#just some ramblings about narrators and protagonists

[the-haunted-office]

Something that is more pronounced in the Parable than it is outside of it, is the bond between a Narrator and their Protagonist.

I know I've talked about this before, but some more information on this is just how much Narrator and Protagonist kind of behavior carries over into their lives even after people who find themselves in the Parable have escaped the Parable.

There are several examples of this within the Haunted Office alone.

Cyrus remains in the control booth of the Office, where he feels the most comfortable, and where he continually feels driven to keep an eye on others and direct them around the area, particularly guests. He wasn't like this before coming to the Office and obtaining his Narrator role. Before the Office, he was reclusive, yes, but he and his sister would wander much more. They traveled. They didn't do any sort of ordering other people around or taking leadership roles - they kept to themselves almost entirely.

Thursday has always had a sort of unwitting leadership heart, but it's become more pronounced since she became a Narrator. Even though she isn't stuck in the control booth anymore, she does still take on a lot of leadership duties. She's more amphibious in that she can also slide more into a Protagonist role as well, since the Office originally couldn't decide where to place her and threw her in as a second Narrator at random. But what has carried over the most in her time since being a Narrator is just how much she feels the need to probe into other people's problems (or Narratives) and try to solve them. Thursday has a pretty much subconscious habit of taking on that Narrator role with almost everyone she meets, where (without thinking about it) she latches onto what seems to be holding them back from their "story" advancing, and then tries to come up with ways of helping them advance. This is 100% Narrator behavior. Yes, it's just in her nature to want to help people, but it's also strongly carried over from her being a Narrator, and she often does it without realizing she's doing it.

Doomsday behaves very similarly to Thursday in this manner, but her methods differ. Where Thursday might try to help someone in a more subtle way, Doomsday does it more directly and usually with more explosions. Her methods are big and loud and basically summed up as "break the narrative at all costs".

Protagonists like Stanley have behaviors that carry over as well, usually in the form of indecision. They get so used to having a Narrator telling them what to do, coming up with ideas, guiding them through areas, that after they escape the Parable, they have trouble in these areas. Suddenly they find themselves clueless and experiencing difficulty with making choices, even down to little things like choosing which pair of socks to wear. It can be a real problem for some, depending on personality and what kind of experience they had in the Parable. Some of the feistier personalities make it out better off, but some of the more demure ones? Those might take a while to get back on their own feet again.

And if you put all this together, there's a real codependency developed between a Narrator and their Protagonist. A real bond. Even after escaping the Parable, they often stick together because they are simply used to being together. And in some cases, when the Protagonist wants to leave - even if the Parable is still on and the Narrator can't leave - the Narrator has a remarkably difficult time letting go. It's painful for them to let go of someone they've been in charge of, not always in a bossy, controlling way, but often in a caring way, in the way you would be in charge of a loved one, being responsible for another person. It isn't rare at all for a Narrator to come to love their Protagonist, even to fall in love with them, and vice versa, so to be separated from them? For the Protagonist to want to willingly leave? Why, that feels like a part of your soul walking away from you. It's nearly impossible to let go. But they have to. Because holding onto them will only make them resent them. Narrators who try to hold onto their Protagonists instead of giving them freedom find this out the hard way.

[clairedaring]

more my stand-in thoughts and other ramblings about joe/zhou xiang best boi

!!!!!!!!!!! POSSIBLE NOVEL SPOILERS WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!

as my stand-in begins to air, even though we're only two episodes in, the series itself has already established very clearly and explicitly that ming is a HUGE RED FLAG and he's not... the nicest guy.

and as we are told by the narration of joe, this time he had with ming was not a dream as he had though but rather a nightmare and that it was ming who led joe to his death (literal translation of his last line in ep 1, iqiyi engsub you lack accuracy i hate you).

and while i am just one among the joe's protection squad, i feel like i don't share this overwhelming opinion i've been seeing of people thinking joe 2.0 should pull a 180 change or to be as bad as ming or to become some kind of monster and take his revenge on everyone who's ever hurt him as if this is some makjang kdrama.

i once wrote a bit about my thoughts on why joe/zhou xiang is such a compelling protagonist and what separates him from other 188 novels' main characters. but since that piece was written before my stand-in had aired and i think the characterization of joe has been slightly changed in comparison to the novel, so i want to take this chance to elaborate a bit more on my point in that post as well as update it to fit with the series version of zhou xiang.

so, like i've mentioned,one of the traits i love most about joe/zx is this inherent kind-hearted nature of his and i think the series has not only just done well in this aspect, but also greatly amped up this quality in the series portrayal of zhou xiang.

you can seeeeee it through joe's acts of services for this STRANGER he had just met. be it offering ming a ride to the BTS station or cooking for ming even though they didn't fuck.

however, i do agree with my friend @dragonsandphoenix's observation that with the series, since they're trying to speed through joe 1.0 and ming's relationship, the series has joe falling much quicker (literally him using the L word on ep 2 pls joe) than zhou xiang did, considering it took mingjoe only 2 ep before they started their period of domestic life and yanzhou 17 chapters to do the same thing.

i feel like this specific adaptation change in regards to characterization can cause audience to be even more protective of joe than novel readers already were of zhou xiang. one of my biggest fears for this adaptation (i say one of bc novel readers would already know my biggest fear of one specific scene) has always been the doormat allegations against joe. but like i've also said before, it's that specific trait that 'joe has the ability to fight back but he simply won't because he refuses to hurt others and his soft heart has him in pain whenever he sees others hurt' about him that i hold so dear. even in the series, we know joe has the physical capability of taking sol down... and the man did give sol a deck to his neck making him passed out.

... but it's also the same joe who would take care of sol after accidentally decking him.

did anyone watch ep 2 started counting how many times JOE apologizes in this episode... literally in the car scene, he said sorry to ming TWICE because he was scared he had hurt ming's feelings for his assumptions (right ones at that). or when the hot water dripped from the lid of the pot, joe immediately said sorry and checked to see if ming was hurt.

whether it is in the novel or the series, joe/zhou xiang is just really the type to sacrifice himself for the sake of others, he's never been able to put himself first and puts others' feelings above his (⁠っ⁠˘̩⁠╭⁠╮⁠˘̩⁠)⁠っ

which is why i was pleasantly surprised reading professional body double. because one would generally assume that after all the miseries thrown his way, he would become a bitter person, full of grudge and resentment against people who had hurt him, but he doesn't. that just isn't who joe is.

while joe's bad experience in his 1.0 life does change how he navigates his social life and the relations he has around him, it doesn't change the inherent kind hearted nature nor the optimistic outlook on life he once had. i love that for joe in his 2.0 life because his first and foremost goal was to restart a life happily and we gradually got this journey of self-respect and joe 2.0 finally being able to put himself first and fight for the things/people he love.

while there are obviously bad consequences to the "antagonists", i like that it has never been the direct result of joe 2.0 actions but it's more karmic. although i'm very open and would glad to see the antagonists getting even worse consequences than what happened in the novel (which i think was pretty mild) i think i'd rather be interested to see more of series!joe being happy and successful (big emphasis on successful because if i don't see joe with his 20+ blockbusters he deserve i'm suing for emotional damage)

in regards to the wife chasing arc in the second half of the series, i think this part will be rather controversial since there are diverse opinions on how audience want the wife chasing arc to be executed, or from joe 2.0's perspective: his responses/actions to being chased by ming again. and trust me, i do want to see ming grovelling in pain and suffer just as much as the next joe's protector. but at the same time for me it'd just be... ooc of joe to intentionally and/or maliciously inflict pain on ming. granted i do have some qualms as to ming's chasing method that i hope the series will adjust, i do think that zhou xiang's approach to being chased by yan ming xiu was rather sufficient without the need to give zhou xiang a 180 personality change, so i really hope that doesn't change.

all in all, while it's probably quite early to tell how the second half will progress and whether it does/doesn't diverge from his journey in the second half, i just think it was very in character for zhou xiang to make the decisions he does in the novel in his second life (except for one noble idiocy move that lasted like a day) and hopefully joe 2.0 also does in my stand-in for his new life. *sighs* joe is just truly best boi... i love him... look at he... that's my baby angel （づ￣3￣）づ╭❤️～

[slaybestieslay946]

i was just reading some 1 star reviews of the secret history (because i was curious lmao) and it got me thinking about some of the points people raised so heres my two cents that have probably been repeated to death already but who cares.

First of all, I think it’s interesting just how many people took issue with the characters being ‘snobby and one dimensional’ when that is precisely the point. In the first ‘book’ or section, Richard specifically tells us how he views these people with a sort of admiration or ‘gloss’ that stops him from seeing any and all flaws they may have.

He idolises them from the very moment they’re introduced, going on long ramblings about they’re beauty and intellect and the like. He doesn’t notice things like Charles’ abusive tendencies or Henry’s manipulation or Francis’ constant anxieties because he doesn't view them as human, and instead as godlike.

This of course is his fatal flaw, his ‘morbid longing for the picturesque’ that he describes in the first chapter. He is willing to overlook these flaws and instead focus only on the aesthetic of their lives and interactions. He is even willing to go to extreme lengths to preserve this idealism, such a participate in the murder of Bunny when he in fact should’ve had no part in it.

Therefore I think it’s illogical to suggest that the members of the greek class had no personality and development, when that is in fact untrue and precisely the point. They remain, in Richard’s memory, almost like beautiful statues, that have no real depth and substance.

Even when he discovers the truth about them, he still struggles to reconcile this knowledge with his desire to preserve their aesthetic beauty.

This leads me on to another point I often see raised in critical reviews of this book, in which people refer to Donna Tartt as being the one to admire these qualities, rather than the character of Richard.

It is something I often see in spaces online, in which people struggle to discern and distinguish between the opinions of the author and the opinions of the protagonist (more like narrator in Richards case).

I believe it has something to do with an obsession with moral purity in online spaces, where people struggle to understand the nuance that, while Richard is the main character, we are not necessarily supposed to agree with his beliefs, and he is not some kind of self insert for the author herself.

Instead he is written as a critique of elitism and obsession with aesthetics. From the beginning he idolises these people who do not deserve that kind of praise and worship. He is desperate to win their love and approval, but remains an outsider until the very end, no matter what he deludes himself into believing.

Tartt is warning us against the dangers of putting other people upon a pedestal, a sort of unconquerable moral high ground, as Richard did with the Greek class, and as the Greek class did with Julian.

In the end both of these relationships crumble, because they are entirely founded upon fantasy, in particular aesthetic fantasy.

feel free to disagree with me, these are just my inital understandings as ive still not completed my second read of this book and there may be some things i havent considered. if you have anything to add, please let me know!

[fiannalover]

Ok no one ever talks about Atelier Games in this Website so I'm gonna drop my unscheduled unplanned unscripted ramblings and screenshots about the Yumia trailer:

Short Version: Yumia seems to be Very different from every prior Atelier Game, going towards a more Actiony, Traditional RPG and Linear Story Driven focus than even the Iris Series and Ryza, alongside maybe doing so to gameplay elements too. However, the vibes and themes are Excellent, so although this will likely be inevitably a controversial (and potentially newbie boom inducing) title, I'm ready to love it.

Trailer Screenshot rambling under read more

YGGDRASIL, THE WORLD TREE! That's how you know it's a Traditional RPG (disclaimer: this tree has no name or given story relevancy yet, I'm joking around).

We get to see some movement and world design moments alongside the initial narration, and in this regard, Yumia fully follows in the footsteps of Ryza 3, but More. Zipline segments from there are back, and I wouldn't be surprised if Yumia was Fully open world 90% after Ryza got about 85% of the way to being an open-world game.

We get a sneak peek of the verse's Alchemy System here! We can't really say much about it: the Alchemy Core may just be an item a la the supplements of games past or a full game mechanic. If the latter, my immediate thought is that it would be again following up on Ryza 3, this time the key system, maybe on reverse, even: if they keys were an optional feature on the end of synthesis, the core could be the mandatory first step affecting Synthesis Results. We have to wait to get more info, but it's fun to think of.

Here we have the part I feel has the most potential for controversy: Battle System. Very early on, we see Yumia shoot down a fox? Cow? Foxcow hybrid? With a crossbow in real time. No UI Elements were shown in the rest of the trailer, leaving us the question: after Ryza swapped the traditional turn base for ATB, is Yumia going to change it to Real Time Action RPG?

I actually don't think we can say for sure. Again, no UI Elements means that the ambiguous identity animal could just be a non hostile mob you can kill for materials, while actual enemies are fought in turns/ATB. I don't mind which one they go with (Atelier's cousin, Tales, shows Namco does great ARPG), but one way or another, I am GREATLY looking forward to seeing the Turn Based RPG Discourse join the already lovely Bad Takes On Atelier Landscape!

With those rambles on gameplay out of the way, let's talk about the OTHER very different element: the plot.

DWAGON! Always an important Atelier Staple!

Someone get Vayne in here.

If we are to understand these screenshots as happening in chronological order, Yumia already starts the game in a commander position of a village that is preparing against something, and is promptly wiped off the face of the map. Even the most story/drama heavy Atelier games (that I played) (I'll get to you someday, Iris series) kept a generally light hearted and war crimes free atmosphere. We still don't know how it will work out in game, but it is already a very big tone shift.

This part with the wolf man enemy stands ou too for Yumia's capacity as an action protagonist. I'd say this is the most unambiguous show of strength a series character has shown. like yes, Ryza is described as a capable fighter from Ryza 2 onwards, Vayne clearly knows how to fight, but most of their actions are gameplay land. Ryza 2 ALSO leaves it clear that, story wise, Lent is the group's Actual Trained Powerhouse Fighter.

In contrast, both story and gameplay parts of the trailer leave it clear Yumia is physically capable of holding her own, another evidence of how the game is set to be tonally different from predecessors, doubly so as you realize Yumia has no companions with her on this trailer. I even to get to wonder if she'll make her journey fully solo, which would be something COMPLETELY new for the series.

But what is similar?

This part of the trailer, alongside the title's focus on memories, gave me wonderful Ayesha and Ryza 2 memories, my favorite games in the series.

Both Ayesha and Ryza 2 put a big focus on ruins and the memories of yesteryear they hold. Ayesha is set in a dying world filled with buildings left behind by those who killed it. Ryza 2 has you scouring each and every inch of the ruins in search of the memories of people who lived there, their lives, their stories, how they connected to each other.

Yumia seems like it will be focused on that: holding on to the memories that others have entrusted to you, and using them to find what if your right future, your envisioned land. Truth and Ideals, in a way.

Yumia is going to do a lot of things likely radically different. But I'm sure it will keep the core parts right: the alchemy, the light, slice-of-life elements amidst the action, the somber, atmospheric ambience of Dusk and much, much of what the Ryza Trilogy constructed.

And I can't wait to see more.

[through-the-rabbit-hole]

I'm reading Babel, and, in regards to the research projects that the Hermes Society has been undertaking, there's a footnote attached that essentially complains about how white European translators add too many footnotes with explanatory context in non-European texts, thus leading the reader to read the text the way they want it to be read.

And I just find this funny, because this is the exact criticism I have of R. F. Kuang's use of footnotes. I wonder if she added it in some bout of self-awareness, or if it was just another fun fact. ( Long ramble under the cut. )

Don't get me wrong, the added context is appreciated; there are a lot of people ( myself included ) reading Babel not because they have an extensive knowledge of the 19th century and Victorian England, but because they heard the book is good and popular. The historical context helps the reader understand the circumstances of a situation or the character motives much better.

But it also has a flaw I always notice in a book, which is when the author's voice intrudes upon the narrator's voice. You can clearly hear the author's own grievances and opinions in the tone and the language, even in the choice of highlighted facts. On one hand, I get it: a Chinese-American author is writing a story set in colonial England, told through the third-person lens of a Chinese boy. The story is steeped in commentary about colonialism and racism, and when the protagonist you're following is directly affected by the issues raised in the book, you would expect to see a lot of criticism of said issues. It would he decidedly weird if it wasn't this way.

However, Kuang specifically wrote Robin as someone who is not entirely immune to lies and propaganda. Robin is not as educated, nor did he suffer humiliation at the hands of the white European bourgeoise as, say, Ramy did. Robin is not, at all times, as critical of Victorian England as the real author is, and as the real author likes to emphasize. So in this case, the author is speaking over the narrator when she adds footnotes providing further context that carries her subjective tone. It pulls the reader out of the text, reminds them that this is the real author's opinions and observations; not Robin's.

The funny thing is that I'm not saying an author isn't allowed to show their feelings on a subject unless the author is also the narrator of the book. In fact, R. F. Kuang achieves this in Babel consistently and within full reason: the characters have all the right to point out and discuss the prejudice and injustice they're facing, as well as many other topics that Kuang is clearly passionate about ( this even applies to the discussion of different topics in the field of linguistics in the book ). Like, yeah, of course they would! And this is the ideal place for the real author to do so, where they won't interject themselves into the book.

But by doing so in the footnotes (which, I have never seen so many and such wordy footnotes in a book before), and at times throughout the book, the real author does what, to me, she is exactly complaining about. ( I also have to complain, briefly, about how awkward these sometimes feel, almost like the author wanted to say something more but didn't know where to put it, so it was all thrown into the footnotes. ) I don't think this is a matter of whether these footnotes are objectively correct or not. Her criticism was that non-European texts were burdened with context from white European translators, which implies that this context was subjective, incorrect, misleading, or at the very least, trying to lead the reader to think about the text one way or another. And I agree; context should be objective, it should help fill the gaps where the majority of the reading audience might not be as knowledgeable about a topic, event or person, might not understand a quip or comment because of the missing context.

But Kuang doesn't incorporate these seamlessly enough. In fact, these would be much less jarring, if not at all, if the book was written from Ramy's or Victoria's point of view. Because they're much more aware of the world they live in, are more resistant to and firmly critical of colonial England just like Kuang, because this kind of context, even if it slightly carried the author's voice, would match Ramy's or Victoria's better than Robin's. The point isn't whether Kuang is right to point out the many injustices of the white European man, and whether the white European man is right to add his own context to a non-European text.

The point is how they do it, how prominent their voices are, how much they affect the way the reader will consume and experience and view the book. When you blur the lines between fictional and real communication, when the author is not covert enough in a heterodiegetic narrative, you form a direct, unobstructed line between author and reader that, in this instance, feels out of place. The reader will have to wonder, while reading the text, whether it's the author or the narrator speaking to them, and how this might affect their perception of the events of the book.

Feel free to disagree with me on this, and also I fully admit I am not that well versed in narratology (which is why the terminology is a bit all over the place). In fact, I would appreciate insight from someone who is more knowledge about it than me. These are just my personal feelings on how the author unnecessarily interjects herself into the book, when I feel like it's something that could have been changed during the editing process. I can tell she struggled a lot with the footnotes, because she had a lot more to say without knowing how to add it seamlessly into the book.

(I might revise this, too, at some point in the future; halfway through writing this I stumbled upon Manfred Jahn's Narratology 2.3: A Guide to the Theory of Narrative, and now I'm super curious about it.)

[nerdy-flower]

Hi Nay Fan Week Day 1-Mari

Mari Datuin, protagonist and primary narrator of award-winning horror podcast Hi Nay is best girl (despite possibly having done some murder, we'll get to that).

As the series goes on, the cast expands greatly and we get to hear from the rest of the Scooby Gang, the villains, and several delightful side characters (I can't pick a favourite but if I did it would be Danny <3), but Mari remains our home base, the anchor of the story. She's the one whose head we spend the most time in, metaphorically (well- no spoilers). I think it's easy to make protagonists into everyman types because you want the audience to relate to them, but Mari does this while remaining a distinct, interesting character with a rich inner and outer life. I think she does this by being a cozy mystery protagonist (look, if comfort horror is a thing, Hi Nay meets the criteria. As does Night in the Woods and yes there's a connection there, but that's a ramble for another day).

I have a half-baked thesis (halfesis, if you will) about why cozy mysteries such as Father Brown, Murder She Wrote, etc. are so beloved. I think it's because the stars of the shows aren't simply Cops Doing Cop Things and maybe Feeling Morally Ambiguous About Stuff (Yes, Donner and Murphy are technically Cops Doing Cop Things but there's some more complex layers, and their cases aren't exactly standard police procedural fare). Cozy mystery protags are average people who succeed where their police foils fail because they're well-integrated into their communities, kind, and often seeking more meaningful truth and justice. Mari checks all these boxes, she succeeds in dealing with the supernatural threats they encounter not purely because of her strength, cleverness, and supernatural abilities (she has all of these in abundance!), but because of her compassion.

We learn that from a young age, Mari's willingness to listen to spirits- no matter how frightening they appear -and help them if she can is core to who she is. She gives all that she has, and then some. For the murder-happy and/or hateful spirits who threaten living people, she fights back just as hard, and does just as much damage to herself in the process.

And that's where Hi Nay remains squarely in comfort horror rather than cozy mystery (well, that and The Horrors). Mari is haunted, not quite literally, by the consequences of a choice she made amidst truly horrific circumstances. She left home, but it didn't leave her. In this, she still remains keenly relatable. I think we all try to find tools with no blood on them, so to speak, to solve the problems we face and rarely succeed. And I think many of us at times doubt our right to continue in the shadow of death, in the shadow of harms we have done*. The people who show the most compassion outwardly often reserve the least for themselves.

As the series gets more complex and action-packed, we still come back to characters who honour gentleness in their own ways and desire peace and safety for their city, Mari most of all. I'm very grateful to see more stories taking this approach, especially in horror, but it continues to be something we need more of. So hurray for Hi Nay Act 3 and the fundraiser stretch goal being smashed!

*I said in the Hi Nay discord that two of my favourite pieces of media in 2024- Hi Nay and Godzilla Minus One-have the same message, and yes, this is me encouraging you to go and enjoy both and report back because I need more people to talk with about both

[betweengenesisfrogs]

Desynced

So I really like Desynced.

Strictly speaking, it doesn't 100% fit what I was talking about in my Homestuck manifesto, since it's technically a Homestuck fan adventure rather than a brand new work.

However…for a fanwork, it feels more like a new piece of Homestuckian art than many others I've seen?

I'm reminded of an old Hussie formspring response, where the question was about what would happen if siblings living in the same house played SBURB. Hussie's response was that one shouldn't try to solve this with the rules of Homestuck, but instead imagine the kind of story and plot that would suit such a scenario.

Desynced is like that - playing by its own rules. A lot of other fan adventures feel too stuck (ha) in adhering to the rules of SBURB and Paradox Space. Desynced is quite literally playing an entirely different game. It lets go of so much about the way a fan story is traditionally conceived, and brings in its own set of laws and ideas that fit its own story better.

Some things I like, in no particular order:

-The depiction of parents and children - Desynced knocks this out of the park by splitting the difference between faceless authority figures and relatable kids by playing with perception and letting the parents talk to each other as adults, even when they're faceless to their kids. There is some really phenomenal parent-child content here. The relationship between Kate and her father, for instance, is fraught and filled with missed conversations that break my heart

-That in 2024, everybody in the main group gets to be queer and trans from the very start

-That the protagonist kids are Zoomers, and we see that their interests tend not toward 80s movies but things like Minecraft and Discord chats

-That we seem to be building towards a "war in heaven" theme, where different members of the future gods and Carapacians will take different sides in a cosmic struggle

-The music, which is full of bangers and feels like the sequel to the Homestuck bandcamp page that I never knew I needed

-The total reimagining of Jack Noir, which seems like it shouldn't work, but totally does

-The genius way that the game's equivalent of Denizens tie into weird cosmic mysteries

-Alien kids who appear at first glance to be trolls but are quickly revealed to not be trolls at all (maybe they're tieflings)

-The way in this universe, Trollsonas only exist in connection to an obscure game called Hiveswap

-The fact that the fantasy land inhabitants, the equivalent of consorts, are more fleshed out and have their own lives going on instead of just being silly animals - which hints that we're taking 'their existence more seriously and sincerely.

-That when Desynced does "play the Homestuck hits," it reminds you of how good those narrative structures are. Examples include:

Ordinary internet friend group discovers they are all interconnected and inveigled in a vast conspiracy

Making sense of the rules of a confusing alternate gamey-reality that suggests a sense of purpose but doesn't give you instructions for achieving it

Oh, and also, you have to do this while the world is ending and you're about to die

Villain narrator makes fun of you, the reader

Alien kids interrupt your game session to ramble at you about how they know much more about the game than you do, but it turns out they're just a tiny bit ahead and they're as confused about most things as you are

Ascending to godhood helps you redefine your identity but also causes as many problems as it solves

It's like, woah, Homestuck was really cooking, wasn't it?

We're all so used to the Homestuck plot structures and conventions that I think it's very easy to lose sight of why we fell in love with it in the first place. Reading Desynced made me remember how much I love the premise of Homestuck. Desynced achieves this by detaching from convention and focusing on Homestuck's themes: parent-child relationships, the limitations of one's ideology, the double-edged sword of finding identity in fantasy, and more.

So yes, Desynced is a Homestuck fanwork. But if we're asking where a Homestuck literary movement might go in the future, Desynched offers us a really neat glimpse of part of the answer.

I highly recommend checking it out, if you're interested.

-Ari

[happy-mokka]

Hi there.

I'd like to start with a warning first: Beware!

I'm rather new to tumblr, so if what will come next turns out to be total bs, I hope you all get out of this unscathed, forget we ever crossed paths and will be able to go on with your beautiful lives.

If you're still here, you'll about to hear the nice and accurate story of a guy that stumbled naively into a Good Omens binge watching weekend and came out forever changed.

Roughly 4 weeks ago I was asking friends what they were watching currently. I needed new material to turn to.

That's when it happened.

One of them casually brought up Good Omens on Prime.

I should give it a try.

Angels, demons. Terry Pratchett. Neil Gaiman.

Ok. I like fantasy. I like good story telling. I have an odd sense of bad humour.

I decided to give it a try.

To my eternal shame I have to confess, that until lately I hadn't read a single line written by both Pratchett and Gaiman.

I've read thousands of books. My love for them is so widely spread over all genres, that it simply did never happen. There was always some other book and author that came next.

Oh, how blind and ignorant I have been. I now clearly see the grave error of my ways.

If you can't forgive me, that's ok. I'm having a hard time myself doing so.

Be that as it may, I'm currently reading Good Omens and won't stop there. I promise.

Update notice 2024-06-03 I am now 6 books into Neil Gaimans works, last one was this...

Update notice 2024-08-02

It's been now a few weeks since the allegations on sexual abuse by Neil Gaiman came to light. As a fan of his work I am devastated. As a decent human being I absolutely stand with the victims. Will I continue reading or watching his work? Well, I still have some books on my to-do shelf stack that I already bought and would not want to waste them. So I will read them at some point. Won't buy new ones, however.

As for shows he's involved with, I will continue watching them, if with the given circumstances anything new comes out at all... Too many good people are involved and invested in the works, that don't deserve punishment for his doings.

Good Omens was nothing short than life changing for me. I will never stop cherishing it and the person who brought it into my life (and I certainly don't mean Gaiman by this).

So, where was I?

Right.

Binge watch session of Good Omens season 1.

Saturday evening. Around 9:30pm.

Episode 1 wasn't even running for 5 minutes and I was already sucked right into it.

Frances McDormand's God intro and the garden eden scenes.

I was instantly in love.

Michael Sheen had already been one of my favorites. His first minutes as Aziraphale directly hit home.

David Tennant was familiar but I also hadn't been into Doctor Who, so it took another 5 minutes to also fall for Crowley...

The path was set and I started to deep dive in.

6 hours, 6 episodes, 1 Antichrist and 1 almost Armageddon later I crawled into bed on early Sunday morning to get at least a few hours of sleep. I fell asleep with an almost idiotic grin on my face and a feeling of deep content.

Only 5 hours later, technically still Sunday morning, I woke up, prepared a coffee infusion and switched the TV back on.

There were important deeds to be done. Episodes to be watched.

I could sleep later.

Narrator: No, he would NOT sleep later...

I again immediately fell for the 2 celestials.

The slightly different arc, no dramatic catastrophe on the horizon, instead beautifully written side characters and wonderful new details on the two main protagonists...an evolving love story that had already been clearly visible in season 1...

And god, or Satan, HOW I LOVED JON HAMM as Jimbriel...

I again ended up binge watching the whole season, only interrupted by a few coffee and bathroom breaks.

6 hours later. The end credits were already over for like an eternity and I hadn't moved. Just sitting there, all goosebumps and teared-up.

I ate something. Had to. Don't really remember tasting anything or remembering what I actually had.

I was dumbstruck.

The friend that had suggested to start watching GOs, hadn't let out much more detail, so I hadn't been prepared in the least, for the emotional train wrecked state it had pushed me into.

Hours later I finally fell into an uneasy sleep.

The next morning before work I just sent Tori Amos' Nightingale in Berkeley Park to my GOs friend followed by a ❤️, as a signal that I had watched it all and let her know that there was no need anymore to hold back with talking out of fear to spoiler me.

We had lunch together and spent the whole time rambling on our GOs induced emergency emotional state and the whole beauty of especially Gaiman's season 2.

The next days we kept randomly talking about GO before she pinpointed me to tumblr, in case I wanted to dare a real deep dive into GO fandom.

So here I am now. A week's passed. I've spent hours of reading so many amazing posts around here. So many eye-opening moments.

I'm not only speaking of all those perfect interpretations of GO and it's characters.

What impressed me so much more is the fabulous energy especially radiating from the queer community.

Not being queer, only having a few queer friends, I hadn't really realized, just how big a thing GO in general and season 2 in particular was for you.

Update notice - 2024/04/10

Attention! This installation of base module "Sexuality" is currently being updated to a more flexible one...work in progress...

Update notice - 2024/07/03

At an age where my eyeglasses turned bifocal, I finally came to the realization, that not only my eyes celebrate the duality of life. In fact my whole being did it for as long as I can think back. It is astonishing, how efficiently one can get used to ignore feelings, that society considers unseemly. So, finally, this is me here, bi and queer🌈.

I was raised to walk earth open-minded, to respect everyone, no matter of religion, gender, nationality and sexual orientation. This is so deep a part of my DNA and personality, that GO for me was just a beautiful story about the blind following of religion, the meaning of life and, most of all, love.

Both protagonists are played by male actors and apparently being in an ages long repressed gay relationship? I didn't even consider this unusual or anything else than normal.

2 immortals fall deeply in love, first into humanity, life on earth and then finally into one another, while trying to overcome all the madness of belonging to two opposing sides of the same medal.

A great parable on the pursuit of happiness. Skillfully written for the screen and perfectly casted and played.

Well that was then.

Now I see you and I have to thank you, for opening my mind even further.

For giving so much joy so generously, although every day is still a fight for your rights.

For giving me a space here among you and the chance to delve some more in beautiful minds and fanfiction.

So, if you're still here and reading this, maybe it was not all bs. Maybe it gave you some minutes of entertainment and distraction from every day's stress and problems.

It sure was for me.

I'll end this with some favorite Shakespeare quotes, although now I'm not so sure any more, if not some red haired demon might have actually written this...

"If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber’d here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend: if you pardon, we will mend: And, as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck Now to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue, We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call; So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends."

☘️

A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare

🔻🔻🔻

More personal middle aged ramblings:

👉🏻 birthday meldown 2024 🔥

👉🏻 my year in books 📚

👉🏻 1 year anniversary of Good Omens 😇😈

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

Just finished reading Pez Dispenser Debris (I don’t even go there but I am fueled by Wiki articles and a love for your storytelling) and first of all—amazing!!! 10/10, I think I need to watch this series now. 

Second, I  noticed that (while very much distinct) Yuuta & Izuku have a lot of similarities in the voice you gave them—maybe it’s the constant panic attacks or perhaps both of  them placing blame for everything squarely on their own shoulders, but ough it makes for the perfect blend of gut-punching angst. I’d love to hear any ramblings you currently have about either of them. I am currently obsessed with both of them now and am placing the blame on you <3

I’m gonna pretty heavily discuss some spoilers for my hero academia in this. I figured that was okay since you’d already read my fanfic and the wiki so the cat is out of the metaphorical bag. That being said, maybe wait to read this answer if you want to not be spoiled for more details in my hero.

Yuuta and Izuku absolutely have the most similar voices out of all of my narrators and it is 90% because they are both completely insane and in violent need of a Xanax and a nice soothing cup of chamomile tea. God I love them both so much. They should each be heavily medicated.

My hero academia is a pretty great watch through the Shie Hassaikai arc. The concept is entertaining, the characters are GREAT, and the world building is really cool.

Then the story sort of. Went to shit.

I tried for a while after that, but eventually had to stop watching. My friends and I have a group chat named “horikoshi just call us” because we got so despondent at the writing decisions after that arc.

Horikoshi. If you’re out there. If you’re reading this. Just call us. We just want to help.

That being said, my love for the characters maintains its death grip on me. I simply adore them. They’re delights.

Yuuta and Izuku, on their face, have a lot of similarities as protagonists. The aforementioned insanity and need of Xanax, of course, but the skeleton of the stories has a lot of common touchstones and themes, like:

Both characters have some kind of history with suicidal ideation or tendencies. In the second scene of JJK0, it’s established that Yuuta canonically tried to kill himself. In the first episode of BNHA, Izuku is told to kill himself by his bullies, in an act which appears to be common to izuku’s life, and the only reason Izuku comes up with to not do it is “then you’d get in trouble for telling me to do it.”

Both characters have severe self worth issues. Yuuta’s looking for a reason to be alive at the start of JJK0. He’s looking for a right to be alive. In a way, Izuku is too at the start of BNHA. At the open of action, he is told by everyone in his life that he is useless. His nickname is “Deku,” which uses some of the same kanji as “Dekunobo,” meaning blockhead. The most direct translation were given is that this is a way of calling him useless. He’s the powerless member of a society choked with superpower, and he’s been told his entire life that he can do nothing, that his dreams are pointless, and that he’s a burden who would be better off dead.

They’re both saddled with power they can’t fully control. Yuuta with Rika, and Izuku with One for All, a transferable power that’s too strong to be contained in his body.

They both have a close relationship with an impossibly strong mentor that they are implied to be the successor of. Yuuta with Gojo, as he’s second only to Gojo in the modern age, and Izuku with All Might (aka Toshinori Yaga), who he is more literally taking on the mantle of One for All from.

They both are chugging that Loving Their Friends Juice and have tried to kill grown men with their bare hands as a result

That all being said, they could not be more different characters and honestly aren’t all that similar.

I have this sort of lasting grievance with literary analysis when people take a list of common plot points or events and use them to make the argument that characters are similar or parallel one another. Like, that’s all facial. The real question is how do they substantively handle those events. How do their story arcs treat those things? How does their character react to them?

Yuuta and Izuku’s actual substantive characters don’t really react to those events in the same way at all. The analysis could go on all day in this respect, really, but the biggest difference is how their respective story arcs treat the cornerstone of their original conflicts.

Yuuta opens action with Rika as the cornerstone of his conflict. She’s who he wants to free, she’s who he’s chained to, and it’s her protection of him that makes him think he deserves to die. Izuku’s cornerstone, meanwhile, is his own Quirklessness. He desperately wants to be a hero, and everyone in his life tells him he can’t be because he is Quirkless. He’s useless because he’s Quirkless. He should kill himself because he’s Quirkless. He’s a burden and always will be because he’s Quirkless.

And while Yuuta’s arc reconciles him with his cornerstone, Izuku’s forgoes it entirely.

The story just. Forgets. That he’s Quirkless. They stop talking about it. It never comes up again. It doesn’t make any real big impact on his character or decisions. It’s one of my biggest axes to grind with how the story developed, and it’s actually one of the biggest reasons why I wrote pez dispenser debris.

Pez dispenser debris was actually inspired by this one piece of my hero academia art where Izuku is hugging his younger self. I don’t know if it was official art or fan art, and I have no idea where it is or where to find it because by god have I tried so I can find it and link it for credit/to boost it. I saw it literally years ago, thought “oh that’s cool,” wrote the original first scene of the fic (where Midoriya stops the bus and is hit by the Quirk), wasn’t feeling it, got distracted by other projects, went to law school, graduated law school, signed up to take the bar exam, and was suddenly electrified in the last fucking month of studying with this fugue state of feverish artistic inspiration. I have never written so easily or so compulsively in my life. I’d write for eight unbroken hours and it would be fucking magic every time. It was like an addiction. I was writhing with a need to create and had so much fucking anxiety about the test I was not studying for instead. The words could not be restrained.

Anyway I taught myself three subjects on the plane ride to the state I was taking it in and passed anyway so it’s fine we’re fine

The moral of the story is that this story has been cooking long enough for me to get two more diplomas than I had when I started it and I have no idea where to find that fucking piece of art that inspired it, but if I find it, I’ll reblog it so y’all can see it too.

The thing is, the narrative sort of forcibly excluding Izuku’s past as Quirkless would make total sense to me if it was used as something Izuku himself was doing.

Izuku necessarily had to hide the truth of his former Quirkless status at the start of action—he needed to keep the secret of One for All. Like, he could not let people find out that a Quirk was transferrable, but you know, just the most powerful one, and also he had it, please come torture it out of him.

But as the narrative goes on, that rationale becomes less important. He has people he can trust with it. And yeah, eventually One for All becomes more known, but the discussion is all about him being all might’s successor. Him being Quirkless and how that affected him and still affects him isn’t really discussed or treated as important. And Izuku doesn’t act like it’s important to him either. He never really thinks about it.

And I just hated that. Like. He spent almost his entire life as a member of society who was spit on. He’s had a Quirk for less than a year. How are his experiences with Quirklessness not important to how he interacts with the world?

The other point of contention I had was Mirio.

Mirio is this superstar of a senpai who takes Izuku under his wing. He has an extremely powerful quirk that’s only as effective as it is because he put in the work and learned how to handle it. He’s a perfect, eternally smiling paragon of heroism. He’s flagged early as the one out of everyone, including heroes with established careers, who is most likely to replace All Might.

He’s also the one who was supposed to get One for All.

His mentor had found him and trained him to be All Might’s successor. Before All Might could meet him, however, he found this feral raccoon child in a sewer and said “oh my god I can’t not offer him incomprehensible power within the first three hours of meeting him” and tripped face first into fatherhood.

During a rescue mission, Mirio loses his Quirk in a way that’s borderline irreversible. There’s no known cure, and the only possible one is dependent on a little girl learning how to control an extremely volatile and dangerous quirk and using it in a way she never has before.

So surely, they’re going to commit to that writing decision, right? He’s Quirkless. We’re bringing back having Quirkless characters. It’s going to be this sick as hell juxtaposition between Izuku and Mirio. We are at least going to force Izuku to reflect on his own times as Quirkless or have some kind of discussion about how Mirio is treated differently now that he is Quirkless.

But no. He gets his Quirk back by the next season. We don’t talk about it much. It’s more of a minor inconvenience than anything.

It’s almost as if the show accepted as an actual rule that you couldn’t be a hero without a Quirk. And then just. Forgot. Everything it had to do with its literal protagonist.

Anyway, I hated it.

In contrast, I fucking loved how yuuta’s storyline with Rika ends. That scene where Yuuta’s turning back to Rika, thanking her for loving him, telling him they can die together? I’m obsessed with it. I recently moved across the country and listened to that theme song on loop during the drive.

Yuuta and Rika’s love was unhealthy. They hurt each other. But it wasn’t malicious.

They just didn’t know how to love each other in a way that didn’t hurt.

They were in shit circumstances. But the love was there.

Yuuta felt guilty for Rika’s love for him and his for her almost the entire narrative. He thought he cursed her with his love. He wanted to kill himself because of how she hurt people out of love for him. It’s why I have moments in sea glass gardens where Yuuta talks about begging Rika to stop loving him—he didn’t know why love had to hurt so goddamn bad, and he’s sorry for that, he really is. He wishes he was better at it than he was.

At the end of JJK0, Yuuta truly is the last person who remembers Rika as she was and still loves her for who she is. He’s faced with Geto, who wants to use her as a weapon. Everyone treats her as a threat or a tool, except for Yuuta.

Like. Just that moment. Of loving someone so genuinely, and being the last one who does, and knowing that everyone else will just use them. I’m obsessed with it.

Yuuta reconciles with his love for Rika and her love for him, and they’re both finally freed. It’s this perfect moment of acceptance that I adore. He comes to terms with his past. It doesn’t hurt him so much anymore.

I wrote pez dispenser debris to sort of force Izuku to have that kind of reconciliation. As it is, he hasn’t reconciled with his own Quirklessness and how that affected him. I wanted to give him something he couldn’t physically escape and had to face.

[avocado-ramen]

My Tybalt Exposition

I read somewhere (likely on Twitter, but no guarantees) about people getting really upset with the depiction of Tybalt in the two most recent October Daye novels (Sleep No More and The Innocent Sleep) which cover the same events, one from October's POV, the other from Tybalt's. This is the first time there's been another narrator in the October Daye series outside of short stories/novellas.

That original poster said that while they saw Tybalt's behaviour as problematic in Sleep No More, they had hoped that The Innocent Sleep, since told from his point of view, would clarify matters and perhaps 'redeem' his character. They went on to say that The Innocent Sleep made it much worse, and (I am completely paraphrasing here, I read this weeks ago and no longer have those posts available for reference) that Tybalt was basically abusive trash. If I recall correctly, they toed the line with calling the author a DV sympathizer/apologizer, but it was a near thing.

Even if I remembered where that original post was, I wouldn’t link to it, because I don’t want to bring attention to what they said, nor do I want to risk people piling onto them as is common when people feel like an IP they love is being attacked in any way. I’d rather just make an entirely too long post explaining my own views, and possibly rambling too much and make no sense – because that’s what I do. 😊

As I’ve now finished The Innocent Sleep, I felt the need to get some thoughts down to address some of the things brought forward in that post/thread/whatever I read just after The Innocent Sleep was released.

The author: people need to realise that these books are FICTION. The bonus of writing fiction is that you can safely explore troublesome parts of humanity and society without actually agreeing with those troublesome things.

A significant portion of the books I read have murder happening either on page or off screen in the first few pages because the mystery of a dead body gives the protagonist something to do. Do I think these authors all believe that people should be able to go around killing each other just for fun? No. So why on earth would people think an author including any other kind of violence in their work approves of that violence? This could be it’s own post, and many others have made this point much better than I ever will. Tybalt’s behavior in Sleep No More: We are seeing Tybalt through October’s eyes. Sure, we as readers are privy to the previous 16 books worth of information (even more if we’ve read all the shorts and novellas), but at this point in time, October doesn’t know Tybalt. She’s never seen a Cait Sidhe. She doesn’t know anything about them aside from what Titania’s illusion tells her. From this framing, Tybalt comes across as brash, angry, controlling, and violent. He has a tendency to storm off if things aren’t going his way. To October, Tybalt’s behaviour is completely out of line, and she’d be correct – from everything she knows at this point. Tybalt’s behaviour in The Innocent Sleep: One thing people need to remember before they start applying present-day human morality to Tybalt is that he is not human. At all. He’s fae. Cait Sidhe. He is both a cat and a humanoid, but he is not, and has never been, human. One of the things the author has reiterated time and time again is that both the fae as a whole, and Cait Sidhe specifically, live by an entirely different set of rules than humanity does. Titania hates the Cait Sidhe because she believes they are beasts and below the perfection of her other descendant lines like the Daione Sidhe. As much as Titania is the villain, she’s not entirely wrong. First and foremost, the Cait Sidhe are cats. When backed into a corner, they’re going to lash out. If they’re stressed, or hurt, etc., they’re going to lash out. It’s what they do. I have the scars from my own cats to prove it.

Tybalt knows he is barely in control of his emotions. He freely admits that, and the fact that he at times needs to walk away before he lashes out and does something he’ll regret, which I feel is smart and responsible of him.

Tybalt’s attack on Ginevra in the throne room in Golden Shore is excessive. And it’s meant to be. It’s completely unexpected and jarring in Sleep No More when seen from October’s point of view. In The Innocent Sleep, being in Tybalt’s head, while still a severe overreaction to a situation he wasn’t paying attention to and therefore didn’t have full context of, it is completely in line for how a) a cat would react, and b) how a Cait Sidhe king would react when they believe someone has attacked/injured/wronged someone that ‘belongs’ to them. Does that make it right? No. And Tybalt himself shows as much shame as his position allows when he sees Ginevra at dinner. Do I think Tybalt is an abusive asshole that needs to be shunned, killed off, or whatever other over the top reaction people have had? No. And no, that doesn’t mean I approve of his behaviour or think he should face no repercussions. But context means a lot. I can see when his behaviour is completely in character for his species and title, while also admitting when he’s crossed a line. The benefit of an ongoing series is that it is quite possible that Tybalt will face the fallout of his behaviour in Book 19, or even further. I don’t expect everything to be wrapped up in a perfect bow at the end of each book. None of the characters in these books is perfect (with the exception of Spike, Cagney, and Lacey), and if the author can foreshadow some of the things we’ve seen in Book 16 way back in Book 1, then we can believe she’s got plans for them for Book 19 and beyond.

This is the same author that took one of the most loathsome characters and made me want to wrap him in wool and protect him at all costs (ok, I still want to shake him now and again), to the point that I named my new kitten after him. Please, admire Simon “The Tiny Terror”.

[adamkdexter]

Ladies, Gents and everyone outside and in-between, welcome to this perpetually inconsistent mess of a blog. I'm Ash K. Gray, you can call me... literally any part of that pen name. I'm (allegedly) a writer and comic artist just trying to have fun with as many mediums as I can.

Big media enthusiast, here, which is why you can catch me on Youtube rambling away about one thing or the other. My fan-fiction requests are OPEN, so have at it! Or just read my pre-existing stuff over on AO3.

I also have an instagram, a Cara and a Chill Subs account where you can get a look at my published stuff. You can also buy something off my inprnt shop or support me on Ko-fi! ( feel free to drop some print requests in my inbox )

My asks are always open, but I can be a little slow with them at times. Lovely having you here. Cya 'round!

Under "Keep reading," you'll find little synopses of my long-term works and their tags on here so you can keep track of whichever ones interest you ( if any do at all ).

Fanworks:

When Flag Posts Fall and Ashes Remain

A Flaggburning (Frank Burns x Colonel Flagg) fic series written with the intention of studying and developing the character of Frank Burns.

Modes of Being

A Friends sequel retconning my stifles with the finale without rewriting it. The plot centers around Rachel's career and her friendship with Chandler as well as his and Monica's marriage, which seems to have been hit with a single stifle: Joey Tribbiani.

Original Works:

Nothing Is Amiss [ #akg nia ]

Aidan 'Noah' Newman, a well-spoken journalist with a proclivity for the rational, gets involved with a peculiar theory about the nature of existence. Things do not go amiss. Everything is perfectly fine. It's a very wholesome tale of love, freedom and adventure; a journey into the depths of the human essence that endeavors to ask - albeit never quite answer - the enigma of autonomy.

As Told By Dean Baxter [ #akg atbdb ]

The cynically narrated chronicles of a guy who, although not yet a protagonist in his own right, seems to stumble his way into the not-so-wonderful world of romantic endeavors, albeit never his own. In high school, he fulfills the role of a background character in a puppy love scenario. As a freshman in university he winds up the center of a love triangle....'s best friend. As a senior, he's mistaken for a love rival. Wonder what role he'll play when he's well into his career.

Ernaline [ #akg ernaline ]

A multimedia horror conglomerate of comics and written fiction that follows different cast members within the same world. From witches and demonic cults to emotional vampires and phantoms; Ernaline is a mixture of comedy and horror that seeks to entertain before anything else.

Hindrances Overload [ #akg ho ]

Everyone's lives have got their own fair share of hindrances along the way. Combine fifteen schoolmates' hindrances together, though, and now you've got yourself an overload. This is a simple comedy slice-of-life following the streams of consciousness of fifteen sophomores that just so happen to go to the same school. When they graduate, regardless of how much they change and the varying degrees of the hardships they get into, our tale concludes.

The Void's Gameshow [ #akg tvgs ]

The Nameless Host is bound to an endless, ever-lasting void. Their only purpose is to run a sadistic gameshow to satisfy the urges of a viewership not entirely within the realms of mortal comprehension. Every year, a series of roulettes is rolled to decide the nature and location of the show's four new unfortunate contestants. This season, said contestants are the uptight Eric Schultz, the clever Keishi Tokugawa, the brawny Riley Wellobie and the sweet Maria Dujardin. Their only objective is to survive.

post dividers by: @k1ssyoursister

[domain-of-sentience]

ch 39 ramblings (+ HoS analysis)

wow this was the greatest arc of all time huh

(due to length, this post will mainly be a HoS analysis but ill start off with summarizing my feelings about the chapter/arc as a whole)

Summary

in my prior posts i've already mentioned how these chapters had it all: good premise, good cast and character development, actual stakes, immersive and gut-wrenching scenes, the list goes on. lately i've seen people express concerns over Sa and how she compares to the likes of other antagonists like otto but honestly...

i care more about the chess pieces than the ones controlling them

i fucking love seeing characters struggle in the face of adversity. in some of the previous arcs, it felt like the protagonists would always find a way to be one step ahead. but whenever the salt snow cast tried to do the same, they'd end up spraining that metaphorical foot or be pushed many steps back... or just die onscreen 🙈 even if there wasn't true death, there were still lasting consequences

the spectacle was off the charts too. so many scenes were rendered with love and care that sprinkled additional life to these characters, many of whom had lofty dreams that were to end in a whimper than a bang.

and don't get me started on the elden ring ass boss fight and that tense platforming sequence. despite knowing that things were going to be ok somehow, i was able to suspend that thought and immerse myself in what truly felt like despair and isolation

Senti Thoughts (Unceasing)

she had plenty of memorable moments overall. at first i thought the writers were going Too hard on her haughty side, so much so that people were picking on her over it and even the fucking narrator had to jump in

(then i found out this was vita, sorry vita but you're on my list now)

i mean this is the same herrscher who made so many reasonable deductions in the previous chapter. the second time she met kevin she immediately surrendered knowing that she couldn't win. if this Sa was the quantum counterpart to the cocoon of finality then hos would certainly be more cautious, right?

but i think she was fairly confident in two things: the relative power level of Sa and her own natural adaptability to situations, such as the way she cleverly hid herself from Sa's omniscience:

this wasn't Finality that she was contending with, but a fellow rival in the domain of consciousness

Comparison to Vita

she and vita are alike in many ways: their clairvoyance, their eyes, their bird imagery, their selfishness, their love for freedom, their disdain for boredom, their interest in companionship, their struggles with free will, and even this weird tidbit:

i think the only remarkable difference they had was senti's activeness to vita's passiveness

tho, despite their similarities they don't have interesting interactions outside of the mindspace (WHICH BTW always fills me with nostalgia whenever they play that hos bgm)

Freedom, Mind and Body

freedom is one of the core themes of this arc (like, they really beat you in the head over it), but it's an extremely consistent trait for senti's character.

she is not a materialistic person; she would rather simulate the taste of tea in her mind than to experience it for herself. despite being a free spirit, she still has a Restraint that manifests as a mental shackle: an influence from memories that do not belong to her, which still affects her to this day. so who can blame her for always chasing freedom?

but the most interesting thing is this:

it would explain why she could taste the moonrock a long while ago when she didn't know it was rock salt. although, i guess it's largely unnecessary since she can just influence people's consciousness to look however she wants. but y'know, chekhov's gun and all....

also, the 72 transformations is another journey to the west reference!

The Status Quo

did you know senti is a character who hates stagnancy, but is stagnant herself?

she admitted to being stir-crazy in times of relative peace after the great eruption, she was seen pacing around in the country of iron sand while she couldn't do anything else, she'd rather beat up the problem head-on than to brew up a solution. indeed, she is a very active herrscher who likes to mire herself in chaos for the fun of it

ironically she gives away so much Therapy Guidance but she never addresses her own underlying issues, such as her wish for people to genuinely care about her. you can't fight that problem away, so she'd rather ignore it.

she couldn't even give that new body a real chance because it would unravel everything about her. she can't leave her comfort zone at all. even her fighting tactics haven't changed a bit (thanks mhy)

to use an analogy: she is like water. water is versatile and can easily turn into vapor or ice, just as how senti is adaptable and can literally change her physical state. but no matter what form water takes on, it is still molecular water in the end, just as how senti will always be senti

but what happens if water undergoes a chemical reaction and irreversibly changes?

even pseudo-death freaked her out. can you imagine what would happen if her authority diminished completely, or if she was restrained in a corporeal body, or if she was locked up with fuhua in a room forever-

Sentihua Crumbs

you can leave this post now if this isn't your thing

hmmmmmmm

hmmmmmmmmmmm also senti isn't beating the absent father allegations

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

the funny thing is that this arc was so fucking good that i want to go into the next one with ZERO expectations. like i'm not really sure if they can keep this momentum up and so far all of fuhua's appearances since the end of the taixuan arc were.... lackluster at best

but here's to hoping that fuhua and senti have genuinely meaningful interactions that can at least hold a candle to what the seeles got

[thesungod]

their theme is so inconsistent like at the beginning it feels clear, being who you are and accepting each other’s darkness, but the way its done is 😬 and then it switches up to being literally budget toa saying “well everything can change yk??? don’t stay in the darkness” but in a horrible fashion and they’re acting like this is what they’ve been trying to tell me in the past 400 pages when it ISNT dont LIE to ME

i don’t think EITHER of them was reading the book as they write they were just mashing words together bc im watching a book promo for it rn and rick’s saying that will likes nico bc he likes nicos ““darkness”” and how intrigues him and mark’s saying neither of nico or will wants to change that core part of the other. which explains away him in BOO trying to tell nico that nobody disliked him—being that will was projecting his own feelings about nico onto others—and also relates will to apollo even more with their need to reach out to outcasts and love them. but then they didn’t write that they literally wrote that will doesn’t like it and he wants to fix it. thats my STEP SON and they did that to him.

rick did not want to write this book at all, and mark probably projected their nico stanisms onto the other characters without justifying the stanisms. you can really tell when rick has a passion for writing something and when he could not care less. the subtle toa promo in one of the gorgyra scenes and apollo’s updated glossary—he wants you to read toa so bad he could not gaf about this book. and yet apollo is never mentioned positively like give him back to me.

speaking of mark i think this is just a consistent issue they have when writing. i read reviews of one of their books (anger is a gift) and some were very negative about the way the narrative made the protagonist the most righteous person ever and completely revolved around them. ifl that issue bleeds into this book as well.

i saw people (including the writers) say this book is darker than a lot of rick’s other books and i really need them to shut the fuck up; THO literally had kids tied up in crucifixes to be burned at the stake 😭

ok sorry for the ramble i see the letters tsats together and i go on a rampage

you absolutely ate this up!!

also laughing at you calling it “budget toa” because that’s exactly what i said to a friend about this book once. i felt almost offended over the authors trying to fit the “everyone can change!!” narrative last minute and make Nico the symbol of re-invention after five whole books of ToA. i was very “how dare you stand where he stood” about it which is childish but alas.

i’ve also mentioned several times how will and nico’s conflict in the book was not intriguing to read about because it was inconsistent. not to mention that according to the timeline they’ve been together for a year!!! an entire year!!! and the book still has Will acting #shocked that Nico, idk, likes darkness.

the Mary-Suing of Nico literally the worst thing to ever happen to me. i’m usually all for my faves winning, but that’s after they’ve been through the mortifying ordeal of losing, yk. and i get that Nico has been through a lot but the book was basically a 400-pages-long ass kissing and i couldn’t do it.

i couldn’t even feel particularly moved or vindicated by Bob pledging loyalty to him in the end because it wasn’t cathartic at all. i was like we get it dude lol

same with his “friendship” with Piper tbh. not everyone needs to like Nico😭 i would have totally loved it if the book had shown a friendship progress organically through their grief for Jason or common interests (even if just briefly narrated through a recollection!! i’m not saying we needed chapters of flashbacks or Piper as a third main), but Nico does not mention her once ever. they didn’t even like each other in HoO!! then at the end of the book he calls her and he is all like “of course she wouldn’t be angry at me for not calling after Jason died <3 she understands that grief is complicated <3”

my king Piper isn’t angry at you for not calling because she dgaf about you. why would she. who are you to her

another thing I’ll never get over re: Nico and Will’s relationship is how, per the book, Nico encouraged Will to come out and was the first one of the two to do so, when every. single. thing written about them in the Hidden Oracle suggests the opposite.

why the fuck is Nico so reticent and embarrassed about admitting to be Will’s boyfriend in the first book of ToA if it’s Nico who came out first? IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE CAMP might I add?

because i get that coming out to someone doesn’t necessarily mean being comfortable coming out to everyone, but Nico announced his crush IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE CAMP. and asked Will out. and Will wasn’t out at the time. so whyyyy is their dynamic on THO literally the opposite of this? with Will pushing Nico to be more open about their relationship while Nico plays coy? because Apollo is Will’s father? idk, maybe i guess😭

but it’s pretty obvious the change in the dynamic was established later on and that the impression we were supposed to have while reading THO is that Will was the one more comfortable and in tune with his sexuality. like, come on.

[c-schroed]

Podcasts I Adore - Within the Wires, Season Seven: Scavenger Hunt

I’m going to send you on a trip. Lots of trips, actually. You don’t have to take them all at once, but don’t leave too long between them. Let’s call it a scavenger hunt. You’ve been so busy at work. Lots of late hours. Use up some government travel vouchers. It’ll be fun.

Gosh. Never since season four of Within the Wires was it so hard for me to fight the urge to scream at a protagonist while listening to them. And Elena Jiménez, the current protagonist, made me feel even more uncomfortable than terrible, terrible Freya Brigettesdotter. Because this time, I can't even hate her.

I don't like Elena Jiménez. She gives me stalker vibes. She sends a person around the globe, tells her old stories of a mother that this person is not allowed to know anything about, and then she rambles on, about a lot of other things as well. Like, how exactly sex and dancing are the same. You know, that kind of stuff that you really don't want to hear from someone who obviously snooped into your private life before. Elena Jiménez is red flags all along. But she says she does it all for love. Because she grieves the love of her life. And I belief her. I believe that grief does this to people. I even think Elena is a well-written character. It just doesn't make things better.

At least we learn quite a few things about quite a few places in the alternate universe of Within the Wires, as Elena sends the daughter of who once was the love of her life all around the globe, to tell her more about this mother. This scavenger hunt is the most fun part of the season, and once more Within the Wires just excels at finding a new type of found audio medium through which to tell its story. And even more than in the previous seasons, it's absolutely exciting to speculate if the tapes have ever been heard by their intended audience. Because Elena records them with the purpose of hiding them for one specific person, not knowing if said person indeed even started her journey. Unfortunately, they authors decide to not keep this suspense up for all of the season, but still. This is my personal highlight in a season that otherwise did not really strike a chord with me.

Production wise there's nothing to complain. Acting, soundtrack and the way the episodes are narrated are as flawless as one has grown accustomed to after seven years of Within the Wires goodness. It's just a season not to my personal taste. 7 out of 10 points.

< My review of season six

[curiouscompanions]

Entry #4

Seemingly, nothing foreshadowed trouble; the Narrator was again narrating the same Story, making absolutely inconspicuous changes every time Stanley deviated from the usual script and chose the right door. It seemed like all our algorithms were working in exactly the same chaotic order as always ...but still, something suddenly changed. And there he was, Stanley, passing by two doors and diving into that ventilation opening, and there it was, a completely new dark room leading somewhere entirely different. A place, that was, with all its plants and trees, and painfully synthetic sunlight, reminding of the Outside so much. And what happened next? Everything happened too fast, or maybe too slow for even me to gather the courage to grasp every detail... in short, I simply failed to catch the right moment to recognize differences between two similar yet entirely different updates of the Office. Not that I could have done anything about it, even if I had managed to notice these differences in time. Nevertheless, I would have preferred to be prepared for such an event, significantly in advance.

And hello again, Reader.

Where was I? Well, let me start from the beginning.

Big. Round. Glowing with awfully bright yellow light. That bloody Skip Button, I hate It.

Before It, I was perfectly fine existing like this, in this little room on the top floor and beyond, seemingly nowhere and everywhere. Observing our Narrator and Stanley. Sometimes—I would even say—quite often, it was fun ...right up until It appeared, that cursed yellow Button. I hate It. It won’t just ruin the Story entirely, oh no, it makes everything much worse— It skips It, It skips all of the Narrator's monologues, and It does it for Stanley only. Meanwhile, I had to listen to all his comments, from senseless time-killing ramblings to cries of breakdowns, which was quite soul wrecking to watch; I almost felt bad for him. To my great relief, it didn't take even half a millennium before some kind of system glitch occurred and the whole Office restarted. And it all started over and I could once again observe the same familiar decorations, the same familiar beige walls, the same plain carpet, I could hear the same Stanley’s footsteps and the same Narrator’s comments, yet once again could I regain that almost forgotten confidence that the end of this very Story would never ever be the end.

The Story ended on the day Stanley disappeared. To be more specific; the man simply fell off the map. I don't know how exactly he managed it, but he slipped right underneath the entire Office and escaped to Somewhere Else, likely to the Outside, if he is lucky. Well, okay. Fine. I know how he did it. Someone assisted him with this and that someone was none other than his former colleague, now turned into something entirely different, something covered in all possible bugs and glitches, yet still managing to use them to his own advantage. Is it just me, or does he now even have access to the Game’s Settings? Is that even possible? If only I could ask him a couple of questions... but unfortunately, reaching his level is near impossible for me.

So, Stanley escaped. The Narrator spent all his time trying to find him, and I just observed his futile attempts. It was boring, so terribly boring, that I decided to conduct my own investigation by peeking into every Ending and every corner of the Office. In essence, my searches differed little from the Narrator's attempts, except they happened much faster and didn't include dejected sighs or dramatic comments.

However, I also failed to spot Stanley, even when I managed to look under the Office. It seems he really managed to escape for real this time. Perhaps I should have been happy for him? Maybe... but without him, nothing happens at all, because the Narrator refuses to pick any other Stanley except the very first one.

If even the Protagonist himself managed to find a way out, does that mean I could too? Unfortunately, I can't just stop observing. I must continue to do my job. Someone has to keep making these entries. 

So let me start from the beginning.

In a moment of eternity, I began to delve into the least played Endings. In one of them, I finally noticed her. My new yet so familiar subject of observations. A young woman who had stopped hurrying, knowing perfectly well that her interview would never happen. She just stood in the middle of fake street decorations and seemed to glance at the camera every now and then. The corners of her lips froze in a small smile. I wonder, could she even slightly grasp our current situation back then, or did her catatonic nearly comatose state completely shielded her mind from the horrors of endless existence? The woman didn't blink nor move; she just stood there, thin fingers clutching her bag, her hair neatly tied up in a ponytail. And as soon as I looked into her blue eyes, her name immediately surfaced in my mind: Mariella.

Mariella. Was that her real name? Probably not, but that was the only fragment of information I managed to retain at that moment and until now. And you know what? I'm losing myself every day; I haven't remembered my own name for a long time, but I know for sure that I won't let her share the same fate. I decided that I would never forget this name, Mariella. Because someone has to remember it if she forgets.

Mariella. When I look at her, it seems like she feels my gaze. Mariella. When I look at her, it seems like she is looking back. Mariella. When I try to say her name, it seems like she hears me.

Mariella. Were you here all this time, Mariella? How could I not notice you earlier, my dear Mariella? How could I not know that you are here, so close and yet so far, standing on this fake street, on this fake gray sidewalk?

Mariella. Please blink for me at least once. 

End of Entry #4

[wordwarriors]

POV Discussion Summary

The inaugural live discussion went very well! Thanks so much to everyone that participated! It was a very good turnout. I thought I would post the outline and some notes from the discussion here.

OUTLINE:

First Person “I” (single v. alternating/dual) be careful of too much self-inserting. Pros: many readers feel closer to the protagonist.

2. Second Person “You”

3. Third Person “He/She”

Objective (do not know their thoughts and feelings)

Omniscient (vs. head hopping) (reports thoughts and feelings but doesn’t word them in the character’s voice)

Subjective Omniscient: The narrator knows the character's thoughts and feelings and has opinions about them: Liam felt guilty. As well he should.

Limited (one character’s POV, only know what they know)

Limited shifting (alternates characters, only know what that character knows while you’re in their head)

Narrative Distance:

Far narrative distance (as if you’re watching them)

Close/tight (as if you’re in their head)

Deep (write as if the reader is the character)

He peered out the window. “Are they coming for me?” he wondered as he listened to the sound of distant hoofbeats.

The above could be written in deep POV as follows:

He peered out the window. Were they coming for him? Hoofbeats rumbled in the distance

4. Fourth Person “We” (Plural)

Example:

Head hopping:

Riley looked across the room in confusion. She felt fear slice through her heart as she listened to Liam, he was agitated and upset, worried that she wasn’t understanding what was at stake. Drake looked between the two of them, bored, he was ready for this conversation to be over. Riley threw her hands up in the air. He could tell she was frustrated.

Fixed:

Riley looked across the room in confusion. She felt fear slice through her heart as she listened to Liam. He seemed agitated and upset. She shot a quick glance at Drake, who wore a bored expression on his face. She threw her hands up in the air.

Liam could tell Riley was frustrated, but he was worried that she wasn’t understanding what was at stake.

Notes:

There are pros and cons to any choice you make. There is no right or wrong and it comes down to artistic choice. If you aren't sure, play around with different points of view until you find your writing style.

Proofread and be sure you are keeping it consistent.

First person provides a close narrative distance. Third person deep can do the same but is less intuitive to write.

Third person gives you more freedom by not limiting you to only what one or two characters know.

If you are using shifting/alternating character pov, make sure to clearly delineate a scene shift when switching to avoid head hopping and confusing the reader.  

Scene shifts can be done by starting a new chapter, using a scene break (like ***) or by starting a new paragraph.

If you just start a new paragraph, be sure to make it clear immediately that you have shifted character pov.

When writing multiple pov characters, each character needs to be very unique and have their own voice or you risk confusing the reader.

Please, if I've missed anything, feel free to mention it in the comments and I'll add it!

Also, check out these articles on POV:

Point of View

Tenses:

Past is more accepted/traditional and intuitive.

Present can create more immediacy and tension.

Again, this is a creative choice, just make sure you’re keeping it consistent.

You will use multiple tenses when writing. We touched on this (using past or past perfect vs. writing flashbacks in the same tense as the rest of your story), but this could probably use it’s own discussion at some point.

August Events:

Live Work Sharing Session: Friday August 11, 2023 12:00 p.m. CST

Live Discussion on Descriptive Writing Friday August 25, 2023 12:00 p.m. CST

Word Warriors:

@karahalloway @aussiegurl1234 @harleybeaumont @alj4890 @peonierose @petiteboheme @ryns-ramblings @tate-lin @twinkleallnight @nestledonthaveone

@aallotarenunelma @kristinamae093 @coffeeheartaddict2 @thedistantshoresproject @lizzybeth1986  @memorias-depresivas

@noesapphic @jerzwriter