#in order to make a comment ON WORLDBUILDING ITSELF

[dingodad]

to be fair i think the reasons why i believe quadrants r fake versus why i believe classpects r fake are pretty crucially different. like homestuck kind of goes out of its way to trick you into thinking classpects could be real whereas i genuinely dont think hussie ever expected anyone to read about moirallegience and think wow... so romantic.. i want that in my life ❤ LOL

[blackkatdraws2]

[Original Characters] One of the Tower Residents (who is usually very stoic) is acting strange. Did the Missiontakers trigger something? (-or is this an unscripted scene?)

[More Info under Read More.]

These two are fan-OCs for a webnovel titled [Being an Extra Actor in an Escape Game]

Quick premise for the novel: There was an apocalypse that trapped the whole world in a game-like tower. Missiontakers need to go into a Tower Resident's Nightmares and solve them in order to progress higher up the tower [and maybe escape.] What the Missiontakers didn't know was that the Tower Residents are actually also real people just like them, but they're more limited in what they're allowed to do because the tower forces them to become Actors and pretend like they're NPCs.

The older man is called Kim Seung-Jun.

He's a Tower Resident that's trapped on the higher levels of the tower.

He's never acted out any major roles for a Nightmare and is always in the background.

Even among the other Tower Residents, he's a hard man to talk to, only voicing a curt reply that doesn't leave any openings to continue the conversation.

The other man is called Nick Fuentes

He's a semi-well known Missiontaker that wants to climb all the way up the tower to find the escape.

He's usually the helper of the group and he's good at being flexible with adapting and making quick decisions in tough situations.

Gets attached to people quickly if they're nice to him.

Basic OCs premise: Nick Fuentes sees the usually stoic Kim Seung-Jun acting unlike his character. He starts to get more curious about the older man, and their slow development but eventual close relationship made him unravel a different point of view about truth of the Tower and everyone who was trapped in it.

-------------✦

KOREAN PEOPLE, please tell me in the reblogs and comments if I got the old man's name right!! I'll change it into something more appropriate for his character and age if it sounds silly. I'm a huge fan of Asian webnovels, the things I always consume are Chinese/Korean webnovels that I find in illegally English translated websites HAHAHA. It affected the way I named my characters because Chinese/Korean names are the only thing I'm constantly being exposed to. [But I have no idea if these names are actually correct or not. Sorry!]

Oh MAN, I have not re-visited this novel in YEARS. Literally one of my biggest worldbuilding inspirations [not to mention it has all my favorite tropes in it] and I will continue loving it forever.

I found the novel by pure chance. At the time, there was only one website that translated it into English. I thought the premise was interesting and decided to give it a try, thinking it was just another one of those garbage junk food novels that I'd drop half-way, but no, it was actually really good.

I'm not gonna spoil anything about the novel itself lololol I'm only gonna be working on my OCs.

To be honest, I'm probably gonna make an original world and story for them soon. I like this idea too much, I'll make it mine someday. For now though, I will have a minor hyperfixation.

Go check the novel out, by the way!! It's great.

[osunism]

Muse's Fanfic Masterpost

⚠️ Please read before following/interacting. ⚠️

A rebloggable version of this.

I reserve the right to set and maintain boundaries with my blog and my writing. As a rule, I block ageless/blank/minor-run blogs. This blog is run by a real adult and so I only want to interact with other actual adults because my content lends itself to being adult-oriented.

Every original female protagonist I write unless otherwise stated is a dark-skinned Black woman. Sometimes I will include art or a model for closest approximation, but for the most part I make this explicitly clear in the narration.

I usually only write OC/Canon ships. That is central to all of my writing. I know a lot of people are weirdly hostile about OCs being shipped with their favorite characters but I promise you it’s not and never will it ever be that serious. If you’re a dick to me about what I choose to write, at best the only attention you’ll get is a block.

That being said let’s just get this out of the way: I write characters who like to fuck. Sex is going to happen in my work so if that gives you the ick well…you’ve been warned.

I do not take requests. Writing is already very taxing for me given my health issues and schedule, and I want to focus on writing things that I personally enjoy, this includes prompts I choose to participate in.

For my roleplayers and those who like to ship one another’s OCs and do collaborative worldbuilding and headcanons: please ask me first before taking things from my personal sandbox. I’m very protective of my little corner and would rather do things like that with those whom I’ve established a close rapport.

Do not ask me about BioWare [Dragon Age and Mass Effect] content. Yes, my work is still available to read. But I no longer have any interest in creating content for that fandom, so don’t ask me about it.

My purpose and goal in my fanfiction is not to be strictly canon-compliant, and my interpretation of canon events and characters may and likely will differ from yours. Canon is not sacrosanct to me. If you find my work disagreeable because of this, feel free to go read something else suited to your tastes!

If you like my work, pleasepleaseplease share it. Liking my posts or giving kudos on AO3 doesn’t do much if you don’t share it for others to read. Comments are highly encouraged and appreciated as well. It’s always good to see feedback on how people interpret my work. It also helps me refine my writing in order to get my stories across more clearly.

Due to the frequent racist hostility and unpleasantness in other fandoms I inhabit, my comments on AO3 are moderated as a rule. Act like someone raised you right before you interact with me. This includes checking your racial biases at the door.

Below is a list of all my current works. Since I’m currently only active in the JJK fandom, those are the works that’ll be listed! Once other fandoms get active, this list will be sorted and updated!

⛩️ AO3 𑁍 FFN 𑁍 Parallax OCs 𑁍 Sonder OCs 𑁍 Headcanons & Meta ⛩️

Fic Status Key

[♡] - AO3 version.

[⭑] - Tumblr version.

[♤] - Fanfiction(dot)net version.

[🚩] - Dead Dove: Do Not Eat

[🔏] - Commissioned Fic

[∞] - In Progress

[☥] - Rewriting

[☯] - Complete

[📿] - Parallax

[🔮] - Sonder

[🪄] - Lost Worlds & Endless Nights

Relationship Key

🧿👹 - Satoru/Sundari

⛩️⚔️ - Sukuna/Nadja

🧿🧜🏾‍♀️ - Satoru/Asabé

⛓️👸🏾 - Toji/Akasha

⛓️👩🏿‍🦱 - Toji/blackfem!Reader

Relevant Tags

#muse writes

#fic rec

#jjk x oc

#jjk x black oc

#jjk fanfic

#jjk fanart

#fic: [ficname]

#series: [seriesname]

#ch: [charname]

#oc: [ocname]

#otp: [shipname]

noun [📿] par·​al·​lax ˈper-ə-ˌlaks ˈpa-rə- 1. the apparent displacement or the difference in apparent direction of an object as seen from two different points not on a straight line with the object. especially: the angular difference in direction of a celestial body as measured from two points on the earth's orbit.

Nadja Hikmat, an immortal warrior tasked by Heaven itself to hunt Ryōmen Sukuna, falls in love with the sorcerer instead. From that fateful meeting, a ripple of unforeseen changes echos across the sea of time.

Beast of No Nation [♡] [⭑] [♤] – One night, the King of Curses took an over-curious fugitive of heaven to task. Over the course that night, and the many that followed, she found herself continuously drawn to the jujutsu world. [☯] [📿] ⛩️⚔️ || 🧿👹

If [♡] [⭑] [♤] – One night, Satoru meets a woman with strange tattoos who sears a place on his mind and memory. Who is she? [☯] [📿] 🧿👹

Crystalline [⭑]– The night Itadori Yuji takes in Sukuna’s Finger, Satoru sees Sukuna’s cursed energy erupt in Roppongi and finds a familiar face at its epicenter. [🔏] [☯] [📿] 🧿👹

We Might Even Be Fallin' In Love [♡] [⭑] [♤] – The miracle of existence bridges the infinity between them. [☯] [📿] 🧿👹

Daughter of Disgrace [♡] [⭑] [♤] – In the aftermath of Satoru Gojo’s sealing, Sundari must choose rebellion in order to free him. Lucky for them both, rebellion has always been her preferred modus operandi. [☯] [📿] ⛩️⚔️ || 🧿👹

The Godslayer Project [♡] [⭑] [♤] - Coming soon...

The universe conspires to keep one pair's love kept safe. Nadja and Sukuna walk Samsāra, no matter the form, recognizing one another's souls everywhere they meet. Here is how their meeting ripples across the multiverse. [Or: I am in love with these two and here are some AUs I'm cooking up.]

Highball [♡] [⭑] [♤] - The price of peace has a cost. The scales must balance eventually. [Yakuza/Found Family AU]

noun [🔮] 1. the feeling one has on realizing that every other individual one sees has a life as full and real as one’s own, in which they are the central character and others, including oneself, have secondary or insignificant roles: In a state of sonder, each of us is at once a hero, a supporting cast member, and an extra in overlapping stories.

A collection of fics in my sprawling JJK multiverse featuring various protagonists, including the Reader!

The Unforgiving Roads That Lead to You [♡] [♤] – Roxanne Abaza, the only foreign-born special grade sorcerer in existence, is called to assist with the wrangling and exorcism of Ryōmen Sukuna. What ensues is more than she bargained for. [☥]

Halfsleeper [♡] [⭑] [♤] – A young widowed sorceress seeks protection under the aegis of the Honored One, but he has a better idea for keeping her out of the clutches of her dangerous clan. [∞] 🧿🧜🏾‍♀️

Unsanctioned [♡] [⭑] [♤] – Bodyguard/Yakuza AU. Toji Fushiguro, who is in disgrace after having an affair with his boss’ now ex-wife, is now tasked with protecting her as the mercurial grounds of Tokyo’s Underworld begin to shift into uncertainty, putting the entire syndicate and anyone associated with them in peril. [∞] ⛓️👸🏾

Before It's Gone [♡] [⭑] – Toji’s been darkening your doorway for a while and is only now realizing what you already knew. [☯] [🔮] ⛓️👩🏿‍🦱

These are playlists for the fics and characters within my JJK ‘verse. It cannot be overstated how much music plays an integral role in my creative process, and it makes me happy to share it with you all to expand the picture I paint with my stories. A ☮︎ indicates a link to the Spotify version of the playlist. Keep in mind that due to licensing issues [yuck], my personal music library tracks can’t be played on some services so there might be more or less songs, different versions of songs, etc. Still bangers, tho. Enjoy.

🎧 [ fugitive of heaven ] [☮︎]– Nadja Hikmat's playlist. Like her immortal life, this playlist has been curated across decades, evoking imagery of a wild, twisting sojourn through many eras. 🐍

🎧 [ godslayer principle ] [☮︎] – Sundari Hikmat's playlist. Expect atmospheric haunting, psytrance, hard techno, some house, R&B, trap, and strange chanting. 🔱

🎧 [ ritual + bone ] [☮︎] – Roxanne Abaza’s playlist. Witchy, just like our girl likes it.

🎧 [ highball ] [☮︎] – The soundtrack for my Parallax AU: Highball.

© 2024 Hajara Asiri. Do NOT copy, translate, plagiarize, repost anywhere without permission [reblogging posts is okay]. This includes feeding any of my writing to an AI as well as copying my masterlist format. I only upload on Tumblr, AO3, and FFN. All general banners and dividers by @cafekitsune.

☕️ Member of the @pixelcafe-network.

🇵🇸 Palestinian Resources - A guide to Palestine as well as resources in order to help with relief efforts for individuals and families. You can also check my main blog for fundraisers I boost as well.

[roseaesynstylae]

Star Wars: Republic Commando: Triple Zero, Chapter 6

I had a nice vacation.

I visited family. I soaked up the sun. I created an AO3 account and have been collecting bookmarks and posting short fic, so when I feel confident enough to link it, there'll be something substantial. I began reading my way through the High Republic. I started refining OCs that I might post fic about in a year.

And now I'm coming back to this.

(Hand to God, instant burst of rage when I opened the book.)

"In five millennia, the Mandalorians fought with and against a thousand armies on a thousand worlds. They learned to speak as many languages and absorbed weapons technology and tactics from every war. And yet, despite the overwhelming influence of alien cultures, and the absence of a true homeworld and even species, their own language not only survived but changed little, their way of life and their philosophy remained untouched, and their ideals and sense of family, of identity, of nation, were only strengthened. Armor does not make a Mandalorian. The armor is merely a manifestation of an impenetrable, unassailable heart.

-- Mandalorians: Identity and Language, published by the Galactic Institute of Anthropology"

That right there is complete bullshit.

No culture exists that long and interacts with others without being influenced in some way. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, they would pick up something. I know Star Wars doesn't necessarily involve itself with the nitty-gritty of worldbuilding, but...

Part of this feels like I'm overreacting to something small, but over the course of my vacation, I have lost what little willingness I had to be nice to Karen Traviss, her Mando Sues, and all the bullshit in this series. I'm sorry, but I'm going to be a bitch going forward.

Anyway.

There's something about this excerpt that really makes me feel like it's lording its (unrealistic and impossible) linguistic "purity" over everyone else. This is a case of "If this were a different author/book/series, I wouldn't be bothered."

Mando-Shilling: 2

I haven't even gotten to the actual content of the chapter yet and I'm metaphorically throttling this book. This is a bad sign.

"'General,' he said. He paused to nod formally at Etain, which -- given Skirata's general contempt for anyone not in armor -- seemed quite an encouraging start, Fi decided."

We are not pleased.

"'In here, ma'am.' He could make ma'am sound like girl somehow; he could do the same with General. But as a Jedi she had no right to feel affronted by the lack of deference. She realized that she simply wished he would like her. 'Just a little chat and you can find General Jusik and catch up on events.'

Yes, Skirata gave the orders."

Okay!

This isn't lack of deference; this is just being an asshole.

Oh, he can make ma'am sound like girl? Well, I can make Kal Skirata sound like eat shit and die.

"'In urban operations, a woman is always useful, Jedi or not. Another aid to invisibility -- old di'kute like me and females like you.'"

I hate you so fucking much.

It's a Man's World: 2

Like I said above, I have lost all patience for this series' bullshit. I'm going to go look at some pro-Jedi/Bad Batch content (my version of touching grass) and possibly assemble romantic prompts.

My last comment on this chapter?

Jedi-Bashing: 9

Mando-Shilling: 2

It's a Man's World: 2

Shut the Fuck Up, Kal: 1

Deltas, Move Out: 4

Mird, My Beloved: 3

Is This The Bad Batch?: 2

Main Post

[squarebracket-trickster]

Hey I’m new to tumblr and want to start posting some of my writing for people to read and comment one. Do you have any tips on WIPs, drafts and how to get attention on it? Very new to this space so I don’t really know how things are done.

Hi! First of all, welcome to Tumblr (and Writeblr)!!

The first thing I recommend you do is make a Writeblr intro post and tag it #writeblr intro. Introduce yourself, what genres you like to write, who some of your inspirations are, what your WIP(s) is/are about. You can scroll through the tag to see what others have posted if you need ideas.

You can also make WIP specific intro posts and tag them #WIP intro. These tend to include images that match the vibe of your WIP and will also contain a blurb of what your story is about and a snippet or two of your writing.

For any writing you post - snippets, full chapters, WIP intros, OC intros, single sentences from your WIP - you can also make use of tags like #writing, #writeblr, #writers on tumblr, #fiction writing, #creative writing, #original writing, and genre specific tags like #fantasy writing. Put the five highest trending tags first to guarantee your post shows up in them.

Another great way to grow your blog (and help your writing find an audience) is to interact with other writeblrs. Follow the people who reblog your intro post, send them asks (and ask games like Story-Telling Saturday (STS) or Worldbuilding Wednesday (WBW)), reblog their WIPs, jump in on open tag games. My post for how tag games work can be found here. The more people get to know you the more people will send you asks back, tag you in games, and most importantly reblog your WIP posts so they can reach a wider audience.

You can also specify in your bio if you are ask/tag game friendly. You are more likely to get tags/asks if other writeblrs are certain they won't be annoying you haha.

In general, posts containing links to original writing hosted on other platforms (google docs, wordpress etc.) tend not to do as well as posts that contain the writing itself. I've also heard that posts with images and interesting titles tend to do better. Same with formatted paragraphs and dialogue as opposed to a single, huge text block.

Another thing you can do to help readers find your work is make a master-post for all your WIPs and pin it to the top of your blog. List each WIP, then add hyperlinks below (in reading order) to each post containing snippets/excepts from it. [To make a hyperlink: click on the three dots on the top of the post you want to link to, select "copy link", then go to the post you want to link from, select the text you want to link, then ctrl+v. This will be your end result.]

In settings, you can also feature up to 10 tags that you use for all content on your blog related to specific WIPs. This will help make it easier for readers to search for and find your content too.

My last bit of advice is to talk about writing on your blog (and use the tags). Make little jokes and memes, those "oof relatable" kind of posts, and make and reblog writing advice from time to time. It is the hard truth of WriteBlr that these posts get a lot more interaction than original writing does but they do serve to get your blog seen by more people because they are short, relatable, have wide appeal, and/or low-effort to read. Strangely, they seem to prompt people to check out your blog. I tend to get a small wave of new followers every time one of my posts reaches 100 notes or more. I can only speculate as to why this is.

I hope something in here helps and good luck!

If anyone else has any tips feel free to add on!

[garmgeyr]

Introduction & Interaction Notes

// Hello hello, Ree here with a second muse o/ I couldn't resist joining the HSR boom, but more importantly, I wanted to get elbow-deep in Penacony's history and worldbuilding. I've been in love with this planet and its cast since 2.0, but Penacony's founding figures are by and large my favorites.

To kick things off, as GH was first a Genshin RPC, I thought that it might be helpful to write some sort of brief (lmao) overview for interacting with Gallagher with Teyvat muses and muns who haven't played HSR in mind. This character is a little (a lot) complicated as of 2.2, but I have both a spoiler and spoiler-free summary. All of this is also written up on this blog's notes page.

Spoiler Free (if you haven’t played HSR’s story through 2.2)

You can find Gallagher just about anywhere in Penacony's dreamscape. He has the uncanny tendency to show up at just the right moment. However, all threads with him will need to take place in the dreamscape and/or within the Asdana system for story reasons. Fortunately, Penacony’s dreamscapes are massive. There’s plenty to do.

The impression he gives off is that of a tired, middle-aged man, but he’s generally friendly toward visitors. Inexplicably, characters will believe him to be reliable from the moment they meet him, and - unconsciously or not - will trust him as one of Penacony’s security officers. He’s also a drinksmith, which he clearly enjoys more.

I base my characterization mostly on his JP VA’s performance, who slurs his words more to sell the image of a drunk old man. Gallagher himself says that he’s been called a number of names, “drunk” included, so this trait is free game for any character to comment on. He also tends to lean more crass and blunt than the ENG loc.

There’s little else you need to know about him prior to an interaction. Let him make you a drink and spin you a few stories.

Spoiler Version (if you’re caught up with HSR as of 2.2 and/or just don’t care about spoilers)

FITTING GALLAGHER INTO GH

Gallagher is implied to disappear at the end of 2.2 because of the concept that a lie that’s been discovered as a lie can’t exist anymore, assuming that something must be perceived to be true in order to exist in the first place. While the loading screen explicitly says that “Gallagher” breathed his last, he talks in the story as if this isn’t necessarily certain and that it’s beyond his control, so I’m taking this as an excuse to give him an ambiguous period between his last scene in 2.2 and his actual end. He knows that his end is coming, but it hasn’t happened yet. (conversely, he could still exist in the minds of those who never discovered the truth, but “died” in the mind of the player/the Trailblazer, but that theory overly-complicates things so we’re leaving it at this).

Gallagher is a work of fiction, created by a History Fictionologist. As such, he doesn’t technically exist outside of the dreamscape. To get around this and allow him more freedom within GH, different “versions” of Gallagher will be created for different planets and nations in Teyvat. * I'm aware that Penacony itself is unique and the Fictionologist likely can't create different avatars outside of its dreamscape, but this is a compromise between consistency with the game's lore and allowing a recognizable canon character to leave Penacony for GH's purposes. His character stories point to a base personality that seems consistent with that of the Fictionologist’s, so these different versions will more or less have the same personality no matter where they are (I’m not interested in creating OCs, and this goes against GH’s rules anyway). They will also all be some sort of bartender or (retired) security officer. The difference between these versions and the original Gallagher is that they’ll 1) have different names and 2) have different false backstories to suit the environment.

As an Emanator of Enigmata, the fictionologist is capable of influencing an individual’s impression at a memory level, so all versions of Gallagher will appear to the locals like he’s been there all his life. For example, if he were to show up in Mondstadt one day, Mondstadt characters will believe that he’s more or less an unremarkable local, and may even think that they’ve had some meaningful interaction with him before even if this is technically the first time they’ve met. For this reason, I - as the mun - give explicit permission for my partners to use any non-italicized prose in my posts as information that their muse already knows. This would ordinarily go against metagaming etiquette, but this is an experiment I’d like to try.

Even though Gallagher himself is a kaleidoscope of traits gathered from 52 different Family members in Penacony, for the sake of this group, every version of him will retain a similar appearance. But more often than not, you can just imagine him as a “generic older brown-haired, brown-eyed NPC” from the region that the thread is taking place in.

To note, all of the above is specific ONLY to threads taking place outside of Penacony. For some special characters, like the Trailblazer, past memory may allow them to recognize and therefore see Gallagher with his canon appearance.

FOR TEYVAT SPECIFICALLY

History Fictionologists are said to travel the cosmos, altering the history of civilizations in order to change their trajectory into the future. Since Teyvat is hinted to be trapped in some sort of samsara, this gives the fictionologist behind Gallagher an easy reason to want to come check the place out. However, I’m leaving the plotting and scheme designs to the hoyo writers. There will be no underlying plan mentioned here.

NOTES ON WRITING

I’m approaching writing Gallagher as writing the fictionologist acting as Gallagher. Gallagher is a dreamscape avatar, and this can be equated to an online persona. Physically, they are not the same person, but they don’t exist independently of one another. In other words, Gallagher isn’t like the memetic entities in the dreamscape who can develop independent of their creators.

This is, as a result, something of a writing experiment for me. Most of the content in my thread posts will be objective. All details can be known and observed by all characters involved (in other words, no inner monologue or ramblings about Gallagher’s emotions/past that the other character can’t also access). However, I do intend to include occasional snippets from the fictionologist (in interactions where my partner doesn’t mind spoilers), written in italics. These parts cannot be referenced by other muses unless explicitly mentioned by Gallagher himself, in dialogue.

This concept may evolve and change if ever new information is released in canon.

[bunnakit]

it is lore-anon back to scream in your inbox again. Thank you for the second link! Yes, I can see it if the individual tweet is linked directory (otherwise twitter bans you from seeing comments and retweets and threads if you're not logged into an account and I continue to want to pitch them out a window for it because I refuse to make one). I read the other four entries but then it was 2AM and I needed to go to bed. But now I am back and

OH NO. I don't know who's entry hurts the worst, (its not supposed to be a stomp on my heart contest guys)

When I watched the Work mv for the first time I had a little moment of 'ha ha Hongjoong and Mingi are out there fighting A Monster Of Capitalism' moment with the money-kaiju. But they really are out there literally fighting A Monster of Capitalism akjghlkadjhgla. My heart. (This is why I am here, for the brilliance of how they can play something off as silly or casual in an mv but they've layered so much metaphor, foreshadowing, and worldbuilding up at this point that if you're a lore person suddenly a lot of little casual throwaway things are the OPPOSITE of casual)

Because, ok, I got an arts degree right? So when they first announced the name of the new era was Golden Hour I was like 'as in the photography term Golden Hour?' because this was a very interesting choice given Golden Hour, and then the names of the album versions came out and instead of A-Diary-Z suddenly it was Blue Hour-Diary-Golden Hour I flipped my shit because that basically confirmed they DID mean the photography concept. And they're SO intentional about everything I was like 'ok, where does golden hour lighting vs blue hour lighting show up in past mv's, out of curiosity?'

(Because, like. I have an offline 'lore' playlist I've setup on my comp so I can watch all the teasers-intros-mvs-outros for all of the mvs together in one place back to back in the order they were released so it makes it easy to check when something new suddenly ties back to something previous. It's over 5 hours at this point. I love them, they feed us so well).

Go back. Watch everything from Pirate King in order. Unlike other kpop groups that go ham on the coloured gels to create mood and atmosphere, ATEEZ basically, dead-on consistently, all the way back to 2018, through Every. Single. Video have essentially 5 types of lighting they shoot scenes with for 95% of the mv shots: that really warm-cast sunrise/sunset golden hour light, the extremely cool-cast twilight blue hour light, a neutral light that is incredibly bright to the point of almost over-exposing the scene, black and white, and BATHED-IN-RED-cast. (The only exceptions are a couple shots that use coloured gels in Turbulence especially Wooyoung PETER-PANNING INTO THE SKY ON THE AIRPORT RUNWAY THAT HAS NO NEW CONTEXT WHATSOEVER NOW, Hongjoong's part in Halazia with the background purple lighting, a couple of shots in Deja Vu, and the deliberate use of gels to simulate all the neon lights in Bouncy. But even then the use of gels in these places REALLY stand out because it is NOT their norm).

And, I would argue, given looking at WHICH scenes in each mv use which type of lighting, because they have been SO consistent about it-

That they have been using lighting temperature to separate something happening in the A world vs the Z world vs dreams vs memories vs recorded-electronically-transmitted messages vs the points where one or more of these has met a point where its merging with a different one, (they have referenced mobius strips TOO MANY TIMES for me to treat the A and Z worlds as separate universes. Oh no, we are playing with 1 or more magic relics at this point and timelines are starting to bleed, Halazia-universe being a created as a literal side-effect in itself,) and the mvs haven't just been telling ONE timeline of events for that mv, but MULTIPLE. At. The. Same. Time. (I swear I could write a 10k essay on how they've used their lighting for world-building up to this point that went unnoticed until they took a megaphone and basically went 'hey, golden hour? blue hour? maybe pay attention to that ho ho' and wrecked me).

Because, like, for fever forward, the mv and the diary version always reference each other, right? but in some mv's I have to look at the mv and then back at the diary version and something on the screen

Whereas the diary versions have only ever been from the A-world pirates perspective. So we know which events are THEIR timeline from their point of view.

and the parts from the mv that don't "fit" as creative interpretations of the diary's contents? They DO tend to make sense if you take it as how the main themes of the diary are/were playing out but for the Z-world pirates at potentially a different point in THEIR personal Z-world timeline.

Maybe its my deep-in-the-lore-sauce-analysis delulu, but like, maybe the Z-world pirates are dead as far as the A-World pirates are currently aware, in their part of their timeline. But I would bet my hat that the Z-pirates are not dead-dead in the larger fabric of the multiple connected universes. There are way too many pointed bits of foreshadowing and too many deliberate loose ends from past mvs that have not been tied off yet for me to believe we've really seen the last of them yet, (this is probably another unhinged 10k essay on my part).

I mean, I am currently convinced that Answer timeline-wise takes place AFTER whatever happens in the Golden Hour era, (that most of the events from the Treasure-era mv's actually belong much later in their timeline than we currently think they do, actually).

And we know who's at the table toasting in Answer.

hey lore anon! sorry, i've been fighting a 2 day headache and work and my brain is basically sludge~ please don't ever apologize for getting excited tho! seeing people get excited about stuff they're passionate about is my fav thing and i've definitely been in my friends dms theorycrafting and spewing some insane shit lmao

i could NOT believe how much of the work mv became lore, especially with hongjoong and mingi!! like!! and the food truck theme! ugh, ugh, ugh. ill never be over how they can take insane shit like bouncy and work and turn it into actually gut wrenching lore. like how??

i absolutely love all your theories and my god you're way smarter than me on the filming and lighting lmao all i have to guide me is literary devices and narrative patterns (written word is the only place i excel in life RIP)

i cannot WAIT to see the path the lore is taking, they really keep us guessing at every turn and that's what got me hooked and ruined my life in february lol

please ALWAYS feel free to climb in my dms either here or discord or wherever if you want! or pls always feel free to send me asks!!

happy golden hour!!!

[gentiansaint]

spoiler-light thoughts on DAV after finishing a first playthrough and having some time to mull and discuss and put my brain in order:

the gameplay itself was very fun, i liked the combat changes more than i expected to. i said wheeeeeee aloud every time i used a zipline. the settings and scenery were lovely. i didn't love the maps -- just give me some placenames on them, guys, the regions have names, just label the beacons or something!! -- but the regions themselves were less bloated/open like DAI and more focused like DAO/2. decent balance of having new things open up in the same regions later vs just having a gazillion little fetchquests from the start.

i liked having a PC who deliberately chose to be involved and had a history of fighting this fight prior to the game. i'm generally sick of 'chosen one' tropes and we've already done "rando gets tapped for a job they didn't really sign up for" in the franchise before, so having Rook be someone already involved who just gets a sort of field promotion, i liked the change. i wish more had been done with it; i think DA is at its best when you get more context on the, well, origin of the PC themselves and it affects their story more. as a Shadow Dragon i had a couple faction-specific dialogue choices and comments made about Rook's past, but that was about it. exploring that more would be good (or like -- Harding was working with Varric for a decade on this hunt, and yet after a year of working with them, Rook is the "second in command?" how does Harding feel about this? never mentioned.) but all the same, it was a nice change to have someone like, pre-dedicated to this cause and give them slightly different inner conflict re: not necessarily feeling ready to be the leader instead of Varric.

i loved the companions; a good strong set of characters is also the other thing that's DA's strength, and they did deliver there. i loved all of them, some of them way more than i expected to prior. i do wish more of their interpersonal team conflicts had been explored more comprehensively, akin to the set of banters you can get with Dorian and Blackwall, for instance; things do get resolved too easily sometimes, it feels like. Rook kinda talks like therapy; to be fair though, i was playing a genuinely sweetheart character with mostly diplo and charming choices on the wheel, so i'm going to try taking mostly stoic and aggressive next and see if/how that changes, or how much.

also other people have said a lot of very smart stuff that i agree with about how they sucked the nuance out of the factions and worldbuilding, so i won't repeat it all. but i'll say there are some parts which, in the effort to make them less problematic only made them more so, i feel? it's rather tone deaf to have Taash talking about how the Lords are more than what one could essentially call tomb raiders and then get some side quests in Rivain in which ... you loot Alamarri tombs without comment made. just for one little example.

taking the nuance out has really gutted some of what was compelling about earlier instances in the IP. people have said you can't be evil and it's true but it feels like you can't even really be grey. it's like you can see where they tried to do that and then undercut it elsewhere or failed to quite achieve it... like too many hands were steering the overall direction and the writers and studio weren't on the same page, maybe?

there are these really good bones and the seeds of really interesting plots and things right there in front of me and it's lowkey frustrating to play the game and feel like you can see what it could have been but isn't quite. i never expected to get the DA4 that was in my head and heart though, so this fun-but-flawed product with its good points and bad is ... about what i could have expected, and now, at least, we have it, and have some answers to the bigger lore mysteries, and i can at least stop wondering about some of these things. and then go back and play DA2 some more.

[ballinandcantgetup452]

I Genuinely Do Not Know if Gege Akutami is a Good Action Writer

Don't get me wrong, when Gege works, he REALLY works. The cursed energy power system by ITSELF is proof that Gege is bare minimum a genius when it comes to worldbuilding. But, I don't think that Gege Akutami knows how to write a story with a big cast using that system.

I'm specifically referring to how Gege has a really bad habit of benching people that are too powerful. Now, this isn't entirely a bad thing that Gege does. When he benched Gojo, it made narrative and thematic sense. I'm considering Gojo to be the exception to this problem that Gege has. But, let's look at every character that Gege has benched for what I could see to be no other reason than they were too strong in order of most to least justified.

Fumihiko Takaba: This one is definitely the least offensive benching on this list. I can imagine that Comedian is a very tough CT to choreograph in a group setting while keeping your overall serious tone. The Shinjuku Showdown for just about its entire runtime feels tense. Comedian is not only an overpowered CT, but it's also a tonally overpowering CT. You can write Comedian to be scary if you have no idea how it works; but, that's still making the Shinjuku Showdown all about Takaba and not Sukuna like Gege intended. So, having Takaba being on the Sukuna Squad would be a lot of work on Gege to properly balance. You were going to have to bench him in some way. I'm fine with him being in charge of taking down Kenjaku. That fight was probably my favorite fight in all of JJK, and, it makes complete sense as to how and why he got benched.

Nobara Kugisaki: While I'm ecstatic that Nobara's alive, it does kind of hurt the story in retrospect, even if her return was properly built up. If Gege had simply killed Nobara, then I wouldn't be putting her on this list. Because sure, Nobara had a technique that would've allowed her to damage the soul from a distance-something that proved to be INTEGRAL during Shinjuku-so killing her could make the Shinjuku Showdown a whole lot harder, but her death meant a lot to the cast. It deeply affected Yuji and caused him to grow even more as a character. So, I was willing to let it slide. But, the fact that Gege kept her alive is proof that he knew that he had made her too powerful and he wanted to use her for later. If he had built this up more instead of one passive "well she might be alive" comment, I wouldn't be complaining. However, here we are.

Hiromi Higuruma: This one is definitely the most egregious in my opinion. The fact that he is alive significantly hurts this story in retrospect. I wouldn't even be making this list in general if he was alive. Something to keep in mind is that I'm trying to look at this story from both a powerscaling and a narrative perspective. So I get why Gege killed him. Anybody with an insta-kill weapon has to be dealt with in some shape way or form. And, once again, killing him gave Yuji more motivation. I honestly don't even get why Gege did it this time with the knowledge that there isn't going to be a JJK2. Keeping Higuruma alive exclusively hurts the story. Especially because he had already mainly served his narrative purpose in the Culling Games.

I know that this is a pretty small list. However, keep in mind, this all happened in one arc. At the very end. So, it overall hurts the package. In making this list, I have gotten to thinking about it, and, I don't think that Gege is a bad writer. I think that he does phenomenal with smaller casts. I genuinely believe that Hidden Inventory is one of the best arcs in the series. I just think that Gege got a little too ambitious and he couldn't wrap things up in time because of mangaka fatigue so he got sloppy at the very end.

[prince-liest]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love ❤

Aw, thank you so much for sending me this! <3 I've written a lot of fics, but my favorites have definitely changed over time... some I still adore, some I have a hard time looking at for a variety of reasons. These are in no particular order, but I'm especially fond of:

Calcium Carbonate, and Other Things That Run Bone Deep - Genshin Impact, Kaeya/Albedo, Rated M for Gore

Fondly nicknamed "vivisection makeouts fic" while I was writing it, this one was a very gratuitous "Albedo's (in)humanity clashes with Kaeya's desire to save Mondstadt" meet-ugly fic that I still really enjoy as a way that I got to wring both of their brains out like sponges. I was a little nervous when posting it due to the, y'know, vivisection makeouts, but it was received with overwhelming positivity that still makes me happy to think about.

How To Lose 800 Years of Cultivation - Heaven Official's Blessing, Feng Xin/Mu Qing, Rated E for Sexual Content

At one point I discovered how good of a method intimacy is for digging around in characters' brains, and this is the fic where I truly went ham with that. Like, there's a lot of sex in this fic, but there's also a lot of picking apart Mu Qing's issues with intimacy and sexuality, class inequality, and his perception of Feng Xin, who has his own shit to deal with but still fields it all like a champ. I've reread this like five times after publishing it and will definitely reread it again.

Dish Duty - Avatar: the Last Airbender, Zuko & Katara, Rated G

This is constantly threatening The Sword of Damocles is Swinging for being my most popular SFW fic (it has fewer hits but more kudos), and I like it because I think I did a really good job with capturing the canon tone of ATLA, as well as digging into the parts of Zuko's character that I was interested in excavating in it. Plus it had a fun little plot and adventure! It just turned into a really nice, self-contained fic that did everything I wanted it to.

Meng Yao's Guide to Sex and Love - MDZS, Lan Xichen/Meng Yao, Rated E for Sexual Content

I literally just finished writing this so obviously it's fresh in my mind, and I do actually have some things I find unsatisfying about it (the chapter arrangement, mostly), but I REALLY loved writing Meng Yao's modern AU version bag of cats brain and using this fic to learn more about both his and LXC's characterizations. Also, I just really like packing in canon-parallel worldbuilding into modern AUs for xianxia danmei series, and writing JGY & WWX friendship in general. Plainly, this was fun to write. My only #ragret is that now I'm really sick of writing cis smut and want to write trans!Meng Yao.

Smolder - Genshin Impact, Zhongli/Xiao, rated E for Sexual Content

I loved this when I wrote it, but now it's been forever since I've reread it and it's one of my favorites not so much for the fic itself but for how ridiculously popular it got. Very legitimately, I was wary of writing this ship at all in a way that was explicitly Not The Healthiest, and furthermore did not expect fandom to be so positive about trans characters (especially in smut). So it's just pleasing and also hilarious to me that my self-indulgent power imbalance smut ended up

And, as an aside: I think that a lot of my favorite fics have ended up comfortably in that 20-30k word range, which is interesting. I don't really write novel-length fics anymore (and only really did so one time, though it got very popular), and I think it's partly because I really just like to concentrate on the bits I'm interested in and write around everything else, letting people fill in the blanks based on what characters think and say.

Honorable mentions:

Both of the Xue Yang fics for having pretty few hits but extremely enthusiastic comments because the SXX community is baller like that.

The Beast of Pont Vanis, the only Witcher fic I've ever written, based on a song I've enjoyed and wanted to make a story out of since literally high school.

The Shinsou's Bad Days series, may I one day have the motivation to finish you.

The fic where I buried Albedo in an avalanche and let people do the math for how many days he was stuck there based on how many heartbeats he counted and how panic-tachycardic he was.

[ilikekidsshows]

The order in which the writers reveal more about Bishop really works well for building up Bishop’s role as a villain. First we learned how formidable he was (winning every fight he was in), then we learned his goals (basically taking over the world for the sake of “protecting” it), and in between are all these things hinting at just how despicable he is until the reveal that one of the monsters he made was once his friend and Bishop ruined him with no remorse. Now we’re learning about a weakness, something he can’t control. The fact that he has to manipulate his higher ups to get funding was teased at earlier in the series and now we saw it in full force. But, we also learned from Stockman’s comments that Bishop’s body is falling apart. This creates a new tantalizing mystery of what’s going on with Bishop’s body and what he will do to avoid falling apart.

We also got some set up with the rushed alien invasion plan leading to some weird, yeah, ooze spilling into the sewers, the final shot of the episode making it clear that this will be relevant at some point. All in all, this episode is really heavy in worldbuilding information, for all that the plot itself was just about restoring Bishop’s status in the eyes of his superiors, something the heroes aren’t privy until the final moments of the episode.

[yellowocaballero]

HEY!! Your trigun swap au is so very good!! I've always loved roleswap aus as a concept, and yours is the perfect example of why. it's all about the balancing act of twisting the (swapped) character's background/mentalities for maximum domino effect while not actually *destroying* the character ya know? you still gotta recognize them, it's half of the fun. just some little nudges here... and there... with the delightful result of a changed plot/world that you can discover anew

Also I surprisingly vibe with Dr Knives. a lot. what can I say I guess it's the fucked up superiority-inferiority/guilt complex with a dash of imposter syndrome. also the transgenderism. he's just like me fr fr (minus the speciesism and bloodlust) 1/3

SPEAKING OF! I'm literally a week late for that but chapter 4 may be my favorite so far. it's got it all: Ww's bloodlust coming through and being given a GUN, M&M being #JustNormalGunsmokeKidsThings about it, Knives being incredibly tired and enthusiastically murderous in turns, TRANS PEOPLE!! Funky morally dubious trans men ! Intersex nonbinary Knives (in humans terms) !! small internal rants about ecosystems!

I particularly like that one bc I too found myself twitching whenever I see (in fics or fandom at large) Gunsmoke being shown as a ~hostile, barren~ planet when, like.... *waves agitedly at the Tomases* *waves frantically at the WORMS, in all their INCREDIBLY DIVERSIFIED sizes and shapes* tell me there isn't an entire ecosystem supporting and including these bad boys. And god do I wanna know about it. Terraforming this terraforming that. Enough. I want bio-worldbuilding fics that are just as weird and unhinged as the rest of trigun (2/3)

To go back to Nicholas : I loved his discussion with Knives about fate and predestination and stuff (esp since -I may be reading too much into it, but it’s interesting that Knives says he doesn’t believe in predestination anymore, and just a bit later goes about how his personality is Like That bc he’s Biologically Programmed for it), and his last words in it are especially ominous. WHAT were you gonna say about Vash. How does it concern Nicholas. This is gonna bite them in the ass later isn’t it.

Also ur last asks/answers REALLY doesn’t reassure me about woowoo’s fate. Is he gonna die. Is he gonna end up going thru the same things than his canon counterpart (concentrate of medical-and-general unethicality). Idk what those flags are for but boy They Are There.

Aallll that to say I absolutely love that fic and can't wait to see what you do next with it, thank you so much !! (3/3)

This is so nice thank you so much :D :D :D To comment in order:

Roleswaps are no fun if you can't recognize the character. You're absolutely right - the funnest part is to make the smallest changes possible, and see how they cause the biggest differences. That's true of every AU, honestly - you guys know those 600k shonen manga aus where something major is different but every story beat is identical to canon? Or they're identical to every other au? They're addictive but without substance. Also sounds boring to write.

It's so funny that you (and others) vibe with Dr. Knives! From my end, he has my own very wry deadpan and self-esteem problems. Characters who have both a ridiculously inflated ego for comedy purposes and some real self-esteem problems for drama purposes work great.

I was surprised that so many people enjoyed the trans thing so much! I didn't expect it to make people so happy. Of course it's a nice surprise. I don't remember why I made the BDN decision (funny, probably) or the 'Knives invented gender reassignment surgery' thing (funny definitely), but a very active decision and something that made Knives above every other character fun to write is that he is not a human being and does not think of himself as such. The way his body experiences emotion is different, his body itself is different in a way that probably includes genitalia, and there's no reason for him to experience gender the same way. As I'm about to talk about in the upcoming chapter, he casually refers to himself as a thing and with it/its and it doesn't affect his superiority complex whatsoever.

I...would not have said that this is trans by myself, if that makes sense, because I wouldn't have wanted to say "in order to really hammer in how this character is INHUMAN then I'm gonna make him not male or female and prefer neopronouns!". It's just the shape of the character, to me. BUT LIKE IF Y'ALL LIKE IT! NO PROBLEM! I was just worried I might be saying the wrong thing, so I didn't want to say it, if that makes sense. Y'all can say it though.

Trigun worldbuilding is nonsensical and hideously vague and as a writer if you stop and think too hard about silly questions like "where does the wood come from" or "why is Vash eating salmon sandwiches" then you go insane. But...yeah, Gunsmoke's like any other ecosystem, and its worms and thomases seem to be doing great! It's not Gunsmoke's fault it is almost completely uninhabitable to humans. It sucks for us, but...does Knives care about that??? Lmfao???

There is a shitton to say about Knives' relationship with predestination and inevitability, because it's why he made the worst decision of his life. I think of it as...reasonable, in a lot of ways. If all you knew about humanity was what you read in history textbooks, and human history ended with the destruction of Earth and themselves, how would you feel? Everything humans have done, they do again. And if they dissected your sister, in an act of cruelty that they had done to even themselves...of course you'd worry. Of course. If you're young and scared and you can hear the screams of the dead in your ears, of course you feel like it's going to be you or them. And if you're.........Millions Knives.......and reverse!Vash.....then eliminating the threat is just good business sense.

And you aren't reading too much into it - Trigun in so many ways is about choices, and the impact of your choices. Your decisions are you own, and you must take responsibility for them. Decisions have weight in Trigun. I think what ppl miss sometimes about Vash is that he also wants to fuckin' murder people sometimes. He wants to be violent, he wants to hurt. He just chooses not to. Sometimes choosing pacifism is a hard fucking choice, and I think wiping that away does a disservice to the character. So if Knives would say, "Well, it's just who I am, I had no choice, I had no control, I just go nuts and murder it's not on me..." - what does that mean, in Trigun? It's??? Like??? A pussy thing to say???

But, the way I thought about it - what Knives is fighting is his internal sense that he is predestined for cruelty. He knows "who he really is" and any attempt at goodness is futile, because he's secretly bad and will always be bad. And he fucks up sometimes and starts exploding worms. But Knives chooses goodness, and I don't think he's really cottoned on that his choice to do good is more important than his internal desires to do bad and his history of badness. Because he hates himself.

I think what Knives knows now as an adult is that our lives have paved a path for us to tread. Sometimes that path is innocent, and sometimes your life paves a very nasty path. But it's our choice if we walk it or not. Knives knows what his path is, and it gives him extreme shame - but he chose which one he walked, and that's what I judge him on. Still funny how much he loves murder though.

[chocochipbiscuit]

3 and 37 🤭🫶

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

Use of food to establish character and worldbuilding. A longing for connection. If I’m writing a fic featuring a male character, he’s probably Big.

(And if I’m writing smut, oral sex is pretty much standard baybee!)

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

never gonna say I’m sorry is criminally underrated IMO, but I guess that’s what I get for writing a niche pair for a relatively inactive fandom! (truly, my real salt is that half the comments I’ve received, as in all two out of four, was people commenting about a minor character who wasn’t even tagged!) It’s Borderlands 3 goodness with Tyreen on a villainous decay arc and learning to make friends and fall in love and character growth as she goes from wanting to destroy the world to being willing to destroy herself in order to save it! It was a lot of fun stretching my creative muscles to try and match the canon vibes while also giving it more emotional heart and depth than the game itself gave us.

Alas. At least my femslash gang still loves me. *blows kisses*

(from Questions for Fic Writers!)

[refugefm]

REFUGEFM PRE-OPENING PLOT DROP #1 — NEWS FROM RIDDLE'S ENGLAND

ARTICLE ONE:

UNDESIRABLES CAPTURED: AURORS HOLD SIX INSURGENTS AND TRAITORS... "A huge sucess for our brave auror force occured on Saturday night. In a remarkable and highly organised operation, Head Auror Abraxas Malfoy managed to capture six traitors and insurgents who have been working against the Minister for Magic and the Magical community as a whole. These prisoners are being held in an undisclosed location of the highest security. When asked for comment, Mr. Malfoy named the prisoners as: Caradoc Dearborn, Gideon Prewett, Amos Diggory, Edgar Bones, Mary MacDonald and Peter Pettigrew..." ...discover more on page 8

ARTICLE TWO:

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE NAMED UNDESIRABLE #1: DISCOVER THE LIES BEHIND THE MAN... "Breaking news from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement today, as Albus Dumbledore is named Undesirable #1. All aurors and citizens are warned to be on the lookout for Albus Dumbledore, as he is believed to be the figurehead of the terrorist organisation known as the Order of the Phoenix. Interrigations with captured insurgents reveal that Dumbledore has been sending his agents across the boarder between Scotland and England in order to try and undermine the Riddle Reigime. Our Minister for Magic, Tom Riddle, expresses sorrow that so many young souls are being swayed by the lies of Albus Dumbledore. This is not the first time that Dumbledore has used a countries youth to do his dirty work for him. Newt Scamander gave comment to this paper about his involvement with Dumbledore's capaign against Gellart Grindelwald, headmaster of the Grindelwald Academy, which led to the death of several friends and acquaintenaces. It seems that history is repeating itself once again with this Order of the Phoenix. Grindelwalds once partner is known for painting anyone who rivals his power as public enemy number one, and it has been clear from Tom Riddle's first day at Hogwarts that Dumbledore was uncomfortable with his power..." ...discover more on page 11.

ARTICLE THREE:

BLACK FAMILY HEIR COMMENTS ON BROTHERS DISAPPEARANCE: WHERE IS REGULUS BLACK, AND WHAT ARE THE AURORS DOING TO FIND HIM? "Regulus Black has oft been considered a darling of Pureblood High Society. A bright young man who has often graced the society pages of this newspaper. Those of you who have been keeping up with current affairs will know that Regulus Black was reported missing by his sibling, Sirius Orion Black, eight days ago. The aurors have thusfar found no leads as to where Regulus Black may have disappeared to. Though there was no sign of struggle in his private flat, they do suspect that there may be foul play involved. Sirius Black insists that their brother is not the kind of person who would leave for weeks on end without any word to his family or his friends..." ...discover more on page 14.

REFUGEFM will be opening for interactions at 6pm GMT on Tuesday the 14th of November. The above articles are part of our first plot drop, to be used for worldbuilding and lay the seeds of future plots within the roleplay. Your characters make make reference to these events at any time when you start playing. Feel free to plot with one another before we open and consider your characters feelings about the affairs laid out in the daily prophet.

**Please note that characters listed as being captured by Riddle may be picked up by players in the future. If you have any interest in taking up one of the captured players, please discuss this with the admin.

[dogtoling]

Based on the limited information we have, tell me how you want the new DLC to go. Forget what Nintendo will probably do, just give us your dream story, level design, characters, etc.

Thanks!

Based on the limited information we have I think it's safe to say that Off the Hook and maybe even the NSS will be part of the story, which... I mean honestly, I just want them to make it WORK. It's probably going to take place in some sort of alternate world, so there's a lot of things they could do with that. All I ask for is if the main focus is going to be on self-reflection or anything of the sort, PLEASE OMG make the characters have PURPOSE. If they do 1 more story mode where there's celebrities inside your brain commentating the adventure for no reason just to do a little dance over the final boss i'm going to go insane

As for what I'd actually want Side Order to be. um, good question... the premise that we do have based on the really limited stuff we've seen is honestly not inspiring to me at all. The implication that it's not even taking place in the real world would mean that it's EXTREMELY character focused, and given that splatoon has a really bad track record with writing characters, that immediately made me zone out. I put up with Splatoon's stories in the hopes of learning more about the world, and the characters are just kind of there getting in the way of the good stuff. So if the DLC is completely alienating itself from the world, what's in it for me? Lol. Other than general world lore, Side Order looks like it might have callbacks to extinct animals and nuclear weapons and probably humans, but I would still much prefer to learn CURRENT world lore. I guess all I can hope for is that we get really good history lore and it DOES tie into current MAJOR worldbuilding.

Ignoring most of the stuff we have hints of: it's good to remember that we've pretty much only seen concept art so far. And like, with Octo Expansion's track record, concept art rarely reflects what we ACTUALLY get in the game. With the gameplay we do have with your player character in bleached Inkopolis Square, I think it would be cool if there were several of these hubs and doing levels (let's be real, there's probably going to be levels again... even though I'd be interested in them trying something new) would slowly recover color. It has something of a faded or unclear memory of something familiar -type of vibe going on, which is at least how I see it. And I could be wrong, but it would be really cool if we had a story of self-reflection and every hub world went deeper into the player's memories.

There's no confirmation that it will be based on memories at all, and if it is, then there's also no confirmation that it will be based on the PLAYER'S memories. What about other characters or maybe... O.R.C.A? I don't know how on earth the corals would tie to it, but O.R.C.A. left some pretty huge loose ends in RotM by not doing much of anything (on screen, at least), and it IS a computer AI that has seen humanity's extinction and the birth of the Mollusc Era. It would make sense for it to be able to pass on information about humanity's extinction in detail. I'm thinking about the nuclear architecture in the concept art and the presumably cetacean skeleton or fossil that flashes in the trailer, implying both of those are very important. What would stuff like that be doing in JUST the player's memories? O.R.C.A. being a part of it WOULD give a sensible reason for being in some kind of digital realm, too. There is the chance that it is a digital realm of some kind just based on also one of the concept art with Marina with random digital pixels around her.

Yeah this has turned into random theories and wishful thinking. Honestly I just want an interesting story that is relevant to the current setting of the game! End of the Human Era lore is always something I'm up for even though I'd prefer it didn't become the shock value number one plot point of all the story modes going forward (it's a game about the squid world, why are we still focusing on the human world...)

[imaginarydragonling]

💞 🕯️ 🧿

💞what's the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language

I'm not sure how to call it, but the "history of the characters" or the "character backstory" I guess? It's sort of the reasons and motivations for a character to do certain things or to behave and be a certain way.

It's not something I actively prioritize to do. I just find myself constantly questioning why a character is Like That or trying to answer what a character would do or say next. I think it's just that I like things to Make Sense 😅 and if things Don't Make Sense, I can't move on or put it down on paper. This has the happy effect of many wonderful hours of worldbuilding and imagining backstories in my head, and hopefully a good portrayal of In Character characterization, but it does mean that I find it extremely difficult to write Porn-Without-Plot and crack type fics 😅

🕯️-> 🔥was there a fic that was really hard on you to write, or took you to a place you didn't think it would take you?

A few, but I am going to point to Watch Me Catch the Sky for this ask /)_(\ This is an unfinished (if we're going to be honest here) YOI Fantasy AU fic with dragons and magic and prophecies. I wrote it for a Big Bang (my first big bang in any fandom) and while I am proud that I finished it to where it was, this is maybe the fic I've agonized over and rewritten the most.

To be fair, I think a lot of my feelings about this fic are coloured by my experience with the event community, which was...not great. The YOI fandom was a whole other level of drama tbf, but just how much reality fell short of my expectations was quite the learning experience and really made me think about my writing process and what what works for me personally.

Also, in reference to my answer about my writing style in your previous ask, I was constantly worried that my prose was not flowery enough for high fantasy so that didn't help in terms of stress 🙃

🧿what steps do you take to not take things personally if a fic doesn't do well, or if your writing/posting/sharing experience isn't going how you'd like it to?

Hmm. I respond quite differently to the writing experience not going how I'd like it vs the posting/sharing experience not going how I'd like it.

For the latter, in the best way possible, I'm pretty used to being ignored so not getting enough attention isn't too big of an issue for me?😅 But, some things I've done to mitigate the disappointment of a fic not being received as well as I would like after posting are:

So having fewer hits/kudos/comments on a fic on Ao3 isn't too much of an issue for me anymore (tumblr has trained me well, you're the only one who really interacts with me on this hellsite lol) BSome things I've done to mitigate the disappointment of a fic not doing as well as I hoped after posting are:

Write for the sake of writing, not for the reception. I do gain enjoyment from simply writing like I appreciate the mental break from work/real life; I like the sense of accomplishment I have when I manage to create something and bring it into existence; I like the effort it takes to order my thoughts in order to put them down into words (it makes me feel sane and makes things Make Sense eheheh).

I get feedback while writing and cheerreaders to spur me on! This means that the itch/need to be Validated TM is already partially/mostly scratched, so when I do post, the need is lessened.

Ultimately, I recognize and acknowledge that how other people receive my work is something out of my control. So I try not to overanalyze the stats on my posted fics (I do enough of that for a living and also having zero interaction on a post is nothing new. Tumblr has trained me well lol).

However, when the writing experience doesn't go how I like it, I tend to:

Cry

Scream

Beg my fic to write itself

Complain to friends

Do something mindless like wash the dishes so that I can think through whatever is blocking me from writing

Change up my writing process like write on paper

Just copy over a WIP into a new doc (it just gets me typing and editing and is surprisingly effective in kickstarting a writing session)

Accept that my draft is going to be shit but who cares it's a draft

Make a blood offering to the writing gods

Disclaimer: Some of the things I listed above are jokes and I don't actually do but you can decide for yourself which ones :)

Let’s Get ((REAL)) fic writer asks