#the zoomed-in and zoomed-out worldbuilding both

[daisywords]

Well I finished The Hands of The Emperor, and well it was by no means a perfect read or my personal favorite ever, I did enjoy it immensely. My main takeaway is that more books should be allowed to be really long and character focused and about retirement-age adults and have a bajillion little subplots

[thankskenpenders]

Amy's fortune cards

The Sonic fandom has long been the kind of fandom that takes minor details very seriously, for better or worse. On the one hand, this means fans will really dig for the diamonds in the rough, latching onto fun character interactions, animations, bits of background worldbuilding, and more in pieces of Sonic media that many would write off as "the bad ones." But it also feels like every week another needlessly hostile debate over Sonic minutia erupts on Twitter, whether it's over individual lines of dialogue, fanart that makes Tails' shoes blue, or the ideal length and volume for Sonic's quills.

So it was probably inevitable that a fandom-wide debate would erupt upon seeing Amy's new gameplay style in the DLC for Sonic Frontiers, which takes the once-obscure fact that she enjoys reading tarot and shines a spotlight on it like never before.

I mean:

The thing is, while I basically always try to tune out Sonic fandom bickering... for once, I kind of sympathize with the detractors? Don't get me wrong, I like Amy's tarot stuff, and people on all sides of the discussion are being overly nasty about their opinions, as usual. (Sonic Twitter remains my personal hell.) But when I set aside the hyperbole and zoom out, I do think I understand why some fans are put off by the sudden shift in focus for the character, even if I think it's cool.

It's complicated. Let me attempt to present the cases for and against Amy's fortune cards

For years, I was always one of those fans who thought it could be fun if they played with Amy's tarot reading, or even leaned into some kind of magic with her. Part of that is my own biases showing, but there's just something that makes sense there, especially when you look at Sonic, Tails, and Amy as a trio. (I would argue that's the real "Team Sonic" these days, especially in the comics where Knuckles is more likely to be stuck on Angel Island or otherwise doing his own thing.)

You could argue that Tails is all about logic, relying on science and technology and deductive reasoning to solve problems. But Amy is all about emotion. She wears her heart on her sleeve, is extremely empathetic, and is very prone to magical thinking - both figuratively and sometimes literally. Her origin story has always been that her tarot cards told her it was her destiny to meet Sonic on Little Planet. She's claimed to be able to "sense" peoples' presences - particularly Sonic's. She's the type to believe that The Power of Love is a literal magical force. So, on some level, it makes sense to mirror Tails's science by having Sonic's other best friend believe in magic. And then Sonic is somewhere in the middle, primarily following his own gut instincts but taking advice from both of them as needed. This isn't totally accurate to how their dynamics actually function in canon stories, but I think it's a mode that could work for them.

Going off of that, it's fun to lean all the way into Amy being a magical girl, or even a witch, using her fortune telling as a foundation. Take, for example, this version of Amy from Diana Skelly's old Sonic cast redesigns from before she freelanced for Archie and IDW. This is one of MANY such redesigns for Amy.

Fast forward to the 2020s, and Amy's tarot cards are, in fact, finally getting brought up again in canon. Which is fun! I like seeing that. I like all of the individual stories involving Amy's fortune cards. This is a fun character trait for Amy, a fun nod to old lore, AND a fun storytelling device, all in one. It's really cool that the Sonic universe has its own thematically appropriate arcana, and that the cards are getting made as physical merch. And sure enough, the official card backs and borders were designed by none other than Diana Skelly, in yet another cool example of an ascendant fan leaving their mark on the series.

BUT... when you step back and look at the big picture, I get why some fans find this shift in focus jarring. At the moment, it's starting to feel like every new story about Amy involves her fortune cards to some degree.

The most recent mainline comic arc to feature Amy as the lead character, 2021's Trial by Fire arc, prominently features a sequence where she reads fortunes while camping with the girls. The Origins version of Sonic CD now bookends the game with scenes of Amy and her tarot cards. Sonic randomly mentioned it in a scene in Frontiers. And now, just this week, we got the (very cute, gorgeously illustrated) Amy's 30th Anniversary comic with a story revolving around Amy's tarot cards, followed the very next day by the Frontiers DLC in which she gets a brand new tarot-based moveset. Even her base melee attack now has her throwing tarot cards instead of swinging her hammer. Again, I like all of these individual things, but after years of it almost never coming up at all, it's VERY noticeable that Amy's tarot cards are suddenly everywhere.

To be fair, I'm looking at this from the perspective of a superfan who's actively following ALL Sonic media. Casual fans - especially kids - aren't necessarily going to be reading the comics every month, buying the thousandth rerelease of the Genesis games, or playing the ultra-hard new alternate ending DLC for a game that came out last year. Each of these stories is going to be someone's introduction to the idea that Amy can read tarot, and that's probably part of the idea behind this unified push.

But to play devil's advocate, for my fellow superfans, I understand why it feels like a very minor footnote of Amy's character is suddenly becoming the entire focus of her personality. While Amy has always been said to enjoy fortune telling, that wasn't really a character trait in and of itself, but rather an example of her being a typical girl who hopes she'll be able to find true love one day. It's less that Amy can literally predict the future and more like her using a cootie catcher or going "he loves me, he loves me not" while picking the petals off of a flower. So I get not vibing with this stuff, or feeling like it's being pushed very hard out of nowhere.

What I don't agree with are comparisons like "it's like if they made Knuckles' moveset revolve around him liking grapes." Like, I get it. Ian Flynn loves shoehorning in his little winking references for us nerds, and mentions of Amy's tarot cards were previously on the same level as other random bullet points from old Japanese manuals. But a multifaceted hobby like fortune telling that opens up so many narrative and aesthetic possibilities is obviously very different from having a favorite food. It's ALWAYS been a part of her story, not just a random fact, and there's no reason why the fortune telling can't be elevated to something more.

And, hell, even if it wasn't an established character trait, there's nothing inherently wrong with injecting new ideas into a character. One of the best Amy stories in recent years, the Free Comic Book Day special "Amy's New Hobby" written by Gale Galligan, came up with the idea that Amy's secretly been drawing little comics about her and her friends. Is this based on Lore? No. But it's cute, and helps tell the story of a younger Amy who's still coming out of her shell as both a hero and a friend.

Certain fans are also looking at Amy's Frontiers moveset and using it as evidence that once again the Vile American Contributors like Ian are CORRUPTING Sonic Team's perfect vision of Sonic with their misinterpretations. And like. Come on. Ian does not control the gameplay. He's a freelance writer. The tarot stuff is clearly something that Sonic Team likes if they made it the basis of Amy's new moveset - and, you know, if they keep approving comics and animations about Amy's fortune telling. None of this gets made without their blessing, and lord knows how much they can micromanage shit and shoot down ideas over the most minor of details.

Like, yeah, Amy's fortune telling was probably conceived less as a sign that she Knows Magic and more as a pretty mundane hobby for a lovesick young Japanese girl to have. But you're gonna sit there and tell me that using Amy's tarot cards for more than that could only be the result of a cultural misunderstanding? That nobody in Japan uses tarot card theming and aesthetics (or the general idea of magical cards) for the cool factor? Stardust Crusaders? Persona? The Astrologian class in FFXIV? Cardcaptor Sakura?? Hello??? Do you think Capcom put Gambit in Marvel vs. Capcom ironically because they thought using magic to throw cards at people was stupid? There's tons of precedent for this! It's nothing like Knuckles throwing grapes at people, be for real.

Giving Amy a very magical girl-esque moveset also just makes a lot of sense. For decades her hammer attacks have literally made sparkly heart shapes appear around her. Leaning into both that and her tarot cards in her new moveset makes a lot of sense to me.

But, admittedly... I do think it's very odd that her hammer is treated as a secondary element here, rather than having her primarily use her hammer and adding the cards for extra flair. If hitting the attack button made her swing her hammer instead of throwing cards, I'm not sure we'd even be having this discussion right now.

But the tarot-cycle and Amy riding her hammer like a witch's broom are fucking SICK and I will not concede on this point

The thing is, this whole fortune card discourse is but a small piece of a bigger problem. Amy's been a character who needed some work for ages, but there's basically nothing you can do with her without pissing SOMEONE off.

Years of stories where Amy's crush was her primary motivator and Sonic went "Ew, cooties!" have lead many casual fans to believe that being Sonic's obsessive fangirl is Amy's entire personality. At best people might call her Sonic's Minnie Mouse. This isn't just a matter of Amy having haters within the fandom - venture outside of that bubble and you'll realize that this is how MOST video game playing people seem to see her to this day. I don't feel like this is a fair assessment of the character, but this idea didn't come from nowhere. No matter how much good deeply entrenched Sonic fans may see in their old dynamic where Amy perpetually chases Sonic, this is a very real problem that Sonic Team has to contend with for their leading girl. Of course all those games where the way-past-cool protagonist thought Amy was annoyingly clingy and tried to get away from her made people think less of her.

If new stories were to go back to emphasizing Amy's crush on Sonic a little more, they'd probably be taken as confirmation that Amy's just the girl with a crush on Sonic and that this is her entire personality. Conversely, when the crush is played down, you piss off the hardcore SonAmy fans who don't seem to understand that they're Charlie Brown and Sega is Lucy holding the football. You can't win.

And so here we are. In the absence of what was once her defining trait, now reduced to an occasional blush or wink in Sonic's direction, new stories are trying to mine Amy's past for additional material to work with. Having been a thing fans wanted to see for years, right now we're getting a lot of tarot, but we're also getting reminders of her compassionate nature and her desire to go out of her way to help the little guy. This is an ongoing process. I continue to hope that her bubbly, exuberant demeanor can shine more in future stories. Now, I also hope that the tarot stuff gets balanced out a little better with other traits of hers. But I don't want it to go away. I think it's fun.

This course correcting is far from exclusive to Amy. Knuckles is getting stories that remind us that he's a competent fighter, an experienced treasure hunter, and even a self-taught archaeologist after years of him being perceived as either the dumb one or just the guy who stands in front of the Master Emerald all day. And Tails has been getting some stories reminding folks that he's a capable hero in his own right and not just Sonic's timid kid sidekick.

But no supporting character will ever compete with the sheer number of new ideas Sega has tried with Sonic himself. Like Amy, his Frontiers moveset has also given him half a dozen new superpowers that he never had before, from the Cyloop to air-slicing projectile attacks to his own take on Shadow Clone Jutsu and beyond. He's also been a hoverboarder, a swordsman, a time traveler, an Olympic athlete, a racecar driver, cursed with a Flame of Judgment, imbued with alien power, a fucking Werehog with stretchy powers, and on and on and on.

If Sonic can do all that, Amy can try out using a tarot-cycle.

Anyway TL;DR the REAL problem with Amy's current characterization... is where the FUCK is Amy's bestie, Honey the Cat???????

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  FkinKindaGauche! @fkinkindagauche has 27 fics posted to AO3 in the Stranger Things fandom and 19 of them are in the Steddie Fandom.

@dame-zoom-a-lot recommends the following works by FkinKindaGauche:

Hot Knife

Someone To Bleed

The Dog Ate Your Letter

The Most Gourd-geous Pumpkin in the Patch

Cocoon

"Gauche delivers incredible worldbuilding that's somehow both detailed and broad. They have a great instinct for just how much lore to add to drive the story forward and keep the reader wanting more. I love that they'll go into small stuff I wouldn't even have thought of like how male omegan anatomy would really work, or how vampires go to the bathroom. They're one of very few writers I've read who acknowledges morning breath and their fics are full of those types of moments that acknowledge and celebrate imperfections." -- @dame-zoom-a-lot

Below the cut, FkinKindaGauche answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

They’re just. So. Cute. I love both of the characters even outside of the Steddie relationship, so writing either of them is a delight. But put them together and there’s just so much potential for queer joy. One of the things I love about fanfic is getting to experience queer joy over and over again for the characters I love, both reading and writing. We don’t bury our gays here, we put them on a pedestal and give them many nice things (after we put them through it lol).

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

In the Steddie pairing, it’s friends to lovers, bonus if they’re idiots (idiot4idiot). I love when they’re both being absolute doofuses about each other. Closely followed by monsterfucking.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

I have a really fun time writing in the omegaverse (though I’m always doing non-traditional A/B/O where characters retain some mental faculties even in mating cycles). My favorite trope there is sudden/unexpected heat or rut. I love how it can drive relationship development that may not have happened without that push, and I enjoy figuring out what happens with the characters when they get so horny. And I don’t know if this is quite trope level, but I also have become incredibly fond of writing omegas topping alphas. I think I’ve done it in most of my longer omegaverse fics at this point. Maybe not in the Unbearable Horniness of Steve, I can’t honestly remember.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

A lot of my favorites are by Eddywoww. I love their smut to pieces and beyond. If I had to pick a favorite of theirs I’d go with the Dom Eddie series. From a non-smut perspective, my favorite fic is In a Mirrored Room, Talking to Myself by entanglednow. Such great horror vibes.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

Yes! I really want to do an arranged marriage fic at some point soon, probably as a Regency era thing, or possibly a fantasy AU. It would almost certainly be omegaverse.

What is your writing process like?

It’s pretty chaotic, even for my long fics. I start with an idea that is often quite vague, sometimes it’s a little conversation, sometimes a trope, and then I just start writing what comes into my head. I like to start with dialogue, as it gets my juices flowing with characterization. As I’m writing, I will start to take little notes of what I want to happen in the rest of the fic, but I never do a formal outline. I tend to write semi-linearly. I don’t jump around too much, but I will often go back and add scenes into earlier parts of the fic once I figure out the whole plot.

Do you have any writing quirks?

I’m not sure. I definitely have an unfortunate tendency toward run-on sentences that I’m trying to rein in, but I don’t know that I would consider that a quirk. 

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

When I was first doing multi-chapter fics, I needed the comments on those initial chapters to keep me writing, so I posted on a schedule, starting with the early chapters before I was done writing the whole thing. Now, I’ve started to prefer finishing a long fic before posting, to give myself a chance to edit the earlier bits more if things change as I’m writing. Especially since I don’t outline anything. I do still like to post multi-chaptered fics on a schedule, though, even if they’re complete when I start posting. I think it’s fun to get that interaction from people who enjoy reading WIPs on a schedule.

Which fic are you most proud of?

Of the stuff that’s already been fully published as I’m writing this response, I would say Someone To Bleed. It involved a lot more actual plotting outside of the romance bits, and gave me a chance to stretch my writing abilities more. But the fic I’m most proud of overall is my Eddie Munson Big Bang, which will start posting soon (probably already has started by the time this is up). I was able to dive deep into body horror and weird biology stuff in that one, and I’m proud of what came out of it!

How did you get the idea for Someone To Bleed?

I love vampire fiction from a weirdly science-y perspective, because I’m a pathologist, so I had to spend a lot of time learning about blood transfusion and other aspects of blood banking during my training. There was a sad paucity of vampire Steve fics in the fandom, so I was just sort of noodling on the idea a little, but not seriously considering writing it. I started to think about how to make Eddie into a blood bag from a medical perspective. When the idea of making Eddie have hereditary hemochromatosis (a genetic disorder which eventually requires blood-letting to decrease the iron load in the body) came to me, I knew I absolutely had to write it, because I’m a nerd. 

When writing Someone To Bleed, what was something you didn’t expect?

I didn’t expect to write a bunch of BDSM sex. It was all gonna be very wholesome, focus on the plot and not the sex, and then the Steve and Eddie in my head just went off the deep end. Pervs. Probably would’ve been at least 10-20K fewer words if they hadn’t done that.

What inspired Hot Knife?

I went through a Fiona Apple resurgence over the summer where I kept listening to all of her albums over and over. “Hot Knife” would get stuck in my head for daaaaaays. One of the lines in the song, “He makes my heart a CinemaScope screen / Showing the dancing bird of paradise” made me think about a situation where Steve has to pursue Eddie in some sort of mating dance, almost like a bird of paradise, and thus the fic was born. 

What was your favorite part to write from The Dog Ate Your Letter?

The whole first scene where Eddie is freaking out after he reads the letter that was meant for Steve. I love writing Eddie being overwhelmed and reacting in hilariously ridiculous ways, especially where Steve is involved. The fic was actually just gonna be a little ficlet with only that first scene, but then I couldn’t leave it there, I needed to make those Barbies kiss.

How do/did you feel writing The Most Gourd-geous Pumpkin in the Patch?

That one was definitely the most personal of all the fics I’ve written thus far. My cat had passed away not too long before, and I was feeling pretty awful in general. I needed to write something that was almost purely fluff to make myself feel better. It was strange to write something that long with very little tension in it, and I wasn’t sure if people would even like it, but it seems lots of people like to have a bolus of fluff now and then. And, of course, the cats in the fic are just my cats. Amos is the one who passed away recently, which is why he’s featured most prominently. That fic was partially my love letter to him.

What was the most difficult part of writing Cocoon?

All of it, hahaha. It was my first multi-chapter fic, and my first fic of any kind after a long hiatus from writing, so it was a slog getting it all out. But if I had to pick one thing, it was probably hardest to make the romantic conflict happen. I set them up to be very perfect for each other and in love, so getting any sort of conflict to happen was difficult, but hopefully didn’t seem too contrived.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

This is a really hard question! I love them all so much, it’s hard to pick. If I have to pick just one, though, probably the scene at the end of Chapter 1 of Someone To Bleed, where Robin and Eddie are both comforting Steve. I love a Platonic Stobin/Steddie sandwich with Steve in the middle. That’s one of the things I loved so much about writing that fic - having both of those relationships be such a prominent part of Steve’s journey.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I am very excited about my Eddie Munson Big Bang, PANDO. It was a real labor of love for me, my favorite thing that I’ve written thus far, but also a bit niche with a lot of body horror and fungus stuff. There’s some fantastic art that goes along with it, too! It will be finished posting by March 10th. 

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

Just that I appreciate SO MUCH every single person that reads one of my fics and leaves comments or kudos. You’re all amazing, and keep me going with churning out this nonsense!

Thank you to our author, @fkinkindagauche, and our nominator, @dame-zoom-a-lot! See more of FkinKindaGauche's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[tinytalkingtina]

WIP Weekend

Thanks for the tag @sourw0lfs!

I know I still have a number from last weekend in the inbox, but this weekend I actually will have the time to get to them, huzzah!

Rules: Send me an emoji in an ask, and I'll write 3-5 sentences and/or paragraphs from that WIP. No limits to the amount of emojis you can request, please feel free to send multiple

🐶 B.A.D. D.O.G. (sequel to the college AU puppy play Stomeddie/Stommie fic) is nearly there! Hoping to have time this weekend to make a final push <3

🧜‍♂️ Participating in the STMonsterCalendar Mermay Bingo event, with 2/4 fics for this completed so far. Still need to work on the SFW paired buckingham/steddie fics, but been having fun doing research on waterparks and fleshing out what were supposed to be super short 300-500 word fics. They'll both probably end up closer to 1k, oops. Gonna publish the first of these probably this coming week though!

🏴‍☠️ Eddierotica: "Eddie writes the world's worst erotica about characters who are just poorly disguised versions of himself and Steve. They're not dating." continues! Loving the enthusiasm for this one, hoping I'll have more creativity in the tank to do this justice haha. For what I've been picturing as Steve's live reaction please see this coincidentally perfect photoset Djo recently released. 💥Steddie Big Bang: Secret fic is at 5.5k now, and written out some fun consequences to the worldbuilding choices in this story. This can't be publicly shared yet, so if you send in this emoji feel free to pick another fic as well, and I'll write 3 sentences for both.

Tagging some folks to join in and work on their own WIPs this weekend :D

@vthx @hbyrde36 @pearynice @queenofshenigans @onirislanding

@dame-zoom-a-lot @fkinkindagauche @just-my-latest-hyperfixation @queenie-ofthe-void @yesdangerpls

@apomaro-mellow @strangerthingswritersguild

Enjoy a SFW snippet from 🧜‍♂️ below the cut featuring Eddie's gay longing

Just as he managed to get his group seated, tinny speakers stuttered to life and began to play a jaunty naval-themed tune: it was time for the show to begin. Eddie’s heart beat faster in anticipation of seeing him again. One by one, the mermaids appeared, decked out in bright colorful tails and waterproof makeup to match. Each one was “more lovely than the last!” as the announcer proclaimed. Except that wasn’t true. Because Mermaid #5, with his fire engine-red tail, was the only one Eddie had eyes for. As he swam around, Mermaid #5’s blonde-highlighted hair swirled in the current. It made the perfect halo for his beautiful face, with it’s strong nose, sparkling eyes, and infectiously warm smile. From his vantage point in the arena, Eddie could just make out moles dotted all over his mermaid’s body. And, oh, what a body! Mermaid #5 wasn’t jacked up with bulging muscles like Schwarzeneggger. No, he was all lean lines from swimming strapped into a tail all day. He even had visible abs from some angles, like when he was picking up and tossing another mermaid to fly and flip in the air. Eddie swallowed a sigh. Surely, Mermaid #5 had to be the prettiest boy in the world. And the prettiest boy in the world would never know how smitten he was. Eddie was too much of a coward to even ask around for the guy’s name, much less strike up a conversation. Sure, the sparkling stud Mermaid #5 wore in his ear was promising, but the guy had to already be taken by someone (that hypothetical lucky bastard). Which meant he’d have to be content with pining from afar and bemoaning his fate to Chrissy evening after evening. Not that she was any help, egging on his hopeless crush and laughing at how he tripped over himself to hide whenever he spotted anyone with frosted tips coming his way.

[atamascolily]

One of the problems with Madoka Magica having two subtly different versions (the original TV series + the recap movies) is that it's difficult to know which version is considered "definitive". I watched the TV series first, which is why I focus primarily on them, but there's also a lot in the recap movies I forget about, because it's mostly the same, right up to the point where it abruptly isn't.

Anyway, here are some additional shots featuring lace from Beginnings and Eternal that aren't present in the TV series.

The original TV opening (left) has a blue outer curtain with a second lace piece inside. This is Walpurgisnacht's curtain--we see it again when she appears later (see below), but there are multiple other layers in Beginnings. The red one with scalloped edges is evocative of, although not identical, to Homulilly's in Rebellion, but what about the others? In all, I count 5 layers, not including the blue outer curtains.

The obvious interpretation behind this shift is that this story contains layers--that there are levels upon levels of artifice that we must go through to reach the truth.

In the original TV series (left), the next shot is a close-up on this emblem, which says "Prologue in Heaven 2011" in German (a Faust reference) and written in witch runes. In Eternal (right), the camera "zooms out" to show us more of Walpurgisnacht's mandala and make it unambiguous that this is her doing/interpretation of the situation by adding her name.

(As an aside: Considering that "Walpurgisnacht" is supposed to be the name that magical girls call her, not her actual name, this seems odd, but it's consistent across the series, so IDK what's up with that. I don't think this is necessarily a mistake, though--I think it's something akin to a "stage name" or something that will be explained when her true identity (?) is revealed in Walpurgis no Kaiten.)

But anyway, there's also a lace border along the bottom of this shot, again emphasizing the connection between Walpurgisnacht and lace, as well as lace and "frames" (both visual and narrative).

Thus it's not really surprising that Kyubey's lesson about the history of magical girls in Eternal (above) comes with a lace border, marked by his eyes--he is literally part of the frame! This element is present in the original TV broadcast (below) but much more subtle.

In both the original TV series and Eternal, Kyubey's monologue is capped by Madoka convulsing in a mandala resembling a lace pattern, which becomes actual lace as the scene progresses; I just never noticed until now. I've talked elsewhere about how the animation in this scene resembles a labyrinth and how this highlights the narrative Kyubey is weaving (and Madoka is rejecting) so I won't go into that here, but let's just say that given the connections between mandalas and worldbuilding that its use here is entirely consistent with this premise.

Walpurgisnacht's lace curtain seems to be unchanged between versions as well.

Anyway, all this is to say that not only does the symbolic use of lace predate Rebellion (where there is quite a lot of it), SHAFT also went back and added more lace to the recap movies as if to further emphasize its importance.

[gainesha]

still at Season 1 with my current BSG rewatch, going slower than I wanted, but

stray thoughts:

I have seen a lot of the episodes many many times, and I had one complete rewatch years ago with my family, but it is very exciting that I committed myself to do a full rewatch again. enough time has passed so that I can kinda see it with a new eye, even though most of the show etched myself into my mind and soul forever.

she is a big deal, but i still feel like we underappreciate Katee Sackhoff as an actor and Kara Thrace as a character in the show. she is just ELECTRIC. possibly my favorite fictional TV character, give or take a Nora Durst.

the David Weddle & Bradley Thomspon scripts sing like no others. Michael Taylor is going to be my go-to writer on the show later on, but they are indelible throughout, and the first ones to truly get the wavelength of RDM

i know many purists would rank the first season as the best, and i enjoy the very classical standalone structure and small-scale feel of it, but for me it's still probably at last place, even considering some rock bottoms of later seasons. also, I love the spiritual and theological rabbit holes the writers will write themselves into, and the show gets better for all the weird detours and strange turns of the worldbuilding and the narrative. I am very curious how the dead-ends and messiness of the overall arc will feel this time through, though.

Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down is by far the worst episode of the show thus far. I don't think EJO handles the screwball rhythms well as a director, and the characterization of Ellen this early in the run does not sit quite well with me, considering how they deepen her story later, especially in the New Caprica run. here it's just a crazy scheming bitch and a bros before hos posturing - her dynamic with Saul could (and will) be great and complicated, two people who get the very worst out of each other, which is spelled out in the episode, but isn't really depicted in an interesting way just yet.

also, can't wait for Tricia Helfer to really shine in later seasons. she is already amazing in her limited role of HeadSix temptress, and you can already sense the complexities behind her purr and anger and frustration.

Tahmoh Pennikett is not the greatest actor on the show, but he is amazing at giving a protector / big brother energy for Helo. he is just so rock solid. makes Helo a much better character than on paper, I think.

Flesh and Bone doesn't hit as hard any more (it was the episode that truly hooked me the first time, and one of my faves to revisit at earlier rewatches), but it is still the episode that has the first true glimpse of the thornier political and theological stuff that make the show reach next levels of greatness in terms of the cylon-human relations. Callum Keith Rennie is alluring and next to Tricia Helfer, the most un-human of the cylons.

the costumes in BSG are PERFECT. from the shiny chrome-silver flightsuits in the Caprica arc (both Helo and Sharon have such cute asses in those pants) to the standard blue uniform and the dogtag-sleeveless-tanktop combo of the pilots... so so so cool

the handheld camera shots really pay out whenever they zoom in a close-up of adama's pockmarked face or starbuck's trembling mouth. a huge reason of why Galactica (the ship, the crew) feels so lived in.

quiet moments like this one always make me cry:

[pagesandpothos]

June 2025 Reading Recap

June started out unexpectedly hectic and stressful for me, so I didn't get to read nearly as much as I hoped to in the first half of the month. Thankfully, that left me super excited to read a lot in the second half of the month, and I zoomed through most of my TBR. I still didn't get to read everything I wanted to, but I read most of it and found several new favorites. Overall, I'm happy with my Pride Reads, and the few books that I didn't get to will show up on future TBRs.

The Next Chapter by Camille Kellogg🆕🌈 

This is an emotional Sapphic romance about a former child star and a bookstore employee. The main characters are flawed and make major mistakes, and the ending is full of growth. There is a lovely found family element, too!

🌕🌕🌕🌖🌑 | Read as: ebook (ARC from NetGalley)

Coven by Jennifer Dugan & Kit Seaton 🌈 

This is a YA graphic novel about a coven of witches who've recently been attacked. The art in this is beautiful, and I loved the world (it reminded me of shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, and Supernatural). The plot and character development felt rushed, though. I wish this had been a duology or a longer series. I think this could have been amazing with more breathing room!

🌕🌕🌕🌖🌑 | Read as: ebook (Borrowed from Libby) 

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee 🌈 🤍

This is the second book of a YA historical fantasy series that I'm so glad I finally continued on with. I love Felicity, Sim, and Johanna and loved the friendship they developed. I was also very happy to see Monty and Percy again!

🌕 🌕 🌕 🌕🌕   | Read as: hardcover (Borrowed from Library) 

A Light From the Nether by Molly Dowd Sullivan 🆕🌈🤍

I loved this so much. The worldbuilding is creative, there are some great horror elements, the mystery is truly captivating, and the romance is absolute perfection! This is a true contender for my favorite book of the year. I can't recommend this enough for fans of queer fantasy and horror!  I need everyone else to read this so we can get a fandom going. I need fanart and fanfiction!

🌕 🌕 🌕 🌕 🌕   | Read as: ebook (ARC from NetGalley) 

Crash Test by Amy James 🆕🌈 

This is an excellent sports romance about an F1 driver who learns that his secret boyfriend, and F2 driver, has been involved in a very serious crash. This book is very emotional, with complicated characters who have to fight to make their relationship work. I got so hooked on this story that I could barely put it down!

 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗 | Read as: ebook (ARC from NetGalley) 

Stirring Spurs by M.A. Wardell 🆕🌈 

This is a novella about two cowboys who fall in love on a queer-friendly ranch. It's a very spicy and fun read!

🌕🌕🌕🌕 🌑  | Read as: ebook (ARC from Grey's Promotions)

Bed and Breakup by Susie Dumond 🆕🌈 

This is a new Sapphic rom-com about exes who are forced to cohabitate in the B&B that they still own. There are good small-town vibes and lots of great supporting characters. The second-chance romance is both funny and emotional, with some great growth for both women.

🌕🌕🌕🌕🌘 | Read as: ebook (ARC from NetGalley)

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun 🌈 🤍

Is this my new favorite contemporary romance? I think so! I loved this so much. The characters are incredibly lovable, and the romance is top-tier. I loved all the representation in this, too. This is a heartwarming and brilliantly written, and paced romance. I've read many queer romances in my life and this one is absolutely one of the very best.

🌕 🌕 🌕 🌕🌕  | Read as: paperback (Owned)

Favorite Book this month? 

The Charm Offensive and A Light From the Nether share this title for the month.

The Charm Offensive is the perfect contemporary romance. Great characters, a perfectly paced and swoonable romance, and A+ representation. I already want to reread this!

A Light From the Nether couldn't be more different, but I adore it, as well. It's dark, gory, and creepy with some intricate worldbuilding. The characters are flawed and messy, and the romance is shockingly tender and emotional. This is such a hidden gem that I hope more fans of queer fantasy read and love!

Honorable mention goes to The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy for the amazing characters and the fun adventure fantasy that helped get me through a really tough week.

Stats:

I read 8 books and just over 3000 pages this month. That’s a pretty typical reading month for me.

I read every day in June and averaged 100 pages per day.

I read mostly ebooks this month. 3 were print books and 5 were ebooks.

My top genres this month were LGBTQIA+, Romance, and Contemporary. Fantasy is normally in my top 3, but I read more contemporary romances than normal this month.

The longest novel I read this month was A Light from the Nether.

The shortest book I read this month was Stirring Spurs.

Key: ⏳Books that will be released later in the year (I read an ARC). 🆕 Notes books that will be or have already been released this year. 🌈 Books that include major LGBTQ+ characters, relationships, or themes. 🤍 A book that I now consider a new favorite!

[mmoneystones]

𝐓𝐎𝐀 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 M𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲!

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Name: Neku

Pronouns: he/they

Birthday (no year): Feb 24th

Where are you from? What is your time zone? North-Eastern NY with an EST time zone!

How long is your roleplay experience? About 2+ years now likely, with about half a year on indie and the rest from Discord RP (AKA just TOA)

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? Okay this is always a really funny story because when I was around 15 or so I was really getting into Puyo Puyo, both because funny puzzle game but the characters were actually really cool! Then like one of my random friends from that community had the idea for RP/worldbuilding and the rest is history I guess?? I don't do Puyo RP anymore but it was a nice start. c:

How were you introduced to TOA? After my indie experience went down the drain I stayed in contact with most of my close Tumblr FE RP friends and that included gamer N. He told me about TOA a while back before, but I only considered joining really after I started getting used to college life.

Do you have any pets? No, my only pet were like carnival goldfish that....yeah :(

What is your favorite time of year and why? (Season, holiday, general period) Start of spring because while I like the colder seasons I feel sick AGAIN so I think the spring period is just my safest one.

What is your IRL occupation? University student until I learn what the hell I want to do with my life.

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? Small interests in music theory, game design, mathematics, musicals, uh....gaming. Yeah, gaming.

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? Smash Bros, Splatoon, The World Ends With You, Touhou Project, Trails/Kiseki, Celeste, a lot more Nintendo, honestly insert a lot of roguelikes here

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: I'm such a fake pokemon fan I stopped playing after Gen 6 but the Steel type is cool and Empoleon my beloved.

Tell us some funfacts and trivia about yourself! (Optional bonus challenge: if you filled this out last year, try not to repeat what you said back then!)

1) I have moderated a Touhou gacha server. Am I proud of it? No. 2) I can do a T-spin. I think that's pretty cool 3) I can beat Punch-Out on the Wii in a single session. It's probably easy to do but I love that game okay.

How did you get into Fire Emblem? Brother showed me FE7 on a totally legal GBA and I was like "wow cool!" Also Smash.

What Fire Emblem games have you played? It's on my mun page but I've played every (remade) FE game outside of FE5 (which I'm currently completing), 3 Hopes, and TMS. Quit FEH after like year 2.

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games: First would be both FE7 and Awakening, favorites are FE15, FE9, and (until I lose the adrenaline) FE4.

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series! Okay 5 is a large ask when you say favorites but uhhhhh Mae, Ike, Anna, Flora, Shamir. They can fight over the top 5 spots like a battle royale.

Who was the first character ever to make you go “ooh I like this one in particular” and why? Can be any context and reason! Going off FE7 being my first I'd probably call out Marcus because haha strong earlygame prepromote go zoom. Fortunately that almost works depending on the FE game.

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 Ayra. Yeah.

If you’ve played (or are familiar with) the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? I don't really care much for the S Support mechanic so I'm just writing these to call out my tastes. Probably no one I'd really consider to do with nowadays. - Awakening: Tiki - Fates: Honestly I cannot remember for the life of me for my sake I hope it was like Setsuna. Edit: fuck it was definitely Kagero. - Three Houses: Shamir - Engage: Ivy

Favorite Fire Emblem class? Pegasus Knight!

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable? I don't want to be one but I'd likely be some armor class with axes or swords. I'd be playable with really middling stats so I'm either benched or the subject of a FE video essay on "why splorgius the axe knight is UNDERRATED???"

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? (Black Eagles, Blue Lions, Golden Deer, Church of Seiros, Those Who Slither in the Dark, unaffiliated civilian, other - for example Almyran) Golden Deer YIPPEE

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent? Boons: Lance, Gauntlets, Flying; Banes: Axe, Faith, Heavy Armor; Budding Talent: Authority

If you were an Engage character, which nation would you originate from? (Firene, the Kingdom of Abundance; Brodia, the Kingdom of Might; Elusia, the Kingdom of Knowledge; Solm, the Queendom of Freedom; Lythos, the holy land of the Divine Dragon; Gradlon, the desolate land of the Fell Dragon) Brodia so I can convince Citrinne to donate to the commoners (it won't work.)

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔(separate letters, to-ah, other?) N has made me say To-Ah but if I am not being hypnotized it's separate letters.

Current TOA muses: Citrinne, Lene, Yuzu

Past TOA muses? Mae, Shamir, Sonya, Faye, Anna (FEH), Flora

Who was your first TOA muse? If you no longer have them, can you see yourself picking them up again? Mae, and I honestly could see it but only if other muses weren't picking so hard at my brain right now.

Do you believe you have a type of character you gravitate towards writing? (If you filled this out last year, has this changed in any way?) N has called me out for my sadgirl schtick, and...yeah. I think I've strayed from women that outright have traumatic moments define them, but it definitely is a sore spot in their lives. Unless you're Yuzu. You'd win.

Do you have characters or types of characters you don’t think you can handle writing, but wish you could? So this used to be like any single noble muse due to the inevitable struggle of writing around politics but I think Citrinne has been doing well sooooo let's just go with what the people want. Neku the male does not think he can write other men.

What kind of scenes, situations etc do you believe you enjoy writing the most? (If you filled this out last year, has this changed in any way?) I still don't feel like I gravitate toward any real scenario but nowadays I have gotten less scared of dialogue to the point where I enjoy moments that allow muses to just talk to one another and bounce off each other.

Do you have any scenario in mind for your muse(s) that gets you thinking “man I hope I get to write this one day”? Nothing sticks to my mind right now for Citrinne; for Yuzu I need her mind to implode from Fates' route shenanigans; for Lene I need her to meet her mother :)

Favorite TOA-related memories? At this point it'd be Ball 2024 and Happyland since those are my most recent event memories. The mini-event I did with Sonya was very precious too.

Present or past tense? Try my darnest to keep it to present and I'm so sorry when it flops.

Normal size text, small text, no preference? I prefer to keep it to normal text when writing on my own end, never really saw the point for small, but I don't mind what others use.

Got any potential muse delusions to share? 😉 You know who you are.

[thisworldisablackhole]

Virtual Light, by William Gibson - 2.5/5

I was really excited to get back to reading some Gibson and see what he can do outside of the Sprawl setting, but this was unfortunately a bit of a disappointment. Prose-wise, this is still classic Gibson—full of janky syntax and a bad habit for narrating everything like notes on a police report, providing a ton of zoomed-in imagery but little in the way of context to tie things together. I keep underestimating how little Gibson cares about holding the reader's hand. Just like all his other books that I've read, it probably took about 50-100 pages for the narrative to really become clear. Gibson likes to set up his stories like an investigation board with snapshots of suspects and scenes that slowly converge into a single lead, and it usually works as long as the stakes are high and the payoff is explosive—two things Virtual Light lacks almost completely.

There were definitely some cool things going on in this book, but none of them were applied in a way that actually strengthened the main plot (apart from Chevette and Sammy Sal being bike messengers; that was actually cool). Gibson's worldbuilding of an alternate Los Angeles and San Francisco was great. The condemned bridge to Oakland that had been converted into a lawless shantytown was especially a fascinating setting; it almost felt like the labyrinthine gothic castle from Gormenghast that just kept growing and growing until it resembled an M. C. Escher painting of nonsensical architecture. That setting definitely could have been explored further and made into a larger part of the story. There was also some interesting cultural stuff going on on the sidelines; Gibson was clearly impacted by the AIDS epidemic while writing this, and part of his alternate reality was one in which a non-lethal strain of HIV was found in the blood of J.D. Shapely, who became a sort of patron saint figure for the communities that lived on the bridge; then there was a separate religious cult out in the suburbs of L.A. who believed God could be found in old movies and TV shows and would just set up stacks of dead televisions all over the place, yet they had rules about what material could be viewed, and one of the characters gets labeled as an apostate for getting caught watching Videodrome.

Yet somehow Gibson managed to craft a main plot that completely sidelined all of these interesting tidbits of cultural worldbuilding to instead focus on a dull investigation about some stolen virtual reality sunglasses and a secret plan to rebuild San Francisco that both felt so disconnected and unimportant despite at least two or three people getting killed over them. Not even the characters could come up with an argument for why anything they did mattered—hell, the whole thing starts because Chevette jacks some random guy's sunglasses on a total whim. "Exhilarating and terrifying" my ass. If I was Gibson's editor, I would have sent him back to the drawing board on this one. A good story does exist in this world; this just isn't the one. Hoping to have better luck with Idoru.

[battleonthebigbridge]

Wriothesley's story quest

It's been about a day or so since I did the quest but GOD am I rotating Wriothesley around my brain at lightning speeds.

Gonna put some general thoughts under the cut but wow I didn't expect this quest to be so fucked up and dark, like I really got squeamish during some of the parts. But I mainly want to talk abt Wriothesley himself as a character.

FIRST OF ALL THIS NEW DESK SITTING ANIMATION????????????????? Hi Wriothesley :)

He's just so funny like I love his voice acting as well. He just sounds super casual and like a bro y'know? I feel like it would be really natural to have a conversation with him and his constant little one liners definitely helped to brighten up the quest a bit.

I was questioning my sexuality I don't care I'll admit it I'm NOT BACKING DOWN.

(leans into mic) Would.

THE WAY HE DELIVERED THIS LINE WAS INSANE AND THE ZOOM IN ON HIS FACE I WAS BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS LIKE GO ON WRIOTHESLEY YOU GO!!!

I was genuinely surprised they brought up that part of his story in the quest cos like I knew about it from his profile stories but I didn't actually expect them to reveal it like that in the quest. His whole speech about it was just so good and I'm glad it makes that part of his lore more accessible and obvious cos man it's just really dark, but also a cool direction that they're taking with tackling a lot of more difficult themes. AGAIN not for everyone and I honestly think these quests should start coming with some mild content warnings AT LEAST but it was good, i enjoyed it a lot.

LIKE MAN HE WAS JUST A KID AND HE'D ALREADY COMMITTED MURDER AND WAS SENT TO THE TOP SECURITY UNDERWATER FORTRESS ALL ON HIS OWN LIKE. No matter how you look at it I feel so bad for him like idk it's hard to explain. He just deserved better, he deserved a happy childhood. And also damn with his backstory and the Lyney and Lynette backstory we really gotta look into all these noble people cos there is a pretty worrying pattern here.

It was a good quest, probably one of my fave story quests cos not only did it have a really compelling plotline but like we actually found out a lot more about Wriothesley as a character, both personality and backstory wise which is something i often find lacking in these story quests. The Fontaine story quests have been REALLY good so far like Lyney's and Neuvillette's were really good too and had the perfect balance of character exposition and also still having a focus on the NPCs that help to makeup the worldbuilding.

Also I'm just really normal about that rendered cutscene.

Shoutout to Wriothesley.

Honestly I haven't typed much because there's not too much I wanted to say outside of me just commentating about me going EWWWWW and AH FUCK every 5 minutes during this quest LMAO. I just like Wriothesley I think he's neat.

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 69 – Prophet, Volume 2: Brothers by Brandon Graham (et al)

I’m at this point reading these as quick palate-cleansers between longer books. Which is probably a terrible idea, both because I’m sure forgetting all manner of plot-critical details between volumes, and also because this series is so goddamn weird it’s the literary equivalent of having a spoonful of cinnamon between courses. But eh, reading the volumes in a row would both rapidly exceed my patience and also feel far too much like cheating to get my reading challenge counter up higher.

The story continues on from Volume 1, mostly but not entirely following ‘Old Man’ Prophet, a truly ancient superhuman soldier as he goes around the galaxy collecting a ragtag band of misfit allies and trying to organize a resistance to the reborn Terran Empire and its legions of other non-defective Prophets preparing to restore it to its ancient glory. The individual stories within that are pretty episodic, contained within each individual issue – all fairly minimalist and simple to fit within that constraint.

The style of story-telling is honestly the most striking thing about this whole series to me. Everything is very...zoomed out? Mostly, it’s an omniscient voice narrating the events occurring and how the protagonists feel about and react to them, with only comparatively few snapshots of actual dialogue or character beats occurring ‘on screen’. The result feels like a whole book of ‘previously on’ segments, as much as anything – it might be entirely normal in comics, but the few (very strange) ones I’ve really gotten into before this don’t do anything similar.

The art remains wonderfully bizarre – though it often gets to the point where I have difficulty actually parsing the action and whose doing what, which is a real issue in such an incredibly visual series. Still, by far the biggest selling point here is all the weird and wild aliens and gonzo worldbuilding that’s just thrown into the background and namedropped like it belongs there with zero exposition about how anything works beyond what’s absolutely necessary for the plot.

Speaking of visuals, I would like to take a moment to properly appreciate the fact that the Old Man’s dead love who he reminiscences about constantly was a lizard alien and they did not give her breasts (or make her particularly humanlike at all, really). Female alien character design in comic books is a low, low bar but crossing it with flying colors here.

Compared to volume one the story here’s much more conventional – more or less following one protagonist on a mission that’s either archetypal or generic depending on how nice you’re feeling, collecting a quirky and sympathetic supporting cast as he goes. My perspective is probably biased by the fact that the friend who lent me these also said that they technically take place in the far future of one established superhero universe or another, but you can kind of see the trappings of the genre starting to peak through here and there? Not necessarily a bad thing, but this definitely read like what you imagine a comic book to be than the last one.

[lizardlicks]

Nine People You'd Like To Get To Know Better

I was tagged by @blu3berrydraws, @erisenyo, and @paramouradrift lol thanks guys!

Relation Status: Married to my best friend and high school sweetheart

Favorite Color: green. any green. give me a green I will show you how beautiful it is

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: Sweet tooth is currently satisfied. Spicy is just kind of a bonus. I think savory is looking good rn.

Three ships: Zukka is the obvious current answer, but I am a habitual multishipper by nature, so here are three ships that I very much enjoy which might not be on your radars!

First is @ablueeyedarcher's fault: How/Piandao. The SS CapyPanda. Are they minor characters who only show up for two or three episodes a piece? Yes. Do I care? No. Let them smooch.

Number two is Jee/Bato. Look. Jee is a tired gay man, He has served his time. Let him get out there and get the good dick. He's not a home wrecker though, he's not gonna get between whatever Bato has going on with Hakoda... unless maybe they invited him to get between them more literally.

Third is Zuko/Kuei. I know the the post canon comics pitted these two sad bitches against each other but listen, here me out. They're both young, inexperienced leaders dropped head first into navigating attempting to deescalate their countries post a century of hostilities with minimal helpful guidance, and they were also both used and betrayed by the father figures they we supposed to trust and rely on. What if when left alone, face to face, they bonded over venting their similar frustrations? What if that bonding turned into an unlikely friendship? What if that friendship tripped and rolled down a rocky hill of something more and they ended up in a secret affair between the heads of two of the world's most powerful states? What if it all came crashing in on them, but they couldn't untangle their very real feelings from their duty as leaders? What then?

First ever ship: Oh snap this is reaching back into Ye Old memory banks here. If I'm being totally honest I think it was the pink and green (later white, much later all the rest of the damn colors) rangers from the original run of the American version of Power Rangers. The internet didn't exist as we know it today so it was just a group of a half-dozen 7-9 year olds G O S S I P I N G on the playground between rounds of pretending to be actual velociraptors.

Last Song:

(Two Steps From Hell is my go-to writing times tune everything out music)

Last Film: Technically it was me and the rest of the adults post Thanksgiving diner keeping a running background commentary going on the worldbuilding choices in the Paw Patrol Movie that the little kids insisted on watching. Real answer, the last movie I sat down to watch with intention was Across the Spiderverse.

Last thing I Googled: solar chistmas lights. My coworker was complaining that her only outdoor outlet shares a load with an indoor one (which?? rude!) and her partner wouldn't let her put up more Christmas lights. I had to show her. The way her face lit up as she IMMEDIATELY zoomed to Amazon and started filling her cart. Apologies to her poor family and neighbors, but I definitely made her week and possibly her entire New Year.

Currently Reading: Hey did you know that @erisenyo is already releasing stuff for zukki week because she is. you should definitely go read that.

Currently Watching: Rewatching Blue Eye Samurai while spouse watches it for the first time. He's been big into old samurai and wuxia films since I can remember so I'm just sitting here anticipating his reactions to every easter egg and trope call back they've stuffed into this show and also spotting things I missed on the first round.

Currently Consuming: Peppermint mocha and a cheese, egg and sausage tornado. Don't question me.

Currently Craving: My cozy bed. Also a nice big bowl of curry.

Currently Working On: The next chapter of Learn to Carry Love. I'm so so so close to the finish aaargh!

Current Obsession(s): *Gestures at my blog*

And with that I'm gonna taaaaaaag @ablueeyedarcher @rainbowbarnacle @paintsplattere @allgremlinart @saccharineomens @thepioden @siggymcpissyface @curlicuecal and @yandereleorio! No obligation of course, just for a fun time if you wanna :D

[averageartistamber]

Splatoon World Tour, Unmade Episode:

Episode 9?-Strange Broadcast with a Chilly Reception.

(Note-This episode breaks the “formula” set up by pre-established episodes and acts a sort-of cliffhanger/ambiguous conclusion or a hook for further stories/fan fiction. I might put an additional disclaimer that the events of this episode have nothing to do with Side Order.)

Location: Living room, ETERNITY’S “room”.

Characters: HARMONY and HARMONY’S CLOWNFISH (Both non-speaking), ETERNITY, MARINA, PEARL.

(The episode opens with HARMONY walking slowly past a doorway. As she leaves the doorframe, her CLOWNFISH pulls on her “hair” to get her attention. She turns around and looks confused. The Camera then shows the inside of a living room, focused on the TV, which is showing “snowflake static.” The shot zooms in to the TV screen, which fades and transitions to ETERNITY’S “room”.)

(ETERNITY is at first in a “silhouette” form.)

ETERNITY: Umm, hello? Can anyone hear me?

(She becomes properly visible.)

ETERNITY: This is Frosty Heights Military Research Centre, can anyone copy? Umm, I-I’m alive…I think?

(There’s shots around, showing some robots that wake up when exposed to sunlight.)

It looks like the blizzard’s clearing…Power’s returning to the base…I-I think everyone’s waking up…So…Umm…Is anybody out there? Hello?

(The screen fades.)

MARINA: Hey, Pearlie? Did you hear about that old Human base that they found? It’s like, on a mountain or something.

PEARL: Oh yeah, think it’s something for the New Squidbeak Splatoon to look into?

MARINA: Maybe, I’ll get in contact.

And that’s the end of “Project World Tour”. As you can see, it hasn’t got a super deep plot or anything, and is really more of an excuse to do a little bit of worldbuilding. I guess I’ll sign off by saying that the audience are free to take inspiration.

Yeah, so that's all of 'em. I think if and when I do revisit the project, I think it won't be as "plot heavy", or I'll made more than one video going through the plot. I think the big thing is figuring out the "how" of making World Tour into a thing.

[bigskydreaming]

wouriqueen

Unhelpful answer : I don't have one, because in general I really struggle to ever get them to that point where they feel fleshed out. I can imagine their entire life, but personality wise they always seem flat to me. So let me rudely turn the question around 😅: do you have one advice to change that ?

One? No. That would require brevity and I don't do that. Can't stand the stuff. I simply do not partake. Buuuuuut if you're in the market for a gratuitously long and involved post about my process in general, for you to mine for any useful ideas as needed but mostly just existing to satisfy my vaguely defined plans for doing a post about all this at some point anyway and co-opting this as an opportunity to get that off my plate and go yeah this totally counts, one hundred percent what I was intending all along, go me - well then......I totally wrote this JUST for you and am obviously not lying for effect haha who would even do that.

Okay! So.

Hmm. Where to start. Right, so this is totally just my own made-up approach, roughly generalizing how I've honed and streamlined my own creating process over the years. So adapt as needed, don't take it as anything other than a starting point to figuring out something that works best for you. I call it my Three Pronged Approach and I use it for both character creation and worldbuilding. It somewhat comes into play in developing plots but in a different way that doesn't quite match what I'm getting into here, so focusing just on the first two. Actually, we're really just focusing on character, so assume the Three Pronged part applies to the worldbuilding as well (once we get to it) but for purposes of mapping this out, we're starting at a point where the worldbuilding has largely already been done.

It'll take a bit to get to the actual character/personality development part, but I'm not used to actually detailing the process to someone else, or breaking down any specific part of it, let alone outside my own head, so the most cohesive way for me to run through it all mentally is to just lay things out from start to finish, as generalized as possible.

So like I said in that other post, personally speaking, I tend to prioritize character over plot in my approach to writing a story. I almost always start with a setting, with worldbuilding being my initial creation stage and go-to for projects before figuring out a story that suits that setting. Basically for me its the equivalent of mapping out the landscape and laying it down as a base to build upon. For our purposes here, I'm gonna use one of my established settings - you've seen my posts about my Changelings 'verse over the years, so I'm just gonna use that here, since various worldbuilding posts about it are easily referenced here and in my #changelings' verse tag.

Once I have the world I want to work in, which acts as both the foundation and the frame for everything that follows, I figure out my basic premise. What I want to write about happening within that world, in basic logline terms.

I personally do not consider coming up with my premise the same thing as coming up with a plot.....there are ten different plots you could go with for any underlying premise like Character X plots revenge after being left for dead or Character B is hired to Protect Character C from an unknown threat, etc, etc. I consider the premise to just be a snapshot of the big picture as it looks when zoomed out to the nth degree, more just about picking a genre, an overall goal and an obstacle to reaching that - but again, each only conceptualized in the vaguest of ways at this point.

Then, picking a spot somewhere in the setting, within the frame of the chosen world, I 'pencil in' the faceless, practically shapeless figure of the first character denoted in the premise, like sketching out the roughest rendering of them, no details to them whatsoever. And then if there are any others mentioned or alluded to within the premise - with only characters referenced in the premise being absolutely essential to the story at that point - I add the written/brainstorming equivalent of a rough sketch of these other characters and place them somewhere in the background contained within the frame....each in positions relative to the first one, as described by my basic premise.

So the world I'm working in is my Changelings 'Verse, and for a specific setting I'm going with Bordertown, as described in the reference posts above. Let's say for my premise I go with "Character B is hired to Protect Character C from an unknown threat," and so my main character at this point is Character B. They're the first one I put in frame. I add in Character C somewhere behind them, however that's best visualized conceptually, and then on the other side of Character C opposite where I positioned Character B, I just....sketch in some rough, cross-hatched lines denoting some threat to Character C that Character B is standing between.

Conceptually, I visualize this area being big enough that this shading COULD obscure another character, but keep the overall shaded area formless enough that it could just as easily be obscuring some depiction or representation of a threat not embodied by a single character, or even a character at all. At this point, I probably don't even know myself. I don't need to.

Finally, I add in one last figure, even more lightly sketched into frame than the others, because I suspect their position might shift at some point as overall story and character details become more defined....for now, let's imagine this last figure placed in the background as though looming over both Characters B and C. This is Character A, not specifically mentioned in the premise but alluded to and essential to the story even at this stage....because the premise implies that someone had to hire Character B and give them the mandate to protect Character C from the threat.

Granted, this could end up being an organization or multiple people rather than just one character, but we're going with Character A for now even if they just end up the point man or spokesperson for a larger group later in the plotting stages....the point is, even without knowing if the threat is a person, persons, or some other force, situation, crisis, natural disaster or more......an individual had to act with agency to move Characters B and C into the initial positions laid out by the premise, so whomever did that has to be an (or include at least one) actual character.

So now we've got our frame (larger world and time period, ie the Changelings 'Verse in the present day), our background (somewhere within Bordertown), our premise with at least three characters central or at the very least necessary to the story, and some undefined threat.

Next, before anything else, I'm picking a theme. Well, more like themes, as this is where the Three Pronged Approach starts to come into play. Basically, the whole idea of the Three Pronged Approach is at any stage of narrative development where you have to pick or settle on specific elements to be added to either a character, the plot, the greater narrative structure, whatever.....never pick just one. Always pick three.

Going with one, IMO, usually ends up resulting in bare-bones plotting and characterization and runs the risk of feeling kinda...paint by numbers. It gives the overall story and characters the elements absolutely essential to advancing the plot and character arcs, but usually not much else. The characters have exactly what character traits they need to level up through each stage of their character arc, even if they don't know it at first, they're given the specific tools they need to advance to each next stage of the plot, and the precise theme fundamental to whatever messaging the story is meant to contain is kept front and center the whole time, because there's nothing else to shift perception to, thematically speaking.

With just one element picked at any given juncture, by extension always being the exact element essential to fulfilling each aspect of the narrative....your story and characters can easily end up feeling hollow and made to order. Existing purely for the purposes of telling this story rather than feeling like characters that exist and a particular story being told about them.

Now, going with two picks for elements added at any juncture you have to fill in and flesh out with specific choices....better than just going with one, but now you run the risk of things feeling made to order or with the Hand of the Author clearly visible throughout because your story is too perfectly balanced.

With two picks at each juncture, more often than not, you're going to end up with a bunch of perfect foils, each element paired with either its ideal complement or most optimal opposition. The characters have exactly what they need to level up in each stage of their arc....but also, whatever trait most easily gets in the way of that, but never in insurmountable ways. They're given whatever tools are needed to progress them through the plot, along with either a perfect red herring meant to distract them from choosing the proper tool first or something intended to break on the first attempt at passing each obstacle, forcing the character to hunt around for the second, actually essential tool needed to unlock the next stage of the plot. The story's larger theme is either paired with something that complements it perfectly as if made (or picked) with that in mind, or positioned perfectly opposite to act as a thematic foil.

Point being....your story now includes more conflict, less of 'and each and every scene is facilitated by having the exact element needed' making the readers feel its all a little too convenient, and your characters are now more detailed, having internal conflicts and obstacles to realizing each stage of their character arc....

But it still can easily fall into the trap of all of these added conflicts and characteristics feeling superficial and not invoking a sense of stakes...because the second choice of element is so often TOO perfectly selected, in the contexts of each initially chosen element.

The point of the Three Pronged Approach is when in doubt, add not one or two but three options whenever new elements need to be introduced....because with three, the third choice acts as a natural wildcard throwing off the perfect positioning or pairing of the other two. With a third point mapped out in conjunction with every pair of character traits, themes, narrative obstacles....its a lot easier to end up with an organic story, plot and characters because that third angle is almost never going to come across as having been introduced specifically TO counterbalance the other two....the three points simply exist and whatever shape is created by triangulating from each point...its not predisposed to being any particular shape a reader is expecting those three points to make.

And yeah, three points CAN make a pattern, and if all three are still chosen with complementing each other in mind, that pattern will stick out and again make things feel visibly scripted - but unlike when selecting two options, with three there's not that default instinct to pick a clear and obvious partner for the others. Its a lot easier and more likely for your three choices to just be three different choices...and then from THERE you can weigh different ways of juxtaposing all three elements or positioning them relative to each other, and wind up with a lot more (and more nuanced) options than two perfectly paired elements could ever generate.

So, getting back to our outline....I've got my frame (World: Changelings 'Verse), my background (Setting: Bordertown, present day), my premise (Character B is hired to protect Character C from an unknown threat) and next I'm picking themes. Specifically, three of them.

I usually make my first pick of theme with my worldbuilding in mind. The final product of my worldbuilding always contains a bunch of different elements picked with the Three Pronged Approach so the world I'm working with usually already lends itself in my mind to specific themes....and for my first pick I usually grab from one of these. With the Changelings 'Verse, my big themes include stuff like having trouble recognizing yourself in the wake of big and unexpected changes, exploitation of minors and living with the aftermath of that, trying to find a place where you fit when there are no spaces designed with you in mind, the inherent trauma of having your intended life trajectory derailed by a dramatic upheaval of your life that there was no way to prepare for or see coming, etc, etc.

Just running through the list of themes associated with my World/Setting, that was already generated during my worldbuilding process.....one jumps out at me immediately, as a natural fit for my premise: exploitation of minors and living with the aftermath of that lends itself perfectly to a threat that needs to be (and CAN be) protected from. The kind of thing someone would feasibly hire a bodyguard to protect someone else from. A thematic complement to the threat demanded by the premise.

So I'm gonna pick that for my first theme, my big picture, broad strokes, overall Setting/World theme. I'll incorporate it throughout the background, build the plot in a way that leads the characters through the Bordertown setting under an overlying, looming awareness of how many others they encounter have all faced that issue or been impacted by it.

Weaving this theme through the overall setting and tying it to the main threat turns each and every encounter Characters B and C have with other characters - that they might see as like them or that they in some way relate to - into a natural opportunity to pair, contrast or juxtapose their own encounters with this theme/threat to the many varied ways these other characters have interacted with this theme or been shaped by it. But at the same time, with this theme built into the setting as an overlying background theme....none of these encounters are strictly ESSENTIAL to reaching the end of the plot, learning specific character lessons or coming to some sort of thematic conclusion. They're just....there, as needed, providing an indeterminate number of ways you can explore this theme via background characters and what the main characters take away from their encounters with those already victimized by an exploitation threat.

And as a result, I'm less likely to run the risk of seeming like I'm going for an after school message with this story, that it exists solely to build to one particularly thematic awareness or conclusion about this theme. It just....exists, throughout the story, as part of the setting itself.

So that's one theme picked. Now let's add another. Since I picked one to complement the WORLDBUILDING itself.....with that specifically being the reason I selected it and the natural association to that theme in my mind....I'm not primed to pick a second theme specifically because of how it would play off of that first theme. And since my first theme is setting-oriented but also pairs naturally with the premise and gives shape to the threat our characters are trying to avoid/defend against....I'm going to pick my second theme with one of the other basic ingredients of the premise in mind.

Specifically, I'm going to pick the next theme in association with Character B themselves. Character B doesn't HAVE to be the main character, even in context of the premise I picked, and in fact I don't even need to have one singular main character and could just as easily make it a dual POV story that trades off chapters between Character B as the primary and Character C as the primary, but I'm going to go with Character B as the main character. They're best positioned by the premise to drive the action, existing as a character both acted upon (hired by Character A) and acting upon others (protecting Character C), which makes them inherently centralized and enables a natural narrative flow that revolves around them as the primary figure our story is about.

This doesn't mean that Character C can't have their own storylines and character arc separate from the parts of the narrative they share with Character B, it just helps firm out the underlying framework we're hanging our narrative on.

So I'm going with Character B as the central primary protagonist driving the plot of the story and the figure I'm most interested in telling a story ABOUT. Its their character arc that'll act as the tentpole everything else is built around. As stated before, I tend to build the plot as a narrative journey whose largest purpose is to get the main character - Character B in this case - from an initial state of being as a character....to a specific endgoal I want for them. The story ultimately will be MOST about finding a path from who they begin as to who I want them to become by its conclusion, what I want them to be like by the last page, lessons I want them to have learned or obstacles overcome. Ironically, my start point for actually building Character B will be my intended endpoint for who they become as a result of their narrative journey.....and then I'll reverse engineer specifics of the character and their plot from there.

But for now, we're only picking one thing for Character B. Our first selection when it comes to them, the very first addition made to the rough sketched outline of a character somewhere against the backdrop of Bordertown....is a theme accompanying their character arc. Because there's no real point in me picking this theme as a complement or counterpart to the Setting theme, not when there's another third theme to pick that would throw off that balance anyway....I'm just gonna grab bag this shit.

The only specifics I have for my main character at this point is they're going to be in a position to be hired by Character A to protect Character C, a minor, from being exploited in some fashion, but beyond that, sky's the limit. I don't even have Character B's age selected in contrast to Character C, but since their dynamic will be central to the story, deciding whether Character B is also a minor or if they're different from Character C in that regard....this'll help me zero in on a potential character theme one way or another.

Now, there's nothing really stopping me from making both characters teenagers and having some in-universe or character explanation for why one would be picked to bodyguard a fellow teen vs the other being seen as needing that protection. Plenty of directions I could go with that, so its more just a gut preference that I'm not looking to write a teenage main character with this particular story, so Character B will be an adult. Not necessarily that much older than Character C, I have no preferences there yet, but it feels more natural to have them be hired as a protector in part because they're an adult rather than a teen - especially in the context of our setting, with Bordertown being full of runaways and teens kicked out by their families - and I don't feel any particular urge to subvert the natural expectation that anyone hired as a bodyguard would be an adult, so....they're an adult, then.

Which right away fills in some details about genre and overall narrative structure, as I have no interest in writing an adult/minor romantic relationship, so whatever dynamic Characters B and C end up having beyond just protector and protectee will not be romantic in nature. Plus, given the details just mentioned about the setting, and the prevalence of teens in Bordertown, Character B being an adult within that setting sets them up to be an outlier, relatively speaking.

Which in turn further refines the narrative logistics required by our premise, as it helps build a picture of why they in specific would be sought out as a protector - there being a limited number of options for adults familiar with Bordertown TO hire for that role goes a long way towards figuring out why in-universe this character was picked for that narrative role.

And as we narrow down character logistics - by necessity of the premise, Character B is now known to be both familiar with Bordertown and an adult unlike most of its residents - we open up a specific avenue of character selection choices. There's no particular requirement now for Character B to have any specific expertise with being a bodyguard....their suitability for the role could just be a matter of needing someone of age and experience navigating Bordertown. It doesn't mean they CAN'T have prior experience acting as a bodyguard, but still building from the gut at this point, I think its more interesting if they're not particularly prepared or suited for that role, leaving room for self-doubts as to how well they're doing at the job, whether they were the wrong choice, etc. We're laying the groundwork for internal conflicts already.

But since they ARE an adult with familiarity with Bordertown, that also makes it most likely they've been living there for awhile, and it works to say they came to Bordertown as a solitary teenager themselves, and aged into adulthood within it. Thus, even though they're an adult unlike Character C, this still lends itself to them being a Changeling as well.....which makes it possible, and even likely, that they've had their own personal experience with our Threat and Setting Theme, the exploitation a lot of teenage Changelings face by those interested in using them for their magic and taking advantage of their lack of resources and support systems to do so.

From here, we can reasonably sketch in the details/elements that their own experiences with exploitation or even just the specter of it will color all interactions they have with Character C while trying to protect them from it. It gives them a personal stake in what would otherwise just be a job, and begs the question....what does Character B see when they look at Character C? What do they see themselves as in comparison to Character C? Did they take this job because they saw it as a chance to be for someone else what they wished someone had been there to be for them, a shield standing between them and those who sought to use them? Is it just a paycheck and Character B feels they have nothing in common with Character C despite both being changelings and so keeps their emotional distance from them as a result, and if so, are they actually being objective here or are they just lying to themselves about not seeing themselves in Character C?

Did they maybe NOT have any personal experience with being exploited for their magic when they were still a teenager, either because they lucked out or they were powerful or resourceful enough to protect themselves from any attempts....and if so, does their role here and the way they view Character C contain any elements of guilt, deserved or otherwise, does it have anything to do with them feeling guilty for avoiding a fate so many others fall prey to and driven to protect Character C because of that guilt that they CAN'T relate to them rather than emotions born of the fact that they DO relate to them and their plight?

I've got options here, so running through them quickly and still going with what possibilities grab me the most....personally, I don't find guilt to be the best emotional driving force for a larger narrative, particularly if its unnecessary/irrational guilt rather than something actually merited by past actions they took. And as no angle for them actually deserving to feel guilty for avoiding personal victimization is jumping out at me, any guilt they're acting upon here would most likely IMO be undeserved, so.....the guilt angle just doesn't seem particularly compelling to me.

Which means regardless of other particulars, it does feel most right for Character B to have had their own experiences with the Setting Theme of exploitation when they were younger and possibly new to Bordertown, which provides a basis for them to relate to Character C whether they want to acknowledge that or not. Or inversely, they don't WANT to be able to relate to Character C, or vice versa, especially not to the degree they would if they fail to protect Character C from the Threat and they end up going through something similar to what Character B experienced when younger.

I'm personally inclined to knock off the "seeing themselves in Character C but not wanting to acknowledge it and insisting the job is just for the paycheck" option from the jump, just because denial as a central motivating factor is a tricky one to pull off. Any time you have a character arc rooted in an initial denial that the arc is intended to shake them out of at some point, you're giving yourself a clock from your very first page.

At some point, your character has to cut it out with the denial and face what it is they don't want to face, and the tricky part is there's no real way to gauge when and where to set that point in the narrative and if you gauge things wrong and drag the denial arc past the point readers are willing to have patience with it, you've shot your entire story in the foot. If you set that point too early in the narrative, it can make the momentum and pacing of the rest of your story and that character arc feel disjointed and unnatural, and again you've shot your entire story in the foot.

With a realization of denial and pivot to facing the truth as a fixed point your entire character arc hinges on, the most important thing becomes setting that point at JUST the right spot in the narrative and your entire story will sink or swim depending on whether your placed it in the right spot. There's a whole lot of risk in using a denial-based initial motivation and even if you do nail the placement of that hinge point, there's not really any inherent GREATER payoff to that character arc than what you could achieve with others.

So, with that off the table....we're left with two polar options:

Character B already sees themselves in Character C and it drives their desire to protect them from undergoing the things they did.....or they don't really see themselves in Character C, despite having similar history or elements of their backstories, and its a desire to AVOID ever seeing themselves reflected in this younger changeling that drives their desire to protect them from being shaped by the same factors they were and ending up more like them as a result.

Both those options lend themselves to entirely different directions, thematically speaking, with the former option gravitating more towards themes of recognizing the self in the other and the possibilities this creates for introspection or revisiting memories of past traumas, as well as reshaping one's view of themselves in the present - especially if upon reflection, past events or responses no longer look how they've gotten used to assuming they do.

Additionally, there's the angle of being driven by the desire - and opportunity - to protect a younger person you see yourself in from undergoing the same struggles or traumas you faced. This can feasibly be a vehicle for empowerment....a chance to write a new course for history in the form of taking a parallel situation and shaping it to a better resolution than the first time around had, even if it doesn't change the ending (and previous chapters) of your own story. But at the same time, this does the person you're trying to protect a disservice, if you're ultimately only seeing them as a proxy for yourself, or seeing yourself in them to such a degree as to miss or under-emphasize the ways in which they're different from you and their own distinct individual.

And then alternatively, you might also be more securely rooted in a desire to help and protect simply because you want to be for someone else what nobody was around - or chose - to be for you when you needed it. No illusions about being able to rewrite history or need to write yourself a better ending, instead just wanting to be a protector for a younger teen you relate to because they deserve someone to protect them and you're in a position to step up and be that person, so you do.

Going back to the opposite angle of NOT seeing yourself reflected in this younger individual, and being largely driven by an urge to keep it that way and protect them from becoming someone you CAN see yourself in, shaped by similar traumas....again, there's a lot of directions you can go with this. But this larger direction, the drive to AVOID seeing yourself reflected in the other - and by extension, creating a link or association between your protection of them and your goal of keeping them from becoming more like you - this can easily pivot towards themes of shame and self-loathing. Hinting at troubled self-image issues not far beneath your surface that the story's events are likely to exacerbate and make boil over. Not just wanting to protect someone from becoming more like you see yourself, but not really being happy or comfortable with the you that you see yourself as.

All of which can dovetail pretty seamlessly with the internal and thematic conflicts of being the person entrusted with using their power to protect someone while simultaneously seeing yourself as the end result of your failure to use that same power to successfully protect yourself. The potential impostor syndrome of being someone's bodyguard and guide, acting in roles that people associate with expertise and certain qualities of skill, and feeling like a fraud because if you fail them, they'll end up becoming you, and shouldn't that make you even LESS qualified to protect them than they are to protect themselves?

So....looking back at all of the above, and the options they lay out....altruism's all well and good, but in terms of narratives meant to grow a character from initial internal or emotional conflicts to some kind of resolution....altruism doesn't make for a good starting point, in terms of inciting motivations. So that's out.

Recognizing the self in the other and from there embarking on introspective re-examanations of yourself and past traumas and responses.....also a totally valid journey and motivations, but fairly low-energy ones, at least in and of themselves. Not the most narratively engaging.

The dichotomy of seeking empowerment or a fascimile of personal justice through steering a 'younger you' towards better outcomes than you managed for yourself....with the dehumanization of your younger charge inherent in being unwilling or unable to view them as their own person rather than just your second chance....that has the most potential of the "Character B relating to Character C and this driving their desire to protect them from undergoing the things they endured" options.

And in the "Character B not seeing themselves in Character C and wanting to keep it that way" direction....pretty much all of our options feed into each other and can feasibly work as the basis of a coherent character arc in and of themselves. All of which speaks to the strength of that narrative direction...it gives us way more bang for our buck.

We're pretty organically steered towards a strong initial character conflict to serve as a base to launch our character arc from. Character B has a personal emotional stake in ensuring Character C doesn't become like them, which fuels their drive to protect Character C and keeps them invested in a specific outcome, as well as primes them to make frequent and active choices in pursuit of it, whether they're helpful or are just reckless actions born more of their own fears than any actual necessity. We've got a clear direction for our character arc, momentum consistently generated by high-energy motivations that won't peter out until the resolution of the character arc, and self-loathing and shame as initial internal conflicts don't NEED to be earned or rational in order to be compelling.

All in all, there's an easily followed trajectory from that start point through revisitations of past traumas/responses to setbacks in coming to terms with what happened to you and separating how you view yourself from how you view factors that undeniably shaped you and finally culminating in you reconciling your inability to change your past with your ability to shed the negative self-image generated by your past and don a more positive one that will serve you better in the future. With emotional catharsis for the reader built right into that resolution and requiring no additional steps beyond just having Character B reach it.

And now not only have we already mapped out the broad strokes of Character B's overall character arc, including its start and end points, we have a clear selection of possible themes to immerse Character B and their arc in.

Themes like you are not defined by what was done to you by others. You can not make the changes you want for yourself while only acting to change things for a surrogate you've fixated on instead. Trying to protect someone from becoming like you denies them the chance to choose you as someone they want to be like. The worst things you think about yourself and assume everyone else thinks about you probably aren't even on anyone else's radar. Etc, etc.

For a variety of reasons, but mostly a gut instinct saying this one feels right, I'm going with Character B's associated theme as:

"The person you are and that you're trying to protect someone from becoming might very well be the person they want to be and that they're trying to ask your help to become. What you see as the failure to go through life unharmed can just as easily be seen as the triumph of continuing through life no matter how harmed."

Well, a condensed and pithier version of that, ideally. You get it though.

Anyway. That gives us two themes, one tied to the setting and one tied to the main character. Now we have options for what to gear the third theme towards. We could pick one specific to Character C, and no matter how that one juxtaposes with Character B's central theme, the Setting theme will still exist as a third over-arching narrative theme that keeps things from mirroring too exactly while still allowing for mirroring themes to exist. We could go with something specific to Character A, and ideally flesh them out more in the process, or we could pick something geared towards a specific point in the narrative journey, like an aimed-for climax that helps map out the plot structure in the process.

I'm going to refer back to the premise "Character B is hired to protect someone from an unknown threat" and see what jumps out at me this time....and after a second or two, I'm eyeing the motivations and character dynamics as two different or conjoined possibilities.

I already did a lot of legwork diving into possible motivations for Character B and built up most of their overall character arc....but ultimately, the theme I went with for Character B, while complementing everything I settled on there....still actually ended up being more about messaging and a conclusion for Character B to ultimately reach rather than something derived from or associated with their motivations in specific.

And also, I'm looking to find a theme that can weave a connection between Characters A, B and C on at least one shared level, so that we'll have a setting theme that encompasses all the characters likely to appear over the course of the story, a main character theme that marries their character arc to a specific thematic message, and a shared theme connecting the various characters via the comparisons and contrasts it allows me to make between their respective motivations and/or dynamics.

I still don't have any kind of image or sense of Character A, despite now having a pretty strong start to both Characters B and C - an adult and teenage changeling respectively, the latter with a backstory or situation similar enough to the former's own past that Character B worries Character C could easily end up just like them if not kept safe from whomever is seeking to exploit them and their magic.

Additionally, I know that Character B is a fairly longterm resident of Bordertown, who's lived there since they came there on their own as a teenager....either after being exploited in some parallel fashion or being victim of that upon arriving in Bordertown. Character B's age and adult status marks them as enough of a rarity among Bordertown residents, that said age and adult status alone were enough to land them on Character A's shortlist of potential bodyguards for Character C. While not set in stone, its likely that Character B's age/adult status were the primary elements leading Character A to approach them, and they don't additionally possess any particular expertise or experience acting as a bodyguard.

Since I already have several links/connections between Characters B and C, ways that they're alike or things they have in common, and because the most natural choice for Character A's base motivation is concern for Character C, suggesting some link or connection between Characters A and C, even if the roundabout nature of working through a proxy to protect the latter paints a picture of likely estrangement.....that leaves me wondering about possible dynamics between Characters A and B, or what their interactions might look like and whether they might have any shared connections or links as well.

The obvious connection there would be both are likely adults, having that in common with each other and a way they're similarly unable to relate or connect to Character C as a peer. Despite their shared status as adults, Character A would only need to seek out Character B to protect Character C if Character B had skills, resources or expertise that Character A didn't...or alternatively, if they felt Character C was more likely to accept help or protection from a stranger than from Character A.

So, more than likely - and with no gut instinct challenging these conclusions - Character A is not a Changeling themselves, nor a resident of Bordertown, and likely unable to directly relate to the experiences or threat of exploitation that Characters B and C share. They'd still need to possess enough resources - or have some other knowledge of Character B - to become aware of Character B as a potential solution for their needs, and seek them out....as well as have something to offer Character B sufficient to motivate them to take the job despite a lack of experience or interest in being a bodyguard. Additionally, they have some previous connection to Character C driving them to ensure they're protected, but that connection is either flimsy or damaged enough that they're not accompanied by Character C when seeking a protector for them, or attempting to safeguard them themselves.

(Or possibly Character A just doesn't believe themselves as capable of protecting Character C as Character B would be, due to familiarity with Bordertown, prior experiences with those Character C needs protection from, or something to do with Character B's magic - or their actual reasoning is a mix of all of the above).

Again, just starting from the most obvious connections or conclusions and branching out from there if needed....the most logical links to start building there are between Characters A and C in regards to their prior connection. I'm going to say they're parent and child, but estranged. At some point, some conflict between them led Character C to leave the safety of home - with attention paid to the fact that the exploitation of a minor theme paired with the World/Setting/Threat is optimized for a Character C who is a teen under eighteen and still meant to be living at home with their parents or legal guardians. Which would make them a full-fledged runaway, fleeing from a conflict or confrontation that made them view heading to Bordertown as their best prospect.

Pulling back just a little as I notice I've started referring definitively to elements I never actively decided on and are really just assumptions rather than an examination of the possibilities....since I never cemented Character A as a single individual, its worth raising the possibility that Character A is actually a) a parental unit, b) one parent acting in ways both agreed upon but with the other parent remaining behind at home, c) one parent acting on their own despite their partner's disapproval of this course of action, or even without their knowledge of it, d) a single parent acting on their own due to not having a co-parent, be that because of a divorce, death of a spouse, or something else.

Any of those could work well and offer up unique possibilities, but I'm leaning towards C or D, and after giving it a quick mental run-through, I'm gonna go with C, as that gives me the most vivid ideas.

So Character A is one of Character C's two parents, having followed them to Bordertown against the wishes of their co-parent or without their knowledge, after a conflict that has them estranged enough Character A believes Character C would be more likely - and more effectively - helped by a fellow changeling they feel more akin to than by their parent, Character A. Who also can't offer the same protection or experience navigating Bordertown and its threats but was still clearly willing to go to at least some length to try and ensure Character C's safe and protected, including going against/without their co-parent to do so.

Which brings us back to Character A and B's connections, associations or parallels beyond just both being adults....and after asking myself what other possible connections are there to mine there, I've got a big one, that sends the narrative in an entirely new direction but fleshing out a ton of additional elements in the process:

Now I'm thinking....what if Character A is Character B's parent as well?

That solves both the issue of how they find/learn about Character B in specific in order TO approach them, and why, other than just them being an adult in the mostly teen-populated Bordertown, they approach Character B over any and all of the other adult changeling options.

In addition, it goes a long way towards cementing the inciting motivations and reasons given for taking such an unusual job on behalf of a complete stranger....if Character C isn't in fact a complete stranger, but a younger sibling or maybe half or step sibling Character B hasn't seen since they came to Bordertown as a teenager themselves - likely after having run away from their own confrontation with Character A and their co-parent.

A years long estrangement between Character B and their family, as well as some kind of sizeable age gap between Characters B and C, would suggest that Character B likely hasn't seen Character C since they were very young, and raises possibilities for Character C to not initially know/recognize who Character B is when they first approach the latter....especially given how much changelings' appearances tend to change when the Change hits them.

It would also build upon and enhance all the aforementioned connections between Characters B and C, and likelihood of Character B seeing a lot of themselves in Character C, or wanting to avoid seeing them become like them or suffer a similar fate, and increases the personal stake Character B has in all of this.

At the same time, it introduces another potential internal conflict for Character B, and possible obstacle in Character B's attempts to build a connection with Character C or gain their trust.....as Character B's lack of communication with their family and years spent living in Bordertown, as well as personal experience with being exploited....all paint a picture wherein Character A and/or their co-parent did NOT follow Character B to Bordertown or make a similar attempt to ensure they were protected when Character B ran away as a teenager. Or if they did, they weren't successful in finding someone to protect Character B, or hired someone not up to the task.

Either way, it lays groundwork for Character B to be motivated to take this "job" in the interests of protecting their sibling and possibly reconnecting with them, doing their best to spare them from traumas like those Character B suffered, it allows for the potential wrinkle of Character C not knowing who Character B is to them and possible fall-out or issues arising from them later finding out the truth after Character B made a choice to continue withholding it.....and it introduces the possibility Character B's internal conflict about revealing their connection and reasons for keeping it secret (should they decide not to tell them), derive at least in part from Character B's jealousy:

That despite the parallels in Characters B and C's situations and conflicts with their parents, Character A made efforts to continue acting as a parent and showing their concern in Character C's case, that they did simply not make when it was Character B in a similar scenario.

Which, in turn, could exacerbate Character B's self-loathing and shame spirals and delay the development of their character arc, if Character B recognizes their jealousy as misdirected and judges themselves for feeling it and not knowing how to stop.

But to return to Character A, there's also the prospect that Character A's attempts to continue looking out for Character C and willingness to act against/without their co-parent.....are at least to some degree motivated by THEIR shame about not doing more on Character B's behalf or in an effort to reach out or maintain/renew a connection to them. Making their actions here and now only partly about Character C, the actual individual, and partly about their guilt and shame and desperation to do better by Character C than they did Character B. Their own attempt at a re-do or second chance at getting this right.

And there's always the possible angle of them having sought out Character B not just because they viewed them as the best person to try and recruit as Character C's protector, but also because the situation gave them an excuse (or push) to seek them out at all, after however many years of convincing themselves there was no point trying to fix things at this point or there was no chance Character B would ever be willing to hear from them. With Character A hoping even just to some small degree, that this could potentially lead to actually rebuilding a longterm connection to Character B.

And just like that, we've got the broad strokes of not just our A plot, but our B plot as well:

The primary narrative focus throughout the story will remain centered on Characters B and C's dynamic and their growing but tentative relationship, with this A plot having its own emotional components such as in terms of how Characters B and C view and feel towards each other and their situation. It'll also have its own distinct character arcs (or parts of their overall character arcs) - such as how Character B's attempts to protect Character C in the present brings up memories of past experiences being on the victimized side of things without protection....and both Character B's central theme and the resolution of their over-arching character arc are optimized to be woven into the climax and culmination of the A plot.

The A plot's primary character dynamics, thematic messaging and corresponding emotional and character arcs have all they need to be resolved within the structure of the A plot, by the A plot's own narrative beats, with all of the aforementioned able to exist with our without the B plot.

In contrast, the B plot can not exist on its own independent of the A plot's super-structure, but still will contain its own shape, structure and resolution within that super-structure - focusing on Character B's relationship and dynamic with Character A, emotional components distinct to Character B's feelings about their own history with Character A, the latter's efforts on behalf of Character C and juxtaposed with their lack thereof on behalf of Character B, and introspection/revisiting of their own past conflicts with Character A and the events that were set in motion by that and culminated in Character B's traumas after leaving home. With all of the above able to parallel Character B's revisiting of past events and traumas in the A plot, without that being necessary for the resolution of either A or B plots rather than just an available option.

The B plot's resolution, in terms of both narrative and emotional beats, can and should exist separate from the A plot's resolution, as well as occurring before the latter. Character B's ultimate views of their own history, connection and desired relationship with Character A should be settled and established before the ultimate conclusion of their character arc as of the resolution of the A plot. Their negative self-image and shame/self-loathing spirals can't be fully addressed until any insecurities about their dynamic with Character A or feelings of being second place to Character C have been faced and dealt with.

And to bring it back from there to selecting our third theme, one associated with either the shared motivations or dynamics of the characters in regards to each other.....

I'm going with Theme Three being:

Trying to make someone your do-over or second chance to fix mistakes you made with someone else: just a terrible idea destined to end messily for everyone or - no, never mind, there is no or, its just that, there's only one outcome.

Again....just picture a condensed, pithier version of that. It's fine, that can be fixed. Scalpels exist for a reason.

Anyway!

So we've picked three themes, and added them to our frame (world), background (setting), premise, rough character outlines and depiction of threat....

And then we rinse and repeat as needed, with each additional element added to the story or picked for a character.

Sure, alllll of that and we haven't even started selecting traits and options for our characters here, seems a whole lot of work just to pick three themes before even moving on to base stats for the main character.

Except the trick of it is, by the time you get to this part and finally START fleshing out the specific characteristics and physical stats and identity traits of each character....

Even as you begin building your characters from the ground up, fleshing them out and filling in the outline or idea of them one trait or characteristic at a time, you should have enough figured out about WHO they are that you have a sense of their personalities already at hand and available to weave into each newly added trait or character element.

Without even having chosen basic identity traits for Character B, nothing selected or cemented yet about their gender, race, sexual orientation, physical stats or possible disabilities or neurodivergencies let alone the world-distinct character elements like changelings' otherworldly appearances and magic distinct to each individual....

We've already built up an impression of what Character B is like as a person, in relation to others like Characters A and C, in conjunction with our chosen themes, as contextualized by the shape of their overall character arc. And we can use this to inform and quiz and add depth to everything we choose to build into that character from here.

Character B struggles with self-loathing issues and shame spirals born of a negative self-image deriving from their inability to protect themselves from being exploited and victimized when they were younger and new to Bordertown, having just run away from their home and a conflict with their parents, leaving behind a much younger sibling or half or step sibling, and being both hurt and unsurprised when their parents showed no attempt to follow or reconnect with them, or any evident concern for what happened to them after they left home.

Character B has since spent years living in Bordertown and establishing a home there, aging into one of the area's few adults among a mostly underage population where Character B's greater age and adult status automatically confers a degree of authority, experience and capability in the eyes of most others, whether or not they possess any of those things.

We know that when approached out of the blue by their estranged parent Character A after years without contact or indication Character B ever crossed their mind, Character B's personality is such that despite their issues with Character A and the confused and undecided feelings they've awoken towards Character A and their part in the events of the past and Character B's past traumas, and even while feeling jealous and resentful of Character Cand the greater efforts their shared parent seems willing to make on their behalf, they do accept the responsibility of seeking out and protecting the sibling they harbor at least some irrational envy towards.

Additionally, their resentment and jealousy, to whatever degree they're feeling that, coexists alongside their acknowledgment they've missed Character C all these years and wanting to see and know who they've become while keeping them safe....with this also sharing space with their awareness of their paralleled journeys and circumstances, the very thing forcing them to hold up a mental image of how Character A reacted to one child in this situation next to how differently they reacted to the other child in the same situation ALSO keeping them keenly aware of the ways Character C is like them and could end up even more like them. How easily the familiar situation Character B sees Character C in now could lead down the same paths that so traumatized Character B and are the reason for much of the shame and self-loathing they struggle with.

We also know Character B's drive to protect Character C from enduring similar traumas is at least partially fueled by their belief that they're damaged and who they've beccome due to those traumas is a fate they want to protect their younger sibling from, as much as they want to protect them from any specific trauma. That despite all their parallels, similarities and shared circumstances, connection and familial history, all the ways in which Character B can see themselves in Character C and use as a basis for forging a new connection out of the common ground between them....in fact, in part BECAUSE of all these similarities and shared connections and circumstances....rather than being used as an opportunity to grow closer to Character C and build trust, due to their negative self-image, all of this actually feeds into and fuels their belief that the fundamental differences between them come down to the traumas they feel broke them and that Character C can yet be protected from....ensuring they never become more like Character B.

While trying to build a connection with a jaded and untrusting Character C who believes Character B to be a total stranger with a specific interest in Character C involving an unknown agenda on behalf of someone else....none of which are factors conducive to building trust.....AND despite their own barely-shoved-down desire to tell Character C everything....Character B continues to keep who they really are a secret and withhold the truth of their connection and who asked them to protect Character C and why. Their yearning to re-embrace a sibling relationship they thought they'd never get another chance at butts up directly against their assumption that none of this is permanent and there's no longterm connection or future to be built between them, reinforcing their instinct to protect themselves from the inevitable hurt and disappointed bound to come their way once Character C realizes how damaged they actually are and decides to move on, with Character B's unwillingness to trust in Character C - even while asking for their trust themselves - spilling directly out of Character B's inability to trust in their own worth and value as someone Character C would want to reconnect with as a sibling and stick around for indefinitely.

Thus the one truth that could guarantee Character C's faith and trust in Character B stays buried by the latter long enough that its eventual reveal ends up an eruption with catastrophic repercussions for their tentative bond, rather than emerging as a voluntarily shared secret that cements that bond into something more lasting. In Character B's mind, the only defense they could offer as explanation went hand in hand with convincing Character C that having Character B as their sibling wasn't in Character C's best interests. In their self-sabotaging attempt to protect their younger sibling from the threat Character B views themselves to be, Character B is directly responsible for the wedge driven between them and resulting distance Character C insists upon, ultimately leaving them exposed and vulnerable to the larger and actual threat of the very people Character B had meant to protect them from.

Leaving Character B with the belief their only real (or effective) path forward required facing their demons and finding some kind of strength or advantage in the only real edge they had left in regards to these people.....the very memories and experiences of being traumatized at their hands that Character B had spent so long trying to avoid revisiting.

Ultimately, the irony in the resolution of Character B's character arc is it only comes in the wake of Character B reframing past failures to make it out unharmed as past triumphs where they made it out on their own. Examining the possibility they're not someone whose only value is in existing as a cautionary tale, but rather there are elements of themselves and strengths they have that others might see as enviable and worth emulating....with all of this having been how Character C viewed Character B from their initial "meeting" and the entire basis of what trust they'd been willing to put in Character B from the start and that they had been building upon before Character C found out the truth of their familial connection.

Now!

All of that is already at your fingertips and able to be factored in as you select identity traits:

What gender are they - and how might them being male vs female vs trans vs non-binary - impact the personality described above or result in them expressing different parts of it more than others or in different ways?

What race are they - and how might the different options intersect the described personality differently?

Sexual orientation - same question. Any possible disabilities and/or neurodivergencies - same question. Etc, etc.

And at any point, when in doubt, unsure what option to pick or add to a character....default to the Three Pronged Approach.

You want the clearest sense of how Character B would interact with people? Map out three different interactions: what does it sound/look like when they interact with Character A vs when they interact with Character C vs when they interact with one of the Threats?

You want a sense of what Character B is like at their most approachable, when their best traits are on display? Pick or figure out three traits and write how they come across when leading with those traits, as described through the eyes of a different POV character.

Want to layer in personal likes and dislikes? Pick three unrelated musicians and triangulate between them, see what kind of taste in music that creates an impression of, and what that might say about anyone who would point to those specific artists as their go-to choices.

Want a strong mental picture for what Character B is like when they catastrophize, or their inner monologue when spiraling? Imagine three different scenarios for when Character B could have told Character C the truth, and then try and put yourself in Character B's head and figure out what train of thought or particular insecurities or worst case scenarios creates a plausible mindset or logic you can follow in regards to why they didn't take that opportunity to come clean.

In light of all of the above, the character mapped out and described here, what might someone like Character B take comfort it, or consider relaxing? What are three possibilities for their greatest fear and who are their top three celebrity crushes and why.

Literally just.....pick personality traits to choose from at this point, or flip through magazine or online personality quizzes and ask the same questions as them while trying to answer from the POV of Character B, and go with three options or variables as needed, and see what characterization ground that covers and offers as stuff that feasibly fits within the triangle generated by those three points, rather than belonging to some random outlying point far outside it.

Do as many or as few as needed til you're happy with the character and personality/characterization you perceive them to be as of that point, and don't be afraid to pop the hood again later and move some things around until it all feels like it fits within the same singular individual in a more naturally cohesive way.

Aaaaand that's my process! Or I mean, these parts of my process at least. Same diff. Well not really the same at all so much as diff diff but eh. You get it.

Or not. I never can tell. Should probably stop making that part rhetorical I suppose.

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Rereading The Fellowship of the Ring for the First Time in Fifteen Years

Ok, NGL, I was not entirely sure what to do with this chapter. Like...Tom Bombadil is cool and all, but like...this chapter literally grounds the plot to a screeching halt and while there is thematic nuance and foreshadowing here, it's...it's a weird little chapter, y'all. It would absolutely get cut from a book being published today, and frankly I can see why. But let's just jump on in and talk about "In the House of Tom Bombadil."

So one thing writers Philippa Boynes, Peter Jackson, and Fran Walsh were absolutely clear on is that their film adaptation is the story of Frodo taking the ring to Mordor. And in that context, it makes absolute sense to lose Tom Bombadil from the story. He is important (in my read) for two key reasons:

First, he is here to clearly show that there are greater powers in the world than those of Mordor, Men, Elves, and Wizards. Tom is so OP that literally none of that matters to him, and the One Ring is just...kinda there. It has zero effect on him, it doesn't factor into his life in any meaningful way, and he has zero skin in the "yeet the jewelry into the volcano" game. The fact is, he's worldbuilding and a reminder to readers that no matter how grand or life-and-death their struggles are, there are greater powers and the natural world has been here long before you and will be here long after you. It's a way to contextualize and comfort when the world seems on the brink of ending. ...I would be lying if I said I found that personally terribly comforting, because if you zoom out to that scale, literally nothing matters, but then I live in 2024 and I'm not carrying any rings around. I think there's a better balance point between "the world exists and you don't matter on that scale" and "this ring is the only thing in existence that matters" but I haven't written a three-book epic fantasy to sort it out yet, so I'm just spitballing.

Second, and this might just be a crack theory on my part, Tom is to the hobbits after their first real encounter with evil what Tetris is to soldiers trying to avoid PTSD. Tom literally hijacks the hobbits' brains, offers them comfort, and addresses any potential fears and triggers that almost getting murdered to death by a tree might spark in the hobbits. They are safe, they are secure, they have the things that make hobbits happy, and Tom literally does not give them an environment in which any fears or trauma can fester into PTSD (that's for LATER in the trilogy, I guess). He is a distraction in a safe space, and he gives them context and information that should help them navigate the next little leg of their journey.

That second reason might have been enough to keep Tom in the film adaptation if they kept Old Man Willow, but frankly something had to go and this is pretty easy to lift out, because the next thing that is overarching plot relevant is the Prancing Pony. So we have to leave Merry, Pippin, and Frodo not getting PTSD this early in the trip on the cutting room floor.

Sam was fine though. Literally he slept like a log and did not dream. No trauma for Sam "I will take this tree down with my teeth if I have to" Gamgee.

This is probably a good moment to talk about the dreams though. I find it interesting that while Frodo was the one Old Man Willow tried to drown, Merry is the one who gets the dream of drowning, not Frodo. Pippin is over here flashing back to being inside Old Man Willow. Both of these dreams absolutely suck, and I empathize with them. I also point out the sensory grounding they get before Tom's repeated words of comfort in their ears, because the body needs to feel safe before the mind will believe reassurances.

Frodo's dream though, is less a trauma dream from attempted tree homicide, and more a vision that tells us what is happening with Gandalf. This is kind of cool, so I'm just going to let Tolkien tell it:

In the dead night, Frodo lay in a dream without light. There he saw the young moon rising; under its thin light there loomed before him a black wall of rock, pierced by a dark arch like a great gate. It seemed to Frodo that he was lifted up, and passing over her say that the rock-wall was a circle of hills, and that within in was a plain, and in the midst of the plain stood a pinnacle of stone, like a vast tower but not made by hands. On its top stood the figure of a man. The moon as it rose seemed to hang for a moment above his head and glistened in his white hair as the wind stirred it. Up from the dark plain below came the crying of fell voices, and the howling of many wolves. Suddenly a shadow, like the shape of great wings, passed across the moon. The figure lifted his arm and a light flashed from the staff that he wielded. A mighty eagle swept down and bore him away.

So yeah, Frodo is having dream visions again, and he NOTABLY does not get comforted by Tom's words as Merry and Pippin do, which seems like a hell of a raw deal. Frodo literally wakes up questioning whether he will be brave enough to leave Tom's house, and I feel like a little comforting wouldn't go amiss here. But at least us readers in the know get a Gandalf update, I guess?

The chapter closes out with Tom offering some advice about crossing the Barrow Downs that feels like it should be important:

Keep to the green grass. Don't you go a-meddling with old stone or cold Wights or prying in their houses, unless you be strong folk with hearts that never falter!

I feel like the "unless" did more harm than good, but Tom also gives them a rescue rhyme so they can call him if they get really into trouble. As a former theatre major, I am unspeakably grateful that Tolkien skipped over the memorizing session, because I was taught how to learn a monologue by ear with a partner, and while it is DAMN effective, it's not a fast process and it is tedious as all hell. So thank you Tolkien, for just handwaving the memorization homework the hobbits got.

We're going to leave it there for now, and pick up next time with what I'm calling now is Pippin staying off the green grass, fucking around and finding out with old stone and cold Wights, and poking his nose into a barrow after being explicitly told not to.

[ceescedasticity]

💫🎀💞

💫what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?:

The long talky comment digging into everything they liked, speculating wildly, and asking questions.

🎀give yourself a compliment about your own writing:

I write excellent dialogue and have great worldbuilding. (Writing is one area in which I tend to be fairly confident even when I'm feeling insecure about other stuff.)

💞what's the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language

Reading or writing? Well, either way, it depends on the story, for example:

Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind was very character-focused.

Start Again is plot-focused. Characters are very important and need to be properly connected to everything, but the plot is driving things.

elves, once is worldbuilding-focused — we quickly zoom in on and out from various characters, and there are plot threads, but it's the worldbuilding that ties it together.

0k is… character and worldbuilding together, I think?

Technical aspects — both structural stuff like grammar and prose style more generally — are important in writing but I don't usually think of them as part of the story?