorani, who started the Rishi Sufi order, who were social renunciates who lived in caves and helped popularise Islam.

I can find almost nothing online about this subject. There is one story that I remember about Hamidani meeting Nund Rishi. In the story, the other sayyids warn Hamidani not to meet with Nund Rishi, because he is not a sayyid and had a very unorthodox practice. The point of the story is that Hamidani ignores this advice and with his help, Nund Rishi becomes one of the most important figures in the Islamification of Kashmir. I like the story, because it emphasises the importance of social equality in the spread of Islam throughout Kashmir.

Hamidani writes elsewhere, in Volume 10 of his Dhakhirat:

One feels proud of one's self on the basis of one's pedigree, in comparison to others who are better than he as regards to knowledge and action. He understands others as his slaves. His eyes are full of anger. And the signs of his malevolence are lucid in his actions. He can cure this disease, if he realises that it is foolish to understand others low on the basis of pedigree.

Hamidani’s Dhakhirat ul Mulk is still read from mosques in Kashmir to this day.

Dogra Empire (1846-1952)

Kashmir never came directly under British rule. They won it in a war against the Sikhs and immediately sold it to a petty tyrant named Gulab Singh who instituted an overt hindu theocracy, which was characterised by unreasonable taxation, arbitrary rules, etc. During this period the brahmins, predictably,  enjoyed vast social and political privileges. 

As it was explained to me by a Kashmiri friend of mine, an Englishman by the name of Robert Thorpe is considered by Kashmiris to be the “first martyr” of the freedom struggle. He documented the horrific circumstances that Kashmiris lived under and called for Kashmir to come under British rule. I have a copy of this PDF, you can probably find it online yourself if you look. The circumstances he describes are absolutely horrific and mirror . Some excerpts on this post: [x]

(Some of the above excerpts are from Arthur Brinckman, a missionary who documented the same thing around the same time. My pdf is a compilation of their two papers.)

Legend has it that Thorpe was assassinated by the Dogras shortly after publishing his paper, Cashmere Misgovernment.

After Thorpe’s death, there was a famine in which half to three fifths of the population of the valley died. Not a single brahmin died of starvation during this period. It is documented in more detail in the book Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects.

Property remained owned by the small hindu minority, who functioned as feudal lords stipulating various forms of untouchability which are common in India as well.

Partition and the Plebiscite

The British only directly controlled about 62% of British India. The rest consisted of Princely States.

The gist of this is that during partition, most of the petty monarchies unconditionally surrendered to, and were annexed by, India or Pakistan. One notable exception to this was Hyderabad, which was forcefully invaded by India which proceeded to slaughter tens to hundreds of thousands of people (estimates vary) because its ruler was Muslim, but it was geographically isolated from Pakistan.

I don’t want to dwell on Kashmir’s case here too much because I’m not that familiar with it. I don’t personally care about the history or the legal arguments. I’ve been to Kashmir and it is manifestly obvious that Kashmir is not and should not be a part of India. Not a single person in Kashmir wants anything to do with India. When you say something to the effect that Kashmir will be free in Kashmir, everyone stops what they’re doing to say “inshallah”. It is not the unenthusiastic lackadaisical “inshallah” of the Arabs. It is an enthusiastic punctuation mark to whatever you just said, which comes powerfully from the gut, a prayer in its own right, as if to flag it as important in God’s inbox. Almost like how African-Americans can use “amen” sometimes.

Muslims in India are an outlaw class. As far as we are concerned, there is, properly speaking, no law. This is doubly so in Kashmir. If you walk around downtown Sirinagar, you’ll see a huge number of blind people and amputees, while most shops or pharmacies are raising money for charities for the blind. This is because the Indian army has a policy of shooting Kashmiri protesters in the eyes. It is not secret. The brutality of the Indian occupation is on full display. Most of the tourists to Kashmir are Indian and the brutality is part of the attraction.

So I don’t care whatever horseshit “laws” India rationalises its occupation with. India should fucking burn for what it’s done to Kashmir.

The short version of this story is, though, that Kashmir’s then-petty tyrant agreed to a temporary Indian presence contingent on an eventual plebiscite regarding whether Kashmir would go to India, Pakistan, or remain independent. Or something. I cannot stress how little I care about this.

The fact that a plebiscite was part of the original arrangement, though, does influence activism both in Kashmir and India as well as Pakistan. Pakistan, for its part, has agreed to a plebiscite in Pakistan-Administered Kashmir (PAK) as soon as India allows it to happen in IOK.

Jammu, which is a city south of the Kashmir valley proper, saw the worst violence of the partition, worse even than the annexation of Hyderabad (though, again, estimates vary in both cases and it could go either way). Unlike the case of Hyderabad, the violence in Jammu was organised by Hindu supremacist groups including RSS, the political arm of which is the current ruling party of India, the BJP. After the violence, Jammu has gone from being Muslim-majority at time of partition to 7.1% Muslim at the time of the 2011 census.

Indian Rule

I am also not too familiar with anything here up until the 90′s or so. One important figure to know here is Maqbool Bhatt, a charismatic revolutionary who co-founded the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front. He was a guerilla organiser who crossed the line of control into Pakistan “illegally” several times in order to work towards an independent Kashmir.

One event that gets disproportionate attention is the exodus of the brahmins from Kashmir. The early 90s were the start of the current insurgency, and political assassinations were carried out against people like local administrators and other active collaborators with the Indian colonial regime. brahmins were disproportionately represented among these people, because duh of course they were. But Muslim collaborators were targeted by these groups just the same. While the number of brahmins to be killed during this period was about 2-300, thousands of Kashmiris were killed by the colonial state which of course did target Muslims exclusively.

Some, not all, brahmins left Kashmir during this period. A few remain in Sirinagar, they own shops and stuff, I bought a pencil from one. They were never numerous because brahmins are never numerous. Since then, though they for their part mostly do not want to return and are well provided for in India and the western diaspora, Much of India’s current campaign of settler colonialism is rationalised as an effort to resttle them in Kashmir. The argument falls apart, however, as they themselves have no such agenda. If they really wanted to go back, they would just go back. They do not face communal violence. In addition, India has never made such an effort to resettle victims of real pogroms, like the Bombay Riots or the Delhi Pogrom earlier this year.

In response to this insurgency, the Indian government began to heavily promote a “pilgrimage” to the Amarnath cave as a tourist attraction. The Amarnath "pilgrims” are the worst and most obnoxious people I have ever met in my entire life. They are drunken (in a place that is 97% Muslim where alcohol is illegal, in full view of the heaviest military occupation in the world), obnoxious, light firecrackers (in a fucking warzone where a Muslim would be killed for it), disrespect the property of the people they stay with, etc.

Since 5 August 2019, there has been no internet in Kashmir and all industry has been shut down. Real journalism is impossible and press and TV media are nothing but mouthpieces for BJP. At first this was rationalised by a false-flag discovery of weapons outside the “pilgrimage” route, because all terrorists like to bury their weapons in the ground outside of where they plan to use them, for convenience, like squirrels hiding acorns for the winter. India quickly dropped this pretense and just maintains an “everything is normal” line now, although there has been no internet or economic activity for over a year and schools have been converted to military bases while the environment is destroyed (not even for “development” purposes, think USA and the buffalo).

At the same day of the internet shutdown important parts of the Indian constitution were repealed which allow Kashmir to maintain some semblence of autonomy with an aim towards implementing a settler-colonial West Bank model; various things have been proposed to the effect of Hindu settlements guarded by the military and this is all completely brazen and open while the colonial administration has started granting residence to non-Kashmiri migrant workers. 

Migrant workers have not faced legal discrimination; the only implications of this are that they can now own property in the Valley and vote in local elections. There is a similar statute in the neighbouring Indian state of Himachal Pradesh where only Paharis are allowed to own property or businesses, despite most of them actually in practice being run by Kashmiri and Tibetan refugees. In Kashmir there is no such contradiction. Businesses are Kashmiri-owned, Kashmiri-run.

This is with an eye to demographic change in the valley by way of which Indian rule can be legitimised through the above-mentioned plebiscite. Again this is all completely in the open, though supplemented with “what about the Kashmiri pandits!!!!” wailing. Pandit is another word for brahmin.

The militants are not bad guys. The people of Kashmir do not fear them and in fact pray for their success. The funerals of martyrs are very well-attended and before the current blockate, India used to shut down the internet on the days of their martyrdom anniversaries. Local people graffiti their names on walls and name streets after them.

The movement for a free Kashmir is an uncomplicated freedom struggle against a brutal military occupation.

See also: Understanding the Indian Occupation of Kashmir

[dreamcatcherfication]

Ghosts Are Just as Real as You and Me - Part 4

READING GLASSES CATHY PARR RISES!

*clears throat* Well then. Chapter four, never thought I’d make it this far. This is actually the longest chapter yet, reaching about 3250 words. Here we get to jump around and see a little bit of everyone including (what anon asked me about a while ago) Duo Moms Aragon and Jane. This chapter escalates from happy to sad to oh no pretty quickly, so I hope you all enjoy that as much as I did. Sorry for any spelling/grammatical errors, my brother was performing ritualistic sacrifices in the living room.

Writing Masterpost

If you want to send a request or a prompt, my inbox is always open! I publish a story at 8:00 AM PST everyday, so I’m always in need of new ideas (now featuring random asks). If you want to be tagged in my works, just let me know and I’ll be sure to tag you!

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Trigger Warnings: Threats of violence, Henry VIII

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

A few days passed with all the queens waiting anxiously for the storm to hit, but life went on as normally as it had before Henry showed up. All the queens became hesitant, unsure of how to support each other when Henry’s reincarnation was uncharted territory. Eventually the tension became too much and Aragon approached Jane before breakfast one morning. “Jane, how would you like to go out for coffee?”

“What?” Jane furrowed her eyebrows. “But I have to make breakfast for the girls, it’s the only time we all still eat together.”

Wincing Aragon put a hand on the countertop. “Well yes, but… I was thinking that if you and I take Kitty out for coffee and muffins this morning -”

Jane caught on to what Aragon was saying. “We’ll be able to get her mind off of everything. You know what Catherine, I actually like that idea.”

Sighing in relief, Catherine moved away from the table and towards the stairs. “Will you finish making breakfast for the others if I go and wake up Kit?”

“One step ahead of you!” Jane called as she flipped some bacon already cooking. Turning around, Aragon made her way up to the second floor and across the way to Kit’s room. Kit was never the last to wake up, but she was never the first either. Chances were she would be shut in her room listening to music or watching television, waiting until Jane called her down for breakfast.

Knocking on the door, Aragon listened until she heard Kit’s voice. “Who is it?” came from within the room, muffled through the door.

“Aragon.”

A hum of confirmation came from Kit, and Aragon entered the room. “Is breakfast ready?” Kit asked, her phone in her hand as she turned off her music.

“About that,” Aragon started, then immediately regretted it when she saw the way Kit’s face dropped. “Jane and I wanted to take you out for coffee and muffins instead today. We thought it’d be nice to get out of the house a bit.”

Eyes lighting up, Kit scrambled off the bed and shot Aragon with the most precious smile on Earth. “Why’d you say it like it’s a bad thing, of course I’ll come with you two!” Exhaling, Aragon couldn’t help the grin that grew on her face at Kitty’s enthusiasm. Lately the girl had been so down on herself that seeing her back to even a sliver of her enthusiastic self was enough for Aragon to feel proud of herself for her coffee idea.

The two of them made their way down the stairs to where Jane was setting out plates for the other queens. Cathy was already at the table with a book in her hands and her reading glasses on. Anna was out on her morning run, sure to return later, and Anne was still in her room sleeping (like she always was). Glancing up, Cathy watched as the three other queens pulled on their shoes and got ready to leave. “Have fun out there you three,” she called, turning the page of her novel.

“Do you want us to bring you anything back?” Aragon asked her God-daughter.

Pondering the offer for a second, Cathy shrugged. “If they have hazelnut muffins, could you grab me one?”

“Sure,” Aragon replied. Jane chuckled, realizing how domestic the exchange was, but she didn’t complain. Kit tugged at her hand and looked pointedly at the door, anxious to get going. It was a change to see Kit so carefree, but it was obvious the girl was trying to push away her doubts. There was still the bit of hesitation before she grabbed Jane’s hand and the cringing when either of the queens spoke too loudly, but Kit was trying. Neither Jane nor Aragon were afraid of coddling Kit when she showed her strength in working to overcome her own problems. In fact, it was a very welcome sight for the queens who had begun to worry.

Jane was the one driving, with Aragon in the passenger seat and Kitty in the back. To a passerby they might’ve looked like a family, and although none of them voiced it, they all had the thought cross their minds. “Which shop are we going to?” Kitty asked, fiddling with her phone without turning it on.

“Coffee and Creme, it’s the bakery down the street,” Jane answered, making a left turn at the intersection.

Kit gasped. “Oh I love their chocolate chip muffins, they’re always so warm.”

Chuckling, Aragon added, “Well we can get you one when we’re there.”

“Really! Jane never lets me eat chocolate in the morning,” Kit leaned forward in her seat. Jane shot Aragon a subtle glare, causing the woman to mouth sorry in response.

But it made Kitty happy, and that was the goal of the outing, so Jane relented. “Just this once, okay Kit? And don’t let us catch you telling Anne about this, or else she’ll never shut up about it.”

“My lips are sealed,” Kitty mimed zipping her lips and throwing away the key.

As Jane pulled up to the shop, she groaned when she realized the only parking spot was on the other side of the street. “Alright, you girls hop out and go wait in line while I park. Catherine if you could order for me-”

“I know your order by heart,” Kit cut in, a proud smile on her face.

The two older queens felt smiles grow on their faces without any permission. “Well then, I think Kitty’s got it down pretty well,” Aragon shrugged.

Getting out of the car, Aragon poked her head back in. “I’ll be inside in just a moment, you go ahead with Kitty,” Jane assured.

“You be quick Seymour,” Aragon ordered in a faux-stern voice. Rolling her eyes goodnaturedly, Jane pulled away from the side of the shop and drove to the end of the street. Making a legal u-turn, Jane found the open parking spot on the opposite side of the road and pulled into it. Getting out of the car, Jane made sure to lock the doors before moving to cross the street.

She froze, making eye contact with a man right next to the bakery. It was undeniably Henry, regardless of the different clothes he was wearing. He wasn’t moving, just watching Jane from where he stood. Cold fear gripped Jane’s heart as she was unable to move. Jane blinked multiple times, hoping it was only a trick of the light, but Henry remained where he stood. Taking a step forward, Jane was about to cross the street when a large bus passed in front of her.

The queen jumped back, jerking herself back into reality. Looking at her surroundings, Jane let the noises of the busy street filter back into her mind. Returning her gaze to where Henry was standing, Jane wasn’t surprised to see him gone. Why would he stick around longer than to make sure Jane knew he was watching? Henry was playing a psychological game, and Jane wouldn’t fall for it this time. Not when she had Kit and Catherine, Anna and Cathy and Anne to protect. 

The bell above the bakery door rang when Jane stepped in the shop, her entrance greeted with a “Welcome!” from the peppy barista. Shooting a smile to the barista, Jane made her way over to Kit and Aragon who were seated at a corner table. Kit was happily munching on a giant chocolate muffin with a frappuccino in front of her. Normally Jane would disapprove of all the sugar, but today was an exception. In front of Catherine was a simple cup of coffee with milk and some sugar.

And at the empty third seat for Jane was her order, exactly as she always got it. It consisted of one of the bakery’s shortbread cookies cut in the shape of a heart with cinnamon sprinkled over the top. There was a piping mug of chamomile tea resting next to it, the tea bag still in the drink, just as Jane always had it. Even though Jane had come to the bakery with Kitty multiple times before, it still warmed her heart that the teen remembered her order.

That warmth disappeared when Jane once again reminded herself of the encounter outside the bakery. Clearly, Henry was trying to mess with them, get to them mentally instead of physically. Withholding information from the queens could cause a lot of conflict but, Jane reasoned, it would cause more harm to tell them than to hide it. She couldn’t let the fear return to Kit’s eyes, the fear she and Aragon were trying so hard to ward off. Opening her mouth, Jane attempted to speak, but couldn’t get any words out.

“Jane, is there something on your mind?” Aragon asked, her grin warm and inviting.

There was no way Jane could ruin this picture perfect moment with Kit and Aragon by telling them what she had seen. Instead, Jane shook her head and sat down in the empty seat. “Not at all. Just glad we’re all here together.”

On the other side of town, Anna wasn’t on her morning jog through the park. Anyone who was used to seeing her wouldn’t suspect anything amiss, she had probably just cut her run short. But Anna would have to postpone her morning run for the time being because she had more important places to be. Instead of being out in the park, reveling in the sunlight, Anna was plotting. Plotting every possible way to kill Henry before he could even make another move on Kit or any of the queens.

She had no idea how she would do it, but Anna was going to track Henry down and get to him first. She couldn’t tell any of the other queens for fear they would disapprove or in case Henry was listening (there was so little privacy in the modern world), so Anna only had the companionship of her own mind. 

Her first order of business was signing up at a local boxing arena in order to get fighting experience. It wasn’t the most desirable sport, and Anna much preferred running and weightlifting - non contact sports, thank you very much - but she was willing to do anything in order to increase her chances of winning a fight against Henry.

One of the first things her instructors taught her was that it wasn’t being the biggest or the strongest that made you the winner, it was your skill and endurance. Anna would never be stronger than Henry, that was a given, but if she trained enough, her hope was that she would be able to take him down when she found him. He was slow and fat and probably didn’t have any experience. Anna was young and lean and training, the odds were against him.

In the days since Kit’s confession, Anna had been training as hard and as often as she could, gearing up for a fight that could come at any time. It was on this particular morning when an instructor pulled her to the side. The woman had a high ponytail and must’ve been in her mid twenties, but her muscles were ripped and she clearly had experience. Unable to remember her name, Anna resorted to referring to the woman as “you”, trying to get the conversation over so she could get back to training. “Why are you doing this?” the instructor asked simply, no lead up or extra commentary.

“What do you mean?”

The woman watched a bead of sweat drip down Anna’s forehead. “Why are you working so hard? You showed up less than a week ago and you’ve already advanced faster than anyone else here. So what’s your motivation?”

“I don’t have to tell you that,” Anna said defensively, flexing her hands in the tape wrapped around them.

The woman shrugged, unbothered. “True, you don’t. But sometimes sharing motivations makes it easier to see reason. To pace yourself. The best solution isn’t always working as hard as possible all the time.”

Anna scoffed and ignored the advice. “Yeah, well not all of us have time. If you’ll excuse me,” Anna pushed past the woman and moved back to her punching bag.

“Is it someone in your life?” The woman called. Anna stopped with her fist in the air, about to swing at the bag. “So it is,” the instructor continued, noticing Anna’s hesitation.

“Stop trying to get into my head, okay, it’s not gonna work,” Anna hissed.

The instructor rolled her tongue in her mouth before making a clicking sound. “Maybe you’re trying to protect someone you care about?” Once again, Anna hesitated and cursed herself when the woman’s eyes lit up. “You’re trying to be their night in shining armor.”

“You have no right to violate my privacy -”

“But why? What is threatening them that you feel the need to work so hard?” The woman kept pushing deeper and deeper, hitting all of Anna’s soft spots.

Clenching her fists, Anna swung at the punching bag and watched it go careening in the opposite direction. It wasn’t the most impressive punch, but the amount of anger behind it drained Anna. “Henry. His name is Henry and he has a lot of history with us.”

“Ex lover?”

Anna chuckled ruefully. “Yeah, something like that.” Breathing in deeply, Anna steadied the punching bag. “She’s dealing with a lot, and if I let him get to her again, I’m afraid she’ll break and it’ll be all my fault.”

“Again.” It wasn’t a question, more like an invitation to elaborate.

It wasn’t that Anna didn’t realize she was confiding in a stranger, it was more the comfort of knowing that she could say anything and the instructor would have no idea. “It was my fault the first time, it can’t be my fault the second time. I - I…”

“You love her too much to see her get hurt.”

“Yeah. Yeah I do.”

On a regular basis, Cathy tended to be pretty concerned about Anne. With her constant shenanigans and chaotic nature, it was hard not to be worried about what trouble the beheaded queen would get into next. But right now, Cathy wasn’t concerned because of what Anne was doing. No, she was concerned about what Anne wasn’t doing. Ever since Anne had gone to her room after talking with Cathy a few nights back, she had been practically AWOL.

Sure, Anne came down to snag food, but then she would immediately disappear back into her room in the attic. Cathy had seen her come from Kit’s room a day earlier, but the strange part was that Kit had been downstairs with Jane. Anne wasn’t making any sounds, but she didn’t seem to be in any kind of distress or slump.

In conclusion, something was wrong with Anne Boleyn, but for the life of her, Cathy Parr could not figure it out. That’s why when Cathy heard someone leaving later that day, she decided to investigate, praying it was Anne. Sure enough, luck was on her side and Anne’s coat was missing from its hanger.

Noting that she was the only person in the house, Cathy realized she had free reign to satisfy her curiosity. Acknowledging how dangerous her curiosity could be, Cathy threw caution out the window and headed directly for Anne’s room. She needed something, any kind of clue as to why Anne was suddenly acting as if the rest of the queens were infected with some deadly disease. Or maybe she’s the one infected, Cathy thought to herself. 

Stopping in front of Anne’s door, Cathy felt her conscience kick in. Is it really okay to violate Anne’s privacy like this? Cathy knew the answer was no and if Anne found out, she’d be pissed, but in that moment Cathy knew she’d never again have this opportunity to - for lack of a better word - snoop.

Opening the door, Cathy made her way into the room. Clothes were strewn about mingled with trash and food crumbs from Anne’s meals. The bed was unmade (of course) and there was an assortment of random items (kazoos, teddy bears, a pair of heelys) in every corner. There was a nightstand next to Anne’s bed, the only thing untouched by all the chaos. Wading through the mass of junk on the floor until she stood in front of the desk, Cathy observed her prize.

It was a journal. That was the last thing Cathy expected Anne to have, but she picked it up anyway. Her reading glasses were resting on her head, so Cathy pulled them down and opened the book. The first page was a doodle (it was surprisingly intricate, Cathy noted) of… herself? The sketch was clearly Cathy, her arm above her head as she slept on the queens’ couch, her glasses askew. Blushing, Cathy read the caption of the picture. Gold star for Cathy Parr, an angel I see.

Frantically, flipping the page, Cathy tried to smother the erratic beating of her heart. She could squeal later about Anne’s drawing. The next page was another sketch, this time of Kitty with a water gun. Cathy remembered the incident over the summer when the queens were out having a water war. The teams were Cathy, Anne, and Anna versus Aragon, Jane, and Kitty. The fight had gotten down to the very end when Kit sprayed Anne, only for Anna to secure a win for her team by taking down Kit. The memory brought a warm feeling to Cathy’s chest, making her smile with a nostalgic fondness.

Flipping further into the book, Cathy came across some of the more recent entries. These ones didn’t make any sense. They were nonsense words like “Double” and “Envelope” and “Instructions”. There was no rhyme or reason to any of the words, and if anything would have been coherent, Anne had scribbled it out with a black pen.

The final page that was written in made more sense. He made it easy for me, a five step plan. I don’t want to help him or do anything he says but Kitty… I went into her room the other day. I was hoping I could find any cameras or wiretaps (I looked it up, they’re easy to get), but there were none. The only choice I have is following instructions. Especially those from the envelope.

Eyes widening as a chill overcame her body, Cathy opened the drawer of the nightstand. Inside was a single, white envelope with Anne’s name on it. Reaching for it, Cathy’s hand closed around the edge when the door downstairs opened with a loud bang!

Releasing the envelope, Cathy closed the drawer and practically sprinted out of Anne’s room. On her way downstairs, Cathy did her best to compose herself so to appear that she had not been snooping. Hanging her coat by the door was Anne, an unmarked bag in her hands. “Hi Anne,” Cathy said, eyeing the bag.

Unaware, Anne gave Cathy a smile that normally would make the girl swoon. “Hi Cathy,” she replied, walking over to the other queen. Anne lifted a hand and Cathy frowned in confusion, only to be answered as Anne carefully pushed the forgotten reading glasses up her nose where they had been slipping off.

“Are you going to hide from us again?” Cathy asked, channeling her passive aggressiveness.

Sighing Anne gave the other queen a forced smile. “I guess I am,” she said before disappearing back to her room. 

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

Tag List: @obliviousasheck

@theatergirl06

[savrenim]

Hey mx savrenim its me again and I'm wondering: how you maintain tension in a story with characters with future vision? Especially in a story with no guaranteed future, where seers can ensure the best possible future for themselves

oooooh v v good question, once more under the cut

so there are a lot lot LOT of ways to do this that all depend on the tone that you want your story to go for, and Imma reference a few pieces of media that do this in various ways, but this is pretty much a subset of the question “how do you maintain tension in your story when your character is very overpowered”

1. Just very realistically explore that “in theory able to do things perfectly” and “in practice able to do things perfectly” are very very different things.  Another Faust by Daniel Nayeri had pretty much someone with Seer-like capabilities (namely, the ability to loop back I thiiiink as far as they wanted in time?) that they could use to make sure they always said the right thing, got the right answers on tests, etc etc, and it just.... didn’t work out for them perfectly. Because perfect knowledge didn’t fix everything. If you know how every single play is going to work idk in a baseball game, that gives you an edge, but it doesn’t actually mean you win the game unless you are good enough at baseball to hit that ball and run those bases

In that case, the more effective the Seer wants to be, the more they have to actually train the skills that they care about, so that they can carry out the actions physically that lead to their ideal future. And building physical skills is hard and takes work and practice, and anything you have to work to get better at to reach a goal is the starting point of tension. 

Also to continue the sports metaphor, having perfect knowledge of a baseball game and even being the best player in the world doesn’t guarantee you a win because you cannot play every single position, there are other people on the team who are going to be doing actions that at most can have secondhand versions of your knowledge. Trying to manage the human aspect leads to human error. So maybe there is tension because the Seer aggressively self-isolates so that Other People Will Not Fail Them and tension comes from interacting with other people they have extreme trust issues. Maybe the tension comes from them playing puppetmaster and trying to figure out which people they are willing to sacrifice for their goals, which people will fail them and which people they can and should hold onto, and from nobody really trusting them because everyone is well aware that the puppetmaster is willing to make sacrifices.

And finally -- just knowing the future doesn’t mean you can fix it. I don’t know about you, but even if I had perfect foreknowledge of the future, I would not be truly happy just personally thriving as idk rich and a famous mathematician and physicist and married to my fiance and maybe the books that I want to be published published and enough money to give to all my friends too and maybe can we have warp drives I want to go to space and inventing some solid if not immortality-tech then life-extension tech would be cool -- which, like, is everything I could personally wish for from life and more -- but in the world that we have? like, climate change SUCKS. fascism SUCKS. racism SUCKS. sexism and homophobia and poverty and class wars disguised as generational wars and all of the existing structures that reinforce all of these things SUCK. and even personally having perfect foreknowledge of the future enough to either start with or build up a bunch of political power and money, to try to change any of that would mean going against incredibly entrenched institutions that I honestly have no idea how effective one person could be at changing. Like if B*zos suddenly decided “wait let’s save the world and make a socialist utopia” do you actually think he would succeed? or even get very far? even applying every single resource he commands? or would he just.... lose a lot of his money and power trying to do that and then someone else becomes the richest person in the world who does want to maintain the system. because a lot of that power are things that do not exist, like stocks, it’s imaginary money that the moment you stop playing the game you get kicked out of the game and maybe you can make tiny changes but the game itself doesn’t stop

so baaaasically consider making your Seer a radical anarchist or at least someone who cares about tackling large-scale problems that one individual will never be able to solve, to play the “well if a very powerful individual had a single-minded focus on trying to fight these things could we at least get further than every single powerful person wanting to screw us over or just not caring?” game -- that creates tension because global problems can only be solved by global and communal actions, and one individual, no matter how perfectly they can see the future, cannot do that on their own

2. “Psychic powers don’t make you popular.” This is my obligatory “I just rewatched Mob Psycho 100 and am obsessed with it seriously consider watching it if you haven’t.” I know I keep bringing up MP100 but hear me out my favorite media is where the main character is stupidly overpowered so I don’t have to be stressed at all consuming it and MP100 maybe is the most touching but also well thought out and interestingly plotted version of that I’ve ever seen  But the basic premise of Mob Psycho 100 is that the main character, Mob, is a middle schooler with the most powerful psychic abilities in the world. The tension comes from: (1) Mob is not in total control over his powers and feels really really bad when he loses control and for example uses his powers against another person even in self-defense because that’s a Rule he made for himself that he really doesn’t want to cross ever. Which with a Seer, maybe you have a Seer that Cares Deeply About Other People’s Privacy, or who Cares Deeply About Having Real Relationships That They Do Not Manipulate, or who Cares Deeply About Their Achievements Being Their Own and so they don’t use their powers in everyday life out of moral considerations, except sometimes gods in stressful situations you just want everything to be okay so the tension of “do I fix this right now or is this crossing a line” drives your story. (2) because Mob isn’t using his powers in everyday life, while he is having these giant badass psychic battles with ghosts and evil psychics as a part-time job after school and yeah yeah you know he’s going to win, the tension and growth in the story comes from the gains that he is making in his personal life of, like, “oh he made a friend!!!!! oh he stood up for himself even though that’s really hard for him and he set a boundary!!!! oh he’s working really really hard towards his goal of being better at running!!!!! oh look he’s grown so much at episode 1 he didn’t talk to anyone his own age or have anything to do and now he’s doing things for himself!!!” Having your Seer take the ethics of not using seeing into the future to manipulate the people around them really really seriously, working very hard at tiny life things and then being a complete fucking badass that is putting down world-threatening threats as hobby that they kind of don’t view as that important in defining them as a person or defining their accomplishments or how they feel about themselves means that it doesn’t matter how overpowered they are in terms of their abilities, your audience will care and be invested in the tiny life accomplishments that they are working so hard to do on their own, and will be proud of their personal growth.

3. Blind Spots. Exactly what it sounds like, can your Seer really see everything? Perfectly? And if they do see everything do they know the exact effect that acting differently will cause? Or are they limited visions -- they only come at certain times, they only are about very specific things, the Seer cannot control when they happen, etc. The more specific and limited your visions are, the harder they have to actually work to figure out how to interpret them and best play the cards that they have, so maybe finding that perfect happy life isn’t actually all that easy. 

Alternatively, your Seer can only see the natural future, what would happen if they do not change their actions. If they change their actions, they can’t re-glimpse the new version, so it’s up to their best guess as to whether or not their plans to make things better will actually make things better. You can create a shit-ton of tension there if only because Plans Never Go Perfectly. Honestly at this point you’re just writing a slightly different version of those “MC is a Super Genius” books that instead of them making good plans because they are a Super Genius, it is good plans because they can see the future, I stand by childhood me that the first three Artemis Fowl books are great and honestly I’m pretty sure the plot wouldn’t really change too much if you added “Artemis can see what future would happen if he didn’t take any actions to interfere” and it would just be another interesting trait that was a part of his planning process.

And even if your Seer can see re-glimpse the new version, they are human. They have only a finite amount of time, and a finite amount of brain space. You don’t need to make the rules of Seer powers be that “they can see all of spacetime and all possibilities of the past and future perfectly all the time.” They can miss things by not thinking something is important and looking in a different direction. You can build up tension around they can only look into the future, not the past, they missed something, and now they don’t know what they missed and what to target to fix it. Or play the finite amount of time bit very hard: if they see the effects of deciding one particular course of action, it takes [x] time for the vision to complete, then they need to try to see the effects of one other particular course of action, and they can only effectively run a handful of simulations -- or even hundreds or thousands, but the answer is still a finite number of dear gods is nature chaotic / the butterfly effect is built into every single physics equation that there is that describes the world -- so tension comes from even if they can check that a plan is good, they still have to come up with a plan to change the future, and can only come up with so many plans in the time that they have. 

4. Existential Crisis. You made Seer powers “they can see all of spacetime and all possibilities of the past and future perfectly all the time.” idk I would find life terribly boring and have an existential crisis over that probably? of am I even human? does anything I do matter? does anyone else exist, really, since I can see and control every aspect of their lives? am I a god? how do I relate to anyone? how do I care about anything? 

In this setup, your main character would not be the Seer, it would be a person or group of people who are either trying to Save The World or Accomplish Something Important or even Accomplish Something Selfish who spend the story trying to befriend the Seer and get their help goddamnit because the moment the Seer is on their side, they win. and then the tension comes from the Seer keeps refusing but is ~slowly opening their heart~, jaded older mentor figure adopts tiny adorable hopeful child is the found family JAM and then your main character finally decides they aren’t getting the help and goes off and does the incredibly dangerous thing alone and the Seer realizes too late that oh nooo my tiny son is in danger and at just the last moment decides fuck it and leaps back into the game to try to help and save them and oh both the glorious drama and all the best tropes all of them seriously if you write this book ping me I’ll read it I’m a sucker for jaded old loner adopts Naive Hopeful Hero Who Is Going To Save The World Even If It Kills Them and jaded old loner just spends the entire time going “oh no. oh no tiny child. oh gods I’m coming out of retirement aren’t I. tiny child please. please have you considered just being chill so that I don’t have to come out of retirement” and then just. the SATISFACTION. when they come in at just the right moment and the tension leading up to it when you didn’t know if they were going to or not. it’s poetry.

This can also pretty easily be done without the Seer having godlike powers, just pretty strong powers-- have them have made their life perfect, found it empty, and fallen into a depressive fugue then use the above plot for the same effect. 

5. Make Them Your Villain. The final way of dealing with making tension and having an overpowered character is, uh..... it’s only no tension when your protagonist doesn’t need to struggle to reach their goals. if the antagonist is walking down easy street that only makes things all the more stressful because how do you beat that? and that is all of the tension in your book: figuring it out.

a subgenre of this is Seer v Seer: the best possible future for one Seer is not necessarily the best possible future for another Seer, so if you have multiple Seers, Seers clashing against other Seers that have the same powers which means their powers aren’t necessarily an advantage is a shit-ton of tension. That is.... pretty much the plot of trash novel? So I’d rather not go into detail about how I personally am doing it, but anytime people who have the same abilities fight, they’re on equal ground, you don’t know who is going to win, so boom, tension.

6. Seers are illegal/ kidnapped by the government the moment they are discovered to work for the government only/ targeted for kidnapping by all sorts of powerful groups, so your Seers need to aggressively hide their powers and the more they use them to make their life perfect, the more in danger they are; even if they can use their abilities to avoid ever being captured, they will be on the run their entire lives if they get found out.

[itsclydebitches]

I read you’re Chapter 2 recap, and your bit about Sun using the term “literally” immediately made me think of Weird Al Yankovic’s song, “Word Crimes.”

aldkfjalsfkja congratulations you’ve unlocked additional thoughts and feelings about this topic. Okay, funny as that song is and as much as I’m dragging BTD, I think it’s worth reiterating that I break a lot of grammar rules. Sometimes deliberately. Sometimes because I just plain make mistakes. Which brings up two very important things to remember when talking about all this: 

It’s more about editing than it is any natural talent for grammar 

Language evolves and the rules we use evolve with it 

In regards to #1 grammar does not, as the song suggests, tell us anything about the intelligence of the individual using it (though of course I get that this is done for humor’s sake). I say that as someone who has never, in her life, picked up an unfinished piece of writing that wasn’t riddled with mistakes, even when so-called professionals had written it. Now “good” writers usually have the more common rules down like two vs to vs too, but I guarantee they’re making different errors because people don’t naturally write according to rules someone else has come up with. Maybe you tend towards run-on sentences. Maybe commas trip you up. Me? I absolutely suck at parallelism. I didn’t even know I sucked at it until years into my graduate education because it took that long to meet anyone who cared about that particular issue. So the takeaway should not be “Learn grammar, morons!” but rather “Make sure that you’re putting good time and effort towards editing, getting help from others to spot the problems you never will.” My issue isn’t really with Myers potentially making a mistake (I’m still not even sure I just didn’t get it??) but more with the fact that a professionally published novel seems to have had rather subpar editing done. This is also, notably, in the context of “RWBY as a whole lacks good editing which exacerbates my reaction to seeing similar issues here” and “The purpose of these recaps is to comment on anything that catches my eye, so that inevitably leads to some nitpicking.” Myers is not an awful person for writing an awkward passage. Myers just needs a better editor and has the bad luck to be writing for a series with so many other problems. 

(I could also get into how knowing grammar means having access to very specific kinds of education which makes it a class issue... but that’s a whole other conversation.) 

#2 - Language changes! It evolves! Its entire purpose is to serve us and we change our language extensively depending on our environment and audience!! (Example: Internet speak is not “bad English,” it’s English specifically meant for the Internet.) Grammar, in turn, is meant to provide readability. It helps us understand one another’s writing in a world where everyone writes differently. Which means we should absolutely ignore and/or change the rules when we need them to do something else. “Literally” is a perfect example of this. You can 100% use “literally” to say

because you’re using it figuratively. We recognize that using “literally” is a great way to express the emotion attached to the action. If you tell someone you “literally couldn’t get out of bed” you’re conveying the extreme difficulty you experienced. It’s so hard it’s like it was a real impossibility. The “like” is culturally attached to “literally” and those who fail to acknowledge that aren’t doing some holy work, upholding the Sacred Grammatical Texts that must not change, they’re simply failing to recognize that “literally” has more than one meaning in the English language - and has for a very long time. 

The problem with Myers’ passage (again, far as I can tell) is that his use of “literally” isn’t serving any of these functions. It doesn’t seem to be figurative. Rather, as I explain in the recap, it sets itself up to be the literal form of “literally” (lol) via a specific setup of idiom + unexpected reality... but then doesn’t achieve that. The passage is confusing which is what grammar and writing, 99% of the time, is not meant to do. Making yourself understood is the entire point of non-fiction and creative expression. Thus, the writer who crafts a ten line sentence because they want to convey that this character is rambling and spouting everything in one breath... they’re doing good work. It doesn’t matter if a rule was broken because here that rule is an unnecessary limitation and breaking it doesn’t leave the reader behind. There are, however, writers who religiously follow every rule they personally know of and yet still fail to get their meaning across. Or do so in an incredibly dry manner. They’re the ones who need editors to say, “Okay, follow this rule as well so no one gets confused” or “This is a novel, not an academic paper. Spice things up a bit, yeah?” 

At the end of the day I don’t care how Myers uses the term “literally” provided I understand what he’s trying to achieve with it. Sadly, that wasn’t the case here. 

[kpoptrashibnida]

Enough Pt. 2

A/N: Here is Chapter 2 everyone! Thanks to those of you who have so kindly read and supported the first chapter. I want to apologize in advance if the formatting might be a little wonky. This is my first time publishing a chapter on my iPad, so hopefully it’s not too bad. I tried editing as best as I could, but please spare me if there are errors. I came to Brazil for vacation and I’m trying to write/edit in my spare time. Currently it’s 1AM in Brazil and I just felt like I needed to finish this chapter and publish it. Anyway, enough rambling, here is Chapter 2. Also, real quick, this might feel like a filler chapter/not important, but there are key elements here that will come into play later on. Okay? Cool. Happy reading!

WARNINGS: None

When the idea came to you to you, the result you got was not at all what you expected.

You managed to sneak a peak at Chanyeol´s door code the last time you came over to his place for a night of passionate sex. You didn’t plan on coming here often or anything weird like that. But you knew Chanyeol had been having long and tiring days at work and practice, so you just wanted to do something nice for him.

You had dressed up and made some food for him to have at his apartment. You don’t know how he had such a nice body when all he ́d do is eat out and eat ramen at home. You went over to his apartment when you knew he ́d be at band practice. You cleaned up a bit and put some of the food away in the fridge while the rest you started to reheat so it´d be ready by the time he got home.

“You scared me!” You piped as you grabbed a cloth towel and wiped up the bit of mess you made when you dropped the spoon.

“How did you get in my apartment?” His tone had not relaxed and you noticed how upset he looked, which made your stomach drop.

“I saw you punch in your code once and I remembered it. I know you’ve been busy and tired lately, so I wanted to surprise you.” You watched his face as his eyes scanned what was visible of his apartment from where you two were standing.

“I may be tired but I don’t need you to come here and cook or clean for me.” He brushed past you as he made his way to his bathroom, getting ready for a shower.

“You don’t want to eat? The soup is warm.” You said softly, trying to ease his mood.

“I ate already.” Was his only reply as he slammed the door of his bathroom shut.

You stood there for a moment, to see if he would come out of the bathroom and say he was joking. But once you heard the water turn on and his Bluetooth speaker started blaring some heavy metal song, your initial embarrassment turned into anger.

Taking off the apron around your waist, you huffed in annoyance at his attitude. He could’ve at least been a bit grateful! Sure coming to his house unannounced was your bad, you recognized that. But he didn’t need to act like such an asshole. You picked up the rest of your belongings and made your way out of is apartment, slamming the door behind you. You knew he wasn’t going to hear it, but it made you feel better anyway.

Chanyeol and you have a very interesting relationship. You’re not formally dating, because Chanyeol made it clear he doesn’t do relationships. You were each other’s go-to fuck buddy. You liked to think it was more than that though. There were times when he would be very sweet and attentive and other times he would be cold, distant and give you the silent treatment for days, if not weeks, before he’d message you as if nothing happened. It was extremely confusing and frustrating at times because you really felt like you were developing feelings for him, you just didn’t know how he felt.

His attitude tonight was completely unexpected and you wish he’d tell you what made him so upset. It’s not like you were strangers. Six months had passed since the night you two went home together after the club. He had been over at your place countless times. You had only been to his place a handful of times, but it didn’t happen often. You feel it had something to do with the fact that he never stayed the night with you. After you’d finish having sex, he would normally stay for a few minutes to cuddle with you, but then he’d get dressed and leave. You figured he didn’t like to go to his place because he didn’t want to kick you out. You were intuitive enough though, and so the few times you’d be over at his place, you’d leave almost immediately after. He would offer to drive you home so you didn’t have to take an Uber or a taxi, but he never asked you to stay.

Once you’re back inside your apartment, yo decide to apologize to Chanyeol. You want to put this whole thing behind you as if it never happened.

Hey, I just want to say I’m sorry. It was out of line of me to barge in like that. Don’t worry, it’s not going to happen again.

You plugged your phone into its charger and went to the bathroom to take a shower, You put the unseen sexy lingerie in the hamper and sighed, it was a shame it was not ripped off your body tonight.

Once you were out of the shower, you checked your phone to see if he had replied, and to your complete disappointment, he had not. Maybe he was more angry about it than what you thought.

“And he never replied?” Mina asked in shock, her eyes bugging out in a comedic way.

“Nope. It’s been three days since. He’s giving me the silent treatment again.” You roll your eyes as you sip from your coffee.

“Look, babe, I say this because you’re my best friend and I love you. But why are you with him? He’s not worth your time! He’s such a douchebag.” Mina says, getting angrier as she thinks about it.

“He’s not that bad. He just has mood swings.” You shrug.

“Bullshit. Dude, do you not see what's going on here? He manipulates you! And you just keep going back to him time and time again! You deserve so much better than that! You’re much better than all of this!” Mina slams her coffee cup on the table, giving you a glare you’ve never received from her before.

“Mina, I know you’re looking out for me, but you need to calm down. Not all of us are as lucky as you and have a boyfriend that literally bends over backwards to give you everything you want.” You spit back at her.

“Are you freaking stupid? That’s exactly how your boyfriend is supposed to treat you! But, oh, right! Chanyeol isn’t your boyfriend. He’s just a guy that calls you when he feels like he needs something to fuck.”

You were stunned to silence. Never before had Mina ever spoken to you like. Her words had venom and you felt yourself get angry but also wanting to cry at the same time.

“Wow. Okay then.” You say, grabbing your coffee cup and your purse as you get up. “I’ll see you back at the office. My lunch break is over.” You walk away without giving her the chance to say anything else.

Mina is glued to her seat, shocked at herself for the things she said to you. She regretted it as soon as it came out of her mouth. She wanted you to see that Chanyeol was only using and manipulating you, he didn’t really care about you and it hurt her to see you let yourself be used that way. You were such a strong willed person that it felt completely out of character seeing you let yourself be treated this way.

Once you got to your cubicle, you let a few tears stream down your face before you wiped them away angrily. You didn’t want anyone to see you cry at work.

Hey, want to come over tonight?

Your nerves were on end the second you pressed the send button. You just wanted to prove to yourself that Mina is all wrong about Chanyeol.

You put your phone face down so you could concentrate on your work and not glance at it every two seconds to see if he replied. You opened up your email and saw you had many of them you had to answer, making you sigh in annoyance.

“Seriously? Did everyone decide to message me when i was out to lunch?” You grumbled to yourself, opening up the first email and resuming your work.

By the time you answered your last email, three hours had passed and it was time to leave work. You glanced at your phone, remembering that you had messaged Chanyeol. You checked to see if he had replied, just to see he left you on read. You shoved your phone into your purse, annoyed at yourself for messaging him.

You didn’t realize you were crying until you noticed a little boy sitting across from you on the bus; he was staring at you and making a wiping motion. You wiped at your face, surprised to see that it was wet. You sniffled quietly and got off at your stop, stopping by the convenience store to buy some ramen and a lot of junk food. You don’t know why you were craving it so much, but you felt like you needed it.

Once the ramen was ready you turned on the TV to watch a drama and pig out on junk food. The drama that was on air was a very sappy romantic drama that had you crying when the lead male character confessed his love to the female lead.

“Love isn’t real!” You screamed at the tv, throwing the remote control across the room and wiping at your tears. You emptied the bag of honey butter chips into your mouth and laid on the couch, watching the drama until you fell asleep.

You woke up in the middle of the night from a sharp pain in your lower abdomen. Clutching your stomach , you made your way to the bathroom to see what was wrong with you. Pulling down your pants and sitting on the toilet, you saw the dark red spot on your panties.

“Ugh, screw you Mother Nature.” You grumbled as you stripped your clothes off and made your way to the shower. That explained the sudden need to eat half the junk food your local convenience store had to offer. It also explained why you were crying like a little bitch last night, momma didn’t reside no weakling.

After your shower, you saw that it was past 4am. Grabbing a heating pad, you took a couple of Advil and hoped that it would help alleviate the pain. You went back to sleep before you knew it.

The blaring alarm woke you up and the second you moved to turn it off, you felt a sharp pain once again in your lower abdomen. Moaning in pain you realized that you were not going to be able to function at work today, not when your uterus was literally ripping itself to shreds inside your body.

You texted your manager to let him know you were not going to work that day. Thankfully your company was very lenient with sick leave, so you weren’t too worried about it.

You felt like crap and decided to order some delicious kimchi stew to help settle the pain, it was better than eating ramen and junk food, that’s for sure.

When Mina showed up for work, she made her way to your office with a coffee in hand, ready to apologize for her behavior the day before. She was totally out of line and she didn’t like it when you two were mad at each other. Rounding the corner, she was confused when she realized your cubicle was empty. It was very unlike you to miss work, but at the same time, lately you had been doing a lot of things that were unlike you. Still, she felt terribly bad about yesterday and she decided to shoot you a text, maybe you were sick and that worried her.

Hey… I know you’re probably still mad at me, but I want to make sure you’re okay. I didn’t see you at work today. Is everything alright?

You woke from your nap when you felt your phone vibrate next to your head. Your heart skipped a beat with the possible Chanyeol messaging you back. But seeing that it was Mina instead also made your heart race, remembering everything that happened the day before. Reading her message, you smiled softly and rolled your eyes. She worried so much about you and you felt bad for walking out on her yesterday. Her words hurt you, but you know she was just looking out for you.

Hey, I’m fine. Aunt Ruby decided to pay me a painful visit.

Oh no babe! As soon as I’m done with my morning meeting, I’ll leave work early and make my way to your house with some delicious food and goodies~

Aww you don’t have to, I know you’re busy.

Nonsense. I’ll be there in 2hrs

I love you and don’t deserve you

;)

Taking a look around your living room, you realized that your apartment was a little messy. You tidied up and washed the few dishes that were in your sink. You put a load of laundry in the washer and headed to the bathroom to take a quick shower so you felt a little better.

Once you were out of the shower, you put your laundry to hang as the doorbell rang. Looking at the security camera screen, you saw Mina standing there holding bags of food.

“Hey! I brought you a little survival kit.” Mina said as she took her shoes off and made her way to your kitchen.

“I have some heating pads, chocolate, some ramen and tofu stew. Oh and kimchi from that banchan store down the block. That old lady makes the best kimchi.” She put all the bags on top of your counter as she sorted the items out.

“You’re so good to me, I don’t deserve you.” You said as you walked up behind her and wrapped your arms around her waist.

Mina shrugged herself out of your arms and whirled around to face you, you were stunned at her sudden movement.

“No, don’t say that. I’m horrible, okay? I was so out of line with you. You didn’t deserve that. I don’t deserve you.” Mia looked near tears as she embraced you in a tight hug.

“I know you’re looking out for me.” You said as you both pulled away. You sat on a stool as Mina took the stew out and placed it in front of you with some rice and kimchi.

“I went full mamma bear on you. I didn’t mind when you and Chanyeol were just sleeping around. But I know you and I don’t want to see you get hurt. Chanyeol doesn’t deserve you and you should not be accepting his treatment.” She said, feeling angry but sad at the same time.

“I know, but-“ You were interrupted by Mina’s phone going off. She took her phone out and answered.

“What? I am out of the office.” She said into the phone. She was quiet for a second and cursed under her breath. “Okay okay okay. I get it. I’ll be there shortly.” She hung up and sighed.

“I’m sorry, I gotta go. Some people are just so incompetent they can’t do their job even though it’s so simple. I’ll check back later, okay?” She said, grabbing at her purse.

“Of course, don’t worry. You did so much already. Thank you.”

“Eat your soup!” Mina said as she made her way out of your apartment.

You ate your soup in silence and threw the trash out once you were done with the soup. Grabbing a bag of honey chips, bless you Mina, you plopped down on your couch and pulled up Netflix. You got lost on the drama you were watching you didn't hear your phone vibrate until the second time. You reached for it absentmindedly and didn't pay attention to who messaged you until you unlock your phone.

Hey babe

Can I come over? I need you

You stared at Chanyeol’s message for a couple of minutes before you responded. You were dumbfounded as to why he was messaging you now, after ignoring you for a few days.

You can come over if you want. But I’m on my period and I’m not going to sleep with you.

You sent the message with a hint of annoyance. You were hoping he’d want to come over anyway, to prove to you that this whole thing was not just about sex.

I’ll come over in 2 days

His response left you feeling cold. Two days. As in when your period is over. Your heart sank to your stomach and you felt a little nauseous. You were really hoping that this was something else, but it seems like time and time again, Chanyeol was proving you otherwise. You wiped at the tears angrily, both at Chanyeol and yourself. You couldn’t believe what an asshole he was. You had enough of his bullshit.

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[deutschedame]

Get to know your mutuals

I was tagged by the awesome @innerartisanfan so thank you very much! ^_^ 

Rules: Get to know your mutuals! When you get this, it means someone wants to know more about you, so list 5 things about yourself you want your followers to know! They can be as simple as your age or as complex as your deepest fear, as long as it’s something you’re comfortable with sharing. When you’re done and if you want to, send this to 10 people you want to get to know better!

Tagging: @thewomanwhobloggedlikeaman :)

1.I did a thing and cut my own hair because it was way too long for my liking and even though hairdressers are open again in Germany, I knew there’d be no way to get an appointment for the next few months and also I’m in a risk group, so I don’t want to endanger myself or others just for a hair cut. So I did it myself! Using Wiki How hahaha :D and you know what, I’m really proud, because I would have never thought that would be something I would do one day and it turned out surprisingly nice! There is a big part of me that tends to be like “I want to do something, but I don’t really care enough” and then another part of me that is like “no, you need to care, damn it!” So I feel proud of myself for caring :)

2. I have a knack for being an otherwise good baker but forgetting one extremely important ingredient that makes a massive difference in the end product. Like, one year for my birthday, I baked a cheesecake. Remembered every ingredient, but somehow forgot the sugar. Saved it by heating up some frozen fruit on the stove top with a bunch of sugar as a topping. And on Wednesday, I baked some bread. Again, remembered everything...except salt. It still tastes surprisingly okay, and when you eat it as a sandwich or with some butter and jam, it isn’t that noticeable. Maybe I’ll figure out a way to forget something less essential next time around ;)  

3. Alright, here are two silly stories from times I was very high, goofing off with my friends. The first time I was ever high, I became very fascinated by my arms and kept lifting them up and then dropping them back down. I spent most of the night saying “Wow, limbs are so heavy. So cool” and my former roommate at the time and I still joke about that to this day. The other time was with a group of friends in Pittsburgh and we decided to have a game night. The first game didn’t work because none of us could concentrate on the instructions and kept laughing our heads off. So we decided to play Mario Kart instead. Well, I ended up racing, but looking at the wrong screen the whole race, and after everyone had finished, they were like “...wait, where is your racer?” Turns out, I had not even really started, I had just been driving around in circles the whole time while looking at a different screen. But my friends are the bomb.com and waited for me to finish. Anyways, I do silly things when I’m high :D

4. There is a radio station in Bremen that has a program called “Die Plattmacher.” They take well-known songs in German and English and re-write them in the Low German language (Plattdeutsch). I absolutely love Low German because it is such an adorable-sounding language (closely related to English and Dutch) and have been slowly but steadily learning it. I decided to submit two song ideas to this radio program, even though I’m sure my Low German language ability is not very high. I explained that I’m an American living in Bremen and that I appreciate Low German and the radio program a ton and that, if nothing else, I hope they have a nice laugh because the songs I wrote are amusing. And the program broadcaster wrote me back and was so sweet and corrected a few of the errors I had made in the text and said that he really enjoyed the texts. He even said that he sent them to the band responsible for performing songs for the program and that I shouldn’t be surprised to see my songs on the program’s website in the coming months, since the program is not airing as regularly due to the pandemic. And he said I will obviously be credited as the writer and that if I have other ideas for songs, I should write him anytime because he enjoyed my first two so much :D I have written songs for over a decade and I never would have thought that the first song of mine to be published would be a) in a foreign country, b) in my non-native language, c) in a variety of that language that I do not even speak :D

5. My neighbors have a cat and we’ve been friends for a while now. The other day, Philipp and I were out for a walk. We were on the sidewalk opposite this neighbor’s house when I saw that my cat friend (still don’t know his name yet; I just call him Kitty) was outside, sitting on the steps to their house. So I walked over to say hi and the cat saw me and walked down the steps to wait for me to say hi and meowed at me as I walked up to him. Philipp was really cute and excited and was like “Wow! The cat recognized you! Look how happy he is!” Then we spent the next five minutes petting the cat and it was such a good day ^_^ cat friends are the best friends :)

[kihyunswrath]

Anyway how does it benefit Starship to blur Wonho?

Like honestly please someone explain this to me. I am fucking baffled. I don’t even know how to explain how little sense this makes to me. I know Starship is not necessarily famous for having... intelligent staff members in there, but like. Seriously.

Who is this for? Why bother? Who was paid for just literally hand-picking photos after photos of their merch and stuff and carefully making the entire picture look like laughably cheap shit, like don’t they have literally anything more important to do? 

Every single fucking person in this planet who has ever heard of Monsta X, knows that Wonho exists and that he was a member of the group. No matter what his company thinks of him now, they did accept him as a useful, important member to the group back then and they also do know fans still like him and would love to get reminders of him every now and then in their older merch, videos or other content. Like how does it help to blur him like there’s something absolutely fucking heinous about his existence, but yet not properly edit him out or simply stop publishing and selling stuff he used to be in? 

Like??? Everyone who gets into Monsta X now and didn’t hear about this scandal yet WILL notice that there’s suddenly this extra looming blur in all of their group pictures and then find out about it and probably immediately yikes the fuck out? Everyone who does know about it already and used to like him will get one more reminder of how seriously unprofessional, embarrassing, maddeningly stupid and infuriating Starship can be - like are they testing our limits or what? Like are they just hoping we would indeed get so depressed and angry that we’d leave Monsta X as a whole and then they could slowly choke the group to death like they did with Boyfriend? All the while not realizing this would make their entire fucking company die down too? Only to satisfy maybe an entire three people who would have wanted Wonho to disappear from all records?

Is this about a 500-year-old chaebol ahjussi shareholder (e.g. you-know-who’s dad) and their harem of sasaeng antifans who hold Starship by the scruff of their necks, saying that Wonho’s face brings them reputation damage to the third generation and shame on your cow, and that just the suspicion of you smoking something illegal once is worse than being convicted of both murder and rape, and maybe there’s also space for that additional oh-don’t-you-ever-dare-to-tarnish-the-name-of-this-great-nation-ever-again? Like could there even be someone who actually gives two fucks about Wonho having some pictures here and there, considering all his pissbaby bullies got what they wanted? 

And if this is about copyright issues, that doesn’t make much sense either now, does it. They have been paying for him as a compensation for the materials over the years? They still get promoted, perhaps even paid through older music videos and others already uploaded to different websites, including the ones in vlive, but they haven’t edited or removed those? Plus, considering how they removed his name from some of the Spotify songs he had been composing, one could easily think he didn’t own any copyrights to anything he ever did. It wouldn’t be unheard of for the kpop company to own their idols’ literal body parts, let alone some random photoshoot pictures they took way before the company realized one member in particular deserves to be dropped just for fun. And again? They can also literally just stop selling or promoting for stuff his face or name is in. Like what’s the point in selling those if you are going to face hundreds of legal problems and the end result of him being edited out just looks odd, horrible and stupid anyway? And like. People can still buy Monsta X old merch, right? Wonho’s going to be there in the physical product people get their hands on, and Starship will receive money out of it anyway? Like what’s the difference? Having a lil pleasant surprise when you didn’t know exactly how Wonho was going to look in the photo you bought?

I mean I sure do enjoy thinking of this being Wonho’s own doing. I’d love to think he himself just sent them a text message and was like “lalala I hereby forbid y’all from using my face, name, body or voice in anything you ever release again, try to cope with that and oh, I guess you have to tell your fans they will see my blurred face and name literally everywhere and get called Mnbebes I hope they’re NOT okay with that I hope they’ll come beat your asses anyway see you in court, bye”.

But maybe I’m projecting because that’s just something I would do. I don’t know if Wonho would intentionally do that to the fans, let alone to the other members. 

Let it be declared, in any case, as usual, that 1) Starship is managing things like little cowards they are, 2) Monsta X needs to get out of there asap and 3) as long as Starship and whoever is involved holds Wonho accountable for unprovable bullshit, I’m going to hold them accountable for being cowards, twats and old-fashioned clowns.  

Sorry not sorry, Starship. I will absolutely never stop bringing up your mistakes, errors and flaws in the most inconvenient places, in the most unfortunate situations. I hope you enjoy being dragged through the mud, but hey, it’s just a payback, so don’t take it too personally.

(I’m sorry I don’t have the credits for this modified logo but whoever edited it needs a raise) 

[davewakeman]

Talking Tickets: 17 April 2020--Refunds! Restarts! Support! And, More!

Hey! 

Thanks for being here again this week. If you are enjoying this newsletter, tell your friends and colleagues to sign up by visiting this link.

How is everyone holding up out there?

If you need someone to chat with, let me know. I’m here for you if you need a proper chat as my friend, Cat, would say.

I made a typing error about the strategy webinar. It is going on this coming Tuesday.

Have a few minutes and want to grab a drink? We may not be able to have a drink in person just yet, but we can have a virtual happy hour. Join me and Ken Troupe for what is becoming a Friday tradition for happy hour with sports business folks at 5 PM EDT.

If you are interested, we’ve got a nice Slack community with folks from around the world and all areas of the industry, exchanging ideas, connecting, and thinking about the future of their businesses.

I’ll share a bunch of links to resources and other places to connect in the newsletter.

Hopefully, I’m able to strike a proper balance for all of you…between, “Wow! This is nuts!” and “We will get through this.”

To the tickets!

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1. When will events return? No one knows but we are learning more:

Dr. Zeke Emmamuel says he doesn’t see large scale events coming back until the fall of 2021.

Shane Harmon, CEO of Sky Stadium in New Zealand shared some interesting information from his government on when restrictions might start to be loosened and things can begin to normalize a little. Patron Base also put together a nice resource guide for their customers that y’all may find useful.

In Europe, the UK is preparing for 3 additional weeks of stay-at-home orders, pushing the opening of events back a bit further.

In the US, we still have no clear strategy for what reopening will look like, what we should expect, and how we will start to regain any sense of normalcy.

We do have a reopening panel and we do have a desire to reopen events, but, again, unfortunately, no clear direction.

I think we all have to try and take a balanced approach to our expectations here. First, we have the economic factor and that’s impacting all of us here immensely. Second, we have to deal with the safety concerns of the population and recognize that liability will drive a lot of the decision making process. Finally, never lose sight of the impact of fear and emotionally driven decision making on mass society. As quickly as people are gung ho to get back to ballparks, if an outbreak happens that was accelerated by a ballgame and that link is made, that could do more long-term damage than anything that has happened to this point.

Because, unfortunately, none of us really know the right answer here.

But I am hopeful after seeing the PGA Tour aim for June and the Australian Football League talking about July. 

2. The economic impact of these shutdowns becomes more and more apparent:

Baseball America wrote up a piece on why fan free games aren’t going to make sense for MiLB and what not playing in 2020 would mean for minor league baseball going forward.

The economic challenges are going to be felt all over. Colleges are likely going to be put in a position to cut sports like the University of Cincinnati did with soccer this week.

As a holistic thing, Research and Markets put together a report this week that tries and cover everything about the entertainment industry and the impact of the virus on folks.

Like a lot of stuff, the analysis and the information coming out from reputable sources needs to be parsed with for context and when you see anyone tell you something is all or nothing…take that with a grain of salt.

Bill Sutton tweeted out a call for teams to get on the virtual season tickets now and over the years I’ve been calling for folks to think more seriously about their membership model, their email lists, and how they are developing their global fan bases.

Harry DeMott from Ticket Evolution wrote up a good piece on restoring liquidity to the ticketing ecosystem as I was finishing this up that is worth a read.

Whatever position you find yourself in right now, your strategy going forward is going to be more important than ever. And, if doing things the way we’ve always done things is a bad idea in the best of times, right now it is a really bad idea to settle for that answer.

3. StubHub, refunds, cancellations, and more continue to make the news: 

The regulators in the UK continue to look into the merger between Viagogo and StubHub. And, as was mentioned in the press this week, “worst timed acquisition ever“?

Vivid Seats did announce their refund and exchange policy this week and it looks a lot different than Ticketmaster’s or StubHub’s.

AEG is offering a 30-day window for fans to get refunds and once a new date is announced, fans will get another 30 days.

While many of us have focused a lot of our attention on the platforms and technology companies, the same uncertainty is trickling into other areas with college football programs feeling the pinch because of the compromised place they find themselves.

Let’s be real here, college programs are only feeling the pinch now because most of them had the earliest deadlines…at a certain point, this is going to be a refrain that all of us are going to hear. Again, it goes back to the point above…we need clarity, information, and guidance on what the next several months look like before folks are really going to feel comfortable doing much of the stuff that we consider normal.

Leadership 101 stuff.

4. How are you connecting with your fans and customers during the pandemic?

Over the last few weeks, I’ve highlighted some really cool examples of using assets, content, and ideas to connect with folks.

The link above is from my friend, Blair Hughes, down in Brisbane. He’s been focusing on fan engagement since 2013 and he updated his resource guides this week to include a few new ideas that will work even when you are socially distanced from your fans.

The Indianapolis Indians were lauded by the governor. The Red Sox dropped coloring sheets. There are tons of free videos and performances from organizations all over the world. 

I’ve struggled with this a little bit because what do you offer folks when there is so much uncertainty. My path has been to continue to figure out how to add value and share ideas with folks. (To be fair, it is selfish as well because focusing on others helps me overcome the gaping void of being an entirely inadequate 4th-grade teacher and helps keep some of those negative thought processes at bay.)

But what are you doing to connect with folks now? Let me know and I can try and highlight some of these ideas as well.

5. The ticketing industry is doing a lot of stuff to help everyone weather this crisis together: 

This week INTIX announced a relief fund, the INTIX Member Covid-19 Relief Fund. 100% of funds will go to member assistance to help members of the ticket community bridge the economic gap while we wait out the pandemic.

Any gift matters, even $1.

As Maureen says that all folks want to do is help and I agree. So if you can, support this effort.

On top of the relief fund, Maureen and her team are hosting a weekly Zoom call on Wednesdays at 12 PM EDT. Anyone can join, no matter if you are a member or not. This week’s had over 200 folks.

The ALSD has a list of resources and ways for folks to learn and connect during the pandemic.

Global Citizen has put together the Live Aid of the Covid-19 crisis for tomorrow, 18 April.

Crew Nation is Live Nation’s effort to help the crews that make the shows happen. The Arts Council in the UK is also working to help freelancers and other folks impacted by the shutdowns. Theatre Support as well.  Indie venues band together to form a group to lobby congress for support of the industry.

While it isn’t about giving any money to support folks, MLS put up a training site so folks can keep their soccer skills fresh during the social distancing. And, if you have a young kid, this is likely enough to make you weep.

This is on top of all the other things I’ve highlighted over the last few weeks. If you or your organization are doing something to help folks, let me know and I will highlight it and share it here and with my community as well.

As I finish this up, I love when folks run and do challenges in their local communities…so I saw this one from Rob Sibbitts in Atlanta and he has completed his challenge…but maybe we can convince him to run another race for a local nonprofit.

My buddy, Greg Turner, who lives outside of Hong Kong just translated a report for anyone that is interested in learning more about the Chinese market for arts and entertainment. It doesn’t fit into the weathering the crisis theme, but it does give you something new to explore and since China is slowly starting to return to normal activities could give you some food for thought about what to think about in all of your home markets.

—————————————————————————————————————-

What am I up to this week?

Guess what? I’m still at home! I am doing the webinar that is listed at the top and I’m starting to drop new content on the podcast feed.

Want to chat? Let me know. Between my duties as an awful elementary school teacher, I’ve got plenty of time and will to chat. And, I’m happy to be here if someone needs someone to talk with. 

Please follow and like us:

Talking Tickets: 17 April 2020–Refunds! Restarts! Support! And, More! was originally published on Wakeman Consulting Group

[kiseopingu]

Yoooo o/ 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 13, 15, 25 & 38 for the writer ask thingy? 😊

Yooo Nya, thank you for the ask

1. Describe your comfort zone—a typical you-fic.

It’s not necessarily my “comfort zone” because writing anything is challenging, but something that gets me really motivated and makes me genuinely happy to write is, usually : magic of some kind, or at least a fantasy-ish environment, action packed, with a lot of character interactions and usually a romance that makes me swoon, generally in a light-ish tone that can and will get darker at times, but always with hope

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

I am SO ASHAMED to have to say this, but I think I’d want to try my hand at writing an A/B/O fanfic? /sweats/ As for original writing, I am currently thinking over a soulmate related work, which I can’t wait to explore! 

5. Share one of your strengths.

It’s always hard to realize your own strengths... I think I’m pretty good at writing action-y things? I love battles of all kind.I also think I’m pretty good at RP-ing and creating believable character reactions when I’m immersed enough in said RP! I try to implement it in my novels as well but it’s more difficult since you have to play not just one part but multiple.

7. Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

“Un bruit sur sa gauche lui fit faire volte-face. On se jeta sur lui. Il esquiva.  Fit face à son ennemi, les dents serrées et les poings levés. La créature n’était pas humaine. Sa forme était à peine humanoïde, enveloppée dans un linceul de noirceur, se balançant au gré du vent, laissant passer la lumière à travers son corps, révélant l’image trouble de la forêt derrière elle. Le jeune homme fronça les sourcils, laissant un sourire acre étirer ses lèvres. Si quelqu’un avait pris la peine de semer cette forêt de sortilèges de protection, c’est qu’il devait s’approcher de son but.La silhouette passa à l’attaque, se jetant de nouveau sur lui. Il évita les mains tendues de justesse, frémissant à l’idée d’entrer en contact avec les appendices capables d’infliger une brûlure lancinante. Son ennemi vacilla un instant, oscillant entre deux états. Existence et néant. Une fois de nouveau solide, la silhouette repassa à la charge.Cette fois, il ne lui laissa pas le temps de réagir. D’un bond souple, il se glissa sous son bras, encercla son visage, et trancha sa gorge, comme il l’aurait fait sur toute autre cible. Le sortilège eut un cri glaçant, inhumain, lui vrillant les tympans. Puis il disparut, comme de la poussière emportée par le vent.”

- Prologue from “Orb’s Quest”, my latest Fantasy novel

I wouldn’t say it’s the thing I’m the proudest of, but I didn’t have time to sift through all my recent writing lmao. I do think, however, that it’s pretty representative of my style, especially since it’s a battle scene. I just really liked writing about my son beating the shit out of humanoïd spells (and then getting himself beaten to an inch from death lmao)

8. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

“Stiles’ fingers trail against where the hole had been, only a couple of minutes earlier. His fingers are light as feathers, and Derek shivers. “It’s skin that magically heals itself,” he whispers. “I’ve seen it happen hundreds of times, already, with the rest of the pack but… I don’t know, it always feels so strange, to see a wound, even as important as this one, close in seconds, and leave no traces of it behind.”“We never have the scars to show for what we went through.” Derek’s voice is low. He’s talking to himself, mostly. There’s a weight in his chest, as he does.“Well, that’s too bad. I always thought scars were kinda badass,” Stiles huffs, dropping a quick kiss to Derek’s forehead. And just like that, the weight is lifted.”

- from “Gates of Thorns and Bones”, a Sterek fanfiction (set to publish in Summer 2020 at the latest)I just... you know what, that whole fic just KILLS me, but when I wrote that piece of dialogue for Derek? I punched myself in the gut with it. So yeah, I’m pretty dang proud of it!

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

“Just write.” Sometimes I get so caught up in overthinking my writing that I forget that if I DON’T write, it’s no use at all. And also, everyone has their own rythm. It’s okay if you don’t write every single day. If you write 500 words every couple of weeks. At the end, you’ll still have a book.

15. If you could choose one of your fics to be filmed, which would you choose?

Original fiction : “Sea’s Song”, without a fucking doubt. But I’m BIASED. (There isn’t enough pirate media out there ok. I NEED MORE. If I have to make it, so be it.)

Fanfiction : On the one hand, I’d freaking KILL for a Captive Prince adaptation, so any of my CaPri post-canon fics... on the other hand, I worked SO HARD on “Gates of Thorns and Bones” and poured SO MUCH of myself into it that I wish I could have it in film format (with the original actors, of course! I’m sure I can rope Tyler Hoechlin into filming this lmao!)

25. What do you look for in a beta?

Someone like you But like, if you want a serious answer: someone that’ll catch my grammatical/syntaxe/overall purely word-ish errors as well as continuity/character development/worldbuilding/plot holes. A Jack of all trades of a sort! That’s what I tend to provide when I beta for someone, so I expect it if possible.(Keep in mind this answer is mostly for original fiction. For fanfiction, since I’m just having fun, I already count myself lucky to have anyone reread my shit and correct my mistakes lmao)

38. Talk about a review that made your day.

I’ve been getting SO MUCH love for “Echoes” in the past few days that I am a literal MESS over everyone just telling me how thankful they are that I decided to pick this concept up.Original fiction wise, I think I’ll never be over the couple of reviews I got on two short stories I sent in for a competition. I didn’t win or anything, but the reviews were very well thought-out and very uplifting, telling me I had written great things and interesting concepts, and that I’d go far if I kept this up. I’ve got them somewhere in my e-mails, and I know if my book submissions to publishers get rejected, I’ll be able to reread them to make me feel great again about my writing!

Thanks for the ask Nya, you’re the best!