#may eventually edit to add backstory things but like... as i always say... | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

saradrewitt · 2 years ago

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The Six Demons of Elsewhere

CON “SILVER JAW”

Fun facts and just little things I thought of when I began writing for IMIE (Copy and pasted from the IMIE Docs) Visual character design notes Edition!!!

Con is the only character if the official series that we do not see, his only appearance is in the spin off comic Chlorine and for good measure. In my opinion I thinks that if he managed to survive events in Chlorine it would no doubly be a quick resolution for IMIE. Not saying he’s op but that man, this fucking beast is one who takes revenge and power very personally. The one thing about characters I write for stories is that I always hope I leave more than enough room for readers to come their own conclusions. To me as a writer it just makes it more fun for those who are invested.

When I began working on Con, it was just a matter of what was more important to share than what exactly his purpose was. Con was a character that appeared in the Hourglass music video by Set It Off sporting a grey suit, black bowler hat, and a weird obsession with selling Cody some weird shit in his coat, eventually handing Cody a old watch and disappearing. The man looked desperate, hungry for a sale, and borderline chaotic, and I thought that “yes, make this man fear death and in doing do selling his soul in desperation for immortality.” Con is a representation of the fear of death, the slip into eternal sleep, thus selling his soul in order to stay among those who are living.

In the beginning Con was just another Elsewhere resident that was forever devoted and loyal to Nox, ready to drop anything for his maker’s wishes. But after a certain amount of drafts of Chlorine he turned into another soulless human turning his life over for immortality. Con is a character that personally battled death nonstop. Inevitably meeting his eventual reality in a life he deems much better than before.

Written character design notes from the doc, most of these were after writing and the initial (somewhat) release of his design on my instagram. His first design release here. After releasing that I went back to design and write more for him. These were the design notes I wanted to add before working on him again.

In the mv he constantly had a toothy grin, so replace the human teeth with sharp teeth, some teeth with gold and silver. Consider that he may like to bite people who knows he’s good them teefs.

Likes to sell pearls, watches, and jewelry second hand so perhaps this could be a habit from his past life selling secondhand goods to people as if they were new.

Main color pallets range from silver, rustic gold, copper, and black (grey, disgusting whites, and faded blacks).

Consider using steel/metal/iorn elements for his character.

1910-1930s impression, consider historical events involving the great depression for backstory.

Gerard Butler Voice claim????

Here are his official notes for his character! Enjoy!

Con was originally from Scotland before he moved into the United Sates, in around 1910.

Escaped death from mobs and accidents in the vehicle assembly lines too many times to count.

He hates the idea of death he completely rejects the idea that one day he will fucking die (everybody dies babe you ain’t special).

He gotten himself into too much trouble when it came to some of the mafia clans in his city, he was known to con them out of money and supplies in order to survive.

Con played may roles in groups as the eyes and ears, he was loyal to no one so him having constant and sensitive information was dangerous. He still managed to get himself out of trouble by constantly double-crossing his superiors.

Weirdly enough despite his accent, he can mimic any male voice and accent he can hear, which was perfect when he wanted to mess with people or fool for his advantage.

No one could trust him but at the same time he also never lied to them either.

One time he was tortured by a mob member and got one of his K9s ripped off, he didn’t say another word unless he wanted to eat mushed food for the rest of his life.

Never knew his father because he died before his birth, his older brother died in a accident, his half sister died during her birth, then after Con became a young man, his mother died. Con was constantly surrounded by death, thus he wondered why he was subjected to remain alone. One of the reasons why he emigrated to the States was because it seemed he may have a better chance of survival.

No one really knows how he met Nox, he tells a different story all the time. From pocket-picking him at the pub, to him saving his life, all the way from him telling people that Nox was so impressed by him that he begged Con to join (”Well that’s a fucking lie” -Nox, probably at some point).

After his contract, Con just decided to just be 100% more unhinged since no none was really going to stop him. Finally he can be himself and not get arrested for biting people.

He’s more animalistic since his death, he growls, snarls, and cackles demonically, not for show but just because he’s been given the freedom to so.

Absolutely LOVES Elsewhere, he loves everything about it. The food, the people, the atmosphere. He misses Elsewhere when it was in constant Midnight, but he loved current Elsewhere as well when the new look was pitched to Nox. Did he suffer from constant eyestrain yes but beauty is pain.

Honestly despite him dying (weird how he had to die in order to live forever), this was the best thing that happened him and he does not regret it one bit!

He gets along with the rest of the demons well but he really likes keeping to himself, it’ hard having to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. When he does spend time with the others it will most likely be with Ego or Lux.

Con, Lux, Ego, and Lady Luck have never had the displeasure of having/being imprisoned in Nowhere.

Honestly this man has never been better now that he can’t die. Yay, no death! Crisis averted! Well for now at least but that’s future Con’s problem.

Con likes to steal, he can’t keep his hands off of shiny things to save his life, this is mainly why he managed to join mafia groups because of his sneaky fingers.

Still steals in Elsewhere but it’s petty theft because he’s spiteful like that. He’ll steal your entire stationary set if you so much as forget to give him his favorite pen back- “IT WAS A GIFT FROM NOX YOU FUCK’EN DICK’EAH, GIV’ET BACK!”

As low on the profile he is in fieldwork, this man is the most unhinged out of the six. If Nox is so much as lightly irritated one word would set Con to completely destroy his targets. Man is unhinged he’ll bite and rip out your jugular if you were so much as an inconvenience.

Nox offered immortality and Con gave his soul away, forever loyal and grateful for the devil who granted his only wish.

Out of all his demons, Con was the only one that Nox trusted when it came to loyalty, he won’t admit that he might have grew attached to him because of it. But this is Nox we’re talking about after events of Chlorine he doesn’t even want to entertain, “human emotions”.

#imie #it’s midnight in elsewhere #it’s midnight in elsewhere comic #chlorine comic #chlorine spin it off comic #chlorine #sara jackalope’s art

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utilitycaster · 4 years ago

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Actual Play: How it works

This is a collection of how I think of actual play as a medium, because TTRPG actual play is a unique one - a combination of improvisation, a rule set, and randomizing elements. This isn’t fully comprehensive, and I may add to it in the future as I come up with more ideas. I’m also thinking of providing some examples/more in-depth stuff for the items in separate posts, so please let me know if that’s something you would want.

Most of the observations here heavily skew towards D&D and Pathfinder actual play, as they are what I know best. Other systems I’ve listened to (PbtA, Cortex, Savage Worlds) fit in here as well, but this may not apply to all actual play, particularly GM-less games or games that are primarily played as one-shots.

Finally, and I say this only because it is a recurring problem on the social media that I happen to find incredibly irritating: you are also welcome and encouraged to have other opinions, disagree with me, dislike all of this, etc. If you have things to say, my inbox is the best place; this is too long for multiple reblogs and this is a sideblog so replies are tricky. However, if you are the kind of person who is inclined to say things like “Actually, there was an exception to this rule! It’s in the backmasked audio at 06:59:32 in the outtakes of episode 192c of Dungeons and Discotheques! :)” I would like to provide you with this actual play line quote from Adaine Abernant in Fantasy High: I think that you feel like you have a lot to offer, and please take this the right way... you don't.

Onto the thoughts, below the jump!

On narrative devices and rules and the random element:

Foreshadowing is possible, but limited to specific circumstances. A GM can (and should) foreshadow! The point of foreshadowing is to set expectations, and GMs should have hints that indicate things about the world that the party may encounter later, provide potential plot hooks, or otherwise provide the party with information. Similarly, players can do things that nod towards as of yet unrevealed elements of their backstories. However, it is impossible to deliberately foreshadow plot resolutions, because it is unknown what they will be. That doesn’t mean that in retrospect things may happen that echo back to earlier events, but the intent to foreshadow was not there - it’s a happy accident.

I don’t want to say normal narrative rules don’t apply because what are the normal narrative rules, really? However, I think an important thing to emphasize is that narrative satisfaction is not guaranteed. This is especially true if the cast has agreed character death is an option, but even beyond that, an unlucky or lucky roll can seemingly cut an arc short or take things in a weird and unforeseen direction. Because there is an element of randomness, randomness will occur. This, along with the character agency I discuss later, is one of my favorite things about actual play. It strips out the need for a moral or message or specific beats - not that those can’t arise, but they can’t be forced - and as such it can make for unusual, creative, and very true-to-life stories even in a fantasy setting.

On character role, viewpoint and agency:

Actual play stories have an ensemble of viewpoint characters (the PCs). This is perhaps the clearest restriction that exists, at least in all of the game systems I’ve mentioned. There is no good way to depict NPCs acting on their own unless the PCs have a way to observe them, unseen (magical or mundane). It is extremely difficult to have one player play multiple PCs, and if a player leaves there is not a good way to recast their PC. This doesn’t mean NPCs can’t do things with each other offscreen that have implications for the story, nor that PCs can’t come and go or become NPCs, but it does mean a good GM is very careful about NPC interactions because it gets very boring and non-collaborative very quickly to watch someone talk with themselves.

The PCs hold a level of agency that characters in other media do not. Statements about how the characters have a mind of their own in original fiction aside (sidebar: I am team ‘they don’t, you just didn’t realize that the way you wrote their personality and the way you wrote your plot conflicted until you actually started writing it out, which is very understandable’) PCs do in fact have a mind of their own separate from the GM and from each other.

Something I like about this is that unless you are coming up with conspiracy theories regarding the interpersonal dynamics of the players themselves (in which case I think you’re both a creep and a weirdo (derogatory)) or if the GM is not respecting player agency (which I feel is usually very easy to see; see below for more on that) you do not get cases of “these characters are together simply because the author felt like pairing them off” as can happen in scripted media. Any romantic relationship is, inherently, a mutually agreed choice between the originators of these characters, and more generally any plot or relationship necessarily needs to have something that appeals to all characters involved. It may be as simple as “these are my friends and I want to keep hanging out”, but, despite this being improv, it’s a medium where saying “no” is always an option.

With that said there is still room for players to be uncooperative or selfish. It’s rare, but it does exist, and I’m personally of the opinion that it’s in part the GM’s responsibility to have a conversation with that player and to not play into their attention grabbing. That said, with one notable exception, all the accusations I’ve seen about this have seemed to me to be more “I don’t like this player/character/ship/arc and I am going to claim they are stealing focus, despite it being justified,” and not genuinely about a player being obnoxious.

Agency separate from the person who creates the world is perhaps the most unique element of actual play and at this point I’m going to talk a little about how a good GM fosters that.

I’ve said before that when a GM has things happen that are not at least mostly a direct response to character actions, they are typically either world-building or a hook, and can be both. I think of this sort of as a variant on Chekhov’s gun, actually; the gun doesn’t have to go off, ultimately, in actual play, but it is saying the following:

This is a world where there are guns hung on the wall sometimes.

Someone else might do something with this gun.

You can attempt to do something with this gun before they do.

And then the players decide how they want to interpret it and what they want to do, and the dice indicate the level of success in doing so.

A good GM should encourage the players to explore and be creative, and more than anything, reward agency. This doesn’t mean rewarding it with success; rather, it means if someone explicitly indicates they want to interact with an element of the world, you should give them the tools such that eventually, they can try to do so. You can also give them reasons in-game why they should change their mind, or make it so that it’s almost certain to fail if that is reasonable, but if you are trying to flat-out shut it down without providing an in-world reason why, the cracks will almost certainly show.

One important thing to remember about GM-ing: GMs will probably come into the game with some ideas of what’s going on in the world, and some level of understanding of what the world looks like. That will be influenced by the players, both in terms of the consequences of their actions and choices, and also by what the players are interested in. Which is to say: even if there is a session zero, and the GM states a specific premise, that can change! Characters develop, player interests change, dice rolls do weird things, and so a good GM absolutely must if not kill their darlings at least remove, recycle, and adapt them based on the direction of the game and motivations of the characters. Even in a plot-driven campaign, the players and GM and what makes them happy needs to drive the story, because fundamentally, this is a game that should be fun. Which brings us to...

On the Watsonian and the Doylist in actual play:

Stepping back for a second: the context in which people are creating fiction influences them. End of sentence. It’s ridiculous to think it doesn’t. This means everything from political events and worldwide trends, to the media the creator is consuming or has consumed, to personal life events. There are always going to be in- and out-of-universe explanations for choices in fiction.

In actual play, the players and GM know the underlying rules of the world, and it’s difficult to truly split the party and have everyone not involved leave in a way that feels fun, so everyone always has information that they can’t really use in-game. Also it’s a fully improvised medium that is primarily theater of the mind, so unconscious choices, misunderstandings, and accidents are frequently not edited out, and people are human. Which is to say I think it’s important to take this into consideration in one’s analysis; it’s not that you can’t incorporate a Watsonian reason for something that happened, but Doylist reasons are given a weight that they may not have in an edited work.

Three of the Doylist reasons beyond the misunderstandings and accidents I wanted to cover are metagaming, awareness that this is for an audience, and character knowledge.

Metagaming exists in many TTRPGs, and it’s not actually inherently bad. When a DM in D&D says “that just hits” you get an idea of the AC of the creature, and you know your own attack rolls, and you can make decisions based on that, when, in a ‘real’ fantasy battle scenario, you probably wouldn’t gain all that insight from a single hit. The rules of the TTRPG are considered part of normal acceptable metagaming. There’s also the more general one; if you start the first session in a tavern, there is an unspoken expectation that the PCs will interact and form an impromptu group and not just quietly drink their ale and leave - basically, the rules of improv still apply. This is a good thing. And finally, there’s the acknowledgement that you are people with feelings and this is a game and so if someone is upset you stop, or you have discussions about consent between sessions that inform actions in-game. Metagaming just gets obnoxious when someone rolls a nat 1 and then argues that this is obvious information and they should know, or looks up every monster in the manual when you encounter it instead of playing true to the character’s knowledge.

In actual play, the ‘hey fellow tavern-goers, would you like to be a group’ form of metagaming, the “oh right this is a story and we should move the story forward,” is even more important than in home D&D games. This is where I recommend listening or reading some Q&As or watching some after shows, because you’ll hear players talk about this. A 5-hour shopping episode or extensive foraging can get boring to watch or listen to (and unlike accidentally boring or frustrating things, are pretty easy to predict and avoid). On the flip side, a risky choice might seem more appealing when you know there’s an audience who would love the payoff.

I am personally, perhaps unsurprisingly given what I said about player dynamic conspiracy theories and randomness (or, outside of this post, my strong dislike of certain popular fan theories), not a big fan of creators catering to audiences’ every whim...but it’s unavoidable that they will take the audience experience in mind.

Finally, character knowledge, which is the opposite of metagaming - when a character knows something the player doesn’t. This is sometimes covered with, for example, GM statements like “you would know, as a person with history proficiency, that this country is actually in a regency period.” If the character had, in improv, before the GM had a chance to say that, mentioned the king, that’s just because the player did not know that and had made an assumption.

Personally I find going deep down the rabbit hole with things like this - “why doesn’t this character, who CLAIMS to be from this country, not know this?”, or clearly OOC statements - tends not to actually spark any interesting theories, but that is, ultimately, an opinion.

A few final thoughts on different formats of actual play

True livestream/live-to-tape (Critical Role, Into the Motherlands, and the second season of Fantasy High): the main thing to keep in mind is Doylist explanations are even more important because there is quite literally no editing. Also, there will possibly be some of those more boring stretches or even a little OOC metagaming discussions within the structure of the game, because there’s no way around it.

Editing, but primarily just to remove long explanations/math and doing soundscaping (NADDPod, Rusty Quill Gaming): Pretty similar; a lot of them even make the choice to leave in OOC metagaming discussions, so it’s mostly that there are fewer cases of people slowly adding numbers.

More extensive editing and possibly some predefined other elements (TAZ, most Dimension 20 shows): this may fall into a more traditional story structure. It’s not to say that there won’t be surprises, because the players do still have agency, but the ‘rails’ might be a little more apparent; there might be some DM monologuing done after the fact (beyond just cleaning up the audio) or choices that were not scripted per se, but not exactly improvised either (think how D20 tends to have pre-set battle maps and earlier seasons had a pretty strict RP/Battle structure.

Somewhat relatedly there are broad story structures, which is more of a spectrum, ranging from sandbox (Critical Role) to very clearly GM-driven missions (TAZ Balance and, to an extent, Amnesty); nearly all of the other shows here fall into a structure of “here is your overall goal, how precisely you get there is up to you although, like any GM, I will provide in-story information on where it may make sense to go that will often funnel you towards specific places.”

I do have a theory that since TAZ Balance in particular was an entry point for so many people, it takes them time to adjust to the more sprawling, unpredictable, and difficult-to-organize stories other actual play can have, but ultimately it is a matter of personal preference and all of these still fall into the category of actual play.

#long post #today in: unsure if anyone wants to read this but that has also never stopped me not even once #and writing this was fun

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shrinkthisviolet · 4 years ago

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Author Interview Tag!

Tagged by @maipreciation, thanks for thinking of me! This looks really fun :D

(Note: I’m keeping this as a running list, so if you’re ever wondering what fics im working on/brainstorming, make sure to check here! Last update was on 12/12/2020)

Name: Lavi! As of 12/5, I’m no longer going by my real name (see this post)

Fandoms: so many 😂 check my bio, I think I have them all listed. I’ve posted fic for Hamilton and ATLA, and then there was a huge Inktober compilation I posted last year with a whole host of fandoms. Currently, my major fandom is ATLA, and probably Kipo as I’m starting to move through S1

Where you post: I have an AO3 (lavi0123)! I used to have an FFN and a Wattpad, but I don’t use either of those anymore :/ tbh, I’m embarrassed of anything I still have up there 😂

Most popular one-shot: Most definitely we’ll give the world to you (and you’ll blow us all away), one of my contributions to Maiko Week! I’m not surprised it’s an ATLA fic, but I find it interesting that a fic with Izumi in it blew up so quickly. But hey, if y’all want more Izumi content, you won’t be disappointed 😉

Most popular multi-chapter fic: ...I’m really embarrassed to say because I don’t think I’ll ever finish it...but En Hamilton Heights is the only multichap fic I’ve published so it’s gotta be that one 😂 hopefully soon I’ll have another fic to add to that, since I’m working on one (sorry EHH fans but it’s been too long and tbh I don’t remember where I was going with it :/ I’m thinking I might orphan it)

Favorite story you’ve written so far: you think this world is a dream come true (but you’re wrong) for sure! It’s super niche but it’s something I wrote out of love for a movie I discovered this Halloween and absolutely love. Though all you’ve got to do is want something (and then let yourself have it) is a close second. Basically, anything I write that sounds absolutely bonkers as a concept is one that I love 😂 (and it’s no coincidence that both fics are Mai-centric! I love all my Mai-centric fics nearly equally)

Fic you were nervous to post: Is there an “all of the above” option? 😂 I’m always nervous to post. But in particular, I was nervous for if you ran away (come back home), because it was Mai-centric and longer than any one-shot I’d written thus far, and also you think this world is a dream come true (but you’re wrong), because it’s Mai-centric and a Coraline AU, which makes it BONKERS as an idea

Why was I nervous to post Mai-centric fics, you ask? Two reasons: 1) Mai is very different from who I am as a person (I vibe a lot more with Aang and Ty Lee, sometimes Katara and Sokka), so I didn’t want to upset the Mai stans by writing her incorrectly. 2) Mai is generally not well-liked in the fandom at large, so I especially didn’t want to attract antis who would accuse me of writing Mai as too emotional and loving (which is why I tried to justify that in my tags). Luckily, my comments have all been lovely, and I’m far less afraid to post fics about her now that I’ve written three fics with her as the focus! And the shoutout from @nonbinary-crafter-aang praising my portrayal of her?? I was touched 🥺 still am

How you choose your titles: Song lyrics or movie/book lines that speak to me, occasionally a pun. Remember that post I rb’d about how authors title their works? My tags pretty much say it all 😂

Do you outline: Ehh...define outlining 😂 for my one-shots, nope. But for my upcoming multichap works (see below) and Nanowrimo work (original fiction, so I won’t talk about it on here, but send an ask if you’re curious), YES ABSOLUTELY!

For my Nanowrimo work and one of my upcoming AUs (a Soulmate AU), the worldbuilding is so complex that it’s an absolute necessity. For the other upcoming AU (a time travel AU), there are just too many things that need to happen at certain times so as not to interfere with canon events, and things I want to change from canon and things I want to keep...I think you get the idea 😂

Complete: Basically my entire maiko halloweek series! Check it out if you want some fics about the most underrated canon ATLA couple :)

In-progress: ...En Hamilton Heights again...but not for long, sadly. Still trying to decide between a quick conclusion and just flat-out orphaning it. Still haven’t made up my mind, but either way, it won’t be what I originally planned, unfortunately.

I’m also counting my ATLA Soulmate AU on the basis of forever in my mind (only you), which has the worldbuilding and fits into the AU without much problem (the AU is going to be a series of one-shots, not a multichap fic, because there won’t be enough deviations from canon imo to justify multiple chapters. And one-shots are just less pressure for me 😂)

[EDIT 12/12/2020: added another fic because I’m an idiot and forgot about this too 🤦‍♀️😂 it’s a year-old idea that I started writing but I’m picking it back up thanks to the Heist banter in MatPat’s St Jude stream!]

-A fic series combining Escape the Night and Who Killed Markiplier (Heist and Date are part of it too, but only tangentially at the moment. Depends on how involved I want DA Y/N to be). Tentatively titled A Heavy Cost, and definitely won’t happen in any of Mark’s projects, but in a way that’s actually for the best 😂 the canonicity for me stops at ETN S3 (with some S4), then it’s canon divergence

Coming soon/not yet started: OOOH YESSS HERE WE GO

Okay okay sooo we’ve got two main things:

–An ATLA Soulmate AU, featuring platonic and romantic soulmates! I know I called it in-progress, and I stand by that even though I haven’t actually set up the series on AO3 yet, but this AU is about to be SO MUCH MORE than just a few Maiko moments. Because...drum roll...it’s gonna be entirely Aang-centric (with maybe one or two exceptions)! Like Mai, Aang is a character that doesn’t get as many -centric fics as he should (and being an Aang stan also isn’t unanimous for some reason??), so I’m gonna fix that. Plus I want to dive further into his mind, and I think I’m more equipped to do that than I was with Mai, since Aang and I are very similar in attitude.

–Bumizumi time travel AU, which can be read as platonic until the last couple chapters (it’ll be multichap) but definitely has a romantic agenda throughout. So just. Be warned if you don’t ship them. It’s gonna be chock full of comedy and antics! Also A LOT of platonic affection between Izumi and teen Zuko (and just between Izumi, Bumi, and the Gaang in general), because platonic affection is underrated and also I can :D I’m also probably gonna make fun of how some elements of affection have become solely romantic territory, because...um, no, hugging and holding hands and cuddling can be done between friends, thanks! (Maybe it’s the ace in me talking. But regardless)

There are also vague concepts I’m spitballing, like:

-Zukaang telepathy AU (Platonic Zukaang, the only romance I’ll ever write in ATLA is for the canon ships, prompted by a dream because apparently ATLA lives in my head rent-free forever now 😂)

-Evil Zuko AU (Azula doesn’t exist, mostly prompted after watching Aang make fun of Zhao and realizing that if Zuko had been in any position of power during the War...the Gaang would have stood no chance at all)

-Bumizumi Arranged Marriage AU (Bumi and Izumi both think the other is hotheaded/reckless (Izumi @ Bumi) or uptight (Bumi @ Izumi). So Kataang and Maiko (along with Sukka, Ty Lee, and Toph because...duh) set them up in an arranged marriage, with the presented reasoning being that they already know each other’s families, it’ll be a great symbol of unity, and this way Izumi doesn’t have to worry about suitors. They both agree to it (it’s arranged, not forced), and over time, they warm up to each other...and maybe even...fall in love?? Prompted because we need more arranged marriage fics! On that note, I’m gonna plug shadows and steel by @dearestpartnerofgreatness because arranged marriage needs more rep and this fic does it and with Maiko to boot!)

-Zukaang as Brothers AU (I saw a fic about this, but it wasn’t complete. If it’s not done by the time I get to this concept, I’m gonna write it, because just...imagine the possibilities! Zuko and Aang are already basically brothers in canon anyway, this is just making them brothers in blood as well as in their hearts. This is especially vague because I have no concept of how this is gonna work 🤷‍♀️ I’ll get to it eventually)

(Can you tell I’m obsessed with Zuko and Aang’s friendship? Because I am!)

[EDIT 11/25/2020: I’m adding two more because I forgot these have been swirling around in my head too 😂]

-A fix-it fic based on May You Always Be Satisfied, a backstory fic for Who Killed Markiplier by @blackaquokat! I recently reread it and remembered that I was gonna write a fix-it for that fic. Not because the fic sucks, it’s actually amazing! I’m just a sucker for the main (requited unrequited) pairing, and there’s at least five ways to make that pairing canon and avoid the mess of Who Killed Markiplier. And THEY ALL DESERVE TO BE HAPPY OKAY

-A Finnrey fix-it for the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy (this one is especially vague, and I probably won’t write it since a bunch of these already exist, but it’s fun to think about. Maybe if I ever run out of WIPs 🤷‍♀️)

Upcoming story that you’re most excited to write: I’m equally excited for the Soulmate AU and the Bumizumi Time Travel AU! I’m also excited for my Nanowrimo work to be finished, but that’s more so in-progress than upcoming

Tagging:

@nonbinary-crafter-aang @dearestpartnerofgreatness @ohsalamanders @blackaquokat (no pressure ofc, only if you want to! But please tag me if you do, I’d love to see it!)

#avatar the last airbender #atla #hamilton #maipreciation #thank you for the tag!#this was really fun :)#writing tag game #fanfic tag game #atla tag game #who killed markiplier #wkm #escape the night #etn

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isthatbloodonhisshirt · 4 years ago

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I'm about to re-read Actions again but I had a question about something that you may or may not be able to answer. In one of the authors notes sections on one of the later chapters you explained that uploading was being delayed a bit because you were adding stuff as you went from what you'd already drafted, and how you thought the original ending was inadequate. Just curious, but what was added later on that may have not been in the original draft? (If you can remember).

Every time someone says “I’m re-reading/going to re-read Actions” I’m always like “But why, it’s so long |D” lol But at the same time, it makes my teeny, tiny little heart so happy :3 So thank you, I really appreciate that you like it enough to re-read it because it was such a monster in the making orz Thank you!!

As for your question, AHAHAHAHAHA omg dude, I can try and go through and see what I added, but I was legit adding 15k per chapter because I got anxiety. I got a comment about how I was time-skipping too much and that it was making the story uninteresting.

The reason I was time-skipping was because I needed time to pass and also because I was only focussing on like, the important things. I didn’t feel like everything needed to be spoon-fed (ie: I wrote about all the magics he had to learn, and the fact that he learned them, but I only put focus on the ones that were important for ~reasons~ like Satomi and the spell talk, and Ken with the understanding of Derek’s reactions to Stiles, etc. The ones that didn’t matter, I didn’t feel like I needed to bother but apparently I was wrong).

Anyway, I spoke to two of my friends who had access to the fic before I posted it (because I share shit sometimes) because I wanted to know their opinions on if I was too time-skippy or if it was okay as it was. One friend said it was fine and that it didn’t need to be super duper overly detailed, but the other said they could kind of see where the commenter was coming from. And when someone you are close with says that you get MASSIVE ANXIETY if you are an Ella, so I basically was like “OMG IT FUCKING SUCKS I HAVE TO FIX IT OMFG” and then started adding shit.

Since I was posting the fic daily because it was already finished, I didn’t want to go back on my word of daily postings, so instead I figured I’d just sit and write like a crazy person to add scenes in on the daily before posting it (not because I wasn’t planning ahead, but because I legit could barely get the added parts written and the chapters posted as it was, let alone start working on the next day’s chapter edits |D)

So, let’s see if the keep reading works (it sometimes doesn’t in asks so I apologize in advance if it doesn’t...) but here are entire sections I added (excluding scenes I just extended because those are harder to remember):

Chapter Eighteen:

- Entire first part of the chapter where Cora and Stiles have a chat about the Argents. - First raid that they did where Stiles is waiting in the car with Derek while Alex and Jackson are in a Collector’s house.

Chapter Nineteen:

- Bowling scene where Stiles, Lydia and Scott get caught with Allison (sort of reconciliation between Derek and Allison) - Conversation between Alex and Stiles where she says Rose likes Derek and wants him to come ‘round more often.

Chapter Twenty:

- Entire first part of the chapter about another waiting in the car during a Collector raid. - Stiles’ conversation with Ethan about his concerns over Jackson. - Stiles’ additional magic fiasco with the TV and the garburator and all that. - Double date with Jackson/Ethan.

Chapter Twenty-One:

- Jackson’s entire backstory with Harris/finding out his parents weren’t his parents (yup, that wasn’t in the original draft) - Derek’s birthday dinner scene with Stiles, Alex and Rose. - Stiles’ first time being part of the Collector raids

Chapter Twenty-Two:

- Christmas celebration at the beginning of the chapter where they get the Camaro back (I’m pretty sure I messed up in a few places where I kept the Mustang because the original draft didn’t have the Camaro back) - Peter’s visit to talk about the progress with Jackson’s aunt/uncle and Stiles being the pack Emmissary.

Chapter Twenty-Three:

- Entire first part of the Chapter where Stiles and Derek are having a quiet moment together and Jackson sends him a picture confirming his name change to Hale. - Jackson practising being Derek with Stiles and Derek in the loft (ie: No nodding, no talking, being handsy, etc.) - Farewell between Stiles and Derek before heading to Schrader’s.

Chapter Twenty-Four:

- Diana, Jackson, Derek and Stiles having lunch together in the diner - Conversation between Satomi and Stiles after Derek gets his voice back

Chapter Twenty-Five:

- The whole chapter. To be fair, this wasn’t anxiety, this was more one of the aforementioned friends poking about Derek’s POV and some people made comments about being excited for his voice coming back so I figured, why not? I had an idea, so I went for it.

Granted, to be fair, a lot of the additions I did I wasn’t too upset about. Particularly the Jackson storyline, though his was also the hardest because he’d already been introduced by then (ie: chapters with him had been posted) so I had to be careful that what I changed wasn’t going to contradict with what was already posted. And as above, I know I had some inconsistencies with the Mustang vs. Camaro that I will probably go back and fix eventually one day.

Some scenes were extended, some scenes were re-arranged or split, it went from being like, 22(?) chapters to 25 so yeah. Lots of stuff was added because people thought it wasn’t meaty enough.

And then I got another complaint that I focussed too much on the OCs (there were literally 3 main ones, and Diana hardly counts since she was literally in 1.5 chapters) so like, can’t win. Can never win.

AND THIS KIDS IS WHY YOU WRITE FOR YOU and don’t worry about other people. Because you can’t make everyone happy, not even your friends \o/

TL;DR: Yes, I remember most of the shit I added, it was a lot.

#not TW #Blood's yakkity yaks #simpsonizer-demigod-143

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rosecorcoranwrites · 4 years ago

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Thought on the Writing Process

Most people have been taught, usually in an English or creative writing class, that the writing process is roughly as follows:

1. Brainstorm

2. Outline

3. Write your first draft

4. Edit/Rewrite

5. Write your second draft

6. Lather/Rinse/Repeat

7. Write your final draft

8. Publish

In theory, yes, this is generally how one gets from idea to finished product. Generally. Unfortunately, newbie writers see this as law rather than guidelines. This leads to questions like, “Is it ok to edit before you finish your first draft?”, because, according to The Writing Process(TM), editing must follow drafting. On the flip side, there are those who reject parts of the processes entirely, not just for themselves, but for everyone, saying things like “Outlines kill creativity”, because, you can't revisit and tweak your outline, because outlines must precede all other parts of writing except brainstorming because that's how it is in The Writing Process.

Of course, if you’ve been writing long enough, particularly if you’ve written drastically different stories, you know why these ideas fall short. Simply put, there is no one writing process; there is only your writing process. And that process is whatever works for you.

I would even say that you can have different processes for different books. In Styx, I jumped from brainstorming to drafting with no outline. Once I had finished my WIP and started editing, I used very sketchy outlines of what I had already written and where I wanted things to go to aid in rewrites. I continued brainstorming, known in professional circles as “daydreaming”, until I finished the whole series. My writing process is not linear; most of the individual parts exist side-by-side as I go.

But the Alternate-History/Fantasy/Mystery WIP has a totally different genre, setting, tone, and target audience from Styx, so it makes sense that it’s not going to come together in the same way. Happily, it is coming together, though.

I've discussed my outlining phase before, so let's look at how I wrote my prologue and chapter one. My hope in sharing my method (and madness) with you is to dispel some “hard and fast” ideas—i.e. myths—about how one "should" begin a book.

To preface this examination, I must reiterate that I have begun three books, and a novella, and yet still find writing the first chapter to be an agonizing ordeal. It’s a whole new voice and set of characters, and it’s hard for me. But I did it. And if I can do, anyone can.

Myth one: You must “just sit down and write”.

I don’t think I need to explain how much I hate this “advice”, which is generally said in a holier-than-though tone, like “I, a hard worker, can just sit down and write; I needn’t wait for inspiration like you lazy plebeians.” Bully for you, mate, but the rest of us find staring at a screen a hopeless and depressing endeavor.

No, I did not “just sit down and write,” though I wanted to. I felt, around mid-July, that I probably knew enough about my story to start. “Any day now,” I thought. “Any day now…” And then, I was in the shower (one of the best places for brainstorming, as I’m sure you know), and it came to me: a prologue, fully-formed like some Greek god springing from the appendage of another Greek god. This was how I would begin my book. “It’s time,” I thought.

And it was.

Myth two: Don’t worry about editing the first chapter until the draft of the whole book is done.

After writing a pretty rad prologue, if I do say so myself (and I do), I began chapter one. And it dragged. I was putting way too much detail and backstory for so early in the book, introducing too many characters, and saying too much about the setting. It was heavy. It was monstrous. It had to change.

I see first chapters as the foundation that the rest of a story stands on, or the trunk of the tree from which the rest of a story grows. It needn’t be perfect, but it needs to also not fail hard out the gate.

So I brainstormed. How could I trim the fat, while still having my character flying into the city the book is set in (because the flying scene was key). Could I also be lazy, I wondered, and avoid researching the type of plane the military might use to transport this character from the battlefield to the city?

Laziness won out. I realized I could change the timing of the scene. The character had already returned from battle, sat at home for a couple weeks pre-story, and is now, in chapter one, on her way to the city on a comfy commercial airline (which also lets me add some details about the time period: did you know that everyone smoked like a chimney even on airplanes in the 60s? Cause they did!). Problem solved.

Myth three: Just throw writing out there; it doesn’t have to make sense

This is related to Myth 2, but I still need to address it, because my problems weren’t quite solved. Though the first chapter flowed much better now, it was flowing straight toward a Grand-Canyon-sized plot hole!

I knew two things:

1. My two MCs, Constance and Cherry, must become roommates at least by the end of chapter 2 for the rest of the book, nay the series, to work

2. There is a very good reason for Cherry, knowing what she knows about Constance’s situation, to not want her as a roommate.

Theoretically, and according to popular advice, I should just throw the writing out there or skip this part and worry about it later, but I couldn’t do that. First of all, Constance and Cherry’s growing friendship is a large part of the theme and plot, so it would be weird to not know how it started. I needed to see them decide to move in together. I wanted to know how it all began.

Second, and more importantly, this wouldn’t just be a plot hole, but the mother of all plot holes from which rifts in the story would be berthed! When I say Cherry has a “good reason” for not wanting a roommate in Constance’s situation, I mean a reason that relates to the plot of the entire series, the villain’s motivation, the setting, and, well, everything. If I didn’t fix this hole, the entire story could come crashing down at any point. Again, first chapters are a foundation, and mine was shaky.

What to do… Well, why not return to my outline? I had a rough sketch of how the first book in the series was going to go, the vaguest idea of the plot for the second one, and only the beginning and ending of the third. I had been wanting to outline the arcs of the main characters and villains in each book, and now seemed like a decent time to do this.

I outlined Constance’s arc, with a big, blank, circled area that said “Moves in with Cherry for some reason???”, and left it at that. I then outlined her coming to terms with her backstory, and learning secrets about Cherry, and conflict, and so on. So far, no ideas.

I started outlining Cherry, from her backstory, and what she’s investigating (she is a detective, by the by), and how this leads to an eventual conflict with Constance, which had always kind of bugged me… and then everything fell into place. This thing that she knew—that thing that would make it weird for her to invite Constance into her home?—turns out that there isn’t any reason for her to know it at the beginning of book one. Literally no reason.

So now, she can become roommates freely and easily, then learn this terrible thing by the end of the book, and her and Constance dealing with this fact is a major part of the second book. I even figured out something about the climax of book 1 because I would now have o explain Cherry’s learning of this terrible fact.

So, because I desperately needed things to make sense and did not just throw writing out there, I came up with a more organic conflict for my characters, a plot for Book 2, a key part of the Book1 climax, and fixed the initial plot hole. Not too shabby!

Conclusion

So that’s my process: a continual spiral of drafting and brainstorming and outlining and rewriting and drafting and so on. You probably have a different process, and that’s fine.

I know that this may not actually help anyone start their own books, because it’s not exactly advice, but that’s the point. There is no magic formula that can make you write a good book, or even a good first chapter. You just have to find what works for you, wether that’s daydreaming for three months and then punching out a novel in a few weeks, or forcing yourself to write every day, or writing when inspiration strikes.

Too often, I believe writers focus on the “how” of writing and forget the “why”. You’re not writing to produce a book the “correct” way, nor are you writing to get as many words down as possible. You are writing in order to tell your story. As long as your process lets you do that, then it is the only writing process you need.

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winterironspiderling · 4 years ago

Note

Sorry if you’ve answered something like this before but, do you have any tips of writing slow burn, and just writing in general? Lol thank you and love your work!

No worries! I’m always down to talk about writing. Thank you for your kind words. :)

To write a slow burn, you will want to start with the main pairing as strangers, acquaintances, or even enemies. You could also start them as friends, but if you begin with the two having a close relationship already, it would be hard to draw that out because friends to lovers basically only adds kissing and physical intimacy, but if you start from the very beginning/first meeting you have more time to develop the relationship, which will take more words, and make the burn slower.

No matter what level of relationship you start the pairing at, there has to be a reason why they can’t be together yet because if you start with no obstacle, it will be hard to justify why they aren’t together. Obstacles could be the characters are in other relationships, one or both might have just gotten out of a bad/abusive relationship, they’re in a bad place mentally/physically, and distance or other characters are keeping them apart. This also gives you something to overcome not just in the relationship, but for the individual characters and their journey, and it adds depth to the plot. And the richer the plot, the more you can draw it out and slow down the burn!

To make the slow burn enjoyable instead of annoying or frustrating, try not to make overcoming the relationship obstacles or individual challenges “too easy” for the characters. They should have near misses and setbacks, or it won’t feel satisfying or intriguing when they finally get together, or oppositely, if it’s too hard and drawn out, and there’s one shitty event after the other, it will feel like okay!!! enough already!!! So try to space out good and bad events and keep it balanced. :)

Know when to time skip and when to accept that you just need to write an entire scene. Time skipping can rush character development and make the ending feel unearned, but writing every detail of the characters’ lives can get boring to read. When you need some exposition or world building and not just fun plot or explicit scenes try to use the seemingly mundane interactions to your advantage to further the plot, introduce characters, build character(s), build relationships, foreshadow, or make fun references to canon.

For an example of all of the above points, in my story Disorder, Tony and Peter have their first meeting, and what’s holding them back from being together is Peter’s age and his poor mental health and self-image. He has a lot of good moments and bad moments, and doesn’t just lose weight and gain confidence over night. I take Tony and Peter throughout a working relationship, then a friendship, and then the buildup of an intimate relationship, and when I’m not outlining every personal training session between the two, I’m building their relationships and friendships with other people and giving both of them a chance to interact in other spaces besides the gym. So Peter will be at school with Ned and MJ showing his sense of humour, interacting with Flash, and maybe mentioning the upcoming Decathlon ten chapters later, so that when I bring it up later, it doesn’t come out of nowhere. Then I might skip a week to the next lesson with Tony because if you’re reading a Starker story, obviously you want most of the interactions to be Tony/Peter. :)

Adding in more people than the main pairing makes for a well-rounded story because other characters exist and help make the main pairing who they are. (For Peter, I like Ned, MJ, May, Flash, and Mr. Delmar, and for Tony, I like Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, Jarvis, and Nebula. Bucky is just a necessity for every story, also. ;) ) Making the side characters funny or interesting, or inserting running jokes about them will make the parts with those people more enjoyable to read, even if the pairing isn’t featured.

Short chapter length or transitional chapters are necessary, but can be tedious because you don’t want to have an info dump, but you don’t want to go through the pain of writing an entire interaction and scene just for the sake of increasing word count, so accepting that not every chapter is going to be the Best Chapter is important. If you need to get information across about the backstory, or exposition, you can have it expressed through dialogue, or do a little bit of info dumping at a time and try to weave it into other things, so it’s not huge chunks of info that can be boring or confusing.

Add a little bit of your own personality to the writing too. I’m not really a poetic writer, and I prefer to write snappy dialogue and let character dynamics do the work, but some people can talk about the flowering trees and the winding roads of the countryside. I don’t know anything about that lol, so when I try to write it, I feel silly and then the scene suffers because I’m not saying anything I actually care about. So write the style that feels most natural to you and it won’t be boring because you’ll be able to feel your energy in the story, and writers are what bring a lot of the emotion to the fan fiction. Every reader likes something different, so write for your own tastes and the people who like your style will stick around.

There’s a time and place for surprises or complications, but the type that you put into the story should be consistent with the expectations you and the readers have—whether you’ve stated these by your tags or the plot summary. Example, a coffee shop AU doesn’t turn into a sex worker AU, or soft, domestic Tony doesn’t turn into a dark stalker. Those are valid occurrences, but they’re so different that it’s not a fun twist for readers…it’s legitimately not what they signed up for. A surprise in Disorder that works is when you find out Tony’s own personal struggles during his POV with Rhodey. It adds depth to his character and another layer to his dynamic with Peter, but it isn’t shocking or contrary to what I’ve already written.

For most of Disorder, Tony and Peter each don’t think the other would be interested, or if they were, “not right now” or “not because of the age difference” etc... and I kept having them almost connect/admit it, but then I’d hold back. Knowing when and how I wanted them to get together from the very beginning helped with the slow burn as well because I had to think of how to get them from point A to B. I knew I wanted Peter to be at good place mentally, but not perfect, and I wanted May to be more accepting of the relationship, so it became a game of filling in the blanks instead of just starting a story with no end in sight, and then it feels difficult to give it direction.

Creating outlines and templates for a story helps me. Like a table that outlines which characters are featured in a chapter, and any major plot points, and just general info.This way when you go to write future chapters or edit, you don’t have to reread everything, and when it’s all laid out in front of you, it can be easier to be like, “Oh, this just happened in Chapter 1, so I don’t want another crazy event to happen in Chapter 5 because I want the energy of the story to be evenly spaced.”

Edit not just for grammar but for subtle mistakes like repeating a lot of the same phrases and words. I tend to overuse “just” and start a lot of sentences with, “well”, so I have to be careful of that. Also for continuity like if Peter is sitting down in one paragraph, and then you say he sat down in the next paragraph even though he’s already sitting...

Decide how you want your story to be regarding realism, whether it’s in the context of an AU or a canon-compliant story. Maybe you don’t care about being realistic to our universe, and maybe you want to write something completely off the wall. There should be some sort of structure and consistency with the characters so that the reader feels stable and like they can trust where you’re going. Even if you want to write a master/slave AU where Tony keeps Peter on a leash, or something like a body swap, there’s still things that you can do to keep it realistic in the context of that story. Like if Tony was portrayed as a very loyal and possessive master, he’s not going to be sharing Peter with someone later in the story, unless you’ve decided that him getting over that is necessary to the plot, and sufficient character building shows him slowly becoming more open. Or in a body swap, if Peter and Tony switch, they’re not going to immediately go and put each other at risk or use their bodies to betray one another.

So I don’t know what you’re writing, but no matter what, try creating mystery by leaving things unsaid/undiscovered, or raising questions within the plot for readers to find out later. You don’t have to give up everything right away! (I know it’s hard not to spill the beans, but it lets people figure things out on their own or wonder if you’ll mention it again.) (Make sure you remember if you’re doing this so you don’t accidentally create a plot hole.) An example of this in Disorder is raising the topic of will Peter go to college, or not. Eventually he decides. Another is why Tony doesn’t like to give cards in his gifts, and then eventually he gives one to Peter, and it makes it really special. <3

I hope this helps!

#ask #writing advice #disorder

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uthseikoashx-inflamedme · 4 years ago

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Personal favourite HP (&FB) fanfictions (but unfortunately it’s mostly GGAD)

posted: 08-10-2020 edited: 08-24-2020

(really sorry for the mistakes! fanfics are better i swear)

I read several HP and FB fanfics during the last few months, and in order to sum up my favourite ones, here is this post. It’s entirely and obviously personal, and to be honest, it’s more something which is more supposed to help me than recommanding something to you

But I truly think those fanfictions are great, so if you didn’t already read them, you may enjoy them!

I might update it every now and then, by the way!

(most of them are already quite well-known though, sorry)

Put Your Guns Away, it’s Tea Time (52k) and Put Your Curse in Reverse (276k) (from the It’s Tea Time serie), written by ellizablue :

A very lovely, funny and well-written story which follows Albus Severus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy, Harry and Ginny Potter, the rest of the Potter-Weasley family and all of the surrounding people after the events of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

It’s technically canon-compliant - the author created an amazing story based on HPCC - and did it so well! I admit I was a bit disappointed about HPCC when it had been published, but It’s Tea Time “fixed” all of the things I was confused about.

Albus’ and Scorpius’ relationship is adorable, both of them are interesting characters. Harry and Ginny are amiable and attentive parents, they protect people they love. James Sirius and Lily Luna are also great - and to be honest, all of the characters are refreshing, complex, ect. I could talk about it throughout countless of pages. So many themes are brilliantly treated. I still didn’t read the third opus of the series!

(if I should recommand one only series of HP fanfictions, I would recommand this one)

Several fanfictions written by meanwhiletimely :

Illumine (10k) :

In Prague in 1914, Albus Dumbledore goes to a Gellert Grindelwald’s brillant speech. The political discussion between Albus and Henry Potter, how Gellert is able to enthrall a breathless crowed, Gellert’s and Albus’ very special and intense relationship, the wonderful Christian imagery and parallels, the description of the surrounding world and the ambiance, Gellert’s speech... It is quite marvellous, well-written and perfectly bitter-sweet - more bitter than sweet though. Eventual smut, very good, but imo, it cannot be considered as the very heart of the text, even though the sexual tension is omnipresent. I can't help but read it oftenly, and everytime I'm amazed - it might be my favourite GGAD fanfiction in fact. Brilliant.

Extreme Incantations (10k) :

In order to find clues about the Elder Wand story, Albus and Gellert try a “decadent, degenerate, deranged” ritual. A lot of smut, but again, their relationship and their psychology are absolutely central. I loved how they are portrayed, loved to discover Gellert’s thoughts and point of view. Again, it’s brilliantly bitter-sweet - even quite heartbreaking. Like Illumine, I have so much more to say, but I’ll stop here and just say: if you are interested by Summer of 1899 fanfictions, you could be delighted to discover it.

The Seer in the Tower (2k5) and Collateral (3k) are as great as Illumine and Extreme Incantations. In the first one, Tom Riddle meets Gellert Grindelwald after 1945 ; in the second one, Gellert and Ariana talk thanks the Resurection Stone. Light Bringer (10k), which sums up the Summer of 1899, is also amazing - incredibly painful, hopeless and horrendous, and Gellert Grindelwald is definitely not a good person - but still amazing.

Thirty-Five Owls (11k) by Letterblade :

After 1945, Albus and Gellert sent letters to each other - and I will add nothing more about the plot. A quite famous fanfiction - published in 2008 - and rightfully recognised as a brillant one. Beautifully written, the tag "Everything Hurts" is accurate, constantly breathtaking. I loved more than everything else the end - overwhelming, and yet so simple. Even canon-compliant, what more could we ask? In a nutshell, an unmissable work.

White (2k) (M) by Vandrerska :

“The story Gellert Grindelwald would tell if somebody took the trouble to ask.”, or a magnificiently well-written 1st person POV fic with Gellert talking about Albus and 1899. Here is the same vibe we already have in Thirty-Five Owls, but with the benefit of a heart-to-heart conversation between Gellert and the reader directly. Needless to say that both of the hearts involved in the conversation are broken. I love how it is written (but it is no surprise, well-crafted angsty texts like this one own my heart).

nobody else but me (5k) by Roflskate :

After meeting Percival Graves and starting a correspondence with the very head of MACUSA's Department of Law Enforcement in 1926, Albus Dumbledore thinks he's finally ready to move on from Gellert Grindelwald. Well, if you saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, you know he's not.

I'm fond of the plot: the way we, as readers, already know how that story is doomed to end, is the very heart of the text - and speaking of the end, I loved it - just like Thirty-Five Owls, simple and heartrending. Again, bitterness is back. Beware of the manipulation and the very questionable consent, it's literally the plot.

(btw, this work inspired this post: GG as Hogwarts teacher/librarian before FBaWtFT: where are the fanfics? (if someone wants to write it please i will be pretty happy))

(In every bloody fanfiction I recommend Albus is suffering, sorry about that) (and it's not going to end with the next fanfic) (suffering is inherent to the character though so)

The Trial of Albus Dumbledore (51k) by Aurora_xx :

In this post-FBCoG AU, Albus Dumbledore is questioned about his relations with Gellert Grindelwald. But before his trial, he unknowingly took Veritaserum. To be honest, I felt it first as a “satisfying” AU: people we don’t like became a bit ridiculous, people we like get through (well, mostly).

Nonetheless, it’s more than that: the trial scene is incredibly tense, the consequences are terrible, and we want to see what's going to happen next. Moreover, the character development is suprisingly remarkably well-done - Vinda Rosier has an amazing backstory, for example; Newt and Newt’s friends are also very likeable, complex, etc. We love to hate Travers, Grindelwald is a character we eventually support (for specific reasons, mostly because he’s powerful, self-confident, rather hilarious and badass, but also a bit more human than we could think). And all we want to do is taking care of Albus.

It’s definitely a really pleasant fanfiction - but not an “easy” one, there are a lot of hard themes and very tense scenes, etc. This story is still considered as a WIP, though the five first chapters are already enough.

Three fics of mautadite :

A Metaphor for Change (1k) (M) : I will just rewrite the summary here, so: "Five things Albus could not bring himself to say to Gellert. (One of them is a lie.)”. I really liked it, it is angsty - but the sweetest way, the very sad way.

To Be Great (0.3k) (G) : What Albus and the Sorting Hat said when Albus put the Hat on his head for the first time. Really a relevant and sharp character study. Again, I felt a hint of a sweet kind of angst. I wonder if I am the only one, you tell me.

Love Letters (6k) (E) : Scenes of Gellert’s and Albus’ life from 1995 to 1899 - often conversations, so say hello to well-crafted relationships between mc and other characters. Here comes the angst again (I think the author writes Albus and Gellert that way - or maybe, the characters are meant to be suffused by angsty undertones). The fact that we go back in time hurts a lot, because every smile they have are perverted by our knowledge of what happens next - the happiness won’t last, and really, it hurts. Canon compliant.

GGAD works of verivala (bloodtroth on tumblr)

Many short one-shots, from fluff to angst - sometimes droll, sometimes soft, often painful, quite always (a bit or a lot) bitter-sweet. You might at least find few of them interesting.

Grindeldore one-shots (22 works)

Grindeldore requests (5 works)

Grindeldore prompt fills (38 works)

L’Indiscible (190k) by Neaniver279

This one is a French one! Deux ans après la fin de la guerre, Percy Weasley - profondément meurtri par la mort de Fred, de laquelle il s’estime responsable - est renvoyé par une mystérieuse potion au 25 décembre 1975. Plusieurs élèves de Poudlard attirent son attention et son affection, voire un en particulier, Sirius Black.

Un pairing très inhabituel qui fonctionne bien ; un Percy Weasley passionnant - faillible, perdu dans ses doutes et sa culpabilité, mais avec une répartie, une malice et une sensibilité hors du commun ; des Maraudeurs et des jumeaux Weasley attachants, avec une personnalité définie et nuancée ; une idée originale géniale, car si le voyage dans le temps ouvre des portes à une nouvelle palette de réflexions et d’expériences pour Percy, il permet aussi d’intégrer un mystère et de la tension autour de la potion, l’Indiscible.

Pas d’underage, mais une relation prof-élève tout de même - tout du moins, pendant un segment de l’histoire. Intéressante, touchante, très drôle, amère, complexe et pathétique. WIP.

Thanks for reading, I hope it had helped!

Thanks to all of the authors also! You are brave, tenacious and doing an amazing work. Thanks a lot! :)

(And of course, beware of the tags, if you are triggered by specific content - homophobia, blood, hospital, violence, explicit sex scenes, manipulation, death, etc)

08-24-2020 edit: Thirty-Five Owls, nobody else but me and verivala’s works added. 02-18-2021 edit: White and mautadite’s works added.

(08-24-2020: i’m also currently interested by Kierkegarden’s works, an already quite inevitable GGAD author, I might add some of them later)

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howwnowbrowncoww · 4 years ago

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10 Characters, 10 Fandoms

thanks for the tag @vidramon! I’m going to refrain from picking Malroth since it’s a total given for me lol and since you already wrote some pretty great stuff about him. These aren’t really in any order and I picked off the top of my head so I’m sure I’m missing a few I’d really be able to chat your ears off about, but this was fun anyway!

Oops, editing this to say anyone can try it out! Not tagging anyone specific this time, but if you want to talk about 10 characters you love, please add on an share or make your own post and tag me because I’d love to see!

1. Bado (Rune Factory 4)

Honestly, I love all the characters from 4, but this loser holds a special place in my heart. His half-hearted passion for getting rich quick but lack of follow through when it comes to negatively impacting people around him with his schemes is oddly endearing. I equally want to wring his neck and be his best friend. I also will die mad that he wasn’t a marriage candidate>:T

2. Tamaki Amajiki (BNHA)

It was a toss up between him and Shinsou, but I picked Tamaki because I can relate more to him. I love seeing him fight with determination and courage despite how much anxiety he has. He works hard despite all his perceived faults, and his supportive friend group makes me so happy for him! I left off mid season 4 of the anime but I want to pick it up again just for him and Shinsou lol

3. Ghirahim (Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword)

Okay, I know, major leap from anxious Tamaki, but Ghirahim is a fave on the complete opposite side of the scale. This guy is obviously an asshole. A total jerk. Dickhead supreme. But he’s a very fun and interesting villain (in the worst way) imo. I’m also a huge fan of WindWaker Ganondorf because of his drive as a villain, but I picked Ghirahim since SS is getting remade soon. Idk, his design is eye-catching, every time I got to meet him in the game, he always had interesting dialouge (putting it lightly), and his personality uh...leaves much to be improved upon, but he HAS ONE! I’m tired of boring villains with lackluster motivations. Okay, his motivations were kinda expectable too, but his overwhelming desire to kill me in an extremely over-the-top dramatic fashion at all times was refreshing.

4. Sophie (Howl’s Moving Castle)

I know a lot of people have a favorite Sophie (either the book or movie version), but I like both equally for really different reasons. I related to movie Sophie a lot as a kid (still kinda do), so I have nostalgia going for me there, but book Sophie is a wild card. I lover her. She’s nuts, she won’t hesitate to throw acid, she can and will do whatever the hell she wants. I really want to be her.

5. Fenris (Dragon Age 2)

It was SO HARD to pick between him, Bull, and Dorian, because I haven’t played any of the games, but I want to meet them all so damn bad lol. I OWN all the games, I just haven’t played them yet /cries/. Ironically, I took a quiz the other day and it said I’d be Fenris, and I honestly was just more concerned than anything considering his backstory lmao. Anyway, I love an elf who can wield a greatsword and rip people’s hearts from their bodies while avoiding his emotionally traumatic past:>

6. Galo Thymos (Promare)

Look, I absolutely ADORE everyone in this entire movie, but this moron just hits all the best character traits for me. He’s passionate, he’s stupider than all get out, and he’s constantly shirtless while almost dying and saving the day through sheer god-defying luck and a refusal to lay down and die. There’s just something about himbos that gets me, ya know?

7. Kurapika Kurta (Hunter X Hunter)

Kurapika has what Sasuke could NEVER. Literally, Kurapika has such a more satisfying revenge/redemption ark than anything I’ve ever seen. I love his interaction with Melody and the main group, the red eyes thing is so BADASS (again, still cooler than Sasuke’s), the chains are both aesthetic as HELL and insanely, terrifyingly effective. Never seen a cooler anime character in my entire life. I also just really, really want to give him a fucking hug, like wow he really needs one.

8. Apollo Justice (Ace Attorney games)

Apollo is a new love of mine (also from a game I haven’t played yet) as well as another character for me to eventually project onto;) He’s anxious, he yells a lot, he’s oblivious as fuck, but he has the passion I love in all my characters. This boy is in for a world of hurt (from the many spoilers I have run into by browsing the game tags prematurely lol), but I know he’ll pull through! He has his family by his side!;-;

9. Sakura Haruno (Naruto)

Don’t even get me started on Sakura>:O I love her so much. I did not appreciate her near enough as a kid (maybe understandably since she was written for shit). Instead of going back and rewatching the show to face inevitable disappointment, I just read fics that fix all of the crappy things the show did to her:) This girl could crush me like a bug and I am looking respectfully!!

10. Tadashi Hamada (Big Hero 6)

Saving the most underloved one for last;-; Tadashi I miss you. I rewatch this goddamn movie just for you (and sometimes Baymax). I have the only shirt I could ever find with him on it and I also have his hat because once I latch onto a character, I apparently never let go. It’s a shame Disney had to kill him off to further the plot. I was so desperate for more content of this character that I found myself falling down theory spirals about how he may come back as Sunfire (that name may be wrong, it’s been a few years lol). Ultimate big brother, great best friend, everyone loved him and knew he was creating good things for the world, super goofy: literally I think I just aspired to be more like him when I first saw the movie. Mad respect for this dude.

#long post #tag tag #my post #not really but i want to be able to find it later

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hotel-japanifornia · 5 years ago

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Phoenix Wright

(Note: this post was initially made as an entry for the 30 day Ace Attorney Challenge, that you can find here: https://demon-prosecutie.tumblr.com/post/141222773397/i-wanted-to-be-more-active-and-post-new-edits-and. Other things came up, so I never actually ended up finishing the challenge. However, since I had 2 entries that were written up, I decided to edit them and share them with y’all. This is the first one made, but the second one shared.)

Phoenix is an amazing protagonist. Although he usually wins his cases by bluffing, his kind heart and desire to help others has been something that I’ve always admired. Well that, and he’s also a sassy dork but with how crazy and uncooperative witnesses can get sometimes that’s not a huge surprise and is actually pretty relatable. Phoenix was meant to be a blank slate that the players can relate to easily which is why we don’t know about his parents or much about his childhood. However, we do learn things about him that prevent him from being completely blank.

For example, in the first game we learn what made him decide to become a lawyer. When Phoenix was 9 years old, he was falsely accused of stealing a classmate’s lunch money. The classmate in question, Miles Edgeworth, as well as Larry Butz stood up for him and the boys befriended each other afterwards. Although Larry and Edgeworth would later forget about this event, Phoenix never did and this desire became even stronger when he learned about the rumors about Edgeworth becoming the “Demon Prosecutor.” Phoenix not only became a lawyer in order to defend those who have no one else on their side, but he also wanted to save Edgeworth in the way that Edgeworth had saved him years earlier.

In the third game, we learn more about Phoenix’s decision to become a lawyer as well as how his relationship with his mentor, Mia, began. Three years before the events of the first game, Phoenix was a college student who was accused of murdering a fellow college student by the name of Doug Swallow and was being defended by then-rookie lawyer, Mia Fey.. As the case goes on, we learn about Phoenix’s former girlfriend Dahlia, or “Dollie”, who turns out to be a murderous psychopath who was willing to kill Phoenix in order to retrieve a necklace she gave to him so she wouldn’t be caught for poisoning someone else. Phoenix learns the cold hard “truth” and yet, he still believes that the woman on the witness stand isn’t the same person as the one he dated. After the trial, he and Mia talk about what it means to be a lawyer and Phoenix reveals that he wants to study to become a lawyer so he can help a friend out (that “friend” being Edgeworth).

Although I won’t go on for too long about Phoenix’s development over the course of the series, I will say that seeing him grow from a rookie lawyer to an ace attorney is really interesting. Along the way, Phoenix pursues these seemingly impossible cases and seeing him succeed in the end feels especially rewarding. Takumi did a good job at taking us through the course of Phoenix’s career as a lawyer and in the process getting us to feel attached to him. The thing about Phoenix is that we see his struggles, we aren’t just told about them. We get to go inside his head and hear how he feels about the current situation which can add to the drama or comedy of a scene. Although Phoenix doesn’t have a huge backstory like some characters do, he still has his own unique personality that separates him from the player.

As for his appearance in Apollo Justice, while I can’t say I was fond of him solving the first case for us practically, I did like his storyline. Seeing this lawyer we’ve grown to love over the past 3 games hit rock bottom practically is quite heartbreaking. I remember getting to the part where you have to present the forged diary page and I presented every other piece of evidence first before eventually submitting the diary page. Even then, during the MASON system segment, Phoenix is still the same person as he was before, which only adds to the theory that his different personality over the past 7 years was a ruse before he was able to get his revenge against Kristoph. And even though he doesn’t appear during the final trial segment, it feels incredibly satisfying to take Kristoph down for his and Vera’s sakes.

Overall, the real draw for Phoenix to me is that he’s a genuinely good person who wants to help others. Although he may go through his personal struggles, Phoenix never becomes too cynical. Also, because I did the same for Maya, have a Phoenix:

#ace attorney #phoenix wright

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ladyofpurple · 6 years ago

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GIRL ITS BEEN MONTHS SINCE YOU UPDATED TPOY!! please tell me you haven’t given up on it )-:

I KNOW IM REALLY SORRY OMG

This took a bit longer to answer than it should have because I was trying to figure out how to reply, I guess?? The short answer is basically that writing bits of fic during my exams when I didn’t actually have the time to was super productive, mainly because I Didn’t Want To Do The Thing but my entire future hinged on Doing The Thing and anxiety-driven avoidance is excellent creative fuel, apparently. The problem is, of course, that once I finished and started getting my results back and actually had time to breathe again my brain kinda fizzled out and I never wanted to look at a Word document ever again in my life. Writing is really hard right now, for some reason. And not just TPoy — everything I try to write either gives me a headache, makes every idea I’ve ever had go flying out the window like magic, or looks like absolute garbage to me. (I’ve been trying, though, I promise!!!) There is more TPoY, though!! I swear to God!! It’s just coming along a little slower than anticipated.

The long answer is... a little more complicated and probably more than you’re interested in, and the main reason is the short one anyway. But I’ll put a long answer under a cut just in case (aka the entire history of TPoY lol), since I’ve lowkey wanted to post about it for a while now but didn’t quite know how to? May get a little very personal, I suppose.

Basically, TPoY is and always has been a garbage fic. I don’t say that to disparage my own writing or attempt to elicit praise from anyone: I have always considered it a glorious dumpster fire of experimentation, a ridiculous Frankenstein’s monster of all my favorite ML tropes as a practice run, since it had been so long since attempting to write anything at all. I’m thrilled that people like it, of course! Whenever people send me asks about it my answers always involve a lot of exclamation points and variations on “I AM CURRENTLY SOBBING ON THE FLOOR IN GRATITUDE” because I honestly have no idea how to express how genuinely teary-eyed I get when someone tells me how much they like it, or post a comment. That being said, it was always intended for my own amusement and/or therapy, and that it’s gotten so many bookmarks and kudos and comments is incredibly surreal, even after a whole year.

When I started writing it, I was working through a lot of stuff. My first boyfriend had broken up with me, and as we lived together in his hometown I was stuck there on my own for another year before I could move back home. 2016 was filled with a lot of horrifying shit that kept happening one after the other and I eventually almost had to drop out of school because I couldn’t handle it all. The relationship was pretty toxic but all I knew at the time was that I was scared and alone and heartbroken.

When I started writing, it was after 8 months of the worst bout of depression I’ve ever experienced, and I still wasn’t well, but I functioned passably enough to start hyperfocusing on things. I had an idea about a fic I suddenly wanted to write, and it would have a happy ending and all, but I could work through my feelings in a way I hadn’t tried to since before my ex and I got together. I pulled a lot of the start of the fic (the rejection, the miscommunication, the avoidance) from my recent breakup, yes, but also from my first rejection, aka the only other boy I’d liked enough to confess my feelings to. We were 17, and he admitted that he knew, and then suddenly we weren’t friends anymore. A year and a half later, I got together with my ex, and suddenly after three years of dedicating my life to “us” on his whims he was ghosting me without explanation.

I see a lot of myself in Marinette at that age. The awkwardness, the enthusiasm, the incredibly obvious lovesick obsession with a cute boy who’s nice to you. I wondered if maybe she would react the same, if put into similar circumstances as I had been. Focus on the self-doubt that would follow, based on insecurities she’s already shown in the show — coupled with your standard teenage hormone-fest —and you’d have a fabulous starter for angstfic and a free therapy session all in one.

The problem with that is nobody knows this backstory but me. People focusing on Marinette’s insecurities is nothing new. Other people are annoyed it’s such a popular trope. And the fact that I’ve chosen to focus on certain aspects of the main characters’ identities for the purposes of a story I started on a whim has been making me insecure for a long time because people in the fandom are tired of those characterizations. I’ve never gotten hate comments —I don’t even remember ever getting constructive criticism on TPoY. But I’m well aware that the plot is far from original and definitely lacking in certain places, and as the comments roll in and the hits go up my anxiety mounts because oh my God I’m that guy in the fandom.

I always intended on focusing on different aspects of their characterizations in different fics to suit the plot, y’know? Not ignoring parts of their personalities, but just... emphasizing other parts. But TPoY is the one most people have read. I have a couple one-shots where I tried to do something like that, with different aspects of their characters, but short one-shots can’t really compare to a 100,000+ word WIP, even if they even slightly compared in popularity (they don’t). So my only notable contribution to the fandom is TPoY. And that makes me anxious.

Then there’s the Frankenstein-like obsession with adding every trope I’ve ever wanted to write in a fic like this. I’ve mentioned before that the original plan for this was, like, 10-15 chapters at most. But every chapter I write I’m like, “But what if I did this???” Like I said, I never intended it to be even remotely popular. The only other fandoms I’ve written for are microscopic in comparison. I had no frame of reference for a pairing this big — all my previous experience was from Fanfiction.net, for Christ’s sake. I assumed I wouldn’t finish it, and even getting to chapter 6 was a surprise. But that hyperfocus somehow held on for dear life and I was banging out chapters like nobody’s business. And people were responding to it. And I think that kind of went to my head a little? Not like in an “I deserve all this attention” kind of way, but more like a “People like?? This thing I’m doing??? I cannot squander this opportunity, I must give them m o r e” kind of way. It was the best I’d felt since the breakup and I didn’t really think I deserved it, so I kind of wanted to... prove I did, I guess, by writing everything I’d ever wanted in a lovesquare fic in hopes that people would keep liking it and me and I’d keep feeling nice. (I mean, I’d planned to add in a ridiculous amount of tropes anyway, I just ended up adding a lot more than I’d planned.)

On the one hand, people go nuts for that shit. On the other, it’s getting harder and harder to justify cramming all this shit into the same fic. This compulsion keeps fucking me over by giving me spur-of-the-moment ideas for sub-plots I never wanted and certainly didn’t properly think through before posting the foreshadowing or setup for — yet at the same time they’re usually thought of and integrated several chapters in advance so I can’t just... leave them out? And part of me kind of doesn’t want to?? And I’m trying with every fiber in my being not to rewrite just the first 3 chapters, let alone the entire fic. A side-effect of my FF.net history at 13 was Never Edit Anything. Yeah, I’ll do some spell-check. Maybe some rewording here and there. Sometimes I’ll post a chapter and come back sporadically over the next few days to change out some punctuation or whatever. But if I don’t like a section after writing for a while? Throw the Whole Ass Chapter out. After it’s posted? This Is Your Life Now.

let’s not talk about how everything after chapter 27 was supposed to go very differently

Never mind that, after writing a hundred thousand goddamn words in a year, one’s writing skill tends to evolve and increase over time. Not just in regards to vocabulary, but with consistency and pacing and structure. This means, of course, that I can’t ever reread my own writing without the Evil Writing Goblin in my brain telling me to start the whole thing over from scratch. It’s fine.

I suppose I could get a beta, but I’m very bad at taking critique and as I’m even worse at talking to people than I am at posting on time I don’t think that would work out very well.

The point of this goddamn novel is that TPoY means a lot to me, probably a lot more than people realize. It’s kinda dumb and very cheesy and absurdly long, but it was the first real thing I did for myself after my whole life fell apart. I will finish it!!

But it’s hard to write it right now. I’m trying— I’m writing four chapters at the same time right now (a bit less than 10,000 words combined at current count). I don’t want to try to rewrite the whole fic or keep “mischaracterizing” the characters or lose the suspense I’ve tried to build (or, God forbid, try to keep interest so hard it hurts the rest of the fic) and risk alienating readers. I can’t stress enough how much these supportive comments mean to me, even on something as silly as a fanfic. But I also don’t want to force myself to write it or write something just because other people might or might not like it and risk alienating me. So I’m stuck at a kind of anxiety-induced impasse with myself that’s just made worse by the fact that I’m having trouble writing anything at all at the moment.

Jesus Christ this was longer than I meant it to be. Please don’t take this as a pity-party or anything. I don’t want sympathy or, I don’t know, reassurance or anything, I just wanted everything to be Out There because it really is the most in-depth response I could give and y’all deserve an honest answer. Some of you guys have been reading since the beginning and I can’t express how much that means to me. I feel really bad when I haven’t updated in a long time, because I know my fic makes some people really happy!

And PLEASE don’t take this as a “STOP ASKING ME ABOUT TPOY GODDAMMIT” because this is the opposite of that. I FUCKING LOVE IT WHEN PEOPLE ASK ME ABOUT TPOY. I L I V E FOR IT. But it sucks when the only answer I have is “I don’t know when it’ll be up, sorry :( ”

I mean, that’ll probably still be the answer I give, unless I by some miraculous (heh) stroke of luck) start hyperfocusing on writing again.

But at least y’all kinda know why now.

#did someone call for Too Much Information??#BUT THANK YOU FOR YOUR MESSAGE I LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOU #I HOPE THAT ANSWERS YOUR QUESTION #[SEVERAL HEART EMOJIS]#tpoy fic #anon good nurse #Lady answers stuff

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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Mass Effect: Every Legendary Edition Squad Companion Ranked

https://ift.tt/3tH2zJa

Along with the promise that our decisions would have galaxy-wide consequences (which turned out to be…mostly true), one of Mass Effect‘s biggest selling points was the ability to command a ship and assemble a squad of companions that would join us on our journeys and help us fulfill our Star Trek dreams.

While Shepard is the star of the Mass Effect trilogy, it’s hard to deny that some of the game’s most compelling characters are the ones who serve alongside him aboard the Normandy and stand by his side during the game’s most dangerous adventures. Many Mass Effect players know their crew better than they know their family, which is both a testament to the quality of the game’s characters and a testament to the quality of awkward Thanksgiving dinner guests everywhere.

Which squad member is the best, though? As you’ve probably guessed, that’s the question that we’ll try to answer as we rank the various companions that Shepard can add to his away crew at various points in the game. While characters that couldn’t be added to your away team at some point in the game weren’t eligible for consideration (sorry Joker), we hope this list will remind you of your own Mass Effect adventures and the friends you made along the way.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

22. Kaidan Alenko

To be fair to Kaidan, someone had to fill the “standard human dude” squad companion spot in the original Mass Effect, and Kaidan is nothing if not a seat filler.

By and large, though, there’s just not much interesting about Kaidan. He rarely rises above “serviceable” despite clear attempts at making him more interesting.

21. Jacob Taylor

Honestly, the only things that elevate Jacob above Kaidan are a few lines that may be unintentionally hilarious but at least help you remember him.

Other than that, Jacob stands as another sad example of how the Mass Effect team sometimes struggled to make human companions as exciting as their alien alternatives.

20. Nyreen Kandros

Nyreen doesn’t make her (in-game) appearance until Mass Effect 3’s Omega DLC, which means that it’s kind of hard to rank a character who appears so late in the game and only serves as a squadmate for a brief period of time.

This self-sacrificing leader of a mercenary group might have been more interesting if she hung around a little longer, but she’s just not around enough to make a lasting impression.

19. Morinth

Maybe this placement is just a tad harsh on Morinth, but because she essentially replaces someone I’d consider to be a much more interesting character, it’s hard to rank her much higher than this.

Her introduction is interesting and the results of her romance storyline are tragically hilarious, but the ways that Morinth could have been a much more well-rounded character are just never explored as often as they should have been.

18. James Vega

Vega’s “meathead” moments and pretty good (if incredibly brief) eventual romance storyline elevate him over Kaidan and Jacob, but it’s understandable if you struggled to recall who, exactly, James Vega is.

BioWare has said that Vega was meant to be something of a new player surrogate, which is kind of odd given his relatively late debut and the ways that design decision ultimately makes him come across as somewhat vacant.

17. Aria T’Loak

Aria gets a slight nod over Nyreen by virtue of her “Pirate Queen” title (which is awesome) and for being one of the best parts of Mass Effect 3’s DLC.

However, the truth of the matter is that Aria just isn’t around enough as a squadmate to comfortably rank her above some of the regulars who better define this series.

16. Zaeed Massani

As a battle-tested veteran turned mercenary who always has a story to tell and a scar to show, Zaeed really should be more interesting than he ultimately is.

Unfortunately, Zaeed rarely rises above the level of standard tough guy. He feels like he belongs as a side character in a Gears of War game, and he never really has that defining moment that elevates him above the level of serviceable archetype.

15. EDI

EDI’s highly sexualized design is sometimes a point of contention, as is this A.I.’s story arc which sometimes tried too hard to examine the philosophical implications of its eventual physical existence.

Having said all of that, the relationship between Joker and EDI is often too good to ignore. EDI may fall a bit short of being as complete a character as they could have been, but they’re often a tremendous source of comedic relief.

14. Javik

Ranking Javik is tough. As the last of the Protheans, Javik is an inherently interesting character whose bitter and combative personality is genuinely hilarious most of the time.

It’s just a shame that Javik is introduced so late in the franchise. He’s not really given the time to develop that a character like him needs, and it just feels like the writers sometimes struggled to work his character into the bigger plot points.

13. Samara

I completely understand if Samara’s quiet nature and sometimes cold vibes make her one of your least favorite characters. She’s certainly not for everyone.

However, there’s something to be said about Samara’s strict moral code and how it allows her to offer a consistent point of view whenever you’re struggling between decisions. Samara’s incredible backstory and always functioning (if sometimes strange) moral compass makes her a compelling companion.

12. Grunt

In a lot of ways, Grunt is the better version of Zaeed Masani. As a kind of “Alpha Krogan,” Grunt is practically a tank who talks. It’s often hilarious to watch him boil down complex issues into whatever solution allows him to employ the most force.

Grunt kind of gets lost in the shuffle a bit after Mass Effect 2, but his hilarious appearance in Mass Effect 3’s Citadel DLC helps ensure the character “ends” on a high note.

Games

Mass Effect’s Hidden Kirk/Picard Morality System

By Matthew Byrd

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Future Dragon Age and Mass Effect Games Won’t Be Like Anthem

By Matthew Byrd

11. Miranda Lawson

Miranda Lawson proves to be something of a mixed bag as far as squad companions go. At the very least, her mysterious intentions and potentially heated romance storyline make her one of Mass Effect 2’s most interesting additions.

While it feels like Mass Effect 3 could have found more room to expand Miranda’s story, she ends up being a pretty fleshed out (no pun…ah, never mind) character at the end of the day, and the events of Mass Effect 3’s Citadel DLC certainly go a long way towards offering her a more satisfying “conclusion” than she would have otherwise received.

10. Liara T’Soni

I’d argue that Liara benefits from one of the most complete and satisfying character arcs, but there are certainly some who feel that Liara’s intentionally disconnected nature and surprising (some say unlikely) plot twists make her hard to like.

In any case, the thing that really puts Liara over-the-top is her optional romance storyline and the events of Mass Effect 2‘s Shadow Broker DLC. If you take the time to get to know her, you’ll likely find that Liara is one of the most complete and fascinating companions in the Mass Effect trilogy.

9. Kasumi Goto

I’ll say right away that the biggest problem with Kasumi is that there’s just not enough of her. That’s kind of a compliment, but it’s a detriment when you consider that many Mass Effect players may decide to stick with other companions and ignore most of Goto’s relatively short arc.

With that out of the way, it must be said that Goto is an incredible character. She’s basically a rogue in the Mass Effect universe, which not only makes her a pretty cool squadmate from a storytelling perspective but grants her a unique set of combat abilities. I also have to give a shoutout to her Stolen Memory DLC appearance which is one of the best Mass Effect adventures ever.

8. Ashley Williams

Ashley Williams has to be the most divisive major companion in the Mass Effect trilogy. Not only is she initially somewhat underdeveloped, but her hostility towards multiple alien races has led some to call her xenophobic and sometimes something worse.

However, there’s something to be said for how Willaims has always come across as one of the most complete companions in the Mass Effect universe from a storytelling perspective. She feels like someone who exists even and lives a life even when Shepard isn’t interacting with her, and her appearance in Mass Effect 3 shows just how much she’s grown over the years by virtue of her (and your) adventures.

7. Legion

Legion initially comes across as a cheap nod to Star Trek: TNG’s Borg (mixed with a little Data and some other sci-fi characters), but spend a little time with this Geth, and you’ll find that they’re so much more than that.

Legion’s attempts at understanding the nature of its existence is less of a Pinnochio situation and more the result of its ability to process incredible amounts of data and turn that information into new outlooks. It’s tough to say whether Legion is more philosophical or analytical, but it’s that dynamic that makes it so compelling.

6. Thane

As an expert assassin who feels morally conflicted about almost every kill, Thane’s “samurai-like” lifestyle and complex views are more than enough to make him one of the companions that you’ll often want by your side.

Yet, it’s Thane’s disease that makes him a truly classic companion. What could have been a cheap emotional ploy instead becomes the storytelling device that strengthens Thane’s internal debates and regrets over how his actions will affect his distant son (among others). He’s just a great character.

5. Jack

I love how Jack is a fundamentally damaged person whose life is the product of one bad turn after another, but I understand if you feel that her earliest hours are trying too hard to present her as an overly edgy character.

However, Jack grows in a way that showcases just how talented the Mass Effect writers were at the top of their games. She warms up to the rest of the party as she comes to terms with the events of her life, but she never magically becomes an entirely different person. She’s also ridiculously powerful in the best way.

4. Mordin Solus

In some ways, Mordin Solus is Mass Effect’s Spock. Both are highly intelligent, both sometimes suffer from a “detached” view of others, and both are funny in a way that no other person around them quite is.

The biggest differences are that Solus is a hell of a singer who almost always has a tune in his head, and he’s partially responsible for countless deaths. It’s when you realize that Mordin’s “quirky” nature is the product of a darker mind than you could ever imagine that he becomes one of the franchise’s best characters, but Mordin is almost always entertaining no matter how much time you spend with them.

3. Tali

I could talk about Tali’s incredible backstory, great design, or even how she’s the co-star of one of Mass Effect’s best romances, but the thing about Tali that ultimately stands out is how she has one of the few stories that remain compelling across all three games in the Mass Effect trilogy.

There’s been a lot of talk about how Mass Effect 3 failed to end the series in a way that satisfyingly built on more of the player’s decisions, but Tali’s story showed that the Mass Effect team was more than capable of utilizing the trilogy’s ambitious format to weave a complex story across multiple entries.

2. Garrus

I’ve never met the Mass Effect player who doesn’t at least kind of like Garrus, and I’m not sure I ever will. He is not only Shepard’s right-hand man through much of the trilogy; he’s one of Mass Effect’s most complicated characters.

Many of the things that are so easy to love about Garrus don’t change throughout the trilogy, but as Garrus’ situations change wildly across those three games, we get to see him shine in a variety of roles as we learn more about how one of the coolest characters in the galaxy often struggles to find where he belongs if he’s not by the player’s side.

1. Urdnot Wrex

At the risk of making too many Star Trek comparisons, it has to be said that Wrex will remind many players of one of TNG’s best characters: Worf. Both are members of a seemingly violent alien race whose intelligence, warmth, and leadership immediately leave most players to realize that the assumptions they made about them may not be entirely fair.

Not only is Wrex one of the clearest early examples that the Mass Effect universe is more complicated than you maybe thought it would be, but he’s one of the few companions in the first game whose incredible backstory and various conflicts may leave you wondering if he should have been the star of this impressive show.

The post Mass Effect: Every Legendary Edition Squad Companion Ranked appeared first on Den of Geek.

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Iran and The Bomb Back Story with Dana Lewis podcast. Link : https://www.buzzsprout.com/1016881/6653866

Netanyahu: (00:00) Covert and over key part of the plan was to form new organizations to continue the work. This is how dr. Musen is a day and a project about put it, remember that name [inaudible] the general lame is to announce the closure of project amount, but then he adds special activities. You know what that is? Special activities will be carried out under the title of scientific know-how development. Dana Lewis - Host: (00:32) Hi everyone. I'm Dana Lewis and welcome to another edition of backstory that was Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018. Talking about the Uranian senior nuclear scientist, who on November the 27th was assassinated by a remotely operated series of weapons in Iran, Wilson, resided. It was a Brigadier general in the Islamic revolutionary guards, an academic physicist, and he headed up the nuclear program of Iran. Netanyahu has always been a proponent of military action against Iran and likely ordered the killing. It's ironic that just a few days before the heat on [inaudible] [inaudible] newspaper in Israel ran an analysis piece saying Netanyahu warns Biden. As if he's Iran strategy hadn't failed miserably with Obama and Trump in terms of actually influencing the nuclear deal. It said the prime minister never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. The essence of that article was in warning incoming us president Biden, not to go back on the 2015 nuclear agreement. Dana Lewis - Host: (01:40) Mr. Iran, as Netanyahu was often dubbed in Israel could have taken an active role in the original nuclear talks with Tehran and made the deal to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb air tight, but Netanyahu preferred to sulk on the sidelines and then heavily criticized the agreement, poisoning his relations with the Obama presidency. And now probably he's doing the same with the Biden administration on this backstory analysis from the Soufan center think tank on what he run may do now, but first, a rare opportunity to hear from a man who was on the European team, negotiating the Iranian nuclear deal. He was a former national security advisor here in Britain, incredibly well briefed with firsthand knowledge on Iran and its attempts to arm itself with nuclear weapons. Dana Lewis - Host: (02:39) All right, in London where I am now, I want to introduce you to sir, Mark Lyle grant, who previously worked for the foreign and Commonwealth office as high commissioner in Pakistan. And he served the UK is a ambassador to the UN for six years, and he was national security advisor to two prime ministers, David Cameron and Theresa May until 17. Hi Mark. Thanks for joining us. Thanks Dana. Pleasure to be here, mr. Ambassador can I say, I mean, you, you were in Iran, you went there as part of the negotiations. Um, how many times? Mark Lyall Grant: (03:14) Well, just once, um, I was the UK, um, Iranian nuclear negotiator for basically a two and a half year period when I was the political director in the foreign office in London and together with the France Germany, United States, China and Russia, we negotiated successfully whilst I was there, but eventually leading to the joint comprehensive plan of action, uh, which was a great infinity 15. And as part of that process, uh, we went to Tehran in, uh, 2008, um, present, uh, an agreed plan by the foreign ministers of those six countries. And then we met Iran twice more, uh, in Geneva, um, as follow up meetings to that first one. So we had just the one visit to Taylor. Dana Lewis - Host: (04:02) And what was that like? What was the atmosphere like in Tehran? Mark Lyall Grant: (04:06) Well, I mean, Tehran is a, I hadn't been there before. It's a very interesting, uh, city. I mean, you've got the mountains in the background. I wouldn't say it's a beautiful city, but the setting is, is very pleasant. Um, and there's a lot of people who, if you meet them privately can speak perfectly openly. One of the paradoxes about Iran and, and particularly the rupture between Iran and United States since 1979 is that Iran is probably has a population that is more pro Western than any of the Arab nations in the region. It has great internet titration than any of the neighbors near the, in the Arab countries. And therefore it is a quite a sophisticated population. And when you meet in private, as I met with various, uh, uh, NGOs and think tankers after the official tools, and you can have some very interesting discussions, Dana Lewis - Host: (05:00) Let's fast forward to where we are now. I mean, a lot has happened. So, right. So now you have, uh, people who are calling, uh, in Europe, diplomats that are saying France, Germany, the UK must move quickly to set out a roadmap for Iran so that the, the incoming Biden administration, uh, we'll get the U S to come back to the table, get Iran to come back to the table, especially now given the escalating tensions. Do you think that's happening in the background and it's got to happen? Mark Lyall Grant: (05:30) Yeah, I'm sure it is happening and it, it should happen. Um, because there is an opportunity with Joe Biden coming in in January to see whether there is a possibility of reengaging Iran on this, uh, nuclear deal. But cause personally, and I think I I'm speaking, uh, certainly for the three European governments, uh, it was a mistake for president Trump to pull out of the deal completely in 2018, the deal perfect. Let's be a hundred percent clear about that. And we can talk about that and weaknesses in the deal, but it was certainly a lot better than the potential alternatives at the time. It was therefore mistake to just pull out of the deal rather than see whether it would be improved in some way. So I think Dubai, Dana Lewis - Host: (06:16) If I can jump in there, I mean, John Bolton, the former national security advisor of Trump and a lot of different Republicans have poured so much water on this deal saying that it's unverifiable, it's the, you know, Trump himself is saying, it's the worst deal ever. Why did they say that? If you say, essentially, Mark Lyall Grant: (06:33) Let me, let me, let me address some of those criticisms because essentially there are three criticisms that you can make legitimate criticisms you can make of the deal that was struck. Uh, the first is that it covered only the nuclear weapons program. It did not cover a ballistic missile technology program, which of course is important. Secondly, it did not cover Iran's malign regional role it's support for terrorist organizations for them. Fears is below et cetera, in the region and its attempts to destabilize some of its names. And thirdly, the deal was time limited. There was a sort of sunset clause in the deal. So it would last only a maximum of 15 years. Now those are all legitimate criticisms, but you have to put that against the alternatives at, because if I just could delve into the history a little bit, there was a time when I was, uh, in the negotiating where the intelligence was clear that Iran had the capability to acquire a nuclear weapon, a bomb, and you feel a bomb within a less than one year period. Mark Lyall Grant: (07:48) Now this deal, it prevent, uh, Avon, former nuclear weapons for at least 15 years. Of course it had some very important characteristics in it. It had in it, um, the need to eliminate entirely the stockpile of medium enrich uranium. It had to get rid of the, reduce the stock pile of low in which germanium, um, 80, 98% of that. And he only allowed very limited amounts of low enriched uranium for the next 15 years. It also reduce the number of centrifuges by two-thirds. And most importantly, and this is a based some of the commentary that you've mentioned. It was entirely verifiable. There was a whole regime of inspections by the energy, by the international atomic energy agency, which is a thought off, uh, affiliated to the UN if you like, where they could go with, uh, inspections whenever they wanted in all the facilities that were covered. Mark Lyall Grant: (08:55) So it was, uh, I think a good deal. And what it meant was two things. One that it prevented everyone acquiring a nuclear weapon for first 15 years and 15 years is a long time in politics. So in that 15 years, you could have regime change into Iran. You could have, uh, new abilities to attack the program, perhaps offensive, cyber weapons, et cetera, that could be used against the program. So buying 15 years, when it looked as though they would have that capability within one year was very important. And he did this famous musical, um, the fork in the work that as you approach the period where you had a fall, where you had to decide, are you all gonna bond me around and try and take out militarily? All its nuclear facilities, incidentally would not be easy because they are deep, deep, underground. Uh, many of them or the other folk is that you accept, like we have for India and Pakistan so that they have acquired nuclear weapons despite the nonproliferation treaty. Mark Lyall Grant: (10:03) And you contain them in some other political diplomatic way. That is the fork in the road that the JCP airway avoided or pushed back at least the 15, 15 years, what we're faced with now, having president Trump, having pulled out of the deal and essentially the team falling apart, although the Europeans have never sort of formally advocated isn't normal in fact is Iran completely, but it has started reaching the deal is that you're going to just bring that fork in the road to get closer. So there is an opportunity now to try and reverse that bad decision that I think president Trump made. Why did he do it? Dana Lewis - Host: (10:45) You say, you know, people like Bolton and Trump say it wasn't verifiable, but I mean, clearly it's just not your, just not your opinion, but I mean, the UA, the UN the IAEA clearly is showing us pictures and life camera feeds. And they said it was absolutely verifiable. And that's why Europeans were willing to stick with the deal. Why did the Americans want to pull out of it just for political a headline? You know, how was it understandable? Mark Lyall Grant: (11:15) I think there's a lot of politics in it. I mean, you're right to, to quote the fact that president Trump had said it was the worst deal ever. And he said that before he was elected, I mean, this was during his sort of campaign rhetoric. And at the fundamentally it wasn't a bomber deal. You know, the deal was done by president Barack Obama and everything that president Obama did, president Trump didn't like whether there was a pharma care in generally or, or lots of the foreign policy issues. So given the, a bomber considered the nuclear deal to be a sort of shiny example of his achievements in foreign policy. And to be honest, he didn't have a huge number to point to, but, Dana Lewis - Host: (11:54) And you're not the first one to say that. Yep. Mark Lyall Grant: (11:56) Well, listen, it was an opportunity to, to attack it. I think it was probably more that than anything else. I think then you fold in Israel probably a bit played a role in it because don't forget that, you know, president Trump had two years in office before he pulled out after the deal, and it's not complete coincidence that he did so shortly after John Bolton was appointed as national security, Dana Lewis - Host: (12:18) Right? Bolton was never a favor of dealing with Iran, negotiating with Iran, uh, and was always a proponent of military action against Iran, but without really ever laying out how that would be successful, otherwise Israel probably would have done it on its own, but you roll in Israel too, though. I mean, there is another interloper and a state, which didn't think it's a real deal and didn't think that it was verifiable and thought all along that Iran was slowly making the bomb anyway. Mark Lyall Grant: (12:46) Yes, he made that case publicly that the United nations over call with a big sort of cartoon picture of a bomb and, uh, an hour threatening that was, and I attended talks between, um, present upon it as an engine yard who, and Theresa May in Downing street when we argued back and forth about the merits of the, of the nuclear deal. Um, I think, uh, and I post me argued the case with, um, with Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon, uh, and Trump's team when, um, when they came into office. So, you know, we knew the arguments that the Israelis were going to make, and we knew the arguments that president Trump's team were going to make, but we simply didn't agree with them. And I think they had a, perhaps a lack of understanding, not being raised, but the Trump team and a slight lack of understanding of the history that had gone into this on the sort of 15 years of negotiations that had led up to up to the deal. I think there's in yarns point of view, of course he wanted, uh, Trump to, uh, advocate the deal who, because he wanted a free hand to try and actually force the fork in the road. I think Israel fought came. He could persuade the Americans to do the bombing. I mean, Israel could do some itself, but it could wipe out Iran's nuclear facilities on the turf. Dana Lewis - Host: (14:04) And now you have Israel that has carried on this allegedly this assassination of most in fact Rosati. And of course, Netanyahu hasn't commented. And I think the head of his intelligence services has said they don't know who carried out the deal, but certainly Iran thinks it was Israel. And maybe some of the Iranian opposition that is based in Europe, they have accused them as well. Does it achieve anything? Does it roll back a nuclear program by killing the head scientist? And who do you think did it? Mark Lyall Grant: (14:35) I, I don't, I mean, I, I don't know who did it, but I don't think it's unreasonable to conclude that it was probably the Israelis. Um, and I don't think it's reasonable to conclude that the timing is linked to the fact that president Trump has two more months in the office, but I think, whereas you could argue, and I think by probably would argue that the killing of general Soleimani in January, this year by like eight have quite a, uh, substantive impact on the ability of the COOs force to, uh, carry out terrorist operations overseas, but the was ahead. And he was a very powerful figure. I'm not so sure about factories. Are there, I mean, he's certainly an important scientist with other scientists and Iran already has the nuclear know-how, it's not as though it needs a research. It's more about the development of the program rather than actually, uh, initiate things, such semi to get the technology. Mark Lyall Grant: (15:37) Right. So, so I, I'm less convinced I'm not, I don't know, back resigned his background and his pitch size wrong. Um, I don't think it will have a particularly substantial impact on the, um, program itself. And I think there is a risk that it could be counterproductive, but do reasons one, it will reinforce, uh, Iranian, um, incentive and determination to plus, and with the program. And also, let's not forget that there are presidential elections in Iran coming in 2021. And president Rouhani may not look like a sort of moderate Democrat, and certainly isn't a moderate Democrat, but as we know from Ahmadinejad and others who have proceeded him, there are people who are much more radical and much more hard-line than him, uh, who will leave on notes of, uh, attacks. And it will certainly improve their chances on election. Dana Lewis - Host: (16:34) If whoever carried out this attack was interested in carrying up the pavement for a Biden administration, to re-engage with Iran and hoping that Iran will fiercely respond and make the gap between dialogue with a new American administration, even larger. Do you think that Iran will disappoint them? Are they, are they smart enough to hold back and wait for that moment where they can move to dialogue rather than move to some kind of response, whether wherever it be. Mark Lyall Grant: (17:14) I think it's difficult to judge that because one called, think about Iran as a political entity. Yeah. You can say in Saudi Arabia that all the decisions are taken by one, maybe two people, you can't say that in Iran, you know, it's not a democracy, but there is a plurality of politics in Iran that is completely absent from the Arab States, for instance. So there is a precedent, he has a role, Ronnie, but there is the Supreme leader. There's the IGC, there's the bizarre is there's the Magister shooter. Now all of these bodies have an influence in the eventual decision at night be taken in. So I think if you look at president Mahoney or the foreign ministers a week, they will certainly want to not close off the possibility of engagement with Joe Biden, but equally Israelis probably absolutely. For the reasons you say, have an interest in making it much more difficult that we engagement to take place. And president Trump in his last couple of months may help to facilitate that. So I think there is a risk that Iran will be, will be pushed into a retaliation, which would make engagement more difficult. Certainly Dana Lewis - Host: (18:28) Last question to you, you know, you said you got to that fork in the road where, you know, you, you, you either had to choose them getting a bomb or you had to choose dialogue. Um, and then the drawbacks in the deal with the fact that you didn't take into it, it didn't, uh, put a new surround their rocket program, or it didn't bridal malign activities. I mean, it's, it's almost naive to think that a, a, a new agreement, even with the best intentions, uh, is suddenly going to deal with all of that. I mean, it's, it's almost a lot of people would say, you have to start somewhere, go back into, uh, a nuclear non-proliferation agreement with Iran. And then while you have whatever the period is going to be this time, whether it's going to be another 15 years or up to that 15 years, then you start dealing with some of these other issues. Or do you think it should be a more encompassing in retrospect, a more encompassing deal? Mark Lyall Grant: (19:27) Well, I think you can try and make it a more encompassing deal. I mean, let's not forget that the original deal, yes, it was restricted to the nuclear program, but that didn't prevent other action taking place at the same time on the ballistic, besides, and particularly on the regional, well, it didn't rule out anything either then, or indeed on the nuclear program at the end of the 15, 15 year period, know, John Bolton is a good example of someone who says often let's make the problem bigger. So we made the problem bigger. We bring in these other two issues and then let's sit down and negotiate. And I think there may well be, uh, an effort to try and do that, but whether it will be successful or not, we'll see, um, it wasn't successful in the sort of 15 year negotiations in which I was involved. Um, but it's, there is no doubt that what is constraining, the Arabians is the sanctions. They do have economic sanctions. The UN security council is United against the nuclear program. So the opportunity for tougher sanctions, so they are suffering and that may make them more amenable to some of these wider discussions, Dana Lewis - Host: (20:38) Ambassador, Mark Lyall grant. Great to have your perspective, somebody who's been in the room and we're part of the negotiations as a former national security advisor to two prime ministers here in Britain. Great to talk to you, sir. Thank you. All right. Let's go to Pittsburgh now. And Colin Clark is a senior research fellow with the Soufan center. Hi, Colin, how are you doing Dana timing? You know, talk to me about the assassination of the, the senior nuclear scientist. What, why now? And who do you think that? Colin Clarke - Soufan: (21:18) Well, I think there's considerable concern. Um, at least by the Israelis that, uh, Biden administration is not going to be, um, as open-minded to, uh, you know, Israel's kind of point of view as the Trump administration was. And I, and I think that's probably correct. Um, there are concerns that the Biden administration will re-engage with the Iranians and attempt to reinsure, uh, the multi-lateral, uh, nuclear deal. And that's something that, um, the Israelis are very adamant against Dana Lewis - Host: (21:48) Why isn't it than Yahoo, so adamantly against it. And then I also talked to John Bolton, Trump's national security advisor and former ambassador to the, to the, to the UN before. And he said, it just wasn't verifiable. I mean, they, they really, um, you know, they really put holes in the agreement. And yet you talk to other people, Europeans here who some of them I've talked to who helped negotiate this agreement and they say it was verifiable and it was a good agreement. And it stopped Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Colin Clarke - Soufan: (22:19) Yeah, well, clearly Netanyahu disagrees. I think, you know, many hardliners within Israel are uncomfortable, uh, where there comes to an element of trust with the Iranian regime. And I think that's born over decades of, uh, mistrust and, and, and so, uh, in some ways I do see the perspective of Netanyahu, however, um, you know, it's my belief that the only really viable way forward is engaging with the Iranians diplomatically. And even if we are able to kind of, uh, you know, renegotiate a deal, I'm not one for blind trust. I'm, I'm more of a guy that believes in, you know, trust in God, but lock your car Dana Lewis - Host: (22:59) Trust, but verify as the Russians or as, um, as president Reagan said to glory, you know, trust, but verify. And in fact, in this case, they had, uh, UN inspectors in there verifying, and the UN the IAEA seemed like they were pretty happy with the outcome. Look, do you believe, and I've just read your report that you wrote for the Soufan center. Um, do you believe that, uh, the Saudis were approached in this meeting by, by Netanyahu to lay the groundwork for a military strike against Iran by the Trump administration? Colin Clarke - Soufan: (23:36) I don't know. I hope not. Um, I do believe it's feasible that the Saudis were approached. Um, but you know, if you are the Saudis, the MRR or, or, you know, another country in the region, and you think that, um, you know, you've got leverage or you've got some chips to play, I don't know why you'd cash them in now with the Trump administration. You're more likely to wait, uh, and, and engage with divided administration because you're, otherwise you're dealing with a lame duck. Uh, I know that Trump's approach has been one of scorched earth. He's trying to break everything on his way out, uh, which is really, you know, in my opinion, that's detrimental to us policy, uh, you know, it's really a policy of vengeance, uh, and you know, so it's, it's going to be something we're going to have to spend a lot of time repairing. Um, so, so, yeah. Is it feasible that the Saudis were approached about this? Probably. Um, but I don't think it's wise to, uh, begin a conflict, uh, right. You know, full stop, much less, um, you know, with less than 70 days left in the administration, uh, and really no mandate, right? I mean, this is someone that's, um, spending most of this time trying to discredit free and fair elections in his own country. Dana Lewis - Host: (24:51) Well, he's always worried about his record and wiping out, uh, president Obama's record. And this deal by the way was part of the Obama administration's deal that he wanted to get rid of in the campaign. But you mentioned the word vengeance. Talk to me about Iranian inventions. I mean, what are they capable of doing? And do you think that they'll pull the trigger on retaliation at this point, Colin Clarke - Soufan: (25:15) Could be, uh, if you go back to September, 2019, you see exactly what the Iranians are capable of doing operating through the region, putting the Houthi rebels, operating from a Rocky soil, uh, you know, in areas kind of nominally controlled by Iraqi Shia militia. Uh, if you look at, uh, again, going back to the who these, their capabilities, you're talking about a violent non-state actor with the capabilities of a nation state, I mean, really fairly sophisticated, um, you know, ability to use drones, um, ability to use, um, some, some pretty high-speed weaponry, including vessels. Dana Lewis - Host: (25:54) You can go after who Colin Clarke - Soufan: (25:57) And attack the Saudis attack, Saudi infrastructure, uh, primarily. And I think, you know, when you go back to September, 2019, I remember, I think I was on Bloomberg, uh, television a couple of days after the attack. And the interviewer said, well, so what's the United States going to do? And I said, what do you mean we weren't attacked Saudis were, and he was kind of taken aback that, um, you know, I would even suggest that the Saudi should defend themselves. I made a Quip, which, you know, I think, um, you know, drew, uh, drew a lot of flack from it, but I said, we sell them the weapons. Do we have to pull the trigger for them as well? Um, so, you know, I'm certainly not concerned, Dana Lewis - Host: (26:34) Uranian missile assault on a oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, but then there have been many other, what, what else could Iran do? I mean, what, what are the targets terms of Israeli, uh, targets, uh, American targets abroad? What do they have? What are they capable of? Colin Clarke - Soufan: (26:51) People have a lot look through Lebanese has Bola. They have global reach. We've seen, has Bola, uh, Stripe, you know, all over the world in Latin America and elsewhere. Um, there's been plots that have been disrupted, uh, in Georgia and India and Thailand. We've seen the bus bottling in Bulgaria. So I have no, um, no doubt that the Iranians are capable of responding. The question becomes how wise is it? Uh, you know, the Israelis are more than capable of taking care of themselves. Uh, and I just don't think getting into a kind of tit for tat conflict with Israel right now, um, you know, the Israelis have, have shown what they're capable of doing. Um, and, and, you know, they don't really feel compelled to hold back. So it would be unwise on the part of Iran, um, to, um, to respond in full force. But what I will say is Iran is kind of the master of walking right up to the line without crossing it, these kinds of nibbling attacks, you know, around the edges. And for that they they'd likely use proxies whether, you know, Shia militia in Iraq, um, or Lebanese Hezbollah or another kind of Iranian prophecy. Dana Lewis - Host: (27:56) And I guess the big question for the Biden administration now is can they easily reenter this agreement with Iran? Um, because a lot of things have happened on the ground. And in fact, the Iranian, the program has moved, the nuclear program has moved forward. So what is the challenge for a newly elected president Biden to, to try to bring not Iran to heal, but to have some kind of agreement on transparency within their nuclear program and, and to try to get them to step back. Colin Clarke - Soufan: (28:30) It's, it's a real challenge. I mean, it's certainly no fait accompli, as you know, some analysts have described and commentary and various hop takes that. I've read that just because there's a Biden administration means we're going to have an Iran nuclear deal. I think far from it, the region looks quite different than it did even four years ago. Um, you know, some of the alliances, uh, have shifted. So I wouldn't say that it's a certainty, uh, that the us will reenter the deal. And I think, you know, there's a lot that Iran still needs to do, um, including curving its behavior through the proxies that we just talked about, uh, before, you know, we should, you know, just blindly reenter a deal, um, and reward the Iranians. Uh, I just don't think it's smart. Dana Lewis - Host: (29:15) Do you really think that the discussion should be that broad, that, that not only do you talk about their nuclear program, but you start talking about malign activities, you start talking about their missile programs. A lot of people think that that's just becomes unwieldy and impossible in a, in a discussion to come to an agreement that you need to start somewhere and you at least start building blocks on that agreement and the sanctions around it and their nuclear program. Colin Clarke - Soufan: (29:42) I do think it's worth discussing because one, you need to raise the issue that it's unacceptable now, what your expectations are in terms of what you're going to get out of that is totally different. But yeah, I do think it needs to, uh, uh, to be broached. Uh, and I, and I think, you know, it all depends on how you view your own leverage, right? Um, with economic sanctions, that's one of the problems I've had with the Trump administration over the last four years. I've never really gotten a sense of how effective the Trump administration itself believes this maximum pressure campaign has been, uh, because it's been, and I've written about this with, uh, with my colleague Aryan Tabatabaie, we've called it a tautology of sorts because no matter what Iran seems to do, the administration trumpets, uh, you know, the success of the maximum pressure campaign, but then also paints Iran, um, as this, uh, actor that can't be stopped and that's, you know, dominating the middle East. Colin Clarke - Soufan: (30:38) Well, if that's the case, then maximum pressure hasn't worked, right. Uh, if Iran acts out and increases attacks, you know, the administration has said, look, maximum pressure is working. And if the attacks decrease, they say, look, maximum pressure is working. So, uh, you know, I don't know what the administration really believes. I don't know if they do well, it's up to the next administration. Now. It looks like that this contemplation of any kind of military action in Iran, um, th that shadow seems to have passed. Although I wouldn't put anything past a desperate, uh, president Trump right now, but, uh, we'll see what president Biden does in the future then, and whether they can bring them back into some kind of a negotiated settlement. Yeah. I mean, I'll just say, you know, lastly, I think it speaks to the incoherence of, of Trump's strategy in the middle East. Colin Clarke - Soufan: (31:25) If the goal, as you stated before us and endless Wars, he's going to start one right before he leaves office. I think we haven't had a coherent approach to the region. It's been one of transactionalism. Um, and, and so I'm looking forward to a more cogent, uh, you know, pragmatic relationship or, you know, uh, strategy formulation with a Biden administration, with someone like a Jake Sullivan that knows the region. Well, that knows the players that actually works across the aisle and consults with, you know, so-called hardliners within the United States. And so, um, I'm hopeful that, uh, we're, you know, we're able to make progress on that front. Thank you, Colin. Thank you. Dana Lewis - Host: (32:10) And that's our backstory on Iran and the bomb in case you didn't know, as we speak, there is a trial underway in Belgium of an Iranian diplomat and several others believe to be from Iran intelligence network for smuggling explosives into Europe, and then plotting to carry out a bombing of an Iranian opposition group in France. The bomb was handed over at a pizza hut in Luxenberg. The intent prosecutors say was to blow up a rally in France of a prominent opposition group to the Uranian government. Hundreds would have been killed the Uranian diplomat Asadullah Assadi allegedly carried the bomb a little more than a pound of tea, TP, explosives, and a detonator to Vienna from Iran in his luggage on an Austrian airlines flight. He then drove it to Luxembourg in a rented car and handed it over to an Iranian Belgium couple on June 30th, 2018. And it was the Israeli Mossad who tipped off French and Belgium authorities. Iran has denied the plot and said the charges were designed to embarrass Tehran just before president Hassan Rouhani traveled to Europe to rally support for the 2015 nuclear deal. Thanks for listening to backstory, share this link, subscribe to our podcasts, wherever you listen. We're on most major platforms like Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon music, Pandora, Deezer, and many more. If you would like to sponsor this podcast, let us know. I'm Dana Lewis and I'll talk to you again.

#@lyallgrant #iran israel netanyahu nuclear assassination iranianscientist #mohsen fakhrizadeh #fakhrizadeh #britainiran U.S.iran backstorywithdanalewis backstory @danaslewis

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i-want-my-iwtv · 7 years ago

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Is it just me, or are most people in the VC fandom women? (Not saying I mind, I'm just legit curious if and why.)

(Reminder: I am/was not a gender studies major, nor a student of fandom. This is just an entertainment blog and all that follows is my opinion only.)

This is a highly sensitive topic that people study academically for many fandoms, and I will hardly do it justice here. But I felt it was important to share what I can, anyway. Some links are under the cut for further reading about this topic, even though they do not apply to VC fandom specifically.

The short answer is that, from my experience, yes, most ppl in the VC fandom seem to be women. This is based on the past 20 years of AR’s booksignings I’ve attended, online communities, interviews/articles over the years, AR’s FB (her own posts + comments from her People of the Page), and AR’s Twitter. However, I would add that she absolutely does have fans who are men, NB, agender, genderqueer, transgender, etc. It would be difficult to do a thorough demographic study of all of her fans (current/past/specific time period(s)/etc.), so I wouldn’t know what portion of the fanbase is made up of women.

Let’s take a brief look at our superfan from movie!IWTV:

^What is superfan thinking? Does she think Santiago is a REAL VAMPIRE? Does she want to die? … or, is she simply a groupie of that media and enjoying it as a fantasy situation? We don’t get her backstory in the movie, so we may never know.

^Santiago has had to deal with hecklers and admirers for years so he’s not really fazed by her disrupting his show, and when he shuts her offer down, it draws a laugh from the audience. Laugh at the fan who confessed her love for the fantasy of it all and offered herself as tribute.

Before we specify why women are in VC fandom, one thing to consider is What is fandom? In my opinion, it’s a group of people who are drawn to a shared space bc of a shared interest in specific media. Within that, you still have to reach out to individuals in order to become friends. You don’t necessarily have to agree on every aspect of the media you each enjoy, but having chemistry certainly helps. Participating in fandom can also mean creating/consuming fanworks without having any personal connection with other fans. Sometimes it’s just in posting fic and/or leaving kudos. Some join a skype chat group so that they focus primarily on their personal connections with other fans. It’s a wide spectrum and there are different ways to engage with other fans within a fandom.

Why VC fandom? We all have our reasons for being in VC fandom. I would prefer not to speak for other fans as to their reasons, but everyone is welcome to respond in the comments/reblogs of this post, or message me on/off anon, and I might gather up those responses and add them to this post.

Why I was drawn to VC: Personally, I’m a woman, and I’m in this fandom bc the canon/fanon is intellectually stimulating to me. I’ve made some of my best friends here. We share a love for these characters and we discuss them at length. This does not mean we 100% support everything the characters do in canon. We enjoy them as fictional characters, not necessarily as role models.

Secondly… I had posted a personal account about my reasons for being into VC canon, but later deleted that post bc I was informed that my reasons weren’t acceptable. That VC was not for straight women. I’ve given it a lot of thought and I’ll briefly tell you my reasons for being attached to VC, under the cut.

Brief historical context:

These books are/were written by a straight white woman, and she’s always advised her fans to “write the book you want to read.” She currently writes for herself, presumably, as she does not use an editor in the traditional sense. She began VC in the early 1970s with the short story, “The Master of Rampling Gate” (which eventually became the full novel IWTV). The short story was published in Redbook magazine at the time, which is/was a magazine for women, and the short story was written in the vein (pun intended!) of the older gothic romance novels that were extremely popular in the ‘60s.

^In fact, this edition of IWTV is straight-baiting, as the only female love interest that Louis might have gotten into that physical position with would be Babette, and that… definitely doesn’t happen.

IWTV is a dissection of Louis’ feelings, and Louis was a stand-in for Anne herself. VC in general has a lot of emotion, both in the dialogue, and the introspection woven into the narrative itself. The fact that these books are mostly written from the 1st person perspective is a very intimate means of communication to the reader, and makes the novels that much more emotionally rich. Some might say that such emotional writing tends to appeal to women.

The books are intimate. There is a constant thread of intimacy throughout which seems to appeal to women of all sexual orientations, in my opinion. I started the series with IWTV when I was 11 yrs old and I’ve heard from other fans of other genders that they also started VC when they were young, even around the age that I did. Being right before puberty, maybe that adds some extra addictive quality to it, that it explores a kind of intimacy when we’re in the phase of life where we’re just becoming interested in sexuality. I remember mooning over pics of Brad Pitt in my table group at lunch, and we would talk about him, but I doubt any of us would have wanted to actually kiss him at the time, we just wanted to speculate about dating and romance!

After the first book, the intimacy continues with TVL, where we get Lestat’s backstory, and as the series progresses, it just keeps going. Whichever book new VC fans enter the series, they’re going to hit that vein, more or less. It’s not as strong in the most current books, but it’s still there. I would say that AR found that the way she wrote the first 2 books was so well-received that she felt validated in her style of writing, that it was appealing to her readers, and continued to produce it.

There’s also quite a lot of wealthporn, where the characters describe their expensive clothes, jewelry, or lavish surroundings, none of them have to hold a dayjob or anything menial like that. Since many of us do not currently enjoy such luxuries of material goods and/or freedom of leisure time, it’s another element that might make it appealing to certain demographics. There’s a ton of wish fulfillment in the books.

Hit the jump for a little more.

My reasons for being into VC

Basically, I was bullied when I was 11 (for having a bad fashion sense and bad teeth), which is right around the time that someone gave me a copy of IWTV. I had always loved horror novels and scary stories as a way to study monsters and see if I could unpack them and better understand them. I drew inspiration from the way the VC characters handled their own obstacles, I loved getting Lestat’s backstory, he was not just a colorful antagonist, he had his own reasons for acting the way he did. Reasons are not EXCUSES, but in understanding monstrous behavior, we can equip ourselves to weather it when we see it in real life. Eventually, I got braces, grew out of my 90′s grunge phase, and while the bullies changed form over time, I learned how to deal with them.

Could I have drawn inspiration from other books/movies/music? Yes! And I did. But VC, for the intimacy of the stories, for the vibrancy of the characters, for so many reasons that I can’t go into on a post I’m trying to keep brief… this is a piece of media that I’ve held onto over the years. Not the only one, but certainly the main one, for me.

A few good posts to check out re: women in fandom:

And I don’t mean to attack you, Anon, but these posts are written with a tone because there is so much criticism of what women in fandom are not allowed to enjoy. Please read at your own risk, but they have some very good points about why women might be into certain things in fandom.

a comprehensive guide to mlm shipping habits in transformative fandom

THE DEPTHS OF MISOGYNY THIS PLACE PLUMBS

villain-relatable marginalization

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cruel-cupid · 4 years ago

Text

Clair - MOTW OC

General

Full Name: Clair Adair

Nicknames:

“Tetra” “Goggalor” -tba-

Birth Date:

November 18th

Age:

Pronouns:

She/Her

Sexuality:

Pansexual

Occupations:

Hunter

Species:

Human

Theme Songs:

Rolling Girl - Covered by JubyPhonic

Current Residence:

Living with her boyfriend and their dog in a city of wishes!

Mind & Body

Voice:

Taylor Louderman

Clothing:

She’s always seen in punk/goth clothing, bordering on an e-girl. She just likes looking edgy. Common articles are: Chains, fishnets, boots and her signature goggles!

Personality Traits:

Clair is sassy, loud and brash on the surface. Her words might jar you, hurt even. But with a quick curse word or two she’ll apologize and soften her voice. She’s learning to be more welcoming, more lovely. It’s hard for her, extremely so! But she knows the world is hard enough on you. If she really fucked up she’ll pass you a candy cigarette and you may notice her hand tremble, just a bit. Bring it up and she’ll deny it and huff. She’s truly trying but can’t you help? Just a little?

Hobbies:

Going for long rides on her motorcycle, dancing and hanging with the loves of her life. (Her boyfriend and a good book)

Health:

Stable - Subject to Change

Disorders:

PTSD - May add more should I feel like it ;3

Other

Family Members:

Ken Adair -FATHER, UNKNOWN-

Marcie Adair -MOTHER, ALIVE-

Backstory:

Clair comes from an interesting background, to say the very least. Her mother, Marcie, divorced her birth father while she was pregnant with Clair. Marcie never explicitly told Clair why but after hearing “You’re just like your father.” enough times, she could take a pretty good guess. Addiction ran rampant in her bloodline. Father to meth, Grandfather to Xanax, and even Marcie herself to alcohol. Was it any wonder that on her 14th birthday Clair was found in the floor of her friend’s basement, high off her ass? Not to her mother. With a scoff and a few grating words Ms. Adair mostly ignored the incident. She believed it was a once off! Clair didn’t get better, in fact she only got worse from there. She chased every drug and liquor she could get her tiny hands on. In and out of the legal system and no salvation in sight from her mother’s mounting “Bad Moods” and new boyfriends. Eventually things reached a breaking point... On a day like any other, a now 17 year old Clair living on the streets high off her ass on a drug called odipol (an oblong pill that is neon green in color and smells sickly sweet, tastes like green apple and is more sour than most candies.)... Snapped. A fellow homeless woman by the name Tracy had said the wrong thing at the wrong time. Clair would be damned if she could even remember what was said nowadays. She came back around to Tracy’s lifeless body, her hands still clamped around the other’s throat. Clair stashed the body in a trash bin, with that out of the way, well... She ran. Hid. Cried. Panicked. Experienced all the fear and pain she’d crammed down over the years in exactly two hours. She went to her mother. Her mother helped her cover up her crime, got Clair clean... Almost sickeningly clean. But there were two things her mother couldn’t wretch away. Her love of the macabre and her beloved motorcycle. Both were testaments and ways to honor the memory of Tracy. Even the heart shaped goggles she pulled off of Tracy before she was quietly cremated... A wish of her’s was to be taken away from her now overbearing mother. A dream of riding off into the sunset with a burly monster of a partner.

She got her wish.

But how long can she outrun her mother and.... Spotty past?

Weaponry:

N/A - Subject to Change

Powers:

UNKNOWN (I’ve played her once)

Tag: Clair Aesthetics Clair Headcanons

EDITS:

May 23rd 2020 - posted June 2nd 2020 - Fixed Name and added links

#my ocs #motw oc #drugs tw #alcohol tw #abuse tw #murder tw #not the brightest backstory #sorry bout that #Clair

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veiledflattery · 7 years ago

Text

Does writing fanfiction really make you a better writer?

Does writing fanfiction make you feel conflicted? Do you ever wonder if you’re lazy, unproductive, untalented compared to writers who produce original fiction?

I definitely do. Building worlds and characters from scratch has always seemed so much more marvelous and praiseworthy. Fanfiction is great, of course. Just look at the community it helps you build, and of course the sheer joy of returning to beloved places and people long after the canonical series has ended. But as someone who aspires to be a published fiction author one day, I want to consider just one aspect: writing. Does fanfiction really make you a better writer in the long run?

That depends on where you fall on the fanfiction spectrum.

1. Plain fun

This is what happens when someone doesn’t put effort into a fic. There’s a difference between writing and splashing words across a page. These fics are all over the place – often with wildly swerving plotlines, or ridiculously long descriptions, or Mary Sues… the list goes on. A seasoned reader can usually tell from the very first paragraph that the author didn’t spend a whole lot of time on this

If you want to become a better writer, it’s an active process: editing and re-editing your drafts; reading endless ‘how to write good dialogue’ articles; taking your readers’ feedback and using it. Just producing huge amounts of fanfiction doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to improve, even though you’re getting so much ‘writing practice’. Your practice has to be deliberate effort. So, this sort of ‘plain fun’ fic does nothing to get you close to writing original fiction

Of course, I don’t mean to say that these ‘lazy’ fics are worthless. There’s still lots of fun to be had exploring ad expanding the characters and worlds of your favourite series. As long as you’re clear that that’s all it is – fun, not something that will magically improve your skills.

The next few categories apply only to fic authors that do not fall under this category – meaning that they are actively trying to improve and produce good writing.

2. Might-as-well-be-original

These are fics that are only fanfiction in the loosest sense of the term. Usually very AU and OOC (not necessarily in a bad way). If you swapped out a few names and descriptions, tweaked a few scenes, this fic would be completely original fiction. Of course, it may still be dependent on the series it’s based on for backstory and such, but the individual scenes and plot of that story are entirely the fic author’s own craft.

MAWBO fics definitely count as great writing practice. While some fanfiction readers may not be happy (read: enraged) with your non-canon-compliance, what you’re doing is incredibly close to writing original fiction. You’re building plotlines, creating character personalities (if writing really OOC) and also practicing world-building (for AU fics). You’ve found your own unique voice, creating descriptions and dialogue in an original style. Writing original fiction is barely a hop away.

3. Scary clone-stories

We’ve all read these fics. The ones that are based on a book series, and when you finish reading them you rub your eyes and say, “woah. I can’t believe that’s fanfiction. It’s like the actual author of this series wrote it!

Does writing scary clone-stories make you a better fiction writer? On one hand, you’re missing out on important skills. You’re taking the easy way out – using a ready-made world, ready-made characters, even ready-made tone and style. It’s like cup noodles: dump it all in a bowl, add a little water, stir, and voila! Insta-fic

But if you are really, truly achieving the sort of writing that makes people believe you could be the original author of the series in disguise, you are doing something special. Not everyone can produce that kind of an imitation

That’s because it requires study. You need to read through your source text intensely, dissecting how the writer achieves their affects, analysing and maybe even taking notes. Then you need to meticulously reproduce those effects to create a completely different yet inherently similar piece.

That is a skill. In fact, it is such an important skill that lots of high school and college courses test you on it. It gives you the ability to explore different voices and styles, making you a far more flexible writer

So, if you’re writing scary clone-stories based on the works of a variety of authors, you’re definitely improving your writing in a very important way that’s often underappreciated. Of course, you’ll eventually need to learn and practice other skills – plot and world-building and characters and all those obvious things, but you’re not nowhere.

4. The in-betweens

The above two cases are extremes. An in-between is what happens when people mix them both. For example, a story in which the setting is an incredible replication of the canon world, but the authors uses characters that are entirely their own

Most fic writers probably fall into this category. If you do, then you automatically have the core benefits of the previous two categories: you’re getting great practice of the basics of writing (punctuation, spelling, dialogue, descriptions, etc). You’ll also have some of the additional benefits of the categories. In the above example, you’re learning to observe and replicate an author’s world-building while at the same time gaining skill in fleshing out your own realistic characters. There might be even more of a blend than this (canon-inspired characters who are similar to the author’s yet original?), but you get the idea.

So, once you’ve figured out roughly where you fall on this spectrum, what can you do to make sure that you’re really milking your fanfiction hobby to get in some writing improvement?

It’s simple: write a mix. Confining yourself to any one type of fic won’t help you reach your fullest potential. With every single fic you write, ask yourself where it falls on the spectrum above. Note which skills you’re developing, and which are still weak. Then target those weak skills and build them – whether by writing a different kind of fanfiction or by some other means. Actively push out of your comfort zone.

If you’re an in-between writer, consider switching around which parts of your story you ‘clone’ and which parts ‘might as well be original’ so that you develop a full set of skills. If you write scary clone-stories, consider gradually adding more original elements until you transition to in-between and maybe even MAWBO. If you’re writing MAWBO fic, make that final jump to writing 100% original fiction.

Naturally, this works backwards as well. If you write original fiction already but struggle with character development, for example, you could write some fanfiction on a favourite series where you ‘clone’ the world, plot, descriptions and so on, and focus all your efforts on creating original and effective character development within that framework. It’s a good way to concentrate on the bits that really need development.

#writing #fanfiction #fanfic #fanfic writers #fanfic writer appreciation #fanfic writer things #analysis #no one asked #but i delivered #writing tips #original fiction #writers #excerpt from a book i'll never write

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