#there's more fun to answer when I can be wordy

[alisvhikasu]

Alis gets weirdly competitive about games.

Okay so, the through-line starts a few decades back when gambling became her hyper-fixation. For a bit, she was just enjoying the thrill of it, but it didn't take long for her to try and become good at gambling which. Well, you get good at gambling by looking at the stuff just outside the game: card counting, then catching patterns in roulettes, then using your massive rabbit ears to listen to the dice to know when and how they're cocked...

Anyways long story short she is banned from most non-Gold Saucer establishments by the time of the ARR, but she still keeps up her habit of over-analyzing any game she gets into, whether or not it involves chance. It's more fun when everyone's playing their best, right?

Ironically? I think that means she and Estinien in the WoL-verse get along weirdly well. I don't remember where the post was of headcannoning dragoons as being the most autistic of classes due to them looking at dragons and saying "I'm dedicating the next few years to learn a skillset specifically to counter you" but I'm taking that and applying it to board games too. When Estinien and Alis get into a game, you know the both of them are pulling out their spreadsheets and somehow have "techniques" for throwing dice to ensure they always get the roll they want.

...

I think whether or not this is annoying is entirely dependent on how much you're okay with just listening to someone spend at least half the game time puzzling over the rules in order to find fun loopholes.

Another day, another WoLQotD! I got a nice one for you all!

I'm curious to hear about your WoL's funny quirks! Things that make them, them. Actions that are so on brand, that when it happens, everyone around them goes "yup, that's our WoL for you..."

Could be cute, funny, mysterious, etc I just would love to hear about it!!

[wings-of-ink]

Ask Guidelines

For the sake of streamlining my inbox, please follow the guidelines below when submitting Asks. I appreciate all your questions, but I simply find that I lack enough free time to spend with them. Some weeks are busier than others for my inbox, but I personally feel it's a bit unfair to those of you who may be waiting a long time for a response. Plus, I do need some "me" time now and again, no matter how much I love sailing around on here.

The biggest and most important thing:  Reaction/Response-style Asks need to be paired down. These are lots of fun for all of us, but they take up a majority of the time I spend on the inbox. When you submit a request like this, please specify your top 2 (max of 3) characters (ROs, side characters, etc…) you want to know the answer for. If you do not specify, I will pick for you based on how quickly I can answer. I'll note, that if you are curious about both parents in GC, I will count them as 1 "person" so you don't have to choose between daddies.

Please do not submit multiple Asks with the same question for the other characters. This will just eat up my time, and I do not want to delete them, but I will have to.

If your question has been asked before, I will try to find a link to it for you (most of these I have tracked in a document). I haven't yet put together an FAQ since I really don't get a ton or repeats for the same questions. One day, I may make a searchable document with them.

Comments and error reports are still very much welcome. If you by chance do not want a response posted, please simply let me know if that is what you prefer. I generally like to post at least a little response to these for you, but if that makes you uncomfortable, please let me know in the Ask.

Music suggestions are welcome (for instance if a song makes you think of a particular character).

Art suggestions are welcome (if an art piece makes you think of a character and such).

Asks that are long/wordy are still okay, as long as they meet the other Ask criteria. I don't mind reading a lot since I can still do that fairly fast (and I totally understand the need for context or if you have several comments to make). I can be wordy myself, so I get it, sometimes you just want those details in there. You may not get a super long response in return, but I read every word.

Try to space out your Asks in general. If you have, say, 3 or more questions, I would appreciate it if you could give me a buffer of time to respond. A good rule of thumb would be to wait until you get your first question answered, and then you submit your 2nd question and so on. This will also help you gauge how full my inbox is (or how much time I have to spare). Much of the time, I try to answer Asks in the order they are received. The only exception to that is if I get ones that I either need to think on a bit or the answer will take me a while to write.

NSFW Asks are totally okay with me. There is not much outside of my comfort-zone. If something is too far, in my opinion, for a public response - I will simply delete it and pop a courtesy post out to try and signal to you that it is one I cannot answer.

I was hoping to avoid placing any rules on my inbox, but I never anticipated this many followers or that anyone would have quite so many questions or comments for my work. This is to ensure that I keep myself controlled more-so than any of you. I have so much fun chatting with you and answering questions, that the IF writing and planning ends up delayed. Since that's why we're here, I need most of my free time to go to the IF(s) and any extras.

I will make updates to this post as needed. There will be a link to at the very end of the Pinned Post too. If the inbox gets a bit crazy or is too much to juggle during crunch times, I will continue to pause it during those so I can catch up.

Thank you and take care, everyone! ^_^

~Lunan

[markrosewater]

Happy Saturday Mark,

I really enjoyed listening to your Drive to Work podcast on stickiness. It was one of my favorites in months! It was an interesting look behind the curtain design wise and the factors you consider when designing mechanics.

I definitely prefer mechanics that are sticky.

You mentioned that you still think it's worthwhile to design mechanics that aren't sticky but I don't think you really explained why the benefits of this outweigh the counterintuitive nature and memory issues that complex mechanics that aren't sticky create.

You mentioned that Magic is a complex game and that's part of its charm and intrigue. I think that's true, I also think it's true that everything can't be done by memory but I don't think going out of the way to create mechanics that are overly wordy and aren't sticky in a game that is inherently very complicated is helpful to the player. I think there's a fine line between tic-tac-toe and overly complex where it strongly goes against player intuition and memory bandwidth.

I also think you've proven that for 30+ years, Magic can make designs with new mechanics (and reuse existing ones) that appeal to players without going out of the way to make excessively wordy, complex and unsticky mechanics.

By the way, this doesn't mean there isn't merit or value in designing individual cards at higher rarities that are less sticky. Most planeswalker designs aren't sticky and they are often dynamic and interesting cards, although they almost always appear at high rarity and are only a small handful in a single set rather than them being full fledged mechanics that appear at common.

For example, Gemstone Caverns is a fun and dynamic card design that isn't particularly sticky and is fairly complex. That's okay but that doesn't mean it would be a good idea to keyword the mechanic, right?

I feel nearly every time there's a keyworded mechanic that isn't sticky and has memory issues, these mechanics are controversial or divisive. They seem to never be overwhelming popular (i.e. Mutate, Tempted by the Ring, Attractions, The Initiative, Day and Night) and they create so much more baggage and mental load issues compared to sticky mechanics.

I also find it counterintuitive that you acknowledge and understand that more people are playing Magic in eternal formats that are backwards compatible (i.e. Commander) but you seem to highly value creating mechanics that are highly words, complex and not sticky. In my experience, those types of mechanics overwhelm players more in those types of formats compared to less popular (but still very fun) formats like Limited Sealed.

I guess my question is that for most of your podcast you highlighted why sticky designs are a great thing and that while every mechanic can't be as elegant and sticky as Flying, it's important to make mechanics as intuitive as possible to help players, if that's the case, why do you sometimes create mechanics that are very anti-sticky?

Keep up the awesome work and have a great day!

You're conflating "wordy" with "unsticky" and those are not synonyms. I'll use one of the mechanics you listed as an example - daybound/nightbound. The issue with the mechanic wasn't a lack of stickiness. The idea of there being day and then there being night, and things caring about it is pretty intuitive. Players got the gist of what the mechanic was up to.

Day/night's issues had to do with creating inconsistencies (mostly with Werewolves) and having tracking occurring when it didn't matter. So yes, there were play problems, but not because players couldn't wrap there brain around what it did.

Haunt, as a counter example, wasn't particularly wordy, but was very hard to remember.

I believe your question is really "why do we make complex mechanics?" And the answer is there's an audience that really adores the complex mechanics, and we're trying to find a good balance to allow every player to make Magic the kind of game they enjoy.

As to complex mechanics having a bigger burden on eternal games, I agree they do, but I believe that's what players sign up for when they play an eternal format. We're not going to simplify modern day Magic for all the other players that are enjoying the many other ways to play simply to keep eternal formats, which are already highly complex, slightly less complex.

[tadc-harlequin-au]

Hello! I, once again, have three more questions for you to answer, hope you have fun with ‘em!

:)

1. These “Charms” Miss Azures collects, do they have special magical/alchemical properties to them?

2. So… Guns right? I am aware that Kingr has access to firearms, however he is reluctant to use them. But what about the others? Would they use a firearm if they could? Or is it a personal choice that they don’t use guns?

3. Since Caine is Enlightened, he would have stuff like Organs and Blood right? Has he ever studied himself?

(Sorry if this is a bit wordy, you don’t have to answer all of them)

Charms:

yes, they can heavily vary from one another too.

Guns:

I initially didn't want to add guns to this AU, but I'm quickly realizing that it would not make sense to not have any. So;

Pomni can have mechanical arm gun upgrades.

Z can have a gun arm too, but it's not used on any boss. Mainly, it's just for self-protection when they're out and about.

Jax is BANNED from even having guns. You know why.

Ragatha freaks out about the thought of having gun parts, she thinks it's unladylike of her.

same with Gangle.

Caine doesn't really have a gun, he's fine enough with his magics.

Organs and blood:

Eh, I would say he has some, but they're very weird and absolutely do NOT look like anything that is human anatomy/biology. They are, after all, just attempting to recreate what organs Caine used to have, using the very mechanisms that his mechanical body is made up of.

His blood is black. The consistency is like a weird combination of ink, oil and blood.

Caine is very weirded out by his body's evolution, canonically. My boy cannot stand the idea of his features becoming so unrecognizable and inhuman.

He's explored and studied the evolution that his body has taken to an extent; He did modify himself heavily after all, but he can only do so much with no way to keep pain at bay (without downing a strong alcohol).

This was a very fun ask to answer!

[cheekinpermission]

Happy 500 followers!!

How about 1 and 10 for the ask game?

Thank you for you participation, anon! Ask game is here! Send them in if you want <3

1. Who's hand did you first grab? Why? Would you choose someone else if you could do it over again?

I grabbed Idia's hand! When I first got into TWST, I had absolutely no clue what I was getting into so I really just went based on which voice actors I recognized LOL. I know Kōki Uchiyama from a ton of different anime (JJK, Buddy Daddies, Haikyuu, BNHA, Yuri on Ice, etc.) so I just went with his character. While Idia doesn't crack the top 5 for me, I don't think I'd choose again. The only reason I would is if it impacted the story somehow but I really doubt it will. I'm COMITTED.

10. Top five favorite characters?

Grim occupies all top five spots. BUT since that's boring, so I'll limit my choices to the main cast lmao. (My love for the dire beast is PROFOUND) I got VERY wordy here so here's the short answer: 1. Riddle Rosehearts

2. Vil Schoenheit

3. Malleus Draconia

4. Ruggie Bucchi

5. Kalim Al-Asim Explanation below the cut! (I got very excited to talk about my favorites and wrote a lot so I figured I'd condense it for people who didn't want to scroll through it all lol whoopsies.)

1. Riddle Rosehearts - I have no explanation for this?? He's pretty much the opposite of my usual favorite characters so idk what happened here. I've always been drawn to the Alice in Wonderland aesthetic so maybe that has something to do with it? He's got such great character writing, too?? Everything about his personality just makes sense when you know his backstory. When we learn that Riddle's tyrant of a mother was strict and controlling over him, the pieces just seem to fall into place. His whole life was just following her rules and studying like a good little boy, and when he stepped out of line even a little bit he was reprimanded harshly for it. Of course, he's going to the exact same thing once he's in a position of power. It's all he knows. He's just another version of his mother. Not only does he uphold the tradition of punishing rule breakers rather severely as he was when he was younger, I think there's also an element of fear there as well. Like, his mother just instilled an innate fear of breaking rules because bad things would happen if he didn't follow them exactly. I really do see Riddle as a scared little boy who is suddenly realizing that he was set up for failure by his own mother. And THEN he makes an honest effort to improve himself post-overblot?? His transformation after the fact is one of the more obvious ones and I'm just so proud of him. A THOUSAND HEAD PATS!! Okay, I'll stop rambling about him lmao I love Riddle sm (Also want to make clear I'm not saying Riddle was right for anything he did, only that I appreciate how his character was handled. Added for legal purposes so people don't come after me :c ) 2. Vil Schoenheit - This one comes as no surprise to me. Pretty boys who challenge gender stereotypes are RIGHT up my alley. Like Riddle, I think Vil has some great character writing is one of the more complex characters in the game. He just feels so compassionate to me?? I don't know how to explain it - he just gives such nurturing vibes. I'd trust this man with my drink at a bar fr fr. And then he tells Epel off for saying ballet is too "girly" for him?? Thank you TWST for bringing me this man. I pray at the altar of Vil Schoenheit. 3. Malleus Draconia - Doesn't Malleus top everyone's lists LOL I think my favoritism for the dragon man is more to do with his relationship with Yuu than anything else tbh. He's like one of three characters that actively engages with the main character and I think they've got such a fun relationship. Two people who feel very alone in the world finding friendship (or something more for you malleyuu shippers) in each other is so beautiful. I'm glad they can be there for each other like that. Side note: I adore romantic Malleyuu for sure, but I think it's equally as endearing if all of Malleus's flirtatious lines were never meant to be romantic but he's just really bad at communicating his feelings in a platonic way. Like, he doesn't mean to flirt he's just socially inept. 4. Ruggie Bucchi - Gremlin hyena boy is just too good for words. Ngl, I started off not really liking Ruggie all that much because of what he did in the Savanaclaw book. My mans was basically shoving people down flights of stairs?? I'm not really sure where the turn around happened tbh. Mischievous personality types do tend to draw me in in fiction so that probably has a lot to do with it. I also felt really bad for him at the end of the Savanaclaw book when Leona was ready to Thanos him out of existence despite everything Ruggie had done for him (and continues to do for him). I appreciate his work ethic, I can respect the hustle, and he's got such a cute little laugh. I wanna pet those big ole ears of his. Leona - pay this man more smh 5. Kalim Al-Asim - SUNSHINE BOY!!

He's such a breath of fresh air in this game LMAO. As much as I love the fact that most of the cast are unapologetically flawed, it's nice to have a few characters that are genuinely good people. His VA (Kazuki Furuta) absolutely kills it imo. I can hear his laugh in my head as I'm typing this - it's just so warm and happy :D He also breaks the sterotype of most rich characters in media by just being a nice person? He's not evil or greedy (although naive and entitled) and he just wants to be bffs with Jamil. Break his heart Jamil and we're gonna have WORDS. Also just like FORGAVE JAMIL??? His bfffl yeeted him across the desert, brainwashed him and admitted to wanting to get him kicked from the school and Kalim didn't really hold it against him. He was so understanding and sweet about everything AHHHHH

[gurugirl]

if someone is looking for a good classic romance which one of your fics do you recommend?

This is an interesting ask! It's difficult to say which I recommend based on it being a classic romance. And because I'm quite literal when I'm thinking about this I'll just mention right off that the basic elements to any "classic" romance are in most of my series (long or short) as well as in my longer one-shots.

Examples from my masterlist are (not linking bc it's too much - just peruse!):

ALL of my long and short series

bfd!harry

ex bf dad!harry

I Guess You're All Mine

The Long Weekend

Mixed Signals

Tell Me You Hate Me

The Handyman (tho we have very little angst/push & pull in this one - it's a soft romance)

Sex Tutor

Baby Daddy

^ And that's just on Tumblr. I have more on Patreon.

Please forgive me for the following. I got wordy about the romance genre. Also, this is my very literal brain answering you. Ignore if you like.

A classic romance usually contains the following elements (this is what I like to use - obviously this is a basic structure but you can bet most romance will include this):

(eventual) Lovers meeting (the meet-cute) - this can be a whole section or just the intro to the story - are they enemies at first, is their attraction forbidden, how did they meet, what steps got them to know one another, were they childhood friends, are they current best friends (so many options)

some kind of denial or push and pull (maybe he or she thinks the other couldn't possibly be attracted to them or even something bigger and deeper that keeps them apart at first - like he's not single or she's a company rival, or they live in different countries - lots of options here)

a "thing" that makes them keep coming back together while still being cautious about the relationship (they work together, their kids go to the same school, they wind up at a party together and are drawn to one another, etc.)

then we get to the relationship exploration part - where there are difficulties to overcome as they get to know one another on a deeper level, setting the groundwork for a more stable relationship later (depending on the level of friction you want this can be drawn out a bit - including a whole 2-steps forward + 3-steps back scenario - OR not) - don't forget to include massive tension

sometimes it's fun to throw in some elements that keep the lovers apart - something that really makes them see how much they love the other person and how they want to be together - but this is the angsty part with tons of tension if you want to include angst - which most romance has

then they come back together - an outside force may bring them together or one of them does something to get the other one's attention - here you can have them falling in love or maybe it happened earlier on - but they'll be in love and wanting to be together by now

you can add another falling out or some kind of sacrifice that needs to be made if you like - something to just infuriate the reader or engage them further (LOL) - but definitely have them making up again and accomplishing some kind of goal that you might have set for them at the beginning to make the extra angst worth it (the extra angst is not necessary but it's in a lot of romance where there's like one last fallout - or something that keeps them apart before realizing they can't live w/o the other)

and of course, the resolution and the Happily Ever After!

xoxo

[little-gui-official]

❝ Hello~ Hello~ Can you hear me? Good evening fam! And welcome to Little Gui's stream~ ❞

« My name is Guinaifen! "Gui" means wood, "Nai" means to exist, and "Fen" means fragrant — rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it? I usually do juggling performances on this side of Exalting Sanctum. Remember to come see the show when you have the chance~ »

(OR: An indie ask+roleplay blog that follows Guinevere (a.k.a. Guinaifen) from Honkai: Star Rail! Info below the cut; good luck, and have fun!)

(As always, credit to @/cafekitsune for the dividers~)

MUSE INFO !

NAME - Guinaifen!

PRONOUNS - She/They!

FACTION(S) - The Xianzhou Alliance!

TAGS & ANONS !

To avoid making this post comically long, you can check out the tags over here, and the anons right here.

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➣ Anons are not only welcome, but very much appreciated!~ I'll roleplay with silly or serious asks! (Yes, you can have a tag.)

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[dolceaspidenera]

Vesuvia Weekly: Apprentice and LI Dynamics

Decided to throw my hat in since I came up with so much material in my head about my apprentice, Venere, and then realized I never posted anything, poor girl has been sitting on the bench for so long like “Am I a joke to you?” 

@iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia Thank you for coming up with these prompts, I had fun doing this!

(I also mixed a bit of poetry in these hcs because I love it so much. Unfortunately, I suck at it, so don't mind too much of what I call my wordy farts)

VENERE x JULIAN – In a nutshell? The overly flirty, bisexual disaster that we all know meets a very practical and unimpressed girl (also, tall lanky man x small menace). What could go wrong?

A whirlwind. She’s swept away by it. Masks and play, it’s easier that way.  A feverish dance, a push and pull, like sea waves.  Backtracking, pacing, restlessness. The mind never stops and thinks and thinks and thinks. Where do you see value? You should leave but you are under my skin. Chasing shadows, facing gallows He can only be a martyr, the guilt takes its toll as the bell tolls  The rope is made of faults and the executioner is called love.  Now there are more hurts, and another love turns into flaming anger. How can she make him see? Gentleness, understanding, calm. We are in this together. Always.

Julian enters her life like a hurricane and turns it upside down. She is swept off her feet by his energy, but she is also sharp enough to see through him. 

They have a rocky start. Julian is kind of intimidated, kind of intrigued, obviously his answer is to double down on the flirting.

Venere is… You guessed it: unimpressed. Don’t be fooled though, she is actually quite charmed, she likes Julian, but she needs her time to feel comfortable around new people. In the meantime, she has one of the biggest resting bitch faces ever.

Most of their early interactions involve Julian aggressively flirting and Venere blushing internally while exteriorly maintaining a deadpan expression.

Julian inevitably starts to question everything; does she find him so ugly? Does she find him annoying? Should he hide in the hole and never come up again? The poor man doesn’t know what to do.

Once they clear the air and Venere feels more comfortable, is when her true character starts to shine. She is passionate and has a fiery temper, which is good most of the time, but also means she tends to react with anger to upsetting situations. Julian is much better and practiced at controlling his anger and is a good counterweight to Venere.

This is also when the table turns and Venere starts shamelessly flirting with Julian. The poor doctor is a blushing mess.

She is ready to give him an earful whenever he is acting foolish, and she is not afraid of calling him out on his bullshit, but she also learns to be very patient with him. She is determined to make him understand that he is loved, and she is always there to remind him of what an incredible, beautiful man he is.

He teases her about her magic jargon, calling it her whimsical gibberish, she teases him for his medical fancy terms and most of all his unreadable writing. 

When it comes to their respective work fields, they had to learn to communicate effectively; Julian is more comfortable with tangible and concrete things, while Venere tends to think in more abstract ways. Over time they learned to come together and communicate clearly.

They are actually a very good team. Venere is trying to implement Julian’s extensive knowledge of medicine with her magic, making medicines more effective and trying to come up with spells that can accelerate the healing process.

She is much more introverted than him, so she is always happy to let him handle social situations and let her full glorious resting bitch face shine while he charms his way out.

Their differences in social battery also mean that Venere needs her moments of solitude to recharge. The first few times it happened Julian panicked; was it something he said? After a much-needed conversation, he understands. Now, when she needs time alone, he goes to the Rowdy Raven or stops by to see Portia and Mazelinka.

Venere loves singing and dancing and Julian often accompanies her with his vielle. There's always music in their home.

After a period of travel, they settle down in Vesuvia and adopt a dog. Venere takes over her magic shop and Julian opens his clinic.

Their favourite moment is in the evening when, after a day of work, it’s finally time for a long, relaxing cuddle session. Julian wraps his arms around Venere and gives her one of his all-encompassing hugs and they snuggle on the sofa. They always say they’ll go to bed early but end up falling asleep like this.

RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER CHARACTERS:

ASRA 

Complicated. Abandonment. Hurt. Mistakes. Easier to run, easier to avoid. She doesn’t understand. He doesn’t know how to explain.  The past is a heavy burden of memories forgotten and others that would have been best to let rest.  Only a half of what once was whole, but what has been broken cannot be repaired, you learn to live with what remains. You learn to live again.

Her relationship with Asra is very complicated.

There were a lot of hurt and misunderstandings. He kept disappearing without explanation and she never understood.

But the truth runs way, way deeper.

After everything is out in the open, they have many conversations.

After clearing up everything they share one of those incredibly rare and deep friendships.

They are family. They will always be there for each other and always root for each other happiness.

NADIA 

Loneliness. The princess is trapped at the top of the tower, but the dragon is in her head, the dragon is everywhere around her. Judging eyes, power struggles, impossible expectations, who can you trust? Elegance, perfectionism, strength, intuition. She is many things, but most of all she is Nadia. Most of all, she needs someone to see it.

Nadia is… Well, she is Nadia! She is awesome!

Venere’s first impression was of someone very lonely. Although a bit intimidated, she took a liking to her very quickly.

In time, they cultivate a very profound friendship.

They chat about magic, and Venere always knows who to ask for fashion tips. 

Most of all she knows who to turn to when she needs sound advice.

She has deep admiration for Nadia, she doesn’t know how someone can always look so perfect and in control and make appear so easy everything she does. But she is also there to remind Nadia that it’s okay to slip occasionally, and letting go sometimes feels good!

MURIEL 

Gentle, coy, reserved. Violent scars on a delicate soul. Does a tree make noise when it falls in the forest? It’s easier to forget but if everyone forgets, were you even ever there? Long silences can become deafening in loneliness. And yet, when you start to listen you realize there is so much more life around you. Small details you usually don’t catch. It’s always in the details.

Muriel and Venere have one of those friendships that don’t require many words. They are content to spend time together, enjoying each other company in a relaxed silence.

When Venere needs some reprieve, she knows she can accompany Muriel on his walks around the forest and she loves being immersed in nature.

Venere adores Inanna, she gives the best belly rubs to the best of girls.

They spend time enjoying the quiet of Muriel’s hut and he allows her to feed the chickens! One of Venere’s favourite activities.

If someone bothers Muriel, despite Venere being much, much smaller than him, she is the one to fly into a rage and put the offender in their place. Has anyone never told them not to provoke a magician?

Venere often comes to visit him and brings him lots of baked goods to taste. She is still learning to cook decently, so not everything comes out exactly as intended. He still eats everything without batting an eye, probably to be polite.

PORTIA 

Bubbly energy. Movement, flow, a tidal wave. Hunger for adventure, but she is always left behind. There is worth in the work you do but sometimes the work becomes all you are worth. There is more under the surface, you are allowed to slow down. You always have value.

Portia is Venere’s adopted little sister. She loves her energy and positivity and is always happy to pass the ball when Julian needs a good kick in the shin.

They have a book club now. They take it very seriously and religiously make time each week to sit down together to discuss stories and characters.

To the delight of Julian, Venere teaches her magic. He has a small panic attack when she accidentally sets a tree on fire. Luckily, Portia is an eager student and recovers very quickly without further fiery incidents.

In return, Portia tries to teach Venere to bake, with varying degrees of success. She is trying, okay? Luckily, most of her culinary experiments are still appreciated by Julian, Asra and Muriel.

When Portia feels like going on an adventure, she always knows who to call for. 

LUCIO 

Cold metal spikes all around. Hurt others before they can hurt him. Mistakes, regrets, there’s much to learn. Pride is always the mask shame wears, covering itself with sparkly meaningless. 

Let’s say that she doesn’t take well of Lucio hurting her loved ones. When she discovers what he did to Julian she is furious.

In an alternative universe, she would be more than happy to be his friend. She believes in second chances and respects his willingness to be better.

Lucio ends up relying a lot on her when he makes an “Opsie” and needs someone to help him fix it.

With time, he gets better at handling his mistakes and learns how powerful accountability can be.

She isn’t one for big parties, but the rare times she needs some tips on the subject she can always count on Lucio.

When she needs to let out some steam, she knows he is the guy to go to. He has always a good monster on the list ready to chase, or some other adventure to go, Portia can come too!

[burnt-to-cynders]

Alright, time to actually make one of these for real, since this is looooong overdue. Hi! I'm Cynthia! I'm...a lot of things, and I struggle to describe them without it feeling inadequate! I play games, I write software for a living, I write non-software things for fun occasionally, I'm wildly horny, neurodivergent, a massive nerd who constantly wishes she knew more about everything.

Property of: @synthbang and @stalesweetrolls

Let's start with some ID stuff, I'm a pre-HRT(for now!!!) transfem, I go by she/they/it pronouns. My friends call me any fun variation of my name they can come up with, like Cyn, Cyndy, Cyndicate, etc. If we're mutuals, we're friends :3. I'm white, American(New England), poly, t4t, atheist, wildly sapphic, and physically, but not visibly, disabled.

As for interests, I've got literal dozens. Gaming, anime, manga, movies, writing, reading, music, pole dancing, ttrgps, game design, hiking, conservation, activism, fashion, just to name a few, each of which splinters into dozens of little sub-interests. Ask me a dragonball question, I dare you.

Actually, ask me any kind of question. Asks are open all the time and so are anons. Go wild ya horny fools

FOLKS WHO ARE NOT WELCOME (DNIs)

Minors

Seriously, minors, this blog is very horny

Ageless blogs

Sissy kink blogs

Race and ageplayers

SIDEBLOGS

I have two sideblogs atm, although in actuality there's just one that's even remotely active.

@den-of-cyn is where I used to do my hornyposting. The big thing that's there now is the pinned post with a list of my kinks, for those of you interested in the horny side of the Cynner. The account got flagged as NSFT and I haven't been able to get that revoked yet, and moreover I decided to stop worrying about it and just started posting horny on main anyway. There's quite a few good ones on there that I haven't reblogged to here, and a few pics I haven't reposted, so if you somehow don't get enough horny nonsense on this page, you can always go there to see some vintage Cyn >:3

@thebookofcyn is my writing sideblog. It's where all my original stuff will one day live, when I get the spoons to put all my old stuff on it. It is SFT FOR NOW, IT WILL NOT BE IN THE FUTURE! Soon there will be a pinned post there explaining my tags and how to find stories. I'm hoping to post more there as time goes on and I actually embrace this hobby more.

TAGS

I layer my tags and usually don't do content tags, and I don't tag reblogs except to do responses. The tags that mean things on this blog are as follows:

#cynposting - Any post by me that has text outside of tags, including reblog replies. Searching this tag will get you everything I've written in text on this blog.

#cynful thoughts - Any post I think is horny. You can filter for this post if you want to see me being a degenerage, or filter it out if you'd rather not.

#pics of the cynner - Any picture of myself, pretty self explanatory. Most are accompanied by #cynful thoughts

#Cyn fits - pics of myself taken specifically to show off an outfit and explain why I chose it for that day.

#I asked - Reblog of an ask that I sent someone

#ask and ye shall receive - Tag for when I answer an ask

#get tagged idiot - Tag for when the only content of a post is me @ -ing someone in the reblog.

#pinned post - Last one, tag for the previous pinned posts I've made. This should be the last one. In theory.

And that's it!!!! For now. Probably. I'm a wordy bitch, so I expect this'll get longer and longer.

[schrijverr]

I'd Make a Deal with God and Get Him to Swap Our Places

While out on a date in the grass hills of Hawkins, Steve and Eddie start to roll down one of the hills after play fighting. Eddie instinctively ensures Steve won’t hit his head again on the way down, making Steve emotional with the caring display.

This fic is based off this post by @babyboymunson bc I couldn't get it out of my head ever since I read it!

On AO3.

Ships: Steve x Eddie

Warnings: none

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eddie and Steve are up on one of the many hills in Hawkins. The summer is just starting, the flowers are blooming and it’s the perfect day for a picnic, something Steve has been looking forward to ever since Eddie got out of the hospital.

Steve wants to romance Eddie properly. Hospital bed dates can only go so far and now that they’re both in good enough health, he’s excited that they’re on a proper date.

However, Steve and Eddie work for many reasons and, while they have their sweet moments, they mostly work because they can gossip together and fondly get into heated debates about utter nonsense, but that is only when they’re not committing slightly too much to a bit together.

Today Eddie commented something and Steve’s mean era personality shone through, when he returned with a bitchy reply that Eddie decided to take faux offense to just to start shit.

With Eddie, Steve has learned how fun it can be to argue, not because you mean it, but just to see how far and to what ridiculous extend you could take it. Picking a hill to die on, just for the sake of doing it.

Still, Eddie is a little bit more wordy than Steve, his love for fiction and DnD coming through in times like these. So, when Steve runs out of arguments, he falls back on his life as a jock and lunges at Eddie.

Now they have abandoned their picnic and are play wrestling. It’s nice to do idiotic teenager stuff after everything, so they’re laughing as they roll through the grass each of them trying to pin the other down.

Neither of them have noticed how close they are to the edge of the hill they scaled earlier with their picnic, threatening to roll back down in a bumpy way.

Eddie is the one that feels it first. Steve manages to get the upper hand, but as Eddie twists towards the ground, he can feel that this is different than before. Steeper. It only takes a second to figure out why and then a split second more to make a decision.

He can’t let Steve get hurt again. Not in the head. His boyfriend is the kindest and most protective man Eddie knows, but no matter how strong and badass he is, there is no denying what Eddie heard in that hospital. How much Steve can’t afford another head injury.

Not to mention that Eddie can see it himself every day. The way Steve lives in a house of sticky notes, reminders to pick up the kids, dates, Erica’s favorite ice cream flavor, the movie Robin talked about loving, some songs Eddie mentioned. The way Steve is always a little slower than the rest to answer questions, taking a little longer to process the question and think of a reply. The way some days his headaches get so bad, he’ll be down for hours.

Eddie knows Steve.

Eddie knows that Steve has done enough and can’t afford to do more. That he needs to be kept safe for once. That he needs to be protected.

So, without thinking he reaches up to pull Steve towards him. His cushions his head on his chest and wraps both arms around his head to keep it still and away from the danger of getting hit as they start to roll down the hill.

For Steve it goes equally quick. One moment he’s play fighting with Eddie, the next he is janked down, before the whole world starts spinning.

It takes a moment before he realizes they’re rolling down the hill, because Eddie has his arms around his head and crossed his legs around his body. The action pins Steve’s arms to his side, so he can nothing but let Eddie hold him as they go down.

He is conflicted on how he feels about that. It’s not the best environment to analyze one’s feelings, you know, when rolling down a hill. But Steve is safe in Eddie’s arms and has enough a brain to realize that he’s usually on the other side of the equation.

Steve is the protector and Eddie got seriously hurt during those bat attacks. He shouldn’t be the one holding Steve. Yet- He can’t deny that it’s nice to be held like this. To be protected for once. To be cushioned from the ground, instead of bouncing off it as they pick up speed the more they roll, until they get to the flat part and start to slow down again.

When they finally stop, both of them are breathing heavily, coming down from the shock of suddenly falling so far down. Steve is on top of Eddie, hearing the other’s heartbeat.

Eddie groans a bit and while it felt nice to be the one protected, Steve is still anxious and worried about Eddie. About loosing him as he nearly did before. About him being hurt. So he attempts to get up. Eddie has dropped his legs, meaning Steve can get on his hands and knees. However, there is one problem…

“Baby, Eds, my head,” he says, when Eddie keeps holding his head like he’s done all the way down, not letting go in the slightest.

In response Eddie just holds his closer and lets out a soft noise. He squeezes once as he lets out a shuddery breath, before moving his hands down, not letting go, but changing to ensure he can look Steve in the eye.

One hand comes up and feels around Steve’s head, before cupping his cheek when Steve asks: “Eds, are you okay?” his own hands fluttering over Eddie’s ribs to ensure he didn’t get hurt, relief washing over him when he can’t find any immediate injuries.

“I- I’m fine,” Eddie chokes out, a few tears starting to gather in his eyes that didn’t soothe Steve’s worries at all, even if they look to be from relief as Eddie realizes Steve is totally fine.

“Are you sure? You’re not hurt?” Steve frowns, just checking one more time in case his eyes deceive him. “Come on, baby, why those tears?”

Eddie roughly wipes them away, only now realizing they’re there, before giving Steve a wobbly smile and answering: “I’m good. Promise, Stevie. Just really happy you’re okay, you know? I don’t know what I would do with myself if you hit your pretty little head again, because of a dumb silly argument.”

The words stun Steve to silence.

He already knows that Eddie cares for him. That Eddie loves him. Yet, this seems to do him in somehow. Just the fact that Eddie’s instinct had been to pull Steve close and make sure he couldn’t get hurt. To keep him safe.

Without his permission tears well up. He tries to push them down, biting his lip so it can’t wobble and blinking a few times. But it’s no use, they start to fall anyway.

At first he tries to ignore the tears rolling down his face, but when he takes a breath he chokes on it and soon he’s properly crying, burying his face in Eddie’s chest. Eddie for his part, just moves his hands so he can hold Steve better, letting him cry with only soft and soothing words.

It takes a few minutes before Steve has his breathing in check again, throughout it all Eddie just holds him and tells him they’re okay. When he notices Steve’s breathing getting better, he softly asks: “Want to talk about it, sweetheart?”

“No, ‘s just- ‘s just nice that you care,” Steve mutters, hiding his blushing face from Eddie when he gives his confession.

Eddie’s heart breaks a little for Steve, the boy, who cares so much and was never properly cared for in turn. God, he wishes the world would have been kinder to Steve. Wishes he could fight someone and make it all better. Wishes there is more he can do than hold Steve and promise: “I’ll always care about you, baby,” hoping Steve can understand how much he means it.

And when Steve whispers: “I know,” that has to be enough for Eddie. Now he just has to prove that he will keep that promise for the rest of their life. It doesn’t sound like much of a hardship.

[genericpuff]

Hey when im writing a story how to talk about the lore without exposition dumping and why is exposition dumping a bad thing?

Ouu, fun writing question!

There's no easy single answer to just "avoid" exposition. In some cases, exposition dumping isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can be used improperly, like any other writing device. Really, your goal isn't necessarily to outright avoid exposition, but to find a way to naturally implement it into the story without grinding the pacing to a halt or creating confusion for your reader.

To name a few methods to implement exposition naturally:

You can have a main character act as the "surrogate" for the audience. Good examples of this are Harry Potter or Final Fantasy X - both of which are plots that involve the main character entering a world that is not their own and having to learn about that world through their own experiences. Now, you do have to be careful with this as, in the case of Harry Potter, using a character PURELY as a surrogate for the audience like that can result in the character themselves having little personality. Harry Potter himself is one such example, in the beginning we find out so much about the wizarding world through him that we never really get to know him. That's why I include FFX as another example - Tidus is a character who has his own personality, his own motives, his own quirks, while being a stranger in Spira who doesn't know how their world works, but they use that to the advantage of his character writing by making him this sorta doofy dumbass who doesn't take things quite as seriously as the people of Spira do (such as the religion of Yevon) but as such, is able to identify all the problems Spira is suffering from specifically BECAUSE he's an outsider looking in and hasn't been brainwashed like everyone else who grew up in that world.

If you don't have a main character who's new to the world, then you have to find ways to naturally implement exposition. Thing is, if your character and the people around them are familiar with the world they inhabit, why would they describe their world at length to one another? This is where a lot of poorly handled exposition dumping happens especially from writers just starting out. They'll have their characters explain things to each other that they really shouldn't have to have explained to them, and as such it can make it feel really clunky and wordy (and makes the dialogue feel unnatural). You can use shortcuts around this, such as taglines like "Did you forget? Xyz..." or "How can you still be confused, it's xyz..." but those are still tricks that can be overused or feel ham-fisted if not used properly, it really only works if the character who it's being explained to is "out of touch" or if there's reason for them to not be privy to the information being explained to them.

As much as your readers will need things explained to them, don't treat your readers like they're stupid - half the fun of experiencing a story is the discovery process. Not everything needs to be spelled out to your readers, some things can just exist and not have to be explained. The only time explanations should be made is if it's absolutely necessary to your plot, otherwise, having something just be in the background or mentioned casually is more than good enough. To go back to the FF X example, Tidus doesn't need blitzball to be explained to him, it's the one familiarity he has in Spira. Therefore, there's zero reason to have Wakka explain blitzball to Tidus as a way to explain it to the audience. Instead, we get an opening cutscene that shows us enough of what blitzball is for us to understand that it's a sport, and later on we get dialogue from Tidus explaining how he's living in his father's shadow and how his dad had this crazy move that he would never teach him and that back in Zanarkand, Tidus was the "star player". We, the audience, can infer enough from what we've been shown that blitzball is a sport in this world, we do not need it to be explained deeper than that, not until we learn the rules of how to play blitzball through the minigame itself, and still those rules aren't that important in the grand scheme of the plot, it's just a strong part of Tidus' characterization and the one thing tying him to the world of Spira when he washes onto its shores. Blitzball is the first thing we see him do in the game and it's the first thing that introduces him to the world of Spira.

To go on a bit of a tangent, I feel like this is where a lot of fantasy writers in particular tend to struggle. While romances will focus more on the characters and thus not be victim to exposition dumping quite as often (though they can be victim to some... very outdated or otherwise toxic tropes) more detail-oriented genres like fantasy and sci-fi can really tend to get lost in the trees. I've beta-read so many fantasy books that have opened with pages upon pages of world information, from languages the creator invented to the different calendars of the different regions to the races and species and yadda yadda it's literally the worst thing you can open your fantasy novel first because it's quite literally putting the cart before the horse. They get so washed up in the details because they forget their audience is there to read a story, not do homework on fictional dialects and food preparation methods. I feel like this is especially a problem for writers who read books like Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire and see all the supplemental material, but seem to miss the point that the supplemental material came later, Tolkien didn't start by writing The Silmarillion, he started with The Hobbit which was a simple story of friendship and comradery meant for children. Only later as his audience grew more connected to the characters and the world they inhabited was he able to release the supplemental stuff because the people those details were meant for were already invested in the story. You have to get people invested first, then give them the details, and that starts with a simple idea.

Anyways, all that aside, the best way to see good exposition is to just go read books, watch movies, expose yourself to stories that handle exposition in their own way. Again, it's not a bad thing to have to dump information on people, but you gotta find a way to do it that won't overwhelm your reader or bore them before they've even gotten hooked. Start small and branch out from there. Write the details as they pertain to the characters who would be privy to them. Don't underestimate the intuitiveness of your readers, reading and writing is equal parts communication and discovery.

[ren-054]

Hey! Sorry, but I'm curious and I would like to ask u something. I've already asked the same question to another blog but I decided to gather different opinions/feedbacks, out of curiosity.

Do you think Sun, Moon and Eclipse, canon-wise, are a good representation of a system?

I know that many people see them differently, everyone has their own hcs and I do too, but if they were a system would it be accurate in terms of shifting/fronting etc?

I apologize if this question sounds weird or if I come off as offensive, it was not my intention. I don't know a lot about DID, I'm still studying, so feel free to correct me or to simply ignore this ask.

Oooh this question! Hrmmm

Also it’s all good, I love answering questions that have to do with pulling from my experiences :] I don’t mind at all!

TL;DR because I’m very wordy— I think the DCA’s a decent rep of the idea of a system but it still ends up with a lot of the pitfalls of current system rep (like alters framed as evil vs good since it’s a horror game and Moon is an enemy + Sun and Moon’s inner conflict being resolved either through a fusion into Eclipse or simply letting a more stable alter front with little further elaboration on the matter)

So the DCA definitely feel like a system that could exist, but it still reads like that awkward middle stage of media rep where there’s still a dependence on shock factor and spectacle over them just being a system that exists, but they’re overall fine.

I think viewing them as a system is very neat and I love how validating/relatable a lot of the fan works can be when tackling the DCA’s dynamic with each other :] I see little issue with viewing them as a system, if that’s part of the question

Long answer below pfpf

Where do I start…

I think I’m a bit torn? Their canon switch from SB, if we are viewing them as a hypothetical system, definitely felt dramatized because it’s a horror game (but maybe some people experience switches like this! I wouldn’t know)

Also the fact the horror effect is likely coming from having an overall benign doormat of a guy suddenly becoming unsafe post-switch feels a bit iffy to me since it feeds into that othering/demonizing narrative of mentally ill + neurodivergent folk, but Sun’s panic about Moon fronting is still a mood, to be fair. I have my own paranoia about certain alters getting triggered out ajhdks

As for fronting, the DCA don’t really get to express how that works for them, so I can’t say. The only thing I could glean is that,

1, Sun was aware a switch occurred that allowed Moon out but, for whatever reason, was upset enough to still kick Gregory out the daycare knowing he could still be in danger so there’s not much info there, and

2, Ruin Eclipse seemed to have less memories than Sun or Moon given he acted like he just met Cassie when he fronted, sort of reminiscent of either an alter coming back after a long period of dormancy or a much more generally dissociated alter. Sun still talked after Eclipse came back so he’s still in there, and presumably Moon too.

For me, I think I have a lot of internal communication and rarely have hard switches (a switch where there’s only one alter fronting with little interference from any other part) so I can’t say too much about hard switches like what seems to happen with the DCA. Sun and Moon were in a terrible rapid switching and/or fighting-for-front situation in Ruin though, and I feel for them. I’ve been through it and it’s not fun.

I was actually surprised at how much more.. system-coded the DCA were in Ruin but I always had a bit of an issues with it for one reason

There wasn’t a lot of closure for Sun and Moon specifically (only implied through Ruin Eclipse’s calm and more child-friendly nature) so I’d feel a bit weird to say that the DCA as we know them at this point is a great.. summary for systems as a whole? Like you gotta do what you gotta do to heal yknow so this isnt judging how they need to help themselves, but I’m looking at the bigger picture of system rep and the preconceptions of a layman audience.

I know not every system likes the idea of their parts being ignored/shunted in favor of a more “complete” fused hypothetical version of themselves, including myself. But for the DCA, as Sun strongly implies, this is the best solution for them in the moment in order to stabilize so really I can’t judge them.

Sun said thank you, though, so I hope that means them and Moon are getting some well deserved rest away from front. I do hope to see things from them feeling better in the future, but I don’t have much faith that we’d be given that.

[cancerian-woman]

For the ask game...

TVDU 2

Klonnie 15

Bonnie 7 and Lucy 8

TVDU: Bonnie: Twitches is one of my favorite movies growing up that's where it started. Bonnie embodies both of the twins. Camryn has this outgoing confident personality while Alex is stern and reserved. Both are determined through it all. I see all of this in Bonnie. She goes through a lot and still has this sense of light to the world, people and even magic or herself. There's so much fiery determination in her that allows Bonnie to persevere. Rebekah!TO: Seeing less of Rebekah in TO grew her up as a character. In TVD she and Klaus look petty for lingering around s4. I love that she doesn't yield with her emotions, and we see her fight back whether that be torturing Damon or fighting with her brothers. She was still bitchy in a mature sense that she'd only react if she felt threatened too that is. Which what another fave character of mine grows into (Brooke Davis & Hanna Marin). (Okay cause my next answer is long I’m going to leave this at 2.)

Klonnie: I have a longer answer for this one but I’ll keep it simple. If TVD wasn't filled with jealous and racist writers. I wished Klonnie’s relationship started late s2-s4. A slow burn enemies to lovers. Klaus is very arrogant but he isn’t stupid when it comes to strategy. His pride would’ve been hurt knowing a baby witch kicked his ass and almost killed him. Then saved his ass! Katherine and Isobel discussed Klaus taste in witches, tbh it would’ve been in character for Katherine to direct Klaus to Bonnie after Greta was killed. On the pretense that Elena would hate it. Katherine would take joy in that

In s3 after Jeremy’s cheating (should’ve been with Vicki) Bonnie would be reluctant to believe in Klaus advances. Klaus would be attentive to the little things people are missing with Bonnie. (Ex: he canonically mentions bringing Abby back for her after being abandoned again.) HOW did he notice that? Who told him. I’m dead ass serious WHO told him that?!😭 Pretty gowns and drawings wouldn’t be enough to keep Bonnie’s attention especially after heartbreak. Bonnie’s loyalty cannot be bought it needs to be earned that’s what she’d want. Klaus would’ve called out that Bonnie aligns herself with bad people all the time he isn’t any different. Bonnie would call out Klaus for ignoring his werewolf side.

S4 can keep expression!Bonnie but with Klaus making it know how he hates Shane? Or still offering his knowledge to magic. There’s more to say but I wish the writers listened to Joseph’s and Kat’s ideas. It would’ve been more compelling to see Klaus pull Bonnie onto his side. Bring in some seduction and a second chance at love. Bonnie’s just as desirable as her friends. Treat her like it. Period.

Bonnie 7: can’t remember the ep rn but s7 Bonnie tells Alaric she’d rather somewhere else making out with a good guy or not so good. Basically she doesn’t enjoy doing shit all the time. She wants to have fun! But survival comes first.

Lucy 8: bisexual or queer period. Since TVD never told us what Katherine did I assumed they fucked a couple of times💀

Thank you for the ask! Sorry this is wordy as hell! I’m a nerd and overthinker

Ask Games!

[drbtinglecannon]

Why hello there buddy, hope you didn't think you weren't gonna get an ask in return >w> So hey for that fic ask, how about numbers... 1, 11, 29, 39, 50, and 75! And yee same, just however many you feel like answering :D

Haha I actually forgor so this is a lovely surprise! ^^

Hell yeah I will answer all of them! 💪💪 Unless I already did, I think I got a few of these before

1. Do you daydream before you write, or go for it as soon as the idea strikes?

I did answer that here! But basically I daydream a LOT but sometimes that keeps me from finishing the fic because it's like "I already wrote it" in my head, and other times I will just go for it and finish the idea in one sitting but that really only works for one-shots (which is most of what I write anyway). The fic I posted yesterday I just wrote it as the idea came to me

11. Do you write scenes in order, or do you jump around?

I used to force myself to slog through writing everything in order, but it killed so many wip by making me bored of the idea because I wasn't writing the fun bits yet, so now I jump around haha. Which does sometimes create issues when I start bridging the bits together and have to tweak or completely cut stuff, but it overall keeps me writing more and helps my creativity flowing by quickly getting down the parts I want to and building around them

39. What's your most self-indulgent wip?

29. What's something about your writing that you're proud of?

Also answered here! But sure I can give myself another compliment I earned it!

I'm proud of how my writing has improved over the years. Obviously any skill gets better the more you work it (I say as someone who typically gets distressed and will immediately drop something if I'm not instantly perfect at it 👍) but it's been really satisfying seeing my writing get good enough to be in a couple zines and having people enjoy what I've shared :) so thanks everyone who's ever been nice to my writing haha

For something that's almost done, it's a joke about a trope I never thought I'd write that got way too out of hand and sentimental instead of just quick dirty horny lol. Whoops ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

As far as planned out but not close to being done writing wise, it's a long fic for an obscure ot3 that died pre-canon and it's following the development of their relationships before exploding into their individual horrific deaths, and then maybe a sequel that follows a slightly canon divergent yet still canon compliant idea of what sets about the trainwreck leading to their deaths. Including me it'll maybe have 4 fans haha, but that's fine I love the concept and am having fun daydreaming about it. It's extremely self-indulgent to the point it's embarrassing

50. How would you describe your writing style?

1% evil (syntax) 99% hot gas (banter)

Hahah, but yeah I think I really thrive with conversation but I also really really enjoy working sentences until they bleed (aka I gave up) to convey as much info and emotion as I can without being too wordy, because outside of writing stories/fic/poems I'm an rambling mess that says "like" and "fuck" far too much haha! It's my only time to be concise ✌️

75. Is there a particular fic that readers gravitated towards that you didn't expect?

My first ever fic both that I wrote and posted. It blew up a lot more than I ever expected or hoped, and it still gets kudos regularly and comments occasionally, and is still by far my most popular fic haha

Unfortunately that causes me the tiniest 🤏 amount of psychic damage each time because while I'm thrilled people still enjoy it and that it's been read by so many people, it does not hold up to my current writing skills by any means. Oh boy it is rough around the edges haha

[threebooksoneplot]

Question for G :)) how was your fanauthor workshop experience? I don't know if I should apply it sounds interesting but at the same time almost no reviews or whatsoever. Thank you!

well I ended up doing it a second time, so I'd say it was pretty damn good! I think the reason there are "no reviews" is mostly due to tumblr's format not really lending itself to that? @fanauthorworkshop isn't marketing itself as a product so much as a pedagogical (educational) extension of the existing fandom gift economy—an exchange where you both learn stuff and share/teach stuff!

this answer is mildly off-podcast-topic and it's gonna get super long and wordy, so it's under a cut lol you're welcome

my Fanauthor Workshop experience

personally, I found the FAW perfect for me. I was at the point in my fic writing where I was getting some lovely comments and glowing praise, but also wishing the world in general took fanfiction more seriously, as a craft to be practiced and discussed, something with both intrinsic and literary merit. @bettsfic's first episode as a guest on Fansplaining really resonated with me and kind of spoke to that desire (it's a must-listen for anyone on the fence about applying to the FAW!!)

but I had never studied creative writing at a university level, and barely knew what a crit letter was. I found the FAW was the perfect way to learn that sort of thing in a low-stress environment! I didn't struggle with feelings of burdensome obligation the way I had with schoolwork; rather I was excited to read everyone else's writing and see what it had to teach me. I also loved having an appropriate venue to air all my writing opinions, lol. I found I was so motivated that I managed to attend every FAW session even though it conflicted with family vacations two years in a row. I wrote crit letters from the lobby of a restaurant in a national park because it was the only place with wifi. I even Zoomed into one session from a random public library in Durango, where I managed to alarm everyone else in the irl vicinity with my enthusiastic discussion of fictional cannibalism (shoutout to the story we workshopped that day, it SLAPPED.)

personally, I approached the FAW with the very specific goal of Having Fun first and letting the writing stuff come second (ie, not putting too much pressure on myself when it came to choosing and polishing my own workshop pieces, and not worrying too much about how they were received.) I still ended up getting some AMAZING critiques and responses to my two (very different) pieces—I was deeply impressed by everyone's insights, how much they were able to pick up on, and how willing they were to meet me at my level. the other pieces we workshopped ranged all over the place in technical ability, from "giohvnsksbnf this writing is so good I'm gonna fucking eat glass" to "this person is clearly just starting out as a writer, but even if their prose has some technical mistakes, their story has Good Bones and their critiques and discussion observations have been spot on."

my big secondary goal was to Make Friends and there I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. I now have SO many cool FAW mutuals, a few of which I have hung out with IRL and the rest of which I totally WOULD hang out with IRL if given the opportunity. they're all uniquely creative and clever people who I probably wouldn't have met otherwise, so that's kind of the biggest Win for me. it's so cool knowing I have all these people I could DM out of the blue and be like "hey, would you mind looking over this short story/beta-ing this fic chapter?" and end up with some great insights. there's also an FAW Discord where anyone can kind of bring fandom- and writing-related questions to the floor, as well as share recs and self-promote projects (or in my case, recruit podcast guests who I know have been pre-screened for both their chill lack of pearl-clutching and their basic fiction-analyzing skills, lol.)

I would recommend the Fanauthor Workshop if:

you're a self-taught writer who's done most of your learning in the fanfiction space and you're curious about how writing is actually taught in academic settings

alternatively, you're a writer from an academic background who chafes at some of the more restrictive rules in traditional workshops/you're tired of the irl Guy in Your MFA -types who refuse to or can't engage with your work on its level

you're ok with doing some "homework" (writing two crit letters per week) on the honor system

you're down to read original work in a wide variety of genres/read fic from fandoms you're not in (maybe even fandoms/pairings/characters you don't personally like)

you like what you read in @oficmag

you wish fanfiction was taken more seriously as a craft

your favorite trad-published writers all seem to be workshop alumni (eg: I swear half of my favorite writers are Clarion grads)

you have work you'd like to publish and/or submit someday but you're not sure if it's ready/not sure where to start

you follow writing advice blogs or send them asks

you wish people would leave "concrit" (constructive criticism) on your fics

you wish people would leave concrit on your fics but you're worried they might be too mean or not "get" your work

you wish people would analyze your work and give critique without letting their personal value judgments get in the way (and you're ready to do the same in turn)

you worry your work is too niche, kinky, queer, romance-focused, or "weird" for a traditional workshop (note: but it doesn't have to be any of these things. people also workshopped gen and the equivalent of coffee shop AUs!)

you'd like to hear perspectives that don't come from cishet dudes

you enjoy Class Participation and discussions (or maybe you're no longer a student and miss that kind of thing!)

you think @bettsfic seems like a good teacher (spoiler: she REALLY is)

you like the idea of a creative writing class with no grades or possibility of "failure"

you'd like to meet people you probably wouldn't meet in any other setting, and make some cool friends from other fandoms

if even a couple of these bullet points sound like you, you'd probably get a lot out of the FAW!! I hope the next session of FAW-ers have a blast. I'll be lurkin the Discord rooting for y'all

[goldfishlover73]

4, 5, 10, 13, 14, 15 for the fanfic ask game 💕

4.How do you channel characters' voices and personalities? A lot of self reflection. Lol Writing fanfiction is a double edge sword for this one. The voices and personalities are right there. They already have a voice and personality. It makes it really easy. But at the same time, as a fanfic writer, you have a lot of liberties with that. You get a lot of writers that do not make the characters anything like they are in canon and depending on the writing, it works. Particularly in AUs. Especially in non canon ships. Because, lets be frank, in canon Kakashi wouldn't touch Sakura with a ten foot pole like that. But that's also not why we're here. I do not always write my characters the way the initially were portrayed, but I do my best to at least stay within bubble of realism. Lots of 'What would Kakashi do?' or 'Would Sakura really do that?' This usually comes in the editing process. I would advise you to that while writing. Don't want to get into the revising of a long fic and realize that what you've written does not match Kakashi's personality at all and have to rewrite motivations. *cries in fanfic* 5. What techniques do you use to create believable dialogue? Similar to above, a lot of 'what would Kakashi say' or 'What would Sakura say' I've been writing a lot more Gai recently and creating believable dialogue with him has been challenging, but in a fun way. He's very boisterous and very animated and has a very interesting manner of speaking at times. Finding the right words is important.

TLDR: just being mindful of the character's head I'm in.

Also! when I write dialogue, I try my best to have them not just standing in the ether talking to one another with their hands at their sides. No one talks like that. I try to stay away from just saying 'he said/she said' and say 'he rubs the back of his neck' or 'she presses her lips together and looks away' or if they are walking and talking have them looking around and noticing the stuff around them (even if it is the person next to them.) Using the characters quirks and mannerisms helps build out a talky-talky scene.

10.What's your favorite part about the fic writing process? Coming up with the idea and the brain storming in my head. The day dreaming. Then writing, which is the second worst part. Then revising is the bane of my existence.

13.What's the most challenging aspect of writing fanfiction for you? Besides the fact I tend to switch tenses? Which is more of a writing thing than fanfic thing... it's characterization. Hands down. I would like to create a piece of work where there is no time where the person pauses and goes 'that character wouldn't do/say that' (unless it's, you know, a driving force behind the story. Like that's the plot or the relationship). I want Kakashi to be Kakashi. I want Sakura to be Sakura. For better or worse. Flaws and all. Because playing with flaws is very fun. 14.How do you go about researching details or canon information? Naruto Wiki. It's hard because it's been a hot minute since I've read Naruto and to recall what is canon and what is filler is a bit mind reeling. I say that and recognize I do pick and choose what I pull from filler. Like Friend-Killer Kakashi. 15.Do you plan your fics or prefer to let the story unfold as you write? I do both. Usually my first write through is half a story and half outline. The second go through is where I expand on ideas and then start narrowing things down. Then some ideas take hold and I run with it. That's one of the nice things about waiting until you're done writing the whole thing before you post because you can find a great idea at the end of a piece and go back and add layers in at the beginning and no one is the wiser.

Sorry this is really wordy and long, hopefully I answered your questions!