#spoof writing

[mrdrhenwardhykle]

So basically, if you ask me if I like creepypastas (specifically the game-related ones) my honest answer would be mostly no-but kind of yes? 'No' as in pushing away all the usual gunk (mostly based around Sonic and Sonic influence) that repeats the formula of protagonist is now the bad guy- you play as a cast of three usually made up of player 2's and 3's, minor characters, and/or antagonists; going to the right of the screen until they inevitably die. The rare instance of 'yes' extends out to the non-humorous parodies of older franchises that becomes much more than 'recoloring Sonic.exe by picking another franchise from a hat' or 'angry dead sibling of the player haunts the game' plot; and rather works as a twisted character study of the original plot or gameplay.

eugg so basically this is my study and perspective on the right way to twist a protagonist into a compelling and threatening antagonist/villain

I've got three examples of what I think working character studies look like, and I'll list them off from least violent to the most. Just a warning, the last one gets pretty bad. The first one only has one instance of gore that I know of, and it's not in your face at all.

*Spoilers and gameplay links for all. Feel free to play any of them before reading*

1.(Maybe FW? Slight gore and violence, disturbing) To begin, we'll talk about "Q*Bert Arcade" by Tarkan809 on Gamejolt. The game itself is fairly simple and not too far from home from the original arcade game (As the title might allude to and accidently trick you with). There are noticeable differences that will likely throw the player off, such as the fact that you're playing as one of the enemy Coilies(the snake), and the lack of enemies or atmospheric sound effects in the first stage. It's off and isolated, but not a blaring sign of danger. What really throws the game off is the completion of stage 1, as both the music and screen distort in an unsettling matter. Nonetheless, nothing at this point is added, as the majority of what is seen is edited-or enhanced, if you will, from the original material. There's no blaring red flags like unfitting music from another franchise, or the villain being revealed in the first impression of the title sequence. You are given this atmosphere that is built to remain close to 'normal'- allowing for the small differences to be twice as effective in the creep factor.

From the second level onward, we're introduced to the one new element to the narrative; Q*bert. To my knowledge, the game is just called 'Q*bert Arcade' and not something like Q*bert.exe-as every let's play YouTuber calls it; Q*bert's design isn't the typical addition of predatory features. There's no pitch black eyes with red pupils, there's no sharp teeth or claws (although idk how that would work on Q*bert in the first place). Instead, Q*bert's typical look is enhanced with humanoid-like features, with a soulless expression. You can't really tell it off the bat however, as the same glitch effect does fairly well at hiding his design-whether or not you decide to hide away. While I don't believe that hiding the monster's appearance is a mandatory move, but playing with the fear of the unknown is always unique and effective nonetheless. What I really like about this game is that there's no text appearing out of nowhere and explaining the personality and motives of the character right away.

Despite the presence of the character, it's still staying fairly true to the original material. All you hear from the character is his typical jumbled up text-to-speech voice; not being too off from the original use, but being an affective spook-factor in a different setting.

I also just noticed this, but there's a subtle detail between the first level and when Q*bert shows up; as you may notice that the Coily's expression changes from neutral to worried as soon as the stage turns orange (I think. I don't think I'm seeing things. But if it's not, it's doing its job in making me think I'm seeing things)

The death scenes in the gameplay aren't overly violent or out of character, as the voice and screen just distort severely and restart. There's room for gameplay, and nothing (to my knowledge) is removed in the controls for the sake of the enemy magically catching up. The game ends on a level mostly without Q*bert- only showing up when the player completes their part.

What I like most about the antagonist character is that the writing isn't afraid to show it expression emotions. Though it might sound like I'm constantly bashing on the Sonic.exe character, I'm not- but the tropes the character is always associated with often don't leave much room for anything but what he-and others like him- are usually associated with. By most X is shown to have two emotions; Soulless happy/pleased/amused or soulless angry. Either way, the character more often than not gets his way in the end- so it doesn't effect his choices and mannerisms. Q*bert's emotions-however-effect the plot greatly. There's no overpowered god-like presence- as much as there is a theme of human-like emotion and pettiness. While in his somber mood, Q*bert plays fair with the player- even to the point of jumping off if they manage to hide away in time. He's fast, but works by foot and not random supernatural tendencies.

His human-like nature gets to him by the end of the demo, causing him to angrily throw the Coily in a rage-fit- smashing them against the ground and chewing off the tip of their tail. There's no cheap jump-scares and loud noises. There's also no need for fourth-wall breaks to make sure the player feels threatened. The blood and violence is minimized to just one stroke of action. It's not about cramming in the shock factor- its goal is to simulate a fear of what this arcade game is, what has has happened to it, and what it can become.

To my knowledge, there isn't much of an explanation behind this other than the player is likely a kid in an old arcade that sneaks into the backroom while everyone else is on their phones. Someone said it's based on a creepypasta with a cabinet-man-like premise, but idk if that's true.

I think it's neat nonetheless.

2. (Slight gore, loud scares, and FW) The next example is more of a character study of an alternate universe/route than it is a creepypasta attempting to convince you it's a real thing. Gimmick! (Window's 98 Edition) or 'YUME.EXE' by Diplocaule on Gamejolt appears to be a startling but effective route in making the audience fear the original. Taken side-by-side, YUME.EXE and Gimmick! go alongside similar plotlines. Both introduce the premise beginning on a young girl's birthday, opening the gift of a strange and small creature as her special surprise. In the original route, the girl is thrilled with the gift of Yumetaro-likely favoring them over her old toys and making them jealous.

However, YUME.EXE displays an AU in which the young girl isn't pleased with her special gift- and just places it on her cabinet to catch dust. The once magical abilities and origins of the character are turned against the girl- making it clear that she has made a terrible fiend. The other toys are removed, and she is taken to an unfamiliar world twisted from the original material. The traits of the original protagonist being an attention-loving creature with magical powers allowing it to travel between worlds is an excellent trait to be elaborated further upon in another light. The logic makes sense with the established world, and the motives become clear in perspective.

This time, you play as the girl; trapped in a bleak 3-D void-unsure of what is to happen next. The jealous creature catches up eventually. Text and jump scares are used in this one, but tastefully. The theme is brash and intense- simulating a fear of resentment and anger. A aggressive feeling is established and exposed- like a wound rotting terribly the more the player attempts to search around. While it's 3-D and likely an attempt to simulate realism in the player, the environment isn't pulled out of character at all- as the textures are pixelated. The text urges the girl to go back to where she started, revealing a waiting 'YUMI' crawling out of the darkness to lunge at her. It likely impales her somehow, causing her to fall down while slowly dying. The background changes to its usual happy-theme, simulating a feeling of joy in her death as she slowly bleeds out. After a quick jumpscare, the protagonist role swapes back to 'YUMI' and its usual gameplay style. Going forward, the character stumbles upon the poor girl's body, and slowly begins to smile.

To my knowledge; there's no 'real-life' name drops that set this up as another 'real victim stuck in a game' scenario, but simulating the same fear by implying the hidden pettiness and ironic villainy in an already established character if choices are made differently. In that way, the original route is seen as the best choice, as her original toys are now seen as the far-lesser two evils.

3. (Very violent, loud jumpscares, FW, disturbing) Alright, so Adventure Island.exe by Anomalocalis on Gamejolt is a gory, but great example both adding a themes and setting an AU to the original story, without being too crowded (albeit it is very overwhelming, but intentionally). Both games start of just about the same- not changing until you approach the enemies. For context (to what I understand) the original Adventure Island is a basic platform game, allowing for the player to occasionally pick up random-but-wacky powerups from eggs, such as skateboard gear-or maybe even Fairies. The spoof removes the cartoonish theme and logic, weighing in on the reality of man becoming a destructive menace in nature -possessed or not. Beginning the game, the narrative establishes personality points by showing the enemies fleeing as soon as the player comes to the screen. The gameplay is slower, and almost simulating a destructive weight that the original Higgins didn't have before. The first red flags aren't scares or glitches, but rather just key detail changes in the enemies behavior. Also another detail is that the points do nothing, but I'm not sure what that could mean other than maybe a theme of gluttony?...

Again, the realistic behaviors in the character set in an expectedly unrealistic environment brings a subtle unsettling feeling, even if when the scares aren't happening.

The level comes to an end, and the mechanism of the egg is finally teased. Going further and collecting the egg, a spirit emerges and potentially possesses Higgins. Themes of Higgins playing along with long awaited tribal rituals and sacrifices is brought to the narrative, as an unnamed narration encourages him to explore it further. This could symbolize man's nature to destroy, establish, and obtain power over the value of life. We often have a natural habit to find gods to praise, or even go as far to attempt to become one. This theme seems very prominent in this character study- as seeing how the original material works off of a semi-implied civilized man (assuming from the ballcap) fighting off wildlife in the jungle.

The game restarts, beginning the second act. The title shows once again, but with the subtle animation of Higgin's face changing and smiling upon the player. The cult-like affirmations towards Higgins are seen again just before the level starts. The level doesn't require anything more than to go forward. Higgins is slow and silently fuming behind the shadows. Enemies flee, but are destroyed by the touch. Likely because of his choice, life is easier- lessening the need for platforms and jumping. However, because of this, he begins to lose his humanity.

A sacrifice is demanded, and he does so by capturing and violently smashing to death one of the fairies. Furthering the power requires no love or remorse, likely being something replaced by asserting authority.

This act likely ends with the 'power' killing him with no pay-off, despite what is promised. He's no longer in the menu. Heaven no longer has its goal or purpose, and is described as something he personally has to obtain-likely through his violent means. The game resumes normally until it ends in a jumpscare. Perhaps displaying that his standards of killing have no exception on another human.

Rather than a playful spoof, or alternate set of choices queuing in the butterfly effect; Higgin's personality is fleshed out by inserting some new elements; displaying a semi-accurate depiction of the narrative, and showing the protagonist submitting to the natural human urge to indulge and assert power over those below them.

Summary: When writing your spook spoof, remember to play with elements that compliment and explore each character; rather than just resorting to what everybody else did, or what's going to create the most shock factor.

(Also, keep this in mind; Sonic.exe is going to work for Sonic because it's often a play on 'what if the fastest thing alive wasn't on the good side'. Doing the exact same thing to, eh-idk, Kirby isn't going to work because speed isn't an element that makes Kirby threatening...) (That I know of. You would go with the fact that he eats people and gains their power, I assume....)

K. Hope my ramblings help out somebody at some point. Anyways, have a great day/night!

[cuckooclocktopus]

lottieshauna is so funny to me its like: AITA? I (F17) am pregnant and giving birth to my child. For context, I had sex with my best friend's boyfriend and it killed her in the process. I now have to perform a live birth in the middle of nowhere due to my plane crashing with several of my teammates. So, my teammate (F17, let's call her L) has been weirdly obsessed with my baby. She keeps whispering to it while I'm asleep, and insisting that it's "our" baby. It almost sounds like she wants to father my child??? The other night, L was going on one of her tangents and I yelled at her to stop obsessing over my baby. Everyone, including my friend is mad at me for snapping at her. I don't see how I did anything wrong. Does anyone else find her behaviour weird?

[grounded-gryphon]

WIP Wednesday - Spoofed Phones and Sugar Swans

Nightwing waited until Oracle gave him the 'go', then started grappling across Crime Alley. With O's eyes on and Hood's 'invitation, he didn't have to worry about an ambush, which was good. As planned, he arrived at the meeting location a few minutes after D-- the Ghost King and his people. And Hood, who was with them again, actually standing with them them this time and not off on his own.

Okay then.

Nightwing nailed his landing and put his grapple away. To his relief he could still hear Oracle over comms. The extra EMP shielding was still working.

"Your Majesty," Nightwing greeted the young monarch. "Hood." He gave a nod to each of the others on the rooftop. Tucker, Sam, Jazz… Focus, Nightwing.

"Nightwing," Hood returned.

"Thanks for coming," the Ghost King began, sounding a bit awkward. "I was hoping for...a bit less formality with this meeting."

[i-am-trans-gwender]

I'm making a character who is a parody of Tumblr Sexyman but I've run into a problem.

I'm having trouble making a character who is an accurate parody of Tumblr Sexyman but also making them in a way where they will not become an actual Tumblr Sexyman.

"I'll exaggerate the villainy so much they no one would be attracted towards them. Fuck I just made Alastor."

"I'll give him a sad back story so stupid no one will ever actually sympathize with him. Fuck I just made The Onceler." (Sorry Onceler fans)

"I'll subverts the trope of them being tall, skinny and sharply dressed by making him short, chubby and casually dressed. Fuck I just made Sans."

How do I make an accurate parody of Tumblr Sexy Men without making a character who could potentially become a Tumblr Sexy Man?

[iwasjoking]

making an apocalypse AU.

My brain rot has manifested itself as a shoddy pic of Nightbeat after I took a personality test and came out as him.

I FORGOT THAT I BIT MY FINGERS LIKE HIM (sorta- Get antsy and stuff?)

Read till all are one. Cried

Went back to reading. Cried some more.

brainrot went and attacked me again.

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!

[captainzigo]

Luster Dawn should've been the first villain of G5

Opaline is fine, but Luster is WAY more interesting as a potential villain

Then again, maybe I'm just salty over Luster being forgotten about after G4

now personally i don't think she is evil. i think she's just a loser. also i dont know if timelines line up for her to be a bad guy in g5 unless she is extremely old, or immortal somehow.

however

that would be awesome if she was evil. or at least misguided. i think her evil plan / evil ways would be unethical friendship experiments. like forcing people to be friends to power a laser. figuring out how to put friendship in jars for later. studying friendship in a lab and putting the test subjects through like science rat mazes. kidnapping people to study their friendship. using friendship magic for evil stuff. making people do weird shit to harvest their friendship more efficiently. that kind of thing.

and in the process of defeating her people would have to like convince her subjects that their contrived super friendships aren't healthy. or that friendship is cooler when a machine isn't sucking it out to use for evil. or even that their friendships are cool, but that they're being used to hurt people.

at first our heroes might even help her because some other threat vaguely justifies having more powerful friendship magic. and the experiments would start out being ethical and kinda cool. like learning how to be better friends by putting it to the test in a lab. or just general social studies. but the whole time leading up to them realizing she is evil, she'd always be ready to take things too far.

she would be unstoppable by even super friendship magic because she would have some of her own. she would keep a few friends of hers in a bunker somewhere to power her with their friendship. she would keep them in a plato's cave truman show style situation. every so often she would visit them to foster their relationship and like give them a bunch of gifts and love. and they would have no idea what she did when she left their cave. a little friendship cult to make her immune to the the-elements-of-harmony-were-just-symbols style friendship blasts even when all else fails.

she's described as twilight's best student, and that's certainly not because of her friendship skills. and if we pretend that that must include starlight, then that probably makes her the most powerful unicorn of all time. so if she goes super freak style with the friendship alchemy then she'd be unstoppable. beating her would mean they'd have to go rainbow power again but this time it's like nebula power, or aurora borealis power or something like that. which would be great for toys

I’ve always thought it would be cool to have a my little pony villain who was like doing friendship, the right way, and had all of this friendship magic stuff as a result, but was also bad and evil. and like the whole lesson can be like some people can be really good friends or even do really nice things and even be really nice people but still do bad things and stuff like that. a lesson I’m sure they’ve had before, but they’ve been going for nine seasons. What lessons haven’t they had. I think luster is a good candidate for this role based on her like two lines from the finale lol.

[abhainnwhump]

Whumpee gets an invite to a party hosted by Whumper. Whumper is their crush they've been longing for for months, so this is the dream. But when Whumpee gets to the event, there's nothing there. Not lights, not other people, nothing. It was all a lie to humiliate Whumpee.

[verrixstudios]

« Muddied blood fills the rivers

forcing even those of ice to shiver

look not for dull scales

though from mud comes the wails

Four dragonets will rise to power

before a final acid shower

dirty blood will rise to fame

a new territory here to claim »

“Mako, what is this?” Flourish asked in confusion, the bright blue and rather lanky dragon was staring at the tattered scroll, a face of confusion.

“Uh..” Mako murmured, looking to the ground sheepishly. She was shorter and rounder than the bright dragon before her, and her dark scales were helping her blend into the shadows she so desperately wanted to crawl away and hide into. She was always a terrible liar, and even worse at hiding what she wanted to lie about. Her nightwing father blamed it on her seawing side.

“Mako!” Flourish repeated, urgently this time. She turned quickly, pushing the paper into the other’s chest. It fluttered pathetically to the ground, landing on the dark talons below. “Cause it sounds a lot like one of your prophecies again!”

“It’s nothing!” Mako complained as she lowered her head, her frilled tail swiping the tattered page into a pile of similar tattered pages. “I told you, those things get stuck in my head until I write them down! It drives me bonkers, actually.”

“Okay well usually they’re something like ‘oogly boogly wow, dinners gonna be a cow, yay-“

“None of them have ever said ‘Boogly’!” Mako interrupted with a wrinkle in her dark snout.

“My point is-“ Flourish interrupted in return, huffing, “-Why does this sound like an actual prophecy and why was it hidden in a pile of scraps?”

“Because… It’s weird. It’s nothing like my other ones…” Mako mumbled dejectedly, her wings folded right at her sides, fiddling and fidgeting. “I doubt it’s one that comes true,”

“Even the ones about dinner are always true!” Flourish exclaimed with a flick of her tail, her scales flickering a mix of colors she was clearly trying to hide. She was concerned. Why was this so weird? Why was Mako acting like this? Why now?!

“Well- yeah! Cause they usually hunt for whatever they say!” Mako retorted, growing nervous with the raised voices echoing in the room. A dull ache was beginning to gnaw at the back of her head. Something about claws. Jaws? Brawls?

“Yeah but your writing always comes true! It’s when we know to prepare for injuries all the time! So what makes this one wrong? What does it mean? Are we in danger? Are we going to get land?” The questions were practically pouring from Flourishes mouth as the practically neon dragon began to pace the ground. She didn’t notice the others discomfort until the dark dragon rather suddenly pushed past.

Mako awkwardly scrambled toward the slab in the corner, a groan rumbling from her throat as she held her head. She dipped her claws into the slowly drying ink spills nearest and began to scratch into another opened scroll.

« Within each tribe, claws will sharpen

blood will spill before three moons darken

Only end in sight to see

each queen gives territory

Acid will burn

Fire will spill

The darkest night churns

Under a new queens will »

[wander-wren]

i want to know who has the most fics and who has the most words published on ao3. i doubt they’re the same person and i want to know.

[grand-theft-carbohydrates]

guy whose only exposure to Fierce Corpses, Evil Hand Possession, Demonic Cultivation and Xianxia Genre has been fanfiction written by their mutual, reading their first Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: wow getting a lot of 'Shen Qingqiu and Shang Qinghua visit white crane manor' vibes from this!

[essektheylyss]

decision paralysis sucks but like for real wdym I can't write three fics and two novels in the four hours I have before bed

[fatheroffdensen]

my brain is in a state of 'i could write poetry about anything' rn and the way i could write a fucking novel's worth of psychoanalytic prose about dethklok is insane. like the character depth itself lives in my brain rent free. fucking brendon gave me brain rot so bad. oh my GOD dethklok are just literally perfect caricatures of toxic masculine expressions of severe complex ptsd and i will never get over that. like brendon GETS IT. he either is a trauma survivor and/or neurodivergent himself or actually has an unfathomable empathy + understanding that he managed to inject into the most unexpected artform (funny silly gory adult cartoons- who thought it would literally be about the power of friendship in the end!??!). i wanna pick his brain i could talk to him for hours i bet

[grounded-gryphon]

Jazz Fenton

Jazz saw Dick's id on her phone screen as she sipped her coffee. She frowned, sighed, and picked up, "Hello?"

"Hi Jazz, Nightwing here. Is Danny available?"

"He's asleep right now." She frowned. Danny needed all the rest he could get, and since coming to Gotham, well, the lack of sleep had been more pronounced than back in Amity Park. "Can you call back in two hours? He should be up by then. Unless it's urgent?"

"Not urgent, just an update. O and Cyborg found no evidence of the GIW having any captives right now."

"Thank god... Thanks for letting us know." Should she say more? Jazz wanted to have something resembling a relationship with Dick, but being part of Danny's Fraid… And the way Danny reacted to Nightwing last night. No. She had to protect her little brother first. "Sorry. I know you're busy. I'll let Danny know when he gets up."

[i-am-trans-gwender]

The problem with most political comics

This is a parody of Mallard Fillmore from America (The Book) written by the writers of The Daily Show

[destinationtoast]

no worries/pressure if not, but any snippets from future chapters of cyrano you'd want to share?

Ooh, sure! I just sent off the latest chapter for beta feedback, and I'm excited about it and happy to share. :D

Here's how the forthcoming chapter 3 of Not Exactly Cyrano opens...

---

Jamie, the text message reads.  Good news - I’m in town today, and I want to see you!  Meet me at Le Chat Cache at 7pm?  My phone’s about to die, unfortunately, so I just hope you can make it!!  Xoxo Mum

He’s been staring at the message all day, wondering about what could have possibly brought his mother all the way to London. (Roy doesn’t yell at him once for not paying attention during Beard’s post-match analysis, though; he seems distracted himself—presumably because he’s gotten Keeley’s letter.)  All Jamie can come up with is that she wants to tell him in person that she and Simon are finally getting married.   Which would be mint, but he’s shocked that Ms. “If I’m traveling for that long I’m bloody well going somewhere outside of England, love” would finally visit Richmond, even for that.

He’ll go meet her, of course.  But it’s shit luck that it’s happening right at the same time that he was planning to eavesdrop on Roy and Keeley as they meet up.  Jamie feels relief knowing that the meeting is going to happen, that he won’t lie awake any more nights dreading it and everything that will have to change afterward.  But he wishes he could be there to hear his letter-writing plan come together, and to at least feel the pride in a play well executed.  

Instead, he’ll have dinner with Mummy.  Maybe that’s for the best; being with her always cheers him up.

(He briefly wonders whether he can convince her to go eavesdrop with him, but reluctantly dismisses the idea… the restaurant is too far from the cafe, and they’d probably miss all the good parts.)

⁂

When he enters the restaurant and sees Roy and Keeley sitting at a table, he freezes, thinking he came to the wrong place after all.  But no, this is Le Chat Caché.  

“Where’s Mummy?” he asks, trying to figure out how his mother managed to summon both Roy and Keeley; he’s pretty sure she’s never had Roy’s number.  He hasn’t told her about shagging Roy, because it’s just temporary.

“She’s not here,” Keeley says.  “Come join us.”  She pats the chair next to her, across from Roy.  She looks unusually serious. (He looks usually serious.)

 “Is she okay?”  Maybe whatever is up with Mummy is scarier than he thought.

“Chrissakes,” Roy grits out.  “We’re your mummy.”

[oof-spoof]

TLDR; I'm depraved of Invincible fics and if you want something done do it yourself. But also no time and no focus to get said things done 😮‍💨 and go check out @solelifauna 's fics they're fucking amazing and I've chained myself to their "Definitely Not Invincible" series because the first fic had me unhinged immediately to see how things would play out. Nolan and Mark are fucked up and I love it 😭

So if I'm still into the series (I'm currently hopping fandoms because I'm trying to break my cycle of going back to the same one for the legit 16th time) then I'll probably have something by the end of the month because I'm currently taking an English class and the professor is very very specific and strict on how they grade so I'm hoping i can refresh my writing abilities and learn some new things that will help me with writing fics.

I'm doing my best to watch invincible because i really really REALLY want to write some angst and fear/horror shit (i have absolutely zero experience in both those areas) and I want to study the characters in depth to be able to accurately portray them without being too ooc.

So I might try for my next break to get one out, set a deadline for myself just to see what I can do. Its not lack of motivation to write its just my lack of focus and losing my ability to sit still and get things done and I seem to never have time to myself to just chill the f out.

But I'm foaming at the mouth for more fics and I wish for more platonic/romantic/fluff/crack stuff because I'm not really into smut like, I just can't see the appeal to it most times and it has no effect on me.

I don't even remember what triggered me into getting obsessed with the character because it was Omni-man first with how out of pocket he seems, but also he's a dilf. And then i just latched onto this series like a starved vampire and I don't think I'll last very long if i can't write out just ONE fic.

Also @solelifauna has a bunch of fics that I've been injecting into the veins on my brain, I'm foaming at the mouth for most of their series because they are so good at writing, I can feel the emotions and environments as if I'm actually there AND I LOVE BEING ABLE TO DISASSOCIATE INTO A GOOD STORY GO CHECK THEIR WORKS OUT!

Particularly their Definitely Not Invincible fics, I will die for those stories. That's another factor that has me wanting to get back into writing again. Its soooo good 😫 how could you not be inspired?