#the main issue is that i only have a vibe and 2 scenes when i started working on this

[ohcorny]

How did you first initially get into the professional graphic novel scene? Was it difficult getting ppl to take a chance on your writing/stories and could you talk about it a bit?

wibbles my hand? i probably had it easier than most people. first of all i'd been doing a fairly popular webcomic for like. six-seven years when an agent cold-called me to offer representation, and asked if i had any graphic novel ideas. hunger's bite was but a tiny twinkle in my eye so i started developing it.

(and then covid happened and i got a storyboard job and also eventually fired that agent but still kept developing hunger's bite)

shortly after firing that agent, and after trying to query traditionally with no real luck (though i think i only queried 3-4), there was an event on twitter called #DVPit which was basically: you'd post the elevator pitch of your story + some art, and agents would look in the tag and like anything they were interested in representing. so once the event was over you'd reach out to them with the full pitch and meet to talk about it and if the vibe was right, you'd sign on with them. i think i had 5 agents show interest, and i contacted 3 who felt like they could be a good fit, and then signed with the one i liked best. (i do not think #DVPit exists anymore for obvious reasons)

after that it was her job to send the pitch out to editors, and i think it was maybe in the second or third wave of submissions (ie, a few months) where i had 2 editors who were interested. they made their offers, i went with the one that had a bit more money (and apparently got a Really good deal) and that was that

like Looking Back, i think i had it easier than people who struggle for years to get noticed. it didn't feel that way at the time, waiting months for rejections, but now that i'm through it, it's less daunting. the main issue i would run into was finding someone who understood the vision and didn't want to change it. there was a lot of 'this would probably be better as a middle grade!' but i didn't want to take the teeth out of it.

iunno! overall i think art and comics is one of those spaces where it's like. you know at a glance if you're interested in it, or if the artist is competent. i've done slush pile with comics, it's very 'you know it when you see it'. i imagine it's the same with acquiring editors.

i fortunately have a style with broad appeal :y so it might just be easier for me on that merit

[kingdomkome]

at what point is it just better to say fuck it and restart a project

[wangxianficfinder]

Fic Finder

Nov 9th

~*~

1. I'm looking for a fic that I swear I bookmarked！It's a modern AU where WWX has been dead for (13?) years in a world where people are starting to spontaneously resurrect from the dead (in a not zombie way). He finds his way back to LWJ and A-Yuan. I think near the end of the fic they get news that JYL has also been revived. @needleinthenonsense

FOUND!🔒💖 sudden nature series by everbrighter (M, 97k, wangxian, modern w/ magic, 5+1, family feels, parenthood, teenage rebellion, past character death, resurrection, pining, domestic fluff, angst, happy ending) 

NOT FOUND!🔒care by everbrighter (T, 35k, LSZ & WWX, wangxian, modern w/ magic, resurrection, family bonding, getting to know each other, past character death, pining)

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2. Hi!! This is my first time using Tumblr so I hope I’m doing this right… I read a fic (Ao3) where Lan Zhan was getting rid of a water spirit in the lake in Caiyi city (i think). Wei Yīng said something dirty and LWJ was going to retort when he was sucked underwater. He thought he was gonna die but soon got caught under like this wheel thingy where he was pulled up and his shoulder dislocated. He had wounds and was only saved thx to WWX using demonic cultivation. I have some screenshots if needed! @plumblossom-15339

FOUND? As Spring Will Surely Come by silver_sun (E, 38k, WangXian, Established Relationship, Lan Family Feels, Bottom LWJ, Hurt/Comfort, Hurt LWJ, depression - LXC, Near Drowning, Sick LWJ, sick LQR, LXC in Seclusion, WWX Has a New Golden Core, Bath Sex, Rimming, Blow Jobs, Anal Fingering, Post-Canon, Angst with a Happy Ending, everyone gets a happy/hopefully ending, Night Hunts, kind of slice of life vibes, Nightmares, Mental Health Issues, traumatic memory related flashback - LWJ, it's battle of nightless city related - warning will be on specific chapter)

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3. Hello, lovely people! I'm desperately looking for a fic I read in February, where lwj gets himself stuck as a bunny and iirc wwx is hired by lxc to bunnysit and because wwx had nowhere to live he was happy to accept. It might have been modern with cultivation. All I have is this quote I sent my friend: "And then Wei Ying had accepted! Lan Zhan was so overwhelmed that, just for a moment, his rabbit body took over, and he’d ended up doing a binky." Pls help!

NOT FOUND!🔒💖 blue-ribbon bunny by cicer (G, 15k, wangxian, modern, shapeshifting, supernatural elements, fluff & humor)

FOUND! the soft animal of your body by sysrae (T, 15k, WangXian, modern cultivation, Golden Core Reveal, Hurt/Comfort, Whump, Animal Transformation, Shapeshifting, Getting Together, Confessions)

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4. I'm looking for a fic where the lan and possibly the nie fought a war with the Jiang and jin and WY was one of the Jiang commanders. The Jiang lose and WY and LZ enter into a relationship. I remember a scene where the Jiang were on trial after the war and WY noted that JC looked shocked that he's being prosecuted possibly for war crimes @maryam25

FOUND? 🔒 Crossing Paths by Ilona22 (M, 21k, wangxian, shapeshifter au, graphic depictions of violence, war between sects, war crimes, not JC friendly, happy ending)

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5. Hello, thank you for your hard work 🙏 I'm looking for a fic where Wen Qing poisons Wen Ruohan, Wen Chao, Wen Zhuliu and Wang Lingjiao with berries that induce Qi deviation. Basically everyone but Wen Xu, who is in love with his brother's wife, because WRH punished him by having her marry WC. And I think instead of assuming leadership of the Wen sect he leaves with her. That's all I can remember. Thank you so much!

Hello, thank you for your hard work! For Nov 9th no. 5 was mine, sadly it's not the fic I was looking for. It might have been time travel? I'm not sure. Definitely no transmigration though. Thank you anyway for looking.

NOT FOUND! The Teenage Girl's Self-Saving System by mercyandmagic (T, 108k, WLJ/WC, WLJ/NMJ, wangxian, XiYao, XuanLi, ChengQing, OC main character, transmigration, everyone’s least fave characer gets character development!)

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6. hello! thankyou so much for you hard work. please help me find a fic that i've been looking for days now, in this fic wwx and lwj time went back to time as kids, as far as i remember they had their memories with them and both of their parents are alive in here. kid wwx told his parents to go to gusu, and when they went, he was greeted by kid lwj who remembered him and hugged him (lwj's family was shocked because their non affectionate boy was hugging someone) pls pls help me find it

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7. Hello! I was hoping you could help me find a fic, I don’t remember much of it. But i remember it took place during wei yings time in gusu in the cloud recess arc. i could be wrong on some details but from my memory it has the lans finding out about some negative aspect of wei yings life in yunmeng and the abusive treatment he dealt with. he is then welcome in cloud recesss bc they see how smart and kind he is. i remember specifically there was an oc that was a lan elder who was very un-lan like. he was very loud very much what u would expect from a character that’s similar to wei ying. he became wei yings shifu so to speak. they would invent things together. they were both known for blowing up things a lot. the lan healers mentioned once how the jiang healers definitely knew about the abuse wei ying was subjected to. and that they would be bringing up them not living up to their duties as healers at a conference or something. and that not helping wei ying in the abusive situation was a major taboo amongst all the healers and there would be repercussions for that. i think they mention that wei ying is often in the back of cloud recess where all the elders lives. like he’s just always around that general area. it’s kind of jiang bashing and then also positive/protective lans. that’s all i can remember so sorry if that’s vague i just really enjoyed reading it and can’t find it for the life of me. thanks for any help u can give me!! and as always thanks so much for all ur hard work 💕💕💕

FOUND?🔒in the shadow of moonlit flowers by Reverie (cl410) (T, 56k, wangxian, LXC/NMJ, Cloud Recesses, LWJ & NHS Friendship, Developing Relationship, POV LWJ, Minor Injuries, Autistic LWJ, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, aka the Madam Yu warning, Genius WWX, Light Angst And Hurt/Comfort, WWX Protection Squad, Gusu Lan Sect, Slow Burn, Protective LWJ, LWJ-centric) the eccentric lan elder that teaches wwx shows up in ch 11

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8. Hello! I'm looking for a fic in which wwx is summoned back by xue yang instead of mo xuanyu and wwx runs around pretending to be xue yang but he actually managed to change xue yang body into his own and just wear a fake face. I think Jiang yanli was summoned back too by Qin su and was the one to make xue yang summon wwx into his body

FOUND? the problem with authority by isabilightwood (M, 139k, wangxian, qingli, Canon Divergence, Sacrifice Summon, slightly dark!JYL, wq lives because i said so, Angst with a Happy Ending, Chronic Pain, Mild Sexual Content, Top/Bottom Versatile | Switch WangXian, manipulative relationship (background xiyao))

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9. Hey!! It's been a while. I hope all of you are doing great.

I'm looking for this fic where Wei Wuxian is in an arranged marriage with Lan Wangji and the only significant thing I remember about it is that Wei Wuxian breaks something that belonged to Lan Wangji's mother and he gets angry I think (?) Also, Wei Wuxian goes to Caiyi Town and comes back to apologize.

I'm so sorry. I know this isn't enough to go by, but this is all I recall. If you can find it, that would be great.

Thank you in advance. @poetic-writes

Hi! I'm number 9 on the latest fic finder. That fic rec is not the one I was looking for, but that fic is really good, and I'm thankful for whoever who assumed it was that particular one. As I mentioned in my ask is that Wei Wuxian breaks something that belongs to Lan Wangji and the latter is really sad and says something rude to Wei Wuxian I think on the lines of him being as bad as everyone had said and it kind of takes away the spirit entirely from Wei Wuxian and the light in his eyes dim. Thank you again.

NOT FOUND!🔒 Light of Stars (and the Destroyer) by Sanguis (T, 22k, WangXian, Legends, Arranged Marriage, Pining, Pining for your spouse, Adoption, Canon Divergence, Married Couple)

I've read number nine before but I don't remember the name! i have more details tho: lan wangji says that wei ying is as bad as jiang cheng says! wei ying locks himself in a room and cries a lot

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10. oh lovely folk- please can you help me? for the next fic finder- i’m remembering a WY sent to marry royal(i believe) LW. Madame Yu whips him before he travels to capitol. Meng Yao has suspicions and leaves him locked in a room not knowing WY is injured. does this ring a bell?

NOT FOUND The Bloodthirsty Prince and his Bride by moss_enthusiast (M, 27k, WangXian, Angst with a Happy Ending Violence, Anxiety, Royalty, Strangers to Lovers, Arranged Marriage, Self-Worth Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, Whipping, Blood and Gore, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Past Abuse, Child Abuse, Physical Abuse, Blood and Violence, Dark LWJ, Fluff, Angst and Feels, Hurt/Comfort, Shock, Anxiety Attacks) i am really unsure cause there is no Meng Yao as far as i remember, but this contains arranged marriage (where WY is sent instead of JYL ro marry prince LWJ) and highly abusive Madam Yu who whips WY a lot, and LWJ finds him hurt and passed out in the wedding bedroom after the ceremony. Recovery abd revenge included later.

FOUND!🔒The Imperial Compromise by shiroakuma (E, 61k, WIP, WangXian, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Royalty, YLLZ WWX, Concubine WWX, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha LWJ, Omega WWX, Emperor LXC, everyone but LXC thinks WWX is to be his concubine, LXC Ships WangXian, Mutual Pining, Light Angst, Happy Ending, Bonding, Claiming Bites, Intersex Omegas, Intersex Alphas, BAMF WWX, BAMF LWJ, Injury Recovery, Hurt/Comfort)

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11. I am back once again asking for your excellent help in finding a fic. It's an AU, where a previous emperor ordered Lan Zhan & Wei Ying to marry. Lan Zhan is an imperial official (in the tax department i think). There is a war with the Wen going on and Wei Ying is ordered off to fight. Everyone thinks WY is either dead or MIA, but when the war is won, LZ goes to oversees a prisoner exchange and finds WY who has been on a work gang in a mine all this time (with A-Yuan who he's adopted & Mo Xuanyu). I remember MianMian is the brilliant general on the winning side. You find out that LZ & WY basically fell in love right before WY got shipped off to war, so it's a happy reunion. Oh! Also, LZ writes very popular poetry under a pseudonym! Um...i remember that LZ bought WY a goat they called Amethyst because before he was disappeared WY wrote LZ expressing the wish for such a goat (LZ buys the whole herd in the end). Jiang Yanli and the Peacock are married and are the new empress and emperor. There's an epilogue or end note where the author gives info about how their life turned out - this is all in the 500s CE. As always, i can't remember the title or who the writer is, so HELP! Thank you so much!

FOUND! ❤️ Where the nightingales are singing, and a white moon beams. by Moominmammashandbag (M, 52k, wangixan, jin zixuan & lan wangji, no powers au, grief/mourning, aftermath of war, angst w/ happy ending, reunions, fluff & smut)

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12. I don't know if you still help finding fics about wanxian... but just in case, I would like to ask your help... I'm looking for a fic where wei wuxian and lan wangji are divorced, I think? and that lan wangji is a doctor and wei wuxian is like a secret agent or undercover agent with wein qing and wen ning. But then wei wuxian got shot at one of his undercover missions and as he was delirius and thought he was going to die anyway, he went to his ex husband's house and lan wangji, being a doctor fixes or provided first aid to wei wuxian. Turned out that lan wangji is still in love with him and they talk... it was not finished when I read it. But it was a good story full of angst... I hope you would bw able to help me find it.thank you in advance @etutb

FOUND? empty space beside me by scarletmoontears. I have a link but it doesn't work so I'm guessing the work was removed or locked. (I think it's removed, I logged in and clicked the link but still got the error message - Mod C)

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13. Hello! I've been pulling my hair out trying to find a wangxian fic. Unfortunately, I can't remember too much about it, but I believe it's a modern/university setting. The only scene I can remember is WWX going with LWJ to visit his uncle and brother. They live rather far and on a hill. LWJ doesn't visit often, and this visit is very tense between WWX and LQR. Something about past WWX doing to LWJ, or causing LWJ to get into trouble when they were younger. Anyway, LWJ then gets angry with his uncle about the treatment directed towards WWX. I also can't remember if baby a-yuan is in this fic and present during the visit, as sometimes fics blend together. I apologize if this isn't enough to go by, but I just randomly recalled this fic, and apparently, I did not bookmark it.

FOUND? ❤️ save a sword, ride a socialist by sysrae (E, 33k, wangxian, modern w magic, college/university au, fake/pretend relationship, single parent WWX, homophobia, light angst w/ happy ending, idiots to lovers, fluff)

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14. Hi. Im looking for a wangxian fic, where Wuxian had openly confessed to Wangji persistently until he dies in the seige. And then when he comes back in Mo Xuanyu's body, its wangji whose doing the confessing. Wuxian is sad sometimes, I think. @thatpantasticbitch

FOUND? When the Words Stop Coming by mrcformoso (T, 7k, WangXian, Canon Compliant, POV WWX, POV LWJ, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Pre-Sunshot Campaign, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Canonical Character Death, Love Confessions, Rejection, LWJ is a Panicked Gay, Temporarily Unrequited Love, Trauma, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, WWX confesses early on, But canon still happens, LWJ starts confessing after, but the tables have turned, Angst with a Happy Ending, LWJ rejects WWX, Then gets rejected by WWX after, "Get Lost", Перевод на русский | Translation in Russian)

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15. For fic finder, there was one specific fic - it may have been part of a series? - and I believe it was likely on the longer end, and may have involved time travel? The part I’m looking for is that in either WQ or WY’s POV, it explicitly acknowledges that wq and wy coparented LSZ while in the BM. If it helps, I solely read canon dynamics! @lovelyiknow

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16. hello for fic finder im looking for a fic where jyl married wq's mom i think? it's also time travel iirc. ive tried finding it in my history but alas. id really appreciate the help, thank you!

FOUND! 死而无悔 (To Die Without Regret) series by liverbiver9 (T, 26k, JYL & WWX, JYL/OC, WN & WWX & WQ, WangXian, JYL & WN, Time Travel Fix-It, Canon Divergence, JYL-centric, POV JYL, Genderqueer WWX, Trans Male Character, Kid Fic, Child WWX, Fluff and Angst, Family Feels, Found Family, WWX is a Wen technically, Demonic Cultivation, Falling In Love, Assassination Attempt(s), WWX Isn't Adopted by the Jiangs, teen wangxian feature in the epilogue!, No Sunshot Campaign, No Golden Core Transfer, Everybody Lives, except for WRH and his children, mentioned minor character death, Gender Non-Conforming WWX, Trans WWX, Canonical Character Death, Time Travel Not A Fix-It, I make it kind of worse but kind of better?, YLLZ JYL, Demonic Cultivator JYL, Sect Leader JYL, Short & Sweet, Angst implied happy ending, Ambiguous/Open Ending)

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17. Hi! I'm looking for a fic where wangxian is in a zombie or apocalyptic setting. Wwx gets bitted and lwj is desperate to find a cure of some kind in a hospital but in the lwj has to kill wwx of smth like that. Thanksss!

FOUND? 🔒 when the sun goes out by travelingneuritis (E, 176k, WangXian, Modern Cultivation, tech cultivation, Necromancy, Angst with a Happy Ending, insecurity around adoption, Dad!WWX, dad!lwj, Grief/Mourning, Mistaken Identity, Mood Whiplash, Body Swap, sex tears!, Falling In Love, Consensual Somnophilia, apocalypse (localized), Smut, unrealistic sexual stamina, Flashbacks, Time Skips, Illustrations)

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18. Hi, I forgot to bookmark this one but I remember that Wei wuxian lived but his soul was shattered like he was a lived but he wasn't acting like himself before and eventually he starts committing suicide and lan wangji was protecting him and caring for him until he successfully kill himself, lan wangji takes care of him for 13 years(it's and happy ending) @lanwuxian0725

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19. hi i was hoping u could find a fix for me i’m p sure it was like a dark!lz fic. i think he may have traveled back in time to protect wwx and stop his death. when he travels back he is in his own body as a child. and lan qiren is like freaked out by him bc lwj remembers how badly lan qiren treated wwx in the past so he’s like not rly trying to hard to seem normal or that he likes his family. but i think they take in wwx before jfm can and lan qiren in this environment rly likes wwx treats him rly well but bc lz freaks him out and is weirdly possessive of wwx lan qiren is like constantly scared for wwx and is like always keeping an eye on them. like kind of the opposite of canon he looks at lan zhen like he’s corrupting his favorite student (wwx). the whole fic lan zhan is like obsessed with wei ying in a way that is like scary to everyone else (except wwx). i don’t rly remember more then that. hopefully someone can help me out i keep thinking about this and can’t find it. i rly need to learn to bookmark things. pretty sure it was from lan zhans perspective but i could be wrong. thank u sm hope everyone’s having a good day today!! 💕

NOT FOUND A Matter of Time series by mrcformoso (E, 84k, wangxian, time travel fix-it, graphic depictions of violence, underage, LWJ pov, JC pov, dark LWJ, manipulation, grooming, teen body adult mind for LWJ, happy ending for wangxian, problematic consensual underage sex, blood & violence, insane LWJ, manic LWJ)

FOUND! 🔒Something is wrong with A-Zhan! by HeloSoph (M, 15k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Time Travel Fix-It, Sort Of, Dark LWJ, Morally Gray WWX, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, WWX Isn't Adopted by the Jiangs, WWX is a Lan, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, JC Bashing, Smitten LWJ, Possessive LWJ, Engaged WangXian, Blood and Violence, a lot of people die, LQR Metaphorically Qi-Deviates, because of, Shameless LWJ, LQR Tries, to fit into the following tag, Good Uncle LQR, Semi-Public Sex, or at least wangxian's version of it, Scheming NHS, POV NHS)

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20. hi i’m trying to find a fic i read once where wwx stays in all the different sects for like a season or something on behalf of his sect to prove he isn’t like a danger to the cultivation world. it may have been multiple chapters but he goes to all of them and helps in various ways. i believe it was after the war in his first life. back when everyone was scared of him. sorry if that’s not enough info i can’t remember anything else tbh thanks for ur help 🥺

FOUND? Field Trips with Wei Wuxian by antebunny (G, 42k, WangXian, WQ & WWX, NMJ & WWX, JZX & WWX, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Found Family, Angst with a Happy Ending, Misunderstandings, Miscommunication, protective Jiang siblings, Unreliable Narrator, due to WWX assuming ppl hate him, JYL is gonna dropkick her baby bro into having friends)

FOUND? The "Patriarch" Was Supposed to be Ironic (or, Wei Wuxian, Chief Cultivator) by groignequi (E, 51k, WangXian, JC & WWX & JYL, JC/NHS/WQ, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, jiang friendly, Not Everyone Dies, Really Most People Live (Except JGS), Chief Cultivator WWX, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Anal Sex, Consensual Non-Consent, sort of (at a canon-typical wangxian level), Dom/sub Undertones, Protective Siblings, Nonbinary NHS, POV Multiple)

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[physalian]

“How do I know if my story needs work or if I’m just being hard on myself?”

As I sit here accepting the fact that at 70k words into Eternal Night’s sequel while waiting for my editor for Eternal Night itself, that I have made an error in my plot.

Disclaimer: This is not universal and the writing experience is incredibly diverse. Figuring this out also takes some time and building up your self-confidence as an author so you can learn to separate “this is awful (when it’s not)” and “this is ok (but it can be better)” and “this isn’t working (but it is salvageable).”

—

When I wrote my first novel (unpublished, sadly), years ago, I would receive feedback all over the chapters and physically have to open other windows to block off parts of the screen on my laptop to slow-drip the feedback because I couldn’t handle constructive criticism all at once. I had my betas color-code their commentary so I could see before I read any of it that it wasn’t all negative. It took me thrice as long as it does today to get through a beta’s feedback because I got so nervous and anxious about what they would say.

The main thing I learned was this: They’re usually right, when it’s not just being mean (and even then, it’s rarely flat out mean), and that whatever criticisms they have of my characters and plot choices is not criticism of myself.

It did take time.

But now I can get feedback from betas and even when I hear “I’d DNF this shit right now unless you delete this,” I take a step back, examine if this one little detail is really that important, and fix it. No emotional turmoil and panic attack needed. I can also hear “I didn’t like it” without heartbreak. Can’t please everyone.

The only time I freak out is when I'm told "this won't need massive edits" followed up by, in the manuscript, "I'd DNF this shit right now". Which happened. And did not, in fact, require a massive rewrite to fix.

So.

What might be some issues with your story and why it “isn’t working”.

1. Your protagonist is not active enough in the story

You’ve picked your protagonist, but it’s every other character that has more to do, more to say, more choices to make, and they’re just along for the ride, yet you are now anchored to this character’s story because they’re the protagonist. You can either swap focus characters, or rework your story to give them more agency. Figure out why this character, above any other, is your hero.

2. Your pacing is too slow

Even if you have a “lazy river” style story where the vibes and marinating in the world is more important than a breakneck plot, slow pacing isn’t just “how fast the story moves” it’s “how clearly is the story told,” meaning if you divert the story to a side quest, or spend too long on something that sure is fluffy or romantic or funny, but it adds nothing to the characters because it’s redundant, doesn’t advance the plot, doesn’t give us more about the world that actually matters to the themes, then you may have lost focus of the story and should consider deleting it, or editing important elements into the scenes so they can pull double-duty and serve a more active purpose.

3. You’ve lost the main argument of your narrative

Sometimes even the best of outlines and the clearest plans derail. Characters don’t cooperate and while we see where it goes, we end up getting hung up on how this one really cool scene or argument or one-liner just has to be in the story, without realizing that doing so sacrifices what you set out to accomplish. Personally I think sticking to your outline with biblical determination doesn’t allow for new ideas during the writing process, but if you find yourself down the line of “how did we get here, this isn’t what I wanted” you can always save the scenes in another document to reuse later, in this WIP or another in the future.

4. You’re spending too long on one element

Even if the thing started out really cool, whether it’s a rich fantasy pit stop for your characters or a conversation two characters must have, sometimes scenes and ideas extend long past their prime. You might have characters stuck in one location for 2 or 3 chapters longer than necessary trying to make it perfect or stuff in all these details or make it overcomplicated, when the rest of the story sits impatiently on the sidelines for them to move on. Figure out the most important reasons for this element to exist, take a step back, and whittle away until the fat is cut.

5. You’ve given a side character too much screentime

New characters are fun and exciting! But they can take over the story when they’re not meant to, robbing agency from your core characters to leave them sitting with nothing to do while the new guy handles everything. You might end up having to drag your core characters along behind them, tossing them lines of dialogue and side tasks to do because you ran out of plot to delegate with one character hogging it all (which is the issue I ran into with the above mentioned WIP). Not talking about a new villain or a new love interest, I mean a supporting character who is supposed to support the main characters.

—

As for figuring out the difference between “this is awful and I’m a bad writer” and “this element isn’t working” try pretending the book was written by somebody else and you’re giving them constructive criticism.

If you can come up with a reason for why it’s not working that doesn’t insult the writer, it’s probably the latter. As in, “This element isn’t working… because it’s gone on too long and the conversation has become cyclical and tiring.” Not “this element isn’t working because it’s bad.”

Why is it bad?

“This conversation is awkward because…. There’s not enough movement between characters and the dialogue is really stiff.”

“This fight scene is bad because….I don’t have enough dynamic action, enough juicy verbs, or full use of the stage I’ve set.”

“This romantic scene is bad because…. It’s taking place at the wrong time in the story. I want to keep it, but this character isn’t ready for it yet, and the vibe is all wrong now because they’re out-of-character.”

“This argument is bad because…. It didn’t have proper build-up and the sudden shouting match is not reflective of their characters. They’re too angry, and it got out of hand quickly. Or I’m not conveying the root of their aggression.”

—

There aren’t very many bad ideas, just bad execution. “Only rational people can think they’re crazy. Crazy people think they’re sane,” applies to writing, too.

I just read a fanfic recently where, for every fight scene, I could tell action was not the writer’s strong suit. They leaned really heavily on a crutch of specific injuries for their characters, the same unusual spot getting hit over and over again, and fights that dragged on for too long being unintentionally stagnant. The rest of the fic was great, though, and while the fights weren’t the best, I understood that the author was trying, and I kept reading for the good stuff. One day they will be better.

In my experience beta reading, it’s the cocky authors who send me an unedited manuscript and tell me to be kind (because they can’t take criticism), that they know it’s perfect they just want an outside opinion (they don’t want the truth, they want what will make them feel good), that they know it’s going to make them a lot of money and everyone will love it (they haven’t dedicated proper time and effort into researching marketing, target audiences, or current trends)—these are the truly bad authors. Not just bad at writing, but bad at taking feedback, are bullies when you point out flaws in their story, and cheap, too.

The best story I have received to date was where the author didn’t preempt with a self-deprecating deluge of “it’s probably terrible you know but here it is anyway” or “this is perfect and I’m super confident you’re going to love it”.

It was something like, “This is my first book and I know it has flaws and I’m nervous but I had a lot of fun doing it”.

And yeah, it needed work, but the bones of something great were there. So give yourself some credit, yeah?

[buddiebeginz]

Saw this ridiculous thread on twitter that really deserves to be taken apart so lets go:

First of all while it's obvious that Buck is attracted to T*mmy (and at this point likes him a lot considering they're now dating) in 7x04 the the main person who's attention he was trying to get was Eddie's. I did an entire breakdown of that ep btw for anyone who is still confused about what was really happening there.

------

1.

Buck goes to see Maddie after the basketball incidient and this is how the conversation goes

Maddie: You didn't mean to hurt him did you?

Buck: I don't know. I was pissed you know. Seeing him and T*mmy being such good friends after only two weeks. I felt left out and I guess I was trying to get his attention.

I know that you B/T shippers desperately want to see 7x04 as Buck sent the entire episode being super smitten over T*mmy but that is just not the story that show is telling. The entire conversation that Maddie and Buck are having in this scene prior to T*mmy even being mentioned is about Eddie. Buck and Maddie are talking about Eddie's injury and how Buck thinks Eddie won't want to talk to him after what he did. The focus is on Eddie. Also it doesn't make any logical sense for Buck to be so upset and emotionally invested over some guy he barely knows. He's upset because he thinks Eddie his best friend can so easily replace him in his life.

------

2.

You're defending T*mmy because you say he left the date not wanting to pressure Buck...yet he almost outed him in front of Eddie (someone T*mmy knows is important to Buck). By the time they were on their first date T*mmy already knew how new all of this was for Buck and how nervous he was, I mean the man was talking about how he was an ally ffs while he was on a date with a guy. And while Buck's comment about finding some hot chicks was embarrassing and I get T*mmy not liking it he should have had a little more understanding given where Buck is in his journey. Instead he made it worse by making that crass closet comment.

It's also just plain rude to go on a date with someone and then ditch them in the middle without making sure they have a way home and without any real explanation (I'm not talking about more extreme circumstances like your date just being an ahole btw). Sure T*mmy told Buck he didn't think he was ready but that was really all he said. Buck was likely left feeling like he was being punished for having a moment where he acted out of fear. T*mmy could have shared an Uber with Buck and talked to him on the way home and they could have seen if they wanted things to continue. But it was like at the first sign of Buck needing more support he bailed.

------

3.

My personal feeling on the first kiss is that T*mmy really should have given something of an indication of his intentions before he kissed Buck.

Speaking as someone who is bi if I was into another woman and they were giving off the kind of vibes Buck was I wouldn't just jump in there and kiss them. I know they try to make everything more sexy for tv and it's the oldest trope in the book to have the hot guy grab the main's face and lay one on them but given all of the signals Buck was sending out T*mmy really should have gotten more confirmation beforehand.

I'm not accusing T*mmy of anything and clearly Buck liked the kiss and it was also clear in that loft scene he was attracted to T*mmy. Still the vibes he was giving off were also really nervous an unsure and he talked about Eddie 90% of the time literally moments before the kiss. Why jump in an kiss someone who seems that nervous and probably is into someone else? I don't know it's just issues I have with that scene.

----

4.

When it comes to a lot of the discourse I see around between Buddie shippers and B/T shippers I feel like a major difference is in how we perceive the show. I feel like a lot of B/T shippers mostly just take the show at face value. If something is written a certain way and presented that way to you on the screen you take that as exactly what the story is saying but you're missing the more subtle messages in the writing.

Like the whole scene with Buck, T*mmy, and Eddie in the karaoke bar had a lot going on beyond just what the dialogue was saying and it was likely missed by those who weren't paying attention.

Yeah T*mmy was on call and yeah that could be a reason why he didn't dress up. Although as many have pointed out there's plenty of things he could have worn that would have made it easy for him to quickly change and get to work and still put an ounce of effort into something that was clearly important to Buck.

But the not dressing up wasn't even the biggest issue it was that when Buck seemed hurt by the fact that T*mmy didn't care enough to dress up T*mmy was just like it's not that big of deal get over it (in the demeanor with which he responded). Obviously it was just a silly bachelor party one Chim didn't even show up to and no one else even dressed up for it (besides Eddie) but for me it's another red flag showing that T*mmy doesn't listen to Buck and doesn't have his back like a (potential) partner should.

Also you can defend T*mmy all you want but very deliberate choices were made with this Buddie and T*mmy scene. They chose to have Eddie arrive first and call a lot of attention to what he was wearing. Right before they had T*mmy come in and have that whole convo about his lack of costume to Buck.

Multiple times in the episode they pointed out that Buddie were wearing a couples costume and that Eddie is the one who picked it out. Not only were they matching in the bachelor party outfits but if you look at their outfits in the later scenes while looking for Chim they're coordinated like spouses there too.

They chose to have Eddie be the one to stay with Buck when everyone else left. They chose to have Buddie partying alone when they could have easily had T*mmy there. Especially when you consider this is a much shorter season every scene and every ep means even more than it would in a normal season. If they were trying to build B/T and get the audience to warm to them showing them partying even showing B/T partying with Eddie would have been a great time to do that instead they only focused on Buddie.

-------

5.

I'm happy for B/T shippers that you got your kissing scene at the end but here's what I saw. In a very overstuffed episode they chose to have a ton of Buddie stuff including having Buck and Eddie show up together multiple times while everyone was out looking for Chimney. Meanwhile B/T got one small scene (which included Eddie) in the beginning and one kiss at the end away from everyone else (that immediately cut to Eddie and Chris). The kiss didn't even feel like it's main purpose was to further develop the B/T relationship, it felt like it happened more to serve Buck's bi storyline so he could come out to everyone.

Also others have pointed this out but just because B/T have physical chemistry doesn't mean they have romantic chemistry. They seem like very different people. Too different in my opinion. In what little scenes of conversation they've actually had I just see two people who won't be compatible long term.

Juxtapose that with Eddie and Buck and just how much alike they are while at the same time being so uniquely themselves. How they're able to call each other out when they need to like when Eddie pointed out how it was maybe not the greatest idea for Buck to come out at his sister's wedding.

You can dislike Buddie and ship B/T all you want but you can't deny how all Buck and Eddie have to do is stand near each other and they exude chemistry and compatibility. People who don't even watch the show assume they're together and there's not even one scene of them kissing. Yet the main reason people ship B/T is because they're two hot guys who've kissed twice. There is no other real point of substance there. Now tell me again which fandom is guilty of fetishization here?

----

6.

You can call us the delusional ones all you want but EVERYTHING is screaming in your face that T*mmy isn't going to last forever. I don't even care if he comes back for season 8. T*mmy and B/T have a giant ticking clock over them and sooner or later their time will be up. There is no way Tim, the writers, ABC, Ryan, Oliver, etc would pass on the phenomenon that Buddie will be once it goes canon. The show already gets a ton of attention just from talking about the possibility of them going canon. Every single article where they even mention Buddie gets attention.

It's hilarious to me that you say the actors and showrunners are what rooting for B/T? In all the the interviews they talk about Buddie now. Tim literally was saying he cares about Buddie too in his response to a fan the other day. He literally said he included Buddie scene specifically for our fandom. Oliver is always posting and liking stuff related to his scenes with Ryan and Buddie. When Ryan gets to do interviews he gushes about Buddie and Oliver. Meanwhile B/T which is supposed to be the canon ship in this important queer storyline they're doing barely gets mentioned. Let me know when that same energy is being given to your ship.

[mossbirdreigns]

i've been patrolling arcane tumblr

as i'm sure many of you have as well and i have some thoughts. some critiques if you will.

beware season 2 spoilers and discussion of plot discourse. very long post. but worth it. i think.

alright, if you're reading this, it's because you wanted to. welcome!

i've been brainrotting about arcane season 2 pretty much all day today and i wanted to ramble about my thoughts especially now that i've seen some of the criticism of it going around. so let's get the main points out of the way.

1. Plot Holes

saying season 2 doesn't have plot holes would be a lie and i highly encourage you to look into more about them, but i'll summarize the main ones real quick for anyone unfamiliar.

Silco and Vander

TL;DR: timelines around the day of ash (bridge massacre) don't line up. we've seen vander before the day of ash (clean-shaven/moustache + younger looking) and we've seen him on the day of ash (full beard + older). we know he went back to kill silco before the day of ash, which its implied silco had something to do with, but when we see the scene of it, he has a full beard again, implying it takes place after the day of ash

source: thenationofzaun

Silco and Vander and Felicia + how they connect to Vi and Jinx

TL;DR: in season 1, vi and powder/jinx show 0 sign of recognizing silco or knowing he exists at all before episode 3 but in season 2, we're led to believe that silco, vander, and felicia were all very close with felicia making them both promise to take care of her kids with vander even naming vi. even if we excuse the vi and powder not knowing him before episode 3, why would silco be so willing and actively trying to kill vi when he promised felicia to take care of her kids?

2. The (Implied) Love Triangle

alright here's the main thing i want to rant about. for anyone who didn't pick up on the vibes, i (and some others i've seen) definitely felt love triangle vibes during the silco/vander/felicia flashback scene and i wanna share my thoughts with you on that.

aside from the plothole issue of silco + vi/powder (the only way i would accept it is if the falling out between them all happened way earlier and they had like a friendship/situationship breakup so vi and powder never heard about him but i don't think that's what they're doing), i enjoy the idea and potential of vander and silco being vi and jinx's biological dads but i don't like the way the show is setting it up, mostly because of the glaring plot holes the rest of the scene creates. that single line from felicia saying they both were responsible for her kids in some way causes such an elaborate web of cracks across the story the show has shown us thus far. why is silco so ok with killing vi for like the entirety of season 1 if he was indebted by the death of a friend to care for her now orphaned kids? does that responsibility only apply to jinx for some reason? did he just not care about his promise to felicia anymore? is it because silco sees more of a physical resemblance to felicia in powder/jinx than in vi? these are all very valid theories but my issue lies with the fact that the show itself tells us none. we see the actions these characters are taking but we see very little of why. we get none of the context. all of these additional doubts and holes come in exclusively because of that scene in the last drop and, specifically, because silco is in that scene.

if that scene was just felicia and vander, there would be 0 plot ramifications. don't get me wrong, i love silco and i want him to pleeeaaaase have more screentime but not like this.

so how would i do it instead?

i'm glad you asked! i've compiled a brief list of ideas i've had.

felicia and vander talk at the last drop, silco and felicia talk separately (maybe a chance for us to see a more emotional side of silco)

silco is there for the conversation but draws back when vander takes more of a presence with baby vi (with the idea that silco would feel less connected to vi, though it still feels like a stretch to me)

have the scene at the last drop as normal but silco leaves after learning felicia is pregnant (perhaps upset because he's in love with her), and vander is the only one she talks to about taking care of her kids

make connol more of a character like at all??

(fanfic writers feel free to use any of these ideas, tag me if you do!)

at the end of the day, i think the issue with this season is honestly a lack of time. they need another season or two at least to fully and properly cover every plotline with the tact and skill they showed in season one. trying to cram everything they want to do into 9 ~40 minute episodes just is not going to work for the amount of shit going on in this show. if you're only doing two seasons and you have this many plotlines, your episodes should be at least an hour.

in a perfect world, i would've really liked to see almost a mirroring of format from the first season where the first three episodes were a flashback before the bulk of the story takes place but with vander, silco, felicia, and connol as the characters we follow instead. let us actually see what happened and how they died, lay it all out on the table and then jump us back to the fallout of the season 1 finale for episode 4.

i'm going to be 100% honest with you here. i do not really care for the hextech or the arcane plotlines. hear me out, i promise i don't just hate them.

i want to like both of these plotlines and there are elements of them i do enjoy. my main issue, again, comes back to the lack of time. there is wild shit happening at every second with what feels like zero downtime, leading to the writers having to leave out details that round out the story in order to get all the main plot in before they run out of runtime. i feel bad for the artists who put so much soul and care into the art they've shown us who have been rushed to cram everything in. they pull it off but i cannot ignore that they are limited by the pacing they've been given. i want to see viktor building this sanctuary, i want to see him gathering this influence, i want to see him learning to control these powers, i want intimate scenes where he talks with Sky about how this power is changing him. i want jayce for once in his life to think about someone other than himself. these characters have so much potential for the depths they can achieve but they're snubbed by the show's cut off and that makes me so sad!!!

let me spend a season with the zaunites, let me spend a season in piltover, develop those storylines, let them stew and manifest and brew, and then let season 3 truly be the beginning of the conflict between zaun and piltover and i guarantee you the emotional rollercoaster will be 12x what it is currently and way more satisfying. short stories are good but not when you're trying to pull off 4 stories in one.

if you read this far, thanks! if you have any thoughts on anything in here, my dms are open and i would love to hear other opinions!

i hope you have a good day, stranger ♡ stay strong while we wait for act 3

[inkdemonapologist]

nobody asked but since I've seen a lil chatter on the DCTL Graphic Novel on tumblr too, here's the thread I posted on twitter, speaking as someone who's done a little freelance work as a comic artist, under the jump:

Main thought about the DCTL graphic novel preview is: yeah, I've made designs like that when I was being paid by the page and expected to just throw in extra design work for free and I have a deadline and no time to scour the source material or really put my heart into the design No shade to the artist; every complaint I have about the pages we've seen is that this looks like someone who was just working (quickly) from a script. The artist is likely not a Big Fan, so they only know the info and descriptions they're given. And the artist's portfolio shows they're capable of the kind of designs and dynamics this comic needed. its possible they phoned it in for no reason, but feels more likely to be "not enough time/not paid enough/not given enough info to give it that level of care." Which, don't get me wrong; an important level of craftsmanship and care is missing and im not gonna blame the artist but i AM gonna be a hater abt it lmao It's not just about designs; the convo with Joey is another good example. It's a literal illustration of the things Joey said and did in that scene, but it's missing the point -- that scene is our introduction to the way Joey throws Buddy off-balance. That energy is missing. And that's the sort of thing that needs the script to convey this purpose well to the artist, that needs the artist to have time & freedom to invest in portraying it, that needs time & investment & knowledge to ask for adjustments at early stages and get the page right one more note: begging batim fans 2 think abt the plot of DCTL and realise why "maybe we will not make the creepy guy who dies at the end a black man in this" is perhaps a reasonable choice. like im a fan of poc norman headcanons too but pls recognise this would be a tough call!! anyway, genuinely cannot wait to see how off sammy is gonna be in this lmao. will he be a mid non-design like norman or will he be conventionally handsome or will he get graphic novel dave miller vibes b/c hes an antagonist? will we get the fabled black hair sammy??? i cant wait

TL;DR I strongly suspect this was an issue of not enough time/not enough money. That design looks nothing like the description of Norman, right? Like, there's hundreds of different AU designs of all shapes, colours and sizes that you could create that would still look like Norman Polk, but somehow they managed to make a character that isnt ANY of them, lmao??? So... how could that happen, unless nobody gave the artist a description of Norman? Or if they did, how did that design make it past anyone else, unless there wasn't time for revisions or a system worked out for revisions, unless whoever was managing the comic project thought it was fine if the designs didn't fit with the descriptions in the book? If everyone is doing their job, then the artist is given the information they need without having to go do unpaid YA novel research before they can start drawing. That's why you have a writer adapting it!!

("they should hire fans, a fan would've done a better job" OK BUT THATS B/C FANS ARE MORE LIKELY TO ALLOW THEMSELVES TO BE EXPLOITED AND DO EXTRA UNPAID WORK B/C THEY CARE!! THATS NOT A SOLUTION!!!! THATS A JOEY DREW STRAT!!!!!!!)

Anyway I could yell about this for 15 years so I'm going to shush for now BUT I JUST FEEL VERY STRONGLY ABOUT IT LMAO.

[thehydraethereal]

Outer Banks s4 opinions AND predictions (for part 2) POSTING THESE NOW BEFORE I SEE PART 2 (i had these in drafts for 3 weeks wtf)

spoilers ahead so do not interact if you haven't seen S4!!!

holy moly where do I even start from??!!!! I AM LIVING FOR THIS SEASON, HOW TF AM I SUPPOSED TO WAIT 3 MORE WEEKS FOR PART 2 AFTER 𝘛����𝘈𝘛 ENDING???

the MAIN thing i love is that its giving s1 vibes and I AM SO HERE FOR IT. also, they focused on each and every couple so nicely, it was heart warming to see them ahh !!! i used to HATE jiara, and even tho they still look like besties or literal siblings, i love them SO MUCH, they are adorableeee...IT IS UNHEALTY BUT IM ROOTING FOR THEMMM, the friends to lovers theme IS THERE AND YEAH- ADORABLE thats it lol

MY FAV COUPLE THO, JARAH !!! WOW- they're the most mature but chill couple and i love how they put all their hearts in the relationship (considering the shit storm they went through in the previous seasons) and I LOVE THE RING SCENE, UGHHH- but john b, dude, CHILL OUT with the thoughts of having children, U R A KID URSELF MY MAN !!!

Pope and Cleo? idk, love them but they're a bit akward (especially pope) but im looking forward to seeing how they'll develop.

MY MAN, RAFE CAMERON!!! here the issue starts and I HAVE A WHOLE MF PARAGRAPH ABT HIM IN S4.

Seems like the directors FORGOT he was a literal murderer, coke addict, schizophrenic man, obsessed to make his father happy, so obsessed that he tried to DROWN his OWN sister (after he shot her) out of jealousy, only that Ward preffered her over him...and now, um...he prepares the bag for a picnic on the beach? a bit (A FREAKING LOT) unrealistic to me. but i believe this is 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙢.

Rafe was so derranged BEFORE Ward died, now that he's dead? Rafe should've gone MAD, literally. But i think his peace is temporary and something will make the monster inside him come outside ragefully again (even tho my baby deserves the peace lol). And that 'something'? Sofia's so-called 'betrayal'.

Now yall hear me out on Sofia! SHE IS A QUEEN. this show helped me prove myself HOW MUCH OF A GIRLS' GIRL I AM bc i DEFENDED HER over Rafe (and rafe is the loml). I HATE the way he treats her when he's with his friends aka the Kooks. But behind the close doors? RAFE'S THE SWEETES OML. but dude, u should have the balls to JUST ADMIT U LIKE HER in front of those filthy, obnoxious rich kids.

[moonastrogirl]

Vedic astrology and Celebrities Part 2

Keith Lee VS Atlanta

I love me some Keith Lee omg this Atlanta´s food scene situation is so crazy. Let me break it down to y’all why this is happening based on Vedic astrology.

Keith Lee is an Ardra moon (Rahu ruled) in Vedic astrology. Ardra nakshatra is ruled by Rudra who is the god of storms and the hunter. Ardra nakshatra’s goal is to destroy through storms and clear the path of someone’s life from inconfortable/painful/bad situations.

Before Ardra nakshatra there is Rohini and Mrigashirsha nakshatras. Those two were stuck in family issues and situations that were no good for them, obstructing their path. Ardra then comes in their life and cuts those issues, helping them escape and be free to start on a new path.

That’s exactly what the Atlanta vs Keith Lee situation is all about. I also assume Keith Lee’s wife is a rohini native.

So the restaurant called «  the real milk and honey » created issues for her and then Keith Lee had to intervene to clear the path for her so she will never have to experience this situation ever again. The thing is ardra nakshatra cannot stop until it has cleared it out all. That’s why Keith Lee kept doing what he did cause he was doing it to help his wife and to help local people so they won’t have to go through what she went through.

The storms are blessings in disguise cause afterwards people can build new foundations and start fresh.

Now the most interesting is on Monday 30th October the moon was in Rohini nakshatra then the whole week the moon was transitioning in Gemini nakshatras and on the 2nd November the moon was in Ardra nakshatra.

In conclusion Keith Lee was victorious because he was doing his mission as a food critic for the greater good (aka how Rahu ruled people can excel), he was honest (one of the main amazing qualities of Ardra natives) and he cleared the path for people to have better and improved experiences in ATL restaurant scene. He is really the ultimate avenger Istg.

Btw The Real Milk and Honey saying they don’t know who Keith Lee is was beginning of the end on social media for them because Rahu ruled people are known and international. Plus Rahu ruled people dominate social media. They even had to release an apology statement please y’all couldn’t handle the heat after starting some bs with him 🙄

I also saw some videos saying some people threatened the safety of Keith Lee and his family in ATL. This is insane 😨

Based on numerology 2023 is a 7 year and this number is a Ketu ruled one. In the name Atlanta there is the energy of 7. Ketu energy can be a really dangerous one. Especially when Ketu’s bad behaviours are being exposed to the world. Just think when politicians or judges or humanitarian groups are being exposed, what we learn is always on another level. They can use their power to abuse people they were supposed to help or lead or provide a service to. For instance Oxfam workers/volunteers being sexually harassed by their group leaders in 2018… Ketu ruled institutions can act completely unhinged and even dangerously. People said on Tiktok ATL had that energy with or without Keith Lee. It’s like dark vibes. It’s ketu vibes. Ketu energy can be really threatening.

Rahu ruled people need to be more careful this year until it’s over ! I am an Ardra sun and I had been to several places ruled by ketu energy and I felt the dark energy this year. Tho it only made me stronger to stay in my power and not let it consume me. Thanks to my strong ketu mostly ong 😭

I hope y’all enjoyed my analysis of the situation let me know by liking, commenting or rebloging and thank you for reading me once again 💜

[ladyluscinia]

I have rewatched the mean lesbians episode in hopes I would like them more the second time, but I'm afraid I'm still not vibing with it. Credit that they tried to undercut the "lesbians who drop in to give our main couple therapy" with the whole reveal it was game and Mary's little rant about their relationship "losing the magic", but like... did they really? Do Anne and Mary not successfully tee up the really touching BlackBonnet airing of grievances and reconciliation? Laughing at them a bit for being dorky doesn't change that they really didn't do much sabotaging, overall, so it's not like they weren't pushing them back together.

I mean, even Mary's whole rant happens after Anne leaves the room. By the time they really start telling us how this couple has their own foundation cracks and issues (vs the veneer of just keeping it interesting) and aren't a longstanding example of a healthy relationship, Anne is literally offscreen making a grand romantic gesture that will solve Mary's discontent. I know they are fitting a miscommunication arc into half an episode instead of 2-3 seasons, but the end result just feels like speedrunning a knock off of BlackBonnet's issues.

And that along with the fact they function as BlackBonnet mirrors first and characters second, it all just feels very... underwhelming (?) to me.

Like why do I care about Anne and Mary? Is the face stealing gimmick supposed to have hooked me? They also, imo, really fucked up by ending on a hug - it just spotlights the fact that, for all the sex jokes, they don't really bother to sell physical intimacy between the two. They maybe bump shoulders at the shop, sit in separate chairs in every scene in the house... honestly the best they do is the offscreen knife flicking. Which funny metaphor but like. Why can't the lesbians be into each other without the metaphor? Or am I supposed to think that Anne "burn the whole house down the second her wife admits she doesn't like swamp life" Bonny didn't pick up that Mary was maybe unhappy when they entirely stopped touching each other and replaced it with murder attempts.

Even a repeat of the offscreen joke but this time imply they are hardcore making out as Stede and Edward slip away would have probably hit better? (I'm assuming for some reason kissing was off the table, otherwise even more wtf why not just kiss?)

(Can you tell I've been thinking about the sorry state of femslash?)

Also I'd be remiss not to tie my dissatisfaction with Anne and Mary to my dissatisfaction with OFMD's prevailing approach to female characters. Spanish Jackie's entire thing is being so awesome and desirable that she has 20 husbands that all work for her, which is super fun. Mary Bonnet became a widowed girlboss with a Doug, which was also fun. Then suddenly we're meeting Zheng Yi Sao who is a girlboss Pirate Queen better than any man, and her right-hand woman that seems like a more stable and competent Edward/Izzy parallel, and her crew of only hyper-competent women... do you see how this is getting a bit repetitive?

Now we add Anne and Mary speedrunning BlackBonnet parallels to teach them a grand gesture romantic lesson? So... doing Stede and Edward but Better™?

Zheng Yi Sao still has time to get more interiority that could offset the whole "girlboss" gimmick which would help, but until that happens the only real female character standout to me is Archie - a woman who has something deeply wrong with her but has so far just kind of slotted in as a equal crewmember instead of the Competent Woman Character.

[the-daydream-archives]

Behind the Scenes stuff that I made for Simblreen:

So I'm pretty sure I started the Simblreen stuff at the start of September (or was it even earlier than that???) and let's just say that a lot of random stuff went unused. This post is basically a collection of pics and cc that didn't make the cut for the final Simblreen sets. It might be uninteresting to most, so feel free to ignore this post. I just felt like documenting the process and the thought process behind it.

So let's get into the first set that I made, The Crafter's Workshop.

So for its CC, I had a bunch of stuff that I wanted to convert for a long time now from The Base Mesh (If you're starting out and learning to convert, I highly recommend using their meshes), however, I had difficulty choosing which ones to convert into a mouth accessory and that's when I decided I needed an overarching theme for each set. A lot of the stuff that I decided to convert for this set was more for story-telling Simblrs than anything since I wanted it to be useful for Handy Sims and Artsy Sims.

On another note, for this set, there were 2 rejected pieces of CC that didn't make the cut. The first was a lightbulb mouth accessory.

This was one of the oldest WIPs that I have in my WIPs folder. It's dated back to my CrimsonPerfectionist days and to this day, I couldn't get it to work the way I want it to. The first issue was the glass shader... It looked terrible in-game and I have no idea why it looked so odd. Another issue was its emission map. I wanted it to glow like a regular lightbulb but not in a flashy way. I wanted it to have a more of a soft glow similar to Ir7770's halo and wings but I could never seem to figure it out especially since the S4S's tutorial on it was very dated and I had a difficult time understanding it. (Someone please write an updated emission map tutorial please!!!! I really need it! 😭😭😭)

As for the second CC, it was supposed to be A Nails-in-Mouth Accessory. Below is some concept art that I drew so you guys get what I was aiming for. I ended up not making it because one: it was too similar to the Pins one, and second, I wanted to focus this set mainly on conversions instead of making stuff from scratch since I wanted to make sure I had enough time for the other sets to be made.

The photos above were unused and one of them was supposedly going to be the main preview images but I decided against it since both didn't match the vibe that I was looking for. The one that I ended up using was a photo that I took much later which was during The Sweet Cavity Set's creation. While I like the 2 above, I felt that the main preview that I ended up using, matched more with the vibe of the set. (Though I still like these 2 images a lot especially since they were already edited and ready to use.)

Next would be The Fruit Salad, my personal favorite out of all the sets.

The creation for this one mostly went without a hitch. A big shoutout to @merofthefae who asked for a cherry mouth accessory and suggested a couple of more fruit stuff which made the idea for this set come to full fruition Get it??? Heheheheh. There were just a bunch of ideas that I didn't make because I was unsure of the placement of it or the idea only looked good in 2D but not in 3D. The photo below show some of the concepts that went unused.

As for the photos of the previews, it was easy since I knew right from the start which photos I'll end up using. The only thing was that I wish I could have made Cherry (the Fruit Salad Sim model) into a Food Sim since she's just so dang pretty. But to preserve the surprise, I had to refrain from posting her photos before Simblreen.

But Idk, I think I might go ahead and make her into an official food sim since I 'm wayyyy too in love with her despite you guys seeing her already.

Next would be almost everyone's favorite, The Misery Meat.

This set was my own personal headache. The Fruit Salad and The Crafter's Workshop each took about a week to make. The Misery meat however, took 3 PAINFUL WEEKS to make. The first problem was the UV mapping of one particular item.

It was the Isaw.

I mainly made it for my country's representation purposes *cough* I'm Pinoy *cough* and I just learned how to make meshes from curves so I thought it would be a piece of cake. And I was WRONG. SO WRONG. This thing took 3-4 days to make just because of the UV Mapping that I didn't even end up using 😭😭😭 I manually fixed each vertice, hoping it'll look good but the other uv map I made that I did under 10 minutes looked much better than the one I spent 3-4 days on. It was super painful but I wasn't at all done with this set and I realized that I was quickly running out of time.

The main problem for this entire set however, was mainly concepts. It was originally more weirdcore than meatcore at first with Sodikken's style. I wanted to base stuff from their artwork but that didn't end up happening since I couldn't think of concepts that suited the overall theme.

Overall, there were at least 12 concepts for this set that didn't make the cut. I'll only talk about a few of them. The first one would be the Popseecle.

Believe me when I say that this one is the one that makes me the most sad. It looked so nice but because of the glass shaders, it looks terrible in-game and it doesn't look as nice as the concept. I might get back to this one since I love the idea so much but for now into the WIPs folder it stays.

The second one would be the Hands as seen below. I loved this one too but aside from not fitting the theme, somewhere along the way I messed up the UV map which caused the fingers to glitch at their tips. It won't be noticeable in the photo below but in-game it looks really bad since the hands are made of glass.

I'll speedrun these next two. The first one was supposed to be ham, which was similar to the steak but I decided it was too plain. The second was supposed to be ripped skin but when I showed it to a family member, they just told me straight up that it looked like a torn blanket... so I decided to scrap it :D

And below are other concepts that didn't happen.

Also the main preview photo was supposed to be much more "scary" but because you can't really see the mouth accessory because of the lighting, I decided against it.

Also, I decided to tone it down a notch since it feels a bit much.

And lastly, is The Sweet Cavity Set.

I feel bad for this set. It was the most rushed out of all of them and I feel like I could have done the main previews wayy better but since I disliked the color scheme, I ended up rushing it anyway. The name was even changed last minute, it was originally supposed to be called "The Sugar Crash Stash" but it felt too long so I went with Sweet Cavity instead. The only CC concept that I didn't include for this set was the Tube Candy and Rice Crispies.

Not gonna lie, this one was almost done but because I had to edit the texture and mesh to make the texture look better in-game, I basically gave up since I was too exhausted that I quit lol. For the rice crispy, since I'm too tired to draw a visual, just imagine it similar to the chocolate bar except that it's thick. That's pretty much it.

And yeah, basically we're done! Thank you to those who stuck around reading. I hope this was entertaining, reading my thought process for these sets and maybe one day I'll come back to these ideas. But for now, I'm gonna rest from CC making and just lie down on a corner somewhere.

Thank you once more if you made it this far! 💖💖💖

[raul-volp2]

I made a post on twitter criticizing how tabletop rpgs overlrely on popular media to promote themselves, like this is "Zelda meets Diablo in a western setting" and a lot of people defend this approach saying that it's a quick way to make their game knows. And I said I would make a text about it, this is not it.

This is right now just a small quick points I like to make about it.

1- The main issue is that all this quick ways to talk about your game don't actually talk about it, we don't know the story, the setting, the mechanics, the possibility of characters, its just add a bunch of recognizable pop culture reference so we can create our idea on our minds, and this can make a lot of different interpretations of it.

2- All the references I see them talking are 99% things that are popular for the global north of the world (US/Europe), even when it's not something from them it's asomething popular for them, if it's japanese it's Zelda, it's Soulslike, it's Ghibli, if it's korean it's K-Pop, it's Parasite, and so on. With tabletop rpg becoming more and more global, we can see creators all around the world making games that will use their own references and cultures that might not be aligned with what the global north perceive as popular, and so their game will never get their chance to shine unless they find a way to tie it to Lord of the Rings or something else.

3- With the marketin machine not only for ttrpg but for entertainment in general we can a bigger push for new ttrpgs to always ditch their unique ideas in favor of something recognizable, that can be used with algorithm, seos, the small paragraphs of kickstarter, that more experimental ideas will be discarded so a popular keyword is used instead and this can create a homogenization of the ttrpg, all of the drinking from the same few ideas (we can argue that the 5e scene is close of this or already on that).

4- Ttrpg is very bad at talk about their mechanics, how they play, all this talk about how to present the game is always about the setting, the feel, but never how you play it, and seem that this is the most important part of the game, it should be presented more upfront. But I believe that this is the way because it's hard to describe a ttrpg mechanic fast unless it's using a srd, again relying on something popular.

5- Ttrpg in general have a very difficult time to present themselves as ttrpg, this hard time to talk about how they play, they always using other mediums that are ttrpg to quick show the vibes of the game show that the ttrpg scene needs to understand itself. It have a big growth in popularity and the ammount of game being made in the last decade, maybe the biggest it's ever been, but right now it needs to find it's voice, understant what ttrpg and what identity it have, and I say this from a place of love, of someone that wants to see the scene to mature and take a voice, not use others voice like it's ashamed of itself.

One addendum: I am not against using references, this is basic 101 in creative work, we need to do our research and we always uses references and other ideas to tweak and make it our own, we are always a sea of reference turned into something unique. What I having problems is to take 1 or 2, 3 parts of this process and focus too much on that, and worst of all, none of this parts are the unique imput of the designers, writers and artists.

Second addendum (sorry): From what I saw about people defending it, and those who use this referencing approach, one thing I realize is that almost all of the cases it's better for them to explain directly what their game are going to be, when they throw references usually end up is something incoherent that opens to a lot of interpretations that will be very far from what the game it it. And people defending most times than not goes with the argument that when talking and recommending to someone, using references helps, and this is call anecdotal evidence, when you use a personal story to exemplified a general idea, and first this isn't work, and second you can't compare personal talking with friends and colleagues with market campaign, they have different language and approach.

Third Addendum (...) : I didn't find any research or study that shows that this approach is benefical for the designers, that improve their reach and sales, I know it makes sense for sites that covers tabletop rpg due to the need to play wiht algorithm and SEO but for designers I wouldn't be surprised if this is just a concept they accept without put too much thought. The tabletop rpg scene, specially indie is usually overly hostile to marketing concepts, and in this case they could be automatically applying a market concept that might give the big reach they think it gives, but I would need to know some numbers to be sure.

Thank you.

Raul.

[roleplayfinder]

🕊 hey, 21F adv.lit–novella discord writer here who is looking to reignite her love for collaborative writing by engaging in a dark romance rp full of intense drama, sizzling emotions, and electrifying chemistry. i'm a little out of practice, but i can write multiple discord messages worth of content, hitting up to 2–6+ messages as an experienced novella writer. though, i'm also university student with a job, so i do reply at a relaxed pace (once or twice per week-ish), but i'm decently quick with OOC and employ a very lax reply policy for my partners (meaning you can do you with no worries). i will happily engage in lots of headcanoning, sharing aesthetics, tiktoks, ideas, and planning for rps, and i love to get that same enthusiasm in return !! don't be dry, contribute, and we'll get on well !! i can send pages of headcanons, and i will screech over our ocs, so let's fangirl together !!

an added note is that complex, imperfect, twisted, and flawed ocs are my bread and butter, and darker/villainous characters will always have my heart. so this is a love letter to all of y'all with a preference for writing well-developed, fucked-up ocs, your darlings have a safe haven with me. seriously, all my girlies are very far from cliche, and they're often decently messed-up, so i love it when i feel love&worry for your ocs cuz that's how you'll feel about my crazy darlings. i'm fine with dead-dove & darker themes (my only hard no is big age-gaps, ED's and incest, all other dark themes are welcome), other specifics like limits/kinks/rules can be discussed in dms.

idea-wise, i recently created twin sister ocs with a very interesting backstory, tons of darkness, and a codependent enmity. i'd love to write them within something akin to a mumu-esque rp– as in, writing two storylines within a shared timeframe/plot, two romances that are entwined, four characters that will overlap into each others lives and become tightly knit as either a 'found family' or 'clashing enemies'. so, it's like this: characters a/b and c/d may be our romantic pairings, but a/c are sister's with a complex set of issues to work through while b/d could be brother's, friends, rivals, etc (i'll leave that up to you, but i'd love if your two ocs also have a history) and we can have moments where their plotlines overlap where a/d might have a friendship moment, b/c may have a enmity storyline, while still writing a/b and c/d as main pairings.

note: a little cliche, but as of now, i am someone who prefers playing F roles within the MxF pairing, and also prefers to write with other F/nb writers (mdni).

themes i'm interested in: old money with criminal entanglements, different flavours of fucked-up characters, morally-questionable actions, rich kids gone wild, dark academia in university/high society, possessive/obsessiveness, stalking, power imbalances, blackmail, old money vs new money, music/art scene (kpop vibes, rock scene, industry harshness, scandals) contrasted with corporate/business. my ocs will be east asian so kdrama/cdrama vibes are also welcome. dark romance is a must.

react if interested, and i'll get back to you asap.

.

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

I'm not sure you need people to announce that they're just here for fun? it's tumblr...surely that can be assumed?

i dunno sometimes it seems like when you say this stuff it's a bit of a straw man argument because I don't really see anyone on here taking this stuff that seriously. we are not larries! no one is claiming Paul's kids are fake or anything lmao. yes people like to look at the history but again it's tumblr, it's just for fun.

maybe there is a whole other delusional side to beatles tumblr that i am not seeing, but i think maybe if people are getting mad when you argue with their dumb little posts it's just cause they think that you, in fact, DO want to spoil the party!

I have been waiting for someone to make this joke ever since I got that url. Have had to make it myself often <3

1. "we are not larries" is an incredibly low bar.

2. the specific contents of theories isn't the only thing that makes them conspiratorial. it's about the way they're argued.

3. Actually, I am thinking of One Specific Event from about a year and a half ago that was treated as people "spoiling the party" when in fact it was an example of good faith engagement with a seriously worded discussion post.* Maybe you missed that, and it's not like it's a super common occurrence. But in hindsight, I don't find it surprising given the climate here.

*I can provide more details on this specific thing in DMs if someone is curious. I don't wanna hash it out on main, especially since I was only peripherally involved.

4. This isn't about whether tumblr is your space to have fandom fun – I do assume that. It's about whether someone is making arguments in jest or if they mean them seriously. Both of these things might be fun to someone (but maybe I could have worded that point better in the original tags).

5. No, no fake kids, and this fandom isn't plagued by a central figure who's to blame for all the "bad stuff". Plus, it's "decentralized", so no singular entity is controlling some super specific narrative. This definitely keeps the space in check. That's part of it though: it's all very sociological, which makes my issue difficult to address because most single posts aren't a problem in of themselves, but there's a tangible vibe to the whole thing. That's also why I want to tread lightly here; I know a lot of it is a joke, but it's hard to tell what isn't. Like, yeah, I've been passive-aggressive lately, but I've also been watching this for a long time. And I regularly see things I perceive as a strawman against my position as well as absolutist rhetoric, which reads just as much as picking a fight as any of my recent posts do. If you talk about there only being "one explanation" for something, what is that, other than putting forward your theory as true? Is it really Not Serious? Every time? Even when the post is presented in a serious way, with sources and evidence? People on this site talk about what they expect Mark Lewisohn to include in his Definitely Trying To Be Serious And Factful biography series. Those demands are never serious? And I don't want to just ruin people's fun for no reason! But I also have a hard time dismissing every single thing that Sounds Kind Of Serious as Probably A Joke (and I do do it, pretty regularly) And I semi-often see people doing things that set off my alarm bells, even when they are not proclaiming Stella McCartney to be a lifelong actress. (reminder that several people on here freaked about the For Paul tapes story being semi-debunked last November; like actively scorned people who were trying to figure out how that story came about and where it originated. That's not normal, sorry to say! And, funnily enough, about a year ago, there was a blog on here pushing a very very very esotheric version of McLennon [and even trying to monetize it] and while most people dismissed them for the kook they were, they splashed onto the tumblr scene in an identical way [saying something that amounted to: "how dare you imply this apocryphal Paul McCartney quote might be fake?"] –––– so my question is: is it not that serious? I Don't Know You Tell Me!)

6. This is @ me mostly, I guess. I just feel like this space has become more and more of a monoculture. Shipping is the default angle with which everything is approached. If John and Paul write songs that are maybe not about each other that's not often seen as worth diving into. (See: Beautiful Boy tinhatting). I actually want to try and change this; get more diverse content on this site, but I guess I assume it's not welcome, which is on me, really. I have slides explaining my specific reading of Double Fantasy (yes, seriously) and there isn't really much stopping me from posting them, outside the fact that most people on here seem to have a very different relationship to the songs from the album than I do, so I assume they won't care. But y'know, I'll try to just Make More Content and see what that does. (For the record I know that sounds whiny. And I do seriously want to do better on that front)

[coconox]

late night ramble but ig heres my 2 cents of this poll (not directly attaching this to the poll cause im a coward LOL)

ofc, i won't put my thoughts on luci/belphe/asmo. ik we get tidbits of them through their nobles or pb's prev games but i wanna judge them based on how they actually show up in-game. i also know there's prob gonna be some luci lore later when gamigin update is out (atm its like abt 4 or so days till that update's release) but i'll just omit my thoughts on luci for now

ok now for the rest of the kings:

i should also put a disclaimer that i don't read any of the unholy board stories unless if it's mammon's, so for the other kings that aren't mammon my opinions are purely based off of main story or event appearances or how they act in comics

satan - honestly pretty ok w him. i'm kinda biased when it comes to mc being recoginized as their own person rather than purely just the descendant of solomon so i like him based on that. idk i don't have any strong opinions abt him i just see him as a very fluffy cat :3

mammon - absolutely love him. 0 flaws. wins the idgaf war. my absolute fav squeak toy. lol ok but fr tho i don't really have any complaints abt him. will spoil tf out of mc and wants to ensure their safety. also sees mc as mc and was even kinda disgusted(? idk a better word for this💀💀) by the fact that a part of solomons soul can be sensed in them, almost as if he doesnt want it to be in the way of mc. also wasnt afraid to call out the fact that sitri kept calling mc solomon. and ofc the love at first sight thing is great too but also the bodyworship (or ig faceworship bc he only just kissed mc's entire face??) before the confession like UGH... absolutely weak for that man (devil?). idk i dont rlly see that many mammon fans rlly anywhere and it saddens me hes such a good char outside of just having huge tibbies. srsly tho pb pls we get it he has huge tits you dont need to constantly bring it up the char sprite is literally right in front of us-

cant wait for the next chapter w the big lore dump abt mammon and hope we finally get a pt 2 of his h scene (hopium)

no srsly he's the only king w 1 h scene, satan and levi got 2,, WHERE IS MAMMON'S PT 2

as a side comment also i love the silly banter btwn mammon and satan like they are truly besties from the cross on their foreheads to matching skill names to the amnt of times they throw hands and still hang out and care for each other

beel - hes ok ig? i think lore-wise hes gonna be one of the more interesting ones considering how "mysterious" he is i.e. constantly wandering, almost being an absent king. like what led to the constant wandering? what did andrealphus mean when he said beel is the key to ending the war? how does his cloning work? i kinda feel bad for bael and the other nobels needing to manage everything while beels away but i don't rlly hate him for it? at least not now considering we don't rlly know the definite reason and i want to assume the best and say he has a valid reason for being absent so he could protect his region. hate is a strong word ig its more of a slight dislike towards beel, but its like this 🤏 small of a dislike im still overall neutral abt him

levi - falling into the majority from the poll i have to agree that levi is my least fav king also lol. i get where he's coming from and why he acts the way he does, i just dont like how he's written? or ig moreso how he's written in the perspective of mc. tho tbh that's more of an mc issue than a levi issue, but i got pretty tired of the story constantly reminding us how pretty levi is (similar to how we always get reminded of how big mammon is/how huge mammons tits are). idk its like a gut feeling to not like/trust him. i also just don't really vibe w him in general even before we were actually introduced to him in main story. hes a good attacker gameplay-wise tho lol

so yeah, those are my thoughts for now. ofc they could change in the future when we get more info abt all of them but we'll see

[darkdoverpseeker]

🕊 hey, 21F adv.lit–novella discord writer here who is looking to reignite her love for collaborative writing by engaging in a dark romance rp full of intense drama, sizzling emotions, and electrifying chemistry. i'm a little out of practice, but i can write multiple discord messages worth of content, hitting up to 2–6+ messages as an experienced novella writer. though, i'm also university student with a job, so i do reply at a relaxed pace (once or twice per week-ish), but i'm decently quick with OOC and employ a very lax reply policy for my partners (meaning you can do you with no worries). i will happily engage in lots of headcanoning, sharing aesthetics, tiktoks, ideas, and planning for rps, and i love to get that same enthusiasm in return !! don't be dry, contribute, and we'll get on well !! i can send pages of headcanons, and i will screech over our ocs, so let's fangirl together !!

an added note is that complex, imperfect, twisted, and flawed ocs are my bread and butter, and darker/villainous characters will always have my heart. so this is a love letter to all of y'all with a preference for writing well-developed, fucked-up ocs, your darlings have a safe haven with me. seriously, all my girlies are very far from cliche, and they're often decently messed-up, so i love it when i feel love&worry for your ocs cuz that's how you'll feel about my crazy darlings. i'm fine with dead-dove & darker themes (my only hard no is big age-gaps, ED's and incest, all other dark themes are welcome), other specifics like limits/kinks/rules can be discussed in dms.

idea-wise, i recently created twin sister ocs with a very interesting backstory, tons of darkness, and a codependent enmity. i'd love to write them within something akin to a mumu-esque rp– as in, writing two storylines within a shared timeframe/plot, two romances that are entwined, four characters that will overlap into each others lives and become tightly knit as either a 'found family' or 'clashing enemies'. so, it's like this: characters a/b and c/d may be our romantic pairings, but a/c are sister's with a complex set of issues to work through while b/d could be brother's, friends, rivals, etc (i'll leave that up to you, but i'd love if your two ocs also have a history) and we can have moments where their plotlines overlap where a/d might have a friendship moment, b/c may have a enmity storyline, while still writing a/b and c/d as main pairings.

note: a little cliche, but as of now, i am someone who prefers playing F roles within the MxF pairing, and also prefers to write with other F/nb writers (mdni).

themes i'm interested in: old money with criminal entanglements, different flavours of fucked-up characters, morally-questionable actions, rich kids gone wild, dark academia in university/high society, power imbalances, blackmail, old money vs new money, music/art scene (kpop vibes, rock scene, industry harshness, scandals) contrasted with corporate/business. my ocs will be east asian so kdrama/cdrama vibes are also welcome. dark romance is a must.

react if interested, and i'll get back to you asap.

like if interested !