#i would not reccomend this series

[thewisestdino]

Andrew and Neil MS paint drawings (from all for the game)

[so-very-small]

give your giantess OC a sword. or perhaps a tasteful dagger. she needs it so so bad she told me herself

[emile-hides]

Everyone should go watch Densel’s Animal Crossing series on YouTube right now just for these moments alone

[vegalocity]

Hiii the other day I was reminiscing about your oblivion fic, (it's my favorite fic of all time), do you plan on continuing it? Or if you're leaving it (which is fine btw, I don't wanna put pressure on you) would you tell us how you were planning to end it?

Okay so first off-

aww thank you! I'm so glad you enjoy it that much! And second off-

....

under the cut

I DID have two last installments in mind as i was planning out how things would go, But i wasn't able to get them to paper before i lost steam--In large part because @unseelie-robynx And I ended up fleshing out the Bad End from Side B And came up with a sort of splinter AU we call the Tyrant Prince AU (for more info click here!) (also Robynx has done a BUNCH of additions to the Bad end idea with her own path, it's real fun) I might go back to the original story i don't know at this juncture, so assuming i won't i'll just tell you my plans-

So i had part 5 and part 6 planned out- Part five (Ovation) was going to be about the rest of the Monkie Crew finding out about what was going on with Red

Everyone of course would react differently, Xiaojiao is trying to figure out the practicalities of un-brainwashing someone, Tang is morbidly curious about both Red's mental state and Oblivion itself (Ironically the true difference in Oblivion Classic and the Tyrant Prince timeline is that in TP Freenoodles didn't get together until AFTER Xiaotian went off the deep end into 'mind control is fine actually' but in Oblivion Classic They're long married because there was gonna be a joke about Pigsy threatening to divorce Tang if he tried to use him as a guinea pig for mind control studies) And Pigsy is sure 'mind control' is just Xiaotian not understanding how drugs work and thinks Red's just Suuuppeerrr High, Sandy is most concerned with keeping Red comfortable so when the 'high' fades he won't have TOO Massive a crash.

But Red IS starting to sober up, if slowly, and once more tells Xiaotian he loves him- which Xiaotian asks again for him to stop,

And it's the first time Red's sober enough to say no to him. I never got to this scene but i imagined Red being both THOROUGHLY addicted to the mind control present, but also getting sober enough to know that something's not right. though the only thing he can peice together as not right is that he's not going to pretend like he doesn't 'love' him when he does and that he 'doesnt need oblivion' which his supposedly also does.

And this is the moment where Xiaotian decides he can't pretend to know what's best for Red, OR that he'd be a good anchor for Red to cling to while he gets sober, and he has to just admit defeat and properly deliver him back to his parents.

He explains the situation as best as he can to them, but they don't really trust or believe him, but he hands red over, says they don't have to tell him anything past this point, but for his own peace of mind he'd LIKE to know if Red starts doing better, and just leaves. (doing his best to ignore Red's crying for him and begging not to 'give him' to his parents because 'he belongs to him' and all that)

Which leads into Part 6 which is basically just a one scene epilogue

it's two years since then, the bull family hasn't been seen hide nor hair of excepting one or two sightings of bull clones buying groceries, and Red Son returns to the city, clean for long enough that he still has some questions and tests that need to be done. It's awkward, but Xiaotian agrees to whatever Red Son needs.

It's simple things, asking for Xiaotian's perspective on the whole event, if his Parents DID tell him how he'd been doing (they did not) and asking if he gets the memories of the clones when they destabilize (He does not)

And then ultimately- asks him to order him to do something. anything. Said firmly, said like he EXPECTS him to do it. So he can be SURE he can say no.

Xiaotian obliges, something simple like 'take off your glasses' which is immediately responded to with 'Fuck off Noodle Boy'

They're both pleased.

Red Son states his parents might try to take over the world again, and he'd probably supply them with tech, but he's not sure if he's ready to get back into the fights himself. it feels... wrong, still. That he's not THAT recovered yet. And perhaps when his therapist hears he sort of went rogue for this, he would be scolded for trying to rush the process, but...

there was one more thing he wants to know. Something he NEEDS to know for himself. Because if he doesn't know then he'll spend the rest of his life questioning it.

Xiaotian is about to ask what he means but Red Son rushes up to him-

and Kisses him.

Because he needs to know if that was real, or just another thing the clone did to him.

Admittedly i wanted the result to be ambiguous, Xiaotian pulls away and Red Son immediately fire teleports away, and we switch to his POV, and he's several buildings away, still watching Xiaotian as he looks around for him, looking worried. And Red Son takes a breath, and looks back in the direction he knows the club once was, and heads home with a smile.

the Last line being 'But now he Knew'

[cabeswaterdrowned]

Happy Father’s Day to Brimstone from Daughter of Smoke and Bone <33

[fey-changeling]

I finished Lirael yesterday and i'm already 140 pages into Abhorsen, i've been trying to buy as many books second hand as possible and it took me 2 years to find Lirael after i bought Sabriel but only 2 weeks to find Abhorsen and Across the Wall. I really need to reread Sabriel because I can only remember the general plot and it's bothering me

[thefluxqueen]

ok i'll bite whats marble hornets

GLAD YOU ASKED!!

Marble Hornets is a youtube found footage horror series that ran from 2009-2014! Its like, The first video series to use Slenderman as a character (though hes called The Operator in this) cause they made it like, literally a few days after the original post creating slenderman on the something awful forums lmao. Ive called it like the grandfather of youtube horror cause its onea the first and definitely inspired alotta aspects of more recent series!

Regarding actual plot its about this college kid named Jay investigating what happened during a failed student film titled Marble Hornets after getting the tapes from the shooting from the director Alex. I wont say much more simply cause if this sounds even vaguely interesting i suggest you go watch it for yourself :D

On that note! back on older youtube when mh first started there was a feature where you could 'reply' to a video with a video youve made, and in this series theres a channel called ToTheArk that replies to alotta the entries to add puzzles n such. Thus the best way to watch the series is with this playlist that has alla the main marble hornets vids And alla the totheark vids in chronological order!

Anyway thats a quick summary of the whole shebang :D if u actually go n watch it pls tell me i like hearin people's thoughts 👀

[autumn-opossum]

Does anyone have book/game/movie/show recommendations that are similar to detroit become human?

[echidnana]

Really love Goodnight Moon's Babblebrook series... We've watched it the past few nights before going to bed because we (Camelot) like it so much

[cluepoke-archive]

Any detective shows you consider an essential watching experience? and also taking this chance to project emerson cod in your mind. hes enjoying pie a la mode

OH OH.. hmm I quite liked elementary though I never finished! (it got a bit gorey at some point, and at the time it put me off finishing it alltogether) I wouldn't call it essential but... it gave the characters a certain level of respect I hadn't seen in awhile!

Psyche is PHENOMINAL!!! great in the comedy department but has some serious moments that hit pretty hard too.. its focus on characters (AND DETAILS!!) and their silly antics really speaks to me and I love the doffrent cases they go on.. usually very unique!!

Murder she wrote is a must in my book.. whenever columbo starts to settle into a familiar pattern and begins to get borish I usually turn to Jessica fletcher! She's a riot... great weird little old lady rep

Dirk gently wich you know... honestly when it first came out I was so put off by the fact it seemed to have NOTHING to do with the books! But well. One day some mutuals got really into it so I gave it a chance and I was hooked! It holds up relaly well on its own!! But I do heavily reccomend the books their SOOO so fun, dirks a bit more deadpan and a little less... naive I want to say? He has a certain air of stubbornness that adds some good flavour to him in the books

Only murders in the building is??? So good?? So good!!! Their working on their third season now and I've been hooked from the get go... multigenerational sleuths come together because they love mystery podcasts, they then become found family... it seems every season holds clues into the next and the details are VERY VERY fun. Like. Thank God they give the audience some clues because I geneuinly think that's what makes mystery shows worth it!! Love getting to the conclusion with or before the characters..

House MD is... intriguing I think. If you can get past the acephobia ableism, sexism and just. Alot of no good very bad junk.. personally I couldn't keep watching past season 8(lots of cast changes and just. Man idk why they pushed it on for so many seasons it was honestly a drag) I'm a sucker for disabled rep, even if it's not .. the best. But!! He has chronic pain! And he uses a cain!! Fuckitall... watch the silly medical detective show.. I think it's important to note house isn't supposed to be.. a good person. I think alot of characters aren't meant to be very likeable, I won't go on and on about house but if you can handle some of its flaws it can be. Interesting (personally what hooked me I think is that while not very accurate or mysterious, discovering what ailed his patients always lead to alot of character insight,,, wich is almost like detective work.) I don't think it's for everyone though. It has its moments, it's alright

X files and twin peaks. Naturally... very good!! Good elements of the supernatural!!

Honestly just watch Elementary my dear Data on loop... all will be well in the world!!

[charliesinfern0]

hmmmm........

[bronzewool]

Dune is the first book in the Dune series by Frank Herbert, following a political war over ownership of a life-extending drug called Melange or “The Spice” that can only be harvested on the desert planet of Arrakis, where the people have to wear still suits that recycle their lost body moisture just to survive being outside for long periods, and giant sandworms that will attack any machinery they plant on the planet’s surface.

Paul Atreides is the son of Duke Leto and Lady Jessica, and heir to House Atreides, one of the Great Houses that govern planets and serve The Emperor. Paul’s father is sent to oversee The Spice extraction and moves the entire family to Arrakis to govern the planet. Unbeknownst to them, The Emperor is working with House Harkonnen to destroy House Atreides, perceiving them as a threat to the throne. After Duke Leto is murdered and Paul barely escapes with his mother into the desert, they must rely on the help of The Fremen, natives who can survive the harsh environment of the desert, know how to obtain water through underground tunnels and ride the sandworms.

The book puts an interesting twist on “The Chosen One” narrative where the Bene Gesserit, a religious group of women with the power to influence those of weaker minds and hold high standing in the Emperor’s Court, have been orchestrating the entire bloodline of the Great Houses for centuries to produce a child with the correct genes to become the Kwisatz Haderach or "The one who can be many places at once". Paul is the result of this breeding program and the sequels follow his rise to power in the galaxy and the consequences that come with it.

Dune is also the first book I’ve read that incorporates a lot of head-hopping into the narrative (jumping between POVs within a single scene). While not limited to the same restrictions as first-person narration, the third-person narration will still keep the focus on one character in the scene so the reader is not privy to outside information that the character does not yet know. Dune, however, will keep switching between POVs so the reader is constantly aware of every major character’s inner thoughts at all times. I was expecting this to pay off at some point, but as Alla states later on in the book, no one can truly read minds.

There seems to be no hidden meaning behind the constant use of head-hopping, other than Herbert wanting the reader to fully understand the nuances of his characters and their motivations, but in doing so destroys any narrative tension. The reader knows from the very beginning which one of the key characters is going to betray the Duke, and narration teases it constantly until the end of act one when Paul’s father is killed, and Paul and his mother are left for dead in the desert. I couldn’t help but think how much more impactful this would have been if we only had the same information as Paul and didn’t suspect the kind and trusted doctor Yueh, until the rug was pulled out from under him.

Herbert is interested in the worldbuilding aspect of this story, from the political rivalries of the warring factions fighting for ownership over resources, to the biology of the sandworms, how a society would evolve on a barren planet without precipitation and the culture that would arise in those conditions. His characters are by no means flat as he gives them complex motivations and plenty of nuance, but a lot of attention is given to how characters read the intentions and hidden tells in other characters, playing Death Note levels of mental chess, rather than focus the action and dialogue itself.

Herbert also likes to over-explain minor plot points and under-explain major ones that need elaboration. I was tempted to start a drinking game whenever Herbert feels the need to remind the reader anytime Paul and Lady Jessica do anything extraordinary, it’s because of her Bene Gesserit training.

I also have mixed feelings towards the author himself after stumbling upon his son’s biography and the truth of Herbert’s relationship with his other estranged son, Bruce Herbert, who was a gay photographer and gay rights activist during the height of the AIDS Crisis. Both parents disapproved of their son’s lifestyle and Herbert went as far to forbid Bruce from seeing his mother who was dying of cancer because it would “upset her”. Even though Bruce would go on to outlive his father, he would soon die at 41 from pneumonia as a result of AIDS on the 15th of June 1993.

I can’t give an honest review of Dune when I can no longer enjoy the villainous character of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen without knowing how much hate and negative stereotypes Herbert put into his one gay character in the entire series, an obese Baron who drugs and rapes underage slaveboys nightly and openly lusts after his nephew and at one point Paul. I can only imagine what Bruce must have thought of the film adaptation in 1984. From what I’ve heard of later books, it sounds like Herbert may have extended an olive branch to his son by portraying what sounds like two gay lovers in a positive light (albeit vague and where one watches the other die. Yikes.).

So, rather than trying to come up with an unbiased rating for this book, I’ll just say this:

I do not give my water to Frank Herbert. I have no tears for you.

I give my water to Bruce Herbert who died before his time and to every victim who died of AIDS. I give my water to those who did not receive proper treatment in time because of homophobic legislations. I give my water to the friends and families who were left devastated by the loss of a loved one that could have been avoided if the government acted sooner. I give my water to the dead. It's not enough. Even with all the moisture in me. But it’s yours.

[novella-november]

Ive written 11k so far, as of the 8th, and im about to go into another writing session! This is more than ive written in the past like, 3 months, deadass. For anyone struggling on how to open a chapter, refer to your favourite book/fanfics/written media and see how they do it, i know it seems like obvious advice but ive just realised it truly is vital.

Awesome, and love to here it!

One of the most memorable opening lines from my childhood is still one I can quote despite not having read the books since I think middleschool?

Torak woke with a start from a sleep he had not meant to have.

I have that opening line memorized from rabidly reading this book over and over again. I can even, maybe, still tell you the rest of the first page 20 years later???

The fire had died down while he slept, and he shivered in the cold, feeling the blood from Da's wound soaked into his clothes. "Torak," His father mumbled in the dark, stirring, and Torak scrambled to his side. "You must leave me, go. The bear will be back."

(The above is, if my 20 year old memory is in any way accurate, one of the opening pages of Wolf Brother, by Michelle Paver, which you can find more info about on her website linked here. As of me googling this, I'm now finding out there's an extra two books in the original series I never got to read, but she also wrote another three books starting in 2020!)

So, yes, if you are struggling with an opening sentence or first scene in a new chapter--grab all your favorite books off the shelf, and examine the opening chapters: which ones are kinda meh, and which ones draw you in immediately?

What do you want to establish, first and foremost, about your story?

Where or when is your opening scene set? What does it say about your setting or characters?

What is happening?

Are you going to open on an interesting dream sequence as your character soars through the sky, weightless and freed from their earthly worries, only to wake up to their life in an apocolyse or school drama?

The middle of a hectic battle, full of the sounds of swords and shields clashing and the cries of dying men?

A prologue from generations before your main conflict setting the stage for an unstoppable force of entropy which has been creeping through millenia to start the conflic with neither intent nor ill will?

An introduction from a fictional autobiography, where the 'author' is your main character and is explaining their motivation for writing down their memoirs of their childhood? (🥺🐉)

Or maybe just the sound of a car door slamming and your main character walking into their first day of high school?

For sentences that open up a new chapter, not a new book, its going to largely depend on what you ended the previous chapter with, how much time has passed, if you're switching perspectives, etc.

And don't forget, this is just your first draft! If you don't like what you wrote, or heck, if you can't even think of how to start the first scene of your story, just skip it for now and start writing the first solid scene you've got, and work your way from there :)

Main editing will come later, for now, just focus on writing -- if you get stuck, you can always [mark the scene with a short description like this], and then come back to fill it in later!

[isekyaaa]

What It Means to be You is one of those manhwa that are honestly excellent and very well written. The characters are believable and compelling, the redemption arc is so satisfying, the angst is soooo good. The journey the whole story puts you through imparts so many emotions. And yet....

And yet...............

As good as it is, reading it is literally one of the most torturous things I have ever put myself through and I'd rather die than read it again.

[whilomm]

oh hey for anime onlys/ppl who havent read the adventurers bible, a bit of trivia for yall. this isnt super spoilers bc it doesnt really. come up at all? it doesnt appear in the main series At All (that i remember) but does inform a lot of the way they interact: Maizuru (the lady with the cool wing-sleeves who was cooking shuros meal/doting on him) is his governess, and also his dad's mistress. it was apparently an open secret in the household.

because of this, shuro kinda resents her, tho its pretty subtle in the series (kinda hard to tell from him just being world weary and upset at being babied)

so uh. yeah no its not just "ugh im an adult stop treating me like a kid", theres also. this. I would really reccomend reading the adventurers bible if you can, its got so many little things that add depth to the characters, even ones we barely get to see in the series. with this, im pretty sure it doesnt come up at all otherwise! warning tho that the bible DOES contain spoilers for some pretty late series stuff (like, literally up to 10 chapters before the end or some shit) so if youre anime only thus far, i would rec either reading the manga or WAITING for the bible.

also, gonna throw this in too: this part is SLIGHT spoilers just for izutsumi's backstory, but yep, the family literally bought her. and didnt treat her amazingly for that matter (mostly in terms of being super controlling and trying to "discipline" her). ill also include this bit on inutade bc it sheds a bit more light on the dynamics among the group (inutade also having been bought)

and, heres another comic from the section on ogres later that goes into her inutade a bit more