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delkios · 2 years ago

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Some years ago I had it in my head to write a plot heavy RepComm fic, set in Clone Wars, that I wanted Fixer to take the lead roll in. I admit I tend to favor him in my work mainly because most people don't do anything with him. I love Delta Squad pretty equally as a a group and individuals as they all tick different boxes on my 'Fav Characterizations' list. Except for Boss who is objectively The Best. Unfortunately, because writing plot-centric long fic is a bit of a struggle for me, I never really got more than a vague idea of "clones that work off the front lines because they're no longer able to fight are disappearing, someone needs to play bait and find out what's happening to them". I thought maybe they were being sold as trophies or for gladiatorial sport or as part of a Most Dangerous Game scenario but never quite found anything that resonated. I kept it on the back burner, thinking I'd figure it out eventually, but after a couple years of not looking at it I've decided that's not going to happen. But the few things I've managed to write I quite enjoy so I'm sharing those here.

(scene: Luminara works with Delta Squad to find out what's happened to the missing clones, Delta Squad argues who gets to play bait and who will be following the trail.)

“With all due respect, sir, I believe I’d be better suited for this mission.”

It took a moment for Boss to register what had just been said and who said it. He turned to Fixer with a bewildered, “What?”

“You would be better suited to help the general track me down. I’m confident I can handle the situation.”

“Well, since we’re airing out our opinion,” Sev pointed a thumb at himself, “I’m the one that got highest scores in survival training, if anyone can handle being dropped into the unknown, it’s me.”

“Absolutely not. There’s no discussion.” Boss rounded on the both of them. “Whoever is going down there will be without support and likely without supplies. We need flexibility and adaptability. I’m going.”

“You’re not going to volunteer in?” Luminara asked with mild amusement.

Scorch waved a hand with a laugh. “Nah. My preferred skillsets aren’t going to be that useful in this kind of situation.”

“Again: survival. Me.” Sev growled.

“And if there’s equipment available to create a tracking beacon, I’m the only one of us capable of building one from scratch.”

That seemed to throw the other two for a moment. Sev waved a hand in acquiesce but Boss rallied. “I have the best weapons and unarmed combat record. If there’s anything dangerous down there, I’ll have a better chance in subduing it.”

“And my record is right behind yours,” Fixer countered coolly. “There isn’t much that you can handle that I can’t.”

(snip)

“It makes more sense for me to go- if anything goes wrong, I’m more expendable than you are.”

“Okay, hold up, stepping in now,” Scorch said, pushing away from the wall and moving to the middle of the discussion. He pointed a finger at Fixer and said, “You are never allowed to say that again. Or anything like it.”

“It’s not-”

“Ah, ah. No excuses, no deflecting. You’re not allowed to say or think that you’re more expendable than the rest of us. Go it?”

“Six-two-”

“You say yes or I’ll tell Sev what you did to his helmet.”

Sev swiveled his head between the two. “Wait- what about my helmet?”

“Sev,” Scorch said dryly, “do you mind not interrupting?”

Fixer crossed his arms and looked to Boss who just shrugged and said, “He’s just saying what I would.”

Fixer sighed. “Fine. I won’t say that again.”

“What happened to my helmet?”

(I need more Deltas- or clones in general -being petty brothers to each other. There's no way that they're not.)

---

(scene: Fixer meets some of the clones that had recently disappeared. The people that caught him believe he's a regular CT which he's posing as, the CTs immediately recognize that he's not. Fixer might be used to having to take charge of the squad when Boss is unavailable but I thought it would be interesting in having him interact and lead clones he's unfamiliar with.)

“You can call him Nice.”

Fixer tilted his head to one side. “Nice?”

‘Nice’ sighed in a way that felt achingly familiar to Fixer. “I’m CT-6969.” Fixer just looked at him blankly and Nice fidgeted under the stare. “It… it’s a sex joke.”

“I’m aware.” He just didn’t know how that correlated with ‘nice’.

(did I make a character for the sole purpose of making a sex joke? Yes, and I have no regrets.)

---

(scene: a group of armed individuals go after the clones, Fixer stays back to cover their escape. Flashback.)

“Fairness,” Vau had said, the word like a rotten thing in his mouth, “does not exist. It especially does not exist for the likes of you. You are soldiers, therefore you are expected to sacrifice for those unwilling to sacrifice. You are clones, therefore you will never be seen as a true person. You will never know freedom, you will never have a choice and no one will care. You are slaves for a war that has yet to begin to protect people who do not know you exist and will not mourn when you die. A lesser being would crack under that knowledge but you will not. You will endure, you will overcome. You will be the fiercest, hardest, most ruthless beings in the galaxy because that is the only way you will survive its cold indifference. Now,” Vau slammed his beskad to the floor, the sound of it ringing through the training room. Fixer’s hands flexed, breathing slow and steady despite his heart racing and anxious sweat prickling at his brow as he stood, unarmed and unarmored, surrounded by a squad in full training armor, ready to come down on him from all sides. His squadmates, like Fixer, like many unlucky others chosen for the exercise, stood in their own circles, waiting for the order to be given. “Show me who among you have what it takes to become a true ramikad. Begin.”

(I imagine Vau tended to make his exercises a level harder than what the other trainers did. Setting his commandos up to fail if they didn't think smarter, act quicker, fight harder. Never sugar coating how little their lives would mean to anyone but teaching them they would never need anyone's approval or kindness, even his. Whether he succeeded or if that was the right thing to do is up to the reader.)

---

“As they say: the enemy of my enemy is a useful tool.”

Tio hesitated. “Uh, isn’t it the enemy of my enemy is my friend?”

Fixer blinked at him. “What sense does that make? That’s just asking to be betrayed.”

“...you commandos must’ve had gone through some karked up training.”

(As much as Vau scoffed at other trainers as being soft on their commandos, they're still very much commandos. So having their habits and teachings contrasting with CTs who didn't have such brutal, cutthroat trainers and likely had more exposure to 'normal' people is interesting to me.)

---

(scene: after Delta Squad and Luminara and her troops arrive, taking out whoever was here and saving the captured clones. This is Delta reuniting with Fixer)

An arm snaked around Fixer’s neck and his body was stretched back over hard armor as Sev put him in a chokehold. “You were the reason why my helmet smelled like a kriffing gym locker room for a month? Do you know how many times I bitched to requisitions about faulty filters?”

It wasn’t a serious hold and Fixer could crane his head enough to not pass out. “You got me written up for bypassing the GAR’s holonet restrictions!”

“That wasn’t me, di’kut! Scorch implicated you when some uptight officer caught him distributing porn to the regs!”

“To be fair,” Scorch added quickly, “the implication that I was getting the material from you happened before I got caught.”

Fixer boggled. “Why were you distributing porn to the regs?”

“Hey, I am an accidental entrepreneur. I was just selling pirated unrated cuts of movies and then I started getting requests and the next thing I knew,” Scorch clapped his hands, “boom- I’m running an underground porn supply line.”

Fixer turned to Boss accusingly, “Did you know about all this?”

“Look, if I want to keep tabs on what the three of you do at all times, I’d never get any sleep. Don’t try to pin any of this on me.”

(There is no way the clones were allowed unrestricted access to basically anything, let alone the holonet which would be like the internet times, like, fifty. The fact that they were given holonet access at all was probably such a novelty and gave them a sense of freedom that they probably didn't notice or care that they were essentially parental controlled. Fixer, in Legends continuity, got Delta Squad's terminal taken away during training because Vau worried he'd hack Kamino's mainframe. I don't doubt one of the first things he did when he had time was to see if the GAR set up any holonet restrictions and getting around them. He likely didn't actually care about what was being restricted, he just saw a challenge to overcome. Scorch, being the kind of guy that people would feel more comfortable talking to, saw the potential it offered: oh, you guys like this movie? Did you know there's an unrated version that I could get you a copy of for, let's say, extra rats, some loose ammo and first crack at that blaster cannon that's going to salvage, whaddya say? It kind of snowballed on him from there but hey. Man knows how to adapt, he could definitely work with this. Until he got caught.

Sev tends to look for trouble and Scorch tends to make trouble. Fixer's troublemaking is generally a byproduct of boredom. At some point Boss just has to say they're someone else's problem or he'll collapse from exhaustion.)

---

(scene: epilogue, Delta Squad ready to deploy and the clones Fixer helped free say their farewells.)

“I appreciate your help, Sixty-Nine.”

Behind him, Sev snorted and Scorch cackled. “Nice.”

Nice’s expression was a mask of eternal suffering.

(Fixer is probably the only person that hasn't snickered at his number and for that Nice will always hold him in the highest regard.)

#republic commando #unfinished fic

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goodpointsandbadpoints · 2 months ago

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doing this bc @thetentaclecommander did it and it looks interesting.

When did you start writing?

I started journalling when I was seven because I loved the Junie B. Jones books, so I mimicked the diary-style genre to write about my own daily activities. When I was eleven, I got really obsessed with book publishing and novels as a concept, so that's when I wrote my first official story that followed a basic plot rise and fall. It is not good, but it was the beginning.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I LOVE mysteries, but I don't have the skillset to write them. Same for thrillers! I also like stories with extensive lore over a long period of time, but I don't know if my brain is made to build complicated worlds.

As for themes in my reading, I think I usually love things focusing on trust, acceptance, and survival. Yum. I probably end up writing about those a lot as well...

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

(I think I have always done this, as shown by my imitation of Junie B. Jones.)

To me, it's about writing style and atmosphere. I love a delicious writing style.

I think I generally want to emulate good flow; I want the writing itself to be enjoyable, regardless of what the story is. I am fascinated by the styles of Andrzej Sapkowski (I know it's translated and there's a whole discussion about that, but still), Cormac McCarthy, Donna Tartt, and Tove Jansson (also translated). I am also heavily influenced by poets, including Mary Oliver, Morgan Harper Nichols, and Carl Sandburg.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I'll write anywhere as long as I have my laptop, my phone, or a notebook and a good pen. I've written in cars, the bath, my bed, the backyard, the break room during my lunch, etc. As long as I can get into a good posture, I'm set.

I also like to have music going in the background in some way. I'll either play my usual rock playlists, or find one of my soundtrack mixes.

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Probably either by listening to music that makes me feel strong emotions, going through a life experience that I need to process, or being in nature! Another rarer occurrence is to think of an odd character concept (e.g. my OC Tulie, a tulip who turned into a boy) and build off of that.

I also like to read other authors' books to inspire myself. It's one of the fastest ways to get myself into a writing mood.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

I don't know. I tend to be more of a vague theme-writer because I love establishing atmosphere more than anything else.

I'm still learning how to analyze stories for themes. Dare I say that trust, loneliness, and survival are common ones in my stuff? Somebody tell me.

What is your reason for writing?

Writing is my most reliable form of communication. To process, to share, to expand. I have to.

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

People can think whatever they want, I suppose. I want people to feel something in the fibers of my pieces, how I was enjoying every moment of putting them together. And to be completely barefaced about it, I want people to think my pieces are done well, at least for my experience level.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

What do I feel...

I'm not sure! Maybe immersion? Also, I'd like to think I build tension well, though it might be only tension that feels right to me. I love being picky about how authors build tension and emotion.

How do you feel about your own writing?

Depends on the day. I like my most recent pieces and frown at the ones from +3 months ago, but sometimes I'm in a mood where it feels like nothing I've written has ever been what I wanted (edit: it doesn't help that poor self-esteem is mine enemy). I'm constantly finding things I want to emulate or improve.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

I don't think I can write unless I'm fully invested in the story, so it has to be at least 80% for myself. I DO think about what makes a story good in general. What would make this feel more tense? Would people care about this character? That kind of thing. But generally, I have the most fun, fluid process when I write for myself.

I'm tagging my writing buddies! Hop on board, if you so desire.

@samblerambles @silvercap @fonulyn @colesabi @resident-rats

@welcome-leon @geddy-leesbian and @thebrandywine

And anyone else who wants to join! 🩵 I'm so curious to see peoples' writing origins and reasons for writing!

#tag game

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fallen-gravity · 2 years ago

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💥find your least kudos'd fic - say something wonderful about it.📡why is writing and sharing your writing important for fandom?🪄what is your post-writing/sharing aftercare? How do you take care of yourself or celebrate yourself when you've finished a fic?🤲what do YOU get out of writing?

💥- find your least kudos’d fic - say something wonderful about it.

just answered that one right here!

📡why is writing and sharing your writing important for fandom?

because it's fun! because it's an expression of yourself! it's art!! humankind was meant to love and to create! humankind was meant to create things and love the things that others create and to express their love for those things by creating more things!!! it's one big circle of love.

I dunno how unpopular or popular this opinion is, but I've always considered written fics to be fanart the same way that drawings are. different methods, different amount of time consumption and skillset, but they're one in the same. fanart is the very thing that makes fandom a fandom and that includes writing!! they're all creative expressions of love!!

writing for fandom and sharing writing for fandom is important for fandom culture for the same reasons that drawing is! just as people have preferences for drawing specific characters/ships/scenarios, writers have their own preferences too! it's a great way to help you find and befriend likeminded people. even outside of people who ship the same things as you, there's nothing more validating than finding others who enjoy the same tropes as you. are you a genfic writer in a community that's heavily ship-based? instant kinship with the other gen writers. heavy angst and whump writer in a sea of tooth-rotting fluff?? there's always gonna be someone in the fandom just like you.

it's about love!! it's about kinship!! it's about having fun!!! I Will make i that deep!!!!

🪄 - what is your post-writing/sharing aftercare? How do you take care of yourself or celebrate yourself when you’ve finished a fic?

I've gotten much better at this over the past few years, but I've found for me personally that the best thing for me to do as soon as I've posted a fic is to walk away from it. Log off of tumblr, log off of AO3, and do something else, cause otherwise I just know I'm gonna be refreshing the page staring at the kudos and comment count every five minutes otherwise. I'll usually do something that takes my mind off of the fic entirely, like playing Stardew Valley or turning my laptop off altogether and taking a nap or running outside with my dog for a bit. That's not because I dislike my work or never want to see it again, but I don't want to obsessively check the feedback before it even has time to leave my circle of friends.

Finishing multi-chapters all the way through are pretty rare for me, so in those cases I'll tend to affectionately scream at my friends and bounce around my room and listen to fun music. It's silly, but it's a big accomplishment to me, since I tend to struggle with the motivation to finish anything longer than a oneshot. Six whole chapters?? written so close together??? that's incredible!! I'm gonna celebrate!!! I'm gonna have fun with this!! I deserve a little treat!

🤲what do YOU get out of writing?

Other than the standard fun and experience I get from it, I think I actually get a lot of social benefits out of it! I tend to struggle with reaching out and making new friends, so I think writing has really helped me build my confidence in reaching out and replying to others! I'm genuinely not even sure if I'd even have a discord account if not for my writing, because even though it wasn't a fic, the first discord server I've ever been invited to was through a tumblr DM over a long-winded theory post I'd written that someone were losing their mind over and they wanted to invite me to their server so I could scream about with them in the server too 🤣 it was genuinely such a confidence booster and even though I'm not even in said server anymore I'm really grateful for my time there

writing fun <3 writing gib friends <3 writing guud <3

fanfic writer asks!

#asks #ask games #anon #long post

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devsgames · 2 years ago

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Saw this on #gamedev and figured I'd respond!

I've answered some asks previously about finding in-industry work and generally preparing yourself to enter industry which might help answer some of the more non-specific stuff, but the question of 'is a degree worth it?' is an hot one. I've seen many devs say "a degree isn't necessary!" which is technically true but also lacking an immense amount of nuance

(note: as any of my advice it's based on anecdotes and my own experience going into Level Design in Canada through post-secondary schooling and this is definitely not universally applicable advice, so take it with a grain of salt and consider your own contexts!)

Technically you don't need a degree to work in game development. Most senior folk working in game dev don't have degrees related to the field since games-specific degrees are a relatively new thing to the industry, so lots of long-term talent aren't formally qualified. I worked with a director who was a landscaper before video games, and another who had never worked a job before but saw an ad in the paper for a dev role (this was back in the 90s, what a time to be alive!).

Newer talent will generally benefit from a degree. Since game dev as a career is highly competitive (especially on the entry level) degrees can potentially be a tie-breaker between junior hires - if a studio has to choose between two people of similar experience, they're going to take the one who has a degree. Degrees aren't as valuable as experience, but they can still make a difference in some situations.

If you're getting hired by a company based outside your country of citizenship degrees can be invaluable as they can be used by a potential employer to prove to immigration that you have a special skillset, and thus they need you specifically to be brought in from outside the country (as opposed to hiring someone of similar experience from within the country).

IMO often the experience is the thing you should seek from entering a degree program for gamedev. There's often a misconception that (like other fields) getting a degree in game dev is probably enough to get you a job, but that's very far from the truth; in actuality it's the processes you learn, the connections you make, and what you do during your time at school that have a better chance at getting you anywhere.

Is it possible to do on your own? Yes! But really unless you're a motivated self-starter who has time and resources to dedicate to learning your craft and shipping your own titles, it can be incredibly difficult to build enough experience to be seen as competitive to other juniors in the industry who might have gone through programs. What formalized schooling often provides is resources and avenues to get this experience. (If you look at game developer job postings you'll also notice they often explicitly state "Game Design Degree or equivalent experience" - thus it's a toss up and mostly depends on how many or the relevancy of titles you've shipped/worked on)

Some schools are predatory. They will tell you you need a degree, or their programs will be focused on helping you build a portfolio as opposed to a skillset. I theorize that when people dish on gamedev schooling in general these are the ones they're mostly talking about and/or the gift that is for-profit post-secondary education in general. There are many schools that are largely run like businesses, churn out similar-looking portfolios, and/or learn the bare minimum skillset without really teaching them good processes because their goal is making money off them. There are good, qualified and more 'honest' programs and schools out there. If you are seeking gamedev programs, see what others say about your chosen school as students who have been burned often will often be vocal about it.

I can't speak for certain about online degrees vs. traditional ones, but given employers don't often care about the degree itself there may be little difference to them as long as you've learned the necessary skills and their working policies support a similar structure (i.e. a remote work team probably would be more interested to know you did a remote degree, whereas an in-person team might be less interested).

Per all the above, Masters or otherwise doesn't typically make a difference as long as you've built the experience. The only case I've heard of a Masters mattering would be for full-time professor roles teaching game development, as most academic institutions look for formalized education.

Anyway sorry it's a lot of word-vomit there but I hope some of it was a bit useful! :')

Idk if anyone will see or respond to this, but if you’re in game design/development, what advice would you have for someone looking at trying to make a transition into the field? My undergraduate degree was in studio art–ceramic sculpture specifically–so I know I would definitely have to do some portfolio work/skill building. What about masters programs? Are they worth it? Is there a difference in how online vs traditional degrees (both from accredited institutions) are viewed when hiring? Any general tips?

#asks #advice #sorry it's a bullet list it's early here ;-;

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utilitycaster · 2 years ago

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Hi! I have a build question for you, if you're willing to answer. I play a cleric in a homebrew campaign that strongly values non-combat, non-spellcasting abilities. The setting is very low combat and has strict rules about the circumstances and kinds of magic that are permissible to use without in-game repercussions, so I can't use a lot of the spells on the cleric spell list without causing more problems for the party than I'd solve. I also rolled very average stats in a party with much better stat rolls overall and lots of expertise (we have a rogue, a bard, and a ranger), and I've been told by other players that I shouldn't make skill checks someone else is proficient in to keep from failing checks and ruining opportunities in the game for everyone else. I can't even cast guidance to help my party members very often, since public magic use is a no-go in this setting. Do you have any ideas for feats or other build choices that might make my character more useful in this setting? Thank you in advance for your advice. This is my first dnd campaign and I'm really struggling to figure things out, lol.

Hi anon,

In the words of Brian Murphy of Dimension 20 and NADDPod: get better friends.

Nothing here is your fault. You are at a table with stupid rules and obnoxious people. Like, we're talking "do you live within an hour's drive of where I live because I will fight your DM in a parking lot" bad. If you have a local gaming shop - and unless you're truly out in the sticks, if you live in the US, you probably do - see if they have any D&D games going that are newcomer friendly and run far from this group, because they suck.

It is possible to have a D&D game that is largely low-combat, though it's not personally to my taste. It's also possible to have a D&D game that is low magic, though that is also not personally to my taste. If you are doing a game that is both, you should probably play in a game system that isn't designed around combat and magic. And, if for whatever reason, someone has decided to run a low-combat, low-magic game in D&D, instead of using Powered by the Apocalypse or something that actually makes sense, the way to deal with this is to not permit someone to play a full caster. [FYI I'm going to make a post just about this after and it's not just about this question - it's something I do think about a lot.]

There is no solution, because the main thing clerics do is magic. If your DM wasn't an utter moron...well, they wouldn't have put these rules in place originally, but if they were just sort of a moron they'd have at least steered you towards, say, a monk or another class with a skillset that fits a game without magic. Sure, you could take feats that up the number of skills, or you could take ASIs to increase your stats, but it's going to be a bandaid because you are playing one of the most powerful classes in the game and your fucking idiot of DM has told you that you can't use any of its abilities. Fuck that.

Also: fuck your party members. No, it is not rude to make checks other people are proficient in. A reasonable DM, which you unfortunately do not really have, will sometimes say who is allowed to make certain knowledge checks (ie, the INT 8 fighter is not permitted to try to roll for arcana, because there is no conceivable way they will know), but failure is an inherent part of the game, and like, sure, the face of the group will often be the one to take the lead in social situations, but it's boring for them to always do it. And in general? If you're not a raging dickhead, and there's a new player at the table, and you're playing in the stupidest game premise known to people of any gender that has ever existed, you just...don't do that? You encourage them to make some checks! These people suck!

In short: everyone at your table is, and I cannot stress this enough, both stupid and an asshole. Flip the table, flip them off, leave, and find a better group. You deserve so much better.

#for real though tell your DM to turn on their location #i just want to talk and throw a rock at their car windshield #d&d mechanics

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vermillioncrown · 3 years ago

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Is there a fun crossover/non-MXTX fandom/dimensional nonsense you think would be interesting for ZYX to deal with?

(Read: interesting. In the theme of “thriving is optional” you could throw zyx into, idk, Naruto or Last of Us or something C:<)

i have many thoughts on these.

if it's not a crossover, then it's basically a new SI story into another fandom, which ... eh. that's something else. and i have a lot but nothing as fleshed out as mdzs crossover

there's one that's very probable to be written post-dbd (kinda have an ending in mind, and the crossover is linked with it)

should i talk about it???

ah i mean, if people have reading comprehension and a good grasp of how dbd is, it's not really a spoiler that we're gonna have an okay ending. we'll eventually be okay, i promise. just gotta get through a bit of it.

once things are over, there's time for fun. something something curiosity/academic study of resentful energy, the acoustics stuff i keep inserting, let's say testing at burial mounds, and there's a big backlash of energy

deus ex machina that yeets zyx + unlucky bastard(s) into another dimension.

(likely it's with wangxian, but doesn't have to be OT3. regardless of pairing, FRIENDSHIP is being build with wangxian. but they are the most likely victims/passengers due to their skillset.)

where do they end up?

(not naruto in this case bc i can't handle it. there's too much i'd want to expand on w nrt that can't be done w a temporary dimensional displacement)

(now if ppl were reborn there post-dbd...)

(cue kicking orochimaru out of land of rice "get the fuck outta here, we're claiming sound for real bardic shit")

(ugh nrt is the worst [affectionately] bc the power creep, gods and tailed beasts, political volatility, rampant corruption, even more fucked up world views, etc etc)

the biggest one i had in mind was saiyuki. i've always had a soft spot for it bc 1) journey to the west, love it 2) edgelords and tragic backstories, love it 3) dysfunctional found family that wouldn't mind selling each other on the black market but hell rains on outsiders that tried it, fucking love it.

(my very straight male cousin said "i want to be cho hakkai. i'd make out with cho hakkai." and from then i knew i had to figure out what the heck)

(i'm basic and hot for sanzo.)

with this crossover, this is zyx letting down their hair. "this one... i ... i can wear booty shorts..." 🙏🙏🙏🙏 air circulation around the body, amazing

(even tho they haven't smoked in over three decades, the first cigarette they find they just "gimme that" because teh merciful goddess knows how much stress zyx has been under since rebirth)

wangxian is learning more sides to their friend than previously thought (likely this is wangxian's getting together trip, too). new perspective of spiritual powers, demons, the nature of divinity, etc.

there's a lot of survival to be done - qi isn't completely compatible with this new world, so powers are limited/not as easy to regenerate. (goes into some theories i will be inserting into dbd, so i won't say here)

taoists exist and are part of the world in original journey to the west, but aren't as prevalent/distinct in adaptations - and journey to the west itself is a story that is written to occur during the tang dynasty so everything is new to everyone (except zyx).

idk where it will go. we're nowhere near it. but most likely it's a suffering/get-along journey for those involved.

ffxv since i love its aesthetics (edgy. a modern fantasy. but mainly for the black, skull motifs, and the louboutin-inspired shoes bc i'm a basic bitch)

zyx + wangxian explode the burial mounds. that's a lot of dead souls, resentful energy, power - enough for realms of death to overlap from other dimensions.

it takes a bit for zyx to remember how to speak english. "goddess, we do not fall under your purview," they stand firm before etro. a 'kindly, fuck off', is implied.

"̷̢̜̗̺̇̾͝ͅm̸̼̚ý̴̛̘̕̕ ̴̨̅̽d̸̼͎̈́̀͠ë̸̡̝̈́͜ä̸̡̡͍͍̫́r̶̛̦͇̙̜̄͊,̷̛̖̍͑̉͜͝ ̶̺͍̇̓t̶̫̎̇̿̎̚͜h̸̞̫̆͌͆̚ͅĕ̷̟͈̹̜̘̍́̾ ̴̤̗͕̘̓͋̚͝͝ͅs̸͓͐̉̉o̸̹͑͒u̵͙̗̤̇͋̌͜l̶̳̀s̸͈̳̮̺̈́̈́̀ ̷͖̅͆o̶̙̭͂̓̔͛f̶̢̳͙̏̃͗̀͊ ̷̼̮̘̤̓t̵̞͙̜͐h̵̙́̃͒̚͘ȅ̵͙͚̥͈̇̏̏̚ ̵̫̬͔̼̍̈̆͝ͅd̵͉̯̮̥̝̔̏̋͗̏e̶̦͇̤͐͗̈́̍a̸͇̤͈̓̓d̵͉͙̑̓͋ ̸͕͕̜̾̉a̵̲̦̗̮̾́̏̆̒l̵̡̹̺͗̀͠l̶̡̳͇͚͎͑͑̉̀̕ ̶̪͖͋͂͐p̸̡̧̤̰̈́̈́̃̍a̶͙̟̣̗͑͝s̶̠̊s̷̳̓́̀͝ ̵̳̰̱̅͊̈̏t̵̛̟̔̇̊̇h̶̩̘̝͙̭͆̕r̸͕̠͛̕̕o̵̢͚̘̣͆͛u̷̧͋̄ģ̶̩̤͐̈̓̔̒h̶̝̻͛̉͘ ̸̭̊̽̈́m̴͇͊̎̆̐ỷ̷̳̹̱ ̶͖̀̓͊̏̉k̵̹̒̃̑̌ĭ̷̡̲̮n̴̳̐̓͘g̸͎̮̜̮̘̓͒d̸̲̋ȯ̸͎̳̻̙͈̒̀m̸̙̞͙̂͌́̅͜.̷̭͔̙̪̠̄̃ ̷̯̣͝p̶̢̻̪̱͌͂͊̕ă̸̰̭̭̥͜s̴̨͇͉̉́́͠s̵̹̮̻̞̫͗̂͠͠a̵̙̫̼̺̋͜g̶̨̳̘͑̈́̀͂̕e̴̫̮̘͑͋̒͝ ̵̘͈̘̙͊̓̎ͅs̶̱̯̅t̵̩́̉̓͗̌i̶̠͐̆l̵̦̯̣̿ḷ̸͉̎̔ ̷̛͉̦̻̏̋͒͊r̵̘͕͙͇͋͂̎̓̇e̵̮̟̠͇͗ͅq̸̞͗ų̵̝̅̓i̶̢̩̫͔̓̒͝ṙ̸̰̦̄͆͜ẹ̵͔͓͔̅̕ͅş̵͖͈̝̝͒̕͝ ̴̛̦̣̣̙́̎̌p̴̳̝͋a̵̩̥̥̠̟͗́̿y̶̮͚̼͌m̸̼̙͗̿̈͗̕ͅe̵͚̔n̴̖͚͋͑̀̊͝t̷̛͙͉̼͙͛͜,̴͈̏ ̷̩̜̪̟́̓h̸̲̱̅̔͂̕o̶̹͍̒̐̆w̷̱͖̿̌̒è̸̡̘̄̈́̈̽v̷̨̙͓̗͍̉̓̌͐e̸̢͐̅͋̀͑r̵̨̢̭͒.̴͙̭̣̥̑͊͗̾̀ ̸̡̛͖̭̭͛t̴̟̗͐̈͛̎h̴̢͓͋̊́̕͜͠e̵̛̬͕̱̥̖̔̒̚r̴̩̱̝͕͋e̸͔͍̘̺͗ ̷̢̰̭͓̎̑̎̾m̵͚̙͈͐̆̚͘ù̶̺̈́̈́͝ş̷͇̩̼͍͗̑̋̍͗t̸͓͉̄͆ ̵̛̮͈̀̊ḃ̴̬̾̌͝͝ě̷̱͒ ̶̧̤̪̙͚́́̓̚͝b̴̼̲̔̍̀̽͌͜ä̴̠́̂̋̚l̸̢̻̱͂̓̊a̷̘̞̱̳̓̒̔ṅ̷͕͋̑͘c̴͖̺̃͠͝͠ȩ̸̡̢̠̦̑͆̾̅͝.̷̘̠̱͈̈́"̷̡͌̐

"pardon??"

zyx wakes up. and immediately bonks their head on stone above them "fuck!"

fuck they're literally stuck in a casket. that's top ten in 'worst fears to live through'. within top three, in fact. they manage to channel their freakout into smashing out of the casket, and into the creepy tomb the casket was interred. a ghost sword chases them around and out of the tomb, zyx sprinting for their life and hulang hovering behind and fending the ghost sword off

if... if this is how zyx woke up... 'ah fuck, those two motherfuckers are fucked!' zyx tears off into the wild, using their limited spiritual sense to hunt for their missing friends before they become daemon-fodder or death by gun

("oh fuck, guns exist again")

(rumors of a lost lucis calem tomb resurfacing, a spirit with royal arms bursting free and disappearing into the duscae wilds. more tombs, more solheim ruins activating, gold-eyed and silver-eyed ghosts)

something something... prophesy-breaking shit when zyx figures out what etro wants for the family under her patronage (bc i wanted so much more from ffxv. there's satisfying tragedies, and unsatisfying ones.)

that's all for now, things will prob come up as we continue dbd

#dbd what if #minjad #inquiry #on dbd #dbd xovers #i'm not very... uh inspired i think when it comes to xovers #too much stuff and i get decision paralysis #hope these are interesting enough #lmao imagine them in sci-fi bc i'm mainly a sci-fi person

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everythingthemoontouches · 3 years ago

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Hiii I hope you're fine. I wanna know your opinion about my astrological chart. Of course im not asking you to do a reading that's too much. I only want you to tell me if I have any bad placements about my health. And about my sun mercury in 8th house. Thank you 🌼🌼 take your time 🌺🌺

Hii

OK,

🪐🤼Saturn in 1st House Gemini 🏡♊

You're grounded.

You have very practical ideas and give doable mature advice.

You could be very discerning about how you choose to get your information or who who share it with.

When you talk to people do you feel like there's a barrier in connecting or putting across your true self and world vision out there? The house saturn is in could feel like it's not meant for us. Like maybe you hate dressing up or having to present yourself a certain way. Or just feel liek you could finalize on a specific sense of how to present yourself to the world. You may also think you take time(saturn) to really think(Gemini 1st house) things through.

Did you start speaking later than others your age?

Mercury and Saturn are in each other's sign. So this would enhance your reserve in communicating. You really like to be proficient in what you project. You need to build a foundational base of knowledge before speaking. Less is more.

Or, in a different manifestation you may give away too many private details because of a lack of control. I think of Gemini as a blogger or chatter placement. There's this need to go out and speak all your thoughts over the Radio / or on a podcast.

You probably don't like talking about yourself much.

🌹🤷Could second guess why people show romantic interest in you?

🥥🦩Saturn opposite Venus

Draw in suitors.

You are almost always the one who wants to take things slow? Atleast that's how people you date see you. With your venus in sagittarius you could just wanna spend a lot of time exploring thr city, museums, shows, ideologies, skillsets with your crushes but saturns restriction could make you second guess or feel a little apprehensive about putting yourself out there like that for them/ the world to see the love / interest written across your face.

Venus in sagittarius you're passionate. Warm. Friendly. Drawn to philosophers, poets, thinkers, travellers.

📥I feel like you could be drawn to women?

Your better relationships probably come later in life since saturn aspects your 7th house.

Is that Pluto and Venus in the 7th house?

Have you ever considered opening a sex shop?

Or go into any business that requires eroticism, mystery, control, research? I really think Pluto and Venus here could give you considerable fame or success. You could emerge as an authority on the subject. Specially with Scorpio in the 6th and 7th, the occult mysteries or tabboos are already subject that are a part of your everyday life.

Or any business that let's you do some digging, and then seduce the client with your presentations or facts. So like a marketing kind of thing. Live readings or spells.

Romantic relationships could cause pivotal shifts in your outlook and ideologies + sense of family values. Do you find yourself singing more in thr beginning if a new relationship / post breakup?

You could even find yourself talking to your mom a lot more when dealing with tumultuous romantic relationships.

I'd certainly advise you to look deeper into that part of fortune, venus and north node tsquare.

Purpose, love, and material success may appear to be 3 conflicting forks in your path and you could be feeling like you must sacrifice one for the other two.

I think in your later years you're meant to master the 'I think' /mercurial approach instead of the philosophizing take you seem to have now.

I'd be curious to see what your Saturn, Jupiter and mercury dashas have in store for you.

Jupiter rules your 7th house and is placed in the second. The expansive nature could mean that you find yourself surrounded by people who want to hear a lot more from you. They want to keep coming to you for help or see you as someone to info dump their issues on. (Jupiter in cancer is like a gentle teacher /mentor/ mom figure. I'm getting a lunar witch /moon worshiper vibe)

Lilith+Mars in Pisces on the 10th house: you could be a really good dancer/swimmer. You probably have lots of sports/ vacation pictures on your ig feed. Come across dreamy and alluring. People could dream of what they'd like to do with you?

Moon in Aries 11th house: horsesssss. Sports. Fiery temper clashes. Leader amidst your friends. This could also make it hard for you to make friends with some people unless you meet them through work. There's a strong chance your friends wouldn't mind a fwb situation or that a lot of them are initially attracted to you.

You could also make /meet better friends when travelling for work.

I feel like you'd advocate for sexual awareness and acceptance of all aspects of people's sexuality.

#Aries moon 11th house #Mars Lilith in tenth house #Gemini rising #Gemini saturn #Saturn in Gemini in thr first house #Astro asks #Astro big 3 #Sun moon rising #Venus in sagittarius #Venus 7th house

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warsofasoiaf · 4 years ago

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I'd love to hear your thoughts about Cyberpunk 2077 when you are ready/have finished the game. Maybe besides the game itself you have an opinion about the crunch, bugs and general feeling of disappointment in a good portion of the fans

Sure thing. It’s going to be a long write-up and there are going to be spoilers, so you better believe that this is going to have a cut. Reader beware. For context, I have beat the game, and I played it on PC and only on PC.

I’ve been a fan of the cyberpunk genre for a long time. Transhuman and techno-utopian sci-fi always struck me the wrong way; that it was too optimistic and ignored a less savory element of human nature that simply would not go away with the advent of new technologies. While I only briefly dipped my toes in the water of the Cyberpunk tabletop game (I was always a bigger fan of Shadowrun), I did enjoy the genre and was eager to see a AAA cyberpunk game. I also really liked CD Projekt Red with what they did with RPG’s like the Witcher 3. Particularly when it came to the smaller sidequests, they really found a way to bring a lot of noir elements and hard-hitting character moments to the game, and I believed that it could translate very well into a cyberpunk game. After all, noir was a similar response to detective fiction to what the cyberpunk genre was to earlier elements of sci-fi. So I was quite optimistic when it came out. What we got was...well, it didn’t quite meet up with expectations.

There are some good things about the game. Assuming you have a beefy rig, PC cyberpunk looks pretty good. Not only does it look good, but it looks like the dismal 1980′s inspired future that had defined the genre, with its neon lights, omnipresent advertising to the point of satire (amphetamines are available from vending machines in a variety of flavors and commercials are completely ridiculous). The fixers are great examples of different cyberpunk archetypes like Regina Jones being a media or the Padre being an underclass civic leader looking to protect his community with a bit of a violent streak. Plenty of the characters had great personality, the nomads and Panam were enjoyable, Judy had a great questline that detailed optimism and bitter disappointment (and the character looks cool and is a bit of a cinnamon roll), River’s quest was a perfectly serviceable cop questline with enough horror elements, they were all fine. Keanu wasn’t a great voice actor, but he did serviceably and was apparently just wonderful with the staff, so I’m willing to cut him a pass. The level design can encourage a variety of different play styles, with attribute points opening up certain pathways. Given that it’s an open-world sandbox game, the goal should be to immerse yourself in the world, and touch on elements of cyberpunk as you go through the various quests, and you do see some of that. You see the gross exploitations of dolls in the sex trade when you go to Clouds, the bizarre elements of self-expression that new technologies can offer such as the twins in Kabuki, Pacifica is an abandoned recreation ground for the rich with the nice image of rotting Ferris wheels and abandoned malls, and you can see the divide between the have’s and have-not’s on full display both in the opening (compare and contrast the Street Kid with the Corpo beginnings) or take a look at the Peralez’s penthouse apartment versus Judy’s cramped digs. Honestly, one of my favorite things in the game were just the consumables to highlight the different food and drink available to the people of Night City. The heavy population means that foods like fried ants or locust pepperoni are common, amphetamines are available in a variety of flavors, and there are no less than 20 burrito vending machines on every street (the future is not all bad it seems). I like little worldbuilding moments like this in video games because it does give a sense of completion and immersion within the world. I honestly felt bad for Johnny Silverhand, because by the end of the game I had to be a bloated man-ball of Holobites Peach Pie and Cirrus Cola.

The game even took a few things that had aged poorly in the cyberpunk genre and improved them. The Mox is a gang specifically meant to stop the Disposable Sex Worker trope, it’s small and part of the reason it survives is that it’s small, but it offers a chance of improvement over the exploitation that the Tyger Claws offer. The cyberpyscho quest is probably the best one of this. Earlier Cyberpunk had cyberpsychosis as a serious concern directly correlated with how many implants you got. The Solo archetype even spoke about how you risk losing your humanity with your implants as you became stronger, better, faster. Even later iterations had depersonalization/derealization disorders as people who could see in the dark lost connection to those who couldn’t. A quick thought in our present though, changes this. My eyesight and hearing is just fine, but I don’t lose connection or common empathy with individuals who are blind or deaf. I have two arms and two legs and I have not lost empathy for amputees. Why then, would I lose empathy and connection with someone with average human eyesight after I get my eyes replaced and now I have the ability to see in the dark or have telescopic sight? The cyberpsycho quest actually took this concept to task; cyberpsychos around the city are seen as horrifying threats that need the high-threat response of MaxTac to deal with, but Regina is looking to see if she can cure cyberpsychosis. Mechanically, the cyberpsychos are boss-fights with elements of puzzle gameplay (how to handle the different skillsets that they have) and a bonus reward for non-lethal damage which rewards certain playstyle archetypes or prepwork for those who ensure that they have a non-lethal option. The information you find around each cyberpyscho showcase different problems in the target’s life, no real common thread or inciting incident that you can trace the onset of cyberpsychosis toward and identify a culprit. After you complete the quest, you learn the twist: there is no such thing as cyberpsychosis. Each of the targets were actually just experiencing different stressors within their lives, such as PTSD, losing their job, drug abuse, etc. and the breakdown is made much worse because these individuals have the ability to toss dumpsters like they were baseballs or pick the wings off a fly with a cybernetically enhanced brain with a .50 cal. Some of these individuals had terrible implant surgery done by bargain-basement ripperdocs and temporarily lost the ability to discern reality from fantasy, something that could easily be seen as a science fiction adaptation of temporary insanity brought on by a poor reaction to medicine. It’s backed up by the game too. V can fill every slot in their cyberware deck but never once experiences cyberpsychosis. Oda has ultra-legs and flaming-hot mantis blades and is in perfect control at every point in the game, even when he’s trying to jab those mantis blade through your sternum. Cyberpyschosis isn’t real, the irresponsible media just ran with it because fear sells. For all the flaws of the game, I respect the game for taking cyberpsychosis in that direction.

But for all those good things, the game couldn’t help but feel shallower than the Witcher 3. The side-gigs were formulaic to the point where they even led with a category. There were few twists and very little that was surprising. Exposition for these quests was limited to a short text dump and a minute voice-over. Night City was big but it was relatively sparse. NCPD never seemed to intervene in any crimes (giving the character the chance to do so) but every so often they were around a taped-off crime scene, giving a sense of inconsistency that hampered the world. While it was a bustling city, it felt empty, most of the people I saw on the street were meaningless, just NPC’s walking around to give a sense of activity. There was little in the way of things to see and experience that was unique or different about these NPC’s. They weren’t crowds I could hide in like Hitman, they didn’t have ambient dialogue that showcased something like the Witcher 3. Much like other open-world games, this sense of shallowness pervaded much of the empty space of the world; it was incredibly *big* but there was little in it. Much of the time I was driving or running through empty space that was completely worthless to me. Normal for city living, but all of that is wasted time going from point A to point B, and unlike the Witcher 3, there were no small in-game beats to help flesh it out or build it. I never had Millie from “Where the Wolf and Cat Play” give me a little picture, I never had people from a liberated village say “hey, look, it’s that guy Geralt, thanks for killing those harpies.” These were things that made the Witcher 3′s world really come alive. I didn’t have that, and I was left

Of course, we also have to handle the elephant in the room, and that was CDPR’s conduct both during production and after release. Crunch has become an increasingly common part of video game development and it’s not healthy to developers. CDPR had been called out on it once before, but it seemed there was little change in how that happens. I’m not quite sure if there’s anything we can do, and I’m sympathetic to the need to hit target deadlines to actually deliver a finished product, but there’s got to be a better way, whether that’s a change to the incentive structure, or something, because it’s hurting folks. I like games like Witcher 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2, but I understand that there was a real human cost to these masterpieces, and I wonder if there’s something we can do about that.

Similarly, what happened after launch was beyond terrible. The last-gen console version were simply not ready for release and shouldn’t have been released to the public. CDPR openly covered up this, by only previewing the PC version, they hid the fact that the game wasn’t ready, and they avoided delaying the last-gen console version because they were looking to capitalize on holiday sales. I’m sympathetic for the need to generate sales, but the flip of this is that you have to deliver the product you advertise, and for last-gen consoles, they didn’t do so. Bugs are one thing, these games are massive undertakings of interacting systems and bugs are inevitable; some of my favorite games were buggy at release, notably Fallout: New Vegas, Witcher 3, and so on. But this went past bugs and into malpractice and deception, and that’s something that’s less forgivable. I personally had few bugs that were out-and-out game breaking but things not loading, quests bugging out, floating bags and other physics wonkiness, all of that hurt the immersion. I’d be more willing to forgive the game without the deception; I can laugh at bugs but not at ignoring quality control to get holiday sales instead of delivering a quality product. Consumers are angry at CDPR and have every reason to be, and I’m one of them. I can express my disappointment and I will do so, we need developers to stop these practices and the only way we can do that is through our wallets and words. I’m not going to tell anyone not to buy CDPR games, that’s entirely your decision because I’m a radical individualist. But I am going to say that they’ve burned a lot of their good karma with me; credibility is a hard beast to gain back. Much like other big name developers, CDPR has hurt their standing in my eyes. Whether that means I need to resort to going to indie games for a little bit or something else, I don’t know, but it’s rough. I liked CDPR and wanted to believe it’d be different, but it seems to not be the case.

Overall, I think it’s another AAA open-world game only made better by my love of the genre, and that stings. I enjoyed some aspects of it, and I hope that through Free DLC, patching, and other good deeds, the game can redeem itself and stimulate new love of the genre. But CDPR needs to do a lot more than that to win back my affection. If anyone has anything specifically that they want to know about the game, such as talk about the main story, individual characters, or so on, just ask.

Thanks for the question, Khef.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

#video game reviews #cyberpunk 2077

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paintpencilink · 4 years ago

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I saw your post about how to figure out between badger and raven secondaries, and I know you're not involved with other two, but could you make a post about those too? I know it's selfish but I find it easier when other people talk about it. I want to be trusted and the right thing is to put in work and time, but it's dreadful, and boring, and I might have a burned snake secondary, even though I'd never say it's the right thing, but it'd be nice to feel cunning and clever.

Hmm! I wonder why you'd "never say it was the right thing." Snake secondary is a legit toolset that can be used in good and ethical ways, so that's not a universal sentiment. It's valid that it bugs you personally, but if you're trying to Sort yourself, that's an interesting question for you to analyze.

As for your question... *cracks knuckles*

Like you said, Lion and Snake aren't my personal toolsets, so I can't go into as much detail about them without stepping into a lot of guesswork. But I can try! I'll be relying on fictional examples, I think, as a crutch.

Snake secondary

The Sorting Hat Chats podcast on A:TLA includes discussion of the 3 Snake secondaries in the cast: Aang, Toph, and Azula. They're all very different in how they use their secondary.

For example! Toph lives almost exclusively in her neutral state, the blunt, "I don't give a shit" mode Snake secondaries can drop into when they don't need or want to use their shifting personas. She can put on other acts, and she delights in fooling people for her own benefit, but usually she doesn't bother. Aang doesn't have a neutral state at all--he's always moving, playing, dodging, finding new angles. Azula isn't really playful, just smug and manipulative, though a lot of that is a cover for insecurity and a shield against being hurt.

You can use Snake secondary without lying. There are lots of ways of framing the truth that don't hide its nature, but people's perceptions are very fluid and malleable, and they're going to skew one way or another anyway. People lie to themselves all the time, and sometimes the thing you need to do is figure out what lie that is and pull it apart.

(I know that sounds weird. Hang on, let me give you something more concrete.)

This is, for example, a lot of what a therapist does. Sometimes their patient's observations of the world aren't strictly wrong, but they're laser focused on the bad stuff or are framing their world in a way that makes things look worse than they are, and they need to see things through a different lens.

Is the therapist being manipulative? No. Are they being persuasive? Hopefully! Is this a powerful tool? Hell, yes.

Snakes are also good at coming up with new ideas, and finding solutions to problems really quickly. Moist von Lipwig in Going Postal restores Ankh-Morpork's postal system as much on his quick thinking and new ideas as he does on persuasion. He makes allies with the workers and charms the media, yes, but he also reinvents the stamps, figures out on the fly how to escape potentially deadly magic shenanigans, fights off a mystery creature in a burning building, and then plots a huge scam using signalling equipment to take down an evil corporation.

Using this side of Snake secondary, and not the charm/persuasion/manipulation side, is a valid way of having and using this secondary. The charm side isn't inherently bad or wrong (one of Aang's more elaborate lies ends a blood feud so old the truth has been lost), but if you're uncomfortable with it, you could invest into this other aspect of the secondary instead.

"Am I a Snake or... [insert]?"

1. a Badger?

Badger secondaries can mistake themselves for Snakes, and vice versa, because there is some adaptation in the Badger skillset. But while Snakes play with the world by putting on masks and performances, Badgers' adaptation is less obvious, partly because it's more genuine, at least in the moment.

This is a quote from Jenny Lawson's book Furiously Happy (one of my very favorite books ever), a story about how she got past her insecurities while recording the audiobook reading for her first book.

(Drug mention joke splatted out, just in case)

I hid in the bathroom and sent out a frantic text to my friend Neil Gaiman (a brilliant author and narrator) telling him that I was panicked and was just about to lose the chance to tell my own story because my voice betrayed just how weak and insignificant I knew I was. He sent back a single line that has never left me:

“Pretend you’re good at it.”

It seemed too simple, but it was all I had so I scrawled the words on my arm and repeated it as a mantra. I walked back into the studio pretending to be someone who was amazing at reading her own story. I finished an entire paragraph without interruption. Then I looked up and the producer stared at me and said, “I don’t know what you just did, but keep doing it.” And I said, “I just did a lot of coc**ne,” and she looked a bit aghast and so I said, “No, I’m just kidding. I just got some really good advice from a friend.”

This is a very Badger secondary tactic: personal adaptation in order to fit a situation.

2. a Bird?

Snake + Bird secondaries are among the more common secondary + model pairings in fiction. @sortinghatchats refers to this as the "chessmaster" trope, and notes how difficult these characters can be to Sort.

It can often be hard to tell which is the actual secondary in these cases. The trick is to find the moment when everything starts to go wrong, when the plans fall apart. When they have to figure things out on the spot, try to see which skill set they fall back on. (The MCU’s Loki, who falls back on deceit and influence when weaponless, is a Slytherin Secondary at heart. The MCU’s Scott Lang, who Macgyvers and gerry-rigs his way through everything from unexpected fingerprint scanners to quantum space, is a Ravenclaw.)

Bean from Ender's Shadow is like this. He's also an example of a Snake user who doesn't really bother lying very often, because the people around him lie so much that usually what he has to do to get his way is actually point out the truth in plain language. My guess is that he's a Bird; he uses both a lot, but often he uses his Snake specifically to get resources for his Bird, rather than on its own.

Actually, often it seems he goes into confrontations with a script, where he's thought about what the other person might say in advance and decided how to respond; it's hard to tell when he's actually making it up on the spot. And there are improvisational situations where he just freezes, although this also has a lot to do with his performance anxiety. Bean really hates that he does this and thinks he should be a better Snake (or, failing that, better at predicting absolutely everything). But I digress.

3. a Lion?

Snakes can mistake their blunt neutral state for a Lion's forthright charge. Inky and Kat call Lion vs Snake "the unstoppable force vs the immovable object" (respectively).

Lions' charging doesn't have to be loud, though. @wisteria-lodge compares them to a battering ram. They're persistent powerhouses who just do not give up (unless something they can't break through actually manages to stop them... and then they can get pretty pissed off and restless), but they don't have to be dramatic or fast to be Lions. Lions in fiction are often flashy, but that's not a requirement.

Lions: "I'm gonna Do The Thing and I'm gonna do it as myself and nobody can stop me!"

Neutral state Snakes: "I don't have to put on a performance right now. This is how I am, and I don't care what you think of it."

Lion secondary

Lions just do stuff. As mentioned above, they're persistent powerhouses and they don't have to be loud or dramatic about it (although they certainly can be!).

Katara is a Lion secondary, and so is Korra. Harry Potter is, too: although he uses Snake a lot (especially to manipulate authority figures), he mostly just does stuff.

Harry's default is to make snap decisions about what to do, and then act on them without hesitation. Take for example when he first gets the Marauders' Map. Fred and George give it to him right next to the secret passage they think he should use, and Harry's perfectly happy to climb in right away, take the passage, and scare the crap out of his friends by just showing up.

Harry's lack of planning does come back to bite him sometimes (see: not thinking to just ditch his Hogsmeade loot in the secret passage before confronting Snape), but his quick decisions are also what save his life every time he confronts Voldemort.

Harry has a Snake secondary model. He uses plausible deniability with a straight face. Tricking Ron into thinking he's been slipped lucky potion through sleight of hand and truthfully denying to Hermione that he'd done it? Explaining to Snape that Roonil Wazlib is "his nickname" ("you know... it's what my friends call me")? That's a Lion secondary using a Snake model in the most Lion way ever. Harry's bullshit runs on his dedication to it.

Also, it's definitely not that Harry doesn't think at all; don't think that you have to be mindlessly reactionary to be a Lion. He's just very comfortable with acting in the moment.

"Am I a Lion or... [insert]?"

1. a Badger?

See, this can be difficult. A Lion has to do things as themself. Anything else, they'll trip over. A Badger can feel very similarly: some types of work, and some methods, are not them. They don't feel right.

Badgers have to believe in what they're doing. Work has to be purposeful, and that's not the same thing as offering a tangible reward. They also need things to be done right, done fairly: it's a very Badger kind of trait to worry about what the back of your embroidery looks like, or whether your code is structured and formatted well behind the scenes.

This level of detail and care put into the things that matter to them is very much wrapped up in a Badger's identity and principles. Being asked to put it aside and fix something important with bubblegum and paperclips can throw them off so badly (and cause such revulsion) that a Badger will start to look like a Lion who's just been asked to fake who they are. Either way, it's not going to work; they'll choke on the process.

(Of course, if you can convince the Badger that actually, yes, bubblegum is the best material to fix the Important Thing, then they'll be on board. You'll probably have less luck with the Lion--they're going to do it their way, whatever you say.)

Both Lions and Badgers are also very persistent, but Lions' persistence is directed at the current moment: they just don't give up. Badgers' persistence is something they patiently store up for the future, and they may not know what future is going to need the resources they're gradually building now.

2. a Bird?

These might be the two secondaries that are least alike, imo. I had to skip this section and come back to it because I had no idea where to start. If you're stuck between them, maybe you have one as a model.

Bird and Lion are both categorized as "solid" secondaries as opposed to "fluid," which means they self-transform less than Badgers and Snakes (who can shape themselves to fit different situations).

There are some very big differences, though. Birds need to prepare, and they need to prepare for the specific situation they're going to face (whether that preparation happened because they knew this was coming or not).

But planning is not a Bird exclusive trait. It's not even a required trait for Birds; yours truly thinks that it's hopelessly tedious except for very specific things. Lions absolutely can plan, and so can Snakes--but both of them thrive on the ability to throw the plan away. Lions do not like to be bound by plans, but their initial existence can give them a sense of direction when they start to charge.

Also, if you're confused between Lion and Bird, I wonder if you're taking the Lion skillset for granted. Some Lions are blatantly obvious to everyone but themselves: they think everyone can just decide instantly what to do and run with it and somehow come out okay. If this is you, I need you to imagine me making this face at you: 😐

3. a Snake?

We've kind of been over this in the reverse section above, but up there we went over why a Snake might confuse themselves for a Lion. This time let's assume you're a Lion thinking you might be a Snake.

I feel like Lions have a pretty solid sense of self in general, so let's go over why they might not recognize themselves, and think they have to be the other Improvisational secondary.

Maybe they have a Snake model that they use to further their Lion. Like Harry, they might get themself out of tight spots with Snake when they need to, but they'd rather be charging.

Maybe they think they're disqualified from being a Lion. Maybe they've had to give up on or change some of their goals because of physical or mental health, and thought of it as a personal failure that a Lion wouldn't fall into. First of all, that's bullshit; and second, it's not about what you're able to do. It's what you want to do, what makes you feel safe, what you're comfortable doing.

Maybe they're okay with lying in certain circumstances and they think that's a Snake exclusive thing. It... really isn't. Also, that almost has more to do with your primary. I know this isn't you, anon, because you said, but it bears repeating for everyone else: don't define Snakes by deceit and manipulation. There's a lot more to it than that.

Maybe they're Burned, and they just use random tactics--whatever works--and think that's what being a Snake is. But Snakes enjoy doing their fun dance where they pick the lock on the universe and other people. Burned secondaries are just exhausted.

Of course, if you *are* Burned, that doesn't automatically make you a Lion--but you might think about whether you're biased toward Snake because Snake's shifting tactics look similar to the "whatever works, I guess..." of a Burned secondary.

---

Okay! I think I've covered it. Yikes, this is a long post. I hope it's what you were after, anon; I know you've been waiting a while.

#sortinghatchats #snake secondary #slytherin secondary #lion secondary #gryffindor secondary #paint speaks #paint won't shut up #longpost #long post #very long post #there is no longpost tag on my shc blog because basically they're all long #but this one's a chonker #hufflepuff secondary #ravenclaw secondary

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philologer-mosaic · 4 years ago

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Hey! Fellow writer here! I was curious as to how you learn to write characters and /keep/ them in character without it being overly stereotypical or stiff? I've read your work and I'd love to learn from you ;^;

Hi! Glad to meet you, and wow, I am so flattered to be asked this. Happy to help out a fellow writer, and I’m always down for rambling about writing-related stuff! I’m not sure how helpful some of this will turn out to be, but here goes.

I’m not sure if you’re asking about characterisation in general including crafting OCs or specifically about writing canon characters, and a lot of this advice will be relevant to both, but I will say this straight off: I’ve seen a fair amount of quibbling about how fanfiction won’t teach you how to worldbuild and maybe that’s true, but there is nothing like writing fanfiction for teaching yourself how to craft character voices. Especially when your source material is a movie/ TV show/ whatever definition RWBY falls under. So: rewatch! Pay attention to all the little details. What turns of phrase do they use? How do they stand, how do they move? What’s their usual emotional range? Pick a line they speak, think about what descriptors you’d use to get across their tone of voice or their emotional state if you were writing the scene in a fic. When you’re writing new dialogue for them, try to hear it in the actor’s voice (if that’s a way your imagination works; some people don’t have great auditory imaginations. Mine can be kind of hit and miss!).

Rest of this advice is going under a cut, because this got looong!

With canon characters: start from what you know, then extrapolate. Especially with characters we don’t see all that much of, boil them down to a handful of personality traits/ ways-they-present-themself first, then consider what might underly them. And in reverse: take the things we know about their status and backstory, consider what that implies about them as a person.

So, Clover: I think I boiled him down to ‘confident, friendly, professional’, and what’s underlying ‘confidence’ is really obviously his semblance: he��s never had to hesitate about anything, he always knows he can rely on himself. So in his internal monologue, he’s not going to second-guess his decisions. He calls Qrow out on deflecting compliments, so he’s good at reading people and also wants to help them; I assume that applies more broadly than just to Qrow. He’s leader of Ironwood’s flagship team of Specialists, and semblance or not I made the assumption he didn’t get there without working for it [that is an assumption, though! People less inclined to think well of Clover will make a different assumption, in-universe as well as out, and how he responds to that is also something to consider], so he’s got to be smart, dedicated, a good tactician, a good leader. And building from that: he’s smart and perceptive but we know he’s also loyal to the bitter end (very bitter); what sort of personality can we project that reconciles those two, what sort of person would respond like that? What I went with is that he trusts the system because he understands enough pieces of how/why it works that he trusts the bits he doesn’t understand are also created with the best interests of the people at heart. (Even when that’s really not true.) So then that’s a consistent philosophy-like thing that underlies a lot of how I write him: he understands the reasons for a lot of why things are how they are and then assumes the best of all the rest.

– This looks like a lot, now I’ve written it out. I thought all this out while working on the early chapters but I never put it some of it into words really. In coming up with the plot or story idea you’ll have made plenty of these assumptions and extrapolations already. Take a second look at them; take them further, find places to link them together or pit them against each other.

And remember, these are your interpretations. There’s not a right or wrong way to flesh these out. Work with semi-canon stuff like the mangas or discard it as you wish; follow fanon or argue with it or throw it out entirely. I interpreted Yang as ‘normal outgoing teenage girl in a non-homophobic world’ and wrote her as having dated people from Signal before she got to Beacon; the other day I came across a tumblr post interpreting her as “a rural lesbian”, by which standard she definitely didn’t have any romantic experience before canon; they’re both entirely plausible takes! Where we don’t know stuff for sure, slot in whatever your story needs, or whatever you think seems interesting. I settled on Clover’s backstory for Soldier, Spy mostly by going ‘ok, what’s an interesting way to contrast him with Qrow?’ And in some of my other fic ideas, he’s different.

Limited third person perspective (or first person, if you can pull if off) is the best for dropping in characterisation smoothly. Though I’m probably biased because I love it so much. Omniscient third person POV is when the narration’s impartial and uninvolved, and skips between person A’s thoughts and person B’s thoughts and pure description of what’s happening, objectively speaking; limited third person is – when the camera’s always over one person’s shoulder in a given scene. It’s less close in than first person, but we get the POV character’s thoughts and no others, we only see/notice what they notice and pay attention to, descriptions are coloured by the way the POV character thinks about the world. I don’t want to be setting you homework, but, a neat writing exercise, if you want it: pick an object, place or person, and consider how two different characters would see it differently. Write those two descriptions. For fun, pick something that at least one of the characters is going to really look down on or dislike parts of! (Qrow’s snark is so much fun.)

This is cynical, but: people lie to themselves a lot. When you put yourself into a character’s head, they’re going to be telling themself a narrative in which what they’re doing is the best thing to do and makes them a good person. (With a few exceptions, the big ones being depression- and anxiety-brain, which instead do their best to convince you you’re the worst.) Get your characters to justify themselves to you.

Goals, motivations, priorities. It feels like a massive oversight to write about how to characters and leave that one out, but honestly I can’t think of anything I can say here that hasn’t been covered better by tons of other writing advice. [Incidentally: https://www.writersdigest.com/ . Subscribe to their email newsletter, it’s free, they will try to get you to buy their how-to courses but there’s no need to, the website has all kinds of articles about the craft and details of writing and the newsletter will send you all the new ones plus curated picks of what’s already there. And also: https://springhole.net/writing/index.html . There’s some stuff specific to fanfic in there, and also general writing advice.] Just: keep it in mind.

Related to that, but a separate thing and one that I haven’t seen other writing advice talk about so much: how does the character try to achieve their goals? What are their skills and resources? And more than that, what’s their preferred approach? In the simplest terms. It’s a matter of mindset, and what options they see as available to them. So the things I would keep in mind for this are: Who’s got social skills/ is good at thinking in social terms, and who isn’t/doesn’t? (Not just interpersonally speaking. James “not really concerned about my reputation” Ironwood is a good example of a character who always thinks in terms of hard power over soft power; even when public opinion is an important strategic consideration he only thinks about it in the broadest and most simplified strokes.) Who would rather work within the system, and who prefers to do an end-run around it? (That doesn’t have to correlate with who’s actually got power, though obviously there are trends. I’m writing Clover as tending to take charge even when he officially shouldn’t because he’s more concerned with solving the problem than with rank, and that’s a case of circumventing the system, it’s one of the things he’s got in common with Qrow.) Who’s more analytical about their approach and what they’re trying to do (which means their failure mode is overthinking and decision paralysis) and who reacts with their gut instinct (which means their failure mode is getting in over their head)?

… I could talk about this one at length. There’s a whole framework I use to categorise characters in this way (I came across it in, of all things, the flavourtext of a supplement to an RPG no one’s ever heard of and it just stuck with me, and I’ve made it my own in the years since) and I could go into all sorts of detail about how it works/ what it means. But I think this is enough to be getting on with, on that topic. If you want to know more, send me another ask? But no one else talks about this thing in writing advice, it might be completely orthogonal to the writing process of anyone but me.

So! Related to the topic of characters’ skillsets, a really great tip I can’t remember where I picked up: how do you write someone who’s smarter/wittier/better at tactics than you? Spend minutes or hours turning something over in your head that the character is going to come up with in seconds. The great advantage of writing: it’s so much easier to be eloquent when you’ve got time to think. [If you had asked me this question in person you would have got ‘i don’t know?’ and then half an hour later I would have thought of half of this stuff and kicked myself. A week and change later, you’re getting the other half too :p ]

And lastly: you said you were worried about your writing getting “overly stereotypical”. And my immediate response to that was stereotypes bad, yes, but archetypes great. The difference being: stereotypes are lazy and offensive writing that let ‘membership of a social category’ stand in for ‘actual characterisation’ and if you’re asking for advice on characterisation you’re obviously too thoughtful to commit them; archetypes are pre-made sketched-out personalities that you can take as your own and flesh out into your own thing. Tropes are tools. No one ever said ‘They were roommates? Ugh, how unoriginal’. By the same token, ‘lone wolf who pretends he’s fine and doesn’t dare trust anyone no matter how much he secretly wants to’ is a fantastic trope that exists for good reason, the CRWBY used it for good reason, and when we found out Qrow’s semblance I went yes please I will have some of all that angst and then laughed at myself because when it comes to fictional characters I have A Type. I’m pretty sure I’ve never written the exact scenario ‘pushes themself way too hard and passes out, wakes up in unexpected safety and immediately condemns themself for not sticking it out longer’ before the opening of Soldier, Spy, but I know I’ve come up with plenty of things that were like it, and if they’d made it to a state of publication you’d be able to see that.

It’s like artists using references. Just because they looked up how to draw that hand and that pose doesn’t mean the final product’s not their own. There’s no reason not to start with your ideas of the character (no matter how ‘stereotypical’ they feel) or a collection of traits you’ve grabbed from other characters that seem like they’d fit – or, for OCs, an MBTI type or a roleplaying class/background combo or one of these or some other personality type you feel like you can find your way around the basics of – and just take it from there. When you start writing/outlining/daydreaming-about-ideas you’ll run into scenarios/setups you can’t copy across from but you can see what responses might come up, and that’s how the template becomes your own unique iteration of it.

… Because really all writing advice does come down to: just write. In your head or on the page, try things out, see what works, see how it goes. I’ve been doing this a long time; most of it never made it to words on a page, let alone to the internet at large. Read across genres, read things people write about themselves and how they live and think and feel, and just – go for it.

I hope this helps! Once again, I was really glad to be asked; feel free to ask me to elaborate on any of this, or about anything else you want advice about. I wish you all the best in your future writing!

#writing #my thoughts #posting into a void

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wendell-or-something · 2 years ago

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I haven't really said anything about Stranger Things on tumblr yet, but this has me itching to share meta that I typed up the other day so I'm just gonna pop it down here...

okay so this is mostly to do with Eddie, but it's been bugging me for a while. I don't really agree with his character arc. like, on paper we're supposed to believe that Eddie's whole thing is about courage vs. cowardice... but to me, his story actually ended up being a lot more about acceptance vs. alienation. and especially considering how his persecution aligns with characters like Will, or like El in her new school... I think that is a much stronger theme.

from his opening scene, Eddie doesn't really display cowardice as a character trait. in the lunchroom, he's fine with talking a big game and provoking everyone around him, especially sports guys and cheerleaders (this will even backfire on him later). in terms of courange/cowardice, this could be an indication of hubris... like he talks a big game but can't back it up? but that's about all you could extrapolate, and I'd say the tone is kind of wrong for that. it feels more like he's being harmlessly weird, and kind of laughing at anyone who manages to get offended anyway, because it's ridiculous.

in terms of acceptance/alienation, there's a lot more to unpack. he alienates himself from the rest of the social ecosystem in the luchroom, but you get the sense that he isn't the one who threw the first stone, and you can feel Jason's animosity building, even before he has a reason to do anything. there's a rift of judgement there, but Eddie rejecting them back is a declaration of his intent to remain who he is. the way the popular kids socially pressure each other to conform is something he's immune to, because he just doesn't care.

meanwhile, Chrissy is going through some really difficult shit, and she doesn't feel like she can talk to anyone about it. and it's not just because she can't explain the hallucinations... it's because these problems are something that could get her ostracized if she looks too weird, broken, or flawed because of them. straight laced people like Jason are intimidating to talk to, but human disaster Eddie Munson provides acceptance, even as she pursues drugs to try and deal with the visions.

and at the same time, Mike and Dustin are dealing with the Lucas situation. that's it's own can of worms, where the boys each feel alienated by the other's allegiances shifting, but what's important here is that Lucas has to mask himself as a normie in order to find a tenuous acceptance from the basketball team, but Mike and Dustin get to have fun the way they always have when they go play DnD with Eddie. and that's not to say that Eddie isn't pushing them either! Eddie definitely has his priorities locked on the DnD game, and screw Lucas's aspirations when it comes to basketball... why would Eddie feel sympathy for someone prioritizing a normie interest anyway? but he's still willing to reach across the isle when it comes to Chrissy, so you get the sense that he knows when it's important to drop the bullshit and just help someone who needs it.

there's also a bit that you can read into Eddie based on his ties to DnD in general. DnD is a game that is played cooperatively, and the players all have to pick areas of specialization to benefit the team. literally, it takes all types, and diversity is a tactical benefit. Eddie is deeply familiar with these concepts... he knows about party balance. and so, it is incredibly weird to me that mr. counterculture himself, the guy who knows about this kind of team building and specialized skillsets, would be beating himself up all season for not being a standard run of the mill fighter. and even more so because that wouldn't actually solve the initial problem that got him into this mess.

like, when we see Chrissy's death, Eddie supposedly "runs away" at the sight of danger, but I wouldn't consider this to be a test of his courage or fighting ability. what on earth was he supposed to do?? and especially after he has it explained to him what's going on, it's especially clear that there was nothing that he had the ability to do, in that moment, to save her. heck, he even stayed to try and wake her until she started floating, and witnessed her whole death, gruesome as it was. that's not cowardly!

however, what does become clear more and more as the season goes on, is that Eddie's alienation from broader normal culture, is really what's kicking his ass. if Eddie had learned the art of "go along to get along" or laid low or been more agreeable... maybe the town wouldn't be so quick to hate him. he ran because he knew they'd blame him, and honestly, he wasn't wrong to anticipate that. but the "go along to get along" sentiment just kind of sucks on the face of it. Eddie is himself, in part, because he can't be anyone else. this is just who he is, the whole and honest truth, and he shouldn't feel obligated to exist any differently. but he literally can't live like this. not in this community.

even in the moments where Eddie expresses that he's sick of running away, I took his words to mean that he's sick of being kicked out and persecuted... he's sick of having reasons to run. he's sick of people hating everything he likes, and assuming the worst of him, and deciding he's a bad person when they don't even know him. and it's just really unfortunate that when Chrissy, someone normal by all accounts, tried to reach out to him, she ended up dead. because beneath the surface, she was messed up too.

but that's Eddie's double edged sword in action. he is alienated because he's seen as a weirdo, loud and proud. and this makes him a target for some, and a beacon for others. if someone feels like they might be too weird to survive another day in this deeply normal town, he's exactly who they'd go to. that's why Chrissy died in his living room. she was always going to die... nobody knew enough at that point to save her. but she died with him, with a friend, because she didn't feel like she had to run away from him. she ran to him in her final moments, because she knew he was safe.

that is the theme of Eddie's character. he doesn't fight... and that's what makes him feel safe. and he especially represents safety to the people who feel rejected by the rest of the world. I'd actually call it an act of courage for him to paint a target on his own back, just so all the little weird kids and nerds can see that he's there, and know where to go. they aren't alone, and this is the guy who makes sure they know that. and when the world rejects him too, he finds himself with a support system of all the weirdos he ever took under his wing. they stick with him, and they save him.

right up until he has to distract some demobats, and he dies alone in the hell dimension. so like, I dunno, maybe I'm just talking out my ass.

but the really unfortunate thing that this does, in the context of the acceptance vs. alienation theme, is it lets alienation win. Eddie dies, which is a very clean and convenient thing for the town of Hawkins Indiana. and the little gang of weirdos he left behind has to keep living in the community that rejected him. and they have to keep trying to save Hawkins, even though this whole town just showed it's true colors... the town was the villain, at least in some part. the town was willing to hunt the entire rest of the hellfire club, purely based on their association with Eddie. a guy like Eddie literally couldn't survive here, all these kids loved that guy, and now they have to save this town. and you can see other characters mirroring this in other parts of the plot as well... as I mentioned at the top, what does this say about Eleven, as a victim of intense bullying, or Will, as someone who anticipates his own rejection and preemptively decides not to try and have what he wants? this is such a bleak thing to do thematically, like, why are we treating Eddie's death as though he triumphantly redeemed himself of a character flaw by doing this?? it's actually the exact opposite. he was innocent, and he died because there was no safe place for him in Hawkins.

You’re not a freak. Yeah, I am.

#eddie munson #will byers #stranger things #stranger things meta #this was copied out of a youtube comment with very little editing #I don't talk much about stranger things but I do watch it and sometimes they do shit on that show that grinds my gears a little #they've always courted counterculture nerd weirdos with this story #and then they kill off the most counterculture nerd weirdo guy they've ever introduced #like... that will have An Effect

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thistlewhistler · 7 years ago

Conversation

Interviewing the Flock, featuring: Riggy

Zach: What would you like me to call you?

Riggy: Riggy's fine

Zach: What are your thoughts on our Discord?

Riggy: The Discord's absolutely amazing and I'm grateful for joining it every day. I really didn't expect for it to become such a great place for emotional support, or that I would get as involved with it as I did. I haven't been in a community before where everyone is so relentlessly loving and knowing that this community is here has sometimes been the only thing keeping me going while dealing with the all nonsense with school/work/people and such. I really love the people on here, as well as being able to share what I do with everyone, and share in the love we all have for the comic itself and how it's unified everyone here.

Zach: Alright so well done on answering that, I was going to start with a quick easy response question but you handled that like a champion counselor before a Senate hearing.

Riggy: Ahh thank you, I have a lot to say about how great it is that the masses must hear haha.

Zach: They deserve a moving orator, and you have answered the summons.

Zach: So I hear you're studying Communication Design with a concentration in Illustration.

What does that mean (in non-selling-the-major-like-a-college-used-car-salesman fashion)?

Riggy: The easiest way to describe it is that I'm a graphic design major with a strong emphasis on branding and marketing, while the illustration concentration aspect of it is me taking classes that help me get better at the techniques used for illustrating, such as the life drawing class helping me get better at drawing from observation as well as learning to draw the human form and having the fundamental understanding of that.

It's also learning to use the programs that are industry-standard, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator and such

Zach: A lot of "Here's how to use what you're interested in outside of more artwork, now please go out and be successful and not starve" then?

Or am I way off?

Riggy: Well, the graphic design industry is incredibly lucrative, every single company needs designers to market them, create an image to sell. Think of every professional marketing campaign you've seen, there's an entire team of people working on it. Absolut Vodka is a really good example of strong design in advertising. It's a far different beast than being, say, a studio artist trying not to starve. What I'm learning to do isn't very interpretive or abstract, it needs to be effective to get the point across and still be aesthetically appealing. It's a lot of "here are the tools, we're going to teach you how to use the tools, but you need to grow and learn to use them effectively."

There's a lot of nuance to it that you wouldn't expect, it's definitely a skillset that takes a long time to build.

Zach: You just explained in the kindest, most informative and followable way possible that I was, in fact, way off.

Zach: How do you feel you're doing?

This semester is over and you have the time to catch your breath, pad your portfolio and gauge the new year's possibilities.

Does that come with trepidation, nervous excitement, fear of the unknown, fear of the certainly known professor you're absolutely going to have in a class, or more of the same you've been feeling since you started?

Riggy: I'm doing really, really well, I don't think I could've picked a better major/career path for myself. Sometimes it takes a bit but I've really clicked with most of my classes and (fingers crossed) I'm pretty sure I got all A's again this semester. The actual grades aren't the most important, though I do need to keep scholarships, but it also means that I've gotten really good feedback and my professors have really liked my work and can see that I've been improving.

Zach: Excellent!

Riggy: For next semester, I'm a nervous person in general but in terms of schoolwork I feel completely fine, it's mostly dealing with people/other obligations I'm not excited about.

Right now I just want to work on personal projects I haven't had time for.

Zach: Lets focus in on that for the next question.

What project are you looking forward to, for example?

Riggy: Flockbook, definitely. Whether that's the guest artist submission or not, I don't know yet, but I do want to get back on it. I also have a couple animatics in the works and a poster design I want to get to. And commission work if the good people will have me haha

Zach: You like to keep a full plate, I take it?

Riggy: I get antsy if I don't have anything to do but I'm still trying to find the balance of how much I can healthily take on. Working on stuff over break is fine, my issue is balancing things during the school year because of all the obligations I need to incorporate.

Zach: That's fair.

Zach: What do you feel is the dumbest thing you've ever done?

Riggy: Well.

It was the end of a really, really long day and I was dead tired, I was changing out of my clothes to go shower, and in taking off my bra my hands fumbled with the elastic straps and I ended up accidentally slingshot-punching myself in the face. Not..my finest moment.

Zach: And what did you learn?

Riggy: 1. Get more sleep and 2. Maybe next time just unhook it.

Zach: Solid advice.

Zach: So now for a question I don't have written down to ask. Instead, I'd like to choose from a book based upon a random number.

Would you be willing to become extremely ugly physically if it meant you would live for 1,000 years at any physical age you choose?

Riggy: I wouldn't want to live for a thousand years, so I would refuse whatever power/entity's offering this tradeoff.

Zach: There's a good answer!

Zach: Who, among the Flock, would be your one phone call?

Riggy: What... kind of phone call? Death bed? Phone a friend? Or just general "I want to talk to this person for a bit."

Zach: You're in a cell. You get one phone call.

Riggy: Ohhh jail.

I know Geoff in real life, and he'd probably bail me out.

Zach: Probably closer, too.

Riggy: Yeah if we're not in school together, we're about a couple hours away.

Zach: What piece do you feel the most accomplishment over in your portfolio?

Riggy: I think the flower ladies portrait series I did for my history class, or the book cover series. The portraits I had a lot of fun actually illustrating but the book covers are more in line with what I'll probably be doing as a career and they were very well-received so I like both of them.

Zach: What would you like to go forth and do with your degree, if you could choose who would hire you and for what cause or medium?

Riggy: My ideal job is actually children's book writing and illustration, I'm very passionate about diversity, empowerment, and creating media that have strong LGBT+ characters and I would love to incorporate that into books and stories so that positive and uplifting ideas can spread more easily.

Zach: That... is really heartwarming and awesome.

Riggy: I'd also really like working as a book cover/poster designer, or for a branding company but the children's book thing is the goal.

Zach: I don't have a funny quip or anything to tie this off with, that's just a really wholesome and soothing career goal.

I hope you reach it.

Riggy: Ahhh thank you I'll keep you updated!

#Interviewing the Flock #Riggy #Sister Claire #Communication Design #Flockbook #childrensbooks

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sylvanajajou · 5 years ago

Conversation

Phone Interview with CFGF CEO Isaiah Oliver

Me (M): Hey there Isaiah, I hope things have been well for you and the family. Thank you for finding the time to speak to me today.

Isaiah (I): Yeah of course, everyone is great. We're all wishing you the best in Indy too!

M: So getting right into it, something I hear a lot when talking to people about what I'm studying is "what is philanthropy?". What is philanthropy to you?

I: Most people think philanthropy is just fundraising and donating money. A lot of people like to use the definition of "donating your time, talent, and/or treasure to your community". To me philanthropy is bigger than that. It encompasses the selfless relationships we build in an effort to reshape the world to help those who need it most.

M: Wow I've never heard of it being explained that way, I love that. With philanthropy being such a nuanced field I have to wonder, how did you find out about it?

I: Honestly, I just fell into it. I was born and raised in Flint. This community is my family. It is where I wanted to raise my kids. After [my wife] Shay got pregnant we were talking about where to send our baby to school. Naturally I said they would go to Flint schools, but she argued that they weren't the best and our baby deserved the best. That's what every parent thinks, ya know? It made me think about how our child did deserve the best and so did my neighbors child and their neighbors child and all the other little boys and girls growing up in Flint. I wanted my kids to go to school in Flint like I did and have the best like they should, so I joined the school board. From there my engagement with different organizations around town grew and I started my own non-profit, The Literacy Network. It was through the Literacy Network that I got connected with the Community Foundation (CFGF). They were supporting my work and I got more involved so when they gave me the opportunity to increase my impact I took it, and now here I am.

M: That's amazing. You saw something you wanted to change and just went for it, super inspiring. So now that you've been working in the field for a while, what would you say is the biggest misconception people tend to have about philanthropy?

I: Kind of like I said earlier, people just think philanthropy is a bunch of old white dudes sitting together and making decisions about where to spend tons of money. I also think a big misconception is that you have to have a lot of money to be philanthropic.

M: What would you say a typical day at work looks like for you?

I: I haven't had a typical day since I started! Every day is completely different. I can go from in office work, lunch meetings, strategic meetings with my team, spontaneous meetings with visitors, you just never know. My work revolves around people and people are always changing so my schedule has to adapt in that same way.

M: Sounds like you'll never be bored. Can you recall a time in your career thus far where you really felt like you were making a difference?

I: My work gives me purpose. If at any point I didn't think I was being a positive light to my community, I would have to change things. With that being said, if I tried to pinpoint one really meaningful thing I'd have to say the EduCare building we funded. It is one of the highest preforming early education centers in the state and one of the few that exist in the country at this time, and it's right here in Flint.

M: That's amazing! Definitely something these kids deserve. So I can't imagine being a CEO of anything is easy. What skillsets do you think a person would need to do your job well?

I: I know people say you can't actually multitask, but in this job you have to. My mind is constantly thinking about what I'm doing, going over what I've done, and getting started on what's to come all at the same time. With how quickly things move and change around the community you have to be able to keep up. There's also a tiny bit of "It-Factor". You can be the most organized, efficient, and proactive person, but if you aren't personable and friendly, if people can't connect with you, they won't want to connect to your cause.

M: So we've highlighted some amazing parts of your work, but what would you say is your favorite part of the job?

I: I'm a people person. I thrive when I'm collaborating. I don't think theres another job that exists that better blends my passions and strengths.

M: Fair enough. On that note, what would you say is your least favorite part of your job?

I: Hmm, let me think. I don't want to get myself in trouble! I guess if I had to pick something I'd say it can be kind of exhausting to always be seen as Isaiah Oliver, CEO of CFGF and not just Isaiah Oliver, cool dude with the sick sneakers, haha. I'm just so immersed in the community in a ton of different ways that sometimes I have to remind myself to just be a part of everything on a personal level.

M: I can only imagine the social battery you must have! One last question because I know we're running out of time here, where do you see the world of philanthropy going in the next 10 years?

I: Man if I knew that I'd be running things! But really, these days with the countries political climate and the impact the media has on shining light on injustices, what has become the clearest to me is the mobilization of youth activists. Kids your age, and even younger are really standing up and getting themselves a seat at really big tables. I think you have more of an answer to that question than I do.

M: Thank you so much for talking with me today. Everything you've said really widened my perspective and helped me understand what I'm hoping to get myself into soon.

I: Any time, and good luck with your studies. We can't wait to have you back in Flint.

#biggirljob

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