#i'm sure other ppl have written a better story with this concept

[irondad-defensesquad]

"too bad you involved pepper in this... i'd preferred if she lived."

tony is frozen on the couch, unable to react or follow obadiah. that man is taking everything with him. tony's heart, his legacy, pepper...

"... oh, and peter?" obadiah stops in the way. "that kid has so much potential. he'll be a better heir than you ever were."

no.

no, god.

not the kid.

he can't take peter.

that kid is too good for anyone. he's too good for tony.

with that, obadiah leaves. tony has to do something. somehow.

pepper.

peter.

they can't pay for this. they can't.

[cramathonn]

This isn’t a request but a brainrot moment bc I carnally need Pompey as a playable agent so imagine,,,

They find a way to reverse engineer the Ether corruption effects but it leaves the person in their half ethereal state so Pompey has half of the characteristics of his Ethereal form and he’s just huge😳 might be a tank/fucking unit, maybe attack?

And story-wise it’s said in the description that he wanders around slaying ppl who go against the outer rings etc saying it’s probably half of the subconscious of Pompey still in there so if he DOES get back to half of his old self he doesn’t take back the mantel of “Overlord” bc he’s deeply upset with his current form and what had happened to him so he becomes this sorta mythical legend/monster said to be the guardian of the Outer Ring and hunts down Lucius relentlessly

I’m on a Pompey brainrot I NEED HIM PLAYABLE I’D SACRIFICE MY RIGHT ARM FOR HIM TO BE PLAYABLE I WANNA DRAW CONCEPT ART OF THE IDEAAAA

Anon

Anon I hear you

But he wouldn't not return to his old post due to shame, but due to respect for Caesar's achievement. As much as I love the idea of Pompey continuing to roam around as a half Etheral, he most likely wouldn't for a couple of reasons:

1- he is a protector, not an avenger, so he'd most likely want to stay near Caesar to both aid her as the new Overlord and to keep an eye on the operatings of the Outer Ring to ensure its safety;

2- Ether Companies in the city would go crazy wanting to get their hands on Pompey. Not only them but medical and research companies too. Imagine, the first ever corrupted Etheral to ever return to a semblance of its human identity, it would certainly catch the eyes of big and small companies, forcing him into hiding;

Now, I know what you're thinking. "But Cram! You said he's the protector! Wouldn't the risk of putting others at risk make him decide to roam around in order to protect others?" and to that I say yes and no. While yes, he would think that and he absolutely would just leave in the middle of the night with a very well written note only explaining why he's leaving, do you really think Caesar would let that be? Nuh-uh, I'm 100% sure that that girl would hunt Pompey down and convince him to stay by her and the Sons of Calydon's side because, not only would they he able to protect him better, having the protection of the current Overlord AND the current most powerful biker gang in the Outer Ring would most likely lessen the ammount of people after him

And gosh, about his design, yes you're so right

From what I remember from my battles with him, he remains roughly the same height. But ohhh, now I wanna sketch that SOOOO bad

Damn you anon, you woke up the brainworms/silly

But I see your vision, I hear your desperate cries and I might make something (as in, draw) about this later

[zippers]

tell me about your interpretation of chess im interested now.. i can't envision it as anything other than a tragedy especially with the whole desperate but futile fight for making your own choices and being free from the greater game but i think with the amount of versions out there it makes sense that some ppl interpret it differently !

(btw this is going to be massively disjointed) Okay well first I think it is so important to know that the songs that Hit Me Hardest are songs with Florence and/or Svetlana so that is the perspective I am coming from—and concept album aside, the bootleg I have repeated the most is the 2018 Kennedy Center haha! Where (spoiler) Ummm actually I forget if Anatoly wins or loses lol, I'm pretty sure Freddie helps him win after a gay speech and then Mr Vassey is reunited and it's a little corny but who cares. So the main angst comes from the romantic separation of our protagonists, drama of the cold war, etc.

Anyway. I think Someone else's story really captures what I mean about the optimism in chess—I know people say it was written for Florence but It Is Such a Svetlana song to me, and I think it's a beautiful story of understanding when it is time to get out of a serious relationship, and getting the love you deserve. but also, knowing you deserve better and being able to grasp better are two very different things. and ultimately... does she end up with Anatoly? No. it is ambiguous. Same for all the characters really.

I can give this more time and thought later, would love to, but ultimately to me, Chess is a drama, not a tragedy. You are let down, but things are never taken away from you. All the characters ultimately go on with their lives, just as Freddie went on with his becoming a reporter after Florence left him, Svetlana raising the children after Anatoly left her, okay.

And I don't think chess is even necessarily about futility. even if they were messy Florence & Anatoly's time in england was the most important thing in the world to them for those two years and them being separated doesn't change that. and they acknowledge that.

um yeah this is incoherent I'm going to sleep now!!!

(i have not seen a josh groban version of chess in about a year, sorry if a lot of this doesn't apply)

[ccsthemovie2]

(I think it's a word over 500, but:)

"Speaking of Tsukishiro, how's he doing?", Eriol asks. Frying pan to fire to volcano.

"He's good," Touya says quickly, before Sakura can say anything. Yukito is not even in the ballpark of "good". Yesterday he called Touya and begged him to bike over and said it was important and when Touya showed up he was asleep, and stayed fast asleep right through to the next morning. He keeps trying to make appointments with doctors, and then falling asleep before he can call, or, when Touya calls for him, before he can make it out the door. Privately, Touya isn't sure how much good a doctor can do for him, but anything has to be better than this, right?

"Really? I'm glad to hear it." Ugh, how much has Sakura told him. Not that she doesn't have a right to talk to her friends, but, come on, would it kill her to least keep it between her and Tomoyo and the funny looking cat.

He's good, that's an obvious lie. Ruby has said Yukito could barely stand upright at school. Every inch of Touya Kinomoto is packed full of magic. Sooner or later, Eriol figures, either Sakura will be powerful enough to sustain him, or Yue will have to get over himself and just eat already. Touya can't actually do anything with his magic, so it's not like Yue, even weak as he is, will have to face much of a struggle to take it. (Aside from competition with Ruby, of course. There's something to that, right, articles and studies about animals being healthier if they need a bit of careful planning to get their food? Yes, so this works out nicely.)

Or maybe- oh, that's probably it. Yue's on to him, isn't he? He's just being stubborn as usual, figuring sooner or later Clow will appear via Eriol and save him. He can imagine how surprised, overjoyed, grateful Yue would be, if Eriol showed up and saved his life. He can imagine Yue's head resting on his neck as clearly as if he had kept Yue well-fed with magic a thousand times in his lifetime. It would be nice, in the short run, but it wouldn't be right, no. Clow is dead, and Yue needs to learn to live with that. If he knows what's good for him, he will take responsibility for his own life, and if he doesn't...

Ahh, well, maybe it's Clow's old sentimentality, maybe Eriol is just warming up to Sakura's moon guardian all on his own, but he can't bring himself around to the idea of letting Yue just die. He'd save him, if it came down to it. But, he tells himself sternly, only as an absolute last resort. He's just worrying because he misses Yue and wants to get to know him better all at once in that past-and-future way- it's worth a visit, soon. Yes, a nice little visit, and Yue will never even have to know it happened. Just to check in.

(sorry the formatting got weird when i copypasted lol!)

hiiii thanks for the ask!!!

if we talk about this convo we need to back up and talk about how it got here. this should give you some idea of how badly this needs to be under a cut for length lol.

so it all starts with the bit about how someone falling and being caught is something that happens a lot in ccs. how with eriol, it's purposeful, and with fujitaka (and i misremembered it but since found out she fell *on* him and not *caught* by him, which lolol i hope he broke a bone, but also its fine the fic's already marked canon divergent, or maybe the story gets misremembered, whatever, in any case), it's an echo of clowriol's intentional artificial-trustbuild-dangersaves but without the magic or purpose to back it up (just like fujitaka himself!), but it's a situation he quickly makes favorable to him, because it may be a blank slate but it's made of the same material.

this whole convo was part of one of the very first chunks written, but everything was going to go in a very different direction at first. (there's a lot of Cut Content from this fic, some that i just didn't like, some that wasn't connectable with the rest of the fic after it took the shape it took but might pop up somewhere else one day idk). in this particular bit i cut the later half of the conversation because i really didn't like what i'd written, but then even though the direction of the story changed the conversation was still going so it had to bounce somewhere else, so it bounced to yukito. here we are answering your ask 2 paragraphs in!

yukito, iirc in the anime, did catch her from a fall, (in the manga, which made way more sense for why she had to change her clothes and rest so much, he saved her from drowning, again iirc because who can trust a memory) and at a point where eriol still has some investment in making yuekito/sakura (ewwwww) happen, he's going to try and draw on that symbolism to nudge her in that direction, right?

so all this said, SPEAKING of yuekito. how are they doing.

bad, obviously. touya's freaking out. i imagine that part of what's stopping yukito from seeing a doctor is yue, though- he knows it wont help, and i dont think yukito has, like, person insides that will stand up to medical tests, and yue would pick up on yukito like, not wanting to be outed to the doctor as a magic construct because he, like, doesnt actually have a real heart that pulses, just a repeating heartbeat sound. doesn't for real have blood etc to test, just records of blood type (for personality reasons).

and also touya's a very like keep-ur-problems-not-everybodys-business type so hes like imagining sakura venting her fears to this weirdo and getting pissed off. but that didnt actually happen, eriol knew all on his own lolol. touya you have to say something nice should happen to sakura to make up for wrongly suspecting her now

and this bit on eriol's end is all wrong information and inaccurate conclusions and i was really worried ppl would take it at face value but i hope nobody did. in ccs we get moments where eriol wants sakura to take power, or to learn that power can be taken- his final battle with her, for example, where the answer to his light and dark puzzle is to use kero and yue's power, except that's not something she would ever Want to do or would even Occur to her to try. the power is gifted to her by kero and yue (and syaoran!) because they love her.

same concept, here- the answer to the 'yue is dying' puzzle is to eat touya's power, and he can't imagine the real reason why he won't just do that, and when he thinks about it too long it goes right to his ego- yue looovvvvesss clow, and by extension me. he wants meeeeeee to save him. he wants to neck kissy MY magic soo sooooo bad. but yue isn't considering any of that at all. he's thinking about yukito and what touya means to yukito and why that would make yukito hesitate to reach out, and that no way in hell will he just ambush his other self's crush down a dark alley and take his magic, even to save both their lives. he's a lot more selfless than clow and eriol ever realize. maybe- this is just a half formed thought right now, i dont know if im like certain about it, but- maybe they feel his devotion to clow was a form of selfishness, that he Wanted Love as a thing he could hold and own, whereas pretty much everybody else who meets him goes like YOU SELFLESS MAN YOU CANT JUST DIE FOR PPL YOU CARE ABOUT YOU GOTTA TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF TOOOO

and there’s also that bit of teacherliness intrinsic to the three of them again: im doing this to teach him a lesson. im letting ruby do her thing without telling her what’s going on to help and encourage yue, etc.

anyway, that (in terms of fic weaving itself into canon) solidifies his decision to do uhmmmm a thing that creeps me out real bad in the anime (knocking yue out to have a moment with him, and oh, ding, there's another 'you fell but i caught you' moment!). eriol loves this manner of hanging out with people, you see it later in this fic, even:

It's important to say what's in your heart to the people you want to say it to, even if you have to make sure the other person never hears it. It's important for your own emotional freedom.

he loves to spend time with people exclusively on his terms, to the point where the other party never even knew he was there, because he knocked them out, or because he was just staring creepily at the outside of sakura's house while she did homework, etc etc etc.

tldr: it's all connected, aaaaaaaaa

[toast-the-unknowing]

Hi. Hope you're doing okay. I'm a newbie fic writer and am hearing a lot about betas. I wanted to know: do you have a beta reader or critique partner? Do you beta their fics in return? Does this person need to know my fandom? I'm worried I'll have to go thru a few ppl to find someone who suits me.

I don’t have a beta at the moment. I’ve used them in the past, usually in a one-off kind of way; I haven’t had a regular standing arrangement with one person who was “my” beta since, oh Lord, the late aughts. I’ve also beta read for people in the past, but I don’t think I ever beta read for anyone who beta read for me; it was more one-off kinds of things.

There are a lot of different forms that a beta/writer relationship can take, so the most important thing if you decide you want one is to figure out what you are looking for from your beta and then find a beta who wants to provide that.

Do you want someone to check SPAG -- spelling and grammar -- and catch your typos and your there/their/they’re mixups

Do you want a beta who will check for the readability of your story on a more stylistic level and let you know when your long flowery sentences have gotten too damn long or when you’ve used the same adjective six times in this scene so pick something else

Do you want a beta who will give you feedback on whether your story works as a whole, whether the plot/pacing/character arcs need work

Do you want a beta who will help you make sure your characters are in character

Do you want a beta who will check your story for canon compliance

Do you want a beta who will check your story for factual accuracy

Do you want a beta who can read your work for sensitivity and representation around issues of race, disability, etc.

Do you want a beta who will read a story that is still in the works and help you figure out how to get it where you want it to be

It’s okay to want some of these and not others. I am selfish writer and a youngest child who grew up with a lot of hand-me-down clothes and so never feels like she has enough stuff for HERSELF, so I do not appreciate some other person swanning into my story and telling me that the plot needs to change or that my characters are acting wrong. Sometimes I do just get stuck on a story, or have a particular concern, and I want some input, but in those cases I usually just talk to a trusted friend about the story and see if they have any suggestions. Sometimes just talking about it helps me find the solution for myself.

(I could use SPAG and readability help -- every writer alive could -- but by the time a story is done I just want to POST IT and be DONE with it, I do not want to email it to someone and get it back a week later and put more work into it and maybe need to email it back again, OH MY GOD, THE BABY IS BORN, JUST CUT THE UMBILICAL CORD ALREADY)

So in the past when I’ve had betas, and if I have a beta again, I would go into the arrangement saying “hey, I want you to check SPAG, and readability on a scene level, and let me know if you spot anything that’s just flat out inaccurate, but I don’t want character or plot notes.”

This also comes back to the “trusted friend” thing. You might start off with a beta that you ask for SPAG and fact checking, and then over time you get a feel for how they work and their taste and abilities, and decide, yeah, actually, I do trust this person to give me feedback on the bigger elements. You can let them know and see if they’d be into that! It’s not written in stone. Waaaay back when I was writing shippy fic for the first time ever, I used to die of embarrassment writing romantic scenes. Which is, uh, kind of a problem for ship fic. I talked about it with my beta and she had some suggestions for me about how to work through that that were really helpful -- but we’d worked together before that; I don’t know that I would have asked just anyone for that kind of help.

Does a beta have to know your fandom -- depends on what you want. If you want a beta who can tell you if your characters are acting true to themselves, or who can catch it if you screw up a canon detail -- yup, you need someone who knows your canon. For proofing, flow, sensitivity? Nope. A good beta can also comment on your plot structure, pacing, tone, character arcs etc. even without knowing canon, although they may give you the odd note that doesn’t work. My brother beta’d a fic for me once and mentioned it was weird that there was a character referenced in the very beginning of the fic who never appeared and was never mentioned again -- but that was the point, and I trusted that people who knew canon would realize that the other characters were trying and failing the entire story to ignore that character’s absence. So I didn’t change it.

Anything a beta tells you is a suggestion. Okay, not whether “dessert” has one s or two, but anything else. If they say “that line doesn’t work for me” but you really like it, keep it. If they tell you that your characters need another scene or two to work through their issues but you think they’re good, let it ride. Or, try to figure out if there’s something else you can change; a reader might pick up on the fact that there’s something wrong with the story without being able to accurately pinpoint what is wrong with the story.

Not every beta is going to be a good fit for you, or for your particular story. This is why you need to talk all of this through before they start working. Tell them your ships, your concept, your story length, your rating. Tell them the kind of beta reading you want. Avoid a situation where they don’t get your fic back to you for weeks because they didn’t have enough time to proof a 100k epic, or where they give you a lot of critical notes you weren’t expecting and feel hurt by, or where they have to read something that makes them uncomfortable or do a lot of research on something they didn’t know about. Better to find out ahead of time that you’re not a good match and keep looking.

Once you’re found them...well, I am sorry to say, you probably will have to go through a few people before you find someone who suits you. Especially if your beta isn’t someone you knew previously, as a friend or as a writer, you can’t really say whether they’ll have feedback you find useful, or whether the two of you can communicate effectively, or whether they’re reliable and timely, or whether you guys have complementary tastes and priorities. Better to accept that now and plan for it. When you find someone who’s willing to beta, while you’re figuring out what that beta-ing is going to entail and the best ways to communicate with each other and a rough timeline for them getting back to you, set up the arrangement as a one-time thing. “Hey, do you want to beta this story for me,” not “hey, do you want to be my beta.” If you liked your experience working with them, you can always ask if they’ll beta another story for you. If you didn’t (and the more you want from your beta above basic SPAG, the more likely you’ll feel a disconnect), shake hands, part as friends, and try another beta.

You don’t have to stick with the first beta you meet if it’s not a good fit. I hear discord fandom chats can be places to find betas, but do not ask me how or why because I don’t use discord and I don’t know. You can try posting in your author’s notes on your fic that you’re looking for a beta and see if someone reaches out to you. If you notice the same commenter popping up in multiple stories, you can try reaching out to them and asking, very nicely and ready to hear a “no,” whether they’d be interested in beta-reading for you. Just go in with a clear understanding of what you want, communicate that, and see if they’re willing and able to provide.

[afternoonblues]

yes! I completely agree with you. tumblr does kinda feel like an intimate space to hold our conversations <3 

I'm glad to know that you're happy with what you're doing, cause I think I'm just here to get through a phase ( in my class and with what I'm studying) and that's okay. 

btw nothing became of the script.... I, for the life of me, could not get the story to move forward or have the "correct" event unfold and meet up to the basic rules of storytelling so- I'm keeping it in the archives for now www 

The working title that I came up  for while I was cracking my brain for it was SAGE, don't know why but the word kinda sums up what (emotionally) I wanted the movie to translate to the audience. A mix of murakami, Filipino director Lav Diaz and the general concept of stillness and silence. There's a "traditional" image that comes to mind when I put the last 3 words together, but I'm trying to make it a little different so that it fits to modern times?? telling you about this now makes me a little motivated to take a crack at it again, maybe we should work on it together >< jkjk....unless..? 

tarot reading is definitely a part of witchcraft!! readings are done for other people, for yourself, for communicating with deities, spirits, and much more! I personally find it a little intimidating so I haven't really ventured into it yet, but I think in what I'm trying to reach and pressure in my path I'll definitely need to learn it soon haha

getting accustomed to abusive relationships and abusive tendencies aren't normal so maybe the fact that you still aren't used to it means that you have a strong will to not give up and give in?? Idk but I know that you're a strong person, as resilient as the Colosseum in Rome. The Colosseum was used to hold (among many other things) violent confrontations (between the socially marginalized, between wild animals and more) all for the sake of entertainment// and what I'm trying to say if that, it has held so much chaos within and yet it is still standing centuries and centuries later. It may take a while to heal, but you'll get their love, I have no doubts.

liyan, i`m always hoping for you to find a place for yourself in this world & no matter what happens i`ll always be hoping for that until you find it. do what you`re doing, don`t discontinue it considering you chose this yourself this time. of course, there are times when even if we love to do certain things, at some point, we lose touch with it. so that`s why it`s better that we take some lil breaks so that we can re-experience what we used to feel like when we started doing the thing we took a break from.

of course, i can help you out with it! although idk how much i`ll be able to but i`ll try my best. i`m don't write in scriptwriting form so you`ll have to teach me that but i can surely help you out, don`t worry! you don`t even have to ask for me.

oh then i was right?! idk why but i love watching tarot readings bc there have been countless times when the reader has said the exact precise thing that`s happening with my life, or with a person close by or had happened in the past which might affect my future interacts with human beings or any situation. the only tarot reader i watch though (after scheming through all the other tarot readings) is venessa her readings are so accurate & resonates with me. 

that last paragraph is so well written, liyan! thank u for saying that. although idk how accurate that comparison was considering i think i`m quite vulnerable & not very understandable when ppl see me in the most down state ever. there`s been only one person (and that`s my best friend) who knows how to tackle me when i feel down & vulnerable. but thank you for saying, of course, i`m not used to it yet although it`s been more than a decade now. maybe there`s still some goodness left in me, some hope for a better life & some more hope for being a better human being(?) that`s why i`m not used to it yet.

[jooheongif]

it's theory anon,hi!!how are YOU?i'm really good rn thanks:)) thank you for your kindness again,i'm really happy i could somehow help to help you feel even a tiny bit better and hope you're doing well now,too(and it's ok to not rest on your day off but it's also ok to do so if that's what you feel is right for you atm!).about the mf(ilm), i thought the same thing, it felt like a parallel universe type of story!i also really love plotlines about friendship, (again cont.i'll try to be briefer!)

(i’m so sorry i wrote a rly long reply so i’m gonna put this under read more !!)

2. friendship is beautiful and i feel oftentimes underappreciated(but not mx!there they go again being amazing) so i love the concept. personally i like not knowing what exactly the producers were thinking because having my own interpretation of something and seeing other ppl have their own fills me with wonder,like,that's art!so many people think so many different things and no one's wrong i love it!!your thoughts about them appreciating everything they've done so far,you're absolutely right(cont) 3. i hope they are able to bc everything's so hectic for the.i get lost just looking at their official schedule,i don't know how they do it but i also hope they are aware of all these things bc those are all mindblowingly huge accomplishments in my opinion and i just want them to feel like their hard work is worth it,yknow?(is this comprehensible?)and i know they feel pressure because as you said the business is nasty but yea i hope at the end of the day they can feel like (cont.???again 4. everything they've put so much of themselves into is worth it,i love their energy and fierce determination and i just don't want them to lose it but maybe as you said feel less pressured..but then the only way would realistically be to make sure they get awarded in the Real World so we're all doing our best in the system&hating it as you said:/ they just mean so much to so many people i want them to feel that too!i try to contain myself but here i go again! sorry it's so long AND i have more(con 5. also!thank you for your big reply and sharing your thoughts i mostly just agreed with (but you're right so what else can i do),i don't have mbb friends to vent to and fanperson(is there a gender neutral term for fanboy/fangirl?) over mx with and this is really nice and fulfilling(again,if i'm boring you,you can just delete the messages and not reply!) so THANKS!it's great to strive to be a better person but i feel like one(you) should also acknowledge the good things they're already doing(cont?) 6. you showed such pure kindness and really melted someone's(my) heart and that's a Big Deal!djkghddgwe can agree that we both inspired each other :') also please i feel like you're such a wonderful soul and you really deserve every bit of gratitude and appreciation i managed to express(i feel a lot moreprobably) so!yeah!reminder that you're lovely and deserve to be appreciated and i'm also very,very happy you're here!you made my day brighter for the 2nd time now wow!thanks! i hope you and(cont.:() 7. your gorgeous heart are taking good care and enjoying your day/night! and this cb!i really like it i haven't had time to listen to the entire album but jealousy!is a bop honestly it's my type of jam and the choreo is stunning and so are their voices!iwas so skeptical about the lyrics(they could've been like hero or stuck and those made me a bit >:/ honestly) but i really should've known they wouldn't fail me in any way ever!i can't wait to hear the rest of the songs i hope you enjoy them too!bye

hi theory anon, it's nice to hear from u again ! firstly, i am so sorry for the slow reply to this ! but im rly glad to know that u are doing good :-) i'm doing ok too thank u !! how are u ? kfjjfdsjfdf sorry that u had to read my tags but thank u for saying that !! i just feel so guilty when i do nothing bc im absolutely terrified of time passing too quickly ? just the thought of letting a few minutes go to waste is overwhelming ? even though i know it's not rational to think like this but ??? theres just this constant feeling that im running out of time so i try to get rid of it by always doing smth ?? and feel bad when i dont ? idk ?? but anyway im working on it and ill be ok ! sorry..not to be dramatic and tmi and all that kjdfdj istg this blog gives me too much freedom to say...too much :( (hope the internet folks that collect metadata never read the garbage i write bc..yikes they aren't gonna hav the best time) anyway..yea. what a paragraph to start off this reply :( sorry for the honesty and saying so much all the time btw :( not that being honest is necessarily a bad thing but ! idk every time i write smth i suddenly feel extra self conscious and feel like deleting it bc im rly embarrassed and always end up having big regret later when i reread anything ive typed up !! but i just keep writing them anyway bc...idk ?? i'd rly hate it if someone got discouraged from sharing their thoughts/worries/feelings which i think is a rly important human thing :( so  yea im rly embarrassed w anything i write but i'll keep doing it anyway bc i'm all for that kind of stuff and sometimes i know its not easy and it takes someone a lot to share that and its a good thing and i dont ever want anyone to feel discouraged from doing that ! anyway i just felt like i rly needed to say all of this..but pls dont feel obliged to reply to this mess !! anyway back to mx ! you are right :( i also hope mx feel like what they've done is worth smth w/e their definition or standard of that is :( like.. all of the hard work they've put into being mx it certainly means so much to fans but i hope all the hard work they've put into being mx also means smth to them at the end of the day and they are happy w what they're doing and what they've achieved so far :( and yes we'd love mx to always be rewarded in the real world :( though we love them and we want to get them a win, i know that everyone has their commitments, means and different circumstances and we can only do so much :( but even if u think its just a small contribution, everything adds up and counts and i know that all mbb hav contributed in some way in helping them get another win for this cb ! there are some mbb who can't buy albums or streaming passes and things and i hope they don't feel bad for this :( even if all you can do is watch the mv once or twice, even if you could only vote, i hope you know that it all counts and matters !! abt mx's schedule, i get tired just by looking at their weekly one idk how they can even put up w it all ?? after this they'll hav their japanese album and things and then they'll have their concerts and on top of all that apparently [some of them are also studying] ????? they are so hardworking :( HOW do they do it !! just..thinking abt their schedule is overwhelming !!! also pls dont think that you're boring me or anything like that :( im so thankful for any msg i receive and the fact that u actually took the time to type out smth to send to me ?? im so grateful ?? u are never boring !! honestly even if u sent me a stainless steel dishwasher manual w the page length of like..23 bibles, i'd still love u for it and i'd prob read all of it :( btw thank u sm for saying all those kind things !!! receiving kindness for the 3rd time is rly !!!!!!! and once again i've done nothing to deserve it :( i dont even know what i can say to you that will ever be enough to thank u again or to top what u hav already said ! if there was like a...maslows hierarchy of kindness of smth, ur at the very top of that triangle and anything i say will never be as kind as what you have said !! for you, i can agree that we both inspired each other :-) but really thank u so much from the bottom of my heart :( i hope you know how kind and lovely u are too ! if nobody told u this today, i wanted to say that im rly grateful to know u and i'm happy that you're here !! thank u again for being so kind and thoughtful and for making me smile !! :( same, i havent properly listened to the whole album either bc ive just been letting it stream in the background (but i dont count that as a proper listen unless i listen w headphones tbh) ill give it a good listen one day ! also im a repeat 1 kind of garbage person until i feel the need to listen to a new song ?? and rn jealousy to me is a song that gets better w every listen ??? shes too powerful atm :( one day ill listen to another song but today is not that day ! Actually.....I think jealousy is my fav mx song ???? before this cb i didnt hav a fav bc i couldnt pick the song i liked most out of blue moon/blind/fighter/incomparable. i was just gonna base it off the one w the most play count out of those 4 but now i know its jealousy ! what are ur fav mx songs ?? btw i know im always saying that anything mx releases is always a masterpiece no matter what, but in all seriousness its ok if u didn't like smth they released. i don't think it makes u any less of a mbb if u didn't enjoy a certain release or if u only liked one aspect of a thing but not so much the rest of the thing. anyway not to sound so...stale and commonplace but for lack of a better word/sentence, at the end of the day your own reactions and feelings to a piece of art like music...it's all just subjective isnt it ?? not liking that thing doesnt mean that its not a masterpiece or its any less of a masterpiece to someone else either so !! it's ok !! anyway this is rly....ive written a lot and its all over the place and incoherent probably :( i'm sorry !! feel free to reply whenever u feel like it, or no pressure on never replying at all btw ! also feel free to disagree w anything i say ! thank u sm for talking to me abt mx bc ive also got no mbb friends so !!! thank you :( theres so many times where i rly want to start a conversation w someone but im too scared and also i've got no clue abt how to initiate conversation ! and the times when i do manage to...i get stuck on how to keep the conversation going ? but when i figure smth out then im coming for u @ friendship !! i hope u had a good weekend and that you got some rest and that ur doing ok wherever u are !! until next time, take care ❤️❤️❤️

[ailuronymy]

hi Grey! so i have an idea that i've been slowly developing. it started out as a Warriors AU but as i work on it, it's started to move away from Warriors and further into an original idea. i'm working on a naming system now (gonna make a conlang too) but i'm a bit hesitant b/c i fear if i ever try and publish this down the road, ppl might think it's a copy of Warriors. any words of advice u could give?

Hello, Ruddles! I think I do have some advice for this situation. (It’s going to get long, sorry).

First of all, congratulations on starting your original work! That’s very exciting. Many renowned writers have written in response to preexisting stories–possibly you’re familiar with Tolkien’s frustrations with Macbeth, which surfaces in his writing through Eowyn and the ents! In fact, Tolkien drew on many, many sources of folklore and literature when creating his world and story, so you know you’re in good company.

Which brings me to my first piece of advice: you are in danger of copying if you limit yourself to only one source. No creator creates in a vacuum. Most, if not all, creators are consumers and lovers of other people’s creations, and that’s okay! That’s part of how we weave rich tapestries. Storytelling is always a social act, and sharing and transforming and reworking and re-imagining all ties into that. However, if you take your inspiration from only one source, it’s going to dominate your work. That’s when you hit problems.

The solution is fairly simple: borrow from many places! If you borrow from one place, you’re a hack and a copycat; if you borrow from dozens, you’re just being a normal writer. I’m not suggesting you steal from other works, of course, because that won’t solve your problem and is also a pretty rotten thing to do. What I’m saying is, if you’re feeling your work is too similar to Warriors still and you suspect your readers would also feel that way, that’s a sign that your own reading and creative life needs more fuel! You need to put more into yourself, find more things you love, more passions, more things you really want to write about, more things that make you angry, so that these things–and not just Warriors, Warriors, Warriors–will come through in your writing.

Tolkien spoke of a concept he called “the cauldron of story,” which you can read about in his ‘On Fairy Stories’ essay, and I find the idea deeply useful to think about in this context. The way I see it is that you (and I, and everyone who creates) have a personal cauldron that you fill up with everything–whatever you can get your hands on, whatever you love, whatever you hate–and it boils and boils away until you’re left with the core ideas that really matter to you, the things that fascinate you. It’s a process of distillation, basically, where the first stage is consuming media. The more you put in, the richer the broth will be and the more chance you’ll have of finding the ingredients (for lack of a better word) that you love best.

So if your work is only drawing from Warriors, that’s probably a good time to sit back and do a couple of things. The first thing is ask yourself if you know why you want to write an original work, not a Warriors fanfiction, and try to figure out what is unique about your story. Capitalise on the uniqueness of you, your writing style, your experiences, and your perspective! What can you bring to this story idea that no-one else can? That’s important to keep in mind and might help you find the heart of your story and your personal strengths, which, once recognised, you can use consciously to full effect.

Another thing, especially if you’re concerned that your story is too similar, is to ask if you’ve given yourself enough raw material to have great creative thoughts yet. If you’re feeling starved of fresh ideas, that probably means your cauldron needs more put in it! I’m not sure I believe in “writer’s block,” but I definitely believe that a body needs food in order to function, and our creative brains are no different. Take some time away from writing, fill up your cauldron, let it bubble, and then come back. I imagine you will find there is so much more you want to put into your story, and doing so will really help you build your own discrete idea and style away from Warriors.

(I genuinely believe that one of the best ways to avoid copying another writer too much is to be excited by a plethora of writers, concepts, styles, so on, so that they water each other down into a nice soup in your work, a basic subtle broth upon which you then do your unique thing. I’ve also found that things you don’t like tend to be the most motivating reading material: they’re inspirational, in that I spend the whole time I’m reading going, “This is rubbish, they’re doing it all wrong, I could do better than this… I should write my version,” and inspire myself to act out of sheer exasperation. If you want something done right, and all that).

Telling a story about groups of cats might make people who’re familiar with Warriors see similarities between your work and Erin Hunter’s, especially since you’ve been influenced by the series. This isn’t a disaster, though! People might also associate your work with Tailchaser’s Song or Catwings or The Books of the Named, as well as animal fiction more broadly, such as Watership Down, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and Redwall. You can’t control this association but you also don’t need to worry it too much. “Originality” is a fairly new concept in literature (introduced largely because of copyright and IP infringement laws) and it’s not singular unlike how people make it out to be, because what matters isn’t just the story you’re telling–it’s how you’re telling that story. Originality isn’t one idea that you either do or do not have: it’s created through the enormous compilation of so many “unoriginal” ideas, piled into one story together, words all put together in the way that only you can do. (Stories are original the way people are unique).

An example of what I mean is really clear when you compare Temeraire, Dragonriders of Pern, Eragon, and How To Train Your Dragon (film). These are all texts that are defined by dragon-riding but they each handle the material in their own way. Temeraire is a fantasy twist on history. Dragonriders of Pern is a science fiction twist on fantasy. How To Train Your Dragon is a goofy fantasy coming-of-age story about an outcast’s epiphanic discoveries of self and society, plus also there’s a cute dragon. Eragon is… whatever it is, I honestly don’t know. Point is, they’re all “people ride dragons” stories, but that shared concept doesn’t diminish their individuality. And they haven’t exhausted the concept either: there are so many other dragon-rider stories waiting to be told.

“Boy meets girl” describes millions of stories. “Chosen one saves the world” also describes millions of stories. Nevertheless, Romeo and Juliet remains a beloved classic, and Harry Potter has been an international phenomenon. “Cats live in a community” is the same. As long as you are telling your story, not copying Erin Hunter’s, I can’t imagine you’re going to have trouble when it comes to originality.

I hope this advice-slash-whatever this turned into is helpful to you, Ruddles. Good luck with your writing!