#time to change the formatting on EVERY chapter to be consistent then

[an-ruraiocht]

90% of the time when i see reviews and posts saying "this book needed editing" i don't think the reader have any idea what editing actually entails. usually this is actually code for one of several "problems" with the book:

it's too long, or it's slower paced than this reader's preference. they believe "editing" would mean making it shorter

it has a heavily descriptive style, which the reader doesn't like. they believe "editing" means paring every sentence down to hemingway-style prose with no adverbs

it doesn't follow the very rigid "save the cat" style 3-act story structure, disrupting the reader's sense of narrative tension. an editor, they believe, would've made sure it did

there were a few typos or formatting errors, and they believe it's the editor's job to catch these (it's not, it's typically the proofreader and the typesetter who have responsibility for that kind of thing)

and finally, most often:

the author had different narrative priorities than the reader, who thinks an editor would have made the author change their priorities.

the thing is, there are actually issues with editors in trad publishing being overworked to the point where things aren't getting the thorough, thoughtful editing that they need to be the best version of themselves. there are plenty of badly-structured, poorly-researched, and clumsily written books out there. moreover copyediting is typically freelance and perhaps because of that, this is the area where i see the largest number of issues: continuity issues, grammar issues, factual errors etc that someone should've spotted and didn't.

but this is not typically what people's "this needed an editor" reviews are focusing on. most often it just means they didn't like the book and they've decided editing is an all-powerful force that would have transformed it into a book they liked. but that's not how it works. and disproportionately what this comment means is that the book doesn't match what current fashions have decided is The Correct Style to write in

"this book needed an editor" if it's traditionally published, it had one. like. by definition. it was an editor who bought the book. that doesn't mean the editor did a great job but they definitely existed. there were probably at least two (acquiring editor who does the dev edits; copyeditor who does copyedits), and the proofreader, and a bunch of other people besides.

also i think people think editors are the ones who like. implement the changes. but they don't. they give comments and recommendations and ask questions and the author is the one to act on them. the editor will not rewrite the book. they will not fix the problems themselves, they will highlight the problem and the author will figure out a fix for it, or they will decide they don't agree that it's a problem and leave it as it. and a lot of the sentence-level style stuff is entirely on the author so if they don't have an ear for the rhythm then nobody's going to fix that for them. editors do a lot less than people seem to imagine they do, tbh

anyway

for reference—

structural/developmental edits: is this chapter in the right place and does the plot make sense and is the characterisation consistent and effective

line edits: is this sentence in the right place and is it as stylish as it could be

copy edits: is this sentence grammatically correct and consistent/factually correct within the story/its world and do the spellings follow the publisher's stylesheet

proofreading: are there any typos in this sentence and was the formatting preserved correctly when it was typeset

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Self-Editing

Take a Break Before Editing

One of the most effective self-editing techniques is to distance yourself from your writing before diving into the editing process. After completing your draft, give yourself some time away from the text – a few hours, a day, or even longer if possible. This break provides a fresh perspective, allowing you to approach your work with a more critical eye.

Read Aloud

Engage your auditory senses by reading your work aloud. This not only helps identify grammatical errors and awkward phrasing but also allows you to assess the overall flow and rhythm of your writing. Awkward sentences are more apparent when heard.

Focus on One Element at a Time

To avoid feeling overwhelmed during the self-editing process, concentrate on specific elements in each round. Start by checking for grammatical errors and punctuation, then move on to sentence structure, coherence, and finally, style. This systematic approach ensures a thorough examination of your writing.

Add Dimensions

After you are finished with your first draft, flip to the beginning and start anew. As you write and edit more of your story, you may add different aspects to a character that might need to be mentioned in a section you already edited. You might add a part of the plot that should be alluded to earlier in your book.

Fill in the Gaps

Re-reading your first draft might reveal plot holes that will be addressed via revisions. It may expose logical inconsistencies that must be buttressed with enhanced detail. If you, as the author, know a lot of details about a character’s backstory, make sure your reader does as well.

Mend Character Arcs

Audiences want engaging plots, but they also want detailed characters who undergo change during the events of a story. Use a second draft to make sure that your main character and key supporting characters follow consistent character arcs that take them on a journey over the course of the story. If your story is told through first person point of view (POV), this will be even more important as it will also affect the story’s narration.

Track the Pacing of your Story

Find ways to space out your story points so that every section of your novel is equally compelling and nothing feels shoehorned in.

Clean up Cosmetic Errors

When some first time writers think of the editing process, they mainly think of corrections to grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation. These elements are certainly important but such edits tend to come toward the end of the process. Obviously no book will go out for hard copy publication without proofreading for typos and grammatical errors, but in the early rounds of revising, direct most of your energy toward story and character. If you consider yourself a good writer who simply isn’t strong on elements like spelling, grammar, and punctuation, consider hiring an outside proofreader to help you with this part of the writing process.

Inject Variety

The best novels and short stories contain ample variety, no matter how long or short the entire manuscript may be. Look for ways to inject variety into your sentence structure, your narrative events, your dialogue, and your descriptive language. You never want a reader to feel like s/he’s already read a carbon copy of a certain scene from a few chapters back.

Check for Consistency

Consistency is key to maintaining a professional and polished tone in your writing. Ensure that your language, formatting, and style choices remain consistent throughout your piece. Inconsistencies can distract the reader and diminish the overall impact of your work.

Eliminate Redundancies

Effective communication is concise and to the point. During the self-editing phase, be vigilant in identifying and eliminating redundancies. Repetitive phrases and unnecessary words can dilute your message and hinder clarity.

Verify Facts and Information

If your writing incorporates facts, figures, or data, double-check the accuracy of your information. Providing accurate and up-to-date information enhances your credibility as a writer. Cross-referencing your sources during the self-editing process ensures the reliability of your content.

Consider Your Audience

Keep your target audience in mind during the self-editing process. Ensure that your language, tone, and examples are tailored to resonate with your intended readership. This step is crucial for creating a connection with your audience and enhancing the overall impact of your writing.

Utilise Editing Tools

Take advantage of the various editing tools available to writers. Spell and grammar checkers, and style guides can serve as valuable companions during the self-editing journey. However, remember that these tools are aids, not substitutes, for your critical evaluation.

Seek Feedback

Engage with others to gain fresh perspectives on your writing. Peer reviews or feedback from mentors can offer valuable insights that you might have overlooked. Embrace constructive criticism and use it to refine your work further.

Be Ruthless with Revisions

Effective self-editing requires a degree of ruthlessness. Don’t be afraid to cut or rewrite sections that do not contribute to the overall strength of your piece. Trim excess words, tighten sentences, and ensure that every element serves a purpose.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References ⚜ On Editing

[binaural-histolog]

Storytelling Is Too Effective

There's a podcast I listen to, If Books Could Kill. Every episode, they review a book -- usually popular science or psychology, but sometimes political -- and they poke holes at it. They go back to the original papers that the book cites, they cross reference claims made between chapters and point out inconsistencies, and they draw from other studies and theories to provide contrast and context. It is entertainment, but it's also an appeal to critical thought.

One great thing that the podcast does is to track down anecdotes back to the original newspaper articles, and then point out how the book misquotes or misconstrues the event to serve the narrative. It can be jaw-dropping to hear what some books do with their source material. And yet, this is believable. These books, and these stories, are believed.

But I'm only talking about popular science books that present studies and supporting anecdotes as the truth. There's another category of book, the books that present the argument purely as story.

Who Moved My Cheese is a popular book about workers who have to deal with organizational change, including layoffs and cost-cutting measures. It was famous at the time, and consists almost entirely of made up conversations between mice, detailing how the mice should think about these changes. The podcast takedown is brutal and recommended.

Part of the reason that the book is so effective is that it's entirely story. The mice say what they're told to say, and the arguments are set up to make the right mice look smart and the wrong mice look dumb. The book wants you to engage and believe the argument even though the support is entirely illusory or relies on social pressure. And people believed it.

I think there's a natural tendency for people to believe books when they are storytelling -- either as stories or narrative as dialogue. The mortar that holds storytelling together is belief, and belief by its nature is credulous. You are not invited to review the raw data of a story, or examine the statistics for data dredging. You can't reproduce the results in a double-blind experiment. Story is story: you either believe it or you don't.

And that made me wonder.

What would If Books Could Kill say about Frogs into Princes or My My Voice Will Go With You?

Frogs into Princes is a dialogue about NLP. It's supposedly a transcript from a seminar. It's super effective.

The dialogue based format is effective in part because it's off the cuff --it doesn't come with footnotes or cite references, because who does that in the middle of talking? No-one in the seminar calls them out or challenges them on where they got their results or their thinking. Bandler talks about a therapist repeatedly removing and putting back back a phobia in a single session. Terms like "transderivational search" are dropped in (even though the word "transderivational" is a linguistics term) and no-one blinks an eye. The concept of preferred representational systems (PRS) is introduced, which even Bandler revised as no longer considered an important component in 1986. The audience believes all of this. You are expected to believe all of this.

And yet, if you dig into NLP and Bandler more specifically you find that much of this doesn't actually work and PRS is invented from whole cloth, with no linguistic evidence behind it.

According to Weitzenhoffer, "the major weakness of Bandler and Grinder's linguistic analysis is that so much of it is built upon untested hypotheses and is supported by totally inadequate data."[24]

But the point isn't truth. The point of NLP is to sell NLP, and it does very well at that; the conferences are very successful and disturbing to attending journalists.

My Voice Will Go With You is slightly different. It is the teaching tales of Erickson, written by Sydney Rosen. Erickson presents a series of stories showing how he solved a patient's problems using hypnosis and metaphor. Erickson was a natural storyteller, and because of that, the books present him as a protagonist.

But if you look at Erickson as a whole, his methods and philosophy are not about truth -- Hilgard gives several examples. Erickson never cared about truth. He cared about belief.

His habit of utilization meant that he would not only utilize behavior to point out that they were going into trance. He would utilize any improvement in his patients lives to point out his successful intervention. He was clear that he would lie to his patients for the sake of the case, and it's pretty clear he was lying or exaggerating some of his cases. He projected an image, and his image was so effective that it meant people would uncritically repeat what he said and fail to check and verify his accounts.

Cardena even called out Erickson's approach.

To muddy the waters even more, why have not some of the followers of a therapist known to fabricate false past stories to achieve therapeutic goals wondered whether he used that same technique in his writing and teaching?

And the problem is, some of it appears not to work for anyone else.

The research reviewed simply does not support long-held beliefs by Erickson or those who practice Ericksonian approaches to therapy. [...] Although there are impressive and dramatic clinical anecdotes cited in the literature about Erickson and his work, there is no compelling need to invoke any sort of special curative processes active in Ericksonian approaches beyond those already documented as active in any form of effective psychotherapy (e.g., relationship, expectancies, construction of a compelling narrative, active client involvement). Unlike hypnosis as an adjunct to cognitive-behavioral therapy, it is not clear that hypnosis adds anything to this approach.

When indirect suggestions are tried in experimental hypnosis, they don't work as well as direct suggestions.

The best controlled studies provide no support for the superiority of indirect suggestions, and there are indications that direct suggestions are superior to indirect suggestions in terms of modifying subjects’ experience of hypnosis. Nevertheless, the overriding conclusion is that differences between a wide variety of suggestions are either nonexistent or trivial in nature. (p. 138)

The reason that people still believe in Erickson and in NLP is because the way that the books present the argument is through storytelling. Storytelling requires belief and inhibits critical thought. We are set up to believe: hook, line, and sinker.

[relatablegirlcomic]

Break week begins once again but this time I have a special announcement! Frannie is gaining a second home on ComicFury! I'm still staying here on tumblr of course, but I've decided it's time to start expanding. As part of this expansion there's also going to be a bit of a format change, namely I'm going to start working with a consistent page size. This will help me pace myself better and allow me to build up a bigger backlog and ideally result in a more well crafted story. To keep things consistent I'll be going back and fitting the previous chapters to this new page length as well as adding cover pages and occasionally new panels! Uploads of these revamped pages will start this coming Monday on ComicFury and continue to post every weekday until it catches up to the rest of the story. Speaking of the rest of the story, we'll resume next week with a two part mini arc that mysteriously, does not have a title! See you then ;3

[primnroses]

— Explaining Konohagakure’s Medical Department from Naruto to Boruto:

The information presented in this post has been checked and revised. My aim is not to hate or to discredit any of the characters mentioned. Please read about me for further information.

This post will contain evidence in picture format directly from the manga Naruto (1999 - 2014) created by Masashi Kishimoto and published by Shueisha in 1999. I will also use information from the official databooks.

This informative post will explain the role and utility of the Medical Department from its debut in Naruto to its development and role in Boruto. I will use information present in the novels and the Boruto manga because it includes character development within canon compliance.

This meta is crossposted in AO3.

I give my permission to use or share this thread with informative purposes as long as you credit me.

I do not support the anime or the work of Studio Pierrot in regards to Naruto because I consider it over exaggerated and beyond biased. Furthermore, these fillers include some actions that these characters are unable to do in the canon according to official sources and they also generate unnecessary debate.

This meta does contain anime scenes from Boruto because it is a monthly manga draft that depends heavily on anime for context. 

Please, take this into consideration.

This meta will include a small discussion from my own point of view about the Medical Department and its members. There will be strong criticism and complaints, comparisons with other characters, previous leaders, etc. 

HISTORY:

The Medical Department ( 医療部門, Iryō-Bumon), also known or previously known as Medic Corps (医療部隊, Iryō-Butai) is one of the three main departmental divisions of Konohagakure. They are organized in the medical-ninja from Konoha Hospital (木ノ葉病院, Konoha Byōin) and they are in charge of providing medical care within the village and in the battlefield by the training of field medical-ninja.

Their members also work in developing medical items such as medicines, ninjutsu, etc. Some time after the global conflict, the Medical Department has seen the development of new medical branches and facilities; it is also supervised by Sakura Uchiha as department head, hailed as the world’s best medical-ninja.

She is officially known as "The Head of the Medical Department" (医療部門の責任者, Iryō bumon no sekininsha).

Konohagakure's official department organization according to the first fanbook.

It is unknown when the organization itself started or when Konoha Hospital came to exist, but the concept of medical-ninjas has existed since the era of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Around the second conflict, Tsunade advocated for the inclusion of one medical-ninja per team to palliate the effects of the conflict.

Tsunade advocates for medical-ninjas to be included in every team to increase the survival rate of each member and the mission.

This department and all of their divisions wear their own unique crest with the kanji for "medicine" or "healing" (医, ishi). This crest is the symbol of Konoha Hospital and the uniforms of the Medic Corps; these uniforms consist of white overalls for the doctors with hats and ear protectors, and skirts for the nurses, both with the crest in red on their backs.

After Naruto, the crest changes places, now adorning the left side of the uniform.

The uniform of the Medic Corps during Naruto.

Naruto:

During the era of the Third and Fifth Hokage, the Medical Department was simply known as Medic Corps, and with the first fanbook, we learn that the Medic Corps are medical-ninja from Konoha Hospital; as well as being the only healthcare organization known at the time. In turn, Konoha Hospital is a building located not too far from the Hokage Residence in the center of the village. It was never specified who was running the hospital during this era. 

The Medic Corps debuted in chapter 64 mentioned by Hiruzen when referring to Kabuto Yakushi. It was said that a jōnin of the Medic Corps had saved him (his adoptive mother Nonō Yakushi). However, they were seen for the first time two chapters later, when the hospital staff, the Medic Corps, took Sasuke Uchiha to heal his wounds. 

(I want to add that the term medical-ninja did not exist around this time, so Hiruzen saying Nonō was a Medic Corps is a mistake in the continuity of the story; he would likely say medical-ninja if the term existed. The Medic Corps were later rewritten as those medical-ninja from Konoha Hospital.)

Konoha Hospital before Pain's invasion.

As soon as Tsunade was introduced into the story and after her fight against Kabuto Yakushi, we learn about medical ninjutsu and that medical-ninjas are also those shinobi that learn healing techniques and are sent to teams to aid their comrades in battle. They use medical ninjutsu (医療忍術, Iryō-Ninjutsu), like the generic Mystical Palm Technique, to heal wounds.

Therefore, medical-ninjas are divided into two types: 

Konoha Hospital’s Medic Corps medical ninja.

Field medical ninja. 

According to the first fanbook, the Medic Corps are those professional medical-ninjas that are fully dedicated to healing, developing medicine, researching diseases and performing ninjutsu focused on healing. In order to do that, they require very advanced chakra control, as well as extensive knowledge of herbs, medicines, the human body and even poisons to develop said medicines and antidotes. 

They are also divided by ranks and skills, with the story revealing that not all Medic Corps are able to use healing techniques due to the high precision of chakra control they must possess. They also include nurses among the staff.

The Medic Corps according to the first fanbook.

Meanwhile, field medical-ninjas vary in skill and knowledge. They range from just identifying the condition of a patient and using medical ninjutsu as a Chakra Transfer Technique, such as Ino Yamanaka; using healing techniques to aid in battle, like Rin Nohara; or being on par or superior in knowledge and skill as the Medic Corps like Sakura Haruno, Shizune, Tsunade and Kabuto Yakushi. 

Sakura Haruno is an example of a field medical-ninja that also actively works in Konoha Hospital as a member of the Medic Corps. Shizune too.

Medical ninja must be the last member of their teams to perish, therefore, they must never join the battle, making them support-types. This however, does not apply to Sakura Haruno, Tsunade and Kabuto Yakushi, who use medical ninjutsu variants as fighting techniques. Medical-ninja are the most valuable members of their squad and it is a priority to protect them in battle.

Yamato guarding Sakura Haruno, the only medical.ninja of the team.

I explain all about medical ninjutsu and medical ninjas here.

We can consider the Medic Corps and Konoha Hospital as the same organization, since the Medic Corps are exclusive to Konoha Hospital. 

Based on some parts of the story, the Medic Corps send relief teams to special events such as the Chūnin Exams and treat patients in separate rooms outside Konoha Hospital. They also send other smaller groups of Medic Corps on smaller teams to retrieve patients. These teams are called Medical Teams (医療班, Iryō-Han). 

Medical Teams from the Medic Corps sent to participate in events or rescue patients. We also see the change of the uniform's design.

Specialized medical-ninja are needed in Konoha Hospital in case of emergency. Examples include Shizune, Sakura Haruno and Tsunade; the two latter kunoichis being fighters as well as a medical-ninja and boasting a jutsu that grant them regenerative abilities.

Medical-ninjas are pivotal in a shinobi village or when winning big battles, as they are the only people able to maintain a full village healthy and ready to keep fighting. The Medic Corps and Sakura Haruno had their hands full during Pain’s invasion, as well as Tsunade through Katsuyu, who was able to save everyone from Pain’s Shinra Tensei explosion. 

The Logistical Support & Medical Division of the Allied Shinobi Forces was also the main target of the enemy, especially their most skilled medics, the jōnin rank medics. It was thanks to Sakura Haruno leaving the Third Division and joining the Medical Division that she could stop the White Zetsu. She also healed countless shinobi in the division; as well as healing hundreds of members of the Allied Shinobi Forces with Katsuyu in the midst of battle.

Sakura Haruno in the hospital and Tsunade with Katsuyu healing countless civilians; Sakura Haruno and Shizune in the Medical Division. Sakura Haruno healing the entire Allied Shinobi Forces.

Blank Period:

The next time the Medic Corps and Konoha Hospital appear is mainly Sakura Hiden, this novel including one of Konoha Hospital’s major medical developments; although there are mentions in other novels too:

Six months after Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was defeated, Sakura Haruno started preparations to create a Therapy Center, a mental health branch for children who are indirect victims of the shinobi world.

Two years later, Sakura Haruno successfully founded the first ever mental healthcare institution inside Konoha Hospital; and other villages like Sunagakure also followed her example. Indirectly, it is also revealed that Shizune is representing the Medic Corps and Konoha Hospital during this time.

According to the novel, she is the “Executive/Manager of the Medical Team” (医療班の幹部 Iryō-Han no kanbu) and sits with the other three top officials of the Konoha Council and the daimyō to discuss matters pertaining the village.

Sakura Haruno opens the first mental Therapy Center in the world.

Boruto: 

By the era of the Seventh Hokage, the Medic Corps rebranded, now called the Medical Department; their supervisor, Sakura Uchiha, now called “Head of the Medical Department” (医療部門の責任者, Iryō bumon no sekininsha), in contrast to Naruto’s non-existent hierarchical title. Overall, it has continued to function the same was as before, with the exception that it is now divided in two branches:

KONOHA HOSPITAL:

One of the most notable changes is the reconstruction of Konoha Hospital into a more modern building. The inside of the hospital looks much more modern and solid, in comparison to the building before Pain’s invasion, which had cracks everywhere (more noticeable in the manga).

The hospital in Boruto: Naruto the Movie and manga are more similar to the design in Naruto, while the anime changed the design to a more modern building.

Konoha Hospital in the anime and manga.

The hospital is directed by Sakura Uchiha, who also does some bureaucratic work from her own office. The building is also significantly more prepared than before, with various surgery rooms, intensive care, the off-screened therapy center, modernized patient rooms, labs and a classroom to train genin in medical ninjutsu. 

So far, Konoha Hospital remains as the center of all healthcare in Konoha and the source of all medical knowledge of the village. 

The director's office. One of the surgery rooms, the classroom, patient rooms and lab.

The Medic Corps still wear their white uniform with the crest in the back, although they changed the helmet for a bandana with Konoha’s symbol in it. Other uniforms include a blue robe with matching pants for Sakura and Shizune.

Another notable change is the presence of more discernible medical staff among their ranks. The Medical Teams sent on specific missions now wear the standard chūnin vest with the medical crest on their backs; while medical relief can be seen wearing a red armband with the medical crest.

The different types of medical-ninja in emergencies.

In addition to the new staff, Konoha Hospital has also started to give individual classes to genin that wish to become future field medical-ninja.

According to Boruto Uzumaki and Mitsuki, the Ninja Academy imparts classes about medical ninjutsu, but not real training enough to become a battlefield healer. For genin, it is compulsory that at least one member of the team trains in medical ninjutsu.

These classes are imparted by the head of department herself. Sakura Uchiha trains Sarada Uchiha for Team 7 and Inojin Yamanaka for Team 10, among others. Although according to Mitsuki’s own character profile, he is the actual medical-ninja of Team 7, which means he must have also trained with Sakura.

Although this is a loose episode, it explains how Inojin and Mitsuki, two medical-ninja according to their official manga profiles, learnt medical ninjutsu. It is canon to the story.

The new medical training explained by Boruto Uzumaki and Mitsuki. Sakura Uchiha begins the special class for genin.

MEDICAL OFFICE:

Other than Konoha Hospital with its new branches, there is also a healthcare facility inside the Hokage Residence called Medical Office or Medical Department (医務室, Imu-shitsu), controlled by the Medical Department.

Inside it, some of the Medic Corps work in important cases that need the direct supervision of the Hokage. The room is also used to attend to other healthcare cases, like the Scientific Ninja Weapons fixing Kawaki’s artificial arm. Sakura Uchiha and other staff also wear a different uniform more similar to the coat the staff of the Logistical Support & Medical Division used to wear.

Inside the room there is a single bed and several medical and technological instruments, as well as cabinets and a sink. In the manga, the room resembles a normal hospital room.

The Medical Office in the anime and manga.

Contrary to other teams that have been completely automated and made self sufficient, the Medical Department does not make use of the technology Konoha currently boasts of. Instead, they keep using shinobi for healthcare and medical ninjutsu, rather than adding machines.

Sakura Uchiha’s presence in Konoha Hospital to perform her medical duties is not unusual, and we always see her take care of patients in the village. Although it is not the same for Shizune, Sakura’s former mentor now assistant, Sakura Uchiha is always at the scene when anybody is in need of medical treatment.

Compared to the amount of times the Medic Corps appear and medical ninjutsu is used in Naruto, Ukyō Kodachi has drastically diminished the role of medical-ninja to the point of disappearance. In addition to that, the anime has demolished what it meant to train in medical ninjutsu; while it now takes a few hours to learn, it took the best medical ninja in the world 3 months to make advancements.

How does the Medical Department work and what is their role?

Gather professional medics in Konoha Hospital to heal people, study diseases, create medicines and develop healing ninjutsu.

Dispatch Medical Teams to special missions and include one field medical-ninja on teams for support.

Train future Medic Corps and medical-ninja.

DISCUSSION:

How important is the Medical Department?

The Medical Department has experienced a decrease of utility in Boruto compared to Naruto. However, being written out of the story does not equal being less important.

Unlike other teams, the Medical Department debuted fairly early into the story and it is considered as one of the major Konoha branches with ANBU and Shinobi Forces; it is the main and major support system of the village too. Some of the best examples include the Chūnin Exams when the Medic Corps heal the participants after a fight to continue training, or Pain’s invasion when Konoha citizens and shinobi were attacked by summons or in the midst of fighting the Paths. 

The equivalent of the Medic Corps at the time of the battle against Madara and Obito Uchiha, the Logistical Support & Medical Division, was also the most important support system during the conflict. It is natural that the enemy would want to take down the source of energy of a platoon, but they were also pivotal in battle by pumping the Allied Shinobi Forces full of chakra to boost their own ninjutsu, as well as Sakura and Shizune performing the autopsy on White Zetsu to discover the uses of Hashirama Senju’s cells.

Sakura Haruno of the Medical Division uses medical ninjutsu to power up ninjutsu. A medical-ninja from the Medical Division explains why they are essential.

The Medical Department is essential to secure a successful mission, be it by healing the members of the team, creating items such as poison and medical ointments to use in battle by non medics, healing shinobi after missions and also providing healthcare to the rest of citizens. 

So far, almost every Konoha shinobi, and non-Konoha shinobi, has required medical care in the hospital and member of the Medic Corps: Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Kakashi Hatake, Chōji Akimichi, Neji Hyūga, Kiba Inuzuka, Rock Lee and Konoha civilians in Naruto, Ino Yamanaka, Kumogakure and Kirigakure shinobi and children in the Blank Period, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Boruto Uzumaki, Kawaki and Hinata Hyūga in Boruto; as well as Karin, Hinata Hyūga, Kankurō, Naruto Uzumaki, Temari, Jiji and Granny Chiyo by Sakura Haruno as a Medic Corps on the battlefield.

Some examples of treatment at Konoha Hospital.

The current problem of the Medical Department:

In Boruto, the Medical Department suffered a downgrade compared to previous appearances, although not in abilities or competency. Konoha Hospital has remained one of the most successful in terms of workforce, so far never needing anyone to step in for Sakura to perform healing or save a life, and not being relegated to an automated system either. The Medical Department still relies on humans rather than machines, very unlike the sensing system for example. 

The downgrade is in relevance.

We used to see the Medic Corps, or, rather, Sakura Haruno, since more than half of the story happened outside Konoha; Sakura represented medicine and took on roles that went beyond simple healing. From elaborating antidotes for poison, creating medicines based on clan’s medical encyclopedias, using poison against enemies or using elaborate techniques other than the repetitive Mystical Palm Technique.

Sakura Haruno creates an antidote. Tsunade creates prosthetic arms.

The role of a medic has been simplified, just using the basic healing technique by default, the Mystical Palm Technique, to heal anything they get their hands into, rather than identifying different pathologies and applying different methods for each; like Kankurō needing specific healing to remove poison, for example. Now, we see Sakura using the same jutsu on every patient. 

There is no space for elaborate medicine crafting either, or, at least, do not let Sakura and her medical team do it. The concept of creating antidotes, poisons, artificial arms, studying body pathologies and using different ninjutsu has been given to Amado Sanzu and Katasuke Tōnō, rather than have Sakura, a poison expert, botanist, scientist and medic, do the job. It is a big aspect that has been taken away from the Medical Department.

Sakura Haruno using the same jutsu in every patient.

The Medical Department in itself is not a failure, nor do their ranks fail at doing their job or need other people to step in for them. The failure comes with the writing quality in the sequel compared to Naruto, rather than the organization itself. 

Could they be redeemed?

The Medical Department does not need to be redeemed or rewritten, the problem lies in how they are projected in the sequel.

Their functionality is perfect. They have the world's best medical-ninja as their leader, several members of the staff, a great emergency response and a board of teachers.

Some of the things they could do are:

Use more elaborated techniques rather than basic healing ninjutsu.

Make use of their botanists and poison experts, elaborate pills and other substances that are currently needed in plot.

There is no need to erase the Scientific Ninja Tools to make prosthetic arms, just allow them to collaborate with the Medical Department for better results and more possibilities.

Allow them to investigate seals and ninjutsu that are capable of regenerating, such as Kawaki's and Boruto's.

Considering Konoha is the most powerful shinobi village and Konoha Hospital has two of the top medical-ninja in the world, the usage of their staff leaves much to be desired in the script.

Note: The Fourth Shinobi World W4r has been replaced by global conflict to avoid mature content flags.

[mysteriouseggsbenedict]

coming on here to express my love for episodic storytelling and TV

i often struggle with watching movies, but man, TV shows hit different. They are formatted perfectly to allow for a consistent viewing routine that makes my brain buzz. Every night after dinner I watch an episode of my current show. Every night, I get the next chapter of the story, and when I spend a couple weeks to a couple months on a show (depending on its length) it becomes so familiar while still delivering new and interesting content every time.

I love getting to know characters over long periods of time. I love seeing them on screen for many more hours than I would in a singular film, learning their beats and feeling connected to them and the weird feeling that makes me think of them like they're real people even though I know in my brain that they aren't. It's what lets me write convincing fanfiction about them. I learn their voices so well that I can imitate them with great success.

TV is one of the most looked-down-upon modes of entertainment (it's mindless, it's what the people in apocalyptic narratives are addicted to, the television drones on while real life passes them by) but I just want to defend it as an art form that adds value to my life. The most meaningful scenes in a show will stick in my memory and change my mind about something or make me think about it differently or give me advice that I remember and follow. Those scenes inspire me and teach me about being human.

I don't know if it's a bad thing that I choose TV shows as my hyperfixations and spend months to years thinking about their characters every single day. I guess it's just part of autism and part of me. I do often find myself disliking the ends of shows because they are so rarely ever the happy ending I want. The couple doesn't get together or the person's dreams don't work out because the writers (maybe rightly) think that says something more meaningful about life than letting the ending be purely happy.

But I think just because shows become my escape and my obsessions I want those happy endings. I usually just pretend like the story never ends. In my head, and in my fanfiction, the characters live on forever, happy and domestic and healing, never aging or losing or ending. Because that's what I want to be true. During my hour after dinner I'm under no contract to the real world.

[nowoyas]

Edible Arrangements: The Final Bite: Thirst

First - Prev - M.list - Read on Ao3

A/N: hey grae, why don't you include the chapter titles in the titles of the actual chapters when every chapter has a title on both the master list and on ao3? I don't know, grae, let's start doing that with the actual final update to edible arrangements. that makes sense, sure.

A/N, TWO!: let's have a little chat about what's next here in the notes of the final update to the last three years of my life. for starters, every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end etc. etc. SO!

announcing!

EA: OnlyFangs!

I intended to have a banner here to announce OnlyFangs but I, uh, didn't make it. oops. but the sequel to Edible Arrangements will launch October 31st!

in the time between now and then, I will be pre-planning, pre-drafting, and largely doing prep work so that OnlyFangs can operate on a consistent update schedule. tentatively, I am aiming to have enough backlogged that I can consistently update once a week. I am fully aware that shit happens, however, and this may change. no matter what, Halloween will mark the start of the sequel, and I am committed to that! in the meantime, I plan on revisiting each chapter of EA to make small edits for consistency and include chapter titles on each installment rather than hiding them. there will be no major changes, only to things like grammar and formatting consistency in the early chapters, so no need to reread, it's just something I'm doing!

thank you to everyone who has stuck around, whether it was from the beginning or partway through. y'all really made this worth it. <3 without further ado, I give you our epilogue!

Summary: You wake up.

Warnings: blood

Word count: 1400+

You are cold when you wake. Worse than that, you are alone.

Worse than that, you are thirsty.

You know where you are, but you can't bring yourself to think about why you got here.

So, you slip out of bed in search of a drink. It's late, but you don't want anything in the house. You know that already.

There's this vending machine on campus that sells weird sodas. Not particularly strange ones, but not the kinds you find in your average vending machine. Coke Vanilla. Shit like that.

You want to go to that vending machine. You're thirsty.

Your wallet is on the vanity. You grab it, find your keys, and slip outside.

It occurs to you, then, that something is strange—the carpet is torn up and half-melted. The room has a strange scent to it. The couches are gone, too.

You're thirsty. You'll ask Izuku about it later.

This is not the right time of day to hang out on campus. It's perfect. You get in your car and drive, and it's only now you realize you're not wearing shoes.

Oh, well. You're just running to the secret vending machine behind the KUC, and it's not like you haven't seen weirder shit on campus than someone buying a soda in—you pause to glance at what you're wearing, having not thought about it until you were already driving and felt the gas pedal under your bare toes—extra baggy basketball shorts and someone else's t-shirt, sans shoes.

And so you drive, on autopilot, until you find parking close to the KUC, and then you walk on autopilot the rest of the way.

The first cool sip of vending machine soda has you sighing into it. Like a man who's walked the desert, you drink it down and don't stop drinking until you've drained the bottle.

As the bottle makes its way into the nearby recycling drop, you find that you are still thirsty.

You've still got change, so what's another bottle?

And yet, as that bottle, too, finds itself immediately emptied and dropped in the recycling, you are still thirsty.

Another.

Still thirsty.

You are nauseous now, from thirst and overwatering yourself. It occurs to you that you should perhaps just drink water, given the level of thirst you're at, but vending machine water is expensive, and you're almost out of loose change to spend on bottles of things as it is.

A clattering nearby. A girl on a skateboard. She's trying to do a kickflip. She's not doing a very good job, based on all the clattering and stumbling and complete lack of kickflipping she's accomplishing. She's swearing a storm as she tries. Again. Again.

You're so thirsty.

Fuck it.

You buy a bottle of water.

Why are you so thirsty? Why isn't anything working to—

She falls this time. Really falls. This time, her swearing is not frustrated but pained, and you're rushing to her, dropping to your knees as she hisses in pain. Her jeans are torn at the knees now, ragged holes that reveal bloodied, reddened skin beneath.

"Are you okay?" you blurt. You're already uncapping the bottle of water you had been honestly two steps away from biting into like an apple and drinking that way, already holding her leg still to rinse away the blood and gravel from her knees. "Here, let me help you clean those. That was a rough fall.”

"Ah, I'm fine. Nothing hurt but my pride, you know?" She grins good-naturedly as you rinse it all away. "I'm starting to think kickflips are bullshit, though."

You laugh softly. "Maybe they are."

You move on to her other knee with the rest of the water, but your gaze lingers on her exposed knee. Distantly, you think she gives her name, and you mumble yours back before your mouth begins to water something fierce.

The scent reaches your nose beautifully, stronger than you ever remember blood smelling. Come to think of it, you'd smelled this rich scent back at the house. Less the scent of metal and more something intoxicating and sweet.

"Uh, [name]? You good?" she says. You've already forgotten her name, barely caught yourself leaning forward too close.

You stare at her blankly.

You're thirsty.

"[name]!"

The voice snaps you out of your trance, and you turn to see Izuku bolting at you at breakneck speeds. He comes to a stop next to the both of you, barely panting. "I'm so sorry, they've been undergoing this test for a psych study and they haven't slept in a solid 24 hours and I think they forgot to take their iron pills and they always get a little weird when they're low! Are you okay? You're not hurt too bad, are you?"

"Uh, no, I'm fine. Are they going to be okay...?"

Izuku has you pressed firmly into his side with one arm, an ostensibly supportive gesture. "They should be. I should probably get them back, though! They need to get some proper iron in their system and maybe get their brain away from the whole spacing out thing."

"Um, okay. Thank you. Both of you."

You give her a loopy grin, eyes still fixed on her bloodied knees. "You'll get that kickflip."

She nods, smiles, and collects her skateboard. "Thanks again."

She boards away, and when she's finally gone, Izuku takes a cursory glance around. The rest of campus is abandoned, it seems, or at least abandoned enough that he's satisfied with the room to speak.

He drags you into a tight hug that has the both of you sighing. "You need to be careful," he mumbles into the top of your head.

As though that's fair to ask of you. You hardly know what's happening.

"Careful?" you reply, muffled in his shoulder.

You feel the telltale shifting of a nod. "You need to feed. Come back with me, we'll get you handled, and then you can rest."

You wriggle out of his hold, stare longingly at the spot on the concrete where the stranger fell and smeared her blood on the ground. Something in you is overcome—the urge to drop down, to lathe tongue against concrete just to get a few tainted drops of the blood she shed there. The other, somehow tamer, part of you wants to give chase. To follow the distant sound of her skateboard against concrete and take her down and sink teeth into skin. It's all you can do to hold back.

(Now, let’s not kid ourselves, here:

It’s not you holding you back.

It’s Izuku, physically holding you in place as you thrash unknowingly, holding you back.)

You stare at where the girl had been a moment longer, and then you turn away, running your tongue over your teeth in a desperate attempt to make your mouth feel less dry with thirst. When you do, you yelp. Flavors burst on your tongue amid the pain—you’ve cut it on your teeth, on canines sharper than—

Oh.

Oh.

Oh, how you are suddenly putting the pieces together.

“Izuku?”

“Yeah?” He seems relieved that you’ve stopped trying to struggle out of his grip.

“What the fuck happened?”

He blinks slowly. “You don’t remember?”

“You would not believe how completely tired I am of not remembering anything.”

Suddenly, everything feels wrong. Your canine teeth are fangs in your mouth, the weight that had made every motion feel just a touch sluggish dissipates to leave you feeling lither than you recall, and, come to think of it, there’s a tight feeling across your neck like a scar. Beneath your fingertips, you confirm that it is one—long and thin.

There’s a kiss to your forehead.

Oh. You remember that.

“I’ll refresh your memory, and we’ll talk about… everything we didn’t get to talk about… and we’ll sit down and we’ll get it all sorted out. But first, I need you to come home, okay? I’ve got a blood bag with your name on it, and a kitten that has missed you just as much as I have except that he actually had the right to miss you, and we really need to decide on the new furniture and carpet for the living room.”

“Do I remember it all right?” you whisper.

“What do you remember?”

You pull away only to swoop back in, only to press a soft kiss against his lips. He reciprocates with a gentle hum, holds you tight.

“That, for one thing.”

“What else?” He mumbles against your lips.

You smile softly, although it is twisted with emotions you cannot yet name. You open your mouth to speak. And you begin to make sense of it all.

Tags: @tooloudarts @xxangelpridexx @lirinstaalem @izoodles​​ @denise-the-death-goddess @themerpenguin​ @sincerelybubbles​ @fudobaby​ @imabootywarrior​ @fuc-kingmonkey​​ @the-secret-thief @kc-korra​ @kiliakit​ @hay-leeeah @meowkid1000 @mha-baku-todo-deku-kiri @jojo-buttercup @starfishlovingbnha @wwwwyamd @omiwashere @emilytheeggy @subwayslander @thelittle-witch​ @sparkexplosive @shoutaaizawas @vanilladyfics @stargazerunlimited @chaoticevilbakugo​ @deeplightgarden @stxrrielle @idonthaveanameideayet @snowymaltese @bnha-babygirl @graywrites20 @dusstory @sky-angel101

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If you're reading this, thank you, every one <3

[qoldenskies]

Taking a break from homework to ask 11, 12, and 30 from that ask game you reblogged (I’m super super interested in the way other people go about writing their fics lolol 🙏)

YIPPEEEEE

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

truthfully it kind of depends! whenever i write i tend to have The Scene in mind and if i get impatient i'll usually write it, but i try to avoid doing it because i notice it messes with flow (but flow and pacing is something im just very conscious of, even though i observe that because im writing it my brain is reading it faster/skimming so its partially a me problem LOL)

in caged lungs im skipping around only because im trying to go with a draft format instead of editing as i go, since its so long itll help when i see everything connected, and there's a few scenes i plan on changing/rewriting completely when i get it all out. technically everything ive posted up to this point is a first draft, and its a habit i hope to break !!

12. Do you outline your fics? If yes, how detailed are your outlines?  How far do you stray from them?

i doooo yes, its mostly just a list of things/interactions i know i want. for cvd i have plans for up to chapter 9/10 or so, and just a bunch of scripts/concepts for later. with canary continuity i have a description for each scene on the google doc and i just add the content in as i go, with my actual notepad (thing i discovered i had on my laptop and have been using liberally) i mostly have quotes and passages i want to put in the story

and also for cc in particular im keeping really close track of the motifs and how i want to work them back around. already thinking about the healing part of the arc and implanting scenes/chekhovs guns that are going to loop back around WAY down the line is very funny... i actually do some of this for cvd too, i love to write intentionally like that.... i am weirdly pretentious and earnest about my turtle fanfiction. people have no idea what im going to do with that lamp and i bide my time. also the clocks. and the laundry room. and the ocean (actually that one's fine its just a parallel). and the rooftop. and the cameras oh my god the cameras. i plan on committing so many horrors

really just things i know i WANT to be consistent with is the biggest thing i keep track of (although sometimes things will just pop up AS i'm writing and i roll with the punches, like the security system being a metaphor in coming undone, and also all of the very intentional trust fall parallels and the way it conveniently worked with the chapter names. fun fact for metaphors, i REALLY planned to expand on the chess thing between leo and donnie but it messed with the pacing so im keeping it for cvd.... ive got some ideas)

OH EXCEPT FOR THAT SEP AU IVE VAGUELY TALKED ABOUT. i have EVERY SINGLE chapter plotted out, its 52 chapters long. i am NOT GOING TO WORRY ABOUT IT RIGHT NOW its a far in the future thing. but its also the only au i have that isnt like,,, specifically canon divergent, so i wanted to pay close attention to how i set things up. 4 later (currently the working name for it is where we went wrong, after the song by the hush sound, and honestly im tempted to keep it because it makes the acronym wwww which is beautifully ironic because they take NOTHING BUT LS ITS JUST ONE AFTER ANOTHER OH MY GOD)

30. How much do you edit your fics?  Do you edit as you write or wait until you finish the first draft?

OH I KIND OF ALREADY ANSWERED THIS ABOVE OOPS. im trying to break out of the habit but i mostly just grammar correct through google docs and then throw out the first draft haphazardly, and it can kinda come off polished anyway because i tend to edit as i go. sometimes it means i'll fix mistakes in fics like a month after releasing them, impatience is my Weakness

wow i yap a lot LMFAO the yapperrrr

[mumms-the-word]

#17 for the writer's asks. Like you have a schedule for Nautera, and I can't fathom writing fast enough to strick to a schedule 😭, or being certain I wouldn't want to change some parts until the fic is almost done. So I'm interested to hear what your process is!

Oh man this question is so complicated for me haha here we go. Looong answer ahead so I've put most of it under the cut!

17. talk about your writing and editing process

okay so let me start off by saying...I don't have a consistent process haha

I do up to a point. So most of the time for fic, when I get an idea, I'll mull it around in my head a bit, and I might jot down a few lines or notes I don't want to forget in the Notes app (either on my phone or on my laptop), and then I'll set it aside for when I have time to write it. Then I write it, read over it the next day for edits, put it in tumblr for another round of edits, and post it when I feel like I'm happy with it.

But in reality? Oof. It really just depends. (also TLDR, writing is a process, and I love my fanfic community <3)

Sometimes the inspiration to write a whole oneshot or scene takes me and I'll write out a first draft right there in the Notes app (I tend to sacrifice work when I do this, which is bad and often why I end up with so much unfinished work with deadlines staring me dead in the face at the last minute. So I do not recommend this, but hyperfixation will hyperfixate...) I believe I wrote the entire first drafts for Choosing to Live and Ascension, Return in one day each.

Other times, I'll come back to it and play around with it for a bit. Sometimes the writing is easy! Chapter 4 for In Fathoms Below was super fun for me to write (especially the last half) because I had battle music playing and I was just so excited to get to the dragon turtle reveal. Chapter 5, which will be a much more intense action/adventure scene, was significantly harder and took much longer. I think I spent several days, probably a week fighting with that chapter, because I wanted it to be good, fast-paced, and tense...but also make sense. I'll probably still mess with it before it posts on Friday.

Sometimes, I can write a whole scene/chapter in a day. Other times it takes me several days. It really just depends. Sometimes music helps. Sometimes I just can't make one single paragraph work and it frustrates me for days (*coughcoughCHAPTER 5cough*). Sometimes I write myself into a corner and I don't know how to fix what I did, but I'm too stubborn to delete anything just yet or start over. Not every chapter/scene/oneshot is the same!

Once I have a full draft of the chapter/oneshot, however, then I start to edit it. This also changes up depending on the project. For a oneshot, I might read through it twice on my Notes app, adjusting things as I go. I try not to write a full oneshot and post it on the same day so I can sleep on it and come back to it with a fresh brain (mini fics like the Nightfall and alone, finally fics don't count, I'll post those after two read-throughs on the same day because they are asks).

Once I'm half-satisfied with it in Notes, then I'll stick it into tumblr on my laptop and use the Grammarly widget to help catch grammar mistakes. Reading it in a different font/arrangement/format also helps with finding mistakes or catching awkward sentences. Once I'm happy with it on tumblr, I'll queue it up to post, and then copy/paste everything into AO3 and post it there once it goes live on tumblr.

For a chapter of my longfics, however, I might read it several times. I'll go back and read the previous chapter and then the current one to make sure I've kept things consistent and that everything flows or transitions from one chapter to the next, for example. I'll read it once a day for a couple of days (maybe skipping a day if I'm frustrated with it) and see what each new day brings in terms of edits, fixes, and ideas. With the Masquerade longfic, because it's kind of just for me and a friend (though I'm excited that others are enjoying it too!), I'll post the chapter as soon as I'm relatively satisfied with it, maybe only spending 2-3 days on edits (not counting time spent writing a full draft).

For the Nautera/Atlantis fic, however, because I know there's a bit more hype from 2-3 more readers (and people have been SO lovely in their comments on AO3 as well!! <3), I put a smidge more effort into it. For one, I set up a schedule and wrote several chapters in advance, because last week and this week is PACKED with deadlines and work I ignored while doing other things (ahem, like writing the Atlantis fic). I wrote 4 chapters pretty much in the span of a week and then held off posting any of them until I had a good queue lined up. Then I queued them up over two weeks.

The benefit to this is that it gives me breathing room to write at my own pace while still ensuring I have content for my readers...which is different than the Masquerade fic, which I kind of write "as the inspiration strikes" and so I don't update it nearly as consistently (sorry friends). Trust me, if I posted chapters as soon as I had them ready, I would've posted 4 chapters back to back on the same day or on 4 days, and then we'd be waiting 2-3 weeks (or months) for the next chapter. I'd get bogged down by shame, I'd contemplate quietly quitting the project, it would be a whole thing. The queue helps me and my readers. I really need to implement it for the masquerade fic too.

(I still have a queue going, actually. I currently have Nautera's chapter 5 queued up to post on Friday and chapter 6 in a "midway" draft stage, and the start of chapter 7 in Notes. I don't normally write that far ahead! But the idea has me in a chokehold...and I'd rather write it than work, unfortunately.)

HOWEVER. The benefit and downside to having the chapters queued up and being excited for them is that I can still mess with them. So for the Nautera/Atlantis chapters, they might sit in my queue for a week, and every day I might go back in and make tiny adjustments. So for some things, I might only do a day of edits, maybe 2 days. For something like the Nautera/Atlantis fic, though? I have a bad habit of messing with each chapter several times lol sometimes this is fine and sometimes I feel like I'm messing with them too much, you know?

All that said, for some reason, fics don't trigger my perfectionism, even knowing I have actual readers reading and responding to them. You'd think they would, but they don't. Unlike my original book projects, which trigger my perfectionism so bad I haven't finished several of them because I want to keep messing with them, fics are consumed so quickly I feel less pressure about sharing them. I think there's a kind of freedom in knowing that once it's posted, it's out there, for better or for worse. You can fix minor edits, but you don't necessarily have to sweat the small stuff because it's just fanfic, it's posted for free, and if people don't want to read it, it's not personal. It's been really fun, actually, and I love the little community I've built making BG3 fics for people (and for myself).

I think, also, it's been healthy for me to hone my writing craft/skills away from fandom spaces first. I didn't get an AO3 until this year and I'm in my late 20s. I think if I had tried to write fanfic when I was a teen or even in my early 20s, I'd be too obsessed with the numbers. At this point in my life, I'm just happy to get a couple of comments, and happier still that my writing brings 4-5 people joy <3

It also helps to remember the wise words of one of my graduate instructors when it comes to certain projects: Done is better than good. This is a life-saver for essays and school projects, of course, but for fic, I know we want our content to be good. So I'll adjust it for fic here:

Done is better than perfect.

[blazing-dynamo]

How does one format epubs? I have a lot of free time and love formatting, I'd love contributing to the effort of fixing all the doctor who epubs!

It’s complicated, but doable.

First, it depends on the style of PDF. There are some that are crisp scans of every page, scanned by the Camels, (btw the camels if you’re still around you’re a real one.) and for those, I open them in Microsoft Word, because word is like 80% good at converting it, where other PDF eaters suck.

From there, I check out some common problems:

1. Footers: just remove them all. They don’t help in ePub land

2. Headings: for consistency, I change all the Headings to Agency FB, because it’s included in windows and matches the vibe of the headings in the book

3. Chapter Breaks: I turn on the “View Whitespace” mode, and delete everywhere that says section break, and then make sure there’s a page break at the end of every chapter, after the title page, foreword, etc. I also add “Chapter X” on the line before the title of the chapter. The EDAs are not consistent in how they handle chapter titles and I crave consistency so I add it.

4. Table of Contents. Word is Too Powerful™️ and recognizes the table of contents and imports it as a smart, clickable ToC, which, again, we don’t need. You can’t really edit it or anything so I just delete it, and type up a new one, leaving off the page numbers because we won’t need them in epic land.

5. Formatting. This is the bulk of the issue. I use word WildCards, which are similar to RegEx, to find all cases of a lowercase letter or comma followed by a paragraph mark, and replace it with the same character followed by a space. Then I also look for instances of a paragraph mark followed by a lower case letter, and replace it with space plus the letter. Then I replace all Tab characters with a space. Then I look for paragraph marks followed by a space and replace them with just a paragraph mark. This gets like 94% of the bad formatting that the Calibre/kindle/etc auto ePub conversion makes reading insufferable. I try to catch as many of the rest while doing the remaining steps.

6. Formatting cont’d: then, I change the Normal style to be 12pt Garamond. This isn’t important because this is ultimately up to the reader’s chosen font in their eReader, and I don’t embed Garamond, but putting it in Garamond makes it easier for me to notice when something is wrong because I’m used to seeing Garamond while making these.

Then, I use Find/Replace to add a highlight to everything that has the same indent as the Normal style, so I can then see everything weird because it won’t be highlighted. I then scrub through the book and set the problem paragraphs to the Normal style, which then Corrects the indents. I make sure when I do this to watch for italics and make sure that the style didn’t revert them to normal. This happens on short paragraphs with one or two words, and one of which is italicized, as well as paragraphs where the entire thing is italicized.

I also in this step scrub through to find mid-chapter breaks, the favorite storytelling device of the EDAs, and make them uniform. Word will make it into various levels of after-paragraph spacing, but I set the paragraph to normal, and then just leave two empty paragraphs between the sections. This tends to import the best across devices and fonts.

Finally, I make sure that after each chapter and chapter break, the first paragraph isn’t indented, to match the style of the print EDAs.

7. Still formatting, but different. I then do a scrub through and make sure I didn’t screw anything up or forget something. The problem with RegEx is that it will do exactly what you tell it to, even if that’s not what you wanted to happen. So oftentimes my table of contents or copyright page is borked, and I have to go fix it. Once I have it in a decent shape, I

8. Import into Calibre. Just drag and drop the DocX into Calibre and it’ll get added as a book. I then use the metadata editor to download the metadata from the web, so it’ll have good info on it. None of the online sources regocnize this as a series, though, so I add it myself.

9. Convert to ePub: in the Calibre library list I right click the book and convert it to ePub, default settings. DocX->ePub conversion is really simple because they are both just HTML pages under the hood, so it imports perfectly.

10. (Bonus steps) once an ePub, I press T to edit the book, and import Agency FB and Agency FB Bold, and then press the Table of Contents button, to select where the in-reader chapter list points to. And then I use just hyperlinks to make the in-book ToC clickable to take it to the same place.

The uglier, hand-typed PDFs are basically the same, but then I also have to do a bunch of spell check to catch all the typos. And then those don’t have italics at all, so depending on the book, and if I have a copy of it physically, I scan the physical book with my eyeballs to catch italics and add them back to the DocX. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than the baffling choice to just remove them completely.

I know from importing the PDFs a long time ago there’s another person who scanned/typed the books, but I haven’t seen the state of them to know if they’ll need extra TLC.

It’s kind of a whole lot! But also if I get a The Camels PDF I can knock it out in about an hour.

If you wanted to take a crack at it, by all means! Though I really need a proofer, so if you wanted to just start reading and use the form links I have in the folders to report the issues you find, that would be wonderful. Bonus points, you get to read the EDAs lol.

[marengogo]

UGH!-6: But like … Did They Stutter?

Yet To Come - by BTS  [Proof]

[Music is a very big part of my life and I’m MOSTLY INCAPABLE of writing without music, so I just thought I'd share what I am listening to while writing this]

–🐺–🐺–🐺–

…

Given that even my coworkers, who generally REALLY DON’T CARE/KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT BTS except for the ones who now have started listening to some of their songs thanks to yours truly, came to me saying “So. BTS. They are disbanding uh? …” the day after FESTA 2022 dinner, I’d say it wouldn’t be a gross generalization to assume that at least every ARMY, OT7, x/y/z-biased, solo, anti, shipper, whatever-you-prefer-to-be-called, saw FESTA 2022 dinner. Right? 

If you haven’t I’d highly recommend you to do so but as always you feel free to do you as the boys did explain everything that they could at the time, which is pretty much what is happening right now. They also made a couple of sentiments and statements clear, and I, for one, am writing this post even though I am painfully aware that the boys are never going to see it, yet I still wish to put out this message in the universe, maybe its energy will manifest and reach them somehow, as I would really like them not to think that we all have poor listening and reading comprehension. 

BTS’ CHAPTER 1: THE END OF AN ERA.

The Beatles. The Jackson 5. Menudo. New Edition. Backstreet Boys. One Direction.

According to the following Wiki definition this is what they all have in common:

A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation.[1] Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. South Korean boy bands usually also have designated rappers 🤡 LOL LOL LOL 🤡.

That being said, with hindsight, we can add/examine a couple of aspects, which have surfaced through the years and further represent boy bands. For example, the fact that at the very beginning boy bands were usually the union of a group of friends, or classmates, basically, people who already knew each other. Let’s fast forward a couple of decades, and we see that the music industry catches on to the fact that waiting for the next phenomenal boy band to magically appear is not sustainable and that is when they realise that they can actually make the groups themselves. So starts the scouting and the auditioning with the sole goal of slapping together supposedly talented boys who are complete strangers to one another, but who at the very least, have a desire to become rich and famous. “Win-win”. 

Moving on, around the same time, we'll have to leave the West and take a trip to East-Asia, where the boy band industry has had an even bigger eureka moment. What they’ve realized is that even though these boys may not have the affinity of a band of boys who already know each other, from a business point of view they can easily be molded into whatever it is on demand at the very moment, afterall, everybody loves a good story, and even better if it comes with a great soundtrack. So what better than creating a narrative for these boy bands, each member would have a role/character associated and fans can not only enjoy the music but also follow a sort of “storyline” as they watch for example the silent masculine strong member interact with the cute feminine talkative one. Even greater “win”, brr brr!.

Now, in an ideal world, all that reasoning would make sense and bring about endless profit, but we don’t live in such a place do we? The whole purpose of a business is to make money and if money is what you base your every decision on, sooner or later, you are bound to encounter problems that money can’t solve without changing things irreversibly and in most instances, for the worst. The thing about grouping ambitious strangers with the intent of becoming rich (usually more for the company) and famous (usually more for the artists) is that if you don’t have a common goal all you are essentially doing is building a glorified House of Cards. 

And don’t get me wrong, Longevity, is something that this type of companies, and the artists themselves, could only dream to achieve but never actually aim at. Nobody does, because it is very much a pipe dream type of thing. In fact, for the most part, the company's goal is it to at least have one amazing CD, make fans go crazy for a year or two, so that they can spend some money, and then if it doesn’t work anymore, the artist would hope to have garnered enough fame to allow them to start perhaps a solo career, or at least stay within the business, while the group inevitably disbands and the company moves on to the next group. Rinse and repeat ad infinitum. This has been the blueprint, and it was indeed the same blueprint used to form Bangtan Sonyeondan. 

It was the same blueprint, but Bang SiHyuk was a visionary that had goals of his own, with a knack for unusual experimentation 🤡. And exactly like a Mad Scientist, if you will, he played around with what he believed to be “slightly usual ingredients”. However, what he didn’t quite know at the time, was that these “ingredients” were actually very unusual. Some of the “ingredients” didn’t follow instructions, some very quickly dropped their assigned character, and some even had secret jobs but what they all had, and he probably didn’t account for or maybe he did, who knows right? was an extraordinary fighting spirit, which pulled up strong when it became clear that it was Bangtan vs the World. These boys had something to prove. They had somehow found their common goal.

As we all should know, early Bangtan, due to Big Hit's lack of reputation and funds, became the industry’s punching bag. This would have normally caused an “explosion in the lab”, instead, it created something new. The boys were fired up with this fiery will to fight back. They took the negativity and turned it into artistic fuel and did all of that while naturally learning about each other and consequently depending on each other solely. Somehow, these boys ended up actually liking each other. They kinda fought like members of a band made of family members, but had the passion of members of a band of strangers. They were an anomaly. 

An anomaly in a world that had rapidly become full of “anomalies”. Your everyday listener was, yes, looking for good music, yes, looking for something new and entertaining, but when they realised that they could also get someone who they could relate to; … 🤯🤯🤯. And so the “ingredients'' began to mutate. Along the way, they found their true calling, while adapting to their environment and understanding their receptors fandom, which also understood them in return, creating a never before seen bond, Tannies & ARMY, that brought them to where they are now; a world where THEY are the blueprint has anyone else noticed the number of boy/girl bands that got back together. 

These boys have created something unique. 

Something that other “Mad Scientists” have ever since been trying so hard to recreate in “their labs” and so far to no avail. This “something” is not only insanely lucrative, but also so emotionally rare, and has a chance at Longevity. These are boys who trust and genuinely love each other, but because they are also human, and have learned to be honest with themselves, they also know their limitations. And like they’ve always done, they sat down, exposed the problem, and tried to find a solution. And even though they didn’t have to, they also sat down with us, FESTA 2022 dinner, and quite clearly explained their solution. But, as always, the world managed to take their words and turn them into whatever sold better on the front page of the next morning paper we’ll get to that later on or/and whatever better fits their personal agendas. 

BTS’ CHAPTER 2: A LIMITED AMOUNT OF TIME, WITH AN UNLIMITED NUMBER OF POSSIBILITIES.

Have any of you experienced moments where you just wanted some time to yourself? Like, you love your friends, your family, your job, your everything, but at the same time, you are mentally exhausted and you need out for as long as you can afford? This is usually what most people use holidays for, you might be thinking. But the type of out I’m talking about is the kind where you want to be able to pause your present life, start another life for a while, and then go back to your past life kinda out. Basically, a “have your cake and eat it” type of out. 

That’s what I feel the boys are trying to experience and I ain’t mad at it, not one bit. Cause, let's be real, most of us regular people can’t really afford to even think of experiencing such a thing without MAJOR repercussions to our everyday life. But not only do I feel like they deserve it, but if it also allows them to reach their goals, and solve their problems, it would be like killing two birds with one stone. I mean, they really are not hurting anyone, by wanting to have a chance to experience life outside BTS other than those who are setting themselves up to be hurt that is 🤡.  

October 2022 rolled around and we got the following:

This theoretically gives a precise time frame to BTS’ CHAPTER 2. Let’s say that being back together means that they will physically be together and do a WLIVE on the 31st of December 2025, that means that, if we assume their serving period to be 18 months, the latest any member can enlist is the 30th of June 2024 (which I calculated considering the 30th of December 2025 being their last day). Obviously, I don’t know if their plan is to be together by the end of December 2025 and start working on a new album in 2026. Or be together say by August 2025 and ready for a tour in 2026 with a new album; only time can tell. But for the purpose of this post: BTS’ CHAPTER 2 began on the 15th of June 2022 and could end on the 31st of December 2025.

SO, that being said, a couple of things happened on the 15th of June 2022 that I would like to point out and a couple of things, define a couple of others, and I would like for people to remember one particular thing:

THINGS TO POINT OUT:

Some OT7 ARMY decided to dip and come back when BTS comes back to be 7, so after MS.

Other OT7 and/or x/y/z-biased ARMY decided to support each member’s solo endeavour.

Last but abso-fucking-lutely not least, SOLOS FINALLY GOT THEIR TIME TO SHINE AND PUSH THEIR AGENDA, along side antis.

THINGS TO DEFINE:

FAMILY BOY BAND MEMBER or FBBMs: Is what I will call boy bands with members that already knew each other, or were already related, etc etc etc.

STRANGERS BOY BAND MEMBERS or SBBMs: Is what I will call the type of bands that were put together through an audition, selection, etc etc etc.

ONE THING TO REMEMBER OR REALISE:

There was a point in time when BTS was seriously considered by NOBODY. Many knew about them, but still wanted nothing to do with them. Some that knew about them, went on and treated them like trash. Even though they had the talent, it took their fandom at the time to be persistent in order for people to give them a chance. In short, differently from many FBBMs and SBBMs who eventually ended up splitting up after reaching fame, BTS experienced having nobody but themselves and their label and fame came AFTER THAT. Because everyone was a nobody before becoming somebody, but how many were nobodies, who were constantly shoved down by semi-bodies and ignored by somebodies before they became THE BODIES themselves? So yeah, they may be smiling to people that harmed them in the past, and they might have decided to forgive and forget in other instances, but as real and intended as the experience they had were, you can bet that so are the choices that they make nowadays. A method to madness.

If you are a businessperson like yours truly, or have dealt with managing a business, you probably know that it is like in Love and War; all is fair. Obviously, this brings about injustice right away, but this is a known fact, no matter how clean you are, if you come and play in a muddy place, what do you think is gonna happen? Not to say that everyone is trying to get down and dirty, in fact, there are people that try their best to keep clean, but the reality of the fact is that you are still playing in mud. Yet, there is a difference between purposely trying to suffocate people in those muddy waters and trying to simply play by the rules, harm as less people as possible in the process and going home to live another day and start all over again the next day. 

Life is about balance, that’s why I like the color gray so much, it is the balance between black and white. And even though the Tannies are our beloved artists, it is important not to forget that in their own right they are also businessmen. I’m sure they want nothing else than to be there for ARMY always in theri best capacities, but this is not a charity, their lives, and the people who work for them, depend on the amount of money they make; this needs to not be forgotten. Now, how they make this money, all depends on the muddy field they play in, but from what I can see they really try their darn best to keep as clean as they can and harm as few people as humanly possible. 

ALL THAT to say that, when you experience having NOTHING with a group of PEOPLE, you will TREASURE THAT GROUP OF PEOPLE. Hence, ONCE AGAIN and it will not be the last time, I’ll keep hammering this, Chapter 2 wasn’t brought by for them to spread their wings and keep the fuck out, but as a means for them to have the experience they each want to have so that they can eventually be together again, healthily in order ot achieve Longevity which I will also get to towards the end of this post, don’t worry. And this brings me right to the current issues on the fandom-streets: FAVORITISM & SOLOS.

So at the moment “JUNGKOOK and his radio play” are the most recent subject. I will not go in depth, as I’ll be damned if I brought up all THE UNNECESSARY energy that has been riding with this valid topic. In fact, one thing that I found very helpful in understanding the radio play issue, was the following post by Ororo and Artiechikoo: 

​​https://www.tumblr.com/chikooritajjk/722232413519052800/so-youll-are-basically-saying-since-the-industry?source=share

Now, once you’ve read that, you’ll understand that the ACTUAL ISSUE HERE IS: WHY DIDN’T HYBE SEND LIKE CRAZY TO BE PLAYED ON THE RADIO, and that ladies, gentlemen and distinguished enbies, is a legit ass question. However, none of the members have anything to do with ANY of that, or with anything related really. During Festa 2022 dinner, they all told us the order in which their albums were coming out, which would indicate that they all sat down months beforehand, and all discussed what they wanted to do during their chapter 2. I would also dare to say that they also all were responsible for their projects, promotions and every aspect of their chapter 2, but that is just me.

ANYWAYS, back to the Jimin radio play issue, which, once again, is A VALID TOPIC, that unfortunately is being muddied from all the shit that solos are bringing forth that has NOTHING to do with anything. Is like the story of the boy who cried wolf, when the actual wolf arrived, nobody was there to help. When you are still stuck on cakes, on accusing members of sabotage, or any moving thing at that, THE REAL PROBLEM WILL BE OVERLOOKED.

Also, just putting this out there, if you actually think that ANY OF THE MEMBERS is out there actively sabotaging other members, then rest assured that you are also stanning a phonie-ass person. If you took a second to check out every other member, for every member who is being sabotaged by members, there is a story about that same member sabotaging another member. MEANING that we would all be supporting a band of phonies, who wouldn’t think twice to backstab their band mates; ALL OF THEM. 

So when, for example, you are accusing JK of throwing JM under the bus, or in the mud, stop one second, breathe, and TRY to put yourself in JK’s shoes. Imagine for example, spending a whole day reacting to JM content, or even just the following:

And then, imagine not giving a fuck about him: HOW DOES THAT WORK EXACTLY? Yes we don’t like Scooter Braun, yes we don’t agree with MANY OTHER THINGS, but it is vital to know how to address the correct issue and not just burn EVERYTHING DOWN, or/and involve not concerned parties. So when for example, the company is to blame, then the fucking company is to blame only, and not everything you would like to blame along with it. 

I 👏🏾DO 👏🏾 NOT 👏🏾 CARE 👏🏾 FOR 👏🏾 SOLOS 👏🏾 IN  👏🏾ANY 👏🏾 WAY 👏🏾 OR 👏🏾 FORM 👏🏾. 

Not too long ago, I was making this example with someone who told me that there was maybe a valid reason for people to become solos, but to me it felt like people saying they had a valid reason for becoming Nazi; would I support a Nazi, no matter what reason? 🤡🤡🤡THERE IS ALWAYS ANOTHER WAY, and unfortunately, keep suffering for a while longer, is one of them 🤡🤡🤡Becoming a Nazi WILL NEVER BE THE ANSWER for me, in the same way in which BECOMING A SOLO WILL NEVER BE THE ANSWER. When you become a solo you actively decide to care fuck all about all the other members. Now the person you want to support, loves and wants to keep building something with the people you decide are expendable, so, once again: HOW DOES THAT WORK EXACTLY?  Being able to pinpoint the actual issue is hard, it is confusing, it is stressful, but it is essential, please please please understand that.

BTS’ CHAPTER 3: BTS IS ENDGAME. PERIOD.

… I mean, I really don’t want to sound like a broken record so let me allow them to say it:

💙:

Here is the link to the full article: https://www.instagram.com/p/CpgkLqbtEKB/?hl=en

🩷:

🖤:

❤️:

💛:

💚:

💜:

AAAAAND, Except for Yoongi who is being rightfully private precious:

ALL OF A SUDDEN, I have a feeling that Yoongi got a “matching tattoo with the rest of the rapline, so his tattoo is somewhere on one of his legs …These boys have spent YEARS OF THEIR LIFE fighting against all sorts of prejudice, hate, nonsense, and more. It used to be from those who never gave them a chase, but now it seems that the adversary-wave is coming from within the fandom. YEAH IT LOOKS BAD RIGHT ABOUT NOW. But let's emphasize the LOOKS part of that sentence, because Social media “ARMY” aren’t IT. 

When you spend too much time on any SM, it will feel like that’s what ARMY is ALL about but I can guarantee you that there are so many ARMY out there who don’t know or care about the noise and just mind their business and keep streaming and advocating for the right causes. There are ARMY who do their best to support the boys in the best way they can, even if they can’t afford to buy every single piece of merch. 

There are also ARMY who are waiting for the boys to come back and also those people who have no idea yet, but will suddenly become ARMY in 2026 when THE BIGGEST COMEBACK THIS PLANET WOULD HAVE EVER WITNESSED, will kick off after they announce their world tour. In conclusion, as always, DO AS YOU SEE FIT, but if you decide that, believing and following people who think that having the boys competing against each other for future solo supremacy is where it’s at, all I’d “cutely” have to say is that:

THEY DIDN’T STUTTER: OT7 IS ENDGAME.

HAPPY ARMY DAY 🫰🏾.

Always respectfully yours,

Marengo. 

[claraxbarton]

You might have answered this before, BUT I’m a recent follower and curious ok!! Generally speaking, what is your writing process like? I’m genuinely so impressed by how many different fics you’ll have going simultaneously and they’re all updated SO frequently. AND THEY’RE ALL SO GOOD?? Like do you have vague plans/outlines or drafts that you expand on/edit? Your accountability post will mention writing a few thousand words and then there’s an update the same day and it’s written so well lmao it blows my MIND bc it seems like you just come up with the plot on the fly and then casually write a lil masterpiece after work like it’s nbd. All of this to say I appreciate your work so much ♥️

<3

So uh, to start off with, I'm guessing when you say you recently started following me, you're probably just reading my HRPF fics? I SAY that/ask that because I've bounced through a few fandoms and I kind of go back and forth between being VERY prolific and finishing up projects and kind of... losing steam.

To be fair to me and not to scare anyone off, before this year I have, for the last decade and change, been juggling two full time jobs, part time work, childcare and a lot of volunteer work PLUS trying to write so like, I'm cutting myself some slack on abandoned projects. Because I'm finally down to 1 full time job and 1 part time gig that is only during the summer. I will ALSO say, in December I switched meds for my anxiety/depression so I'm on a new dose, new meds for the first time in 5 years and I do think that's been really impactful in a positive way.

SO, exposition and TMI out of the way:

I wish I could say I had a really clear process that I follow every time, but I don't want to lie. I create docs with notes - I'm thinking about including those as an epilogue chapter on the fics I'm currently working on, if anyone is interested in my scribbles aside from myself and my beta - and SOMETIMES I create outlines. A lot of the time, I will write a chapter or two and THEN create the outline? That's what happened with Gold Rush, but also with Gold Rush, I have already deviated from the outline like... a lot.

I'm trying to be way more chill with myself than I used to be. I was in this deep grind of forcing myself to be productive because that's where my value was (@kangofu-cb is a real one and has been trying to beat this out of me for years. Beating with love). And I'll be honest, being kinder to myself and putting less pressure is, like, so far, so good.

I usually have about, like... a dozen or so fic ideas in my head at any one time (@dwisp can attest to the DAILY messages of 'hear me out' as can @kangofu-cb), but I uh, I really feel 4 long fic is my simultaneous max.

I also have a problem with like, so if you DO want to read some of my not HRPF stuff, I think a good primer is the WinterhawkHood month I did in October with a fic a day, and the consistent issue is: I feel like I'm really good at creating a premise and that premise wants to exist beyond 2-5k. So longfic is probably the format to best tell the stories I want to tell, but, like, writing shorter fic is a lot of fun? That also does NOT answer your question.

Oh! MUSIC! It's so so so so important to my process. I used to put on specific artists, like really get into a singular vibe for a fic. But these days it's just my routine sleepy sad girl playlists (name coined by a former assistant and like she wasn't wrong). Which also probably explains how much sad sack Leon there is in my current fics. I should probably like, get some new playlists going...

Uh, in terms of like, my style/my ideas... so my professional life is theatre adjacent, and I think because of that, dialogue and THE INCITING INCIDENT are really important to me. So usually any fic idea forms around the kernal of the meet ugly and some choice words.

Like, for Gold Rush, I absolutely started from the idea of Leon being a bitch to the press and getting a text from an unknown number/Matthew and it just grew from there.

For Playing Favorites, I absolutely wanted to have former camboy Vince realize his new... work colleague??? Adam Larsson knew he was a former camboy. Which is funny because that moment happens in the middle of the fic (which I AM going to update again soon, y'all might vote consistently for Gold Rush in the polls but this weekend I think it's gotta be some love for my two Lars&Dunn fics).

For Northern Attitude, that inciting incident is, uh, about to occur in ch4 that I'm currently working on. And it's. Well. Yeah. So I got the idea for that 'scene' if you will first and then figured it out backwards?

For Wildfire that, too, has an inciting incident that has yet to make it into a chapter. But she's coming soon.

So really, only Gold Rush started as the beginning as far as ideas went for me? That said, I still START at the beginning when I write. I used to scribble down scenes and then piece them in, but I honestly found it constrained me more than anything else and I'm aware that doesn't make much sense.

I feel like this entire answer is a total nonanswer of me just blathering away. I hope at least part of this is what you wanted and uh... sincerely? Thank you for asking. It means a lot and like, my process is weird and inconsistent but I do genuinely love to talk about my writing.

[sanderssideswriting]

Kind of suck that jacksepticeye can make a comicbook base of his egos in the year 2023; but Thomas can’t! It’s been what; almost 3? 4? Years since the last big episode? Thomas can make other videos and other shows, wouldn’t making a comic be easier or less time consuming? It could give the fans a statistical ending.

So I don’t know anything about Jack and his egos. But that is VERY cool he made a comic for it and I hope that continues in some way shape or form.

Thomas making a comic or something might be better. But he’s still not finished part 4 of the finale. I don’t know much about comis other then like, you draw stuff and whatever. But that’d also take a lot of time. Finding artists, having thrm draw it, approve it, reject it, make changes. Like no matter what he foes it will take time.

Which is understandable with everything going on. I just wish there was a little more transparency in it instead of random teasers and updates where he says he’s still writing. Which fine, I get that. But does he have to write it all now?

To pull an example from my own life. I wrote a fic in another fandom. The planning everything took months alone. Then I prewrite like 15 chapters before I posted the first which allowed me to be able to post consistently while staying ahead. And I did gave to take a break in the middle for reasons. In which I told my readers “hey, I’ll be taking a break for the next month or two and will be using some of that time to get ahead again” because I’d not written a chapter in weeks and was getting to the end of my backlog. My “plan” for if I lost motivation for that fic or other fics and I abandon them I’ll make the last chapter telling people what would’ve happened. I hate cliffhangers and it’d be better then nothing.

Thomas has written a significant portion. Why can’t he begin filming and also write the last part? Why can’t he be a little more transparent with what’s going on? Or stop making timelines he doesn’t follow.

I don’t know if a comic would be faster, I don’t make comics. Tbh I don’t really care if it would make the process faster. Thomas’s chosen medium is video formats. Every process to make a “proper” finale will take time. That’s just life.

And I’m fine with waiting, he can take his time. I just wish he was a little more transparent about how everything is coming along. Just like, a little more. Like “hey everyone! Part one is nearly done!” “Hey everyone have a lot more projects so the finale is going on the hack burner.” “Hey! I have a new series coming out that I’m so excited for! I’m on the last part of the finale, it may take some time to finish, but it’ll get done eventually.” And so on. Instead of like “part one will be out by [date]”

[khaleesiofalicante]

IALS - Behind the Scenes Facts

The fic was originally supposed to be a one shot - and then it turned into the longest multi-chapter fic I’ve ever written. 

This is one of the first fics I wrote without an outline and without planning it ahead. Most of the plot lines and scenes are improvised. 

At some point, IALS became some what of an alternative reality to the ending of LBAF IV - What if David left after what Mallory did?

There is so much foreshadowing in IALS about LBAF IV - and even LBAF V. 

It’s the only fic of mine where there is no consistency in the chapter titles or chapter formats and everything keeps changing randomly - because I wanted the format of the story to reflect the characters and their journeys. 

A lot of readers assumed Jaden was inspired by Other Max. But it is actually IALS Max (in the present) who represents Other Max the most. 

The fact the cover of David’s book is a blank white page was hinted in the chapter where Mona and Max visit an art gallery and Max has a moment looking at the blank canvas painting.

It was mentioned in one of the chapters that David never fully takes off his clothes (and insists that they use a condom) when he has sex with Jaden, which is a hint that he knows Jaden is cheating on him and never felt fully comfortable in their relationship. 

IALS was also a practice fic for me to get into the minds/povs of Arthur and Lance. The Lance we have now was not how I originally conceptualised him. IALS turned him into this snarky, smart, sarcastic boy and I love that so much better! 

A big plot point in Arthur’s storyline in LBAF V is repeatedly hinted in IALS.

If you analyse the people Max dated after the divorce, you will notice that they all have some kind of resemblance to David and his personality. 

Jaden has won three Emmy Awards and the seasons he won it include all of Max’s favorite scenes from the show.

In every fic, Max and David, in some way, meet because of Jace. It’s the same in IALS. 

The only times we see David being angry with Jaden is when Jaden acts as a ‘bad parental figure’ because it’s the most obvious reminder to David that Jaden is not and can never be Max. 

In the future of IALS, Lance becomes a forensic linguist, which is the same job David did in BMILY. The fact that Lance has an interest in languages and vocabularies and can accurately analyse people’s speech patterns was hinted multiple times in the fic. 

Max’s view (the first thing he sees) when he wakes up in the morning (in his childhood home, the Bronx apartment, the Staten Island apartment and the D.C. apartment) all have one thing in common.

The fact that Max (despite being a detective) never figured out why David divorced him and never questioned it is partially influenced by his ‘David is too good for me’ mentality - which we have also seen in lbaf and tlnd. 

After Lance graduates from university, Arthur and Lance go on a trip to France all by themselves. 

The fact that David changed his last name (after the divorce) but did not change the children’s last names was an indicator that he would never willingly separate the children from Max. 

The fic was inspired after I listened to ‘Glimpse of Us’ by Joji :)

[kinomiakai]

Kill yourself, fucked up virgin fag.

Oh my god, no way!!! Hi g.o.d.!!! What the hell happened to you, I thought you’d gone to therapy and learned to constructively deal with your anger or something!!

You guys, this person has been telling me to off myself since I started posting How to Break a Mask. THAT WAS IN 2006. On fanfiction.net!! It took a literal ten years to be posted, sporadically and randomly and with multiple year hiatuses, and every chapter, without fail, my first comment would be some variation of this. Sometimes they add a “delusional” for some spice, but it always has this very specific format. They never changed it up. My favourite part is how they think “virgin” has the same gravitas and insult as an actual slur. I feel like that is such an insight into the mind. And it was always my first comment! Sometimes within the first ten minutes of posting, which is fascinating, because it meant they were either obsessively searching the sasuke and naruto character tags, they were a group of people dedicated to the very specific cause of telling kids to kill themselves, or they were a bot of some sort. And since it happened with such frequency and the wording was so consistent, I was pretty convinced they were a bot. Even when I saw them pop up on ao3 - weird that they were still going, but I was still getting sporadic messages on FFN, so I figured they’d still been around somehow. But then it tapered off, so I thought the bots had broken & the person behind them had moved on to being a human being or something - but now! This has completely thrown that theory for a loop. You’re on tumblr???? Do you have an account?? Do you search through author pages, desperate to find someone who links to a social media?? That must take so much time!!!

I’m so fascinated. Am I going to get messages like this randomly now? Is it going to be tied to when I promote a fic? Is it specifically tied to the ao3 share function?? Do you get paid to do this?? How do you have time to do anything else?? Oh man. Holding my breath for next month, I can’t believe I might get some more answers to this mystery. I so wish this was in the era of broken tumblr where you could look at the source code of an anon ask and find their ip address 😂 I won’t reply to too many more asks like this if I keep getting them - I always deleted them on FFN because I noticed it tended to make my readers sad & that’s the direct opposite of what I want my fics to do, but if I have a new theory, I might! Also, I noticed people talking about them like they were new on ao3 and I feel like I need to spread the word about this obsessive little weirdo. That’ll be their tag, in case you want to blacklist!

Anyway, uh. Same time next month? I guess we’ll find out :D

[allthecastlesonclouds]

10, 17 & 32 for writer questions?

oooo thanks for the ask!! link to ask game

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

When I was. like. 8. i wrote this original story about five girls and a boy. it was, in short, very bad: none of the character traits were consistent, the plot moved along terribly, and scenes were messy. every chapter was in a different font and Oh Dear God was it unreadable.

and i fucking loved it. i was so proud of it. i still kind of am? 35 pages for an eight year old isn’t bad. but there are printed copies i still find around my house, and my mom still talks about it to this day, and every time i read it i wince.

i’m not sure if this is the definition of haunted, but it follows me around to this day. you maybe thought this was gonna be a fanfic, but this story. Oh God.

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

Gotta talk about fight or flight baybee!! okay so when i started this it was basically because i had many thoughts on the fact it was kristen’s siblings who convinced her to go during family in flames and not. her parents. and also the fact her parents names combined were McDonalds. that cracked me up. also actually i was talking to a lovely irl about this and they said “wait a character is Christian Applebees??” and i went ally beardsley how dare you. the google doc is titled ‘the mfing MacDonna Applebees’

i brainstormed a rudimentary layout for Mordred for this fic, as in i thought about the first floor and went ‘everything else doesn’t matter’. the chapel is canonically disconnected from the house but kristen also canonically has a secret passageway to tracker’s room, so i decided all the secret passageways link up and let people just. into the walls. kristen and riz are the only ones who have any semblance of confidence in there bc they sneak around so much. kristen uses the passageways mostly for tracker’s and bee’s rooms, but she knows how to get to the kitchen and about midway up the tower staircase.

bee is trans. i debated for a while whether her name was spelled Bee or Bea, but i decided on Bee bc i know a Bea and the vibes are. Different. kristen’s nickname for bricker is bricks, and bee calls him rick or ricks, and when they’re a bit older on their Fantasy Discord she Nicknames him Dick and kris doesn’t let Bricker change it back. bricker is bi; he kissed one of the luckstones under the bleachers and that’s what McDonalds was angry about. he’s also religious (bee goes i know the gods are real but i think i’m taking a step back please); he probably becomes a cleric of helio and does something similar to tracker in the sense he worships his own version of helio, not the widely accepted version.

they’re all two years apart: if kristen’s going into jr year, bee’s going into freshman, bricker’s going into seventh, and cork’s going into fifth. this means cork was seven or eight when kristen left, and you know, third graders are Little and have the object permanence of baboons, so. he’s fine. he’s not really in this fic sorry. when i listen to songs, i like to imagine animatics, and so fics are based around them often, and this one is no acception; the first line of the song is ‘i think it might rain today’ and a separate 3+1 line i was debating was ‘3 times kristen found her siblings in a storm and the one time she had them’.

also kristen needs therapy. she Will Not Get It.

32. What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc that you return to from time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?

really any line from ‘For Everyone’ by Jason Reynolds. it’s such a good book. my boss at a camp i worked at gave it to me a couple years ago, and i cried reading it. if i had to pick a section: (id in alt text) (it hits different when formatted like it’s read aloud)