#that's how s6 worked

[zmediaoutlet]

if you're doing the fic writer asks, 44 and/or 52!

oh, thank you for sending one :) let's see:

44. any writing advice you want to share?

In general I think it's a good idea to think about what a character would actually do in a situation and have them do it, rather than think about what the story needs or what the trope requires and cram the character into that box. But this is a particular kind of writing which not all fic falls into. I much prefer character-realism, whenever possible. A lot of stories, you can tell someone's thought of a joke and they want to put it in, and humorlessly I go but Sam would never think that; or they want the sex scene to go a particular way for porny reasons or even thematic reasons, and horntlessly I go but Dean would never go for that in this moment, also where did the lube come from; or they want a character to have an emotional moment in order to further the plot, and coldly I go John would never express that -- and it's almost never because any of those things are literally impossible for the characters (...Sam's sense of humor perhaps aside), but because the writer hasn't done the supporting work to prove how a character might make such a leap.

All stories are a series of proofs that the writer is engaging with to lead the reader from logical step to logical step. If you skip a bunch of them, I fall down the stairs. And then I'm bruised, and mad, and not paying any attention to your story bc I need an ice pack. So. If you're going to have Sam crack an OOC joke, you'd better have meticulously set up the situation around him so that it follows logically that he will have done so, or I'm limping.

52. how many unfinished ideas/stories are you working on at the same time?

I don't actually pick up and drop stories in rotation, although I've heard that can be a good way to manage writer's block (though I've equally heard that it's a good way to have an endless parade of WIPs that you never actually sack up and finish, so. who's right). That said, doesn't mean that there isn't a sad pile of 'hmm what should I do next, idk, let's think about it for three years' unfinished bois sitting in my fic folder. I did used to think that none of them would ever be done, but given that I managed to finish the genderswap thing with only two paragraphs done ~8 years after the idea, I'm hopeful. It should be a year of finishing.

At the moment there are 8 fics I have an actual start made on and think it's feasible I could finish them. Ideas that haven't actually been started yet: 37.

[megaawkwardhuman]

[lunarskeletonart]

Classic art study that turned into a sticker design!

[pepoboyz]

darling heart, i loved you from the start

but that’s no excuse for the state im in

[id: a digital portrait of runaan from the dragon prince. he has pinkish skin, long white hair partially pulled back, and purple tattoos of lines and circles on his face and body. he has horns, one is broken. he wears a purple shirt with a deep v-neck and the sleeves pulled up, and a pair of dark teal torn pants with knee-high boots. he sits slightly hunched over with an avoidant gaze. stalking behind him is another version of himself, unkempt and darkened by shadows. he holds two swords, barely visible in the low light. his eye glows red. the background features a treeline, full moon, and traces of haze and mist, all in purple and blue. end id]

[raayllum]

THE DRAGON PRINCE: THE MYSTERY OF AARAVOS — Book Six: Stars

I see everything. I see a thousand stars. A thousand eyes. Worlds one and myriad. All of us nothing... and all of us infinite.

[montanabohemian]

i don't know how to tell the people whining about not seeing guillermo and nandor make out that that episode was gayer than gay sex.

[thankstothe]

[n1blakelover]

was watching jame’s interview today with some of the writers of s6 and one of the writers saying she wasn’t even a huge rayllum shipper but she still couldn’t stop grinning during jack and paula’s recordings of the end of ep 6 because of just how amazing they blew it out of the park and she grins every time she watches the scene as well just proves how amazing rayllum and paula and jack’s portrayal of them is, even if you aren’t really a shipper you can’t deny that they have amazing chemistry

[kradogsrats]

obsessed with the long-game payoff of "Hearts of Cinder" rn tbh

like not just in a narrative mirroring/parallels way, showing in s3 how far Viren had fallen and closing that arc in s6, or with how Soren and Viren's positions reversed, but like... either they planned this for Viren literally from the beginning or it came about through a startling commitment to lore depth and consistency

because like

a) Back in s3, the "Hearts of Cinder" spell is... weird. Like not so weird that it clashes with the setting as we know it, but at the time we're only just being introduced to things like the Draconic corrupted Sun rune spells, or the role the Staff of Ziard plays in dark magic. It's got an incantation that, at the time, is kind of unusual in the context of other dark magic spells but slots in with the series' overall recurring heart motif such that it can't really be called wrong. It's not a Spiders Georg-level outlier, but it definitely feels like there's something we're missing.

b) That's because someone planned it out in deep detail: "Hearts of Cinder" is, in hindsight, the only dark magic spell we see that is clearly intended for war with Xadia. It's a spell that comes from a much more brutal era both politically and magically, when armed conflict with dragons was high and "make your army immune to dragon fire for the low, low cost of one human sacrifice" was a deal people were willing to take. We know that's intentional, because it's right in the incantation: dark magic incantations frequently reference the spell reagent, as with "Slithering Steel" or "Ash of Fallen, Rise Again." So someone knew as far back as s3 that this spell normally used a human heart for its magical power.

c) This confirms so much stuff that it's like they put it in there for me, tumblr user kradogsrats, special interest: dark magic. The on-screen exposition drop that the Sunforge Staff contains a Sun primal stone. Confirmation that you can use a primal stone as a source for dark magic. Confirmation that you can use human essence as a source for dark magic. Another consistency example of the Staff of Ziard being used to empower dark magic spells. Confirmation that there are dark magic spells built on human sacrifice.

like... that's all stuff I knew, or at least suspected and wanted to be true, but having it all right out there like "hey who wants some resolution in the lore arc of dark magic? kradogsrats again?" just has me like

[al-luviec]

Morro design + a ton of notes.

[mcytegg]

one of the key parts of the dualities dynamic to Me is they always have a lil comment to make, a lil joke to whisper to each other and giggle abt when theyre w other people and when theres nobody else around theyre more likely to bicker and make even Dumber jokes that are unfunny to anyone who isnt them

[vamp-a-day]

day 58

Vampire cookie as Pure Vanilla, designed by strangermask on discord!

[kaythefloppa]

Enough time has passed to where I think we can openly admit how WK has gone through seasonal rot within its previous 2 seasons and how the hype of Season 7 along with the generally positive reception is a really green flag for the show's quality.

[theblackcatmasque]

TERRY, SWEET SWEET TERRY!!! CLAUDIA BABY GIRL! GO! GO ON THAT JOURNEY AND DO WHAT YOU GOTTA DO TO START HEALING! SWEET TREE BOI HAS GOT YOUR BACK AND HE'S NOT GOING ANYWHERE!

[thecranekick]

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

[leafatlaw]

I don’t know how accurate this is to say, but, the pedestal people, especially the new players, put Zam on is so intriguing.

Lifesteal is a terrifying server to join, and maybe Zam seems like a constant to them. He streams the most, and this season has aligned himself with protecting spawn. He’s safe even when he’s not a pacifist, he’s reasonable and won’t kill on sight. So people like Kab and Derap want him to be their knight. They want Zam to protect them, be their teammate and ally. Because lifesteal is scary and having a veteran player at your beck and call makes it less so.

And then other players, like Mane and Flame, see Zam differently. Zams not just a protector of spawn, he is Spawn. And in order to make their mark on the server they need to fight, kill, destroy, Spawn. And well by the transitive property, they need to destroy Zam. He’s still on a pedestal but it’s a different one, it’s one he needs to be dragged down from. Either way it doesn’t matter, Zams still a target, center stage, sitting right at Spawn.