#nuclear throne writing

[glitterwolfvi]

Who is your favorite mutant and how do you like to play them? My favorite is Rebel because I LOVE her vibes and character, and really love doing shotgun or bullet builds with her because she leans towards a flurry of bullets playstyle.

my favorite mutant to play is Eyes! I usually go melee + shotgun with Eyes & heavily rely on telekinesis! my main go-to mutations for playing as Eyes is gamma guts & boiling veins!

my favorite mutant in general is either Melting or YV. though I suck ass at playing Melting. melee & crossbow or grenade launcher for Melting & gotta go Throne Butt.

I don't. exactly have a playstyle as YV. I just kinda fuck around anytime I play as YV gshdhsgd

[ciphercalamitiez]

are you ever just at an event/place where you can’t use your phone and during that entire time you think of the most violent shit between your ocs and canon characters (this goes for many things)

edit: not just violent as in physical violence but also heartwrenching and tear-inducing, also have I told you guys weeping willows are one of my favorite trees?

[fablewritesnonsense]

Last Line Challenge

In a new post, show the last line you wrote (or drew) and tag as many people as there are words (or however many as you like).

Tagged by @justaduckarts

Okay so I'm caught on a technicality here because the last thing I was writing was actually my original WIP currently titled Team Squishy so I'm including both and I am so sorry neither are particularly interesting.

Nuclear Family: Richard realized what the girls were doing and waved them off.

Team Squishy: Maybe the Blessed get better treatment than that, but it's defintly a far more attractive option.

No-Pressure-Tagging @andyandnormski @bokatan @bardic-inspo @thefallenangelsgang

[georgescitadel]

2nd year of George's Citadel - a compilation of quotes from George R.R. Martin

House Targaryen

On the construction of Daenerys and the decision to include dragons in ASOIAF

On Daenerys’ thought process in Lhazarene

On Daenerys’ struggle with rule (1)

On future revelations about the house with the red door

On what led to Robert’s rebellion

On the difference between Daenerys and Aegon’s (I) approach to the throne

On Daenerys subverting gender roles

On the information provided about Rhaegar and Lyanna in ASOIAF

On the “White Saviour” complaints over Daenerys’ storyline

On Daenerys’ future return to Westeros

On Daenerys’ struggle with rule (2)

On dragons as the ASOIAF equivalent of nuclear weapons

On the connection between dragons and the resurgence of magic

On Viserys' misunderstanding of the Dothraki

House Stark

On Sansa’s manipulation at the hands of the Small Council

On Arya and Sansa’s desire to save Ned

On what led Sandor to seek out Sansa during the Battle of Blackwater

On his regret over not further developing Sansa and Arya’s relationships with Catelyn

On what character he’d want to be like

On Ned’s inadequacy in King’s Landing

On the direwolves as metaphors and the execution of Lady

On his interest in Arya's storyline in Braavos

On his decision to center ASOIAF around a family

On consulting with people to write about Bran and Sansa’s experiences

House Lannister

On Jaime, Tyrion and loss

On Jaime’s decision to kill Bran

On feeling conflicted over the writing of Tyrion in A Dance With Dragons

On Robert being unsuspicious of the paternity of Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen

On the key event that led Roose to align with the Lannisters

On his intention writing the Lannister POV’s

On similarities between Tywin Lannister and Walter White

House Greyjoy

On the character of Reek

On Theon as a multifaceted grey character

On the Ironborn and the words of House Greyjoy

A Game Of Thrones

On the title of A Game Of Thrones

On the process of creating A Game Of Thrones (1)

On the process of creating A Game Of Thrones (2)

On the process of creating A Game Of Thrones (3)

On the process of creating A Game Of Thrones (4)

Game Of Thrones

On GOT’s decision to kill off Silver

On GOT’s decision to pair Arya and Tywin up

On Renly and Loras' relationship and their portrayal in ASOIAF vs GOT

Miscellaneous

On writing outcasts

On nihilism in ASOIAF

On unfairly hated characters

On Epic Fantasy

On his favourite characters in ASOIAF

On the greyest characters in ASOIAF

On unlikable protagonists

On the historical figures that inspired the women of ASOIAF

On father issues in ASOIAF

On the religions in ASOIAF

On creating foils

On which characters he'd like to meet in real life

On power and Varys’ riddle

On the messages and the separation between authorial views and characters' beliefs in ASOIAF

On Littlefinger and Varys' rivalry

On introducing Brienne’s POV

[leebrontide]

Hi everyone!

I'm asking for a (free) favor from y'all.

I'm trying to get more people to sign up for my free monthly author newsletter, and I'd love for you to help me find people who might enjoy it.

Every month, I write an essay about a subject. I'm not just collecting contacts to send ads to!

Sometimes it's about writing process

A Unique Character Development Technique 

The Golden Girls, D&D, and The Newest Way I’m Refusing to Make Writing Solitary 

The Bananabook Method

Lies I Tell Myself, Security Blankets and Backstitch Drafting

On Listening When You Want to Throw Things and Break Stuff

And other times it's a deep dive into a research topic for my books

Why I’m Researching a 19th Century Cult This Month

Spider Goat is Real but is Not Marvel Affiliated

People Just Really Want to Say "Enhance"

That Most Intimate of Thrones

Whose Side is Your House On?

The Care and Feeding of Dream Homes

What Arguing About Captain America Taught Me About Psychotherapy

Nuclear Waste and the Ray Cat Solution

Sometimes it's about mental health, especially through the lenses of fantasy and scifi

Of Flesh and Gundams

What Feeling Are You Most Afraid Of?

Sometimes it's even about legal systems and their interactions with the medical field and expanding medical technologies

Tractors, Cybernetics and the Radical at the Radioshack

Because Everybody Was Calling for YA Scifi About HIPAA, Right? 

Or queer stuff

What Do We Celebrate?

What Stories Are You Made Of?

Or disability

Another Kind of Coziness 

Tinkering With Cyberpunk

Things I Stole from Julian Bashir

What Does Time Feel Like?

Or it could be anything else that I'm willing to think deeper about that month. You can browse the full archive over here.

AND it almost always includes pictures of my very cute cats!

So could you please boost, if you feel your followers might be into that?

The subscription signup is right here.

Help an indie author out?

[legendfinder]

what r some of your fave games and why?

1. Outer Wilds. You'll understand when you're older

2. Celeste. Amazingly fun platformer just polished enough that I don't feel a burning rage to smash my computer with each death. I only simply feel a rage, and my computer is left intact. Mods are really cool I've played almost 50. I have not gotten to strawberry jam yet

3. Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe!! This game has inspired me to make so many fucking multiple ending cyoa games. Narrator is amazing, the batshit absurd ideas are so fucking good. It is the game for me

4. The Witness. Gameplay sucks big balls and the story is a joke but I think the puzzle is nice. And the world is neat. And the two combined is a cool

5. Slay The Princess. I love her

6. Jiggly Zone. I have made extensive plans to make a spiritual successor to this game. So I love this game that much. Sylvie makes amazing games

Ok I can't keep writing for these games. Here are the rest: Hypnospace Outlaw, Deltarune, The End Is Nigh, Omori, Taiji, Portal 2, Noita, Superhot, The Hex, What Remains Of Edith Finch, Inscryption, Smile For Me, Hotline Miami 2, Bad End Theater, Fancade, Alto's Oddysey, Candies N Curses, Nuclear Throne, etc etc etc

I made a Google doc of every game I have at least some fond memories of. I was planning to use it to rank my favorite games but um it got out of hand. I have 637 total games listed on there. My mind is bountiful

[zzoomacroom]

Hey guys, soooo I have never written fanfiction in my life, but this just fell out of my brain for some reason. I don't know what came over me, but here's a little crackfic drabble for ya. Just a thousand words of Matthew being a complete idiot. Enjoy! (Yes, I know this premise has been done to death, but I'm having fun so shhhh)

Edit: now on ao3!

.......

So there Matthew was, just minding his own business, catching up with Merv in the gardens outside the palace, when a goddamned nuclear bomb went off.

"JEEZUS FUCK!" Mervyn bellowed, his cigarette dropping from his open mouth and into the pile of leaves he'd been raking. Matthew squawked and catapulted himself ungracefully to the top of the nearest tree.

Oh, so not a bomb then, thought Matthew as he watched the stunning display of fireworks that had erupted above the palace, gold and crimson embers now drifting lazily towards the ground. Still, what the hell was that all about? He would have to ask the boss--if there was some kind of celebration happening in the Dreaming, he wanted to join the party! Hopefully he'd be off his feathery tits on dream champagne before the day was over.

Matthew launched himself from the tree branch, ears still ringing as he made his way up to the palace. He soared through an open window to the throne room. Hmm, empty. So where was the party? He made his way to the library--Lucienne would know what was up.

"Heya, Loosh," he called as he circled down to the table where Lucienne was occupied with cleaning up a puddle of ink that was spilled all over the yellowed scroll she had been writing on. "What was up with the fireworks?"

"Hmm?" she glanced over to him, preoccupied. "Ah. That sometimes happens when...actually, it's probably better if you don't know. For your own sake," she adds pointedly, peering over her glasses at him.

Uh, wow. Ouch. "What? Aw, come on, don't leave me out of the loop. Ravens aren't invited to the party? Wait, why aren't you at the party?"

Lucienne stared at the raven, confusion and irritation mingling on her face. "What party? Lord Morpheus is in his private chambers, there is no--"

But Matthew was already hopping off the table and flying towards the nearest window. So it was a private, VIP kinda thing, then. He was a little hurt that he wasn't invited, but no matter. He would slip in and infiltrate the event, just in case the boss needed protecting from a disgruntled fae or something. And if he managed to dip his beak into some unattended booze, he felt he was sneaky enough that no one would be the wiser.

"You really don't want to know!" Lucienne called out exasperatedly as he flitted away, not looking up from her work. "Don’t say I didn't warn you!"

Yeah, yeah, he'd been to parties full of snooty elites before. Whatever weird shit they were into couldn't be any worse than what he'd seen during his recent trip to Hell. He circled upwards towards the highest tower and perched on the balcony outside the boss's private chamber. There was definitely something happening in there, judging by the noises coming from inside. It sounded like things were getting crazy--a shout, glass breaking, a thud like a body hitting the ground, a screech that may or may not have been human. Shit, the boss man might be in trouble! Good thing Matthew was here to...well, he wasn't really sure how he could help, but he'd figure something out. And he just really, really wanted to know what was going on! Curiosity may kill the cat, but the raven should be fine, right?

He darted into the darkened room and blinked as his eyes adjusted. Oh. No party, then. The boss was standing in the middle of the room, looking even more like he'd just sucked on a lemon than usual. His robe flicked around him and drooped off one shoulder, like he'd just hastily pulled it on (was that...a tentacle peeking out from under the hem?). And was he sweating? He didn't normally sweat, did he? And hold on--did he have cat ears?? Matthew stared, and just as he noticed the ears they receded down into his disheveled mop of hair and disappeared.

"What is it, Matthew?" the Dreamlord demanded icily.

"Uh...sorry to interrupt whatever...this...is, but I thought maybe you were in trouble. And I was just wondering what was up with the fireworks. Scared the bejeesus outta me and Merv," Matthew explained.

The boss looked confused for a moment before answering. "Ah. My apologies for the disruption," he said, voice dripping with sarcasm even as Matthew failed to get the hint. "The matter has been handled. You need not come to my defense."

At that, a poorly-stifled chuckle sounded from behind a marble pillar. "Sorry," the pillar mumbled sheepishly. The boss shot a withering glare at it and the pillar instantly dissolved into a pile of sand, revealing...

Ohhhh. "Um...hi, Hob," Matthew said with an awkward wave of his wing, wishing very much that he could dissolve into sand right about now. Hell, that may very well be his fate soon enough, based on the way the boss was glaring at him.

"Hey Matt," Hob replied with a bashful smirk. He was mostly naked except for an Elizabethan ruff, white knee-high stockings and a pair of 18th century shoes with little bows on them. And he was wearing the boss's helm. But not on his head (cool, cool, not like Matthew had followed the boss to Hell to get it back or anything). Oh, and he also had cat ears. Wonderful.

"Ya know, I better get going, I think Merv may need some help with--oh, yep, he set the garden on fire." Matthew peered out the window down to where Mervyn was currently shouting at no one and flailing around a steadily growing conflagration. "So I should go deal with that. Just wanted to check in, glad everything's good here. Uhhh nice to see you Hob, Boss. Not that I, uh, saw anything. Okay bye!" Matthew zoomed out the window before either of them could say anything else. God, he really needed a drink now.

.......

Morpheus continued to glare at the spot where Matthew had been perched as Hob came up and wrapped an arm around his waist.

"Right. So where were we?" asked Hob, apparently unphased by the whole incident.

"I think we should take this to the Waking if we wish to avoid any further interruptions," Dream replied through gritted teeth.

Hob chuckled and started to massage the knots out of his lover's shoulders. "Yeah, probably. Kids, right?" he sighed.

Morpheus raised an eyebrow at him. "Matthew is not my child."

"Isn't he, though?" Hob replied with a grin, peering over Dream's shoulder to watch Matthew and Mervyn frantically darting around the flaming pile of leaves, making no progress whatsoever in putting out the blaze. Morpheus merely sighed in exasperation.

[isabellebissonrouthier]

WRITING PROMPTS - Failure

When a teenager fails their final exam, they're not allowed to leave the school again, hunted to death if they escape.

"You're not a failure. I am."

The world ended because one child failed a simple playground game.

"I failed my children, and now I hold their ashes in my palms."

The nuclear button failed to work.

"I... failed? I failed the test?"

Failures are forbidden when you are the heir to the throne.

"You're the failure! You are! You must have sabotaged me; that's the only reason I could ever lose!"

[raidark]

The thing about Jacaerys not considering his half brothers threats and the difference between Jace/Babies and Rhaenyra/Aegon is that there's the assumption that they would all be raised by Rhaenyra with the knowledge/belief that Jace is the rightful heir to the throne after her passing. The one who would be most interested in poisoning the kiddos to get the throne would be Daemon, but even then there's a considerable chance that Rhaenyra would bring him into Jace's camp; especially after his loyalty was congealed by his Harrenhal ayahuasca trip. Aegon was easy to put against Rhaenyra because Alicent spent YEARS poisoning the Targtowers against them and Rhaenyra herself never made much effort to getting close to her siblings. Not only would the kiddos ideally be raised by people who mostly support Jace in the throne and would deter sedicious thoughts but Jace himself has been shown being a goos brother whenever he interacted with the siblings, I am sure he would be the same for them if given the chance. The dragonseeds plan as cooked in the show is different in context, it's like giving random people (including the town's drunkard) the nuclear codes that your family has been using to cement power.

I'm actually writing a VERY LONG post about how much the show has hurt the character of Jace and make him had a very inconsequential arc with artificial drama. In it I also talk about Show Jace's reaction and fears about his succession and I comment the very same thing you're explaining here. I do agree with you, anon. The situation with Aegon and Viserys is very different. Especially in the book where they're explicitly said to have adored his older half-brothers, and Jace is shown to be super protective of Aegon and Viserys. I truly think that it would have been impossible for Daemon to pull something in the book, and it would also be hard for him in the show.

However my post was about Show Jace's mind and his point, which wasn't precisely logic either. There's a lot of arguments against how he frames the Dragonseeds issue as a threat to his succession. The reason Hugh and Ulf are a threat is not because the nobles are going to support them in virtue of looking more Targaryen than Jace, or because they have the same claim. The threat they represent is merely because they have two of the largest dragons, because they have Vermithor and Silverwing. It's dangerous because they're giving two of the strongest nukes to unknown people, but not because they represent a truly political threat to Jace. I'm talking more about this in my huge post but realistically there's no reason to believe they have a claim or that nobles would wholeheartedly support them at all, if anything, they would see the danger they suppose and be glad to eliminate them, especially if that means being rewarded by the Crown. Hugh and Ulf can't always be with their dragons after all, and at those moments they're completely helpless.

It's also not like Show Jace has ever interacted with his younger half-brothers so we could know what he thinks about them at all, and since they were made too much younger it's not like we know if they like their older brother either. We know Book Jace loved them, but nothing says the same about Show Jace. Show Jace didn't even say goodbye to them at all, only to Joffrey.

What I wrote in my previous post is that it doesn't make sense that Show Jace as he's written doesn't have even the slightlest doubt or repressed resentment about Aegon and Viserys. He's consumed by fear, doubts and self-loathing. He has two younger half-brothers who represent everything he was made to fear and be worried about in the show, who are a clear parallel to Rhaenyra and her half-brothers, regardless of the differences. They're undisputably legitimate, have the hair he wished he had and will never have to worry about rumors like he and his brothers did (or if anything, he could think there will be rumors about how Aegon should be Rhaenyra's heir instead of him). He also knows Daemon, who in this what if scenario would be the Otto/Alicent instigator, and Rhaenyra has been recently taken decisions that he didn't like and suppressing him, keeping him in the dark while she trusted and took the decisions with Mysaria.

But he never talks about what could have been otherwise a pretty legitimate issue and worry to Rhaenyra while he does snap about a very necessary decision during the war, with arguments that aren't that certain to begin with, even if pretty valid considering his psyche and humanity. If you are going to sell me this... arc, then make it better.

If you ask me this whole thing is stupid. I don't like this artificial and inconsequential drama, because it's inconsequential and won't go anywhere. We all know what's going to happen in early S3 unless they make yet another massive change. Book Jace's arc was stripped from him, given to other characters and instead they made up a filler arc for him that will have no different outcome and that no one will remember anyway. The fandom will barely remember him as the bastardy/mommy issues boy since he doesn't have anything else. The characters will forget him, just like they did with Luke and Visenya.

[mightyostanes]

Against the Uwuification of Sheydim

"'I've upset you. I see that. But you know what it is to carve out your place in the world, to have to fight for your life at every turn. You can't imagine how much worse it was in my time. Women were sent to madhouses because they read too many books or because their husbands tired of them. There were so few paths open to us. And mine was stolen from me so I forged a new one.' Alex Jabbed a finger at Belbam. 'You don't get to turn this into some kind of feminist manifesto. You forged your new path from the lives of other girls. Immigrant girls. Brown Girls. Poor Girls.' Girls like me. 'Just so you could buy yourself another few years.'" -Galaxy Stern shutting up a soul eating revenant Source: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

First off this is my first post on Tumblr so please forgive any issues with formatting. I'm still getting used to this site's layout let alone writing anything that isn't solely for my own addled and deranged mind. Still, I hope that this is at least somewhat insightful.

Over the last few years I've noticed that there has been a tendency among young Jews online to make our folklore and mysticism 'cuddlier'. To suggest that not only do we have a hell but that quite literally everything in our cosmos is friendly and misunderstood. Sheydim become relatable mascots of groups traditionally marginalized within the Jewish community. The leviathan is treated as G-d's pet who isn't dangerous whatsoever and is instead merely a big fish. Malachim generally like humans and are on good terms with the Jewish Community. And Lilith becomes an empowered girl boss with her malewife Ashmedai. A lovely story that makes great fanfiction and Jewish aus, the only problem is that it's completely ahistorical and utterly misses the point of these stories.

Sheydim while not exactly ontologically evil were usually depicted as predatory, amoral and capricious. A good portion of Bava Batra 74-75 is dedicated to describing how pants shittingly terrifying the Leviathan is and how it could theoretically destroy the world. Malachim are often depicted as threats and enemies of Israel especially in narratives regarding the revelation of the Torah at Sinai (Exodus Rabbah (41.7; 44:8), Tanhuma (Ki Tissa 20), PdRE 45, and Deut. Rabbah (3.11). And Lilith as well all know kills newborn children and was the terror of expectant Jewish Mothers for centuries. With the origin of her being 'Adam's first wife' coming from the Alphabet of Ben Sirach. A satiric work written in the late Middle Ages centuries after the first attested use of amulets and incantation bowls to ward of Lilith or lilin in Mesopotamia. Even Ashmedai for all his honor and piety was still treated as an enemy of mankind on average even if he was by no means an enemy of G-d. Of course, that is not to say that Jews haven't worked with spirits in fact the opposite is true. Merely that these spirit workings were often treated as incredibly dangerous works that were a mixture of lion taming and nuclear engineering. Descenders of the Merkavah had to battle through throngs of angels to reach the throne. Sar Torah mystics had to gird themselves with spiritual armor not to be annihilated by the angels for the crime of existing in a similar dimension to them. Even the act of Indulcio or sweetening the spirits often performed by wise women in many Sephardic communities was very much akin to paying off the mafia or in more historically accurate terms, paying Jizya.

My personal opinion on the reason for this trend is specifically because most Jewish content creators have been immersed in culturally Christian environments their whole lives. So, it would make sense for them to want to participate in the modern trend of telling things from the monster's side of the story. Something that is intrinsically tied to the fact that most of these monsters were metaphors for or linked to the powerless and the marginalized. In these scenarios, to show the story from the monster or demon's perspective would be an easy way of challenging societal narratives that do have real harmful impact even if very few people use the literal threat of werewolves and Medusa as bludgeons against marginalized communities.

Second of all there has been a major trend in making Judaism 'the leftist religion'. The religion without the fire and brimstone ideas of sin and hell that turned so many people to secularism. Progressive Judaism often advertises itself as the religion where evil is simply a misunderstanding and that's all cleared up there will be no more evil. We prided ourselves for years for fighting people who wanted to annihilate use with compassion and understanding. That surely rather than being bad they were merely tragically misguided souls who needed our help.

The problem with this in a Jewish context is that from the destruction of the Second Temple onwards our monsters were usually much more powerful than us in every sense of the word. In our stories, the were-panther who preyed on children was not the despised woodsman but the local bishop who no doubt incited very real pogroms against us. In our folklore, the heretical necromancer wasn't some liberated free thinker but someone who converted to the dominant religion and helped to persecute their former compatriots. Even Lilith who has become the mascot for a sort of 'persecuted heterodox' Judaism was by no means persecuted on the world stage in most Kabbalistic Treatise. In these works, Lilith was not the despised vagabond crushed by a patriarchal power system but the consort of Samael and the Princess of the realm of Edom. Symbols of the Christian and Islamic empires that have persecuted us for thousands of years. Or to put it in a snappy manner, the Lilith of the Zohar has much more in common with Margaret Thatcher than Rosa Luxemburg.

Now is there sexism and xenophobia in our own stories of monsters and demons? Unfortunately, yes. The amount of sexist and ethnically chauvinist tropes applied to Lilith in the Zoharic corpus alone are almost impossible to count and deeply troubling for modern readers. But that doesn't change the fact that Lilith was first and foremost a metaphor for SIDs and later on the non Vatican sanctioned medieval Marian Cults that replaced the drinking of sacramental wine with the spilling of Jewish blood as their main devotional acts.

Nor do I think that having progressive or universalist values in Judaism is at all a bad thing. I fully believe in the inclusion of those marginalized by the Rabbinic establishments in the past and do not wish to see us delight in cruelty. In fact, one of my biggest fears is that we might begin to ignore the suffering of gentiles because we rightly or wrongly assume they hold strong antisemitic biases. It's just that now, in an era of increasing antisemitic violence from all sides of the aisle it doesn't seem like a good idea to try and fight people who want to destroy us with beatific compassion and understanding.

[leahazel]

How to write a summary (the cheater's method)

I've written about this subject before (and I know I'm not the only one), but I still see people struggling with it pretty much daily. So here's my cheat sheet for how to produce a story summary that focuses on the story's essentials.

There are five pieces of information that need to exist in every summary:

Where and when the story takes place (for example, Victorian London, a nuclear submarine, a moon colony, a pseudo-medieval forest full of elves).

Who the main character is (for example, a young royal, an apprentice mage, a space marine, the eldest of five unmarried sisters).

What the main character wants (for example, to win a war, to prove their innocence, to get married, to survive in the apocalypse).

And, critically, why I, the reader, should care about it. This last one is hardest to give pithy examples for, but that only emphasizes how important it is.

I will give a more detailed example of why each item on the list is necessary behind the fold, using my own story, Turncoat Chronicle.

Where and when: TC takes place in a pseudo-Renaissance low fantasy setting. This tells you that if you enjoy the feudal dynamics of fantasy, you might enjoy this story, but if you mainly like fantasy for its magic and monsters, you probably won't.

Who: TC's MC is the heir of a king notorious for taking his throne by force. This tells you that if you love playing wealthy, privileged characters, you might vibe with the MC. On the other hand, if you're bored of fantasy that focuses on the monarchy, you probably won't.

What: The central conflict of TC is between the MC staying loyal to their father, or betraying him and siding with his worst enemy. This tells you that if you like stories about difficult choices and conflicting loyalties, TC might be for you.

Why: The stakes for TC are established early on. If the MC sides with his family's enemy, they will have to kill their father. On the other hand, if they side with their father, they will lose the opportunity to end a generation-long grudge. If you are interested in games that allow you to make history, these stakes might appeal to you.

At every step along the way, the summary is designed to help you gain readers who would enjoy your story and lose readers who would find it dissatisfying. The goal is to bring stories to the attention of those who are most looking for them as efficiently as possible, through the medium of a concise and informative summary.

These are the kinds of elements that I look for in a summary when I'm looking for stories to read.

[mask131]

Exploring the Ice King (4)

Here's at last the final part of this series! I wanted to release this post for the Day of the Kings, but I was too busy IRL... So it's today instead. After going 'round and 'round the elephant in the room, we finally get to touch the heart and core of Ice King: the inspirations of the monarch of ice and snow, and the ancestors of a winter sorcerer!

The most common and widespread trivia you will find around the Internet is that the Ice King seems to have been mainly influenced by the character of the "Winter Warlock" from the Rankin/Bass "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town". Indeed, we find the same lushious beard, pointy features, weird crown, penguin companion, ice-magic and antagonistic role

A similar evil ice sorcerer appeared in "Ruldoph and Frosty's Christmas in July", the wizard Winterbolt - whose name reminds of Ice King's "ice lightning"

The world of Rankin/Bass animations seems to have had a certain influence over Adventure Time. The duo formed by the Heat Miser and Snow Miser can have a vague echo in the duality of the Ice King and Flame King....

... While the huge Snow realm ruled by Father Winter in Rankin/Bass' "Jack Frost" reminds one of the various ice and snow creatures of Ice King's empty domain:

However there is a MUCH more direct inspiration to be listed... An animated movie that clearly was one of the roots of Adventure Time. 1971's The Point, about a boy with a strange hat and his dog going on an adventure... And where the king of the land looks like this:

I don't think I need to make anymore explanations - outside of mentionning that 1971's The Point was actually the animated adaptation of a musical album, and that the starting point of the writing of the story was someone's acid trip... Literaly. Both elements which also echo a LOT with Adventure Time's own style and uniqueness. Though the king in this version was a shy, timid, benevolent and magic-less ruler - a far cry from AT more dangerous and unstable ice-wizard.

Speaking of direct inspirations for Adventure Time, it has never been a secret that 1977's "Wizards" had been one of the main sources of Adventure Time's world. An earth returned to a world of fantasy, magic and fairies after a nuclear war, with a half-skeletal evil wizard leading armies of mutants and robots against the excentric, quirky and weird forces of "good"... The homage is neat and clear.

Why am I speaking of this however? No Ice King ancestor seems to be hiding there... Well, I suggest you take a look at another one of Ralph Bakshi's animated fantasy movies... No, not the animated "Lord of the Rings" movie. But 1983's "Fire and Ice". An animated collaboration with Frank Frazetta himself, about bluish-skinned, white-haired ice-rulers using snow magic to invade a fantasy land and capture a princess, only for a brave, sword-wielding blond hero to have to rescue her... While he is much more youthful, sexy and sane than Ice King, prince Nekron IS definitively one of the characters' ancestors.

The presence of an ice queen ruling alongside Nekron makes me think back on a specific topic... In fantasy, the role of sorcerous evil lords with powers and affinity for ice, snow and the cold is traditionally taken by a woman. Probably as a remnant of the popularity of Andersen's Snow Queen fairytale:

To mention a few famous examples, you have the White Witch of Narnia (which was C.S. Lewis taking Andersen's Snow Queen and fusing her with Lilith and She-who-must-be-obeyed):

Or Tad Williams' Utuk'ku, Queen of the Norns (the literary ancestors of Game of Thrones' White Walkers, Martin literaly ripped them off):

And Warhammer's Tzarina Katarin, first of the ice-witches of Kislev

Adventure Time did have some female characters wielding the powers of the ice - from the Ice Queen to Patience St. Prim, but it stayed mainly focused on the snow magic being male-owned (Ice King, Ice Finn, Evergreen, and all the recent alternates like the Winter King)...

... And by stayed quite "male-focused", Adventure Time echoes once more an ancient mythical archetype, a legendary character whose many incarnations go from Old Father Winter of England to Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost) of Russia, passing by Jack Frost and Boreas...

I could have talked about the large presence of ice spirits, spells and entities within the world of "Dungeons and Dragons" but this post is getting way too long, so, to conclude, I will also point out something many have noticed before - how a blue-skinned man-freak freezing everything over a tragic love story is strongly reminiscent of Batman's Mr. Freeze

[undertale-fic-librarby]

Hello! do you have any fantasy or something along the lines of apocalyptic like Perseverance by PastelAspirations?

Thank you!

Howdy, thanks for asking! Here are some fics that might fit what you're looking for!

The four skeletons of the apocalypse and their king by StrelitziaMystery1097 (Not Rated, Incomplete)

Nightmare was prophecised to bring ruin to the lands since he was a child. When his corruption is complete he'll sit on the throne made of the debris and distraught of world. At his side will be 4 loyal to him, Conquest, War, Famine and Death, that will be the weapons he'll use to consume everything in negativity. The same Nightmare who was just a homeless kid who spent his days with his brother in fields picking flowers and sleeping under trees. Nightmare didn't want to destroy the world at all. But one day Nightmare meets someone which triggers his fate's beginning...

Through the Wreckage by TheOwlsArchive (Mature, Incomplete)

In a world fallen to ruin, a lone skeleton wanders through the wreckage. However, coming upon an abandoned child, injured and unconscious, the ex-soldier makes a choice. He finds himself with a direction to move in for the first time since the collapse. A purpose. A mission to reunite the kid with his brother. They'll meet many along the their journey, some friendly, some not. A few who will stick around, many they will leave behind. One thing is for sure though. Cross will always be there for his kid. For Nightmare.

Horrorcrop : Nuclear love by Maddyfairyqueen (Teen And Up, Incomplete)

Years ago, a nuke fell and shook in world. Two different lives come together to face the horrors of the wasteland. Horror, whom has a goal to avenge his brother, and Farmer, A simple vault dweller who left to find his brother who disappeared. The two search and go through dangers in order to reach their goal. However, will they be able to reach their goal before something stops them?

Feuillemort by Valdixx (Not Rated, Incomplete)

Feuillemort (N.) The color of a dying leaf Nightmare has been planning something, a new attack, far worse than any other before. It's only a matter of time until the multiverse falls apart.

your best pal, ink by vicen_non (Teen And Up, Complete)

Ink writes letters to Error while the world around them slowly dies. --- (Read entire work all at once for most convenience.)

[butchhamlet]

what are your favourite things about king lear? also do you know any really good productions that i can watch online for free? asking because i didn’t really like king lear when i read it (except for edmund. i love edmund) and knowing why other people like it might let me look at it from a different angle. because i know it’s objectively a good play, and there’s a 50% chance of me having to study it next year so i want to like it

so i started writing a response to this ask and then paused to plot out my points (as if writing a goddamn essay) and then i looked at my points and i had written

fucked-up families

apocalypse vibes

women are hot

which. yeah, that's it, isn't it

anyway, to elaborate on that: i will admit that some of this is just personal preference, because i love stories about complicated nuclear-waste-toxic family dynamics, and lear is, like, one of the original Nuclear Waste Family Dynamic plays. (so is the oreisteia, incidentally.) what gets me specifically is that this is a play about power, yeah, but also about love: everybody in lear wants love, and nobody is getting enough of it. and the dynamics of the two families here get immediately more interesting if this isn't JUST a who-inherits-the-throne thing. edmund wants political sway, yeah, but maybe he also wants to be seen as more than a bastard. goneril kills her sister out of jealousy, yeah, but also, has she ever had a person care about her like edmund? (does he care about her? how much of the love triangle is about love vs lust vs calculation? these are questions that could be answered a thousand ways.)

i also read this play counter to old white guy traditional scholarship because i think lear (the guy) sucks. sorry. i think he sucks. i think he's terrifying and tyrannical and his daughters can do whatever they want (imo, his main problem is trying to apply his political power to his personal relationships, and that's not something caused by his senility. goneril and regan state at the end of 1.1 that, while he's going off the deep end a little more these days, "the best and soundest of his time hath been but rash." this guy has always sucked). speaking of goneril and regan, they're not evil hags--they're women trying to live with an unpredictable father, as well as trying to retain the little power they have in a male-dominated world. (notably, regan's husband is on her team, while goneril's isn't, and lear seems to have a lot of hatred for goneril specifically. which colors how both of them interact with power, edmund, and each other.)

i could actually talk about lear family dynamics forever (do cordelia's sisters love her, resent her, or both? how does edgar feel about edmund? how does edmund feel about edgar, for that matter? does he feel guilty at all for doing what he does? does edgar feel guilty about killing him? is the relationship between lear and gloucester entirely professional, or are they friends? can lear even have friends when he sees everything as some sort of zero-sum power love game? is kent gay for lear? <- yes) but i won't. because i have another point to make!

which is that it's somewhat comforting to me, in an era of [gestures at the news and broad state of the world], to read a play where people are like "holy fuck the world's going to shit and all the rules of society are inverted!" i read lear for the first time during pandemic quarantine, so. it felt fitting. your mileage may vary here (maybe you prefer escapism), but i think one could draw a lot of parallels between lear and [gestures out the window again]. this play is bleak in a way that few other shakespeare plays are bleak. (maybe timon of athens.) it's set in pre-christian britain, and the gods are invoked, but they're not really present. no one who appeals to higher powers ever seems to get any help or even comfort. and the original story of king leir didn't end Like That. shakespeare decided his play was going to end with the emotional equivalent of getting bricked in the face. cordelia's death doesn't mean anything at all! it didn't have to happen! edmund tried to stop it! she doesn't die in the original myth! and yet we're left with this horrifying apocalyptic last scene, where all the struggles for love and power come to almost nothing. maybe, if one is concerned about current events, this would make one feel worse. but i fucking love tragic catharsis and i feel bleak about the modern world so this horrible upsetting play is quite close to my heart <3

finally: i've already touched on Hot Women, but . i am a simple butch. i think goneril and regan are soooooo sexy. i love when women are mean and ruthless. i love when women kill with swords. i think conflating the two of them/treating them like two halves of the same Evil Daughter Character is a cardinal sin of shakespeare studies; you have to be reading with your eyes shut not to note stuff like regan's desire to outdo goneril, goneril's comparative lack of fulfilling relationships (re: lear fucking hates her and her husband sucks), or the differences in their dynamic with edmund (regan is still mourning cornwall at this point--does she love edmund at all, or is she just playing the political long game?). and cordelia, too, is more than just the Angelic Good Daughter; she's on stage much less frequently, but she shows a stubborn virtue that honestly borders on naivete and maybe an inclination toward martyrdom. how does she feel about her father? does she really forgive him? how does she feel about her sisters, for that matter? i'm not saying this play is, like, the most feminist shakespeare play ever written; i just really love the lear sisters.

other misc stuff: the themes are tasty! look at the authoritarianism! (is it right for one man to have this much power? see that line about the king being a wheel rolling down a hill destroying everything in his path as he destroys himself, or whatever). look at the gender dynamics! (goneril's dominance over albany and edmund in turn; the question of her womb; the mutual violence of regan and cornwall; cordelia leading an army.) look at the debate about fate and predestination! (#redditatheist edmund i love you). ++ the fact that it's set in some kind of nebulous unclear time period and the fool sings about merlin who wasn't even alive yet. i just think it's neat <3

as far as productions, i have a friend who swears by the bob jones university prod, though i haven't seen it in full (hi @lizardrosen :D). i also hav NTLive and RSC lears somewhere, i think, but shhhhh don't tell

i'd apologize for this ask being this long, but when my parents asked me to explain the plot of lear to them in 2020 i talked for 25 minutes so i guess we're all getting off lucky here

[two-white-butterflies]

post mortem | part two

Description: Six thieves gather hostages and lock themselves in the Royal Mint of Spain - a criminal mastermind by the alias of the Dragon manipulates the police to buy them enough time to print money. (money heist au) Pairing: Daemon Targaryen x Reader, Aegon Targaryen x Reader, and Aemond Targaryen x Reader. Rating: Mature 18+

series masterlist | part one

(Toledo, 6 MONTS BEFORE D-DAY)

Viserys takes a cautious step towards the board - smiling at his students. "Thank you for accepting this job offer," he humored, looking around the room and familiarizing himself with everyone's faces. Some were familiar like - Aegon, Aemond and Rhaenyra, but some were new like - you, Harwin and Mysaria.

"We'll be living here, for now - until the heist happens and it won't matter wherever you go." he smiled, turning back to the map on his hands. It was a map of Old Valyria (a city that was now filled with nuclear waste) but it was his home - his father's home - and their names will be built around that.

"I thought we were using planets da-I mean sir." Aegon raises his hand. "I was supposed to be Mars, and one-eye can be Uranus." he kicked the chair in front of him - earning a small chuckle from his uncle. "I don't want to be Uranus," Aemond rolls his eye.

"Why?" Aegon frowned.

"It's an anus." Aemond turned to look at him - nailing daggers on his brother's face. "Language! Young man." Viserys scolded, walking back to the board.

He reaches for the chalk, writing on the board what names were available for the choosing. "No one is allowed to use their real names - just in case someone gets captured and etcetera," he mumbled and the crowd erupts into a chorus of agreement.

It made absolute sense to stay anonymous.

Daemon turns to look at you - a mischievous glint on his eyes. "It makes sense," you mumble - playing with a pencil. Viserys turns to look at you - a smile was on his face. "Why don't you choose first?" he offered. There were interesting names on the board.

Lorath, Lys, Myr, Norvos - but Volantis felt right.

"Volantis," you answered quickly - and the man turns to offer other people their choices of names. Daemon wraps his arms around your waist, leaning closer towards your ears. "The oldest and the proudest of all the Nine Free Cities. But Volantis has changed its name - it's Thessaloniki now." he whispered.

Viserys glares at his brother - seeing the closeness between you.

"- and you?" he raised an eyebrow.

Daemon reaches his full height.

"Rhyos. I am Rhyos."

That was the day you started calling yourself Volantis. The man beside you who was ogling at your breasts was Rhyos or Daemon. His face was familiar - you've seen him in the television - from millions of pounds to diamonds to armored cars. He's the biggest criminal in Europe and Asia. He was a fucking shark - but anyone can swim with him, you'd just feel nervous all the time.

The other guy who was staring at Mysaria's ass was Aegon or Norvos. He's not that big of a criminal - but he's wanted for stealing one of the Ambani Family's treasured jewelry. There's a saying 'Steal from the poor and they'll vote you for the next election. Steal from the rich, and they'll bite your ass.'

The guy in front of him was Aemond or Lorath. He went to jail at sixteen for leaking an unreleased episode of his favorite show - pretty much a rookie as the episode was getting aired the following day. Fuck, Game of Thrones eh?

Then there's that beautiful woman a few inches away from you. Her name was Rhaenyra - she is yet to choose a codename, but everyone already knows who she is. She used to be a model in the '00s. The most beautiful woman in the world - was what they called her. Until she was caught laundering billions of euros - she would've gotten away with it if her step-father didn't rat her out.

She's your role model. Your barbie, basically.

And the reason for why you know all of them?

You spend a lot of time reading the news.

(D-DAY 8.35 AM)

Six months of planning and it was reaching fruition. "Hands where I can see them!" you yell, pointing it at the truck driver. The first step of the plan was getting the unmarked paper bills to the Royal Mint.

"If someone calls the radio, you will answer like there is nothing wrong, okay?." Daemon briefed, pacing back and forth between the men - exuding his confident aura.

This was one of the few moments you were thankful for the minimum wage. These men were paid 1,600 euros per month - thus they didn't care whether or not their cars were getting hijacked. If their daughters were in the trunk, they wouldn't have opened it - but paper? Darling, they couldn't have given a lesser fuck.

"Now, let's go." he turned to look at you - leading the team towards the hijacked cars. Mysaria hands you a blonde wig - fixing it on while you settle the seatbelt in between your breasts.

"Don't take your eyes off the girl, we can't afford mistakes." Daemon looks at you - holding your chin softly. He takes a moment - licking his lips, then moving back and tapping the car - telling Mysaria to drive away.

"Let's find the little lamb," Mysaria breathes - driving through the empty road swiftly. "Who even takes a field trip to a Royal Mint? It sounds boring," you slump on your chair, holding the seatbelt tightly as you cruise closer to the Mint.

"Boring when you're poor, but classy when you're rich." she replied.

Entering the Mint was easy - but finding the little lamb.

"Where the fuck is she?" Mysaria curses, opening all the bathroom stalls. "It's like a game of Where is Waldo," you sigh - pointing the gun at every door you open. "What?" she raised an eyebrow, unfamiliar with the game. "It's a game where you find this little guy in a striped shirt," you explain and she rolls her eyes.

"Where is the little lamb," she rephrased the game - smiling in satisfaction as she opened the last stall. Revealing Cersie Lannister.

"Thank the Seven," you breathed - grabbing the girl by her arm and dragging her to where all the hostages were. "I-I need my phone," the girl stuttered reaching for the Iphone on Mysaria's hands.

The older woman pulls it away.

"Influencers," you mumble like a slur - earning a glare from the child.

"My boyfriend took my phone and retweeted a fucking anti-climate change movement. I don't care if I die today - I will get cancelled." she cried, and you pointed a gun at her waist - making her cries harden. "Are you serious?" you frown, biting back a loud laugh.

Being cancelled was going to be the least of her worries.

Daemon removes his mask as the last hostage puts on a blindfold. "Happy Friday, I hope everyone has had the chance to go to do their novenas. I want to say sorry for what we're doing today, it's not a happy way to end your week. Follow our instructions and you'll be safe." he smiled, Aegon nods his head - telling him that all the phones were currently under control.

"I hope that you enjoy this experience - write a book about it in the future, it might get you into a good college. Harvard or Yale, they love their sob stories." he chuckled, playing with his rifle that he named 'Dark Sister.'

A groan escapes your mouth, pointing a pistol at an old man's head. "What's the fucking pin?" you cursed, holding his Samsung with your left hand. A tear rolls down the man's eye. "Pin?" you repeat in an annoyed way - knowing that this wasn't supposed to be your job.

Another tear falls down his eyes.

"0."

"0."

"0."

He lowered his head in shame.

"0." he whispered, and a small laugh exits your mouth.

"You were acting really smart with me - and your pin is 0000?" you tease him, throwing his phone down the other sacks of phone. "Anyways, no shame in that." you chuckle, taking a step away from him.

"All the phones are unlocked, Lorath - you know what to do."

Aemond nods - smiling at you.

(Toledo, 6-MONTHS BEFORE D-DAY)

"Do you know why I do this?" Rhaenyra slurred - laying on your bed while she stunk of whiskey and vodka. "- because I want my sons back. I want them back from their father - whose actually not their real father." she chuckled bitterly, feeling the tears fall from her irises.

She grabs into your collar - pulling you closer to her body.

"I know where they are - they're in America with their fake grandparents, and I'll get them back once I get the money." she swore to herself, ultimately mumbling their names before falling back asleep.

next chapter>>

@fan-goddess @marvelescvpe @theshatteredideal @acollectionofcells1 @mxacegrey @bellstwd @nyctophilic0vitnir @icarusgloom @pearlstiare @shruie @immyowndefender @ammo23

comment to get tagged

[amaiguri]

The WIP Questionaire

Thanks so so much from @verba-writing for the tag! I had such a fun time reading your answers too and I'm very excited for paranormal romance 😍

I feel like I wanna flag that a lot of my answers are very anime/gaming-sphere oriented and I hope I'm not totally alienating my mutuals by revealing just HOW MUCH I'm not a book person lololol But this is with what we're working:

The Questions are:

1. What was the first part of your wip that you created?

The very first thing I made was the high premise: It was synthesized from the Overly Sarcastic Productions question "What if all the Kings Under the Mountain came back...?" and then I added the context "...in a Nuclear Crisis to discuss piece?" And in my head, it was this HBO-style modern fantasy Game of Thrones meets West Wing type deal. But then... I didn't want to write the modern piece. (The modern piece should be written by people in countries from all over Europe about what it means to be a hero in various cultures.)

So I set it in 1800s fantasy world instead!

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

The first arc would be Dance in the Game by Zaq

The second arc would be Lacrimosa by Kalafina

The Gods' Arc would be Paper Boquet by Mili

3. Who are your favourite characters you've made? Why?

Is it to cliché to be like "my current self-insert protagonist is my favorite character I've ever made"? Her and my antagonist are just THE BEST and I love them.

4. What other pieces of media do you think would share a fan base for your story?

Mmm, I think Untitled Yssaia Game's story would appeal to queer Game of Thrones fans who could FEEL the straightness in GoT, especially if they also like anime. I would hope I could get general anime fans as well as Arcane and Genshin Impact fans, but I feel like those are too mainstream and Yssaia is not. Realistically, I think I'm gonna get the Wadanohara people and the Ib people and, if I get really lucky, the To the Moon people.

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your wip?

Marketing lol -- explaining what it is to people in a way that they realize they want it.

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

Fuafua 🥺🥺🥺

Look at her! She is a six-legged, six-eyed slug cat called a Maret. Marets fill the same role as ocelots in Yssaia, except they're more semi-aquatic like otters and their skin has a stressball-like texture.

7. How do your characters get around? (ex: trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

They walk or ride Rumateurs (which are alpaca-like beings with ossicones) or take ships or airships or trains. I don't like writing about travel that much though so it is a background element.

8. What part of your wip are you working on rn?

I am pre-editing the first arc for my alpha readers and the third arc has another 50k to 100k words to draft. We're at like 250k words total right now and it is so unwieldy 😭😭😭

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?

Oh, I have a convenient graphic for this. Hang on...

10. What are your hopes for your wip?

I was just diatribing about this earlier but the DREAM is to turn it into an RPGmaker adventure game and have it go viral and make a million bucks off it. I'd love to be the next Undertale but it'll never happen because I am not positioned to be the next Undertale, you know?

So yeah, that's what's what! Thanks again for the ask! This was so fun! I'm gonna pass this to @maiemorrae, @moonfeatherblue, @zebee-nyx, @winterandwords, @modernwritercraft, @words-after-midnight, @spideronthesun, @theprissythumbelina, @thepanplate, @thetruearchmagos, @maskedemerald, @moondust-bard, @pluttskutt and @emelkae 😍😍😍 I actually internalized Verba's WIP so well from this tag and I wanna make sure I'm updated on what all you cool people are working on! Open tag to any of my other moots too! 🥳

IMPORTANTTTTT⚠️

I will edit this to have a blank easily copy-and-pasteable question section when I get back to my computer. If I forget, @ me!