#or like cohesive or realistic plot
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dj, ily but why do none of your movies make sense??
#don johnson#like#okay#um#yeah no i'm drawing a blank#none of his movies have a normal ending#or like cohesive or realistic plot#was he just high when he read the scripts?#harrad experiment zachariah abahd sweetheart dance harley davidson long hot summer#dareisay the hot spot was actually cohesive from beginning to end#but it just sucked#everything he's been in is just zany somehow#omg the army horse movie was insanely fictional#and made NO sense#it wasn't even good fiction it had so many holes it was see through
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The first scenario of ORV has always fascinated me. "Kill another person to survive." It might be the most common plot point in apocalyptic stories.. Pretty much all of them feature some discussion of morality and how to define it, good and evil, played out by deeply morally grey characters who have to make a choice to kill.
But ORV is a story about stories.
The Star Stream is trying to tell 'the story of an apocalypse' and it does! But in the most crude and unpolished way.
It's almost cynical. 'We are telling an apocalypse story, what's a common plot beat in apocalypse stories? 'No one is innocent and everyone has killed to survive'. Okay, let's make it a literal requirement for everyone to have killed someone to proceed.'
It's robotic, taking a story beat and stripping it down to it's bare essentials, then forcing the incarnations to adapt to it or die.
But the thing is. That's what all writing is. ORV just pulls back the curtain, exposing the internal circutry that makes a story work. Orv doesn't lie to you about the inherent artifice of it all.
The scenarios are perfect little plot arcs, designed to test the limits and reveal the strenghs and weaknesses of incarnations - 'the characters' of the story. It's not some cruel torture, it's literally just the act of storytelling. Writing 101 is put characters through hardship to reveal certain qualities in them or to make them go through character development.
Only difference is that writers usually camouflage the 'scenarios' they give their characters until the circumstances seem 'realistic' and like they happened on their own, like the author isn't forcing their reality to bend this way at all.
Oh, one character didn't lock the door in time due and got bitten by a zombie. And so inevitably this other character has to make the choice to kill them or not. There's as many explanaitions as the author can cook up as to what lead the characters to this moment. How the zombies got there, why these two were in the same vicinity, etc etc.
But, it's all set dressing the author has added to make the audience forget that this is too a 'scenario' given to the characters to test them. There's a time limit and a description and a reward and a penalty for failure, but all of these are cleverly hidden. The time limit can be until the last helicopter leaves in 10 minutes. The unspoken penalty is death. The author arranged how the characters find out some or all of this information in convienient ways.
Star Stream just lays it all out in front you you, straight up. States 'Kill another incarnation or have them kill you' and doesn't attempt to justify the circumstances, because of course, the real reason all this is happening is because the story demands it.
It's a universe that does not hide the author's hand in every tiny little event that happens.
So this too is the question "What if the characters knew they were in a story?" asked yet again. Every single being in the ORV universe knows they are in a story. The system itself makes it obvious - you can look at your own character sheet, you obtain 'stories' when you do something impressive but are constrained by 'probability' and what the audience finds interesting. You're body is literally made up of words written about you're life!
That's why the worldbuilding is so cohesive and so so good. All of it is telling you 'the world is a novel.'
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Writing Notes: Compelling Characters
Characters & Goals
“Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.” –Kurt Vonnegut
Characters should almost always have clear goals, even if these goals are not immediately made obvious to the reader.
Without goals, characters lack motivation—that is, they have little reason to do anything interesting.
For this reason, many writers connect the main character's goals to the main conflict in the story. This generally means that the main obstacle to those goals plays a key role in the plot as well (for instance, in the form of a villain).
Often, the main character is most interesting and when confronting his own shortcomings in pursuit of his goals.
There are a few ways to construct this character-plot connection:
CHARACTER-FIRST APPROACH
Constructs a story’s plot for a character that already exists.
It asks a writer to build a character that they find interesting and then assemble the plot around them.
Example: A character who is struggling to overcome a phobia might, as a plot element, come into contact with the thing she fears. Success in this instance would mean that she doesn’t let the fear overcome her.
PLOT-FIRST APPROACH
Starts by defining the major conflicts the writer wants to include in a piece of fiction and then builds a character who will be motivated by those conflicts.
Example: A writer could decide to explore the effect of a catastrophic storm on a city before writing a main character. A character that would feel motivated by this conflict would be one with a connection to the city or to someone living in the city. Therefore, the son of someone who went missing in the storm would likely be a good focal character for this story.
Small Goals & Big Goals
Though it’s important for characters to have at least one big goal, it can be boring for the reader if a character is totally preoccupied with a single motivation.
Strong characters generally have two or more goals of varying sizes that they might confront separately or at the same time.
The reader excitedly anticipates your character's success or failure in achieving their goals.
Believability
Another factor that can contribute to a successful character is an element called “verisimilitude,” also called “believability.”
When writers talk about believability, they talk about whether the constituent parts of a character make sense and feel cohesive.
Example: We might expect a character who gets paid minimum wage to struggle to pay her bills, so if we see her driving an expensive car or spending several hundred dollars on a meal at a fancy restaurant, we would question these details.
There are, of course, stories in which these situations could exist, but the reader would need to know what allowed them to happen (inheritance from a late relative, perhaps, or an irresponsible approach to personal debt).
Suspension of Disbelief
Stories that take place outside of a realistic modern setting will generally require some extra work on the part of the writer to make them believable.
This is because of an idea called “suspension of disbelief.”
This refers to the tendency of readers to challenge details of a story that seem out-of-place, but not to question those details if they are presented with enough contextual justification.
Example: A story contains people who can fly with human-size wings. The reader would need to learn early on that this is a normal event that occurs in the story world. A reader who unexpectedly encounters flying humans three-fourths of the way into a short story could easily be baffled by this development, and might also consider it a cheap cop-out if it's used to resolve a plot conflict.
Adding Physical Detail
In addition to planning your characters thoughtfully, you must also sketch them coherently on the page.
Careful selection of physical and environmental details will make some of your character’s traits visible to your reader without you having to tell them outright what you mean. Examples:
A character who is disorganized might have wrinkled clothing or might consistently arrive late to appointments.
An introverted character might bring a book or notebook everywhere they go and might also stay out of crowded spaces (or feel uncomfortable in those spaces).
Symbolic Meanings
Be aware of the other meanings that a detail can bring into a piece.
A physical detail, especially one that appears multiple times within a work, might also develop symbolic meanings in addition to its literal meaning.
Writing Exercise
In a short vignette, and using only physical details (e.g., characters' clothing, appearance, or body language), make it clear to a reader that a character is experiencing one of the following conditions: worry, hunger, grief, joy, confusion, lack of sleep, anxiety, homesickness.
The word you chose should not appear in your vignette, nor should any synonyms.
Adding Personality
Broadly, “personality” refers to the collection of beliefs, thought patterns, and other mental qualities that dictate a character’s actions.
A personality trait could be the character’s bubbly disposition, their self-deprecating humor, or the fact that they’re always nervous.
When constructing a character, it’s important to think about how she would react in a number of situations.
Here are some questions to help you discover your character’s personality traits:
Is he fond of attention, or does he avoid it?
Is she curious to learn more about a topic/location/person, or does she keep to herself?
How big of a role does fear play in his day-to-day activities?
How does this character react if things don’t go the way she wants them to?
Does he think that he’s more intelligent/less intelligent than others around him?
Does she think she’s average? How would she define “average?”
How does he feel about making decisions?
Does she make decisions quickly or slowly?
Does he tend to regret decisions they’ve made?
It’s helpful to connect these traits to elements from the character’s life or past.
Example: A character who grew up with a controlling parent might have difficulty making decisions once they start living on their own.
Personality traits might also overlap with physical traits.
Example: Talking too loudly or too softly or interrupting others.
It’s also important to make sure that your characters aren’t good at everything they come across.
Doing so will reduce your story’s believability because—let’s face it—no one is good at everything.
To this end, you should allow your characters to fail at something, whether that something is huge or inconsequential.
Writing Exercise
In a short vignette, deliver some news to your character.
The news can be good or bad.
It can affect just the character, or the entire world population, or any number of people in between.
How does this character react?
Who do they tell, if anyone?
How do they interact with the space they’re in (e.g. punch a wall, hug a stranger)?
Try this exercise several times with the same character but different contexts (e.g., the character receiving the news alone versus receiving it in a public place) to see how they react under different circumstances.
CAUTION: Using Fictionalized Versions of Real People
It’s common for writers to borrow details from real life—the shape of a stranger’s chin, a classmate’s clicking of their pen during a quiet exam, or the restaurant server’s shrill laugh, to give just a few examples—but a writer should be wary of recreating an entire person on the page.
There are legal reasons not to do this, of course, but there is also the danger that a story filled with too many real-life people and events will be flat and boring.
Fiction should generally be a healthy mix of the ordinary and extraordinary.
If the mix is skewed too far in one direction, the reader can find the piece too unbelievable or too boring.
Source ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References ⚜ Writing Worksheet: Conflict Lists: 170 Character Quirks ⚜ +600 Personality Traits ⚜ 100 Sensory Words
#writing notes#character development#writing reference#on writing#writing tips#writing advice#dark academia#spilled ink#writeblr#creative writing#writing ideas#writing inspiration#literature#writers on tumblr#poets on tumblr#writing prompt#poetry#character building#light academia#writing exercise#writing motivation#michael whelan#writing resources
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Duke Thomas fic rec list
I've scowered every tag relating to him, combed thru the 'duke centric tag' at least 8 times, this is what ive come back with, at least my personal faves
necessary reminders - duke pov, outsider pov, and some social media following duke as he gets used to his day job as a vigilante. flows really well, has a good balance of sad and happy, and gets dukes character rlly well
that which you cannot bear - THIS FIC WILL BREAK YYOU duke is kidnapped and its only down from there!! this is like, one of the first duke fics I read and it's still labeled as such in my mind. its well based, sooo cohesive plot wise, and stays completely in character w all its characters, especially duke, while exploring such an interesting facet of him > his tendency to self-isolate, insistence on being independent, and his stubbornness. sooo much good angst just incredible stuff while also staying hopeful and grounded. ALSO duke is an intelligent badass throughout the fic which is an important detail 2 me
signal, n. a divine act - same author as the last one, absolutely insane concepts are explored and its just so well written srsly it's like poetry. digs into some of dukes ideologies so well. if u like holy imagery??? kind of but not rlly?? ig you'll love this
this whole series is just so fucking incredible but something about my bodies made of crushed little stars I don't fucking know it messed w my brain chemistry, I've recced it b 4 bcs it made me cry but read the whole series, it's all duke centric and just so good. Saki writes bruce and duke in a way that fizzes u up w emotion and focuses on such unique facets of dukes character/dynamics and sleep well my little sunshine is soo cute and fun and soft >when earth finds the stars - bonus presignal duke and jason fic, balances being incredibly fun with a realistic zoom in on duke before we are robin. he's quippy and witty and always at the edge of his rope
not mutually exclusive - tired of bruce being kinda shoved into the role of dukes capital F father when that's not quite what their dynamic is? Then this is the fic for you!! Just good duke and Bruce interactions overall, it's sad and hilarious with just incredible dialogue and peak Bruce and Duke interactions
signals and symptoms - a classic sickfic and like one of my fave bruce bonding fic ever ever EVERRR!! really introspective abt dukes character and just so well done
even exchanges - some of u are gonna hate me for reccing an incomplete fic and esp one that doesn't look like it's gonna be finished anytime soon but even exchanges is so formative to my duke characterizationalong with portraying such a fascinating dynamic w him and his new family. it delves into his messy and angsty experiences pre-becoming the signal and is overall written like several subsequent punches to the stomach. promise ur gonna bitch and moan about this fic as much as I do
scientific method - extremely cute fic, watch Duke bond w the bats and slowly get more comfortable with them over time as they all tru to figure out what the fuck this guys powers are. Really fun dynamic wise, the dialogue is crafty and captures the familiarity between the characters. Really realistic about day to day vigilante life and how genius the bats truly are. really slice of life fluffy shit w some bonus sciencey stuff
turn my voice human torch remind people what I’m fantastic for - truly a classic, Duke invites cass to slam poetry night. short n sweet I LOVE BUMBLEBATS RAHHHHHH
tradition - pure duke n bruce ice cream fluff
meal prep - real sad angst one shot ft. alfred
occupational health and safety violations - duke pov reverse robins but it's way out of order
write about flowers (at a time like this) - duke and dick fic where they meet pre we are robin. yes I just found this one yesterday yes I'm absolutely obsessed. it characterizes him so well and understands his thought process and motives and UGHH just tune in yall
sidequest: the viper pit - WE ARE ROBIN DND JUMANJI
signals of fear and hope - duke centric reverse robins, caters TTOME specifically it's so fire
and now here are fics that arent duke centric but he's in it and in character/well written and now forced into the back of the room aka some of my general faves that feature duke
gotham aviary - the batman fic where he just adopts a bunch of em truly adorable like the cutest thing you'll read
I walk the streets at night (with monsters in my mind) - dragon fic, absolutely goated 10/10
fight, flight - cass centric but duke plays a big role, they mean everything to me
#will be adding to this again as we go but yk#the signal#dc tag#duke thomas#dc comics#batman#batfam#batfam fanfic#fic recs
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finished jentry chau last night and i have a lot of thoughts. SPOILERS AHEAD.
the good (broad strokes because there's so much to like in general!):
production quality is off the charts: fantastic animation, beautiful fight scenes, lovely character and world design, music perfectly complements the whole vibe. great style as well!
satisfying narrative arc: no cliffhangers, we get an A to B story line with character growth and progress. jentry ends the series as emotionally more mature than she starts.
interesting characters and engaging exchange and dialogue between them that mostly felt believable and realistic for teens this day and age.
the bad (my gripe in a nutshell):
the showrunners' decided to favor making the show work to what they'd prefer over cohesive character choices. (like they were trying to manipulate jentry's character around hitting plot points, instead of vice versa.)
jentry's forgiveness isn't consistent for her character.
the showrunners decided that the narrative would be more dramatic when/if she didn't forgive others.
gugu lied to her all her life about SO many things. we're given her reasoning, which we're meant to understand and relate to (she didn't want jentry to hate her/her parents), and because jentry loves gugu, she forgives her. i do not forgive gugu! she lied to jentry for 16 years about EVERYTHING.
this ties into how moonie is still alive as well. gugu knew! she could've EASILY have tracked her down. so she CHOSE to never try and reunite them. and MOONIE knew she was jentry's mother. how could you do that to your daughter? and jentry forgives moonie because she loves the POTENTIAL of her mother. what the fuck! i do not forgive moonie! she CHOSE not to be part of her life.
then we come to the only other person who begged for forgiveness for their secrets hurting her.
kit. he lied about who he was and his intentions. however, out of the him, gugu, and moonie, kit is the only one who does not intentionally obscure jentry's ability to figure out his secret, as in jentry is not forced to act for him to confess his truth. with gugu's secrets, she had to work to uncover them, and with moonie, jentry had to work to find her.
he is the only one who comes clean to her after putting his life in danger to save hers, and there's no way he doesn't know how fragile his painted skin is. he KNOWINGLY went to save her from the fire and risked his identity being blown because she was that important to him. (i remind you his death words started with "everything i did was for me." LIKE SAVING HER THEN??? THAT WAS FOR YOU???)
and how does jentry react? poorly, yes, because she hates lies (because of gugu).
but even after that, kit is never actually forgiven. in fact, jentry uses him, and then abandons him when she achieves her goal. it felt so drastically out of whack for her character that i wondered what was happening. then he is ostracized by her, and she rejects even his friendship and acts cold to him. she cuts him off.
it really doesn't make sense for her to not even want to be his friend. she bonded with him during the doppelganger experience. they WERE friends then. then she says she wants to be normal and pursues michael even when he admits to her HE isn't normal. so that's not it either.
only the narrative is what forces her not to forgive him because the showrunners need to hit the plot points of him betraying her and him needing to sacrifice himself later. (which i would argue his sacrifice really doesn't make sense at all. if you watch that scene when kit dies in her place, WHY would he even pretend to be her? if jentry had just worn the robes instead, she would've been able to defend herself as quickly she donned them as is shown after kit-jentry is attacked. it was a needless sacrifice!)
gugu is forgiven in this same episode for her lies. why can jentry forgive gugu and not kit (prior to the betrayal)? it just doesn't fit for her character.
jentry then goes on to immediately forgive moonie for never getting into contact with her. moonie ALSO lied to her her entire life. but somehow this is forgiveable now because it works with the narrative and the plot points.
anyway. that's my biggest gripe with the show.
instead of building the narrative around jentry's character, the show built a narrative and manipulated jentry's character to make it work.
also...
the mogai-human-form design was weirdly sexist?
when possessing mr. cheng, the mogai-cheng form is ugly and malformed and disproportionate. he is not conventionally appealing or attractive. he is not the same size or shape as cheng appeared. he is wearing clothes.
when posessing jentry, the mogai-jentry form is curvaceous and slim and appealing to look at. this form is conventionally attractive. she is the same size and shape as jentry appeared. she is not wearing clothes.
all of these are choices the showrunners made. they could've made mogai-jentry much more unappealing, but they didn't. for some reason, keeping her "attractive/cool" was the choice over what the design could mean. they did make her look dangerous, i guess?
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S3 alternatives/rewrite ideas: What if the truth about the video came out and August got exposed? What if Hillerska investigations looked different?
My preferred s3 outcome would've been August being actually punished and his actions having tangible consequences so let's think about that! Also 'fixing' a whole lot of other storylines and plot holes that are connected to that so here we go!
Disclaimer: This post is not looking for explanations or defenses in favor of s3 plots so please only interact if you're open and willing to fantasise and theorise and spin this imaginative story further and have fun with it
I also wanna link to this post by @raincitygirl76 that kind of addresses this whole bit and has some really valid points in my opinion.
This post by @resipsaloquitace also mentions some important plot holes I'm addressing here.
The background: Wilhelm has admitted to being in the video with Simon in front of live cameras and phones for everyone to hear and it's probably being spread like wildfire on the internet already. After the first shocked reactions, I imagine the second one would be "who the hell posted that video?"
The fact that apparently no one in all of Sweden or the rest of the world (because we know this 'scandal' has been international news and the crown prince of Sweden coming out wouldn't be any different) has seemed to ask the question of "who did it?" and tried to figure it out is just completely unrealistic. People care! We know they do, the way Wille's scandals were treated before are proof of that! And he wasn't even the heir to the throne yet during one of them! Imagine how much bigger it would be now that somebody did this humiliating thing to their Crown Prince! Wouldn't you want to know as a normal citizen and think there should be justice and consequences for that person?
The conspiracy theories would probably run rampant on social media and if Felice can figure it out after only a few days, then millions of people on the internet will be able to do the same. And millions of people are damn better detectives than just Felice. Not to mention there would probably be journalists diving deeper into this and articles discussing it, wanting to be the one to drop the ultimate exposing story.
Now that that's established, let's get to the alternatives/rewrite part of it: What would a realistic and accurate punishment look like?How would that exposé come along and what would happen when August is found out?
What about Sara's report? What if that actually meant something and the police is now involved and it's tricky and not so easy to brush under the rug? In one way or another, legally or publically, August won't get away with it. Sara is a witness after all. So even if August wouldn't get charged and be registered as a sex offender, there should at least be an effort made and a logical reason be found for that instead of ignoring what happened in the s2 finale because it's inconvenient now. The settlement in the show was too simple and easy for me and I feel like an entire writer's room should've been smart enough and come up with something.
We're talking about a crime committed against the crown prince first and foremost, that won't be taken lightly by the police, it's a matter of the country and if you will, also about politics. They have no political power but we're still talking about the son of the Head of State. They could consider this child pornography and a hate crime committed against the projected future Head of State and August essentially barely gets a slap on the wrist?
And also no mention of his estate Årnäs and Rousseau, the horse he bought? Oh and Alexander who was made the scape goat in the entire thing and then was completely dismissed in s3 like that never happened? I'm definitely open for suggestions how all that could be handled differently and all of these elements that were introduced in the s2 finale could be brought up and tied together in a more cohesive, satisfying way.
Of course this also asks the question - how does it affect August's storyline this season? Is he anxious and terrified of the truth coming out beforehand now that he can no longer control it and it's only a matter of time? And what about him after the truth came out? Will he actually learn from the consequences? Could he realise being rich and of noble birth does not protect you and lets you get away with things? Could it even be a good thing for his character and he could finally understand the real damage he has caused to Wilhelm and especially Simon and try and make up for it? Maybe he could heal even when the world is against him and his perfect image is shattered. Maybe that's exactly what he needs, to reconstruct himself. He doesn't need this facade anymore and has to figure himself out in the future without the pressure and significance he put on titles and performance now that it's no longer important.
Or if you just want to see him be punished and suffer the consequences with no healing in sight, this plot could still work. He will be stripped of his estate and the money, his name will have no worth anymore and be associated with shame and Wille and Simon can get actual justice for the crime committed against them and his place in the royal family will be taken away and they never have to deal with him interfering with their lives again.
And how does the royal court handle it before and after? How do their plans change of making August the back up now that that's no longer a viable option? Would the public question their involvement, would they be accused of covering it up and would the trust in the royal family go down? What kind of constitutional crisis could potentially arise from that? The show didn't dare get into that but let's get into that! Are they trying damage control, bring Simon and Wille into the spotlight to focus on their new progressive, modern royal couple or are they trying to keep them on the down low away from the press? What things might have to change and what will they do to keep Wilhelm in this position? What are they willing to do?
Another part are the Hillerska investigations that were a badly executed and unnecessary added drama plot in my opinion but if we keep it in this rewrite, they could be instead about the video logically. Simon and Wille were filmed in Wille's Hillerska dorm room and the person that filmed them must have been another student so that means the school is responsible and that could be really embarrassing for them.
Would the students be investigated? Would the whole day/the time the video was filmed be investigated? Would the society party be relevant and brought up again? Would the exclusive society that hinged on secrecy be exposed for what it is, promoting elitist, classist behavior and using it to consume drugs and alcohol? It would've been a good way to bring the Society back and also tie it to the s1 storylines since we had no mention of it again after that and it felt like a weirdly dropped plothole.
I bet there is a lot of attention and scrutiny Hillerska would receive after all that. How could they let this recording happen, the school doesn't seem to be safe etc. I think it would've been a logical step and feel more cohesive if the school's reputation was smeared because of the things we know have happened within the show's narrative and make it about that instead of making up a past event that has never been relevant before and was semi-retconning multiple character arcs and was put there as a shocking plot twist for drama.
This is a lot and I'm just putting these questions out there, maybe there's not an answer to all of it or there are a lot more questions to be put and it could be spun even further. And also maybe there isn't a case closed kind of solution to some of them but more an open 'what could happen after the show?' kind of implied ending (the future of Hillerska and the monarchy in the stars for example). And if anyone wants to add ideas or suggestions to this 'rewrite' (or actually rewrite it) I'm all ears!
#young royals#yr s3#yr s3 criticism#prince wilhelm#simon eriksson#august horn of årnäs#if you come on here and comment that august's 'punishment' in canon was right and actual justice i'm gonna block you i swear#if that is your thinking this post isn't for you#mine
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I think one of the things I most appreciate about OFMD is how it invites us to engage with it on its own terms, and doesn't bother with the things it's just not concerned with.
There's much to be said about the Cinema Sins effect in how people engage with media, and in how creatives will obsess over resolving "plot holes" and subverting audience expectations at the expense of good storytelling. I'm thinking about this today because I recently finished the new season of Doctor Who, and as a lifelong Doctor Who fan, I had a lovely time. It was often very campy and earnest and a bit overly-contrived in the way good sci-fi often is, and it had a core of emotional poignancy that really carried it and made the finale feel satisfying and worthwhile. And when I came on here and checked the tags to see what people were saying, I just kept rolling my eyes over how much of the discussion centered around plot holes and sci-fi science and the like when I just don't think the show was very concerned about that. Of course, people are free to engage with television in whatever way they like, but I do think there's a trend of of over-analyzing small and relatively unimportant elements instead of considering how the story works as a cohesive whole.
And I've been thinking about how there are so many criticisms and snarky pieces about the ending of The Last of Us video game which hinge around how the medical contrivance that makes the dilemma at the end possible is not realistic, and it always frustrated me deeply because who cares? It's not there to be realistic, it's there to force the protagonist to make a difficult choice between saving one person and saving a world which we've seen through the game is very often cruel. It forces us to ask if this world we've been exploring is worth saving at all. And I've been thinking about the famous "why didn't the eagles take the ring" nitpick of The Lord of the Rings -
And the obvious answer, to all of these things - why didn't the Doctor think of this solution before now, why did the writers not care about medical realism, why did the eagles not take the ring to Mordor...it's because they just fucking didn't, because that would fuck up the story they were trying to tell. But we do live in a media landscape that often seems to value these kinds of nitpicky things over good storytelling.
To me, that's a huge part of what makes OFMD so refreshing. It's entirely uninterested with allowing realism to come at the expense of the story, because it knows it's there to tell us a good fucking story. How does everyone find each other on dinghies in the middle of the ocean? How did Stede find the crew at the start of s2? How is Ed up and walking after being beaten to death? How is it you can survive a stab wound to the left side? Because that's how things work in this story, move along.
At the core of OFMD, there's this strong beautiful story about how the things we're taught about being a man are wrong, about the saving power of queer love and queer community, and the writers are just very uninterested in allowing that story to become compromised by nitpicking realism. OFMD revels in being anachronistic and doesn't mind that it's not reaistic, because it cares so deeply about portraying human emotions and relationships realistically. That's part of how it works so well. This show is unflinching and earnest and always commits 100% to what it's trying to do, and I just really appreciate that.
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BRIDGERTON SPOILERS
KANTHONY SPOILERS
I’ve had a few hours to process the rest of season 3 regarding to Kanthony, since it was why I am (or rather) was a fan of the show.
I cannot get over how bad the writing was for them was this season, the choices the writers made lead to nowhere. If I’m being honest the whole season didn’t feel cohesive. I understand Kanthony cannot be have much screen time but at least write something that makes sense within their characters.
In season 2 (and somewhat in s1) it was very heavily emphasized how Anthony was burdened with a duty he could not escape, how he wanted and needed a viscountess to fulfill part of those duties, that’s why he was so unhinged all the time. But Kanthony apparently had a 6 month honeymoon, then returned only to leave again for the extended honeymoon and then when they returned now they are to leave for india?? Where are the duties that were so important? What are those duties? How can you easily leave? In s2 Anthony tells Violet that his future bride would be in charge of his sister’s debut in society and suddenly Violet is the one that is still in charge. Kate threw one party (and not even a ball) and Anthony was like ; yeap baby viscountess duties full filled LETS GO TO INDIA.
I get that marrying Kate changed him, made him free in a way. He is no longer burdened but he should still be focoused on his family it’s one of the things Kate and Anthony have in common, they may no longer feel they owe their family but they sure care for them a great deal . Tell me why a man who was so affected by his father’s death, who almost watched his mother and sister die during childbirth, who almost watched his wife die right before his eyes, are you telling me this man would put his pregnant wife on a ship for several months? Wasn’t that journey alone like 6 months? Anthony tells Kate he wants the baby to be born in India but let’s be realistic…that baby is to be born on that ship. Anthony cannot have changed that much to put his wife at that risk, there must be things he still overthinks…the security of his wife and baby perhaps?
I know India it’s a plot device but the writers could have come up with something more realistic and not OOC.
And to give Kanthony a sole plot line: Have a baby. And then NOT SHOW THE BABY AT THE END was foul.
For two years we’ve been told the lack of Kanthony in s3 was because Jonny was so busy filming fellow travelers and with the rehearsals for Wicked but it turns out it was BRIDGERTON who had priority in Jonny’s filming schedule. The problem wasn’t the amount of time they had for filming its was the writing.
I’ve seen Simone has confirmed she’s returning for s4 and Jonny wasn’t at the premiere yesterday so we have no idea if he returning aswell.
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Audio Drama Sunday - 12th January ✨
I have a long coach journey this evening so expecting to get most of my week’s listening done tonight! Here’s what I’ve listened to so far!
📻 @monstrousproductions Being on nights this week almost always means that I tune in to The Night Folk Network aka Monstrous Agonies! There’s something so soothing about listening in the early hours of the morning and the show never fails to make me feel better about myself 🫶
🔎 @224bbaker (15) Good GOD, I love this show. It’s just so healing to have so many silly things happening in my ears, I listened to it twice. And goodness, look what the cat dragged in this episode (Dr John Watson, I’m referring to you)!!! It is killing me that we might never know what he fumed to Lucius about because Peppermint’s only gone and bloody died!!!!! Not ideal!!! I love how Archie’s attempt at the cold shoulder immediately melted when he realised how dumb James had been. He’s just like me for real!!
Also, due to recent posts on the show’s tumblr, I have accidentally convinced myself that Fitzy is Sebastian Moran in disguise trying to get close enough to kill John Watson. This is based on nothing more than my own headcanons for the guy BUT I will be listening closely for more evidence!!! 👂🕵🏻
🦋 @remnantspod (23) ohh this was a soft one!! Am I right in thinking that Stephen Grenville was the son of Eliza and Andriy?? I don’t know what this means for the overarching plot but it was a very lovely story in itself. It’s nice to have a seemingly lovely person enter the narrative. Honestly, Andriy wasn’t the only one thinking that he’d been shot or something. Head trauma is particularly troublesome in this show!! The acting in this episode gave *just* not enough away for me to be sure if the Apprentice remembers his most recent reincarnation (if that’s even close to the right term). As always, I can’t wait for more!
🗺 Tales From the Low City (14) @tales-from-the-low-city Maybe I was just young and naive when I first started season one of the show but, blimey, things have gotten dark in The Low City. I really love the world building in this show. The actions of individuals and society as a whole fit together so cohesively! The cause and effect makes sense and it makes everything feel gut-wrenchingly realistic. A horrible secret was uncovered at the end of this episode and it seems the residents of the city have a big decision to make about their future . . .
🍾 @ameliapodcast (40) An escape plan! Via Paris! So exciting!! 🍫☕️ How The Interviewer was nimble enough to pull off Sleeping Beauty after months of being in a cell, I’ll never know. I get a cramp just getting up to make another cup of tea.
Have a great week!!
#audio drama sunday#podcast recs#audio fiction#monstrous agonies#remnants pod#the low city#fawx & stallion#the amelia podcast
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One of the things I love about this redux is that you take into consideration how bad an idea forcing people to do stuff they don’t wanna do is.
Think about it. If a seer hates their job then not only are they going to be miserable, but the people around them are too. Force one person to be utterly miserable in a way their family doesn’t approve of and suddenly its also the business of friends of the family and then that can spiral out real easy.
Forcing cats to have kits will lead to dead kittens. Forcing cats to do a job they don’t wanna do means the job won’t get done properly. The negative effects of that kind of pressure WILL build tension in the community and a community as small and insular as a clan is will struggle not to come apart under the strain.
The original clans struggled to feel like a community at all, let alone a tightly-knit, closed-off, and small one. But here, I can actually see how these cats are able to survive at all. Community is the name of the game here—the ability to remain a cohesive and efficient unit even in times of stress is and has been what determines if a group of people live or die. Here, especially, trust and care are paramount.
If these cats do not want to make this work then they are just as dead as if they starved to death. And it’s really nice to have an author that takes that part seriously, because even if it’s supposedly ‘less cool’ there is a reason soft power is still called power. Community matters! People who have their agency stepped upon WILL fuck your day up and make it your problem, and if that happens enough times then somebody’s going to wise up enough to have some common sense!
Repeatedly making people take up med cat duties is repetitive and lazy. It’s also just…absolutely, obviously counterproductive. It feels like the Erins don’t take them or their queens seriously. Which in the originals ends up being ‘the pregnant women that are probably close family to you have no sway or relevance to anything ever outside of motherhood which is NOT the future of your whole community and is instead A STUPID WASTE OF TIME�� and ‘the doctors we somehow have don’t matter even though we live in a community where BATTLE is referenced in our main code of law.’
Like. It’s bad? It’s misogynistic and wrong but it’s also just bad worldbuilding. There is no way a community of 30 people can manage to both 1) not highly value their pregnant people AND 2) last more than a generation AND 3) not piss off both those pregnant people and their family who can totally realistically make up a full 1/6 of your total community. There is no way a bunch of battle cats would, like, not value hypothetical doctors they have.
Anyways. All of this was a ramble but mostly just—you thought this through and I love that a lot. Like, this manages to feel like an actual society, and that is hard hard hard to accomplish when societies are made up of so many moving pieces which sometimes work against each other at random. So, thank you for writing! And rewriting! Because this is one of the best things in the whole wide world and my favorite warriors cats thing ever.
Thank you very much for this ask, my man! Well thought-out and a very interesting discussion to springboard off of.
The canon Clans always felt like they had...how to word it... "misplaced power", if that makes sense. It was, of course, in service of the plot, but that involved things like an entire Clan who hates their leader just obeying him because We Have To, No Matter How Evil Or Incompetent He Is. Mentors could bully their apprentices freely because the leader, deputy and family of the apprentice wouldn't step up and punish the mentor. Deputy mollies lose all power the instant they get pregnant, even though tom deputies can have as many families as they want and still remain in their position, and no one says anything about how unfair this is.
There's a lack of thought towards how powerful a community really can be, or how even one individual can make change by standing strong and refusing orders. It comes with this weird stupidity everyone gains when a villain needs to progress with their plans - no one asks questions about the power structure, or defends anybody for longer than a couple lines - but, moreover, it comes with a lack of bonds between characters. Even siblings don't speak up for each other, because they're not close or don't express their familial love. There's just a rigid structure that the plot and lore adheres to without examining how easily this structure can fall apart. Unless we need it to fall apart for whatever storyline we have this arc, and then it'll be back in place by the end of things, so it's fine.
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davg positivity uwu
bc that last post i rbed is making me think about all the things i love about this game
a few quick notes: this isn't @ anyone, this isn't meant to convince, and this isn't meant to bash any of the prior games. i genuinely love all the dragon age games and i like how individual and unique they are
the characters: i think the characters - the companions and many of the other characters - really make this game. i love the way you interact with companions in davg, it feels so organic and realistic. and a lot of the characters are very important to me specifically. i mean they all are, but in terms of feeling seen/represented - taash with gender, lucanis with sexuality, bellara (and taash!) with neurodivergence... i really wasn't expecting to feel seen on so many levels with this game :')
the factions: i loveeee them all. i like that we're seeing different sides to some familiar factions, because organizations - especially big ones - are never going to be homogenous and i think it's more realistic to portray them as nuanced. and also as developing! like the antivan crows, we first hear about them in dao - that was so, so many years prior to when davg takes place
the plot: it is so epic. literally epic. and da games have always had a bit of that - even da2, which has what is arguably the most contained/limited plot of the series (not a critique! i love that about it, it's a different perspective to explore) still deals with huge issues and is the spark that set off the mage/templar war that dai ended up dealing with. but davg is just.... woof. it's huge it's vast it's sprawling we are seeing and learning so much!!! but i also feel like it's a really cohesive continuation of the overall plot in da - it feels right to me
the world: we see so much more of the world of thedas!!!! it's thrilling!!!
the combat: it's just sm fun. i really love it
enemy designs: they are!!! so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! ! ! the way this game represents demons in particular is smth i really love. it's so representative and nuanced
the cc: this might just be my dash but i never see any love for the cc, and it honestly deserves it 😭 it's so good! for the first time we can change the body type! we can change height! these kind of things create a lot more dev work but they committed to it, and i for one am so, so grateful. also the scars! both their existence, and my ability to actually utilize them now lmao. my pc is not good enough to show the inquisitor's scars in dai so this was a treat
the hair: okay this is related to the cc but it deserves it's own special shout-out because what the fuck it's SO good?? so many hairstyles but also the hair physics are impressive af
the look: all of the zones are?? so beautiful???
rook: genuinely love rook as the main character. like love love love. what they represent in the overall narrative...! rook is solas' direct foil - rook cannot fight gods on their own, so they don't! they assemble a team. a team they trust. a team they are honest with. a team they are friends with. and they rely on that team. that reliance is how they escape the prison that solas could not escape on his own, because rook, narratively, is never alone. it's the juxtaposition between isolation and reliance. which hits some very personal notes for me
the secret end scene: adding this bc apparently fandom opinion is kinda :| on it and i wanted to add in a bit of :D for those who feel as i do. it was SO cool!!! i was on the edge of my seat just staring at my screen like omg omg om g????? ?? ? ? i am soooo fascinated 😭💖
#davg positive#veilguard positive#da4 spoilers#davg spoilers#things feel so contentious within the broader fandom that i get antsy about sharing my genuine opinions#but i'm trying!
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Okay, so a lot of people here have talked about the use of AI and large language models such as ChatGPT, and honestly, I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I think that using them to help you proofread is fine. So spelling, grammar, and that sort of thing. And writers can also do this process themselves obviously, but I don't see the harm in using ChatGPT for this, as long as you are aware that you are giving your data and story over to OpenAI.
When it comes to ideas, bouncing ideas off of an AI can be fun, but only to the extent that they are completely your ideas (meaning the AI didn't come up with the idea for you and you aren't giving the AI information about someone else's ideas). So your idea your choice, but don't use the AI to get the idea for your work and don't give the AI other people's ideas or works. And this only really applies if you don't have anybody either in-person or online to do this with instead.
The last thing I'll say is that AI writing isn't the greatest. It can sound realistic and be cohesive to an extent, but it isn't the same as a real author. I actually tested this a few times because I was curious how it would turn out, and I promise that it is not a substitute or replacement for real authors. I think this is because ChatGPT and other AIs work by predicting what is the best/most likely word to come next in its response based off of the dataset it was trained on. It even has a function that allows some degree of randomness/variability in the next word, rather than only using the top/best next word each time. But this means it isn't coming up with new or inventive ideas. It doesn't come up with plot twists, it can't plan slowly developing arcs across multiple chapters, and it doesn't make the characters interesting to read, have a lot of depth, sound real, or so forth. There are more things too, but I'm just giving a non-exhaustive list of why ChatGPT's writing is not the same as a real author's writing.
Note: I apologize if this isn't clear or if I'm just rambling or if I made any typos. I'm writing this on my phone and have not had ChatGPT or other AI proofread it for me.
hm. I’d say there’s been a lot more discussion about whether or not Tom Riddle has a breeding kink (he does not; just a WAP kink) and about the height difference between Harry and Voldemort in NG (there are charts; they are, somehow, confusing). I don’t want this to be a recurring theme on this blog, so consider this my (very hopefully) last post on this topic.
My opinion on the matter: I don’t agree with your reasoning for using AI. You said you didn’t think it was an issue ‘as long as you are aware that you are giving your data and story over to OpenAI.’ I think you absolutely should care that you’re giving your data and story over to AI!!! You should care. Pretty much just sold yourself there as far as I’m concerned.
I don’t think anyone should be using AI for proofreading. I don’t know how great it is at this, but even if it’s amazing, I think you should be doing this yourself!!! Editing is a skill, and a great one to have. I catch a lot of things when I proofread my own shit; I realize I missed things or screwed things up - not just grammatically speaking but plot wise, which as you said, AI can’t help with anyway. Proofread your own stuff. Proofread your own stuff!!!! And if you want a second set of eyes on your work, ask a real human!!!!!!!!
re: bouncing your ideas off of AI… no!!!! Bounce your ideas off of PEOPLE I promise you will have much better conversations because they will be with someone who can think critically.
and the thing about chatGPT not writing super well… yeah, duh. But what some writers do is use shit like chatGPT as a starting point, then edit. It doesn’t come up with plot twists - unless you feed them to it. No one is arguing that it’s a good as a ‘real author’ but that doesn’t mean people who consider themselves ‘real authors’ aren’t using it. I think this sucks, because, in case we forgot, chatGPT uses theft as its foundation.
(and this isn’t even touching on the environmental shit concerning AI.)
In conclusion: I don’t think anyone should use it for anything creative. At all. Feel free to disagree (and you can post about that on your own blog), but if you lean on AI to edit or create your creative work, you’re only hindering yourself.
Note: I apologize if this isn't clear or if I'm just rambling or if I made any typos. I'm also writing this on my phone and have not had ChatGPT or other AI proofread it for me, nor would I ever.
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Content Warning: VIVZIEPOP CRITICAL/STOLITZ CRITICAL UNDER THE CUT.
TL;DR: The episode felt very disjointed, with an extremely weak opening and a decent end.
Biggest takeaway from this episode is how incapable the team seems to be at balancing themselves. Their humor is mediocre, but fine, with moments of brilliance. But when paired with the serious elements, it cheapens both to the point of totally undermining themselves.
The first half DRAGGED on, and got old pretty instantaneously. I am begging this writing crew to get better material than "haha tit dick swear word laughter pls". Often times, it takes away from a potentially great gag. Take the bellhop/igor guy. His initial reveal was hilarious, and got a full on belly laugh out of me. The moment he spoke totally ruined the bit.
You had it in the bag! You don't need to gild a lily! This is the penguins all over again. The decent end was so bogged down by the first half that it dulled all that followed.
The one through line that I enjoyed was Moxxie spiraling over the finances. Very well done.
I'm not particularly pressed about Blitz being this distressed over the breakup, but they're not focusing on what I feel is realistic for him? If you started it by having him panicking over losing his one source of income, that makes more sense.
Have money be the beginning, then transition into his deeper feelings. This way it doesn't feel at odds with his motivations in previous episodes. His meltdown is believable, but you've done nothing to show the path he took to get there. It was like a switch flipping, rather than natural progression. It wasn't earned. Especially when their relationship is nothing short of emotional abuse.
Abuse victims often go back to their abuser, but they're trying to frame it as something romantic. This. Is. Abuse. Financial, emotional, and social abuse.
Speaking of earning, the second half's payoff. As I said, the humor being so lackluster in the start tarnished the good writing at the back end. There's no balance. The jokes weren't strong enough to contrast the heartfelt parts.
I really do appreciate them actually putting effort into Millie for once. I wish it was more consistent, because often she's totally shoved to the sidelines. She's not a main character, but that doesn't mean you can neglect her until you need her to make the boys look better. I'm also a bit ???? about her saying that Blitz makes her life better? She's constantly in trouble and financial duress because of him.
If they really wanted to make the end feel more cohesive, they needed to spend time focusing on her relationship with Blitz in the rest of the series. There's practically nothing beyond him bitching at her. Or harassing her and her husband. You need to lay the foundation so your house doesn't sink into the earth.
Once again, the Helluverse's greatest flaw is them not wanting to spend time to earn their cool shit. It's nothing more than a series of loosely connected drabbles. That structuring can work, but you need to commit to the nature of it. The team can't decide what they want from their product and it shows.
What. Is. The. Point?
Is this slice of life? Is it telenovela? Is it the Office, but in Hell? What is the goal? Because it's getting EXHAUSTING to try and follow. There's nothing wrong with wanting to change the plot of your work. But you have to put in the effort to make that transition solid. This is something they don't seem to grasp.
Additionally, if this if going to be used to set up Blitz finally cutting Stolas out of his life, it would be a decent frame for that. The entire office is circling the drain because a rich, pompous, pathetic little prince formed a parasocial relationship with someone that never liked him in that way. This episode would hold a lot of weight to swing at Stolas. But I fear they're just going to use the "uwu he secretly misses him" aspect, and neglect the owl RUINING FOUR PEOPLE'S LIVES BECAUSE HIS FAKE BOYFRIEND DOESN'T WANT TO COMMIT TO A FAKE RELATIONSHIP.
Small bits:
The antagonist was fun, and honestly surprised me with the quality of his writing. If the first half was stronger, or not present, I'd consider this one of the best episodes overall.
I'm not entirely clear on why Blitz is so fixated on fucking a ghost? He has no issue getting dick/pussy in hell so what's the issue? Is he mildly addicted to the softcore he's watching? Dunno. It's just one of the bits that bogged down the start.
Rodgers and Nixon did a very good job with what they had voice wise. Major kudos.
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Sorry if this was mentioned before somewhere, but how do you go about writing the script & choice branches for your stories? Do you tend to get a premise first & then build characters around it, or the reverse? How was it like working with multiple writers for BP, and getting their different takes to become cohesive into the overall plot? (Asking more out of behind the scenes curiosity/fascination with different writers' processes so ignore this is you wanna)
How do you go about writing the script & choice branches for your stories?
For big projects (like BP + AAI), before I start the script, I always have a mildly detailed outline for each day -- but I don't feel married to it. I then take one day at a time and just write whatever comes to mind in a google doc, and I often do veer off within each day from what the outline had indicated. Sometimes the conversations just flow differently as I'm writing them out, and that often ends up being some of the most natural writing.
Choice branches are placed in areas where I feel like it would make sense to the player, like, an answer to an open-ended question. Or, maybe an option to learn one of two things about a LI. The important stuff though always stays out of either-or branches to make sure the player sees it.
We'll often plug-and-play different choice branches/lines as we implement the game though, because you really can't know how dialogue will feel until you see it with all the other assets. The pencil skirt line in toaster's route was on-the-fly add, for example.
Do you tend to get a premise first & then build characters around it, or the reverse?
I tend to go premise -> characters. OCs are not super important to me on their own honestly, and I can't name a single one I have that hasn't been created purposefully to fit a story. I'm notorious for not fleshing out my characters a lot in my head, despite trying to write them realistically and caring quite a bit about them being "right".
How was it like working with multiple writers for BP, and getting their different takes to become cohesive into the overall plot?
I'll give them one of those day-by-day outlines for a route and then let them do whatever they want with it -- so, the overarching plot is determined largely by myself (with brainstorming help from friends!) and that keeps it all pretty narratively cohesive. It also helps that each of the routes I outline has virtually nothing to do with each other, so it gives the writers more freedom to go crazy.
So, the writers are free to take that outline and veer off it if they wish like I do. All that I ask is that they generally hit specific plot beats and have a general similar writing style as everyone else so it isn't too jarring route to route. I find that letting people do whatever the hell they want with my stuff has led to some of the best parts of the project(s). My editing hand on other people's things is suuuuuuuuper light. Like, I really only cut lines for brevity as I'm adding them into the game. And that itself isn't frequent.
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Pretty Little Liars: reimAgined
Hello Liars of tumblr!
I am a huge nerd for the Pretty Little Liars franchise – I adore the books (I’ve been reading them as far back as the original release of ‘Killer’), and while I love the show, I've always been more than a little disappointed that it wasn’t closer to the source material. During spooky season, I began both rereading the books and rewatching the show, and it gave me the creative inspiration to blend together the best bits of each canon into one cohesive narrative, start to finish. With that said, I present to you all my passion project, 'Pretty Little Liars: reimAgined', as what a retooled, more faithful adaptation could look like.
My primary goal is to tackle the books’ canon and adapt it to span across a number of 'seasons' in an episodic fashion - currently my plan is a 7-season format with around 13 episodes apiece, leaving wiggle room for more as I progress. I intend to weave in some aspects from the original show that were either invented FOR the show, or ones that it particularly excelled in translating… but not necessarily the ones people might expect. This will range from minor storylines and interactions to entire episodes from the OG - albeit through a different lens - if I believe it will help to flesh out characters and the tapestry of Rosewood at large, however this is not the priority. I may periodically condense, expand, omit, and/or change the order of storylines and arcs to make them stronger, and so as to cut down on unnecessary filler. I want for there to be nods that both book and show fans alike can appreciate while also keeping them in suspense over how events unfold; it'll feel familiar, but won't be a twin copy.
My overall creative concept is a period piece set in 2006 (so I'm keeping as much of the niche style and dated references from the books as possible), with a sense heightened reality and a focus on themes such as symbolism, luxury, and indulgence. Think less ABC Family/CW vibes and more HBO/FX, American Horror Story vibes: big on suspense, a dark and gothic aesthetic contrasting expensive and chic high society, somewhat realistic yet simultaneously a bit larger-than-life or fantastical, can range from slightly eerie to downright unsettling, and doesn’t shy away from vulgarity or adult themes and imagery, but does so tastefully and in moderation. Rosewood should absolutely DRIP with exorbitant wealth, lust, disdain, competition, and secrets, but in the flavor of Old Money. My vision is of a nice suburb in New England, where every yard has a white picket fence to hide the imperfections from your neighbors, and petty, political cold wars matter to your social standing at the country club.
The rewrite will have a more serious and mature tone: less teen romance (though, as it IS present in the books, there will still be some) and more focus on psychological torture, thriller/horror tones, the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Alison, the identity and motive(s) of ‘A’, and what ‘A’ puts the Liars through.
As of now, I have a very rough draft of the major story beats that I plan on covering, as I think the story starts to fall apart when you don't have your long-term mystery road mapped well in advance. My goal is for each story arc/season to feel well-balanced and important to the over-arching narrative, and the 'A' reveals are a large part of this. The 'A' thread is the most meticulous and delicate, as any misstep leads to inadvertent plot holes, which is exactly what happened to the show. Most importantly, the 'A' motivations need to make sense in relation to the Liars - that means no Shower Harvey's running amok in this fic!
I’m also going to fix some aspects of certain storylines, and the timeline in general, that were either rushed, dragged out, unnecessary, unrealistic, or flat-out didn’t make sense, adjusting the pacing where I deem it necessary (RIP Never Ending November). This is less so with the books, although they do have some instances - Sara Shepard wtf do you MEAN THAT ARIA STOLE THE STARRY NIGHT - and more so what I use from the original show. I want to give the story the proper room to breathe and the space to gradually build suspense, ensuring a structured flow for every episode within each season’s narrative arc.
I’m aging everyone up slightly, so the start of the series will take place on the last day of 9th grade (making the Liars around 15), and the time jump will be about 2 years, to the end of the summer before the girls’ senior year (making the Liars around 17). Hopefully this will make some of the plotlines a little less icky and statutory grapey when it comes to age.
I’ll also be combining book and show characters as I see fit, giving preference to the books. In particular, I'll be utilizing the ensemble of Rosewood Day students in a much larger capacity than the show did, so to increase the number of suspects while cutting down on extraneous random characters, effectively creating a small community of socialites not dissimilar to Gossip Girl. These people have largely known one another since childhood, and that should be reflected in their interactions.
I'm retelling the story through the mind and voice of none other than Alison DiLaurentis, and she will operate in a way similar to Mary Alice Young from Desperate Housewives: secretive, slightly omniscient, gone yet still very much a part of the Liars' world despite her absence, and playfully watching over her friends as they navigate past her disappearance. She serves as a narrator for the Liars’ inner thoughts and monologues, but will frequently provide her own insight on situations, occasionally injecting some dry humor into the series.
Lastly, the Liars will actually... y'know... lie lol. While the show captured their positive traits, it suffered from the fact that the girls either didn't do bad/selfish things at ALL, or they were coerced to by outside factors. The girls in the books are much more self-serving, petty, and willing to do bad things to achieve what they want. There will still be 'A' manipulation, however I want the general sense that the Liars are victims of their own actions. They should be much more uncomfortable in maintaining and balancing their social lives with the threat of ‘A’ always looming, poised to knock them off the top of the totem pole should their secrets be exposed. The outward appearance of perfection should be, at least initially, the driving force for the Liars. They’ll be more rational and cautious, making less immediate boneheaded and/or out-of-character decisions like the show portrayed, and a bit more reluctant to trust one another until after things have unraveled and bound them together.
I’m currently outlining the details for the first 'season', and I'm about halfway done with the prologue, which I plan to post by the end of the week to gauge interest. I'm open to feedback, so please let me know what you all think of my little passion project!
#pretty little liars#pll#fanfiction#fanfics#creative writing#writing#alison dilaurentis#spencer hastings#hanna marin#aria montgomery#emily fields#sara shepard#mystery#suspense#pretty little liars fanfic#pretty little liars fanfiction#pll fanfiction#pll fanfic#pll fandom#pretty little liars fandom#pll: reimAgined#pretty little liars: reimAgined
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I absolutely love your lore theories for LoP! Very new to the fandom :). Stayed up all night reading your posts abt it whahaha please keep making them!
Just wanted to ask what you think, if Camille was the recorded first puppet with an awakened ego and was Carlo's mom... does that mean Geppetto let his wife be experimented on by the alchemists upon her death or???
Another thought, do you think Sophia knew Geppetto's plans? Given that she reached out to P at the very beginning and called him by name ((geppettos puppet)) She knew Simon's plans yeah. But what abt Geppettos?
Thank you so much for your kind ask!!!
I panicked briefly because I thought I lost this ask somewhere. I have a LOT of thoughts surrounding Camille and parts of the game that I struggle to put together really cohesively, so on certain topics, i'm just going to ramble.
So, there is this image from the opening cutscene.
Maybe it isn't literally Camille and Carlo, but it may be alluding to them. [And what are they shown playing here? dundundun]
There is a particular affinity and focus the game has on the Piano as well.
Music is so linked to humanity in this game, i think it's very sweet.
There was also this really interesting post about the blue fairy (in the og collodi novel) that I don't think I can dig up anymore, but I remember it was something like this. It was pointing out that, realistically, the blue fairy really isn't a good parent. She lets a seven year old child be hanged on a tree, she watches by as he is enslaved; she makes him "work" for the right to be a real boy instead of reasonably granting him it, etc. The blue fairy also appears omniscient or goddess-like, appearing as a child, a young woman, a goat, and a mother (in perhaps her most adapted incarnation).
if Sophia's knowledge is endless, couldn't she have warned us about geppetto? wouldn't she know about carlo (someone she knew as a child) being tortured in a box? was it her discretion to let us suffer, because he needs to be able to suffer to be strong? Does that make her a moral or ethical person? Can any personhood with omniscience, who, in a sense, allows evil to happen, be moral or just? Perhaps, herein lies the philosophical, inherent flaw, in any relationship with an omniscient being, but I digress.
However, I think Sophia's endless knowledge that Arlecchino [sadly I write his name wrong every time] refers to is spiritual, or emotional, in a sense: that because she could manipulate time, all of it was at her disposal. When we wake up in the train car, her words are: "There you are, I've been looking all over for you!" She could not have known where we were, if she was searching for us (possibly through the blue butterfly figure we see). Also, I think she could've warned us about Geppetto.. but maybe then we wouldn't have gone to save her, and her goals are to get us to save her from Simon, which I believe she either says or suggests are "selfish" intentions (although I think she is very well within her right to have tbh). I don't think she is all-knowing in the way that Simon's world of truth would be. Maybe it's just a plot hole, perhaps it's just a "flaw" innate in writing any story with an omniscient character, but I don't think she was omniscient in that fashion.
And then coming back to Camille: One of my absolute favourite things about the game is the Saintess of Mercy Statue/Pieta Motif that we see in the Grand Exhibition. And Camille, who is inferred to have been the mother of Carlo, is said to have engineered the statue. She is directly connected to the game's central visual motif of death and rebirth. And then the statue also being diegetically[not a word apparently?] associated with rebirth and renewal ("Bring new life to puppets") in that you are "re-setting" and re-spec your character's stats there??? Equal parts beautiful and spectacular and touching.
[I feel SO sad that apparently, not every gamer got to see the statue. Opening those doors after the phone call riddle and then the camera panning up to the statue is such an amazing and special moment to me, and then the fact that it's also raining (another symbol of birth) too]
I don't know if the Camille puppet was literally the same Camille (who may have been the wife of Giuseppe), though. We know that she seems to have saved a baby from falling, on which afterwards she says "bring me back to my child". Not only is the Camille puppet a devoted mother character, she's also the first puppet to awaken (in other words, being associated with the idea of birth). "Camille" is so tied to the idea of motherhood and birth, that I think the Camille puppet is another connection here, and may not literally be the same Camille who was a technician. Although, I don't put it past Geppetto to be doing nefarious experiments with puppets, even if it were his wife. It might be a little ominous in regards to his attitude to P, that he doesn't see puppets as "people", but he does see people as puppets.
#lies of p#lop#liesofp#lies of p spoilers#spoiler#pinocchio#ask#chikirya#camille#speculation#blue fairy#sorry i take very long to respond to any engagement thank you again everyone.#spoilers#tw hanging
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