#interest filler

[annsource]

✷ deadly doll

a free airdrop inspired template by annsource

like/reblog/send a message for the download link

[queersrcs]

.‧₊˚🍜˚₊·੭* name banner!!

i’m rusty as fuck at name banners- but i’ve been inspired to start creating them again! this is the first one (of many) that i’ll put out. please, please, PLEASE include your playby, full name, and colors. (click for quality!!)

[cozylittleartblog]

gooseworx in the glitchx livestream: i want to see people draw jax in a suit. people should draw him crying

me: sure thing, boss o7

[fixyourwritinghabits]

No Such Thing As Filler

Okay, so yes, this is another post based on something I saw that irritated me, but it seems like this idea keeps coming up, so I need y'all to internalize this. There is no such thing as filler in good writing. None. Do not approach your work thinking you have to fill space in a story, I will beat you with this wiffle bat. Don't ask me where I got the wiffle bat. Don't even worry about it.

The idea of filler comes from a very particular place - when an anime or TV show has to fit in a certain number of episodes, but doesn't have enough content (hasn't caught up with the manga, the source material isn't long enough, etc) to cover those episodes. An episode has to be written, but the characters can't really progress, and so are given something else to do. Many a trope has come from these episodes, and they're sometimes necessary. Filler in this context is something that makes sense.

The dark side of filler is the idea that you need some space between Big Event 1 and Big Event 2 in your story, therefore you need throw anything in there to take up space and make your word count. This is a mistake I've made and I've seen plenty of other writers do it too, but it's a huge waste of your time. You do need something between those big action scenes, but you should always be writing to accomplish something.

Instead of thinking of that writing as filler, try to approach it with three things in mind:

Move Forward With Character Development and Backstory - Your characters barely survived a huge gunfight, and they won't encounter the big bad again for another few chapters. How do your characters decompress from that gunfight, and what does that say about them? Did a cocky character go in guns blazing, only to be deeply shaken by how a real fight works? Did that fight spark a moment of deep trauma for the main character that they have to reflect on afterwards?

Filling this space with meaningless scenes is a huge waste of opportunity. Think about how to dive deeper into your characters.

Move Forward With Plot and Subplot Development - The bad guy beat the heroes to the stolen gem, but they left behind a clue to why they want it. However that clue could reveal some painful truths about the protagonist's beloved great aunt... Carmen Sandiego???

A major goal following a big action scene is having the characters figure out what to do with what they've learned and what to do next. It's where romance subplots or secret relative subplots make progress, when truths are revealed and next steps are taken. You can absolutely do this in any setting - a flirty conversation while at the battling cages, a tense moment of feelings while hunting down a wayward chicken - but your main goal is making progress for both the characters and plot.

Move Forward With Worldbuilding - Worldbuilding has it challenges, believe me. You don't want to write a chapter on how an airship works only to have to cut it later. But you should still try to flesh out your world, and you should do so with the perspective of how to use that worldbuilding to your benefit. Maybe a critical scene hinges on the main characters knowing how that airship works, or that lake your main character often stares at is the setting of the big Act 3 Boat Battle. The weather can play into both perspective and emotions. Knowing what the main character's house and car looks like can reflect a lot on their personal character or backstory.

When you're struggling with a scene or a chapter, rather than writing filler, take a few steps back and think. What can you establish with your worldbuilding? What can you reveal about your characters through their dialogue and actions? What subplot could you explore or add in these between moments?

Filler from a fandom perspective - Now let me make this clear - if you're writing a fanfic just to have a cute moment between the characters you like, or you really want to force everyone to do that weird Twilight baseball scene, that's fine. You don't need a grand goal to achieve for every story, there's no need to justify your fanwork in any way other than you wanted to do it.

But I'd also argue fanwork doesn't fall under the filler label either - something you create, be it a character snapshot or a 'what if the gang meets Slenderman' parody, isn't taking up meaningless space. It's something fun you did that you and others enjoy, and there's nothing wasteful or pointless about that.

[aroaceleovaldez]

tbh my latest biggest theory for why HoO and onwards is such a dramatic drop in quality and consistency is just. Rick stopped making teaching guides.

Like, the Lightning Thief teacher's guide is SUPER in-depth with even stuff like sources about middle grade child psychology and exact specifications of where he's applying that, explaining what different character's goals/motivations are, their dynamics with each other and their environments, etc etc. Even specifying which specific myths certain plot elements are supposed to reference or be about.

That stuff just doesn't exist for later books. There's activity guides and smaller, significantly more simple teacher guides for later books but they don't go into anywhere NEAR the same level of depth. The TLT one is a full lesson plan that breaks down the book at every level and explains what's going on and more or less why Rick did that. The others are all basically just glossaries of terminology and some simple question guides.

And they didn't even use the TLT teacher's guide for the Disney+ show because they clearly aren't adhering to any of what's discussed in that breakdown of the book.

By creating a teaching guide alongside writing the actual book, that's forcing you to document what you're doing, why, your sources, and information about your characters and the story they're in. It's like an even more in-depth version of a series bible. But that's lacking for later books (and etc) and it shows because that level of thought and depth and attention just isn't there anymore.

[jake-is-screaming-in-tune]

[team7-headquarter]

Whenever someone tries to make a point about something the Konoha kunoichis, I need to make a pause and remind them how out of character they were in some of those moments.

Kishimoto pretty much abandoned Sakura and Ino's friendship and then tried to bring it back during the War arc. Ino lost her sensei and then her dad, and when was Sakura? You mean to tell me she wouldn't care? About any of it? Or when Sasuke was declared to be killed, do you mean to tell me that Ino wouldn't have run to find Sakura?

The way Hinata was written on Shippuden???? Naruto aside, people forget that Hinata refused to give up during the Chunning Exams and forced Neji to almost kill her if he wanted the victory. She was stubborn, she was prideful too, she had more going on than simply a crush on Naruto. She was told by her father she was a failure and yet she didn't give up on becoming a kunoichi, did she?

Then why is that Shippuden wrote her like her sole ambition was Naruto, hm?

And Tenten? She was MEAN when she wanted to be because she was highly competitive. We know that she wanted to train under Tsunade, so where did the death of that dream take her? She's such a powerful kunoichi and yet we know so little about her personality, her life...

We got "Ino and Hinata know some medic min techniques" in the most random way possible... We know Sakura would walk around with Hinata even, so what about their girl bonding moments during the genin to Shippuden years?

It made me so angry whenever the girls treated each other like strangers in Shippuden. So many stupid situations made to highly their teammates even if I meant to write the girls out of character...

[buwheal]

In all seriousness though, did you pull something? It'd definitely be easy enough, especially with all the hardware you have to move between locations. Eugh

[honeyspotpie]

ERM have this little extremely messy Taylor doodle I posted on my insta story yippie!

And this ugly ahh Scary HELP HAVING A CLEAR STYLE CRISIS

[sillylilneurodivergent]

MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER MADDIE HATTER

ILY MADDIE HATTER. SHES LITERALLY MEEEEEE

[gumi-writes]

Sister Sabri has lived an extremely sheltered life. What fun activity would you introduce to them? 🔍

[verflares]

replaying red rescue team is always kind of funny because the story really is so Nothing compared to what they eventually pull out with explorers. they went from oh no! we gotta stop that meteor before it hits us!! to what scares you more? the idea of your own death, or the prospect of change? that the future could be better than it is today, even if it means who you are now might cease to be? block this double-slap attack

[fry-or-die]

kakihara and ichi are really interesting parallels... kakiharas violence and ichis violence has the opposite effects too, because of how they act.. I feel like in a way kakiharas is appealing? im not a freak but I feel like everyone was entertained by the things he was doing, the high he got off of it was fun to see.. while ichi as a character in general, is the childishness to kakiharas maturity. hes still getting pleasure out of it yeah, but its especially apparent in the last fight.. maybe its cause of kakihara being unceremoniously beaten and seeing ichi like that? was so disappointing not seeing him be able to enjoy it

like idk if this makes sense but I'll put it like this;

kakiharas violence is the most appealing because you can see him enjoying it sincerely whether its on himself or someone else, and its sometimes a lil comedic (gun rimming) or kinda sexually appealing (karen stabbing someone as he smiles) what im tryna say is that its easier to see him a certain way, hes an older man, hairy and flabby, scarred and pierced with a thick tongue

ichis violence refuses to be appealing to anyone, because you see how he has to be stuck in his trauma for so long and be manipulated by jijii to do it properly. his face and crying while he kills also refuses to be appealing. he doesnt really have control, so he wants to hurt people to gain it back. even wanted to abuse the only person who stuck up for him in school because of that- but its also sad at the same time because hes deluded himself into thinking that she'd want it to be that way? in both instances where he was with a woman that reminded him of that girl, he thought that they enjoyed being hurt, and he even had a moment of clarity after jijii told him off.. it was short lived because it made him question if he should kill. really tragic shit. I don't think he "became normal" either, not just cause he started crying again when he was almost attacked- but because of how that girl reacted when he asked her out.. it was kinda weird! like maybe hes abusive behind closed doors..? maybe im wrong though and hes just a douche at worst. one way they showed how ichi thinks is by having him only really interact positively with jijii, kaneko, his son and a boy. two kids.. and he teaches em to fight because he sees himself in them. so maybe showing him interact with someone his age is proof enough that hes normal? eh. i still hold that somethings up. ichis a smooth faced young man with a strong build, short hair and bright eyes, hes tall and shy looking, and overall extrmely plain. contrasting kakiharas insanely unique design

also i think ichi "getting stronger" is like, super funny too. like a twisted look on a shonen protag that wants to be the best at whatever. thats all i wanted to say though, i hope this makes sense.

[comicaurora]

Hmmm… fun shrike fact?

extremely good at leading her "boys" (gender neutral) and making sure they're well-paid and well-respected, also absolutely determined to become A Problem

[mimdecisive]

does anyone else find it kinda weird that SPOP just casually dropped in the fact that there’s a Prince who can see ANYWHERE in the world magically, aka the perfect spy, and Glimmer just… didn’t think of recruiting him?

Why wasn’t Peekablue already part of the Rebellion??? What is he using his powers for that’s soooo important? He could literally see all of the Horde’s plans and warn the Rebellion and give them a HUGE leg up on them, and he wasn’t even mentioned until S5.

I know he was a hermit almost never seen but are you telling me Glimmer wouldn’t even TRY to find him and convince him to join?That’s a mystery in itself; where IS Peekablue, and why does no one care? Is he literally missing? Because if he’s literally missing, maybe someone should help him.

[rusty-gloinks]

doodle thingy of her i cooked up earlier