#partly why I reread this stuff

[luceafarul-de-dimineata]

I just got done re-reading the main story of whb and I have have come to the realisation that everything happend in only a week at max.

Everything between Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 happened in the same day. Then we fell asleep due to Mammon's curse song thing and we were unconcious for an undisclosed amount of time (though I doupt it was more than a day).

Then Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 happen one after another without any stop in the middle, we get kidnapped by the Hades crew and we go to Hades (again, undisclosed amount of time, but still, probably no more than a day at most)

In Chapter 5 we have some rest time, but still not a lot since Leviathan really wants to go find the original seed of the tree of knowledge, so, again, I doupt that someone like Leviathan would just sit around doing jack shit while hell was under threat and he thinks he found a solution.

So, at most, the whole story so far happened in about a week. It honestly feels like there should be more, but I can't find any indicators suggesting time passing that aren't the ones I mentioned above.

We have been told repeatedly that time in Hell and time on Earth are different, which kind of makes this whole thing even more terrifing. From Minhyeok's perpective we've been gone for weeks or months, but from our POV we just got here.

When I first read Bimet's H-scene, I thought him saying "you're loose" was kind of a haha pun because MC fucked a lot of demons before him, but if we go off the timeline of events, we got done fucking Mammon like 3 hours ago.

I am very confused and I am putting this here to kind of see if anyone in this community can enlighten me.

Admitadly, it would be very funny if everything happened in one day. We should keep this going, cause I want to see how much stuff they can fit in so little time.

[carlyraejepsans]

as an erstwhile/current(?) runner of an askblog, and as someone recently acquainted with the experience of Kissy Cutie, do you agree with cunningham's offhand remark that kissie cutie has the pacing of an askblog

lmao yeah! i wasn't sure of what he meant at first but "throwing in random characters in order to Have Stuff Happen bc there's no clear objective in the story" is kind of par for the course. unless you set up your story's objectives right outta the bat, but even then you're still gonna be beholden to the way your audience interacts with your blog: the how, the when, the how much, what they choose to focus on etc. without constantly going back and forth rereading all the entires together as one, it's VERY easy for the pacing to slip out of hand. that's partly because experiencing an ask blog developing in real time is a completely different experience to the "finished product" wrapped with a bow. maybe even more important! it's an inherently interactive medium, after all.

to speak for daemoverse specifically, it's why i'm not actually using it to tell the story! the in character "vignettes" aren't meant to be connected into a narrative, but rather, act as a backdrop for the more traditionally paced story i'm going to make for the characters one day. preparing the stage, setting up character conflicts and themes that will be tackled in the story... and, most importantly, flexing my dialogue writing skills like a cocky rooster LMFAOOO. that's the biggest strength of ask blogs imo. bite sized episodic snapshots that capture the characters' voices and bring them to life, just for a little while

[collectionoftulips]

So I was rereading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (still working my way through the reread) and I went with a friend to see the new movie and here are some thoughts on Lucy Gray and Snow and all that stuff, in case anyone is interested, particularly the differences made between the book and the movie.

The first thing that stood out to me was the difference between (from what I could tell) book!Lucy Gray and movie!Lucy Gray. In the book, I think that Lucy Gray is much more of an ambiguous character compared to how she was in the movie (I wonder if it was to help make the main message of the film clearer (in classic 'beat you over the head with the metaphor' Hollywood fashion)). There is so much emphasis placed in the beginning of the book on how Lucy Gray adjusts her appearance, how she makes sure that she looks as good as she can - a tendency that is clearer in the book when she and Snow more overtly also strategise what she should sing when she's on television. The book makes it clear that they have had discussions about what she might or might not perform to get as many sponsors as possible before the event and he is surprised when she ends up singing something other than what they had discussed. To me, it felt like that the book spent more time showing us how similar they are to each other by showing how they manipulate people through impression management. Lucy Gray in the books is okay with singing for strategy, while in the movie, she insists on maintaining some sort of 'authenticity' by only singing when she is inspired to do so.

Something to acknowledge, of course, is that Snow is a character who fundamentally trusts no one. He is aware of Lucy Gray's tendencies and perhaps they are overemphasised to us as the reader because in the book we spend so much time in his head. Perhaps the ambiguity around Lucy Gray is merely a reflection of Snow's suspiciousness, but I like to think that she is similar to Snow in that she knows that there is power to being likeable to the right people and sometimes that's the only card you can play when the odds are stacked against you (Snow's sense of being wronged is obviously much more a product of his own delusion, while Lucy Gray's is much more real). It might be counter-intuitive, but I think having Lucy Gray and Snow be more similar on that level would make the deeper themes of the movie clearer: discussions of 'human nature' is fairly reductive and people have the capacity of both good and evil, sometimes at once, and if you assume the worst in people on your quest to power, you will probably draw that out but also that's how you become a ruthless dictator.

The fundamental difference between Lucy Gray and Snow in the end is that Lucy Gray believes in the good in people, and Snow does not.

So why am I going on about this? Well, partly because these thoughts have been floating around in my head, but also in terms of the romance aspect of the film, I thought it might have some potentially interesting implications. Mainly, do I think that the romance between Lucy Gray and Snow was genuine? Yes and no.

Yes in the sense that they did have a connection and whatnot, but also no for a few reasons. Firstly, because I think one of the main aspects of why Snow becomes attracted to Lucy Gray is because his vanity is flattered. He likes the idea that this now immensely popular girl likes him, that he managed to win her over, that despite that he's Capitol and part of the Games, she trusts him. He likes the idea of the romance, once he gets to District 12 (I'm not there at the rereading yet though) it's not like that he has a lot else to do, and it would make sense for him to try carve something out with Lucy as a backup as it looks like his future in the Capitol for all intents and purposes is toast.

Secondly, I think Lucy Gray is genuinely intrigued and attracted to Snow. But she's also someone who was deeply betrayed with the Reaping, deeply traumatised, and still reeling from the breakup that caused her to be in the Games. Then this handsome, charming man shows up who seems to care for her and goes above and beyond expectations as her mentor. At the start, she is very aware of the fact that he's Capitol is in the back of her mind. She also knows that she needs to keep him on side while she is in the Games (as she clearly sees that he's more invested than 99% of other mentors and she is gaining advantages from that investment that other tributes could only dream of). But over time, he demonstrates that he wants her to survive and he helps her out. When he then shows up in 12, she is surprised and she never expected to see him again. But he seemed to be a good person from everything he did for her in the Games (some of it she could barely guess at), and she's now basically forced to live in the same district as her ex and the girl who made her compete in the Games. He shows up, seemingly offering this fairytale and she happily goes along with it - after all, she likes him well enough. But she also has very little sense of who he actually is and she's (probably) still hurting a bit too much from her previous relationship for it to be a relationship where she is truly and deeply in love.

And then when she realises that he set up his seemingly only friend to be killed, she realised that her dream prince is actually not the kind of man she thought that he was, and that everyone is expendable to him. She is the apple of his eye at the moment, but eventually the shiny romance of it all will fade, so the best thing to do was to escape.

I don't know, maybe I just like the idea that Lucy Gray and Snow were people who had potential and that they were essentially two people who the world had broken in two, clinging to each other, and if it wasn't for Snow's narcissism and ruthlessness, if he had essentially been a better person, they could have really had something.

[cinemastyles-blog]

Can I Take You Somewhere?

Summary: Anon request on Wattpad - “could u do one where y/n is a virgin and it like takes place in highschool? and like harry is really gentle”

Warnings: fluffy SMUT18+, strong language, lots of caring gestures, praise talk, oral (f), gentle!harry, lots of fluff and fluffy smut

I wasn’t sure if it was meant as doing it in the high school, or Harry and y/n are high schoolers, so I wrote it as the second option. If you want the first option, let me know!

Master

FRAT BOY HARRY

“Hey Harry.” You smile as you sit down in the desk next to him, “Have a good weekend?”

He nods, “Yeah, for the most part.” He gives you a small smile and shifts around as his mates file in around him, “Wild party last night Styles!” Louis says as he flops down into the chair, “Crazy shit happened.”

Harry nods and glances over at you, giving you a look that you’re not sure how to take.

You look down at your desk and open your book, making yourself act like you don’t really care, but at the same time you do.

You care so badly because you’re in love with the boy who you aren’t even sure likes you back.

He acts so different when he’s around his friends, almost like he doesn’t want them to see the softer side of him.

“Alright class, take your seats.”

——

At the end of class, Harry gets up and grabs his books. He lays his hand on the corner of your desk. When he lifts it up there’s a note that you quickly snatch and shove into your sweatshirt pocket.

You gather your things and grab your bag before walking to your locker. You turn the dial, entering your three digit code before opening and throwing your belongings in with a loud slam.

You don’t even care. You’re worried about what the note said.

You rest your hands inside your locker as your fingers shake with excitement mixed with nervousness.

You smooth out the folded paper and your lips form into a smile as your eyes glide over the words.

Meet me out back at my bike after school.

You bite your lip, rereading over it again to make sure you’re brain isn’t tricking you.

Your stomach does a flip each time you read the word ‘bike’ because Harry on a motorcycle is to die for, and you have a feeling you’d be on the back of it after school.

——

Final bell rings and you’re up and out of your seat within seconds.

You go to your locker, throwing and keeping anything you don’t need into it. You play with the cuffs of your sweatshirt as you head towards the back lot.

You pushed the door open and a smile slowly forms on your lips as you spot Harry and make your way over to him.

“Hey. Got your note.” You look up at him.

He smirks, “Good, I was hoping you would.” He hands you his helmet, “Can I take you somewhere?” You take it in your hands and nod, “Sure.”

He swings his leg over his bike, kicking the kickstand up as he turns it on. You put the helmet on and he flips his hat around backwards and nods for you to get on.

You lay a hand on his waist and swing your leg over, situating yourself before wrapping your arms around his torso.

“Ready?” He looks over his shoulder at you.

“Ready.”

Harry starts moving the bike slowly, stopping until a car finally lets him go.

Harry is the only guy in school to have a motorcycle, which is partly why he’s considered one of the popular cool kids.

But you know him as something other than that. You know him as the gentle, likes to study and laugh at stupid stuff but super, super caring Harry.

He doesn’t show that side very much or just to anyone really.

——

At every red light, Harry would check to see if you’re still okay and rub your knee with his fingers as you waited for the light to change.

When it did, he would wait for you to tighten your arms before moving.

He pulls off onto a road and it’s just you, him, his bike and the road for a little while until he pulls off and stops the bike.

He taps your leg to get off and you comply, swinging your leg over and getting your balance before you take off the helmet and handing it to him.

He clips it and hands it on the handle bar. He extends his hand out and you take it, walking with him over to the single bench.

He sits down and you sit next to him. You gasp as you look out into the overlook, “This is beautiful.”

He smiles and admires how happy you look, “Yeah, I found this place a while back, kept thinking about taking you here.”

You look over at him, “Me?”

He nods, “Yes.” He presses his lips together and takes a deep breathe through his nose, “I brought you here so I can, um.”

Your stomach starts to flip and you bite your lip, “Harry.” You whisper lowly, “It’s okay.”

He smiles slightly and you can tell he’s a bit nervous, “I want to ask if.. you’ll think about being my girlfriend?”

You smile and nod, “I don’t have to think about that.”

He looks over at you and smiles, “Really?”

You nod, “Harry.. I have liked you for a while now..” you turn towards him, “I wasn’t sure if you felt the same.”

“I don’t treat you like anyone else. You’re special to me and I just-“ he blows air and laughs, “I just wasn’t sure when or if there was a right time.. so I just decided that today was the day.. that’s why I was short with you today.. I was nervous.”

You laugh slightly and move in towards him, “It’s okay.”

He lays his head on yours as you lay it on his shoulder and he takes your hand into his. You slowly turn your head to look up at him. He smiles and cups your cheek, bringing his lips down to yours.

You kiss a few times before it graduates into a slow make out.

You know what you wanted, and you can tell Harry wants the same thing.

He goes to pull you into his lap but you stop him, “Not here.” You whisper against his lips.

He nods, “Oh, alright.”

“No, I mean.” You look up at him, “Let’s go to your house. You said no one would be home for a few days right?” You bite your lip, hinting that you’re ready.

He nods and smirks, “Yeah, yeah I did say that.”

You stand up and hold your hand out, “Let’s go.”

——

You hop off of Harry’s bike and carry the helmet up to the door as you follow him. He unlocks the door and opens it, letting you walk in first.

“I love it here. It’s so nice and cozy.” You set the helmet down on the table and turn to look at him. He smiles, “Yeah, my mom likes to keep it that way. No wonder you guys get along so well.”

You laugh and shake your head.

Harry walks up to you, brushing hair from your face, “Hi.”

You smile and tilt your head into his hand, “Hi.”

He leans down and kisses you, gently pulling you closer to his body.

“Remember..” you say leaning back, “I haven’t done this before.”

He smiles and rubs your cheek with his thumb, “I’ll walk you through it.”

You smile and take his hand and walk with him as he leads you up the steps to his room.

You’ve been to Harry’s house multiple times before, you know his family every well. They’re always teasing about you two being a thing, but you guys weren’t sure if you both felt the same way, so neither of you bothered to talk about it.

He lays you down on the bed and lays beside you, laying his hand on your cheek, giving you a smile, “My beautiful girlfriend.”

You smile and bite your lip, “You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to hear you say that.”

He leans in and kisses you. Your lips move with his in the most perfect way.

He pulls you over onto him so you’re straddling him, “Just grind your hips down, love.” His hands grasp firmly on your hips, pushing down.

You bite your lip and start to move your hips downward, gasping at how good the friction feels, “Oh, fuck.”

“Feel good?” Harry groans out.

You nod, “Y-yes.” You lay your hands on his chest, fisting his shirt as you grind down harder.

Harry watches you for a few minutes before sitting up and wrapping an arm around your waist, “Can we try something?”

You nod and watch as Harry moves down your body, sliding his hands up your legs to the button of your jeans.

You watch his hands as they swiftly undo and pull them down, tossing them aside as he leans in to kiss your skin.

He smirks and hooks his fingers in the band of your panties, “I want to eat you out.”

His words cause you belly to somersault, “Yes.”

He slides then down and gently pushes your legs open, biting his lip as he lays eyes on your pussy, “You’re so pretty.”

His words make you blush, “Thank you.”

He slides his hands up, placing his thumbs on either side and spreading your folds apart. Your breathing starts to get more rapid as you’re excited to feel his mouth on you.

He leans in, his tongue gently swipes up and down your folds a few times before his lips attach to your clit.

Your hand lays on the back of his head as you moan out, moving your hips as you indulge in the pleasure, “Harry.” You gasp out, “That feels so good.”

He hums against you, gripping your thighs, “You taste so good.”

You look down at him as he glances up at you before pushing his tongue into you. You let out a whine and arch your back. You eyes shut as your head falls back, “Fuck.”

You’ve touched yourself many times before, so you knew what it felt like when you were about to cum, and Harry had you there already.

“Fuck, fuck. Yes yes!” You call out and grip his hair, pulling as you cum around his tongue. You walks clench and unclench as you come down from your high.

He leans back, “How was that?”

You smirk and look up at him, “Why haven’t we done that before?”

He chuckles and takes off his shirt, tossing it to the floor. He undoes his belt and your eyes fixate on his hands again.

You loved his hands.

He stands up to kick off his jeans, leaving him in his boxers, “Are you ready?” You nod, “Yes.”

He walks to his dresser and grabs a condom before walking back over. He lays it on the bed next to your head, “Just to be safe.” He winks and moves his body to hover over yours.

He brushes hair off of your forehead and presses a kiss to it, “If it hurts too bad, just tell me. We’ll stop.”

“Okay.” You lay your hands on his cheeks and pull him down for a kiss. His hands travel up and down your body, under your shirt that you haven’t taken off yet.

“Can we get this off of you?” He asks in a whisper as he tugs on your shirt. You nod and sit up as he does and pull the thin fabric up over your head.

He smiles and shakes his head, “I will never get over how beautiful you are.”

You throw your shirt down and look back up at him with a smile. His hands slide up your sides and he pulls your bra straps off your shoulder to lean in and kiss where it laid.

You reach behind you and unclip it, sliding it off and throwing it with the other discarded clothes that lay on his bedroom floor.

He lays you back and pushes his boxers down. Your eyes move to his cock and back up to his eyes.

You were worried that it was going to hurt because of how big he looked.

He leans up, grabbing the small square packet and ripping it between his teeth. You watched as he pulled the rubber from it and took it down to put it around him.

He slid it on and looks up at you, “I know I said it already, but tell me if anything is wrong.” He run his hand through your hair and waits for you to give him the okay.

You nod and he grabs his cock, rubbing it against your wet folds before he gently and slowly starts to push in.

You gasp and tense up quickly. Harry stops and rests his forehead on yours, “Relax, baby. Try to relax.” He dips his head down and presses his lips to yours.

He feels you relax so he continues to push in. You whimper against his lips and squirm around, “Keep going.” You whisper quickly, “It’s okay.”

You wrap and arm around his neck and lay your other hand on his chest. He moves his hand up to your clit, gently rubbing circles onto it as he continues pushing in.

You let out a moan, “Fuck, fuck.”

“Hurts?” Harry stops and looks at you.

You shake your head, “Feels more good than anything.”

He smiles slightly, “That’s good, baby.” He starts kissing you again as his fingers start rubbing your clit, “You feel so good already and I’m not even all the way in yet.”

You smile against his lips and moan as he gets more of his cock inside of you. He groans against your lips, “Shit. Almost there.”

You nod and whimper as you feel his cock in you fully. Your walls clench around him and he moans, “Fuck, y/n. You feel incredible.”

“M-move, please. Slowly.”

He leans up slightly, watching your face as he slowly pulls out. Your face crunches up and your eyes shut as you moan, “H-Harry, fuck.”

He bites his lip as he slides back in, listening to you moan, “Feel good?”

You open your eyes and look at him, “So good.”

He slowly pushes back in, moaning as you clench around him, “Fuck, baby.”

He slowly gets into a rhythm, slowly thrusting as he kisses you. You dig your nails into his shoulder, moaning into his mouth.

He lays his head on yours, “Doing so good baby.”

You’re a whimpering, moaning mess under him. You wrap a leg around his waist and arch your back up off the bed, “I feel so close.”

He nods, “Go ahead baby.”

Your eyes roll back and you lay your head back as he kisses down your neck. He leaves a trail of little bite marks up and down as he kisses across to the other side, “Cum for me, baby.”

You feel it coming as he pushes his cock deep into you. You gasp and cling to him as your orgasm rips through, “Fuck fu-“ you let out a long moan.

Harry leaves gentle kisses all over your face as he works you through your high, “You feel so good.” He whispers lowly, “Taking me so good.”

You moan and whimper at his words, closing your eyes as he covers you in kisses, “M’so close, love.”

You nod and turn your head to press your lips to his. He slides a hand down your body, hooking his fingers under your knee to hold your leg close to his body.

His hips rock slowly into yours as he moans against your lips. You wrap an arm around his neck, pulling yourself closer to him.

He kisses back your jaw line and buries his face into your neck, “Fuck.”

His moans are music to your ears. It fills a part of you that you didn’t know needed to be filled.

“Y/n.” He moans and you feel his cock twitch and empty into the condom that’s inside of you, “Fuck. Fuck.”

He gently pushes his hips against yours and rests there for a few moment, breathing heavy as you run your fingers through his hair.

He slowly pulls out and discards the rubber, “How was that?”

You sit up and smile, “Really great.”

He leans in and kisses you.

“Harry, sweetheart you home?” Anne calls from downstairs.

“Shit!” You both exclaim quietly and jump off the bed to quickly put your clothes back on, trying to be as quiet as possible.

——

Sorry this took so long! I hope you like it!!

If you have any requests you can send them here

I do have about seven requests to get through so bare with me.

[alparlaboratories]

Gonna ramble about Inyssa for a little bit.

Is it conceited to make a post about your own character's themes and stuff? Maybe. Whatever.

@inpurpleandred has been rereading and commenting on CoT and some of the stuff they said gave me ThoughtsTM about Niss, so here they are under the cut. It's long, and y'know... warning for all the stuff Niss goes through.

So you know that tumblr post that goes something like 'I'm probably X (trans, queer, bi, etc.) but I got much more pressing shit going on to deal with that at the moment'? That's how I viewed Niss'... everything while writing CoT. Partly because yeah, Niss really has so much shit going on that more urgently requires her attention during much of her story, 90% of it being Shadi's fault of course.

And she does deal with a good amount of it during the fic itself, mostly regarding her own self-worth, her feelings about her family and her own warped view of strength and heroism. And it's only near the end and the epilogue that she can even begin to consider anything else about her life.

And I think in that time, in those years between CoT and my future story, Niss does think about it, and tries things out, experiments and tries to find a place for herself in herself. And she realizes that she both has severe self-image issues and also some gender stuff going on maybe, but they're not actually related.

During much of the fic, Niss sees her body as separate from herself, as early on as the first chapter. It's a form of detachment that allows her to be angry at herself in self-harming ways that -in her head at least- don't clash with her vow to never hurt herself again like she did in the past.

And she is very, very angry at her body. It's a bitterness that keeps boiling under the surface of her skin whenever she's unable to do something she feels like she should. She sees her body as just a thing covering the real Inyssa, and feels like a chick who never got to break out of its shell. And though she tries not to admit it, one of her biggest fantasies is to literally rip herself apart like a molting snake and for the 'real' Inyssa to come out of the dregs, pristine and perfect.

And in a way, it's true, but it's not her fault. It's both Shadi and Johanna's (And Sarah's too, but for different reasons). Who is the most to blame is debatable, but regardless, it's because of them that Inyssa feels this way.

Because yeah, as one of my readers once said, the Dawn family is full of women who are made of stick and stones, but Inyssa takes that to an extreme. There's a chapter where Barry mentions that Niss was once noticeably taller than him, and she was! And she would've continued that trend, eventually growing as tall as Shadi if not taller, if she'd had a normal childhood.

But she didn't. Johanna neglected both of her daughters, and partly because of that -and her own bad tendencies- Shadi ended up doing much worse, especially psychologically, to Inyssa. And then she left. So Inyssa was left severely depressed and gaunt for arguably the most important years in terms of physical growth and development. Johanna says so herself; she practically starved herself, eating only as much to keep herself alive and not doing anything else. And she kept getting worse, and worse, until eventually she attempted suicide. Which, of course, only made the situation worse.

And by the time she was forced to start taking care of herself, it was too late. Her body was frail, and the malnutrition she'd suffered caused invisible scars that stunted her growth for the following years, making Inyssa feel like there was a disconnect between how strong her willpower was compared to her actual body. And so she went on hating said body, cursing it for all her problems because she didn't know who was really to blame.

It's also an endless spiral, because she could've gotten better if she'd taken better care of her body, but why would she, from her own perspective? So she treated her body worse, and it inevitably got worse, so she got even angrier, etc. It's only when she goes on her trainer journey alongside Barry, someone who cares to help her, that she starts getting better. And of course, following the end of the fic and the Epilogue, she's actively trying to eat and sleep more, to treat her body more kindly, like it always tried to do with her.

And it's only then that she has enough time and peace of mind to think about herself, her gender and all that. Now, Niss has always been bi. One of the few good things about Johanna as a mom is that she was unapologetically bi herself, and supported her daughters in learning their own sexual identities, Niss coming out as bi eventually, and Shadi as a lesbian.

After that, I think Niss would happily try new things, whenever she got the time. And though she would keep doing so even years and years after the fact (well into this new Hoenn fic and beyond) from an author perspective I think she'd eventually see herself as a baby butch, a pretty boygirl who loves wearing suits and ties and looking like she's straight out of a visual novel full of bishonen men.

And I love that for her, honestly.

[asirensrage]

Hello hello 👋🩷👋🩷👋, I was just rereading your Lost Boys story for like, the hundredth time and it got me thinking about the feelings I've been having with fanfic's recently. There's no such thing as being too old for fanficton but I find myself unable to emerse the same way I did years ago. When I've now surpassed these characters in age, and when I read the reactions of the MC's, I can't relate anymore. It feels melancholy.

Then there's the fact that I can't read stories where the mc is out of character anymore, and that is just ridiculous. Like, why the hell can't this nutjob, serial killer be affectionate and loving? None of this is real, it's fiction, it shouldn't throw me off to view these characters in a different light.

I feel like I've lost the ability to really fall into a story and when it's taken up so much of life, I feel sort of lost.

Have you ever felt these sort of things?

Hey! It's been awhile but I hope things are going well overall.

As for your question, yeah, I get it. I totally do. There are times when I can't find myself invested in the same fandoms or characters that I used to take such joy in before. Even fanfics I loved sometimes I reread and can't fully get immersed back, but that's okay. It happens. It doesn't really have to do with aging, it's more about how priorities and interests shift in time. It sounds like you're looking for more depth in what you're reading.

Usually, when I find myself struggling to relate to characters or MCs it ends up resulting in me writing my own fics, tbh. Because I get frustrated at the reactions and then go to make my ocs react in more realistic ways imo. Sometimes I'll write things that age up characters just so I can give more dimension to them (also usually when I write darker stuff lol). (This is partly why i end up with a million wips lol)

I think you have to give yourself some grace. There's nothing wrong with you, or in the writing you're finding yourself in, but it may not be what you need in that moment. That's fine. It happens. That doesn't mean you'll never enjoy it again, you just may need to take a break or even shift in what you're reading (character, fandom or other).

If you continue your search for fics that fulfill that feeling, I hope you find more than you expect.

[thisis-elijah]

[ mulberry ]

  [ mulberry ]  what tips would you give someone with writer's block?

🌿    /    oh, i love that! welcome to my (*drumroll*):

step I:        do something else first! for me personally i always consume a shitload of different media. no matter if it's books, movies, music or video games. i usually just tend to watch one of the gazillion fantastic movies out there (if you ever need a recommendation just hmu, i'm your friendly walking movie encyclopedia) and that alone helps me overcome any writers block. documentaries help, too! just anything that broadens your horizon really, that make you deal with situations you don't have to deal with. it doesn't neccessarily have to match the mood of your texts, but it helps. 

step II:   ​​​   plotting & planning. before i start writing any text i plot it beforehand. that doesn't mean that i know every little thing that's gonna happen, but i loosely build my structure beforehand. some scenes live very vividly in my head before writing them down, other ones just start to form on the go and sometimes i don't even know how i'm going to connect scene a) and scene b). when i hear anything that inspires me i write it down somewhere. even if it's just a couple of words. for me personally, thinking about how the scene's going to look also helps me massively. i often work with the senses in my texts. for example: you have that eerie basement waiting for you, there are shadows hidden in the corners, looking like people. the dust particles are reflecting the warmtoned light of the flashlight in your hands, barely shedding enough light to see anything properly. your palms are sweaty, it's the tension and the fear you feel rushing through your veins. the silence is almost deafening, sometimes you don't really realize it's there until you feel it weighing heavily on you. and then the smell: that god-forsaken smell of decay. the smell no one actually ever gets used to.  and now you have a setting for your character to interact with. things your character can react to. it's just like in the movies, where you're constantly in awe because of the magnificent set design. from there it's easy peasy lemon squeezy.

step III:        the right music. sounds like the most obvious thing out there, i know. i make playlists for every text i write and just listen to them over and over and over again to get myself in that kind of emotional level. for example: i've recently been listening to the soundtracks of se7en, haunting of hill house, far cry 5 and doctor sleep when writing elizabeths latest text, and then changed to kristofferson 2 (fantastic mr. fox), stuff we did (up), in another life (eeaao), mia & sebastian's theme – celesta (la la land) and magic tree and i let myself go (great gatsby) when writing another (very sad, haha) text from elijah's past. i usually just stick to instrumental music but sometimes other tunes with words can help to put you in the right mood, too.

step IV:   ​​​   practice makes perfect (and the dullness of perfectionism). you're now getting advice from someone who's (partly) paid for their creativity so it's somewhat professional lol. creativity is something you have to nourish and take care of just as your body, your mental health, your habits and whatnot. the more routine you get in being creative the easier it gets. that doesn't neccessarily mean that everything you create, write or think about will be damn good. sometimes you have really really really shitty ideas. sometimes you gonna reread your texts and have this "i started walking and my legs were walking"-typa shit going on. but that's okay. it's all a process. you just gotta start. that's why i start with trying to grasp the atmosphere my character's navigating through, because it gives me a head start. your stuff doesn't have to be perfect. it will never be. and the sooner you're accepting that perfectionism is a construct that's more of an utopia than anything else, you start to feel less pressured in many ways. perfection is boring, that's why perfect characters with barely any flaws at all are boring.

step V:   ​​​   the little things. we gonna get a little sappy here and this might not work for every person, but it sure as hell helped me. inspiration is everywhere. just as joy and beauty and moments we deem as perfection is everywhere. i noticed my texts got way better when i described very "simple" scenes that happened and filled them with fragments of memories like smells or little details. thus i started to pay attention to my surroundings more: started to look up when taking a walk, how friends of mine act around each other with their little quirks and habits, found beauty in the smallest little moments, like when the person you hug just tightens their grip halfway through. or when you cook dinner and this ray of sunshine's hitting your hands in just the right angle. or you listen to that one song that makes you remember this stupid thing that happened seven years ago. find beauty in the little things because there really is beauty in everything. even in our darkest moments, even in sadness, even in grief. i think we all have a gift with our creativity, because we can put the emotions we have into words and share them with people.  

⸻ (original post here)

[oleander-nin]

OUGH FAV OLLIE PIECE? DON'T MAKE ME PICK-

Regarding that reblog, I'd say almost anything from horrortober is just ashsjdjsksb oh my god,, I reread them frequently /gen

I can't think of what my favourite one is because it changes depending on my mood (??? Idk either don't ask-) but judging on how many times I think I've reread certain ones, then I think my favourites are probably these in no particular order:

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

The Weight of a Letter (TWOAL)

RAGAGHHSSH I KNOW IT'S ON HIATUS BUT I LOVE IT SO FAR- AND I DON'T WANNA PRESSURE YOU TO WRITE MORE SO PLEASE!! HEHE I WANNA REREAD IT it's such daydream fuel <3

Mark - also yan rise Donnie <3

I know yandere stuff is NOT good irl, and I'm not condoning it obviously. But there's a small weird undertone of comfort I like in this one? I don't know how to explain it- dontjudgemeidontknow

Run - yan rise Donnie <33

I love this one when I'm crazy. Simple as that. No undertone of comfort like that last one, it's just that sometimes,, I am insane.

Taken - yan rise Leo (because I currently really like him)

Idk why I like this one so much actually tbh,, I just do (also he feels so in character here)

Also, honorary mention:

Stress Mess - rise Donnie

I ALSO DON'T KNOW WHY I LIKE THIS ONE I just think it's so realistic lmao. Like I can so easily see this happening and I've actually daydreamed of this exact scenario lmao. (LOVE IT WHEN I WANT FLUFF <3 SOMETIMES I JUST WANNA COMFORT HIM-)

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

Anyways- uh it's been a while since I left a long ask here lol. I meant to just check up and send a quick "hi ily" kinda thing but ended up spending half an hour recalling my favs of yours and writing this lmao

Speaking of- HI ILY <33 YOU'RE SO COOL AND AWESOME DON'T FORGET THAT

(Not bothering to reread this for mistakes like I usually do because it's like 2am and I simply can't be bothered. If I made typos or didn't make sense uhh pretend it was fine please-)

sorry this took so long to respond to

<333333333333333

thank you so much😭

I'm glad people still like twoal, I really need to get on that-

"But there's a small weird undertone of comfort I like in this one?" - Yeah I totally get you on that. Sometimes you can take comfort in the deranged.

Run is actually partly an inside joke w/ a friend on mine lmao. Very glad you like it.

Thank you sm for the ask and the list, I appreciate it a lot. I hope you have the bestest week<333333333333333

[that-starry-freak]

Okay I wanted to talk about something that I've been thinking about for awhile

Cw for mentions of proshipping

Okay, uhm- God I'm bad at starting these

-

I dont think we should ever judge someone for being a proshipper

And, I know, a few of you (maybe?? I feel like most of the people who are going to see these are going to agree but for those who dont-) are going to be like "well Echo! Its wrong! Those things are digusting!"

and, yes! The content of things in proships are disgusting, I will not fight that at all. I'm not advocating for those things or defending those things irl at all! However, that doesn't mean the people are.

Let me explain.

I used to think proshipping was terrible (which partly because I first heard about it in the wof fandom on the wiki, and they're strict af about it), but recently I met someone irl. Let's call them C for the sake of simplicity and anominity-

C is.. an interesting person. They're my friend and they're nice! But they often talk about- interesting things. they're openly a proshipper, at least to me and my friends. It really turned me off at first, but as I got to know them more I realized they were relaly, really traumatized. And I realized there is a really good chance this just a way to cope.

Now, even before this I had been fine with people who did it to cope, but was still disgusted with people who were doing it just because they found it interesting. But recently I realized that.. you can't relaly tell the difference-? Unless they tell you directly at least. If you just see their art of two characters you have no clue why they did it. And even if you ask, if they are doing it to cope you could bring up some really bad memories.

I guess what I'm getting at is that I've come to realize that we should just.. leave people alone. We don't know why they do things, or what they've been through. We shouldn't try to cancel anyone or harass them for proshipping, because they may have a reason for it. Or they don't, but you don't know that.

I mean- proshipping isn't terrible in general ig-? Idk, I just don't think about it. I've just decided I dont care about what people ship. But for people who do, who are absolutley disgusted by the thought of it, I hope this helps to sway you to just.. leave people alone. Block them, block the tags, and move on.

So uh- yeah 👍

(This is not directed at anyone btw!! These have just been my thoughts in general, and I wanted to share them- also sorry, this is probably poorly written, I really just wanted to get all my thoughts down and stuff- and I dont like rereading posts-)

[musicalsiphonophore]

I finished Annihilation.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Give me 2-5 business days to process what I just read. I would give it six stars if I could.

I could have devoured this in an hour - but I had to reread chapters, reread pages, annotate, and sit there staring into space considering the implications of the words. Even doing this, I read it in 2 days I enjoyed it so much.

The actual narrative is hidden behind the sentences, it's not stated outright. That's the appeal of it, partly. You are bewildered alongside the biologist, you lose your sense of what the reality of Area X and the world outside it is, just as the biologist does.

You know what I love? None of the horror of Area X is the area itself. The area itself is not frightening. The horror lies in how it transforms people. The horror is the way people change, the way they lose their sense of self and dissolve into the environment.

Also, it's deeeeeply creepy. Especially Chapter 4. The [SPOILER!!! SEE BOTTOM OF PAGE***] I tried to read that chapter while having a snack and I had to delay my snacking because I felt profoundly nauseous.

It really reminds me of Scavengers Reign. Especially at the start. So if you like Annihilation and don't know Scavengers Reign, try it out, and if you haven't read Annihilation but you do know Scavengers Reign, read Annihilation.

Fantastic book.

***psychologist's terror at seeing the biologist, at seeing what this world has done to her. The screaming "annihilation", which in itself frightened me, and then when you found out why... my god. The hypnosis stuff really gets to me.

[dpsisquared]

For the Fic Writer Ask:

🍱 Do you read your own fics?

🍘 Is there a fic or idea for a fic that you've abandoned?

🍙 Is there a fic you wish had gotten more attention?

🍱 Do you read your own fics?

I do. I'm not sure *why* exactly lol. I think it's partly the compulsive way you reread an email you've already sent?? 😅 But I find myself rereading older fics when they happen to get comments bc I do forget a lot about what I write.

🍘 Is there a fic or an idea you've abandoned?

For longer fics, I have them pretty much finished when I start posting, so I've never abandoned one in that sense. But ideas/WIPs?? Countless times 😅 There's tons of WIPs with anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand words where the inspiration just fizzled. Although, I've occasionally picked stuff like this up a year later and ended up finishing them so who knows. Here's a small sampling:

The one where VW Byleth rescues Dimitri but he rejects her because Dimitri™️ and she's manipulated into a political betrothal with Claude

A Felileth time travel fix it where they accidentally come back to the academy after Gronder (this one has 15k words written but I hit a wall with Edelgard's part)

Modern royalty/tutor Dimileth AU

Academy shenanigans as told through the letters Rodrigue receives from the various blue Lions

A messy FWB turned arranged marriage disaster (I think this one came from a Tumblr ask)

🍙 Is there a fic you wish had gotten more attention?

I mean, I'm human, so I crave more attention even on ones that did well 🙈 I am definitely an anxious person and get these lovely crippling bouts of imposter syndrome so sometimes I get fixated on the stats and sometimes I am more rational about it.

I guess I would say my fic for a flash event based on Roman Holiday. Posting in an event can be a double edged sword, because it's a fun sense of community with the other participants but it also kinda creates a flood of similar themed fics all at once, so it's easier to get missed. At least that's been my experience. Roman Holiday has always been one of my favorite romance movies, so I really enjoyed writing this one.

[three--rings]

Although honestly, besides just being amusing, all the people judging people for being fans of certain characters in the Alice in Borderland tag just seem like...they have missed the entire point of the show. 

I realize this is partly something that is much clearer in the manga, but it definitely part of the point that we are introduced to Niragi as a irredeemable villain and yet he survives and becomes...sometimes an uneasy ally, sometimes an antagonist, sometimes a foil for our main character.  That he questions his worldview multiple times.

And Aguni, who is introduced as a similar antagonist.  Don’t forget he supposedly intended to rape Usagi.  And he was responsible for the violence and bloodshed of the 10 of Hearts game. But the whole point of that game was that it was his guilt and his pain for the things he’s done that were driving him to essentially mass murder and suicide.

And yet the second half of the manga spends a lot of time redeeming him through his relationship (fatherly) to Akane and Doudou (rip for his nonappearance in the show). 

And Chishiya is a terrible person throughout in the manga but does eventually show growth. 

The story is VERY concerned with showing us why bad guys are the way they are with their backstories.  And that anyone in certain situations can and will do terrible things.  Even Arisu, in 7 of Hearts in the manga, intentionally takes the wolf and hides from the others because he’s scared.  He decides he should be the one to live.  He CHANGES HIS MIND, tho once he gets past the fear of death.  That’s how he is able to win Hearts games, because he wants to beat the game and save people more than he wants to live, ever since 7 of Hearts.

But the story is also telling us that while anyone can do bad things, anyone can stop doing bad things and come back from it and rejoin community and find love of whatever kind. 

Even Aguni.  Even Niragi. That’s WHY he survives.  That’s why there’s that moment when he says he’s rethinking his life.  It’s not because the narrative is trying to say he wasn’t really bad or actively really trying to redeem him.  But it’s trying to say it’s POSSIBLE.  And it’s valuable that he is still alive because people should have the chance to change. 

And yes I’m saying “in the manga” a lot.  I do (mostly) like the show, but it muddles some of this stuff with their characterization changes.  They made Arisu much “better” of a person with a lot less range, and Chishiya in particular is super softened. 

But seriously you should not be able to look at ANY character in this show and see that their hands are clean of blood.  They have ALL made selfish decisions that cost others their lives or they wouldn’t be alive.  Arisu and Usagi are the least stained, I suppose, but Usagi was very cold and self-focused when we meet her and I talked about Arisu already. 

So throwing out ice cold takes about how I can’t believe people like “X Character” after they did “y” is just...reducing a narrative about the nature of human capacity for evil and goodness and the importance of surviving in order to have a change to improve into...idk a Chick Tract or something. 

It’s so very indicative that someone is twitter poisoned when the only way they can conceive of interacting with fiction is as a stan or anti and as a moral statement about the viewer.

Anyway, read the manga people it’s so fucking good.  (I’m rereading it now, which is why I keep going...AND ANOTHER THING about the show.)

As Arisu says during 10 of Hearts:

[beanhappiness]

why did you delete ‘dig og mig for altid’ off of Ao3? :(

Hey you,

I have to say, I didn’t think anyone would notice that it was gone 😅 But don’t worry, I’ll put it back up. Maybe tomorrow or at the end of the week. I just want to edit it a bit, since I’m unhappy with it as it is.

When I wrote it back in 2019/20, I was doing it as a side project, while finished my history thesis (hence why Carl at some point randomly mentions a police chief from the 1950s, lol). Of course, that meant that the fic was only my second priority and ended up a bit messy and really fucking long. But at the time, I was like ”whatever it’s fine”. Then I reread a year later and thought that it could really do with some editing. But again I was like ”it is what it is.”

Then the guys from Sløjtlæsning took Dig og Mig. (Side note: I am SO grateful that you told me about that!) And that really triggered my anxiety. I had no idea what this podcast was or how many listeners they have. But based on how it was presented, I just knew that they were going to make fun of me and my fic. So, I just couldn’t get myself to listen to it.

For some time, I told myself that I would never write another fanfic (hello there low self-esteem) and was again considering taking Dig og Mig For Altid down. Then last month I was in a really bad mindset, and I finally just took it down. But I had just started working a two-year-old fic again (En ny begyndelse), partly thanks to @greaseonmymouth who had just shared a lot of lovely fics. They reminded me that fanfiction is meant to be fun, and shared with people who love the same characters and universes as oneself. And due to some personal stuff, that was the story I wanted to work on. But I promised myself that I would get back to the other one too.

Then last weekend I found out Sløjtlæsning had posted part one of five of a reading of Dig og Mig For Altid. And I was DONE. So Sunday and Monday I listened to the circa 7 hours they had done on my two fics, and then contacted them on Instagram. They promised to not post anymore of Dig og Mig For Altid or any of my other fics. In return I let them keep the episodes on Dig og Mig up. I mean, I don’t want problems with their listeners, and a few of the things they say are funny enough, so it’s fine.

Having confronted them I finally wanted to work on Dig og Mig For Altid. It’s my story, and I care about it, but I need to feel better about it before I can share it with people again. I’m not going to change the story, or ending, I’m just going to, trim of the fat, so to speak. I mean it’s 48k long, and I have already deleted 1600 words, where I just repeat myself or overexplain something (kind of like I have just done now, lol).

[pearlywritings]

Have been rereading some of my works lately, partly just for the kick of it, partly to see how I used to write a year ago and now.

And in the process it got me wondering - do you guys have any favourite fic(s) of mine? If yes, then why this particular one(s)?

I am both curious and eager to find out if there are any particular tropes or something that caught your attention (since I mostly write stuff based on my preferences).

Also I am slowly but surely still working on the event requests (and I wanna write ALL the ones I got so far), it's just I've been very busy for the past couple of weeks with work and classes 😩

[wrongcaitlyn]

i started rereading tyt and i had a question. it’s probably answered within the fic but my english is not really that good but what exactly happened between nico, jason and bryce in the start of the fic??? was it a cupid situation or something totally different??

ahh no worries!! yeah it's intentionally made pretty vague, i think that i gave a short-ish summary of it but if that wasn't super clear that's 100% on me lmao - basically, i think towards the end of their freshman year-ish? or like mid freshman year. not entirely sure when but some time during their freshman year, it was bryce, jason, and nico in an empty classroom (i never put a reason why, but the image i pictured was like nico accidentally forgot smth like a pencil or his phone or something in the classroom and went to get it, meanwhile bryce was holding up jason and trying to get him to talk about stuff/be friends... like clout-chasing shit. he's an asshole but anyway

jason being the people-pleaser he is just stands there and kinda listens as bryce brags abt things that he doesn't even care abt, and then nico walks in to get his pencil or whatever it is, and bryce just takes this as an opportunity to like - gain jason's approval? or something? keep in mind that bryce is just a total dick, and jason is not, but bryce does not know that about jason. but anyway, i don't think he *actually* knew that nico was trans/gay, but just made assumptions/very negative remarks in relation to that in a sort of mocking manner.

it wasn't really ment to parallel cupid, because cupid most definitely knew that nico was gay. and he's a literal god. in this case, it's just a teenage boy doing a very shitty thing because he thought it'd make him cool (not excusing that at ALL hopefully this doesn't come off in a "boys will be boys" way because that's not what i'm intending)

nico, obviously, when hearing the implication, immediately dashes, assuming that bryce has somehow figured it out, and will then be telling the entire school, but really, bryce just picked on nico because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. unfortunately, nico doesn't see jason do a complete 180 on bryce (he's no longer just tolerating him), and eventually gets him expelled too. jason doesn't necessarily *know* if what bryce said was true, but he makes the assumption that based on nico's reaction, it was true to some extent, and it leads to him deciding on sitting at nico/leo/will's table the next year (partly because he's like, ah, gay friends for piper because i am totally a straight ally, and partly because he just doesn't know anyone else at this school who isn't a complete asshole- seeing that octavian and the others were friends with bryce)

so yeah it's pretty vague in my head, and it's not necessarily "nico was outed by someone who very definitely knew about his sexuality" but rather "bryce was pulling assumptions out of his ass to try and make bullying seem cool when it really really wasn't and nico was just unfortunately the one who was there at the time"

but obviously, that's not going to make a huge difference in nico's opinion. there was no way for him to know that bryce was just guessing. and so when he's able to very vaguely and briefly explain the situation to will and leo, he just thinks that he's been outed. he's shocked when he gets to school the next week and realizes that literally no one knows, and no one cares about him, just the same as last week

thank you for the ask!!

[twosides--samecoin]

sending you more of these because i loved reading your responses to the musical ones: 6, 13, 21, and 29 for the fic writer asks?

Thank you, I really enjoy writer asks and I appreciate being sent them! I ramble a LOT however :'D

6. Are there any fics from others you reread all the time?

I have not been able to read fic for fun since I started writing, partly because I do not want to plagiarize or have to dance around someone else's story ideas with Fallout. The only fully recreational, non-research, non-fic reading I have been able to do in two years has been the Alexander Hamilton biography by Ron Chernow, and even then if I don't get background guilt about not doing fic-related reading, I find parallels and things I want to reference and quote anyway. I would read other fic if I could, I just think I won't be able to read Fallout fic unless it is outside my niche (RJ MacCready/Fallout 4)

13. How much planning do you do before writing?

I do round the clock planning; I am kind of always rearranging a new chapter in my head. Most of them start as daydreams; quite often, especially in the earliest chapters, I would have an idea and would just draft and draft and think through it as I wrote, only going back or taking pause to think on dialogue or edit. Planning is normally in the form of research for things I need to figure out to make the world make sense and to ensure things don't take too much suspension of disbelief. I used to edit the old Fallout wiki, Nukapedia, and if I am writing a chapter you can bet I have 10 or 15 tabs open to help me double check spelling and continuity between my story and the game world people know.

21. Have you ever deleted an entire scene after spending hours laboring over it? If so, why?

The original intro to Long Time Running was scrapped. It was too wrapped in mystery. I am so glad I did so, because the first chapter holds up well. It has a good hook and is upfront about where it starts in the Fallout story - it is clear from the outset that my SoSu has been the Minutemen General for a while, and that RJ is beginning the fic at the normal end point of his questline, while also creating a reason for the reader to come back and read more. I hope it is successful and makes people curious to see why I started the story where I did.

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic. (If you don’t have either, just share a random fic idea you have that you don’t plan on getting to.)

I have managed to hang on to a lot. I do have a Google Doc that is retconned/scrapped ideas for the fic, but it's mostly things that necessitated a change after having been written; like stuff I changed my mind on. So a fic idea I have but don't plan on doing is a Cait x Piper Wright romance. I love the idea, I just don't know if I have it in me to deliver the same quality fic as an independent story!