#like idk if people realize how hard staying fully spoiler free would be

[kindahoping4forever]

PSA

If you are interested in remaining free of all tour spoilers, I'll be tagging all my show related posts with the tag: #the 5sos show tour.

If you still want to see content but your main concern is setlist spoilers, any discussion of the confirmed setlist or videos of songs from the show will also be tagged #the 5sos show tour setlist.

To clarify, setlist spoilers will sport both tags so if you decide to block them both, the post will show up like this:

And then if you see a blocked post bearing only the main tag, you'll know it's at least safe from song spoilers!

Happy tour season! 🥰🥰

[zephfair]

Thank you so much for tagging me @mychemicalrachel You made me really think about this one! 😘💖💖💖

Rules: in a text post, list ten books that have stayed with you in some way. don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard — they don’t have to be the “right” or “great” works, just the ones that have touched you.

I’m cheating because I’m procrastinating, these are mostly series, and I feel like babbling.🤣

1. The Black Stallion series by Walter Farley. 🐴🐎🐴 I was that crazy horse girl growing up and I re-read most of these books so many times, especially The Black Stallion Mystery, I could’ve quoted them. Except for the weird end-of-the-world one. That one scared me so badly, I never could finish it.

2. Man O’ War by Walter Farley. 🐴🏇🏇 Same reason, I was a horse-obsessed kid and this one about the real-life, famous racehorse moved me and made me cry and I told everyone for years that I wanted to be a jockey when I grew up. SPOILER: I did not achieve this dream. But I still remember the book and story very fondly.

3. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. 🌸💮🌸 I read this as a kid and thought it was lovely and sad and very moving. I listened to an audiobook of it a couple years ago, and it held up.

4. Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy. As a teenager I got into the Tom Clancy novels (idk how; I think Mom bought me some used because they were very long and she thought it’d slow down my book consumption🤷), and I remember carrying this one to school for months because I would read it (656 pages!) in hidden snatches during study halls or free time. When I finished it, I did a book report on it and got an A.😂

5. Agatha Christie’s novels. I started reading them young and I think they convinced me that I and everyone I knew was eventually going to be poisoned to death or, alternatively, accused of poisoning someone to death.☠️🕵️🧐 She made me love mystery novels! I’ve started listening to her works on audiobooks and they’re still fun—overly convoluted and chock-full of dated red herrings—but fun!

6. The Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. 💖💖💖💖💖 I love these books so much. I stumbled upon the first one just browsing in the library as an adult, and I read the series as quickly as possible. They’re fantastic, and some of the best first-person, unreliable narrator books I’ve ever read. They’re funny and full of adventure because Amelia and her family are Egyptologists in Victorian times. The later ones don’t hold up quite as well because of one relationship I will never like, but they’re still better than most other mysteries. The author was an Egyptologist so she gets all that right. The audiobooks with Barbara Rosenblat are amazing—she is fantastic!

7. Die for Love by Elizabeth Peters. 💀💖 Her standalone novels are definitely dated, but still more fun and entertaining than most other authors. I just love her style of writing, and she crafts characters that make me care because they feel like fully realized people. This one is in another of her series featuring Jacqueline Kirby who might be a stand-in for the author, but as I approach middle-age, I appreciate her a lot more. 🤣 This one pokes gentle fun at the romance novel industry—not the novels because the author literally wrote romance novels under another name—but the publishing industry as a whole. I have no idea if things have improved, but I hope so.

8. The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett.🐢🐘❣️❣️❣️ I can’t even pick out my favorites, or the ones who’ve influenced me the most, because they all have. Finding Terry Pratchett’s works changed my life, and specifically, changed my ideas about writing and storytelling. I could talk forever about everything I love about his writing--because even the books I don’t love the most still have made me think and analyze things about life and myself--but I won’t. Just go read them. If anyone wants a specific recommendation, hit me up. There are different sagas within the series, and you can start with one of them.

9. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich was really interesting to me because her writing style is so spare and her characters are complete caricatures, but it worked for, like, five or six fun books. By the time I found her books, I was in my 20s and analyzing writing styles, and I still don’t want to write like her, but it’s okay for a really quick, action-packed read.

10. The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. The first four books are incredible. The best fantasy I’ve ever read, and I will fight about this.😂🤣 I was introduced to them in college, and I read those 7 or 8 available, but especially the first four over and over. I loved his writing style, I was in awe of his world-building abilities, I adored his characters because even the ones I loathed felt like real people. I waited for years to read the final three, and I’m sorry and all apologies to Brandon Sanderson fans, but I was majorly, extremely disappointed. The change in style, the huge changes in characters, all of it was too much. I only read them once, cried a lot at the fate of some of my favorites, and was done. 😢

[fictionalginger]

wandavision theories for ep 8 | contains spoilers

Obligatory disclaimer, these are my opinion + thoughts, and ideas, take all u see here with a grain of salt as of course, these are just theories. Now, shall we?

I’m writing this at 7:30am on Friday 26th, it’s taking all my self control to actually write this down before I go watch the episode.

Let me start this by saying that ever since this show started I’ve looked like this every single week, until the next episode, and then the cycle just starts over. I’ve seen the promos and the trailers in like 0.25x so many times. 

Agatha/Agnes

I called it from before the show’s start and the fact that it was so obvious makes me think she’s not really the main but more like a pawn that’s serving a supervillain if that makes sense. 

On episode 1, there was the June 2nd line and then the “Charmed” thing that confirmed it for me.

I think that she’s either 

possessed

just crazy

I’m leaning a bit more towards the crazy part, she’s been an instigator throughout the whole show and seems to be doing it and enjoying it (ie agatha all along)

basically put the idea of having kids in Wanda’s head 

instigated Vision’s doubts which then ultimately made him realize something was wrong

she literally gave him the last push for him to try to go outside the hec which might have killed him 

she killed Sparky

brought Peter from (according to me) Fox’s universe as a stand in for Pietro bc he’s dead…

From the couple of promos and leaked images for ep 8, I think she’s gonna show Wanda her past which I think is tied to Mephisto because let’s be honest, how does a witch have powers comparable to those of someone who basically was exposed to an infinity stone. The amount of demonic symbolism in her secret lair was a lot, the cicadas, señor scratchy, what looks to be the darkhold.

I also think she’s the one that manipulated Wanda into creating the hex, seeing as her creepy basement is apparently outside of it. She manipulated her into having kids, we’ve seen that every time the twins are about to age up, she’s there. She didn’t even blink to Wanda having powers. That’s why I think she killed Sparky, because for some reason she wants to age the twins into teenagers to serve her purpose. 

But why?

Does she want to bring someone back from the dead? Or does she want to manipulate Wanda into opening the multiverse because she knows she’s a Nexus being? Is she using her to bring Mephisto into the MCU world in a physical form?

Peter

I’m sure he’s just Peter from X-Men who Agatha pulled into the MCU as a stand-in for Pietro.

I think when Wanda yeeted him in the halloween episode, he got snapped out of Agatha’s control and we might see him team up with Monica to help Wanda and the residents of Westview.

I think he might stay in the MCU and be in Dr. Strange the multiverse of madness, and then we’d see him return to Fox

Monica

Not sure what name she’ll go with, Photon, Spectrum or even Captain Marvel 🤷🏼‍♀️

I do think she’ll take over as Director of S.WORD since I’m 99.9% sure Hayward broke the Sokovia Accords (and Vision’s will) 

Hopefully we see more of her and why she’s so mad at Carol

Dottie

I have the feeling that there’s a lot more to her, but I’m on a time crunch and really want to go watch ep 8 so I'll just say that she’s either Arcanna Jones or Clea and I’ll be disappointed if she turns out to just be Dottie.

Also, she’s not on the board so I have my doubts about her.

Hayward

I’ve hated since I first saw him

I’m 99.9% sure he was experimenting on Vision trying to bring him back online which is a breach of the Accords, but he couldn’t and then saw that Wanda had breathing, living version of Vision and became hellbent on getting him, that’s why he’s vilifying Wanda so he can put the blame on her. 

Vision

This one’s a bit tricky, because I have my doubts about him being Old Vision, but I really liked him throughout the show and it sucks that he’ll probably die at the end.

Theory 1:

He can’t leave the Hex, which makes me think he was created by Wanda, I mean after all she can manipulate things to a molecular level and could’ve given him the same traits as Old Vision, that’s why he has the stone and can’t really remember anything from before Westview, because he didn’t exist but still exhibits his selfless behavior (i.e doesn’t even remember being an avenger yet he wanted to help and then when he was dying outside the hex, he asked for help for the people and not for himself even though he was disintegrating)

This scene from one of the promos where Wanda’s still wearing modern day clothes and then she’s wearing the outfit from the first episode, and Vision’s like “Wanda?”. I think that’s where she created him, and gave him some basic memories to start from.  

Here, where she’s looking at the stone, in another promo I believe, I think it’s that she’s “destroying” the stone which will inevitably kill vision.

Or when she has to inevitably bring  down the Hex, he’s gonna die, again. The only plot hole to this theory would be, how is Hayward able to track him? Is he tracking the Vibranium signature only? 

That scene where Wanda’s at S.W.O.R.D and she’s recovering his body, makes sense that maybe she made Westview Vision from Old Vision’s scraps, but he was completely disarmed and taken apart, how could she have done that? She would have had to completely put him together (which shouldn’t be hard considering her powers) but I’m guessing he wasn’t Vision anymore, they were turning him into something else.

Theory 2:

I remember reading in October, that White Vision could make an appearance which kinda makes sense? After all, he was killed and taken apart by a spy agency which could be S.W.O.R.D as it is now a “Sentient Weapon Observation Response Division” that is very specifically focusing on robotics and A.I. This could be what Hayward mentioned that he intends on launching on episode 7. Considering there’s only 2 episodes left, this seems like a lot to include with so little time left. But the possibilities are endless, it is Marvel we’re talking about.

Either way I think he’s gonna die and we’re all gonna cry. His death might be what pushes Wanda over the edge and into insanity, if even when she was living a normal, happy life she was pushing her grief onto those she was controlling, what would it be like when she has to let go of this? Heartbreaking, that’s for sure.

Billy & Tommy

I think they’re somehow fully real, made from who knows what but real

I don’t think Agatha killed him, but she might have aged them as that seems to have been her goal (it also makes them the right age for the young avengers set up they seem to be going for)

Perhaps, instead of living with Wanda, once the Hex goes down they’re forgotten? Like when, in the comics, Agatha wiped them from Wanda's mind.

I read a theory that the missing person Jimmy was looking for at the beginning was Teddy Altman who ends up being Billy’s husband in the comics, so that’d be cool.

Wanda

Poor Wanda has been manipulated this whole time.

Going with my theory that Vision’s body was completely torn apart when she got to S.W.O.R.D, I don’t think she could take it with her like that, that’s why I think Hayward is so obsessed with finding the Vision that she has alive inside the Hex. 

I feel she was manipulated by Agatha all along, Westview might’ve just been the first town she found as soon as she left S.W.O.R.D where Agatha manipulated her into creating the Hex. This whole time she thought she was in control, it was Agatha behind the scenes controlling everything. Jimmy mentioned that she was displaying an amount of powers that far exceeded anything she’d displayed before and I think her crumbling mental stability, along with the fact that Vision almost died at the end of episode 6 (or he did actually die idk) could be what’s causing the Hex to start glitching and failing.

There’s a scene from one of the promos, and honestly it was hard to find, but we can see her in the town surrounded by all of Westview’s residents who look like they’re begging her for something (Phil). Maybe she couldn’t keep her control over them or once Agatha showed her the truth, she decided to free their minds.

and this scene where she holds hands with Vision while wearing modern clothes, I think it might be one of their last scenes together.

My working theory for Wanda is:

She realizes she’s been manipulated and how wrong it all is

Frees everyone

Tries to take down the Hex but has to fight Agatha and Hayward(and whatever he launched) in order to do so but she has the help of Vision, Monica and Peter

Inevitably kills Westview Vision when she takes down the hex, says goodbye and we’ll cry

Grabs her children and we go into dr. strange 2 where she’ll try to fix what she fucked up 

or

She forgets her children, probably Agatha’s doing and goes crazy with the grief of losing everything at once hence setting her up as one of the main characters (villain?) of Dr strange 2

I’ve had the feeling that phase 4 is going to revolve around her and her powers, spiderman 3: no way home and dr. strange the multiverse of madness, even loki and antman: quantumania. They all give multiverse, ripples in the fabric of reality kinda vibes.

So far all I’ve got are more questions for episode 8

Why did Agatha do this? What’s the purpose of it? 

Is Vision gonna die? Is he alive? Are my theories right?

Are the kids alive or aged up? Trapped in the creepy ass basement?

Is Peter under Agatha's mind control or will he team up with Monica? 

Will the town people die in Haywards attack? 

Will we get to see the big bad in the show? 

Who is the aerospace engineeeeer? 

Hope you’ve enjoyed reading my delusions, expect a theory for the final episode after I watch ep 8. Leave me a like or reblog if you’ve found this interesting. You can also follow me on Twitter where I usually post my dumbassery first!

[panharmonium]

since i am on the cusp of watching the last four episodes of merlin (again, disclaimer: these are episodes i have never seen, and for which i still remain unspoiled, so please help me continue to stay spoiler-free for the next couple of days), i wanted to try to set down a record of where my thoughts are now, because you can only be in a place where you haven’t finished something once - “once a thing is known, it can’t be unknown,” etc - i’ll never be able to come back to this mindset, so i’d like to be able to remember what i was thinking before i knew how it ended.  if nothing else, this will mean that i can come back here and laugh at my wildly off-base suspicions.

this is relevant to absolutely nobody, since everybody else finished this show eight years ago; so under the cut it goes!

so. 

right now i have a feeling that merlin is going to end...badly.  i’ve never been outright spoiled for what happens at the end of this show, but various little hints of feelings i’ve picked up from people just indicate that...it’s not a good time.  it would be nice to be wrong!  but that is just the sense i have gotten.

with that in mind, my current thinking is as follows:

arthur: i think arthur’s doomed.  i used to think it was going to be merlin, but that was last year, and i’ve recalibrated and rewatched since then, and honestly, ‘the disir’ gives me a real bad feeling.  you can’t just ignore all these people being like “THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE!  IT WILL NOT COME AGAIN!”  i’m not sure if he’s doomed now, or if they’re gonna have him survive the immediate crisis and then fast-forward to the future so we can watch him die and get shipped off to avalon later, but either way, i think arthur’s in trouble.  

(and, quite frankly, i don’t think merlin’s going to get his good ending, either.  i’m afraid he’s going to end up dead or living as a hermit or trapped in dragoon’s ancient body or something stupid like that.)

(i would LOVE to be wrong, fyi.  i have absolutely no reason to have these suspicions other than the vague sense from others that the ending of this show made people bitterly unhappy.)

i don’t know how there is a way for them to do this that doesn’t feel like a huge waste or something that doesn’t make sense.  the messaging on this show has always been that the time of albion hasn’t actually happened yet, that arthur is going to unite the land and be the greatest king of all time.  the message has never been that he’s already done it.  like - it’s never been presented as “the three years between S4 and S5 were what we consider to be the once and future king’s glorious reign.”  so it just feels...like it would be very weird to remove arthur without that promise ever being fulfilled.  i’m not sure how they can manage that without pulling the rug out from under their audience in an unpleasant/dishonest way.

i also don’t see how this kind of ending would work without breaking the show’s promise to merlin - that one day he will be known for who and what he is, that he and arthur are destined for greatness, that the appearance of a white dragon “BODES WELL” for them and the world they are trying to build.

mordred: i have no idea what’s going to happen with mordred.  i stand by what i said before, that i like him and don’t care if that means i get burned.  i don’t know if they’re planning on having him either a) be revealed as a traitor with his own agenda (one not necessary aligned with morgana’s) or b) be sincerely trying to be a good knight but doing a 180 and turning on arthur due to...idk, frustration about not being accepted, old grudge-holding from that confrontation with merlin when he was a kid, new grudge-holding from merlin constantly trying to get him killed, etc.  

i have always been concerned that merlin’s behavior is going to drive mordred to do something evil, thus accidentally bringing about the events he’s trying to prevent, so that still looms large in my mind.

morgana: ?????  whatever plan she has is going to blow up in her face, it seems, given the substance of merlin’s vision in 5.01 (not that she appears to have a plan at all, this season - she’s been all about the wacky schemes, lately; she has no allies and no army, as far as we know.  (that will change, though, i’m sure, once we get to That Dread Place, though how, i don’t know.)   “the legends speak of an alliance between mordred and morgana” - so maybe mordred ends up sort of helping her after all, and turning on her in the end (though he’s already done that, it seems, so i really don’t know how that makes sense).  

if it were up to me, i’d want morgana to be released, at the end of everything.  not redeemed, exactly - i don’t think she would cozy up in camelot with everybody and let things go back to normal, but i think she could be more than what she is.  i think it would be an appropriate arc, actually, for us to see her losing her allies and her armies, for her to see people drifting away from her methods, like when annis refuses to help her any further in 4.05.  morgana started off as the voice of moral authority on this show, but she’s descended far enough now that she’s driving people away from her cause.

but i still think she deserves a chance.  i think she’s the kind of person who has the capacity to come back from the brink.  i would like to see further exploration of the conflict she obviously feels when mordred appeals to her humanity in 5.09.  i would like to see the conflict she must feel about hurting people she used to love, and i would like to see conflict from them in her direction, as well.  i don’t believe it would be simple for arthur to ever consider killing his sister.  i don’t think gwen would just give up on morgana without a fight.  i do think merlin, for his part, has hardened his heart against her, and that seems appropriate, given their history, but i also think that merlin’s primary motivator in this world is love.  

i think he could learn.  i think he would realize, after some difficulty, that he owes it to her to try to reach her, somehow.  

gwen: it’s hard for me to say what i expect for gwen, because honestly, she hasn’t had much of an arc this season, and therefore we don’t have much to work with.  i’m not sure if TPTB just stopped knowing what to do with her once she became queen, or what, but if i had been putting down my expectations for her in season 5 as a whole, i would have expected to see gwen kind of like - struggling a bit with her huge change in circumstance (from servant to queen, i mean, that’s massive; there would be so many things she’d have to adjust to, and then dealing with other people as well, not all of whom would be thrilled by her upward mobility - eg nobles who are threatened by the idea that common folk feel like they can aspire to the second highest office in the land, or other servants who used to be her friends and would never wish her ill but are now maybe nervous around her - but none of that happened, so i honestly don’t know what the plan is for her.  i would have liked to see gwen showing up a bit more for merlin, i suppose...they were so close, before, and if anyone would have noticed that something was bothering merlin, gwen would have - but there’s just this gap between them now.

gwaine, too.  gwaine and merlin were tight.  and now they’re sort of…i mean, gwaine is there, and he on his end is still invested in merlin, but there’s a weird distancing happening between them.  merlin is too preoccupied with the all-consuming ‘make sure arthur doesn’t die’ to put much of himself into his other relationships.

to be clear, i’m not actually criticizing that as a writing decision.  i do think it’s something merlin would do.  i think it absolutely makes sense for merlin to be shutting down all the “extra” parts of his life, one after another, until the only thing left is the Mission.  his “destiny.”   he can only focus on that one thing.  he only thinks his life is worth something if he can succeed at this one thing.

it makes me very sad, but i do think it’s something that would happen to him.  it strikes me as an appropriate step for his character arc.  because merlin in S5 is kind of disintegrating, and even in S4 he was starting to pull away from other people.  but i would expect this problem to be addressed as season 5 progressed, and i fully do not expect that to happen now. 

i’m honestly not sure the show actually sees it as a problem at all.  i’m not sure...i can never tell if this show understands that merlin feels like all of his relationships are shams, that he feels that everyone who “loves” him would hate him if they knew who he actually was, not just arthur.  he thinks people only care about him because he lies.  he thinks his true self is fundamentally unlovable, in this particular world.  he doesn’t remember what genuine friendship feels like anymore - it’s been such a long time since he experienced it.

i think that’s a problem.  i expected it to be one of the problems we would address in S5.  but i’m not sure we’re actually going there.

gaius: i was REAL concerned about gaius when we started S5.  i was sure he was a goner.  he’d already survived way longer than i expected him to and i was so pleased about that fact; i loved it; i loved how merlin said “camelot needs BOTH of us” and refused to ever leave him behind.  

i’m still kind of um...worried about him, i guess.  i’m not sure where he would fit in a post-finale world.  though that really depends on where the finale leaves us.  

the dragons: don’t even ask me.  are we ever going to get clarification on how kilgharrah allowed aithusa to get swept up by morgana and then trapped in a pit for two years?  nah?  okay then.

i would really, really like merlin to be able to help aithusa.  it doesn’t matter if aithusa is “with” morgana; merlin is still a dragonlord.  he would still feel responsible.  he would still care.  you can tell how upset he is when he sees aithusa in 5.02.  i hope we can get something to this effect - who knows, maybe he and morgana can connect on this one thing.  

wider concerns: the magical community.  i’ve been waiting for merlin to take a stand for them for a long time, but again, i don’t think we’re going there.  i wish we were, but merlin thinks the only way he can help them is by helping arthur, because someone somewhere once told him arthur was the one who could put everything right.

(and again, that’s something that makes me sad.  why does this community have to wait for their oppressor to slowly, maybe come around?  the fact that we, the audience, are fond of arthur doesn’t make it okay for anyone to tell a group of oppressed people to sit around and wait their turn.  they deserve to be free now.  merlin deserves to be free now.  these people have every right to declare themselves free people, unbowed and unshackled - morgana is right about that much, at least.)

wider concerns: the political situation.  is anyone ever going to actually explain what albion looks like?  the show keeps saying “the five kingdoms” when there are DEMONSTRABLY more than five monarchs introduced across various seasons - are there just five extra-prominent kingdoms, like medieval superpowers?  or what?  this wasn’t really a big deal before and you could kind of handwave it away, but if arthur’s supposed to be uniting these places, it becomes a little more relevant.

and of course, merlin: 

i don’t want to write too much about my many many fears for merlin himself here.  i’ve written about them enough elsewhere, and, as gaius says, “i’m not sure my heart can take it.” 

suffice to say, my biggest fear is that merlin won’t get his good ending.  

for years, people have been telling merlin (and us, by extension!) that one day, someday, if he struggles enough, if he suffers enough, if he is very, very patient, and very, very strong, he will finally be known and loved for who he is.  

i am afraid that these people were either mistaken or lying.

people shouldn’t have to earn their happiness in the first place, but by god, if they did, merlin has done enough.  he has been hiding in the shadows all his life, doing nothing but help people and sacrifice himself for others’ sakes, even as he believes that all the people he cares about would hate the person he is inside.  

he deserves a spot in the sun.

[vanaera]

Hi!! I was wondering if you had any basic writing tips. I honestly NEVER through I would write anything but one day I just did casually because I loved reading fics so much and now I'm in way too deep and became way too attached to whatever I'm creating rn. I love THH and your style and you blog in general so I was just wondering if you had any basic tips to offer. ok thank you luv you Bye

Hi hon! I'm happy you enjoyed The Heart Holiday and had a great time in my blog! But I am happier that you are enjoying writing. It's going to be a wonderful adventure! 😊😊😊

I don't really know much how to make a cohesive writing advice post bc my thoughts are just scattered around when it comes to the how-to's of writing (I'm a mess, I'm sorry). However, these are some tips that really helped me to write (Idk if they're basic but these are the fundamentals I always consider when I write).

*Contains spoilers for movies Minority Report and Whiplash

Define your character's wants/needs

So you've got your character. You know how they look like. You know what are their likes and dislikes. But the wants/needs will help them become more substantial. More interesting to follow bc your readers are going to be hooked as to whether your character will be able to achieve or not their goals. A character's want is what they desire. It's usually evident at the very start of the story. Most often, it is the premise, itself. (Ex: Minority Report's John Anderton wants to prove his innocence to a future-predetermining system). Meanwhile character's need is what they have to become to fully achieve their goal. Unlike the first, this needs more unearthing in the story. The character usually don't know their needs at the start. The conflicts in the stories pushes them to realize their needs eventually (Ex: John Anderton realizes he needs to let go of his belief in pre-determined futures bc the system has great faults and they are already ruining his life). It's like this: wants = the temporary goal; needs = the real goal. And both of them project character development, for better or worse or to stay the same way despite the challenges (hello flat character arcs). The needs especially show this. This is one of the factors that make your story interesting to follow. Your readers are going to want to know how your characters are going to realize their needs, how they will change to become what they needed to be.

Define the conflict

Conflict is the one that creates the drama. It orevents your character from achieving their goals. It is the obstacles your character must overcome to reach their wants/needs. Conflicts propel the story further. It also makes it more interesting, especially when they layer upon each other (ex: Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight). But conflicts also define characters. The decisions your character makes in face of a conflict says a lot of things about them. (Ex: In Whiplash, Andrew is faced with the decision to sue Fletcher for his extreme teaching style. Or to endure it and become the great musician Fletcher claims he can create. Andrew chooses the former but soon feels empty. When he meets Fletcher again, he gets enthusiastic and even agrees to play for him, despite knowing Fletcher's extreme methods. So in here, we see Andrew is driven by his need to be a great musician, no matter what it takes). Bc of this, your reader gets to know more about your character in a deeper level. It also helps them sympathize more with them.

Establish your story world

This is something I really want to emphasize. The story world plays a large part in defining your characters. It consists of the things that will help your character grow stronger, as well as the conflicts and limitations that will challenge your character to realize their needs. Not only that, a fleshed-out story world sucks the readers into your story (I think this is the reason why Harry Potter and Avatar: The Last Airbender are so fun to read/watch; it feels like you're going onto a vacation in another place whenever you indulge in them). This tip tho doesn't only apply to fantasy genres. Slice of life stories also need a stable story world to work on so your story can be as realistic as you want it to be (Ex: In 3 Idiots, we see how much education is greatly valued, at the same time, how much the students are letting their grades affect their lives. Much more in a prestigious unibersity for Engineering. Readers, especially those who are studying Engineering like the protagonists, will be able to empathize more with the struggles of the characters).

Lengths of sentences

This is something I'm still struggling to learn. Okay, so now you've got your story world, characters, and conflict. You now have to execute your story. Different lengths of sentences will help you that. Sentence lengths help the flow of reading. It creates the tempo and the beat of your story. If the scene is fast-paced, you can opt for shorter sentences bc it creates wuick beats. If you want your readers to stay for a while, say for example, you're describing a place, long sentences are great for defining those details. But make sure you must have a combination of both bc you may lose your reader in the story if you wrote long sentences upon long sentences. While keeping everything short will make your story sound robot-like. Chsnging it up also makes the tone of your story not monotonous. You can better keep the attention of your reader that way bc a non-stagnant flow helps in seamless reading. I tend to write long sentences before and I realized this is true when I tried reading my past works. I then learned how to change things up and then I saw how interesting and enjoying to read my stories now have become.

Find your own style

This is a lesson I learned the hard way. When I was just beginning to write, I followed the footsteps of a lot of reknowned writers. Only to end up writing in a way I'm not happy about. End up writing something that doesn't feel truly myself. I made a lot of mistakes until I learned that no matter how many people say "don't write this way, but this way," or how much you get pressured with thoughts like "Oh, I have to write this way bc this is the trend, this is what most readers will like," nothing feels better but to write how YOU want to write. It's your story. How to write it should be totally up to you, because no one will be able to write your story, but only you. Find and do your own style. It may not feel rewarding sometimes. But trust me on this, there are people who will like what you and how you write and they are going to look for you and anticipate your upcoming works. You know why? Because only you can write that story/that way. So don't lose hope, and just keep writing.

These are just some I follow to help me write my stories more effectively. If you wanna learn more, you can search the tag #writing tips in my blog. I reblog writing advices and encouragement posts for writers there.

Also go to amazing blogs like @theliteraryarchitect and @yourlocalwriterblog . They give the most helpful advices here when it comes to writing in general- writing, editing, publishing, and even screenplays, you name it.

You can also go to nerdwriter1, justwrite, and Lessons From The Screenplay on YouTube. These channels have helped me a lot in writing my stories. Though they usually talk about films and screenplays, their tips are very hepful in writing in general. I always go to them whenever I feel lost and need guidance in writing some certain parts.

Sorry this got so long. I just lobe love writing so much, I don't know how to shut up about it. I hope I was able to help you, hon. Good luck in your writing and if you finally posted it and want me to see it, just feel free to hit me up 😊😊😊

[the-east-art]

AAO - my review

my official review for Against All Odds, a beautiful piece of writing by @royalflushstories read it here because it is so worth it. (and spoilers ahead)

Against All Odds (from here on to be referred to as AAO) is one of the most enchanting pieces of writings I’ve ever read. Possibly because it came form the oddest source, the oddest place at the oddest time. And this beautiful story has changed my life in so many ways. This is a review, and in many ways a love letter, to AAO.

I didn’t find Against All Odds, @browniefox did, as she tends to always find the best fanfiction. She’s like a sniffer dog for that kind of thing. I’m not even sure I was into Youtubers at the time she brought it forward. I came and went from that particular section of Youtube. Looking at it, just the cover, I would have never chosen to read, if left to my own devices. Thank goodness that I wasn’t. 

She told me to read it shortly after she picked it up. I thought it sounded interesting and got a few chapters in, but I have a hard time picking up new things and am always so preoccupied with different things I never got more than a few chapters in. Until, that is, last summer when I went on a house boat with my friends. We had a grand time, but during the day it was far too hot to go outside unless you were taking the boat out, the deck would burn your feet and emerging from the safety of the air conditioned house boat made you instantly regret life and sweat like a pig. So there were long stretches of hours where we had free time, and let me tell you, one can only play monopoly and watch mamma mia so many times. 

So I read. Several fanfictions actually. But the only relevant one at the moment is that I read AAO. In it’s entirety (or what was the entirety at the moment. Idk the actual number of chapters). Blown away. I was giving my friends a play by play,’oh my gosh the one dude is part of this mafia’ ‘his band mate is from the other!!!!’  waiting with bated breath every chapter. The story is a fantastic blend of suspense and fun, tossing you between several emotions to keep you excited for whats to come. I fell in love with this story from an era that has always captivated me. During that houseboat trip I picked up a pencil and drew the first fanart of youtubers almost ever, barring a doodle or two from 2014. 

But that wasn’t it. Oh no. This is a story that kept promises and updated. //regularly//. //TWICE A WEEK//. Yeah. A true gem my dudes. so it never really left me. It became my wednesday and weekend delight (and since it ‘finished’ a month ago every Wednesday and weekend I feel like I’m forgetting or missing something.) So it stayed in my mind and one day I was listening to my music and it clicked. everything. So I rushed to my notecards and drew Antebellum. That is also in a sense when it all started. Through this story I met several of it’s lovely authors, who are some of the kindest people that I have ever been fortunate to hate trip into my life. I could go on, but let’s just say I would not be where I am now without this insanely good story, and the friends I’ve made through it are true treasures. 

But onto the story.

AAO is a well written story where I always felt safe. As in I always felt like the authors knew where they were going with it. There was a plan for this story and it was going to get there. I had no doubt that whether I thought something should happen or not, everything was adding up to the authors vision and nothing was done without purpose or carelessly. It genuinely surpised me more than once, but not in cheap ways, in ways where I could see the small things I had let go unnoticed by me add up to this reveal of something I would have been able to see coming, it wasn’t just something they pulled out of nowhere. It had been there the whole time. 

It has this very interesting thing in which , for a large section of the story, there is no clear big bad villain. Yeah, there are some bad people, but for a lot of cases you are getting both sides of the story. I love Jack and I love PJ. But they are against each other. I want both of them to win and I want both of them to lose so the other can prevail. From a readers standpoint I want both characters to get what they want, but their desires conflict. That’s the problem. That particular conflict is an excellent example of how they also slowly up the stakes and make tensions rise. 

There are some questions that burn in the back of your mind, like Jasons death, that you are always wondering. This story is so chock full of different character arcs going on, different side stories and stuff that I’m shocked that they did it. It’s something that I am constantly striving for in my stories and AAO did it. And did it well. It made every single character want something, have flaws, feel so well rounded. They even make you feel invested in each individual character arc. I never felt frustrated when the perspective or focus of a chapter wasn’t on a particular character, because I was interested and desperate for knowledge on each one. Every chapter was enjoyable. 

Let’s finish this up cuz dang this is long. 

Against All Odds is not a fanfiction. At least not to me. It never has been. To me it is a fully realized story that exists in it’s own realm. It is beautiful. And I am so thankful to have found it. 

[just0nemorepage]

My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories || Stephanie Perkins || 321 pages ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Top 3 Genres: Young Adult / Short Stories / Romance

Synopsis: If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV-holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you’re going to fall in love with My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins. Whether you enjoy celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah, Winter Solstice or New Year's there's something here for everyone. So curl up by the fireplace and get cozy. You have twelve reasons this season to stay indoors and fall in love.

Finished: December 14th, 2017.

Progress: 13 / 50. 26% complete.

My Rating: ★★★★★. [5/5]

My Review: [Under the read more - NOT SPOILER FREE]

Alright, it's been three days, I've seen the new Star Wars on opening night, survived my office's Christmas party and a trip to the mall, spent a night with Tyler and an evening out with my entire family for my dad's birthday, ticked off another D&D session, woke up early to do some dog sitting, passed out in bed before 11pm on both of my days off cause – who knew – I am tired, SO, it's about time I wrote this review.

Gift wrapping still needs done today too.

REVIEW FIRST.

CAUSE THIS BOOK DID THINGS TO ME.

To be fair – as with all short story books, some stories fell kind of flat, most others were either neutral or just generally enjoyable, and the rest were like JESUS CHRIST I WANT A FULL NOVEL OF THIS.

I also had a fun time trying to identify which of the ice skating couples on the front of the book corresponded with each couple in each story. 😁

So I suppose I'll do a breakdown of all twelve stories, with individual ratings and comments for each one, knowing that the whole book gets a full five stars cause holy shit my heart.

Midnights ; Rainbow Rowell - ★★★☆☆. 3/5. One of the ones I felt kind of neutral towards, and maybe even fell a little flat. It was cute, definitely, and a good start to the book, but the characters felt so... "young adult." They didn't feel real at all. It felt like an extremely romanticized version of a friendship turning into a romance, and like it was more a stylized painting of a relationship than an actual relationship. But, it was still cute.

The Lady and the Fox ; Kelly Link - ★★☆☆☆. 2/5. The writing was beautiful and poetic, but the relationship was... weird. I know that a lot was left unexplained and up to your imagination on purpose, but there was so much left out that I don't know if it was actually on purpose or if it was just poor storytelling. I also don't like the concept of a young girl meeting a strange older man, and as she "ages into it" they eventually fall in love. Especially since he was mean to her at first. Plus her personality change into "goth/punk" and the witch's appearance and deciding to let Fenny out of her grasp happened very abruptly, and left me feeling very unsatisfied. And Elspeth sort of just.. appearing in the middle of it all? Already fully understanding the situation? It was weird and needed much more explaining to feel like a fully developed story, and without it just felt like the bare bones outline of a story that could have maybe been decent with more flushing out.

Angels in the Snow ; Matt de la Pena - ★★★☆☆. 3/5. Yaaas Mexican main character, and mixed-race relationship. The story was all extremely adorable and felt very real, and I like how the ending wasn't necessarily happy. I also like how the whole situation was messy, and neither character is completely likable – Shy had his pride, was a chronic liar, and had issues with expressing healthy emotions, and Haley never fully explained WHY she wanted to break up with her boyfriend, and also had a night of cheating on him. These things are what made me feel genuinely annoyed enough to not actually be able to enjoy the story and the messiness of everything. But – BUT – Shy understood consent, and Haley understood things were no longer fair and healthy between her and her boyfriend, so she broke up with him that very same night she cheated. I heavily appreciate and respect these things, and I must say that even though the character's annoyances cut through too deep for me to rate the story any higher, it was very powerful and actually pretty well done.

Polaris is Where You'll Find Me ; Jenny Han - ★★★☆☆. 3/5. THIS ONE WAS SAD. I wasn't expecting a fantasy story in this book, and it was a pleasant surprise! BUT IT WAS SAD. I loved that the MC was Asian, and the concept of a human raised amongst Christmas elves is a pleasing one to me, especially since these elves seemed more like LotR elves than Elf elves. But that Natalie was so unaccepted and unwelcomed by everybody? That Santa (as her father) seemed relatively oblivious to it all? That Flynn apparently has had feelings for her and only showed it after he provided her with Lars's address, already knowing she's likely to go back to the human world to choose Lars than stay where she knows she doesn't belong? Annoying, hence the three stars, BUT SO SAD. Probably the saddest story in the book, and having an ending that wasn't necessarily happy and left so up in the air REALLY was a nice surprise.

It's a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown ; Stephanie Perkins - ★★★★★. 5/5. THE FIRST ONE I ADORED. OH GOD. This is also my first ever Stephanie Perkins story. If all of her shit is like this then OH MAN OH MAN. The story and the situation was so fucking cute, and actually believable, and holy wow *another* PoC MC, and paganism treated as real and respectable and legit and holy shit it's actually in a story (which legit made me want to find ways to celebrate the Solstice in addition to Christmas cause fuck man that's closer to what I actually feel than anything else out there), and I just, idek. EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS STORY was fucking amazing and incredible and I want a whole NOVEL of it. I mean I could re-read it again right now cause AAAHHHH. This isn't doing the story justice at all and I feel horrible for it but I CAN'T ORGANIZE MY THOUGHTS OKAY.

Your Temporary Santa ; David Levithan - ★★★★☆. 4/5. A gay couple!! Treated as completely normal and not about coming out and not facing shitty people and oppression!!! That in itself is fantastic. And then there's the "oh, this is more complicated than I thought" thing that pops up right about when Lana comes out to taunt the (Jewish!!) MC, who I think I just realized went unnamed in the whole story. It's never stated clearly but it's heavily implied that the last person to wear that Santa suit is Connor's dad, who is also heavily implied to have left the family. Riley is still too young to understand, Lana is SO ANGRY about the situation and takes it out on everyone and everything at only 12 years old (that poor kid), and Connor seems to just want to do something for his baby sister without realizing what it might do to the rest of the family.. that, and that the MC crawls into bed with Connor at the end of it when it was both implied that he wasn't yet properly introduced to the family, AND that to do so would give away the Santa secret.. those last couple things are what made me go "?" and docked the one star off. Otherwise though, it's powerful and sad and I am a HUGE fan of the diversity in this whole book cause omg.

Krampuslauf ; Holly Black - ★★★★★. 5/5. THE SECOND ONE I ADORED. At first it seemed like it was too try-hard and edgelord, but then quickly proved to be a PERFECT combination of my aesthetic – cause I mean, a faun IS going to be my next costume project, so there's that, AND justice is a massive turn-on, SO. Creatures from some sort of fae realm showing up during Christmas to deliver justice against a cheating sexist shit-head as a gift to the girls he's wronged, especially in the form of a fae woman with a knife and a satyr who's probably the sexiest character I've read about in a book to date (the gold-painted goat-legged Krampus self-dubbed Joachim), is EXACTLY my kind of shit and oh my god I want like – a whole novel or a whole series of novels about this. Just oh my god. Once I realized what was going on I was like "HOLY SHIT" and almost felt like it was written specifically for me because it fit so perfectly. I mean of course it wasn't – BUT STILL. I WANT MORE. I was NOT expecting darkness or anything seductive in a CHRISTMAS story so this took me so off guard and asdhkjhkdhf.

FAE, BUDDY. YOU DON'T MESS WITH THEM. THEY ARE GOALS IN LIFE.

What the Hell Have you Done, Sophie Roth? ; Gayle Forman - ★★★★★. 5/5. Another one I thought was utterly fantastic. The storytelling and the characters and the setting felt so well done and so real, and ANOTHER mixed-race relationship (AW YISS), and the MC being a card-carrying intersectional feminist in all but a specific statement saying so, and, DUDE, SHE'S JEWISH, and idk this one was SO FUCKING CUTE and I loved it to pieces. She reminded me SO much of myself – a personality and sense of humor that doesn't really fit in and tries so hard to be aware of other peoples' plights and troubles, and that she actually fucks up and handles it, and just. IT HIT ME IN THE FEELS.

These comments with each story are probably getting less and less clear and concise as I go on but idgaf.

Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus ; Myra McEntire - ★★★★★. 5/5. I didn't adore this one as much as the other five starers, but it still gets five in just how pleasantly surprised I was, and how all my stereotypical expectations were blown completely apart and proved totally wrong. Troublemaker guy has a crush on pastor's daughter, who is dating the star football player, and all these people end up coming together to put on a Christmas pageant troublemaker-guy is responsible for as his act of community service for all the trouble he gets into. And it's set in the south. Quite frankly, it sounds sickening and like I'd rather suck on a cactus.

BUT. Pastor's daughter (Gracie) COMPLETELY proved to be her own, strong, willful person who doesn't even seem to be SUPER religious – still religious, sure, but more into science and historical accuracy than "Bible this and Bible that", who knows what she wants and goes for it and is complicated and fucking smart (valedictorian!), and Vaughn – troublemaker guy – eventually sees all of this and COMPLETELY RESPECTS ALL OF IT. No taking advantage of her, no thinking less of her, no belittling her, IS RESPECTING OF CONSENT, sees her completely as her own person, respect everywhere, oh my god. And the football star Gracie's dating? Is ALSO ACTUALLY PRETTY RESPECTFUL. And nice. And it turns out the situation there was just a cover for a long-distance relationship he's in that his family wouldn't approve of, that she's understandably not a fan of and wants out of, and they promise to handle it and fix it like mature adults. So. DUDE.

I WAS SO SURPRISED.

It gets a full five stars just for shattering all my horrible expectations and actually being completely everything I could ever want in this situation.

More things need to shatter my expectations like that! I was so happy!

Welcome to Christmas, CA ; Kiersten White - ★★★★★. 5/5. Oh man another one I loved. Maria reminded me so much of my boyfriend, and this whole story is just so adorably sickeningly cute and sweet and I can't get enough of it. Candy's boyfriend can go FUCK HIMSELF and I am so happy she got away, and also so happy that Maria came to see the truth of things and adopted a much more healthy outlook at the end, and I am HALF CONVINCED Ben's story of "juvie" is just a cover-up that he's a Christmas elf. Though I also accept the story that he's actually from juvie, cause fuck, people with those kinds of backgrounds NEED more stories of hope and success and still making a good life for themselves.

I'M FEELING ALL FLUFFY INSIDE AGAIN JUST THINKING OF THESE STORIES I LOVED SO MUCH JESUS CHRIST.

I'm gonna have to bookmark them or something so I can re-read them again whenever I want omg.

Star of Bethlehem ; Ally Carter - ★☆☆☆☆. 1/5. Seemed more like a situation that was trying too hard to be a thriller, and with an ending that was a COMPLETE flop and let down. I spent the whole story trying to figure out wtf the real issue was and why Liddy was as scarred as she was. So when it got to the end, and it was revealed that she was a teen music star and the "bad guy" was her manager-turned-guardian and was only missing the goatee and steepled fingers for as typical of a "bad guy" as he was – I mean, he all but yelled back "YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME" like some Batman villain – just, man. I was so disappointed. It all was so fast and so basic and so stereotypical and so one-dimensional – I mean, the family and town would all accept her just like that? No anger that she lied at all? Aunt Mary actually wants to adopt her after just a WEEK? She let Ethan kiss her and actually felt okay with it amongst all the rest of it? I mean – wasn't he upset about Hulda? He knows nothing about this girl and just knows she's lying and could hurt his whole family – how could he feel anything good at all, let alone romantic feelings toward her? None of it made sense and none of it fit and it actually felt kind of... bad. I mean, okay, the underlying story was interesting, I appreciate the idea of someone famous just wanting to be normal again and have a loving family again, and I like the idea of a family seeing through someone's completely obviously bad coverup story and taking care of the person anyway, but I DON'T like the lack of consequences, the complete inconsistencies in character development and plot, and how friggen rushed and horribly written the ending and the reveal was. This one was probably my least favorite story in the entire book, and left me feeling actively annoyed and disappointed.

The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer ; Laini Taylor - ★★★★★. 5/5. AND THEN THERE'S THIS ONE.

OH, MAN.

I almost want to just leave this review at JUST THAT cause holy shit how do you review this one.

It was SUCH a perfect ending to this book, I just, oh my god, it was so beautiful and perfect and wonderful and fantastical and FUCK THAT MINISTER MAN and idk it seemed all about the "fuck Christianity pro-nature pro-paganism" that I feel down in my bones and the depth of my soul, and I JUST COMPLETELY ADORED THIS STORY. idk other people might be able to say that it's "fuck a very specific kind of Christianity", which I get and agree with. But this "very specific kind" is like.. 99% of all people who follow it. Including all of history and what America was founded on and what people are trying to work into American law. So like. Yeah.

Enough about that though. Oh my GOD, this whole story and situation and everything about it. THE WRITING. OH, MY. THE WRITING. Holy shit I do not do favorite authors, but I think Laini Taylor just found her way into a spot amongst my favorites anyway. This is not the first story of hers I've read that has been written this beautifully, so I believe it's a consistent thing and I AM IN LOVE.

The only thing that made me sad was leaving all the other girls behind in the dust. So things went WONDERFULLY for Neve... but what about all the others? Are they going to be left behind to rot in unwanted, rape-y relationships? Was this society and the situation fixed at all? Was the shitty oppressive religion silenced in favor of the old one, the real one, the one that doesn't empower horrible people and punishes ACTUAL wrong-doings and sees all people as equals?

I sincerely hope so.

A BOOK COULD BE WRITTEN ABOUT IT TO ELABORATE.

Yanno. Just saying.

Oh my god I am so happy with all the diversity and differences and equality and YAAAAS in this book. SO HAPPY.

Things that could have made it all even better: A LADY-LOVE ROMANCE. Or some other form of gay relationship – like maybe someone who's bi! Or even ace or pan – THAT would've been wonderfully rare and unexpected!

I do realize that the average of my star ratings should put my overall rating at about.. a 3.8. But, seriously – the ones I loved, I loved SO MUCH, that it completely overrode any feelings I had about any of the ones that I didn't. They were just THAT GOOD, that I could ignore the meh ones' presences entirely and go right ahead and fucking love the entire compilation anyway.

I mean, it's not like I didn't appreciate the efforts and the stories and what all the others were trying to get across. Everything still had its own sweet or sad notes and it all still felt appropriately Christmas-y to me.

So, yeah, I can still honestly say I adored the whole book and would shove it in the faces of people who are in the mood for some cute romantic shit and are ready to barf Christmas everywhere. :D Barfing Christmas everywhere is my LIFE each December. So this is absolutely for anyone who does the same!

Those five-star stories I'll read YEAR-ROUND anyway, not even gonna lie, they were THAT GOOD. I'll barf Christmas in JUNE to re-read that shit.

[delirium-drk]

TAG!

RULES: Always post the rules. Answer the questions asked, then write 11 new ones. Tag 11 people to answer your questions, as well as the person who tagged you.

Tagged by @daxiia thank you so much ;o;!!!

warning, fma spoilers!!!!

1. Who do you think has the best character development in the series?

not sure but off the top of my head gREED SOBS i cried SO HARD when Ling had him realize thAT HE JUST WANTS FRIENDS also now that i’ve rewatched beasts of dublith and he was like they’re my possessions!!! I was like cryign GREEED YOU’RE WROOOONNGGGG AND HE DOES REALIZE IT WITH LING’S HELP!!! AND HE ACCEPTS IT AND DOESN’T SEE THEM AS POSSESSIONS ANYMORE!! and then he dies and thanks them SOBS god i watched that last scene SO MANY TIMES so many tears

2. Tell me about your FAVORITE character and your LEAST favorite character? Why do you love/hate them?

my favorite character is LING!! He is so adorable, smart, and amazing!!! Realized how deep his character is after reading people’s analyses. That and i’m just rewatching from the beginning and actually noticing things that i forgot lol he’s not constantly portrayed as dumb, it’s made pretty clear its a facade at the start. at least i think so. he’s also fricking badass. if i could be him, that would be awesome lol.

hmm my least favorite character...first ones that come to mind are kimblee and father, but most likely father/dwarf in the flask. i guess it’s kind of obvious but he’s like the only character that doesn’t have any profound epiphany or remorse. which is a given i guess lol

3. If you could change one thing in the entire series what would it be?

I’d have Greed stay alive and with Ling SOBS 

4. QUICK! Give me a really cute headcanon about your OTP/fave?

oh god this one is going to take me the longest and i’m saving it for last bc i have literally no idea i just feed off other people’s content and don’t really think of things myself I’m not very creative lmao maybe when greedling lies to sleep at night ling won’t shut up and greed complains and calls him a pissant and tells him to shut it but he secretly likes the company lol idk

5. What is your favorite arc and why?

oh god my memory is awful so this will be hard lol i’ve only just started rewatching and im only on ep 16-17 and when i finished the series i started at 36 so... i guess, for now, the arc in the north? it was really interesting seeing the dynamics with the chimeras joining the protags after kimblee left them for dead and of course olivier is badass also miles is super cool a lot of interesting stuff happened in the north and it’s probably what i remember the most right now lol

6. What character do you think is under appreciated?

hmm i really like jean havoc but i guess i don’t see much for him in the general tag? it was a LONG time ago i saw that part of the anime but i remember being really sad when he went out of commission but i think i really got excited at the end when he helped a lot with ammunition or something

7. What is your sin?

probably greed bc i can be selfish and i have so many material desires and i am so spoiled by tyler lmao

8. If you (and someone close to you) were in Ed and Al’s place, would you be okay with using the stone? Why or why not?

 i definitely would not be okay with using it, because it would be turning those human lives into just a number and a tool for one’s own gain i’m not one to use others like that without anything in return

9. Is there any villain you feel sympathy for and can fully understand their motives? Do you think what they did was justified?

Hmm...not really. I’d say the closest would be Scar but I really don’t condone his murders. I can kinda understand him murdering alchemists that took part in the Ishvalan Civil War, but still don’t think it’s right. What kills it is how he tried to kill Ed, who had NO part in the war at all. Like I can understand going after Mustang bc he killed many people, but Ed didn’t do anything. Also why am I suddenly typing with good grammar and stuff. This is the second to last thing I answered lol.

10. Which would you rather eat, Winry’s apple pie or Gracia’s quiche?

oh GOD can’t i just eat everything lmao jk i guuuessss apple pie bc i love pie lol

11. And finally, what is your FAVORITE moment in the entire series? oh god let’s see

also hard bc i don’t remember everything but..i guess when Ling helps Greed realize thAT HE JUST WANTS FRIENDS creys

------SPOILERS END HERE------

oh boy time to think of 11 questions lmao im sorry if these are lame your questions were so good, daxiia lol idk what to put

1. would you ever want to live in the fma universe?? (why? o:) (if not into fma pick your favorite thing rn!)

2. do you want to marry anyone from fma/fave show/book/etc.?? who??? (if you want them to murder you that’s fine too LOL)

3. do you play any video games? if so, what’s your fave rn?!!

4. is there a character who’s died that you wish didn’t die, but their death added so much to the story and other character(s)’s development(s) that them staying alive would detract from the story?? (cough cough im trying not to spoil anything)

5. do you ever stop watching something halfway through, even as it’s getting good, for no goddam good reason???

6. what’s your favorite animal and why?? o: genuinely curious and totally not struggling with questions lmao

7. do you tend to like male or female anime characters more?

8. what do you think is the best and most meaningful anime op or ed, including the animation itself?

9. what scene made you cry the MOST in fma (or other fave interest)??? (i’m sure you can tell what made ME cry the most...)

10. if you could make your faaaaaavorite fictional character real, WHAT WOULD YOU TRADE??? ( i am proud of this question. )

11. what would your style of alchemy be???? (ALSO PROUD OF THIS QUESTION!!!!)

i def do not have 11 people to tag so i tried lol. also if you don’t wanna do this feel free to not!

@swimforfish, @raggle-fraggle , @kagerou-daze, @lilygigg, @daxiia

[atlasira]

hi i'm quite new to the lovelink/romance club games, which stories would u recommend pkaying first? is it anything similiar to choices/lovestruck?

hi!!! and yay! i’m glad you’re interested in the games!!

my response is under the cut bc i had a lot to say lol

okay so:

LOVELINK is probably the one that’s most different from Choices and Lovestruck.

it’s very similar to sites like tinder or etc. where it’s a texting and match based app. it focuses more heavily on romance, BUT the matches (the people you pair with that interest you) do have their own unique storylines.

fair warning tho: the gem options are insanely expensive. the highest i’ve seen for a gem choice in a conversation was like 320 gems, just for that one choice. regardless, the matches’ stories are interesting so i still recommend it, but warily lol. (also important to note that you are not the main character in the stories. your match is, you essentially are just their love interest who may get involved from time to time)

and also before i recommend you matches, another thing to know is that there’s a counterpart system. basically, each match has a counterpart/mirror, that has the exact same storyline, absolutely no changes in dialogue at all, except they just look different. it’s just so in case you find one match unattractive but are still interested in their story, you can just match with their counterpart and still be good.

there’s a trick tho bc if you match with someone and then realize you’d rather be with their counterpart, there is literally no going back. you can’t swap matches. so be careful with who you match with. fortunately the Lovelink subreddit got together and made a list of each match’s counterpart so we can know who’s the mirror of who.

some matches i recommend:

Austin Russo/Damien Jones (m)

Captain Muffin (a cat - just a fun cute storyline)

Vitoria Voznesensky/Sage Foster (f)

Hugo Hornsby/Marco Botazzi (m)(minor spoiler but in Marco’s profile picture, he’s the guy on the right and in Hugo’s pfp, he’s the guy on the left. im ONLY spoiling this super tiny thing bc i’ve seen several people that matched with them get upset bc they thought Hugo/Marco was the other guy and didn’t find their actual appearances attractive. i do tho! lol i love Hugo’s dimples)

Kayla Summers/Jasmin Medina (f)

Jamie Grant/Seth Evans (m)

Emmalyn Roberts/Angel Reed (f)

Keanu Hale/Blake Bailey (m)

ROMANCE CLUB out of the two is my preferred app. tbh it’s probably my favorite interactive games app overall.

it’s similar to Choices, even moreso than both Lovelink and Lovestruck are. you customize your mc, you’re the main character in each story, and unlike the different paths in Lovestruck, it’s also similar to Choices where your LIs are all part of one story, rather than each getting their own.

the diamond options are reasonable and what’s even greater is that, for the most part, they really are just for extra stuff!!! what i mean is, unlike some stories in Choices (cough endless summer cough) where you might need diamond choices to fully understand things, that’s absolutely NOT the case with RC. the free options make sure to never leave you in the dark. there’s several times where i’ve come across a plot point where my mc needed smthg explained and the diamond option was just if i wanted extra details and interesting art, but i was also given a free option that just went “sum it up for me/just tell me the important bits” and was still able to understand things just fine! and this absolutely applies to clothes too. it’s funny bc some of the free clothing options even look better than the diamond ones sometimes.

wait i can already tell i’m about to start rambling on how good RC is and i wanna stay somewhat neutral in this response lol. but just to quickly point out the pros and cons: RC is very plot focused. meaning, while the LIs are nice and good, for the most part, the writers put lots of emphasis on the storyline that’s going on, which is great bc it gets you really hooked into the books. a con tho is that their older/first stories are really uh..... hit or miss. the more recent ones are incredible, but the ones from way back when, when the app was first starting out are. well. let’s just say those tend to be my diamond mines lmao.

some personal favorite books i recommend are:

Rage of the Titans (modern day greek mythology story)

Shadows of Saintfour (supernatural horror)(and RC does horror really well, meaning the shit is actually genuinely scary, so like be prepared lol)

Love From Outer Space (sci fi, aliens come to earth)

Heaven’s Secret (afterlife angels & demons plot)

Dracula: A Love Story (dracula book thats... super fuckijg mysterious. there’s a lot going on but just know it’s supernatural/modern day/historical fiction with many other elements in there as well)**

Path of the Valkyrie (viking/norse mythology)****

On Thin Ice (ummm former ice skater/psychological... fiction? it’s hard to tell bc this is a VERY new story that RC just published but it’s really interesting so far)

Legend of the Willow (supernatural historical fiction)****

**** — for the books marked with this, i haven’t played them myself, but i’ve heard very good things. i specifically can’t play POTV bc i have *rachnophobia and one of the monsters freaks me out too bad. but if you can get through it then i really do recommend it.

** — D:ALS is amazing and is probably even my top favorite on RC. however, i personally think the LIs definitely have a hierarchy thing going on. it sometimes feels like the order of importance/focus for romance is the vampire character -> your human guy friend -> then your human wlw friend as dead last. and like, listen, i know Dracula’s name is in the title, so him getting the focus does make sense, but..... okay it’s kinda like a Liam in TRR situation (specifically not TRH that’s another can of worms). where the story and everything is happening because of Liam, so it feels like the story would make the most sense romancing him, but you can just ignore it and romance other people. it’s kinda like that. but don’t worry, unlike TRR there’s no default romance where youll have to like reject Dracula or anything. just that his romance is the most fleshed out.

and this is what i have to say about those apps!! i really do recommend them (especially Romance Club) and idk when you’re gonna start playing, but RC is having a Free Event right now that will expire in a day or so where every single diamond option in every single book is free! so that’s very cool and is a great chance for new players! regardless, i do recommend both apps and hope you have a fun time playing! :)