#or imagine its storytelling potential. same thing

[ilions-end]

all these myths about what happens to odysseus after the events of the odyssey. i've been thinking about the one (referenced by pseudo-apollodorus and plutarch) where odysseus is locked in conflict with the families of the killed suitors (because the divinely decreed conciliation at the end of the odyssey just didn't stick, i guess). they agree to send for neoptolemus (of ALL PEOPLE) to arbitrate, but neoptolemus secretly wants odysseus' estates, so his ruling is that odysseus is banished from ithaca, cephallenia and zacynthus "because of the blood that he had shed there", and also the families must pay odysseus a yearly fee to pay off the damages caused by the suitors. now odysseus has to wander off and father too many sons so they can establish roman cities.

obviously i think this myth is a little silly (as a number of post-odyssey myths are) but i always try to give each variant due thought, because presumably for some ancient people this WAS part of the story of odysseus.

so imagine it as the result of what happens in sophocles' philoctetes: maybe odysseus suggests and lobbies for neoptolemus as arbitrator because he assumes neoptolemus will be deferential, he remembers neoptolemus as he was -- conscientious but realistic, or just plain morally ambiguous and easy to manipulate. maybe neoptolemus' ruling is the direct result of the lesson odysseus taught him on that first, fateful mission: if you want something bad enough, you can't let sentiment or honesty get in the way. maybe there IS some lingering sense of loyalty and respect there, so neoptolemus tells himself that securing odysseus a yearly income makes up for forcing him to flee his home.

remember when philoctetes accused odysseus of forever ruining neoptolemus' moral compass? i think about that a lot

[dark-dragon-8]

In case you guys couldn't tell, Dick Grayson, AKA Nightwing, is my favorite DC character. Specifically because I can just write/imagine him however way I want, within the realm of (fanon) reason, and someone will agree with me/there's already a fic about it.

Want to read about a murderous character? Nightwing has once killed the Joker and (as far as I know) didn't regret it. Not to mention Renegade also exists (along with former Talon AU, secret/resolved "killer" AU, where he kills but doesn't tell anyone, and more minor ones as well) and there are several fics where he takes on that alias in order to deal with some "unfinished business" regarding his family.

Want to read about an undercover character using their looks and flirting to their benefits (and having the attention of everyone at the bar by simply existing and being hot)? I have read so many undercover Dick Grayson that wore the sluttiest outfits just to get info. Even read a few where he did it to make his siblings (mainly Jason) more comfortable since they weren't comfortable with it yet that was his forte (regardless of whether or not he liked doing that as well).

Looking for a rich (kinda spoiled, an act, but still lovable and amazing) Nepo baby that everyone thirsts over in the gala? Richie Wayne is right there and is the eldest Wayne/heir, that's bound to cause some drama at parties/Galas (esp with protective Batfam) and I love that (please give me more fics like that, I can barely find any).

Want a badass vigilante that can beat the absolute life out of criminals and defeat Batman with relative ease? Nightwing is one of the strongest members of the Batfam, if I remember correctly he even defeated Cassandra/an opponent equal to Cassandra before.

Want to read an angst filled story about a character that feels like they're being objectified all the time and just wants a break? Do I even have to say it?

Want a character study about how the annoyed/stubborn/exhausted guy from the comics turned into an "attention whore" on fics? I remember reading (and even writing) character studies where Dick is suffering from stuff such as hypersexuality and anxiety issues where he needs people to see/notice/pay attention to him as a result of his sexual trauma (the assault & other stuff he went through).

And so much more. The duality of that man, when a character has such a variety of interpretations and ways to write about them it just fills that writer/storyteller/reader in me with joy. That complex potential that I seek in characters, like being able to kill someone while also being a hero loved by the hero community, a celebrity loved by the world and a few beyond it, a spoiled rich kid when he likes to indulge himself and a victim that has suffered through so much, it's natural to give them different ways (separation anxiety, exhibitionism, aversion to touch, etc) to cope and deal with the horrible hand that was given to them. It's just something that is very rare to come across in a character, especially one so well known and loved for all of those different things rather than only one or two of them taking over the entire character and its interpretation, and I really love Nightwing for being that character for both writers and readers looking for somethings and finding all they could ask for and more in just a singular tag (ofc I know the other characters have a variety as well, Dick just has such a big variety and his "spectrum" is so big, vast and versatile, he has a piece of the fandom for everything, like a bunch of different characters smacked into one, all sharing the same name, it's why I chose him specifically and why I love reading about him the most specifically).

[natlacentral]

Avatar Netflix Season 2 Will 'Condense' Original Storyline (Exclusive)

Season 2 of Avatar: The Last Airbender will follow in the footsteps of the first season's storytelling "condensing." 

Each season of the animated Avatar series had twenty episodes, most of which followed their own adventures. When it came to the live-action show, the first season only had eight hour-long installments.

This led to many elements of the original storyline getting condensed, such as the combination and relocation of a handful of plot threads to the team’s stay in Omashu—meeting the Mechanist, Jet, Bumi, and venturing into the Secret Tunnel.

As one might imagine, these types of changes did not always land well with audiences.

Season 2 Will Condense Original Avatar Storyline

Speaking with The Direct at Paleyfest 2024, Avatar: The Last Airbender Seasons 2 and 3 executive producer Jabbar Raisani confirmed that they will need to condense some of the original story as the Netflix show moves forward.

Raisani pointed out how their handling of Seasons 2 and 3  which will conclude the live-action series - will be "a lot like Season 1," which also means "some condensing" has "to take place:"

"I think it's a lot like season 1. There's a lot of content in the animated series. And we will be looking at all that content. But we don't have the number of episodes that we have in the animated series. So, certainly, there will be some condensing that has to take place."

While speaking to The Direct about the possibility of more original moments in Season 2 for his character, Uncle Iroh actor Paul Sun-Hyung Lee shared that he "[does not] know how they’re going to remix the stories" going forward:

"I wish I could; I have no idea what they have planned for us... I know we're getting an opportunity to finish telling the story. Obviously, the animated series is going to be the template for us. But other than that, I don't know how they're going to remix the stories. Nobody tells me nothing. So I'm just gonna show up. And yeah, hopefully, we get a better, clearer sense of where we're going with that in the future. But right now, I have no idea what's going to happen."

While the original animated series has been finished for nearly two decades, the story of those characters will continue in a new animated film called Aang: The Last Airbender.

Currently, not many details are known about the project, but fans do know it will follow team Avatar as they are older following the events Avatar.

As for whether its story will have any influence on future episodes of Netflix’s The Last Airbender, Raisani admitted it will not, at least "not at this point:"

"No, not at this point. We are really looking at the animated series at what came before and less of sort of what they're currently doing on the new movies."

As for whether or not he would be interested in potentially adapting Legend of Korra for live-action, he firmly responded:

"Certainly, I'd be interested in anything that is in this universe."

[ Avatar 2025 Movie: Last Airbender Release, Cast & Everything We Know About Adult Aang Film ]

Remixing Season 2 Episodes Was Inevitable

When it comes to adapting the source material, condensing is unavoidable. Avatar: The Last Airbender fans shouldn't be surprised the same will be happening for Seasons 2 and 3.

Simply put, 20-minute bite-size adventures do not work well for the more extended episode structures of the Netflix show. If the original episode is a self-contained, isolated story, odds are it may not make the cut—or be weaved in with other plot threads.

Hopefully, at the very least, fan-favorite episodes such as the desert spirit library and how Appa got stolen can see the light of day in live action.

One thing that will make it notably more difficult to stick to the original episodes, though, is how behind on Aang’s bending lessons he is. Book 2 is all about him learning earthbending from Toph—however, in the live-action Last Airbender series, he hasn't even started lessons for waterbending.

The show is ahead of the game when it comes to Azula’s storyline, however, as she doesn’t originally appear until Season 2. That alone could save some episodes from the chopping block.

[scraftyisthebest]

With the recent reveal of Gibeon owning a Shiny (White) Zygarde, many people have been trying to use this to insinuate that Horizons may take place in a separate continuity/timeline/universe from Ash's story.

However, I disagree, and I think that not only does Liko's show still take place in the same continuity as Ash's story, but that such sentiment is frankly something that goes without saying. If they truly wanted to create a new, separate continuity, why wouldn't they just use a new version of Ash to establish that? And in such a case, I believe they would be much more liberal about using legacy characters because such characters would be new versions of them, not the ones we know: the fact that they're largely avoiding acknowledging legacy characters for the most part implies they're still out there in the world Liko and Roy are travelling. It would also needlessly complicate things like potential meetings which have immense marketing value like an Ash and Liko meeting down the line. The world Anipoke has taken place in is so large and has gone through so much worldbuilding with still more potential for even more, that Ash and Liko can viably exist in the same world without crossing paths. There's no business or storytelling benefit to making Horizons a new continuity, as Liko and Roy are fundamentally different characters with a different space in the world from Ash to begin with, and it would be a total waste if they just dropped all the worldbuilding they had done over the past 26 years. Thus, it is most certainly in the same continuity as before.

---

Now on to my main point, I think there is a much simpler explanation to the existence of Gibeon's Shiny Zygarde that can justify why it exists even with the existence of Squishy and Z2, and in that same world. And one that I think may raise very interesting implications for this story and where we may be headed. Also one that mirrors the games, particularly SV and its deal with Terapagos and the Paradoxes.

I believe that Gibeon's Zygarde, alongside the Black Rayquaza and the rest of the Six Heroes who were believed to be Lucius's companions, are honorary Paradox Pokemon who were magically willed into existence by the power of Terapagos.

It is easy to miss, especially if you don't stop to think about it, but Terapagos's power, aside from being the harbinger of the Terastal phenomenon, is the power to create paradoxical things. It can "create" things using its power, things that originate from human imagination to those who believe certain things about them, but when you stop to think about those things, it makes no logical sense for them to exist in the way they are explained.

This is especially evident in the actual Paradox Pokemon from the games. Sada and Turo willed them into existence using their "time machine" and believe them to be Pokemon from the ancient past and distant future, or the one we "see" in the Crystal Pool being from alternate timelines. But as their names imply, their existence is a paradox: their whole deal is that they're not supposed to actually exist, and yet somehow, they got willed into reality and given life and physical existence. The dubiousness of their existence is enforced by their drawings in the Scarlet/Violet books, created 200 years prior to the game's events by Heath and his expedition team, contradicting the fact that Sada/Turo only created the time machine 10 years prior to the game's story. The dubiousness of how they came to be is also reinforced by their only other mention being in the Occult magazines, which are questionably trustworthy at best. We know that their existence started in Area Zero, a place filled with Terastal energy thanks to Terapagos, thus the latter is the creator of them.

The paradoxical nature of Terapagos's power is also reflected in the Crystal Pool event at the end of Indigo Disk, a place where you can seemingly talk to the dead, and Terapagos summons a Sada or Turo who was alive, supposedly before they created the time machine. And you give them Briar's book in exchange for the Scarlet/Violet book. But the more you think about this event, the less it actually makes sense, and the only conclusion you can make is that if it were our own Sada/Turo, the entire game's timeline would implode upon itself.

Now on to the anime, Gibeon is now known to have been a companion of Lucius. Lucius and his friends have the stories of their adventures chronicled in books and legends. This incidentally also parallels how the Paradox Pokemon are chronicled in Scarlet and Violet the games. But when you stop to look at everything, aside from Terapagos, the nature of the Six Heroes' existence is incredibly dubious at best, to the point where it's questionable if those six ever actually existed, or if they did, how they came to be. The same would likely apply to Gibeon's Shiny Zygarde. The Black Rayquaza is the biggest example: aside from being a Rayquaza, it is always shown glowing and crystallized, likely surrounded by Terastal energy. It may have even been created by and willed into reality by Terapagos itself, literally formed by Terastal energy. This is sort of hinted at very early on, when Liko's pendant, which was Terapagos, and Roy's special Poke Ball, which unleashed the Black Rayquaza, resonated with one another, and the Black Rayquaza didn't emerge until it resonated with Terapagos, which may imply that it wasn't actually in there and Terapagos used its power to will it into existence, alongside the other five heroes. The other Heroes seem to have abnormal traits as well, such as a giant Arboliva and two of the heroes being legendaries, and they only "awakened" once the Black Rayquaza did. This may imply they weren't real, and the only one of Lucius's Pokemon who wasn't willed into existence was Terapagos itself, who used its power to "create" companions for Lucius and its friends.

The same may apply to Gibeon's White Zygarde as well, who may have been willed into existence by Terapagos. This Zygarde, along with Rayquaza, are the biggest anomalies not just in their different coloration, but that they were literally owned by someone, which in the anime world should not be possible as major legendaries like them are largely above being owned by Trainers. Them being Paradoxes willed into reality by Terapagos would explain this.

This is most certainly an interesting turning point, and may raise a lot of questions to the true tale of Lucius and his friends, and what Rakua truly is. One thing is certain though: Terapagos and its special powers surrounding Terastal energy and the creation of paradoxical things seem to be playing a major role here.

[maeljade]

Character lore poll

I am cooking an OC and my brain has come up with two possible variations of lore and cant decide so I am outsourcing it to Tumblr! Here's the OC, Jade!

And here's the poll, answer based on vibes or full information with Dawntrail spoilers below the cut!

And now under the cut the full lore. Once again, spoilers for themes of Shadowbringers +, things that happened in Endwalker and the entire second half of Dawntrail! Consider yourself warned.

As should be easily visible from the picture, she's my Solution 9/Alexandria OC. And yes, she is in fact the local shard of Mael, my lizzer and WoL. And since Solution 9 has the whole Regulator business its a great opportunity for some wonderful storytelling.

Her basic lore backstory is that she's working as one of the hunters keeping the outskirts of Heritage Found safe and thus naturally uses a regulator. Between Lightningstrikes and wild beasts the risks of death are high and hunters also use it for simple soul fusion to enhance their fighting (so no full transformation like Arcadion). Unfortunately for her there is no Hydaelyn since Endwalker sending a crystal of light with images of a starshower attached so no echo for her. Also she used to have a partner, which is at the center of both torments!

Now unto the 2 possible torments that my brain has come up with!

Torment of Forgetting:

Imagine having a loving partner, half the room decorated in her style, her perfume in the bathroom, small trinkets from her in your outfit. This partner also wears a regulator ... and dies. And because both of you had a regulator the memory is erased. Gone. Nothing there anymore. The memory has been erased leaving only an emptiness and a feeling of something missing. And looking around her home everything makes this void sting harder. Decorations Jade would not buy but that still feel right in the room. Perfumes the smell of which she loves but wouldn't wear herself. Accessories that feel close to her heart but she cant remember. The typical Elidibus/Solution 9 package.

Torment of Remembering

Same relationship as the other torment, same loving partner dying ... but this time her regulator had been destroyed before it happened so she alone remembers her love. Friend groups her lover introduced her to suddenly missing the connection. In laws who don't even remember how you met. The entire world moving on and forgetting, leaving you all alone to grieve. Let's call it the Emet-Selch deal, to be the only one remembering and mourning.

Both of these sound like horrible torment to heave upon her. Yet both feel fitting, especially when I consider both the connection to Mael as Dotharl and her beliefs and the parallels with the two unsundered.

And both parts would lead her on a path towards working with and maybe even joining the resistance, yet also being reliant on the regulator for fighting and doing her job.

And not least of all the potential angst of meeting someone new and struggling with fears of also being forgotten.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hi!

First of all, I really appreciate your work here! I love discovering new games and i have added some to my list based on your recommendations

Right now I'm looking for a solo ttrpg that is meant to be played in extremely short daily sessions. I want to play a little round each morning as if it were a daily wordle or newspaper crossword puzzle. Just a quick dopamine hit without having to commit multiple hours.

I know that with solo games, it is easy to do things at my own pace anyway. But are there any solo games that incorporate short, daily sessions as a feature?

THEME: Short, Daily, Solo Games.

Myrtle Manor, by aiyujellies.

On the edge of the cliffside lies a crumbling manor swathed in blankets of shadow. A cloaked figure darts out of its entrance, a gaping maw, and disappears into the forest, their footprints featherlight and fading in the snow...

Myrtle Manor is a solo journaling role-playing game. It requires a tarot deck, two coins, and a medium to record the story. For every entry, you will draw a tarot deck and consult the oracle for guidance on what kind of person you meet. Each day you will meet a new person.

You’ll want to keep in mind why you’re visiting the manor and what secret your character is trying to find (as well as what secret they are trying to keep). Each entry comes with a section called Mind Your Presence, in which you determine what each meeting means to your character.There doesn’t seem to be a definitive end to this game - I’m assuming you can play for as many days as there are tarot cards in the deck, but you could also tie things up sooner if you find the story reaching a natural conclusion, or whenever you get bored. Definitely worth checking out!

Your True Name, by Pearse Anderson.

Your True Name is a spell-generation storytelling game to play with some choice five-letter words. It is a one-page Lost & Found hack of Wordle, the online spelling sensation, designed to be one-player and played in fifteen minutes or less!

In Your True Name, you become a magic word being Spoken by generations of spellcasters, each of them trying to use your magic and get closer to Your True Name (today’s Wordle answer). The game changes each day with the Wordle and with each player’s guesses, making the replayability endless and a perfect way to generate fun spells for your other campaigns and games. You, as the magic word you inhabit, can travel between the lips of waterfall watchers, bandit-kings, aeronauts, illusionists, and Mage College adjuncts, changing and growing in both power and potential volatility.

This gives you a way to game-ify another morning activity, that activity being Wordle. I was inspired to recommend this game when you mentioned a daily Wordle, because I knew I had seen this game somewhere. You could stay within the same world / character as you play, or hop between characters or bouts of inspiration.

The Bonsai Diary, by Sticky Doodler.

It's 2023, and you plant a small tree seedling, imagining its future. Bonsai trees can live hundreds of years. Who will inherit this living being? What will that person think of you in 2178? Will they think of you at all?

This is a beautifully contemplative game, in which you embody various generations that are all responsible for caring for a bonsai tree (and possibly more). Throughout the game you will find small pieces of facts about trees and notable tree-related history. The game itself is a printable booklet that you will draw in, answering questions about 6 generations and how they came across the bonsai. If you want to continue past generation 6, the booklet contains instructions for longer play.

You Beyond the Pale, by S. Kaiya J.

You don't belong in the mortal world. You live alone, and you have always lived alone. You have yourself, and you have your own territory. The mortals have their own realms, and the mortals have each other. So what happens when the mortal world starts coming to you?

You, Beyond the Pale is a solo journaling RPG based on the Aspire SRD. Take up the role of a unique monster, adrift and alone, bewildered by a world full of mortals. Observe them. Learn about them. Scare them, or leave gifts for them. Make a friend. And brace for when your friend tells the rest of the mortal world about you.

S. Kaiya J writes extremely poetic and thoughtful games, and this one is no exception. Using a deck of cards, you will chronicle the story of a monster who makes a new, mortal friend. The author encourages you to select a prompt in the morning, think about the possibilities throughout the day, and return to the game at night, before you go to bed. If you want a game that draws a story out over a month, this might be the game for you.

Loved in Triangles, by James Shannon.

Loved In Triangles is a solo GM-lessTTRPG about romance, relationships and choices. Through playing you'll explore 6 months in the life of someone deciding whether to stay in their current comfortable relationship or to risk it all on the possibility of something new. The game requires a standard deck of playing cards.

If you want to play a game that deals with a topic that has some weight to it, you might want to check out this game. You will draw cards and your character will have to make a decision about what they want in life when it comes to romance. You can base these characters off of different versions of yourself, inspired by fictional characters, or something else altogether.

You are Autumn, by Turtlebun.

You Are Autumn is a game for one person. It takes only a few moments to play.

This is possibly one of the shortest solo games I’ve seen on Itch. It’s more of a writing or journaling exercise than it is a storytelling game; each day you write about the things you cherish and how they leave you to be replaced with something else. I feel like you could either stick rigidly to the premise of this game, or you could expand on it, create new rules, or use it as part of another journaling game.

Games I've Recommended in the Past

Global Dragon Egg Conservation, by KuumatheBronze.

Also...

You might also want to check out the Lunch Break RPG Bundle, which are meant to be short and quick to play. Not all of them will be solo, but a good number will be! (Limited time only)

[brickcentral]

🤩 ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: zekezachzoom Hello everyone! It's time to direct the spotlight toward our community members, and today we will get to know better zekezachzoom!

"My name is Sunny but you might know me better as zekezachzoom on social media. I am a freelance graphic designer and have been a toy photographer for 10 years.

I came up with this profile name after my sons’. Zeke is my second son and Zach my first. I imagined them running away after calling their names, hence Zoom. I live in Singapore where we have two seasons, Rain and Shine. It’s a tiny island and getting around is pretty fast and easy. I have a few favourite spots around the island for toy photography. I will be more than happy to explore these places with any of my overseas friends if they pop by this part of the world! Though sometimes I wish we have mountains, rivers and maybe desert for more outdoor choices. On the plus side, being a small island makes organizing an outing with fellow toy photographers very easy, even if it is a last minute thing.

I started toy photography after posting an image of Spiderman squatting on the window ledge overlooking the neighborhood on Instagram…and then discovering the community. Everyone was and still is very encouraging and I think this helped in me trying to better myself with each photograph. Though Instagram is not what is used to be, but that is a discussion for another day.


Talking about process, if there is a brief for the photo (commissioned work, photo contest), I will usually follow up with some research work on the topic. At the same time, I will park the topic for the photo at the back on my mind and let it simmer unconsciously.

However, for personal work, I usually do not actively chase for ideas, forcing them out. I find that most ideas come to me randomly. This usually happens in a variety of ways, like watching videos on any subject, going about my daily life, observing and listening to things around me. I think being curious about everything and anything certainly helps in generating ideas.

Once I have a photo idea, I then let it sit and simmer further in my mind’s eye. This can help take the concept to more interesting directions in terms of story, setup, composition, lighting, etc. More ideas can be built upon this initial concept base on even more things you see and observe. It also allows time to think about how to setup the shot.

I will always sketch my ideas on my notebook, which is always by my side. At present time, I have more ideas than time to shoot!

When it comes to the shoot itself, I usually start with the mobile phone, quickly checking the angles and then locking my camera to a tripod. I always use a tripod to gather multiple shots of the same angle with different lighting, atmospheric effect so that I can then composite them in post if need be. Then I will shoot couple of shots for final composition without the lighting and atmospheric effect. I enjoy the post production work, especially the color grading part. Sometimes, the word PHOTOSHOP give rise to arguments within the photographic community. To me, it’s just a tool to bring the picture to its maximum potential.

I think people I know in the community know me for my punny, silly and light-hearted stuff. So much so that friends recommend me toys they think that might fit this style. However, recently I find myself going all over the place in terms of themes. I just enjoy the process of experimenting different approaches, be it the storytelling or the technical bits of photography. When I am shooting indoor, I usually set up for low key images. It gives me a chance to experiment with indoor lighting. If there is one thing I would tell my younger self when I started, it’s to pay attention to lighting. It can elevate a nice photo to a great photo. Also, I like to build simple sets with everyday object that end up looking like something else when viewed through the camera. I do this mostly because I am lazy and don’t have the patience to build dioramas. I am usually with a group of friends when I shoot outdoors, because we have a monthly gathering among us. During these outings, I am constantly looking out for areas with awesome lighting. I try to reserve my action shots (ie scenes with flying debris) outdoors, mostly because there is no need to clean up after the mess! Also, outdoor light is beautiful…but fast changing lighting condition is another story all together.

When I first started, it was all about the Star Wars figures. I had stopped collecting figures since the 1980s , but it was the Star Wars Black Series that got me collecting again with all its glorious articulation. Once I discovered the community, I realized that there were other characters to be bought! I sometimes wonder if that is a good thing, from my wallet’s point of view.

I find myself gravitating towards nostalgia when it comes to the figures I buy. So, my collection and images usually reflect that, with movie/TV characters from the 80s. Stuff like Aliens, Indiana Jones, Predator and Back to the Future, etc. However, whether they are LEGO minifigures, statues, 6 inch figures, I will shoot any figures as long as they serve the stories. Each type of figures has its own pros and cons and challenges. But I would not have it any other way.

This is my basic equipment list: • Nikon Zfc with kit lens (16mm to 50mm) • Lensbaby Sweet 35 lens • Helios 44-2 58mm lens • Extension tubes for close ups • 2 speed lights • Couple of LED cube lights • Manfrotto tripod

Why toy photography? I love pop culture and telling quirky weird stories with characters I love. I can never produce awesome looking illustration of these images I have in mind and photography seems like the next best thing. Hence toy photography! When I first started, I was always coming up with ideas in the middle of the night and sketching them down and made it my mission to spread this hobby. I recall vividly telling a friend how much I enjoy this hobby and was going to just keep throwing out toy photos into the internet and see what comes back. And a lot has indeed happen since then: • I started a local Facebook group to organize more toy photography outings and share photos. • Managed to get featured on national newspaper and television, because they came across my work online. • Made friends on social media and participated in podcast by some of these friends. • Conducted workshops. • Shot for some toy companies. • Collaboration with toy designers and model/diorama makers. • Nikon Ambassador.

I have enjoyed the journey so far and look forward to improving myself. Something I always remind myself: your best photo is the one you have not taken yet."

Thank you for accepting our invitation and let the community knows you better!

If you want some insights on the exclusive picture and for a better view of the others, head to our blog at https://brickentral.net/.

- @theaphol, Community Outreach Manager

[justanotherquinnfan]

A Case for Milo's The Epicurean Society

Have I mentioned how good Milo's (Bad Influence's) newsletter is? I'm sure I have. And I'll continue to say so while it continues to be true. Besides how flirty and fun it is, it's a good way for him to interact with his fans while maintaining a stronger boundary than on Instagram (see my post about not making it weird). And you get such a wonderful insight into what inspires him and his thought process surrounding his work.

Case in point, he talks about his latest audio, Happy Camper, a steamy story involving sexual compersion while out on a trip to the woods with friends. He explains that this is absolutely a kink for him (he even does a Kink 101 audio about it) and the original version of this audio, titled (maybe?) The Epicurean Society, became a monster in its own right. That eventually he had to scale it back to make it work as a regular Quinn audio. Here is what he has to say about it, though I will say, for the love of all that is holy, SUBSCRIBE TO HIS NEWSLETTER. It's so good!

Based off of Secret societies like The Life and Death Brigade, your partner who you met in college, belonged to a club called “The Epicurean Society”. Several of your mutual friends belonged to this well-known secret, but you were too busy to join back in the day. Ten years later, the epicurean society decides to have a reunion, and you are sharing a campground with the aforementioned mutual friends. Initially it seems like the wild days that leaned more towards debauchery are in the past… but you have been noticing the friends being a little more PDA, and some of them flirting with you. When your partner comes to check on you in the tent that evening, things start to get spicy and you decide you’d like to reignite an old tradition… opening the tent door and letting your friends watch. But If you think they end up only watching, you haven’t been listening to enough of my audios.

Now here's the thing: I get that maybe this is a bit too much story for a regular Quinn drop. It's not there isn't room for that, I mean look at Naudio's Celestial Bodies series as an example (which I'm excited to write about), but for a one-off drop? I know that he's up to the task, but it would be a challenge to make it work. But despite that, I would argue that this story should not be discarded, or simply replaced with Happy Camper, which, while hot AF, is not the same thing.

If Milo were to ever read this, though I doubt he will, I would argue that The Epicurean Society would make for either a fantastic audio series, or an even more fantastic novel. I already know that Milo is a fantastic storyteller. His voice, both literal (I mean, I am a fan) and figurative are equally beautiful. It's now just how he says things, it's what he actually says. At times, Milo will say a sentence that pulls me out of the reverie so sweetly with how earnest or lovely it is. Or sometimes by just how dirty it is because really, it can be a little shocking and I listen to smut on the daily. And I can only imagine the pleasure of having that voice in my head (figuratively, unless he makes an audiobook) while I read let's say 150 pages of tension, release, and yearning? There is just SO much he can do with this story. With the number of potential combinations and characters, this could be a whole series.

I know that he is currently working on a historical erotic novel and trust me, I will be first in line to buy it when it's done and I'm sure he's noodling on this idea for something in the future, otherwise why share it? But if it's encouragement, or validation that is needed to push this project out, let me be the one to help. Because I read this and got excited. Not like that. Well...not just like that. It's the excitement I feel when I see an artist who is REALLY onto something. I feel like if there is anyone who can handle this particular subject with the kind of deftness required to balance spicy, sexy scenes with an almost painful honesty and sweetness...it's Milo St. James, Bad Influence, Your Sound Sidepiece or whatever else he wants to call himself.

I'll be curious where this authorship journey takes him regardless, but if there is even a chance it could lead him, and by extension the rest of us, to what happens behind closed doors with The Epicurean Society? Sign me the ABSOLUTE FUCK UP.

[maletofujoshi]

some thoughts on story structure in elden ring

i’m starting to view a lot of the game as like, being compromised of cyclic narratives- separating stories of the world cycle and the individual cycle- the world narrative encompasses things like circumstance, grief, relations between things/definition/domination. there are also "individuals" who are more representative of the world than themselves: gods & lords mostly, though you could imagine some outer gods here as well. primarily also the realm of like, evocative spaces + environmental storytelling. the individual narrative is the struggle of the individual to apprehend the world- currently i see it as individuals becoming either objects of the world, reflections of it, or becoming agents in their own right, acting irrespective of the world as it is, though idk if this conception can really hold. for example a "lord" is a character with agency (mhm) but is more a fixture of the world via great man theory n shit. this side is more in-text narrative + emergent narrative through struggle and mastery.

I'd largely define the world (or civilization?) narrative in stages: great conquest/development -> abundance and a golden age (usually in the core at the expense of the periphery) -> stagnation, suffering, wounds -> abandonment by a "mother" -> universal despair, grief, remembrance + return of things once pushed into the periphery

um so this is obviously a bit prescriptive. but like idk. places you can see this are farum azula, leyndell/the erdtree, haligtree, belurat/tower... arguably the nox as well but like their deal is more like, what develops in the periphery parallel to the core, and they lack that sense of abandonment by someone with their grief coming more from utter defeat. there's some stuff to be said about uhl/uld and the mushroom lords as well, but that's all too vague and speculative lol.

and similarly with the individual narrative: abandonment by/failure of a "mother" + the child bearing a wound (all living characters deal with some kind of loss, or simply present declining circumstance) -> exploratory phase (creating an inner "order" to define self away from external chaos) -> either despair or continued striving (flame of frenzy/flame of ambition) -> martyrdom (or continuing as you were, if lucky.) + at any point you can just like. die normal styles largely it seems like the "fail state" of despair is achieved when one is too obsessed with worldly suffering, or is just too keyed in to the world to really be a person. when i say despair i don't just mean literally like yellow frenzy stuff, i believe the same initial despair leads different characters to differing representations of the world, either in the three fingers, the golden order, the formless mother, miquella, etc. like even ymir is just sitting in his cathedral all day talking about there being no hope for redemption. for characters that don't fall into despair and instead are able to properly self define, death still comes, but they are usually able to effect things greater than them. Millicent returns the sense of self Malenia (and potentially you) abandoned, Melina becomes the fire that burns the erdtree, the three mending rune authors all gestate some kind of new ideology...

im kinda working with certain ideas of chaos and order and of responses to both here, which are kinda vague for me at the moment. there's also a game-spanning motif of like, wounded children seeking answers/simulacra after abandonment by previously wounded mothers, which i think connects. its as much mother and child as it is world and individual and that frame probably explains the more fluid elements of the dynamic better... currently this is kinda exploratory and vague. I'd like to revisit this idea laterrrrr since this is pretty poor analysis currently

[booklove22]

I’m having such a hard time with this episode - and I saw the larger beats coming a mile away. I knew it would be a solo-visit to the 70′s for Nancy and Tristan and that the Drew Crew would be left in the current timeline. I knew it would be Nancy and Tristan dancing. So none of what happened with them was like “OH NO I THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO BE NACE DANCING”  - like I was already mentally prepped for that. But what kills me about this is all of the missed opportunities...and I’m trying to be objective here and not just wrapped up in the romance aspects - but the larger storytelling opportunities that were also missed.

1) It’s a 13 episode season, but for all the “this is going to be among the greatest ND episodes of all time” chatter from the writers and Kennedy, this felt distinctly like a filler episode. Something that would have been at home in an 18+ episode season, but here feels like a weird detour. It feels especially wasted since the 2nd most recently deceased corpse died in 1975! This could have been an ideal opportunity to explore more about the corpses and...they blew it. They chose to dabble in something time-travel adjacent tor....a spider? 

2) There was absolutely no reason to have Bess do the errr...c-section? Like, Ace’s job is literally cutting people open? Like, as a writer, isn’t the goal to up the emotional stakes as much as possible? Can you imagine how much more tense the scene would have been if he was the one doing it instead of Bess? Again I’m not even talking anything romantic here - just more...he was the right person for the job. 

3) Ace watching Nancy slow dance with Tristan was repetitive. Like, it didn’t hit or hurt nearly as hard as when he was in the liminal space and seeing it with Park. I know it was probably an intentional callback, not unlike the Gil kiss>Park kiss mirror, but here it just felt like they could have achieved the same outcome another way? Not that I want to hurt more than I already do, but at some point you have to weigh whether a callback is a better choice than some new kind of painful visual. 

4) The Ace/Chunky storyline was hit or miss. I prefer when the entire drew crew is working together toward a common goal and when someone is missing (or in this case working on a totally unrelated “case”), the entire vibe of the show feels off. I thought the conversations between Nick and Ace were interesting and I’m still marinating on them. Honestly, they were probably the most interesting part of the episode to me - particularly Nick’s observation that Ace trying to go back to the “friendship” he and Nancy used to have might be a futile effort because what they had might have always have been more than friendship, whether they knew it then or not. Like DAMN NICK, don’t hold back. Everyone else is telling them to move on and Nick’s the only one out here gently letting Ace know that his whole grand “friendship” plan may be impossible. 

5) Speaking of Chunky....I’ve seen some people say that Ace let him go out of spite. But my read on it was more that Ace realized there may have been a kernel of truth in what Nick said. Letting go of Chunky was him realizing that there is no going back to the relationship they used to have..so now the journey is figuring out how to be in her life moving forward if its not what they were before they knew they had feelings or what they could have been had the curse not been in place. 

6) Finally, I don’t get the vibe anymore that we’ll be seeing Ace’s “ire” over her whatever with Tristan. Ryan’s for sure. But I don’t know...after this ep, I just don’t see “ire” being the thing that comes out of Ace. At the end of the day, he knows Tristan was key to saving Nancy and she would have died otherwise. I’m not saying there won’t be jealousy or anger but I think its something he’ll let fester inside of him rather than calling her out on it (at least for now). 

Anyway, I just...I didn’t like that episode. I feel like it had the potential to be so much more and just fell short of what it could have been.

[kijosakka]

how. how would i even write out a proper fic of dramaturgy au,,

cutting this off bc i got too caught up in myself and rambled

ok umm,, dramaturgy as an au is just so character study-ish and generally character-focused,, plus the initial developments made on island are kiinda important to the cast dynamic?? so as i see it there are a few options:

A: rehash/go through the unchanged plot of island, the TDDDDI special, some eps of WT, using it to develop the Situation from other characters perspectives while maybe having one or two to emphasize noahs characterization

it gives a lot of time for character developments outside of noah himself, and time to reinforce noahs own characterization using that outside perspective,, but could potentially get boring/long-winded, since nothing different happens and its literally just Characters Having Screentime

^ maybe sub a full going-through with character vignettes and specific scenarios throughout island/the special/celeb. manhunt or after TD/eps of WT??? i guess you could also slot smth like this in with the other ideas aswell

B: begin the hypothetical fic post-jamaica challenge and leading into london, use it to exposition some minor things and generally establish characterization before getting into challenges and actual canon divergence

it doesnt drag on (as much atleast), gives you enough time with enough cast members to establish what the others think of noah and what noah thinks/how he behaves and why (probably slot in his distrust of alejandro here??), more challenges gives noah more chances (and reasons) to break character, though the character development has to be slow and conflict should probably be built up (but im kinda partial to this one ngl)

C: kindof half-baked but beginning in london (i’m imagining literally at his eel line), where hes eliminated that episode, but comes back via comeback challenge; arc kicked off by being so pissed off that he has to come back and do the Same Shit yet again (and probably because of producer-rigging. again.)

the conflict/character dynamics would move a little faster, its less to trudge through and figure out canon changes like the butterfly effect of noah staying in the game in london, but having less characters to have relationships/interactions with (but making the ones had can be more developed/rounded as a result), less Time in general, the original idea of noah ‘unmasking’ alejandro is kiiinda less impactful this late into the game?? slightly i feel like

or D: even more half-baked than C and kinda just 'possible' and feeling out of place, but you could have noahs arc happen in all-stars instead (smth smth the audience was vv dissatisfied with how he ranked in WT and so he gets brought back)

^ this is mostly bc i like the motif of noah having eel-pond related scars and seeing it as a physical reminder of where 'acting like the camera isn't there' can get him (but you could potentially fit this into the C idea, posing it more as a bitter feeling/theme rather than a motivation to continue his facade)

i dont really like this one from a storytelling standpoint, and it doesnt make much sense since theres no character motivation via unmasking alejandro since everyone already knows at this point?? idk it is there though

umm yeah thats all ive got, i guess you could also mismatch ideas like B&C so the fic starts post-jamaica but noah still gets eliminated, or have noah eliminated after london but still winning the comeback challenge and coming back swearing vengeance (within his own head mostly) or smth like that

i kinda wanted to just put this Out in the World and let it simmer before i start combing through WT to make the allotted ‘official’ canon changes of this au lol

(and not to mention theres still the issue of the actual Ending,, does he win?? is his winning both symbolic and the first genuine, intentional break of character he makes, to the audience and his peers beyond the unintentional ones hes made along the way???

smth smth character growth, hes learned how to let himself break character but now hes learning to do it intentionally too??? < im partial to that but im also biased towards noah and any hypothetical win of his

^ or does he lose?? and his ending watching the finalists parallel the island bit where he Did Not Care but now??? idk idk the longer i think the more i like the whole symbolic win thing but in terms of storytelling/the Themes, does it Work. i do like to think so

the original draft of this idea has noah not in fact winning but it also had a strangely,,,,, vindictive tone?? that might not be the word but the Themes were different and noah was more scheme-ish rather than defense mechanism-having so im thinking the ending should change as well)

[lorz-ix]

Ok Godzilla fan brainrot moment?

I think there's a lot of untapped potential in depicting Ghidorah as anything other than a wyvern. His name says he's supposed to be a hydra, so that's why he's always depicted as a three-headed monster, but the most consistent depiction of him has two hind legs and two wings, like a traditional wyvern.

Pretty much all the monsters in the original Showa era movies have some sort of vaguely humanoid shape so they could be suits worn by a single actor, even though Ghidorah had to be puppeteered by several more people outside of the costume. I assume his original body shape was partly chosen for the sake of practicality, since giving him four legs plus wings would have made the acting even harder to coordinate.

However, the recent american depiction of the character even had him looking more wyvern-ish and animalistic, using his wings as forelegs to walk at times. Normally, his characterization as an animal/monster controlled by a higher power wouldn't clash with this creative choice, but in that movie (King of the Monsters) he's the actual controlling force. Not a big deal, but it's a curious evolution.

I'm not an expert in old folklore, but at least in modern media, both classic western (four legs plus wings) and eastern (serpentine, typically smaller limbs and no wings) dragons are usually depicted as more intelligent and powerful than wyverns (who I believe weren't even able to breathe fire traditionally?) so I thought that would be an easy next step for the character.

Don't get me wrong, it's been done before. Not that long ago, I thought The Planet Eater chose to go for a more eastern-looking form for the guy, since he's seemingly depicted as some sort of multi-dimensional snake with several heads and we only saw his traditional silhouette in a sort of dream.

But not only did I find this promising beyond-human-comprehension threat disappointing in its execution, turns out he's actually the same he's ever been. That dream wasn't just a reference for fans, it's how he actually looks, confirmed by merchandise and concept art. Shame. The chinese long Ghidorah well is officially left unexploited.

However, there have been a couple of four-legged, european style depictions. The first one is the overlooked and underappreciated Death Ghidorah/Desghidorah from Rebirth of Mothra. He looks absolutely incredible, exactly as threatening as his name implies.

The one "however" to this is... it's canonically a different character, a relative of the original King. Very close, but as I said, it's an obscure character that only made one film appearance and gets very little attention.

The second one I remember is Kaiser/Keizer Ghidorah, the true form of Monster X, seen in Final Wars, as a proper last opponent in an all-out anniversary movie. He's pretty much everything I just said I want to see.

You could argue that with a different name comes a different character, the wiki certainly treats him as such, and Ghidorah never had this Monster X, held-back form. The closest thing were the Heisei era Dorats that mutate into Ghidorah, obviously a much different thing. As for myself, I think he's perfect. A concept I want to see coming back in the future, just like Mechagodzilla finds ways to keep coming back in very different contexts.

I guess that's the point of this kinda long post. I got caught in the thought that, despite being Godzilla's arch-nemesis, the final boss of the franchise, despite all the decades of film-making and storytelling, there's still so much room for growth and re-imaginings. Pretty cool stuff I think.

[vivalabunbun]

To start off, I'm sorry I'm such a boomer on Tumblr that even after years of using it all I know is how to follow, like posts, and post something myself 😭😭😭 So I don't blame you if you don't have the slightest clue of who I am. But on my part, I have been following your works for a while now and I just *absolutely* adore how you write.

I keep finding myself coming back to reread your fics despite already remembering the exact plot by heart after the first or second go 😭😭 I love how you characterize, not just Alhaitham, but the other character in the story extremely well. You explored all of their potential aspects and presented them all so naturally, and I can't imagine how much work you have to spend behind each fic you wrote. Especially with Alhaitham. Your Haitham is my canon Haitham, to simplify the progress of explaining how well you wrote him to me.

Your writing is poetic and expressive. It just pushed all the right button in me. And I absolutely ****love**** the little science-y facts and nerdy little details you put in your fic. Not to mention your taste is almost if not identical to mine too 😭😭😭😭 I'm very picky with Alhaitham's portrayal in his fanfics, yet yours made me completely settle my standards and patiently waiting for your next fic instead of searching for more.

So, I have been meaning to do a little something for my favorite writer-slash-storyteller. And here is a little Mareya fanart ✨ It's not much but I hope its up to your liking

P/s: I think that you have the tendency to get anxious about your work? I just wanna say that it's okay, you and your work doesn't have to be perfect everytime and always better than the last. Regardless of what you wrote, me and the others will still always support you 🌱 I know it's not much and it probably won't get rid of the doubts in an instance, but I will remind you of that as many times as needed ✨

P/s 2: House of Daena succs, background succs x2 ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡

I feel so honored that you drew my lil story teller 🥹😭🙏 Thank you so much!!! It’s so good and the background is 💕💕💕

Thank you so much for your encouragement and support 🥹🥹 your words are like a nice hug

I do have a tendency to doubt my writing bc sometimes there’s just so many things I want to say/ try but it doesn’t work out all the time.

How I portray Alhaitham is always a concern bc I want to explore him but not be so ooc, but it look like a lot of people feel satisfied with the middle ground I’ve been tiptoeing.

Thank you for looking forward to my next works 🥹 life has been… life so my rate has slowed but hopefully my past pieces still evoke the same joy

Ahh I love your art style 🫶✨

[katyspersonal]

Henriett thoughts

Henriett honestly has such a cool interaction potential, no less than some other NPCs with the hunter, if only devs gave her dialogue. As far as promo materials and merch suggest, the Hunter arrives from foreign land but adapts to Yharnam and starts wearing Hunter Set - same as what Henriett wears, only her set has cape and top hat instead of the cap! This is the type of a normal hunter descending from the one that Gehrman started, as suggested by this set drawing strong inspiration from Old Hunters clothes! They're hunters that still care about the hunt and refuse to abandon it, carrying on the quest of their ancestors...

Henriett easily could work as one of the characters that helps the hunter to get into what the heck is going on, a lot like Alfred, Eileen or Valtr! More importantly? This interaction is basically anti-Alfred. Henriett is a summon against Emilia, Ludwig and Laurence, who are all important Healing Church members, and she uses Church weapons, suggesting she might have once sided with the Healing Church but saw through their bullshit and turned against them! Whereas Alfred talks your ear about "holiness" of the Church and its former leaders, Henriett could instead talk about the opposite! A function that ended up passed to Simon, which is fine, but aside of balancing gameplay and storytelling, just in one's imagination? She is very anti-Alfred encounter for our Hunter x)

(Source: ( x ))

Interestingly, there is a cut situation where we'd find her dead (presumably that's how she'd become a summon in Hunter's Nightmare). Hunter's Nightmare is also ONLY available after defeating Emilia, so like... hmmm I wonder why? Maybe they were planning to have Henriett actually die or be dying after Emilia is defeated? That Soulsborne thing where you reload the area only to find out that an NPC you liked is dying for a dumb reason or something sfdjhhd

But also imagine if that was Alfred's fault, or even something foreshadowing Bloody Crow (that he waited for her to be weak after Emilia's battle and snuck up on her to backstab like a rat that he is, since blood dregs he is seeking ARE found in the blood of hunters). Former is sure less preferred though since it repeats Simon and Brador situation with the 'church idiot kills a local loredigger that saw through the institution's bullshit despite having once been the staff', sooooo yeah. (On the other hand, since when Soulsborne is opposed to 'history repeats itself' situations?) I think they simply could work as kinda opposing NPCs who are both very open about Yharnam's lore despite everyone else not liking to talk with the outsiders! Maybe even contrasting: Alfred is acting very friendly and warm towards Hunter and turns out to be a deranged fanatic under that mask, so imagine if Henriett, despite providing lore to us all the same, was actually kinda snarky and reeking of 'git gud' attitude, to reveal having been a good person in the end of her questline that doesn't deserve to die?

Her passing the lore-dropper function via Nightmare is of course tricky because, again, we already have Simon to do that... But imagine if whereas Simon follows us down to the Church's most terrible secret, Henriett instead talks with us about Old Hunters stuff, such as Oto Workshop and how it rolled into Powder Kegs instead and why, some legendary ones, how they started and were overshadowed by Ludwig's hunters, all that. She must have studied them a lot to take the mantle of their style despite them going extinct save for few NPCs like Henryk or Djura, and could provide interesting information!

Also imagine Hunterriet shipping as "rival" ship to Alfhunter fdhhfds Bloodborne provides some dilemmas of 'nice vs evil' ships like Hunter x Arianna or Hunter x Adella, Hunter x Simon or Hunter x Brador, etc.

(I will be real though, Eld3n Ring might have spoiled me with more dialogue, interactions and unciphered lore than what I am used to, so that's why I suddenly want her to talk and to be important for the Hunter hahah.)

[tonypostt]

skibidi toilet is unironically a masterpiece

okay but i just watched skibidi toilet and i'm whole-heartedly going to say that it's an impressive surrealist social commentary . and before you think i'm going crazy , let me explain .

going into it , i thought it was going to be some weird corporate youtube kids shit that i would be disgusted by , but i was very pleasantly surprised . it takes the formula of tiktok videos (repetitive audio , shortform , same exact facial movements which represent "trends" , "no context" storytelling) and uses it to describe a clash between gen Z and gen alpha humor as gen alpha grows up more on the internet by also including elements of older gmod videos , allowing it to feel "nostalgic" towards the older audience . and while this is interesting on its own , skibidi toilet actually takes it a step further and delves into a series of intriguing scenes .

i fully believe that skibidi toilet , where it stands now , comments on war culture and how war benefits nobody except for those in charge . due to this being a fictional universe , we can assume that there are infinite resources on either side , which includes technology . we slowly see the city scene become more and more dystopian , claiming that war does not benefit anyone . skibidi toilet goes even beyond what man could even imagine , delving into deadlier and deadlier sci-fi solutions . the weapons keep growing bigger and bigger , wiping out more of the enemy battalion , but there are still more troops in the waiting . we can potentially assume that the entire globe is encapsulated within this war . i imagine that either skibidi toilet will never end , or it will end with the entire planet being wiped from existence .

i never expected for this series to make me think so much but it took me a solid hour and a half to fully process it .

as for the generational humor thing , this comment also says a bit on the subject:

is it a joke that got out of hand ? yes , but in the best possible way , i think . shoutouts to the creator . unlike most of "kids youtube" garbage , i'd actually approve of my child watching this series (if i had one) , as long as i could explain the commentary on it to them .

[pixeldistractions]

And while we’re in Kyle’s tattoo shop, who is that in the other tattoo chair? Andreas? Is he also here to get a break-up tattoo?

But unfortunately, this other artist is in a foul mood, and I don’t think she’s gonna do a good job on something so permanent. Maybe let’s come back to that idea another day.

Seeing Andreas here, in this place, this time, this moment, was a weird coincidence. Especially after Andreas sat himself in the tattoo chair while Jordan was getting his done, like reminding me that I shamelessly abandoned his story, and actually, Jordan is the reason why.

So I just wanted to talk for a bit about Andreas and storytelling and how things unfold when you have 260-something sims all trying to live their lives at the same time.

Andreas and Gwen’s story was just getting juicy (gosh, like two years ago now, spring of 2022!) when I put a big fat pause on it all, and I don’t know if I ever really explained why. It’s not because I wasn’t invested in the characters or where they were going.

But I worried that their stories—Andreas vs. Jordan—were getting way too similar. We have a male main character going through an ugly breakup, prickly (Colette) and/or straight-up psychopathic ex (Gwen), a potential new love interest already established (Maria/Laney), a custody battle over young children (the twins/Luisa), and trying to make a start at a new life. A little spoiler: they each even befriend one of the Phoenix twins (Hayden and Jack). I mean, look at all the shared story elements here!

But in some ways, the two stories, the characters, and the themes are kind of mirror images of each other. Not the same, but opposites. (I won’t say how, exactly, because of spoilers.) I know that now, having spent two more years working on them, but I probably didn’t know that so fully back then. I’m also sure once I do get back into Andreas’s story, it will deepen even more and reveal all kinds of new goodies I never could have imagined for him. Because that’s how storytelling works for me in these drafty stages.

It’s just that, for my own sanity, I really have to finish one to completion before I tackle the other. Not just with these two stories, but with all the stories on my blog. I’ve made a little vow to myself to only tell ONE at a time.

*shrugs* Jordan won. Sorry Andreas.

But that’s actually super cool. Because now I’m thinking about all the ways Andreas’s story can be wildly different, while still maintaining its same origins. I’ve got some cool ideas.

I think also, at the time, I imagined Jordan’s story would be much simpler to finish than it ended up being. I was thinking like 6 chapters and done, whereas now, between both story sets, we’re looking at about 20 chapters to finish everything.

Goddamn plot bunnies, breeding all over the place. Novelists are gonna novel. I should know better by now. That will be my rule going forward: however long I think it’s gonna be, multiply by three!

But it’s all good. Everyone will get their turn in the end, but I have to protect my sanity in the process, and all the voices in my head can fight over whose turn is next. 🙃