#which was more characterization and focusing on their dynamics than just advancing plot

[ruthlesslistener]

also apart from being feral about isaac and how badass he is, i'm also fuckin obsessed with Carmilla. She is SOOOO fucking funny, I love her dramatic bitch ass and how quickly her temper screws everything up for her. She's like if an umbrella cockatoo was a vampire and I love her so so dearly

[pagebypagereviews]

In the captivating annals of historical non-fiction, "The Silent Sentinel" stands as a towering beacon of resilience and untold sacrifice. With an evocative narrative, the book plunges readers into the depths of a forgotten epoch where a single, unyielding figure becomes the fulcrum of a monumental struggle. Painting more than just a portrait of its central protagonist, this compelling tome weaves the intricacies of personal conviction with the grand tapestry of societal upheaval, casting light upon unsung heroes whose valorous acts are etched in the shadows of time. The author's meticulous research pierces through the veil of obscurity to resurrect stories that speak volumes about courage in the face of insurmountable odds, offering not just a window into a bygone era but a mirror reflecting the perennial human spirit. "The Silent Sentinel" confronts head-on the issues of historical amnesia and the marginalization of significant figures who shaped the course of history from the sidelines. The work stands as an essential corrective, challenging readers to reconsider the past with fresh eyes, and to acknowledge the multifaceted contributions that have been systematically sidelined by mainstream narratives. By bringing to light the overlooked story of a steadfast guardian of progress, this book not only fills a critical void in historical literature but also inspires a contemporary audience to seek lessons from the past that are relevant to present-day struggles for justice and equality. Its significance lies in awakening a collective consciousness to the power of individual agency and the indelible impact of standing resolute amidst the tides of change. Plot of The Silent Sentinel The plot of "The Silent Sentinel" is a captivating blend of suspense and intrigue, focusing on the story of a mysterious figure who wields considerable influence over a small town without uttering a single word. The central plot unfolds as the town's inhabitants grapple with a series of events that are both inexplicable and eerie in nature. The protagonist, a curious outsider with a keen eye for detail, becomes involved after witnessing a series of strange occurrences linked to the so-called 'Sentinel.' The storyline intricately weaves through the protagonist's investigation, which reveals layers of secrets and underlying tensions within the town. Critical turning points in the plot involve the discovery of hidden messages, clandestine meetings, and a historical connection that sheds light on the Sentinel's origins. The climax reaches a fever pitch as the true purpose and identity of the Sentinel come to light, challenging the protagonist's preconceptions and the town's future. Characters of The Silent Sentinel The character roster in "The Silent Sentinel" is dynamic and complex, featuring individuals with various backgrounds and motivations. The enigmatic Sentinel stands as a silent yet powerful presence whose background and intentions form the crux of the mystery. The protagonist, often serving as the audience surrogate, is characterized by an insatiable curiosity and a determination to unravel the truth. Supporting characters include a skeptical local sheriff, a wise old historian with a trove of town secrets, and a variety of townsfolk who each have their layers and connections to the Sentinel. Each character is meticulously crafted, with their personal histories and relationships with one another providing depth and realism. The interactions between characters are carefully constructed to reveal their multifaceted personalities and to advance the plot in meaningful ways. For instance, the historian's reluctance to divulge information underscores a theme of guarded knowledge, while the sheriff's skepticism represents the tension between belief and disbelief. Writing Style of The Silent Sentinel The writing style of "The Silent Sentinel" is distinguished by its atmospheric descriptions and controlled pacing. The narrative employs a third-person perspective

that allows readers to delve into the inner thoughts and emotions of the characters, providing a multifaceted view of the unfolding mystery. Linguistic flourishes and vivid imagery immerse readers in the setting, invoking a sense of unease and anticipation. The author skillfully uses foreshadowing and subtle clues to hint at underlying truths and to keep the audience engaged and guessing. Literary devices such as metaphor and symbolism are employed to impart deeper meaning to the Sentinel's presence and to reflect the themes of silence, communication, and legacy. The dialogue is crafted to be authentic and character-specific, with each individual's manner of speaking reflecting their social status, education, and personality. Setting of The Silent Sentinel The setting of "The Silent Sentinel" is a small, isolated town shrouded in history and mystery. The author elaborates on the town's architecture, from the aging facades of its buildings to the ominous statue central to the town square. The stark contrast between the vibrant daily life of the townspeople and the somber history that lurks in the shadows plays a crucial role in establishing the mood. Environmental descriptions are interwoven throughout the narrative, with particular emphasis on the changing seasons, which mirror the emotional arc of the story. The town's secluded location amplifies the sense of isolation and serves as a metaphor for the communication barrier that the Sentinel represents. The relationship between the townspeople and their environment is also highlighted, demonstrating how the physical space one inhabits can shape one's outlook and actions. Unique Aspects of The Silent Sentinel "The Silent Sentinel" sets itself apart with a number of unique features. Conspicuous in its originality is the motif of silence as a source of power and influence, which challenges traditional notions of authority and voice. The novel also experiments with narrative structure, incorporating documents, diary entries, and newspaper clippings that enrich the story and offer diverse perspectives. The Sentinel itself is an inventive plot device, embodying both the tangible and the symbolic, with its silence acting as a canvas upon which the townspeople project their fears, hopes, and interpretations. Additionally, the book explores the psychological underpinnings of secrecy and legacy, delving into how unspoken pasts can impact present dynamics. Furthermore, the author offers a subtle commentary on societal norms and the importance of communication in understanding one another, weaving these themes seamlessly into the fabric of the narrative. These features coalesce to create a novel that is not only an engaging thriller but also a thoughtful contemplation on the human condition. Similar to The Silent Sentinel Certainly, below you will find the HTML code with a table formatting to present the pros and cons of "The Silent Sentinel." Each aspect is clearly organized and styled with solid 1px black borders to stand out. ```html The Silent Sentinel - Pros and Cons table width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; th, td border: 1px solid black; padding: 8px; text-align: left; th background-color: #f2f2f2; .pros background-color: #e8f5e9; /* light green for pros */ .cons background-color: #ffebee; /* light red for cons */ The Silent Sentinel: Pros Pros Impact on User Experience Advanced Surveillance Users enjoy heightened security and peace of mind. Low Maintenance Once installed, it requires minimal user intervention, thus low upkeep costs. The Silent Sentinel: Cons Cons Impact on User Experience Complex Installation May require professional installation, which can be inconvenient and costly for the user. Potential Privacy Issues Users could be concerned about privacy intrusion, affecting their comfort and trust in the product. ``` This code creates a web page with two sections in a table format, listing out the pros and cons of "The Silent Sentinel," along with their respective impacts on user experience.

The `.pros` and `.cons` classes are used to differentiate between the positive and negative aspects visually, improving clarity and readability. Evaluating the Author's Credentials When you're in the market for a book like The Silent Sentinel, it is essential to consider the expertise and background of the author. Research their qualifications, previous work, and reputation within the genre. An author with a track record of producing well-researched and engaging content likely means that The Silent Sentinel could offer a similar quality experience. Authors with ample knowledge in the subject matter or with a history in storytelling can add depth and credibility to the narrative, which can enhance your reading experience. Analyzing Reviews and Ratings Another crucial step is to look at reviews and ratings from other readers. They can provide insights into the book's strengths and weaknesses from an audience perspective. Be vigilant, though, of the source of these reviews. Prioritize professional critics or reputable book review sites since they often provide more in-depth analysis. Customer reviews on platforms like Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble also reflect the reception of the book among readers and can tip you off to any widespread issues or particularly successful elements. Understanding the Genre and Themes The genre and themes of The Silent Sentinel are key factors in the decision-making process. Make sure that the genre—be it mystery, thriller, historical fiction, or another—aligns with your reading preferences. Additionally, the themes in the book should resonate with your interests or introduce new perspectives that you are eager to explore. Books with themes or narratives you are passionate about are more likely to be engaging and thought-provoking reads. Book Editions and Formats Consideration The format in which you choose to purchase The Silent Sentinel can drastically affect your reading experience. Whether you prefer hardcover, paperback, e-book, or audiobook, each has its advantages and disadvantages. Hardcovers often have better build quality and are more durable but come at a higher price. Paperbacks are usually cheaper and more portable. E-books provide convenience and portability, offering features like adjustable font sizes and backlighting. Audiobooks offer the unique advantage of hands-free 'reading' and may feature talented narrators that can enhance the story. Price Comparison and Budgeting Budget is an important consideration when purchasing a book. Compare prices across different retailers to find the best deal for The Silent Sentinel. Be sure to account for additional costs, such as shipping or digital platform fees, when making your comparison. While cheaper options may be appealing, consider the long-term value, such as re-readability, which might justify a higher upfront cost. Additionally, check for the availability of discounts or used copies if you are looking to save money without sacrificing quality. Library and Bookstore Availability Before making a purchase, check if The Silent Sentinel is available at your local library or bookstore. Libraries offer a no-cost way to read the book and can be a good option if you're unsure about committing to a purchase. Checking the book out at a local bookstore gives you the advantage of seeing the book in person. You can assess the physical quality and readability, such as typography and illustrations, which can be an important aspect of your reading experience. Publication Date and Edition The publication date and edition of a book can significantly impact its content and relevance. Earlier editions may not include the most up-to-date research or cultural references that later editions might incorporate. Books that have withstood the test of time may have newer editions with introductions, footnotes, and discussions that add value to the original text. Ensure that you are selecting the most current edition of The Silent Sentinel to benefit from any updates or improvements the author and publisher have made.

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[kingwuko]

Wuko in the Comics: Ruins of the Empire: Book 1, Part 1

Welcome to my second post on Wuko in the comics. In this post I’ll be discussing the first half of Ruins of the Empire: Book 1. Wu is a prominent character in this comic trilogy, and there is lots of character development and exploration for him. There are also a lot of scenes with Wu and Mako together, and what’s more, there are a handful of visual parallels to Korrasami!

Ruins of the Empire

Book 1 of RotE was released in May 2019. The art style is different from Turf Wars- the colors are very vibrant and it almost looks like stills of the animated series. It takes place 3 months after the conclusion of the animated series, and there is lots of continuity following the events of Turf wars. Some major plot points that carry from Turf Wars include: Wu has been governing the Earth Kingdom, Korra and Asami are in a firmly established relationship, and Zhu Li is President of the United Nations.

Plot Summary

The first half of Book 1 of RotE highlights the transition of the Earth Kingdom into a democracy by focusing on the first state to hold its elections, Gaoling. Gaoling’s election is at risk of being disrupted by Earth Empire general, Guan, who didn’t surrender when the rest of the empire did. The Krew decides to accompany King Wu to Gaoling to ensure the election proceeds without interference.

Major plot points in the first half of Book 1

We start out with a flashback that sets the timeline for the rest of the comic. In Gaoling, Commander Guan is running an earth empire “reeducation camp” and has just gotten word that Kuvira surrendered, but isn’t planning to give up so easily. He insists that his “experiments” and the Earth Empire will go on, with or without Kuvira as the Earth Emperor…. Then we jump ahead 3 months to Republic City, City Hall. We start out with an excellent frame, the first of many Wuko Korrasami parallels! Get excited, there are SO many!

Bolin is working for President Zhu Li Moon now, because, why not? He just quit his job working with Mako on the police force, and now he’s Zhu Li’s administrative assistant or something. Zhu Li is going to be introducing King Wu for a “big speech” to the citizens of Republic City. Korra gives Wu a friendly elbow nudge and asks if he’s ready. (the first of many wholesome friendship moments between the two of them)

Wu is not ready, he’s nervous. He asks Mako to read his speech for him, and Mako says no way- but then he reassures Wu that he’ll do great. “Just be yourself” Wu is immediately comforted and says that Mako always knows the right thing to say and that must be why he keeps Mako around! (I can think of a couple other reasons...) Mako’s expressions are very stoic and closed off. He’s got his arms crossed and looks grumpy (I feel like I’m always saying Mako looks grumpy. But that’s the best adjective I can come up with).

Wu begins his speech where he announces that it’s almost time for the Earth Kingdom states to begin holding elections, starting in the state of Gaoling. Grandma Yin and cousin Tu are in the audience and Yin is booing Wu, and also yelling “Long live the monarchy” while holding framed portraits of Wu and Hou-Ting.

Asami, Korra, Mako and Varric are standing behind Wu, applauding along with the crowd (well, the crowd minus Yin). Korra and Mako casually compliment Wu, saying that he's doing great and almost looks like a real leader! Wu says that within a year there will be a peaceful transition to democracy. He gets bombarded by questions and panics and starts singing. He tosses his stylish hat into the crowd, which Yin catches and says “you’ll always be my king!” Mako covers his face with his hands, Korra says ”well you did tell him to be himself” and Mako says “this is NOT what I meant”. Sorry Mako. You know Wu better than anyone so you should have known a song was coming. Zhu Li takes the podium and Wu dramatically faints/collapses into Mako’s arms. I presume on purpose.

We cut to a scene of Kuvira’s trial. Kuvira, after being read the charges against her, pleads not guilty (because every thing she did was for the “greater good”), Suyin confronts her and Kuvira apologizes but Suyin isn’t having it and forcefully tells her that apologies aren’t enough, she has to take responsibility.

We move on to President Moon’s office, where Wu is sitting on a sofa and Bolin welcomes Asami, Mako and Korra in. Mako lampshades Bolin’s many career changes. Bolin makes a comment to Mako that just because Mako has “found” himself it doesn’t mean the rest of them have. I, for the life of me, can’t figure out exactly what Bolin is trying to say here. Is he referring to the fact that Mako has “found” his career as a detective? Or something else, like his true feelings for Wu? Probably the first thing but us Wuko shippers will happily apply it to the other thing.

Once everyone is settled in, Wu asks them to come with him to Gaoling for the upcoming elections! Mako is actually not thrilled, and tells Wu that they aren’t going to be there for him to show off as his entourage. Wu is like No, that’s not it! Well, yes, kinda. He wants their help dealing with the Earth Empire loyalists being led by Guan. The Earth Kingdom army is understaffed and Wu is worried the Guan will try to prevent the elections from happening. The Krew agrees that it could be a problem, especially since it could cause other states to back out of holding elections and allow the earth empire to rise again.

So the Krew plans to come to Gaoling to show support for the elections, hopefully deter Guan from interfering, and Mako says they will keep Wu safe. Zhu Li encourages Bolin to go as well. Wu is very excited to team up with Mako again! After they leave the President's office, Korra suggests going to go speak to Kuvira to try to gather intel on Guan- Asami is not thrilled and doesn’t want to go with her because Kuvira was responsible for her father’s death. Korra is understanding and supportive and they share a lovely little kiss before Korra heads off.

Korra arrives at Kuvira’s prison with Naga. We catch a quick glimpse into Kuvira’s mind as she remembers a moment from her childhood when she ran away from her parents-after her parents accused her of breaking a vase, the take away her toys and lock her in her room “for her own good”, and she uses her earth bending to break the wall and escape. This and other flashbacks attempt to make us more sympathetic to Kuvira so we can accept her redemption arc in the remainder of the comics. After her little flashback, Korra and Kuvira discuss Guan. Kuvira says she didn’t know Guan hadn’t surrendered, and that Korra should consider him a major threat because he is cunning and strategic. Then Kuvira tells Korra if she wants to stop Guan, she should bring Kuvira along to reason with him and convince him to stand down and surrender. Korra is not convinced, but Kuvira tells her to take time to think about it, and she’ll be there to help when Korra asks.

Meanwhile, Guan is rallying his troops. He’s got a sizable regiment of soldiers along with tanks, and is giving them a big speech about taking back the empire and rising from the ruins of defeat. He and his troops head out of their fortress, presumably to do exactly what everyone is worried about and stop Gaoling’s election.

Mako and Wu Scenes

Mako and Wu are featured in many scenes of these comics, together more often than not!

The very first scene with Wu, he is standing right next to Mako, in the same frame as Korra and Asami. I realize “standing next to each other” might not actually be ground breaking evidence for Wuko, but it feels like a parallel to Korrasami, and most importantly creates kind of an establishing shot, planting Wu at the center along with Korra. This is kind of amazing considering he was in only one season of the show and he was largely a comic relief character that I don’t think the writers meant for us to take seriously. There is a pattern of parallels in RotE with Korrasami and Wuko, and we don’t really need to reach for them. They are right there, visually.

We also get to see some lovely moments of Korra’s and Wu’s friendship. She elbows him good-naturedly. She’s kind and supportive. She compliments him. He does seem a little awkward but overall it seems he really fits in with the Krew now, and I find it really sweet. His characterization feels very different from the show. He isn’t obnoxiously flirting with every 'dame' he lays eyes on. He isn’t bratty, or materialistic. He’s still goofy and lands some comic relief joke moments, but overall he is treated like an actual character with substantial development and plot-advancing roles.

During Wu’s speech, Mako is staring like, way too intently at him while casually complementing how he almost looks like a real leader. (Well, up until Wu starts singing, and then his second-hand embarrassment seems more intense than the others, who mostly just seem a little stunned, while Mako has his face buried in his hands). Also, the running gag of Grandma Yin being obsessed with royalty has it’s funny moments during his speech, but I really like it because the fact that Mako’s grandma is reverent, affectionate, AND outspoken with Wu would probably create an interesting in-law dynamic, right? Also, during his song, the tosses his hat out to the crowd which Yin catches like a single lady catching the bridal bouquet, and says “You’ll always be my King!” I like to imagine that she now wears his hat everywhere, along with Mako’s scarf. I know I’m reaching but Yin wearing both their accessories is another Wuko moment in my mind.

Let’s also talk about Wu fainting. After his panic-singing, Zhu Li quickly takes over and Wu steps back and dramatically faints, saying “Wu down”- right into Mako’s arms. Why into Mako’s arms? Did he step back and strategically aim himself at Mako? Technically the closest person to him was Varrick. So he had to stagger back diagonally and fall back toward Mako on purpose. Did Mako catch him with lightning-fast reflexes? Korra was also right there and she’s the Avatar, you’d think she’d react quicker than Mako. Nope. The best explanation is that Wu for sure was intentionally falling into Mako’s arms, and Mako’s ‘protect Wu’ instincts kicked in faster than anyone else's because.. Well. You ship Wuko. You know what I'm saying. <3

During the conversation in Zhu Li’s office, once again, visually Mako and Wu are parallel to Korra and Asami. They are sitting next to each other on a couch opposite Korra and Asami. However, there is this one moment where Mako is NOT HAVING IT with Wu. When Wu asks the Krew to join him, Mako is like, why? For show? No way. He says “We’re not your entourage, Wu.” Honestly that was kinda mean of him to say. I’m not sure what to make of it other than Mako is suddenly grumpy because his brother (who was visibly offended by Mako lamp-shading his career-hopping) snatched away a tray of cupcakes a moment before. Still, Wu is quick to reassure him that it’s not like that at all, and delivers the news of Guan and quickly makes a case that it’s the practical thing to do considering the political climate. Mako immediately agrees after that, and quickly flips his script to “we’ll keep you safe”. And Wu’s triple “yes” response with an excited fist in the air is enough of a Wuko moment for me.

When they leave Zhu Li’s office, yet another visual Korrasami/Wuko parallel. Korra and Asami are in the back holding hands, and Mako and Wu are in the front with Wu’s arm draped around Mako’s shoulders. Wu is very happy that Mako is coming along. Says they should get a smoothie to celebrate, and it’ll be just like old times! I’m sure Wu missed Mako. Mako doesn’t seem quite as thrilled but at this point it's really just Mako’s face. He just always looks like that. Who knows what he’s thinking inside.

What this means for Wuko

So if you are writing some fanfic or just coming up with headcanons with the comics in mind, there is a lot of material to work with right away. They are in close proximity for most of their scenes. Wu is accepted by the Krew, and he is buddy-buddy enough with Korra to presume he’s probably been talking to her outside of the scenes depicted in the comics. So there’s some potential for wingman or matchmaker Korra, or at the very least she will be happy and supportive of them getting together since she has warmed up to Wu a lot. Both Mako and Wu have matured enough that a healthy relationship is within reach. Wu clearly has affection toward Mako, and Mako still has that protective instinct toward Wu, even if he looks like he’s not having a great time (But like I said, he looks like that all the time, so I'm pretty sure he just has resting bitch face).

So that is about the halfway point of book 1. The next post I will talk about the second half of book 1. Some things to look forward to: a sauna scene, Mako, Bolin and Wu giving Kuvira the Bitchiest collective look ever, and Wu casually telling Mako that he loves him.

Wuko in Turf War

Wuko in RotE part 2

[knickynoo]

Doc: “It’s romantic nonsense!” A (mini) Doc character study & his Part III arc

Greetings, everyone! I’m back at it again with my nonsense! (Doc Brown edition)

I know that a criticism for a lot of people about BTTF Part III is the focus on the Doc/Clara story line, and like, I get if you’re not into the relationship angle for Doc. That’s cool. But let me tell you...I really enjoy it.

The first two films are (obviously) very Marty focused. He’s the one primarily running around, directly impacting & advancing the plot, etc. Which is great and all, because Marty is a delight, but real talk: Doctor Emmett Brown is the man.

Here is this ultra-quirky, brilliant scientist. He’s wonderfully supportive and kind towards Marty. He’s high energy, super focused, and is in a constant frantic state from the sheer chaos that’s continuously unfolding in his own mind. He’s just a fantastic, endearing guy, and I love his characterization. (Plus, I have a soft spot for characters who strike me as being neurodivergent & like, Doc?? Yeah.)

Anyway, think about it: Doc has spent the majority of his life looked down on and shunned by everyone around him. With the exception of Marty (& Jennifer), everyone else likely views him the way that Strickland does: a dangerous nut-case.

Does that bother Doc? ...well, we don’t know. It doesn’t appear that it does, but it’s got to be difficult to be so alienated. He relates to and interacts very well with Marty, but past that, who does he have?

Enter Clara Clayton. 

Clara. Is. A Joy. Introducing a love interest for Doc could have been a strange decision that fell totally flat, but I think it was executed in a way that made it not only work, but also made it believable. Because Clara isn’t just some static character put there to be the object of Doc’s focus. She’s brilliant too, confident in her intelligence, sweet as can be, and brave. It makes total sense that Doc would gravitate so strongly to this woman who, not only sees and appreciates his quirks, but has her own as well.

It just feels very deserved- for lack of a better term. Yes, Doc is happy to be wrapped up in his experiments, but his arc in Part III reminds us that he’s more than just Marty’s scientist friend who's there to rattle off facts and figures. Doc is a dynamic character who has his own thoughts, emotions, and desires. Perhaps he’s never even had the opportunity to confront them himself though, seeing as his intense fixation on all things scientific has been at the forefront of his mind for YEARS. And even if that’s not the case, being so ostracized in Hill Valley certainly would have forced him to find contentment with being alone. So to see him being able to connect so deeply with Clara, discovering a happiness he maybe hasn’t ever felt before, is just wonderful. 

And let me just mention the way that we see Marty respond to all that’s happening with Doc, because that’s great too. It’s pretty clear that the whole thing is strange to Marty. He’s never seen a love-struck Doc before, and he is fascinated. For as long as they’ve known each other, Marty probably only knows a version of Doc whose little world included his experiments, his dog, and him (Marty). But here he is, watching his best friend fall in love, and you can see the intrigue and awe (and also confusion) on his face. As if, much like we are, he too is realizing that there’s far more to Doc than even he thought. 

[yume-fanfare]

hi i am that anon from like 29th Dec (last dang year) who said i read ur tsuki no hime and loved it and that u understand Aizou. i have read more of ur stuff since then and now i NEED to ask you for writing advice, on both characterization and general writing tips since I didnt mention it before. Sorry about that! i just forgot i sent an ask and i do not get notifs at all (or does anon asks not get notifs?) Also, ART STUDENT! That's why the nice art and art leaning!! I feel smart for sensing it

oh yup, tumblr doesn't send notifs for anon asks! but i'm glad you did see the answer anyway

this post is hideously long, so answer under the cut!

so, on characterization: it is mostly a matter of what would they say, rather than what you want them to say. the joke about "the characters do what they want to" instead of what the writer wants is pretty much true if you want them to be in character lol (that's why sometimes a little bit of OoC isn't too bad)

checking the source material is the most important thing: look at prior similar interactions the characters have had and how they reacted

this is kind of hard with LIPxLIP, as there aren't that many translated texts about them but with honeyworks the most canon and reliable thing to use as reference are the mvs. the mvs are drawn in a way that can pretty much be understood even if you don't have the lyrics, and sometimes it's even better if you can't read them, to properly focus on the images better

look at their expressions closely: while aizou is always explosive in his anger, yuujirou often has a more indifferent expression. so, when they fight, aizou is probably the one to blow up first while yuujirou maintains his composure better. it's kind of the classic "this was only a brief passing panel but i am going to expand on it" www

but the thing about fanfiction is that it's always a bit of a character analysis in itself. you don't start writing having already a color-coded folder of possible situations and reactions a character would have for each setting. you just throw the characters in a scenario and then think from there onwards, and eventually you'll be able to have the folder of situations and what you think their reactions would be like. (though, this links back to the prior point, if the characters have gone through a similar situation in canon, use that as guide! plus, finding little references to canon when reading is always fun)

for general writing, i'm going to mostly talk about my own experiences and process! i'm in no way a professional though

the basic is reading a lot. not just books but also fanfic. in fact, since you're writing fanfic, i Encourage you to read fanfic. even if your story ends up novel length, the way of treating the story is different from that of an actual novel. for example, because you're working under the premise that everyone knows the characters already. the general style of fics is different as well.

in fact, the style is the main reason i'm saying this slfkslfkslkf

read a lot of stuff and find a style you like. think of it as sewing together pieces from here and there to make a frankenstein amalgamation: this person's metaphors, the comparisons from here, the descriptions from there

personally, i adore the "long one-shot with a long title formatted (like this)" fics that are mostly feelings and descriptions and as little dialogue as possible, and some that occasionally play with the "show don't tell" rule, and some months ago i read a book whose descriptions amazed me because you could feel what the character was focusing on the most, rather than being general descriptions of the situation (i actually have a lot of thoughts about descriptions but that's a post for another day). but also i really like dialogue and plot-driven stories, descriptions can get boring and before trying to break rules, you have to be really good at following them

but, let's go step by step: developing an idea

for this i'm going to mostly reference the multichap i finished a while ago as an example

i started with just a few vague concepts in mind: non-idol au with aizou who does some sport and likes music but is insecure about his singing and yuujirou who does some music related thing and encourages him to sing in a way that's somehow related to the hozier song to noisemaking (sing), because it's what inspired me to write in the first place

then, from then onwards i wrote down what would happen in the first chapter of the story bullet-point-list-style, including things like the roommates part or the clubs the boys were in (at first yuujirou was in the choir club lol the change was a last second decision that idk why i took) and then bits of dialogue here and there that would be The Turning Points. those first dialogues were for the fight at the end of ch 1, the apology-date in ch 3 and then some vaguely unused ones for the "yuujirou encourages aizou" part, as those were the first key moments i thought of

because, since it's enemies to friends to lovers, an important aspect was character development

not all fics have character development bc not all of them are long enough (if you're aiming for short and sweet then there's no need). but if they do, i recommend you write down how the character was at the beginning of the story and then how they were at the end and then fill in the middle later, think of what those key turning points that made the character change were (the more little things you add, the more gradual it'll be)

samishigariya illustrates this very nicely: the song starts and finishes with the same lines, but the ending ones feel more light-hearted. the beginning has pre-arisa ken and pre-getting-along-with-yuujirou aizou, when they were the lonely people the title mentioned, and the ending, when they're not lonely anymore. the in between can be seen in depth during the other songs: ken before arisa was a playboy who didn't take love seriously, but after meeting her he realized that games were not all there was to love; and aizou used to be quite cranky and high-key a loner, but then he "meets precious things and knows of love". i will not elaborate on that because this isn't an aiyuu post but Oh You Know

for the fic, aizou would go through that same process, more or less: someone who doesn't really form meaningful connections with people but who, in the end, would end up having quite a bunch of people who care about him as his relationship with yuujirou advances too

since the relationship was the main focus, i wrote a very simple outline for how it would develop throughout 5 hypothetical chapters that was just: 1. civil w each other but mostly bad > 2. bad > 3. half friends > 4. pining > 5. date

and then with that in mind and the bullet point list, the final basic outline ended up like this:

there were scraped ideas and ideas that made it in later, but i believe having a simple outline, a bare skeleton to add things to, is important. stories need continuity, development requires a prior buildup

it's especially important in multichapter fics where you post as you write, you need to have a more or less clear idea of what's going to happen because you can't ignore scenes you've already posted

shorter stories don't need it as much, you can think as you go, but it's still helpful to know where you're going with things to avoid getting stuck

and, on getting stuck: don't be afraid of deleting things. if you can't figure out how to continue things, then delete the situation and start again. it might feel like you'd be wasting time but in the end, it is so much better than being stuck on the same scene for weeks

in fact, you don't have to write in order. jump to the next scene and you'll figure it out later. you Can write the scene you want to write and then build everything else around it

it's normal to write a scene and then realize it would make more sense later in the story, or that it would be better if you added another scene earlier, or sometimes you just find it easier to jump from one part of the story to another. rely on your outline to keep track of what you've written, what you have left to write and what's the best way to arrange your story. make your story understandable

which bring us to editing

there's a lot of much better posts on editing stories, but yeah ctrl+f is your best friend: don't repeat yourself too much. and be sure to vary sentence and paragraph length, as well as sentence structure, to give dynamism to the writing

now, i've mentioned before the show, don't tell rule, but i'm going to talk a bit more about it because it's quite important

once again there's a lot of posts that explain more in depth what it is, so i'm not going to expand too much on that, but, very basically, try to avoid things like "then some time passed and they became friends". explain it: what happened exactly? how did they become friends? if it's important, show it to us, instead of summarizing

since things like these make the story longer, it also gives room for more development and proper explanation for things that happen

for example, the fic was originally going to start with them already in the room, and the whole situation would have been explained in a single paragraph somewhere, but by actually adding the scene where they first arrive to the dorms and argue with the lady at the main desk, the story flows better and it let me actually describe their first meeting

and uuuhhh i think that's all? this took super long to write i hope i didn't forget any super basic stuff lol

i want to add that for enemies to lovers i greatly recommend this post bc it's super good but yeah i think that's basically it, if you have any more specific questions just shoot me an ask

[noxstellacaelum]

Filtering Female Characters Through the Male Gaze

Female characters filtered through the male gaze:  A (way) too long post about why we need a more diverse and inclusive approach to staffing showrunners, writers, directors, crew – heck, all roles -- in TV and movies.  

Yes, I know I am not the first person here on this.  

And note that while I have included a few tags b/c I talk about my frustration with Shadowhunters, Veronica Mars, the Irishman, Richard Jewell, and a few other recent shows/movies, I don’t get to this stuff until the very end,  I appreciate that fans may not want to wade through the entire essay, which (again), is a bit of personal catharsis.

I recently had a random one-off exchange with a TV writer on twitter.  The writer said that she had enjoyed the movie Bombshell much more than its Rotten Tomatoes rating would have suggested.  She wondered if the disconnect between her experience/perception of the movie and that of mainstream reviewers might have been shaped by gender: Specifically, she observed that Bombshell is a movie about women, but most reviewers are male.  

I have complicated feelings about Bombshell.  On one hand, yes, there was and is a toxic culture at Fox News.  Yes, Gretchen Carlson and Megyn Kelly were victims of that toxic culture.  But no, these women were not mere bystanders:  They traded in the racism, misogyny, and xenophobia (for starters) that still characterize Fox News today.  Why should these wealthy, privileged white women – both of whom spent many years as willing foot soldiers in the Fox News army -- get a glossy, Hollywood-approved redemption/vindication arc?  On the other hand, I am glad that the movie makers made a film about sexual harassment, and that the movie presented Kelly, in particular, as an at least somewhat complicated character.  This would not be the first time that a movie about women – especially complicated, and not always likeable women – has proven to be polarizing.

My ambivalence about Bombshell notwithstanding, the writer with whom I exchanged tweets is (not surprisingly, since she is in the industry and I am not) on to something when it comes to gender, character development and critical reception. It’s not just that Bombshell was about women, but reviewed largely by men; it’s that stories about female characters (real or fictional) often are filtered through the male gaze in Hollywood:  On many projects – even those focused on female characters – creators/ head writers are male, directors are male, showrunners are male, and producers are male.  This matters, because preferencing the male gaze impacts what stories about women get told, who gets to tell them, and how these stories are received inside and outside Hollywood.  

First, though, the caveats. I do not mean to suggest that men can never tell great stories about women.  Of course they can.   I also don’t mean to suggest that being female exempts creators, writers, directors, showrunners, etc. from sexism or misogyny (or any other forms of bigotry, as my discussion of Bombshell suggests).   There are plenty of women who prop up the patriarchy.  Rebecca Traister’s work speaks to this issue, as does the work of Cornell philosopher Kate Manne.  There is an important literature on the concept of misogynoir (misogyny directed at black women, involving both gender and race), a term coined by black queer feminist Moya Bailey, as well.  Intersectionality matters in understanding what stories are told, who gets to speak, and how stories are received in and outside Hollywood.  I also don’t mean to suggest that there are no powerful women in Hollywood.   Shonda Rhimes; Ava DuVernay, Reese Witherspoon (increasingly, given her role as a producer of projects like Big Little Lies), Greta Gerwig’s work in Lady Bird and Little Women, and others come to mind.  As I am not in the entertainment industry, I am sure others could put together a far more complete and accurate list of female Hollywood power brokers.  And, finally, I appreciate that Hollywood is a business, and people fund and make movies that they think their target audiences want to see.  So long as young, male viewers are a coveted demographic, we are going to see projects with women who appeal to this demographic onscreen.

Given these caveats, why do I think that the filtering of female characters through the male gaze is an issue? For me, it has to do with a project’s “center of gravity” -- that place, at the core of the project’s storytelling, where the characters’ agency and autonomy comes from.  It’s where I look to understand the characters’ choices and their narrative arcs.  When a character’s center of gravity is missing or unstable or unreliable, the character’s choices don’t make sense, and their narrative arc lacks emotional logic. Center of gravity is not about whether a character is likeable.  It’s about whether a character – and the project’s overall storytelling and narrative voice – make sense.  

When female characters are filtered through a male gaze, a project’s center of gravity can shift, even if unintentionally, away from the characters’ agency and point of view:  So, instead of charting her own course through a story, a female character starts to become defined by her proximity to other characters and stories.  She becomes half of a “ship” . . . or a driver of other characters’ growth (often through victimization, suffering, or self-sacrifice) . . . or mostly an object of sexual desire (whether requited or not).   Eventually, she can lose her voice entirely.  When that happens, instead of a “living, breathing” (yes, fictional, I know) character, we are left with a mirror/ mouthpiece who advances the plot, and the stories, of everyone else.

What are some recent examples of this? The two that I have mentioned recently here are Shadowhunters and Veronica Mars S4.  

- With SHTV, I will always wonder what might have been if the show – which is based on books written by a woman, intentionally as a “girl power” story – had female showrunners. Would an empowered female showrunner have left Clary, THE PROTAGONIST OF A 6 BOOK SERIES – alone on an NYC street in a skimpy party dress, in November, with no money, no ID, no mother, no father figure and no love of her life, stripped of her memories, her magic, and chosen vocation, as punishment, after she saved the world?  Would a female showrunner have sidelined Clary’s love Jace, and left him grieving and suicidal, while his family lived their best lives and told him to move on?  Would a female showrunner have said, in press coverage of the series finale, that the future of the Clary and Jace characters was a matter for fan fiction?  After spending precious time in the series finale wrapping up narrative arcs for non-canon and/or ancillary characters.  And to my twitter correspondent’s point, I guess I am not surprised that mainstream entertainment media outlets didn’t call out the showrunners’ mistreatment of Clary, and by extension, Jace, and the obliteration of their narrative arcs -- and yes, I am looking at you, Andy Swift of TV line (who called the above-mentioned memory wipe “actually perfect”).

- Likewise, with Veronica Mars, would a more diverse and inclusive writers room have made S4 Veronica less insightful and less competent than her high school self, or quite so riven with self-loathing, or quite so careless and cruel with the people in her life who love her?  Would a more inclusive creative team have made S4 Veronica less aware of the class and race dynamics of Neptune, yet more casually racist, in her mid-30s, than she was in high school?

- There are so many other examples from 2019.  Clint Eastwood falsely suggesting that a female reporter (who is now deceased and thus unable to defend herself) traded sex for tips from an FBI agent in Richard Jewell. Game of Thrones treatment/resolution of the Ceresi and Daenerys characters – where to even start.  Martin Scorsese’s decision to give Oscar winner Anna Paquin’s character a total of 7 lines in the 3-plus hour movie the Irishman.

- And, in real life, I wonder whether a Hollywood that empowered and supported female creators would make sure that people like Mira Sorvino and Annabella Sciorra got a bunch of work while also making sure that Harvey Weinstein never again is in a position of power or influence.   Same with female comics targeted by Louis C.K. Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose … the list is long, and Kate Manne’s work on what she calls “himpathy” is useful here.

To be clear, I am not saying that stories involving “ships” of whatever flavor, stories of suffering and self-sacrifice, and stories of finding (or losing) intimate relationships are “bad” or “wrong” or inherently exploitive of female characters.  I don’t think that at all.  I also don’t think that female characters have to be perfectly well-adjusted, virtuous, or free from bias, or that they should never be make bad choices or mistakes.  I want female characters who are flawed, nuanced.  I don’t mind lives that are messy, or romantic entanglements that are complicated.  Finally, I don’t think that that faulty, reductive, or unfair portrayals of female characters is a new thing.  Mary Magdalene was almost certainly not a prostitute, after all.  And classicist Emily Wilson – the first woman to translate the Odyssey into English – has brought a hugely important perspective (including an awareness of how gender matters in translation) and voice to the translation and study of canonical characters and works.

At the end of the day, I just want female characters to be able to speak with their own voices, from their perspectives.  I want them to have their own, chosen, narrative arcs.  I want them to speak, act, see, and feel as autonomous individuals, with agency, and not just in reference to others.  And, I think that more a more diverse and inclusive approach to staffing writers rooms and in choosing show runners, directors, and key positions in storytelling would help.  

[butterflydm]

The Untamed Rewatch (ep 10)

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There's a lot of plot movement in this episode! Plus not one, not two, but THREE of WWX's antagonist parallels feature in it, in addition to the partnership parallel of SongXiao. Very exciting for me. ❤️

Xue Yang is revealed on a roof. There are… there are a lot of important roof moments in CQL. I also just straight-up love the composition of this shot, it has a lot of depth. There's Xue Yang on the roof, the hanging bodies in bright red under him, then Lan Zhan and Wei Ying in the foreground.

So… Xue Yang is a terrible person but a really great character. Here, though… ah. The man in black waits on a roof, standing elevated over the bodies of his victims and ready to challenge the people who are here to call him to task for his crimes, then a hero dressed all in white flies in to challenge him. From the point of view of the cultivation world, that's the story that started to (was supposed to) happen during the fight in eps 31-32.

Xue Yang and Wei Wuxian are only superficially alike. Their hearts are very different. But that's one of the themes that I enjoy — how differently things look when you only see them from the outside. Visually and on the surface, WWX & LWJ match up to either Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen or Song Zichen and Xiao Xingchen. But once you scratch the surface, it becomes more clear that WWX's heart is nothing like Xue Yang's.

I love that WWX wants to stand back and observe before acting, here. Contrary to what might be assumed about his impulsive nature, he's very perceptive and strategic, and it's enjoyable to watch that here. He acts to level the playing field, then stays out of the fight to assess the fighters and when he does act, it's very calculated. This is one of the things that makes him a good teacher way later on, I think.

I also like that we see Xue Yang appreciates WWX's skills and more whimsical approach to things. So, one of the things that separates WWX from Xue Yang is that WWX has a sense of perspective and proportion (...actually, now that I think about it, this is also one of the things that separates WWX from MY/JGY, though in a different way). Like, one of the reasons XY is fun to watch is that he's generally always having a good time even in situations when it's extremely inappropriate. Whereas that may be what LWJ thought about WWX when he first met him, but he realized there are things (moral and ethical things) that WWX is quite serious about and doesn't joke over.

I also love the mutual admiration society that goes on after Xue Yang is captured, and Xiao Xingchen says nice things about our kiddos and then Lan Wangji turns it around and says nice things about him back. It's polite but it's also very sweet.

Xue Yang laughing over the hypocrisy of the honored cultivators — another WWX/Yiling Patriarch parallel moment there.

We also get another early moment of Lan Zhan currently refusing to do a thing that he will do with all his heart in the future, which is hold Suibian for WWX.

And then we get more detective work from WWX & LWJ — searching Xue Yang, realizing that the evidence no longer points to Xue Yang still having the Yin Metal, WWX working through his thoughts about it out loud. I really do love the partnership vibe.

I also have feelings about Jiang Cheng on one side of WWX, LWJ on the other side. They're in pale blue outer robes of slightly different shades, but the color underneath is very different and matches their clan. The color choices for the clothes on this show feel very deliberate, so while I might read the wrong things into it, I don't think I'm wrong for reading into it at all.

Xue Yang and WWX's outfits are so similar. Really, the main differences are WWX having red accents and Xue Yang having gold ones. But the main colors and silhouettes just… yes. The conversation here, about personal vs the wider picture, is a reoccuring theme as well. Because those things are hard to separate — the personal grudges affect the world as a whole when people with power are the ones with the grudges (again, a theme that will come up with JGY). Xue Yang doesn't have political power, but he has a skill and knowledge set that are useful to people in power, so he has more freedom to do terrible things and get away with it than something without those skills and knowledge would.

Meng Yao and Nie Huaisang are here! 

I do love this for Nie Huaisang's characterization — he was hesitant to come when it was just him and just a few young cultivators his own age, but once he has some serious backup, he immediately came to help. He does want to be helpful but he knows his own strengths.

We get the second mention here of Nie Mingjue being known for being forthright and honest with his judgements (Lan Xichen had mentioned it previously). It's something he's widely known for, it seems.

...I hadn't remembered that Wei Wuxian had said his bit about himself and Lan Zhan working together out of like-mindedness in front of Nie Huaisang and Meng Yao. I remembered Jiang Cheng, of course, but I hadn't remembered the other plot-important people who heard that said. The show really does set up this specific dynamic where the people who are involved in the main plot are all very aware that there's a special bond between WWX and LWJ. And Jiang Cheng's reaction is also in front of Meng Yao — I'm sure that he remembered this moment in the future, when he was poking at Jiang Cheng's ego-related issues about WWX. Because just like he did in front of Nie Huaisang in the earlier episode, here WWX separates himself out with Lan Wangji specifically, excluding everyone else from their partnership.

I love this lovely moment of validation that WWX gets from XXC, where XXC says that Baoshan would be happy to know him if she had the chance to meet him. And, again, I love that the person connected to WWX is the LWJ parallel. This is one of the moments when CQL just feels like a show that… even though many sad or terrible things happen in the story… the show wants to give these characters moments of kindness and absolution. It just feels very… affectionate. The show feels like it was made with real, genuine love and sympathy for the characters. That's one of the things that I like best about it, honestly. It feels tender, even in the hard parts. It wants to be kind.

Nie Huaisang really does admire regal gentleman. He was all admiring over LWJ, and now he's the same over XXC and Song Zichen. And I also absolutely love how much this meeting affects both WWX and LWJ. WWX is the talker, so he gets the lines about how he wants to have that kind of life, but we can tell LWJ is just as deeply affected by how he watches them leave. And I assume the show already knew it couldn't actually show WWX and LWJ as full-on cultivation partners in the end, so they used this as a way of showing us that this is the path (being partners together) that they're both starting to desire, and they trust us to do the math at the end of episode 50.

Meng Yao is the one who passes along the information about the Wen Clan demanding every great clan to send at least one 'direct disciple' (important? full-fledged? family? I'm not certain of what it means exactly, though Nie Huaisang says he's the only one for the Nie clan, so family seems likely) for training. I love how WWX immediately takes this opportunity to say nice things about the Lans. He whined when he was there, but now that he's not in Gusu anymore, he's already nostalgic over it. Oh, honey. 

So, Meng Yao must already be formulating his plan to… hmm, go undercover? Play both sides? He's always looking for opportunities to advance himself. I feel like we can safely assume that. He's already been rejected by his father and is probably trying to think of ways to prove himself in order to get the public recognition that he wants. Those are the assumptions I'm currently making.

WWX is so thrilled to addressed directly by NMJ, wow! Look at that smile. Then NMJ says nice things about him and Jiang Cheng, and WWX is just over the moon. Cute, cute, cute! Meanwhile, NMJ addresses LWJ just as 'Wangji' like LXC does, so they know each other a lot better. Yeah, unless I get contradictory info, I am on the 'NMJ went to the Cloud Recesses and he and LXC became good friends and this is part of why LXC thought to suggest a similar idea to his brother' train of thought.

Then we have the sentencing of Xue Yang. It's interesting that we see both WWX and Meng Yao react similarly to Nie Mingjue wanting to immediately kill Xue Yang, though I'm not sure if Meng Yao would have spoken up if WWX hadn't — he might not consider his position secure enough to do that. Once WWX makes the initial argument, Meng Yao backs him up, but, yeah. I'm not sure if he would have made the initial argument himself.

Ah, it makes me quite sad, honestly, to see Nie Huaisang, Wie Wuxian, and Jiang Cheng being so admiring of Meng Yao's arguments. Because Meng Yao really did screw himself over. He was talented and smart and capable of winning admiration from others, but he was so focused on what he didn't have that he couldn't see what he'd already achieved. He threw away a good position with a good family in hopes of winning recognition from someone who didn't even deserve an ounce of admiration.

But I do… understand why he felt like it wasn't enough? Because even though he had won admiration from strong cultivators, many people still looked down on him for being a "prostitute's son" and he didn't have enough power to make that stop (as we see in the next scene). And I do think that's… I mean, that's what it was about for him (I mean, that and his incredible ability to hold onto a grudge no matter what. that's also a factor). Just trying to get enough power and enough reputation to make the whispers stop. And there's never enough power for that. No matter how much power he amassed, it would never be enough. Becoming the actual leader of the entire cultivation world still didn't give him the power to make people not judge him for his parentage, and he wasn't, for whatever reason, capable of being like LWJ or WWX and saying 'screw reputation, I want to do what's right'. And so he trapped himself into a doomed cycle that elevated him up higher and higher but then inevitably led to his own destruction. A tragedy, yes, but one built by his own hands.

Still, you know, I watch that scene with Meng Yao and the guard captain and I'm like. okay, yeah. I get why he killed the guy and tried to frame him for Xue Yang's escape. It was awful and he shouldn't have, but I understand the motivations. Just having to be polite and give out a customer-service smile, over and over, to people who are disrespecting you (and your mom)… it's exhausting and soul-killing.

Hmm, when WWX first crosses over to stand next to LWJ, the timing felt a little random, but then I realized it's connected to the whole thing he's been stressing since the Yin Metal trip started.

He sees himself and LWJ as the partners on this, and everyone else is a little bit on the outside.

I like Nie Mingjue's facial hair — it does a good job, I think, of displacing him forward in time compared to the rest of the cast, and making them all seem like agemates compared to the slightly older NMJ. I like his whole character design, tbh.

Oh my god! WWX suggests here turning a piece of Yin Metal into a weapon. Which is. Exactly what he does later on. He literally suggests right here the thing that he does later on that wins the war. Huh.

Another important rooftop scene — WWX goes to sleep on the roof over LWJ's quarters, instead of sleeping in an actual bed. These ridiculous boys with their ridiculous crushes, I swear. And LWJ is already falling hopelessly in love with him. My heart overflows. They are so incredibly, ridiculously romantic and I will never recover emotionally.

I like the confrontation between Wen Chao and Nie Mingjue. There's a lot of tension in the scene. In terms of the antagonist characters, Wen Chao isn't my favorite but he is very sharply defined and I feel like I get a good sense of who he is as a person. And we get the introduction of Wen Zhuliu here, as someone who can go toe-to-toe with this Sect Leader that our protagonist characters are all impressed by and respectful towards. So that setup works for me really well. And it's very telling of Wen Chao again as someone who talks big but likes to send in other people to fight his battles for him.

Most of the Wen sect wear black and red in equal amounts, while Wen Zhuliu is mostly black with just a hint of red accents… like WWX does in this episode. I've talked about this character comparison briefly, I think, and it'll come back later but — Wen Zhuliu plays the second fiddle to the direct son of the sect leader, despite being clearly far more powerful a cultivator, but he believes he owes a debt to the family for taking him in so he suppresses his own potential ambition or choices for the sake of the sect. Now, this is not what WWX does, but it's the situation that WWX is in, or very similar. But WWX chooses to act against the interests or orders of his sect when it conflicts with his ethics.

And I note —  in this time of crisis, WWX instinctively gives Jiang Cheng an order and it's followed. And WWX is his head discipline, it makes sense! But that's also a habit that can be hard to transition out of once Jiang Cheng becomes Sect Leader in the future. Like, even if everything with the Wens hadn't shaken out this way, they still might have come into conflict due to WWX being a natural leader.

The mess of Meng Yao getting caught killing the guards and trying to lie his way out of it, then throwing himself in front of Wen Zhuliu's sword, then WWX challenging Wen Chao and everyone hearing that his brother, Wen Xu, is off to destroy the Cloud Recesses… it is a lot, though the pacing of the scene works for me. It's just that a lot of things are piling over and over on the characters (oh, and we get Meng Yao noticing and being concerned about Lan Xichen after he hears about Gusu).

Hmm, so the final scene with Meng Yao and Nie Mingjue. It does… ah, echo for me with how Meng Yao ultimately dies, with regards to how he acts with Lan Xichen in their final scene. Here, he tells Nie Mingjue that meeting him means he has no regrets. At the end, he will tell Lan Xichen that LXC being willing to die for him is 'enough'. In both cases, there's a sense of… Meng Yao knows there's a good chance he might actually die here, so I feel like he's doing his best make to try to make it so that at least this person will carry him with them the rest of their life, that he will impact them by his death. Which ties into his deep, deep desire to matter. Nie Mingjue dismisses it as — the viki translation says 'this little vanity' — but. I mean, it's easy for a sect leader to dismiss someone else's desire to be seen as important? Nie Mingjue has never been unimportant a day in his life. This doesn't excuse Meng Yao's actions, of course, but, I do think dismissing something that is clearly the cornerstone of someone's life doesn't lead to understanding. And Nie Mingjue does want to understand why, but I think his and Meng Yao's lives are just so different that the gap was just too wide to bridge with the tools that he had at his disposal.

I do think that both Nie Mingjue and Meng Yao are clearly emotionally marked by this confrontation/breakdown of their previous relationship. I didn't know either of the characters very well in my first viewing, so I'm just… I'm a lot more emotional about this scene now than I was the first time.

Next time: Lotus Pier! Excited to be seeing it again for the first time in the rewatch. And all the painful/fascinating family dynamics.

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[fmab-liveblog]

Doing the outro first because I got to it first

First of all, the art style is adorable. Looks like a kid drew it. It’s also what I mimicked for the header for this blog!

I’m not gonna comment on the lyrics because, A, I can’t read them and B, I’ve got like two stat points in musical comprehension. All I know is ‘haha sounds pretty’. 

ANYWAY! Setting up the focus on Ed’s arm from the getgo. There’s a lot of focus on that automail and I could spitball a dozen reasons why - it’s Ed’s defining trait that sets him apart from other anime protagonists, it’s a reminder of his dedication to his brother (he lost his arm saving Al, not bringing his mom back), it’s both a help and a hinderance (gotta do maintenance), it’s a hand - that’s how we interact and exert influence on the world, it’s a major part of the plot and also the basic of a lot of his interactions with Winry, among other things. The automail arm represents The Fullmetal Alchemist.  Gonna have to revisit this in the last couple episodes, but, spoilers, when he gets his arm back, he gives up being The Fullmetal Alchemist and goes back to just being Ed

Or maybe I’ve been in too many college writing classes and look for symbolism in everything. Either or lol

It’s really interesting that all the focus is on the arm, though. He has an automail leg as well but again, that was from a mistake. He gave up his arm to save his brother which is far more important. The leg is just part of Ed, but the arm is all about what he does with his life. 

I’m realizing the credits are in English for some reason. Odd. 

Anyway! I love this art style so much and it’s nice to see Ed relaxing like this. This whole segment is very lighthearted despite everything going on. Sure, Al got his body snatched and Ed lost his limbs, but they can still enjoy life

Love this little spar session. Al’s winning, first of all, which is an important plot point for later. You can also see that Al’s less defensive than he was when he was first helping Ed when he got his automail. He is still blocking, but is that because it’s a reflex or because he’s trying to help Ed practice against a normal person that can’t just tank a boot to the face? He’s also got a combination of fast, reactive attacks and long windups. For the most part, when he strikes, it’s just as fast as Ed. It’s only the end when he has Ed stuck where he cocks back for more than a split second

And Ed. I neglect him a lot because Al is obviously my favorite, but he is so agile and vicious in a fight. He gets thrown around a lot, sure, but he makes it work for him. Look at when Al goes to kick him - Ed vaults onto his leg and uses that as momentum to backflip and kick Al in the head. And the little breakdancing uppercut kick thing near the end? 

I think Ed would be a much better fighter if he stuck to the ground more and focused on that fast, vicious attacking - there’s one point where he’s low and advances on Al and Al has to back up. Al, who is literally twice his size. 

I’ve been looking at this on loop for nearly 5 minutes now writing all this and it just keeps getting better. 

This whole outro is so charming but this. You’ve got Ed and Win fighting, Ed on Al’s shoulders and a loony tunes segment. It’s such a cute little animation drawn by kids

And sad again lol. It’s nice that he has books at least, but the way they’ve always got him staring off in the middle space when he’s alone. I love Al. I would kill for an episode entirely focused on him. 

There’s just something about they way they run in here that’s so ‘two kids going on an adventure.’ Running over rocks, moving towards some unseen goal. Love it. 

They’re too cute I can’t take it even if something’s up with Al’s hair and eyes. Normally they’re a touch greener than Ed’s.

Anyway, the last animated shot is the two of them walking down that railroad -moving with their adventure. I’m sure the kids didn’t want to lose parts of their bodies, but they’ve always wanted adventure. 

Also, this shot sums up their dynamic really well. Both are equally important to making the outro, but Ed’s grinning, more excitable, etc while Al’s more reserved. They’re so consistent with the characterization

[caramellody]

As someone who hasn’t watched ninjago since like,, the green ninja was revealed .. what the FUCK is going on in the show? Idk abt spoilers bc I’m so bewildered and can’t piece anything together

Yeah, I think of ninjago kinda like rvb in the sense that the moment you drop off of ONE season, the later seasons are so buckwild and a mess to keep up with. I’ll definitely try and give as best of an explanation but I am also prone to rambling myself (there's like 11 whole seasons since I'm assuming you fell off after late season 1 to go though) so i’ll put this in a read more. I’m also assuming you don’t care about spoilers but just for others who might(?) know i’ll be talking spoilers for almost everything, there may be somethings i don't mention because, there's a lot, but just as a precaution i gues dhfijkhfdsj

EDIT: this actually turns out to be VERY long even when opting certain  things out in order to make it shorter

-Season 1 and season 2 (Rise of the Snakes and Legacy of the Green Ninja) are easily the most straight forward episodes of the series. it’s all about training Lloyd in being the green ninja to defeat his father. Lloyd grows up at one point? it’s so buckwild because its in the episode where the OG 4 turn into kids (and yes theres a reason) and Lloyd has to use this tea to turn them back (as well as make a revived monster go extinct) and as a result he ages up like the rest of them. Aside from that and the inclusion of the overlord (an even worse villain who actually possesses Lloyds dad), season 2 is all about prepping Lloyd up for that final battle

And TECHNICALLY, season 2 was where it was gonna end, the franchise was basically discontinued after season 2, but then was brought back up for a 3rd season, which is where things get more character-focused.

-Season 3 (Rebooted) revolves around technological advances (you might even consider it cyberpunk-ish in concept) and the main villain is the overlord who has basically taken over everything in the city. this season introduces P.I.X.A.L whos clearly set up as Zane’s love interest. There’s also this REALLY stupid love triangle between Nya, Jay and Cole that everyone pretty much unanimously hate because its done so forcefully and is really there just so that jay and any could have romantic drama (which. is dumb even for 2014 standards). it ultimately culminates to Zane fuckin DYING (but its okay he's a robot) in what is still such a banger of a theme. the end of the season teases that he comes back. Also Garmadon isn’t a villain and is easily one of the best characters in that season, he acts like the father Lloyd needed for so long, its not overtly important to the plot but it’s a big dynamic shift compared to S1 and S2.

-Season 4 (Tournament of Elements) takes place months (it's not explicit but it's assumed that its a year) after s3 and the gang have all broken up, but Lloyd tries to bring them back together. they all get invited to a tournament that claims they have Zane (that gives me mortal Kombat vibes) with all the other elemental masters (by this point they are able to use their elements without the need of weapons as a proxy like in seasons 1-2). Zane’s revealed to be back and in a new robot body and the main bad is the guy running the tournament. 

-Season 5 (Possession) is all about ghosts! the gang meets Morro, who was a former student of Wu who was training to be the green ninja but never became it because that was lloyds spot. he then ran off on his own to change fate but died and later comes back as a ghost to take over Lloyd. this season also has Cole turn into a ghost and Nya officially joins the team as the water ninja. 

-Season 6 (Skybound) is all about sky pirates, after being released from his lamp, djin Nadakhan tries to find his old crewmates. he also finds out that his homeland was destroyed as a result of the events of season 5 and goes all out to make the ninja criminals for what they (unknowingly did), this is by all means a Jay and Nya season about their own struggles but its also one of those seasons that never happened because jay literally WISHES to retcon all of season 6, so this season never ‘technically’ happened

-Day of the Departed is a special that mostly focuses on bringing back old villains who were killed, but mostly focuses on cole slowly being forgotten.this special is specifically important because Cole becomes corporeal again (and he gains a new ability)

-Season 7 (Hands of Time) is a time travel season, theres things relating to Kai and Nya’s past and their parent’s connection to the main threat in the present (I'm sorry if i don’t sound as enthusiastic compared to other seasons season 7 is imo my least favorite so there’s not a lot i can say about it) it’s also the last season were the original designs are used!

-Season 8 (Sons of Garmadon) is the first season that came out AFTER the Ninjago movie (which for the record takes place in a separate universe, the characterizations are different despite their appearances being similar.) it revolves around a gang (called the sons of garmadon) trying to collect the three oni masks in order to revive lord garmadon again (and they’re successful too)

-Season 9 (Hunted) takes place RIGHT after S8 (specifically a week after). Lloyd and any are forced into hiding while the original 4 ninja and wu (who is a baby, this is a plot point that begins at the end of season 7. they find a baby in s8 and that baby ended up being their original master) are trying to escape the realm they ended up stranded in after the events of s8

-Season 10 (March of the Oni) another that takes place right after season 9, the oni (who are hellbent on destruction) basically invade all of ninjago and the ninja have to stop them. this is a simple 4 episode season that really acts more like a movie than a season.

After S10, the series sorta gets a soft reboot. the previous seasons are still canon, but there's a clear tone shift (and animation shift) in the show overall)

-Season 11 (Secrets of the Forbidden spinjitzu) is broken up into two parts

(The fire Chapter) revolves around the ninja trying to find something to do and ultimately opening up an ancient tomb where an ancient group of snakes lives 

(the Ice chapter) builds off of the fire chapter, zane was sent to a different realm and the gang goes out to save him, but the realm they end up in is controlled by a powerful Ice emperor who is trying to freeze the entire place.

-And finally, Season 12 (Prime Empire) is a tron-styled season where Jay goes inside a video game, the gang goes out to look for him before finding out that the A.I in that game is trying to get out and forcing people to get trapped in the game in order to leave.

Season 13 (Master of the mountain) is the upcoming season, and it seems to be very DnD aesthetic, and all about cole which is gonna be exciting 

And that's all there is to it dbhubjfdsbhjdsj idk if you expected me to go on a FULL ON ESSAY and for that i apologize in advance, but...there's a lot going on in this series and it's such a wild ride

[mintgator]

MDZS fic ideas

Things I’d love to see in Mo Doa Zu Shi fanfiction. These are my notes for things I have told myself I am not allowed to write. I’ve read...so many fics for this fandom, like most of the archive, and I’m sad that I’m pretty much at the point of rereading/waiting for updates. These ideas have been swimming around in my head that I have no time to write, so PLEASE someone take them and gimme some new words to read, I beg you.  Of course, end goal should be wangxian in some way, because otherwise WHAT IS THE POINT, but I don’t have time to write these, so...here you go. Please let me know if you use them. I wanna read these, but I don’t have time to write them, so maybe someone else will want to.

*Time Travel AU in which WWX goes back and for some reason tells Madame Yu all the bullshit that’s gonna happen, so they team up and fix all the things. I just...really want Mama Yu to like WWX thanks. And dear god, LET JC BE HAPPY! I need so much more resolution on that front. Even the book did not satisfy me. I WANT MY BOYS TO GET ALONG! And I want Mama Yu to not be awful and abusive to WWX! I mean she had reasons for being salty but uh that is NOT good justification for the shit she pulled with WWX. Also, hell, let Jiang Fengmian get his core melted and have Madame Yu run the sect. WE NEED FEMALE REP.

*Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze live so WWX gets to grow up with his parents. He meets LWJ as a rogue cultivator or something idk. This would make a fun oneshot.

*LWJ’s mother lives! Honestly, I just want happy Lan-fam. Can I get that please? Just how much would it change the dynamic of the story if LWJ’s father led the sect properly and his mother wasn’t locked away in a goddamn building and actually got to spend more time with her kids? I am forever salty that we’ll never know why Mama Lan killed her hubby’s teacher or w/e. Somebody GIVE ME SOME REASONING.

*WWX gets taken in and claimed as heir by Wen Ruohan...and WWX doesn’t learn that their ways are wrong until he’s at least a teen (perhaps when sent to train at the Cloud Recesses?) and realizes how the other Sects really feel about them. Give him some convoluted morals that he has to unlearn. Make Wen Xu and Wen Chao hate him for being chosen over them. Change Wei Wuxian/Wei Ying into Wen Ying/Wen Wuxian and have it be a secret that he’s not actually a Wen. Have WWX actually not want the Wen Sect destroyed because despite how messed up its people are, not all of them are bad--mostly just those in power (it still baffles me that the other clans just DESTROYED an entire sect, like I know the Wens burned Lotus Pier but DAMN that’s cold!) Even some kind of variation where WWX influences Wen Ruohan and his children’s evil mindset would be really interesting. Otherwise, can you imagine WWX with Chenqing on the Wen side? Ouch. Also, this sticks WWX with Wen Ning and Wen Qing early on and I LOVE THEM, so there’s that.

*WWX doesn’t come back after his first death, and LWJ achieves immortality because he’s stubbornly still looking/waiting for WWX. Two centuries pass (we’re going to ignore any technological advancements and replace them with cultivation advancements or something) and LWJ ends up befriending a nice lady cultivator who falls for him, and even though he only considers her a friend, he agrees to marry her. They have 1 very stubborn gay daughter (only from consummation sex which brings up a boatload of other problems) who somehow stumbles across a reborn!WWX with all his memories--daughter is hella bitter that her father clearly does not return her mother’s affections and that he is apparently pining for someone who is so long dead that people don’t actually remember his name (ie - people remember Yiling Laozu but not that his name was Wei Wuxian). But without knowing who he is, the daughter ends up liking WWX until she finds out the truth about who he is and drama ensues. Can you tell I’ve wanted to write this one so badly? I mean I could just about draft an outline, but I HAVE TO FOCUS ON MY ORIGINAL NOVEL I’M SORRY.

*Time Travel AU in which Yanli alone gets a do-over with all the future knowledge and fixes everything just by being her amazing self. I feel like she’d be a really keen manipulator.

*The story from NHS’s pov. I wanna read all his manipulations and him putting them into place. Is there anything like this out there? Because oh my GOD I wanna know what’s going through his head sometimes. I really, really do!

*Jiang Cheng/Wen Ning - AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS THIS WOULD BE AN ENTERTAINING SHIP? Just...I sort of tolerate the JC/LXC and JC/NHS pairings because they’re commonly used, but honestly, I’m not crazy about either one. However, WN is such a sweetheart and JC is such a hothead and there is so much opportunity for drama there. Also, in some cases depending on timeline...WN is, yunno, a corpse--a fixable thing if you weave in WWX’s involvement and make him and JC get along again. GIVE ME THAT. Like I don’t read much other than wangxian focused fic, but I would read the hell out of this (also you could easily balance those two pairings).

*Somewhere in the waiting gap, LWJ is given three tasks by a deity of some sort who promises to bring WWX back if he completes him...but these tasks have to UTTERLY go against LWJ’s character and completely destroy his reputation as Hanguang Jun. Honestly, this could go cracky or painfully dark.

*No idea how, but Mo Xuanyu manages to bring WWX back fully in-tact and they both get to live. WWX of course takes MXY under his wing, and together they avoid the notice of even LWJ for a lot longer than WWX did in canon. I would love to see them figuring out the whole JGY plot in the background and LWJ tailing them around just a little too late to the party each time a major event goes down until finding out in some kind of dramatic finale that WWX has been back for a while. I have yet to see characterization for MXY that I really like. Most people make him either ridiculously whiny or so much like WWX that they may as well be the same character. :/ So, uh, maybe a different approach? I mean MXY is allowed some complaints, he’s had a rough time of things, but come ON.

*Lan Wanji never finds Wen Yuan and poor widdle Shizui manages to survive into adolescence living on his own in the burial mounds...accompanied by the fragmented ghost of his Xian-gege who very slowly is pieced back together by A-Yuan, who has sort of naturally started using demonic cultivation and somehow develops a heroic reputation as a rogue cultivator. Why? Because he’s Shizui, and Shizui is SO PURE OK? Maybe he has a fascination with LWJ, even though his memories of Rich Gege are kind of fuzzy. Shizui matchmakes his two ridiculous dads. Oh and inquiry doesn’t work on WWX cuz his soul is shrouded by the resentful energy in the burial mounds.

*The Wen clan burns the Cloud Recesses to the ground around the same time WWX has lost his parents, but LWJ somehow escapes. Reportedly, everyone in GusuLan is now dead, but he somehow ends up in the same town as WWX. They meet and bond immediately. Maybe LWJ saves WWX from the dogs. Anyway, JFM never finds WWX, so he and LWJ grow up together in poverty, eventually teaching themselves cultivation and night hunting, until their fame grows so much that they catch the attention of the Wen clan (or something). Have them ridiculously dedicated to each other, already in love and thinking of themselves as cultivation partners. I want their bond to straight-up shock people. LET THEM BE SHAMELESS. LWJ would have to have a fake name and wear something other than white.

*LWJ and WWX figure out their relationship stuff a lot sooner and end up building a proper sect in the burial mounds. I want LWJ wearing WWX’s colors. I want demonic cultivation to work hand-in-hand with regular cultivation. I want them to find artifacts or books or something in the burial mounds indicating a civilization used to be there that also studied demonic cultivation, or maybe they actually find some long forgotten god/dess of demonic cultivation who empowers them in exchange for worship.

*LWJ was not whipped for protecting WWX, he was imprisoned for life, not in GusuLan, but in some godforsaken prison that is so intense no one in the clans really likes to talk about it. I want him flung into some hellprison with ghosts and demons, where only his cultivation keeps him alive (and relatively sane) for that decade-ish gap until WWX’s fragmented ghost somehow finds him. Of course, WWX realizes LWJ loves him, which triggers in WWX a want to finally come back to life. He finds a way back to the living world and rains hell upon the people who decided it was a good idea to imprison LWJ until someone finally tells him how to get to the prison. He frees LWJ and helps him recover while all the JGY stuff is going on the background. Wangxian returns to the cultivation world in time to stop that catastrophe. (Before LWJ is imprisoned, he makes LXC promise to take care of A-Yuan of course!)

*WWX gets flung into the burial mounds and embraces demonic cultivation, but realizes he has somehow bound himself to the awful place and can’t leave. Over time, he lures stragglers and refugees to the mounds, where he welcomes them to stay and live safely. Outside, the Sunshot Campaign is a failure and what remains of the sects bow in subservience to the Wen clan. Inflicted with some permanent disabilities from the war and left to run GusuLan now that his brother and uncle are dead (sorry Xichen), Lan Wanji never gets the chance to go looking for WWX. Thirteen years pass and WWX has absorbed so much resentful energy from the burial mounds that he is practically a part of it. Finally, he is able to leave, but the world he finds is much different from the one he remembers, and his health fades fast when he is outside of the mounds. Somehow, WWX figures out that demonic cultivation doesn’t damage the body/soul/temperament if somehow counterbalanced properly with a golden core--and since he doesn’t have one, he and LWJ do a soulbond thing so that their cores (WWX: demonic and LWJ: golden) balance each other. Then he can take on the Wens.

I could literally whip out ideas nonstop, but these are the big ones that have been just...beating on the walls of skull trying to get out. Of course, they don’t always account for everything, so more thought is needed. Anyway, if you write any of these, please let me know so I can read them, and of course a shoutout would be nice. c: My username on ao3 is the same as here. Enjoy~!

[immortalcockroach]

21 + 15 + 8!

asdfghjkl rose thank you for asking ♥️ this ended up coming out incredibly long, so i apologize in advance!

8) where do you take your inspiration from?

surprising! mostly from visual media, actually. graphics, art, moodboards, films, tv series, that kind of stuff. occasionally, music, and even more rarely, written media (fics, books, poems, similar). that’s for when i’m starting to get ideas. when i already have something written or ideas developed a bit more, then i have a moodboard on pinterest and a playlist on spotify, or i watch something that has the same mood/theme as the thing i’m writing.

15) if you write oc’s, how do you decide on their names?

i don’t usually write oc’s for fics, but i do them for my original stuff. the names depend on the characters’ background and location, but they all have a name that either sounds specific to their character or who they’re supposed to be, or the meaning is very connected. 

in other cases, most of the time, i just go ‘woah this sounds cool’ or sometimes i build a whole character because of their name and subsequently the whole story.

21  tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? what is it about them that you admire?

i love this question!! let me give my favourite fic writers a shoutout, even though i’m probably missing some too!! it’s really long but honestly these people worked hard and they really deserve it

@grumpybell‘s ideas are absolutely brilliant. i’m a huge fan. the stories themselves, the plots would be enough for me to have a whole paragraph about, but for me, the characters are where it’s at. well-developed, very true to the canon but also to the universe the fic is set in, but also very well-rounded and overall realistic. the fics just flow really nice, honestly, and i could read them for eternity. 

fic shoutout: oh darling, here’s hoping god i remember reading this red riding hood au and just... falling in love. i did. i fell in love with bellamy as the wolf and clarke’s desperation to save him, and the new take on the fairy tale, it was just absolute perfection. i keep coming to it every once in a while, honestly. it’s just magic.

@asroarke is one of those people who are just integrated into a fandom’s fanfiction. imagining t100 fanfiction with asroarke is like... imagining the sky without the stars. i think those fics were the first ones i read when i joined the fandom, and i remember one of the things i thought was how easy it was to read. everything flowed as if there was no effort needed, as if the words have always been there, just plucked and placed on a blank document. and the consistency, honestly, damn. these fics are better than probably more than half of published stuff i’ve read. 

fic shoutout: drag me down. look there’s a pattern here and it’s the mythical/legends/fairy tale aus. i present you with a retelling of little mermaid in the most beautiful, soul-wrenching way. i waited every single chapter for when i came out. i read it as soon as i saw it came out, even if i was in the middle of grabbing coffee with a friend. honestly everything by asroarke is absolutely fantastic. 

@blvke-bellamy okay look. when i saw may is just 15 i nearly fell off my chair. i’d kill to have that talent at 15. i would. look, i keep saying look, because i’m shook. but honestly, may’s characterization is brilliant. she took my faves from the 100 and managed to insert them into a different universe, and they feel so much like the original characters and not at all. the dynamics between them are so raw and so pure and so believable i cried at one particular scene in her fic. or it might be two scenes. and look, this is impressive on its own, and then knowing she’s just 15...god.

fic shoutout: step into the sun is a bellarke tangled au and honestly. i’m a slut for tangled. it’s so damn good. and this fic?? inspired by tangled?? absolutely brilliant. marvelous. 11/10. brought my fish to life. and honestly murphy is my favourite in the fic, literally one of my favourite portrayals of him in every fic i’ve ever read. i binged this. i lost sleep over this. no ragrets.

@pawprinterfanfic (i’m biased but. in top 3 fic writers ever. and i’ve been in a lot of popular fandoms.) paw manages to take a universe and make it hers. paw manages to create a universe out of nothing and make it feel more realistic than my own life. and honestly, i am reading her hunger games au right now and it’s amazing, but the best part is that i’m also reading the harry potter au which is even better and although both are masterpieces, i can see the improvement. the development of the characters, the amount of effort in planning and mapping things out, it’s marvellous. her fics just speak to me on a different level, it feels as if i’m experiencing them myself rather than reading them, and what i’m mostly in awe of is how immersed i am in those fics, especially the newer ones. i feel like it’s a rare skill to have.

fic shoutout: starry eyes and galaxy minds (we’ll be dancing on the clouds at night) which is a spider-man au, and honestly, i cried. it’s beautiful. it’s a masterpiece. but so is literally every single one of paw’s stories, so it was a really difficult choice. the harry potter one? j k rowling wishes she wrote it.

skai_heda (i don’t know their tumblr please someone help me find it). where do i begin. honestly. when i started reading the fic i put below, i was mesmerised by the writing style. it was partly in second pov which i’d usually refuse to read, but this writing style is something that belongs to gods. the characterization is amazing, it manages to fix some of the stuff in canon without actually changing it. everything just comes together naturally, and i always feel so satisfied when reading their fics. plus, the writing style again, especially in the fic below, is flawless. some people can create magic with their words, and i’m convinced i’ve just found one.

fic shoutout: everything that comes after deserves so much!! more!! attention!!! i remember reading the first two chapters and just being like...wooow. i was starstruck. i left a long ass comment. it’s so unique and so beautiful. it’s the only fic on this list written in the canon universe, and it’s one of my favourites i’ve ever read about the canon universe. it hurts. it makes you cry, and ache, and understand, and smack your head because you just want people to be happy. if i could pocket the way this fic made me feel, i would always keep it with me. (a little frustration, but a whole lotta love.)

give me a number and i’ll answer questions about writing fanfiction

just in case you’d like to see the same questions answered for non-fanfiction/non-fanfiction influence, see below!

15) if you write oc’s, how do you decide on their names?

specific example of mentioned above - a wip about teenagers who come from a rich side of town and a poor side. there’s posh names, like cedric, declan, byron and gregory, for people who are supposed to represent the posh, stuck-up class; hadley, tessa, abigail, kate for privileged people who are the ‘good guys’; and luca, oliver, han, freddie, who are from the poor side. it’s very classist so it was very important that the names represent the characters. usually, i go for the “vibe” of the name over the meaning, to be honest. 

21  tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? what is it about them that you admire?

i love this question!!

fiction: maggie stiefvater, because her raven cycle series genuinely feels like magic when i read it. the characters are brilliant. erin morgenstern, who wrote the night circus, because that novel also feels like magic. donna tart’s the secret history feels as if you’re reading a secret and the storytelling sort of reminds me of f. scott fitzgerald’s the great gatsby in a way i can’t really describe. she creates a beautiful, magnificent atmosphere and you know what the characters are doing is wrong, but you completely understand them and it makes me, as a reader, question my own moral standards. madeline miller’s the song of achilles is a beautifully written masterpiece that made me fall in love with mythology, legends and history all over again. the way she develops the characters and retells the story i’ve heard a million times is so poetic and beautiful it just resonates with me on a different level. and finally, leigh bardugo with her six of crows series that again, makes me question my morals, but shows the friendship and loyalty between people in a beautiful way. it also shows a romance that i think is one of best written i’ve read, up there for me romances from the novels/series i’ve already mentioned.

there’s a pattern - storytelling and character-building that feels almost otherworldly, very focused on emotions and character development. basically, stories that you feel like as if they were made into films without proper, detailed development, wouldn’t translate well enough to bring the world to the screen. and romances incredibly well-developed over time, that go beyond just being romances and actually show a beautiful connection.

special mention of these directors, as they have a huge influence on my writing: christopher nolan, john krasinski, quentin tarantino, m night shyamalan, steven knight, guillermo del toro, alfred hitchcock, for their storytelling and character building. also, some of these are for the suspense that seems to come naturally. i know most of these are very popular directors, but they’re popular for a reason. i could literally write an essay on each of these people, honestly. my writing is very inspired by motion pictures, i most often look up to how these directors approached some things that i have in my writing, especially themes. (this could literally be a whole essay on its own)

[nellie-elizabeth]

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: He Said, She Said (6x08)

Episodes like this will be overly scrutinized because they seem to be making a statement. People will wonder if it's too "after school special," or they will try to point to any possible missteps that Brooklyn Nine-Nine has made in the past, in order to say that this show doesn't have the right to talk about this subject. People will nitpick, and some might be genuinely upset... but personally? I think this episode stands on its own merits, and I think it was pretty great.

Cons:

The subplot was really funny, and focused on the Disco Strangler. I don't have any problems with it in particular, but I thought Terry and Charles were kind of underutilized. Holt was hilarious, but the other two were just kind of there to react to his silliness. I'm not sure what I would have preferred, but I think there might have been more potential here than we got to see.

Pros:

Keeping to the subplot for now, I've got to admit that it's fun for Holt to be the punchline of the joke every once in a while. His determination to catch the Disco Strangler, and his belief in his nemesis' escape was really funny, especially the recurring bit where he'd start part of the story only to find out that he'd already told it to everyone several times. The comedy here was also underpinned by Holt's insecurities. The Disco Strangler was the case that defined his success as a detective. If his nemesis really is dead, or at least so old that he can't be a threat anymore, that means that Holt is also past his prime and out of touch. The comedy here worked mostly because of the performances. I don't think a less talented actor could have pulled off some of the material that Holt was working with.

Onto the main plot. There are several things I want to praise. I'm going to be talking about sexual assault in a frank way, and I want to be clear that this is just my opinion, that I can only speak from what I've learned, and that I am by no means an expert.

First of all, I think this episode was smart to keep the particulars of the case very... predictable. By that I don't mean that they had no impact, I just mean that they weren't extraordinary cases involving serial rapists, dark alleys,  or anything of the sort. The story of Keri is something pretty extreme, but at least she does avoids being raped by physically attacking her assaulter. The story is familiar - it's in a workplace, and it involves a male co-worker taking advantage of a situation. The assaulter then makes jokes about it with his bros, and lies about what happened to the police. Pretty par for the course, honestly. Amy's story is also very hard to hear, but it's also quite typical - she says that her first mentor helped her through the ranks and got her promoted to detective, but then tried to kiss her as "payment for her career." Male authority figures who try to exchange sex for career advancement? Yeah. That's a big problem, and has been for a long time. The consequence of keeping these stories grounded in reality is that they don't feel like exceptional tragedies, the way a horrific murder would. They're the kinds of things that women experience every day, and while they might seem less significant than the violent crime we often see portrayed on TV, that doesn't mean they aren't awful to endure.

I want to talk about Rosa's role in this episode, which I found really interesting. (Also, kudos to Stephanie Beatriz for directing). She and Amy position themselves slightly differently when it comes to the subject of Keri's assault. Rosa believes that Keri should have taken the hush money and kept quiet about it. Amy, on the other hand, wants to press forward and get Keri to press charges. This is kind of an ideals vs. reality debate, or at least it seems to be at first. Rosa is being practical, while Amy wants to do the right thing and put away a bad man. At first, it seems that Amy should have listened to Rosa, because the results are sort of... mixed. The bad guy gets caught, but Keri's work environment has become so hostile that even though she doesn't get fired, she's forced to quit. Rosa comes forward and tells Amy that another person has come forward to tell her story of sexual assault, inspired by Keri. So... even if it is two steps forward, one step back, that's still one step forward. I loved that message. Amy's quote at the end was hilarious, and also an important part of the message: "We can be different and still have the same cause!"

Jake's role in events was appropriately downplayed. He had a quote that exemplified it: "I have landed on active listening; I will no longer be chiming in." I'm not going to throw a pity party for men who feel like they need to tip-toe around conversations involving rape culture and sexual assault. But, I do want to point out a very real tension between letting women be the voices of a movement, and want to be an ally and show support. This is true in any case where someone who is not part of a minority wants to show their support for a cause. It can sometimes be difficult to know when you're not going to be a part of a conversation, and to learn to listen to the voices of others. I think everyone can understand that to some extent. So is Jake perfect at it? No. He goes to his default when he's uncomfortable and makes jokes to deflect the awkwardness sometimes. His behavior shows how insidious the patriarchy can be. Jake thinks the office where Keri was assaulted is... really cool. The assaulter wants a Batmobile. Everyone has dorky nicknames and they party hard all the time. Jake is amused and drawn to some of this boorish, juvenile behavior. I'm not saying that the episode aligns Jake with the assaulter, exactly, but it shows that there are people out there who are probably very cheerful, and share interests with you, and seem like a "good guy," who are capable of this monstrous behavior. It's not always simple to distinguish these men.

I also want to touch on the characterization of Keri. This goes back to what I was saying before about the stories of sexual assault being familiar. Keri is a very stereotypical corporate woman. She's professional in the extreme, and you get the sense that she has to be, if she is going to be at all competitive in her field. She's the type of woman that will get called a bitch for being too professional and not sexually available, even though men with the same sort of focus and ruthless attitudes will get rewarded. This story feels all too real.

The scene were Amy told Jake about what had happened to her was really powerful. I like that we didn't linger too much on the story, or make it seem like Amy was spinning out of control. But she's clearly upset, and she has every right to be. It's so heartbreaking to think of Amy Santiago, an exemplary detective and employee, questioning her worth because of what a male superior did to her. Because of his actions, she had to question whether she had really earned her promotion. That's what people don't seem to realize - you could look at the situation and say, "oh, a guy tried to kiss you and you didn't want him to. That's not that big of a deal!" But there's just so much more at play. The power dynamics make everything complicated, and there are lasting effects involved.

That's where I'll stop for now. I thought this was a very powerful and well done episode. It didn't try to be a "Very Special Episode," but it undeniably put extra attention towards tackling a very important topic with finesse, compassion, and still a decent amount of humor.

9/10

[kcwcommentary]

VLD2x05 – “Eye of the Storm”

2x05 – “Eye of the Storm”

Zarkon’s forces, who showed up at the end of the last episode, attack. The Castle takes evasive action. This is the first time (is it the only time? because I don’t remember these things) that it’s shown that there are weapons drones separate from the Castle itself. Of course, the writers decided that in a tense situation, one that could be life or death, to have the never explained “rivalry” between Lance and Keith be a thing. When you’re in a situation like this, you’re fighting for your life, you’re not going to care about such petty things. Allura using the moon for a gravity assist was really nice though; I’m surprised the show could actually get something science right for a change.

The Castle makes it into a wormhole and escapes but falls short of their intended destination. Allura collapses from stress and everyone’s tired. Coran gets “the slipperies.” This plot for him doesn’t do much for me; it doesn’t bother me, I’m just eh about it. He eventually reports that the Castle’s teludav, the system that enables wormhole creation, is under severe need of maintenance. While Coran works, everyone else tries to rest.

Lance heads off to the pool, and when he sees Keith is doing the same, he gets all angry/annoyed. “What the heck do you think you’re doing?” he asks Keith. This “rivalry” is so senseless. Seriously, writers? Keith can’t even go for a swim without Lance being bothered by it? It’s tiresome. The power cuts out while they’re in the elevator though. Two people antagonistically stuck in an elevator together is a trope, but this episode doesn’t let it play out; we move on to out of the elevator almost instantly.

Meanwhile, Hunk is baking because of course he is. I can understand his explanation though, that it clears his head. This is a reasonable application of the Hunk-likes-food single bullet-point of characterization the show gave the character. It expands his liking food beyond just fat guy = food, and instead explains how it’s applicable to his psychology. Baking is meditative for him. His “cookies” are weird though, and when challenged on it, he responds, “Are you going to try and tell me these aren’t cookies?” as he looks through clear, blue discs. Are you telling me he just randomly threw unknown substances in a bowl, stirred, and then portioned it out and baked it? That’s not how baking works. If he truly is even a novice yet serious baker, he would know that baking requires precise measurement of ingredients. The show again thinks doing a faux x-ray shot of bones breaking, this time Hunk’s teeth when he bites a “cookie,” is funny. It’s not.

Lance and Keith are trying to cooperate in climbing up the elevator shaft. The “rivalry” continues as they rant at each other each step. They eventually make it out and to a spot under the pool. The water is above them for some no other reason than it’s weird.

Pidge meanwhile tries to learn Altean, but for some absurd reason, the language instruction software attacks you if you mispronounce words. And the words it teaches are just creatures/monsters. The episode later makes Pidge’s wanting to learn the Altean language have relevance, but this particular scene does nothing to advance to that point, so this scene is wholly unnecessary. 

Shiro and Allura have a brief, but nice, tender moment. She can’t help but to continue to be worried about Zarkon. Shiro tries to encourage her that it’s okay to take a bit of time to rest. Unfortunately, while they’re talking, Galra forces attack the Castle. The crew goes to stations. Lance is baffled that Zarkon could have found them. I don’t know why though since this isn’t the first time; the show has established that Zarkon can do this, and the Paladins know that he can do this. This shouldn’t seem like an out-of-nowhere surprise anymore. Coran’s slipperies remains a problem. I still don’t find his condition to be funny, but the emotion of his apology to Pidge and his asking for help makes his situation have narrative/characterization value. Keith and Lance are back to controlling the weapon drones. They call out targets for one another, which I guess is supposed to be them setting aside the rivalry to help one another, but it’s not realistic. One, an advanced weapon system like these drones would have tracking systems built into them, so each one would have fighters/potential targets being presented on their operational displays. Two, each of them would be too busy operating their own drone to be able to monitor for targets for the other.

The drones go down, other systems, the shields, Coran and Pidge have to take them all offline to power the wormhole generator. The Castle makes a short jump and end up at what looks like a giant gas planet, but they have at least a moment to breathe. Shiro’s worried about how they’re being tracked, and Allura assures him the Castle’s systems would have detected any kind of tracking device. Coran reports the teludav is even more damaged now. Pidge describes the thing that looks like a planet as being a “giant metallic storm.” This show finally has something that looks a fair bit like a realistic planet – it’s kind of Jupiter/Saturn-ish – but it’s a “metallic storm?” Whatever.

The storm should hide them from any technology that could detect them, but Zarkon’s there almost immediately. The shots of Zarkon’s ship above the eye of the storm are beautifully animated. With no known tech being identifiable as letting Zarkon find them, Allura assigns blame to herself. Saying that’s how the Galra found them on Arus too. I guess it’s just the stress of the moment that makes her blame herself. Shiro says none of that matters. (He’s so supportive in moments of crisis! How anyone could think his character is boring, I don’t know.) He says that Voltron needs to lure Zarkon away so that the Castle can get out. He says to Coran, “I need you to do the impossible.” So much leadership!

Galra fighters following Voltron into the storm end up being destroyed by the storm. I don’t understand the structure of this storm. It has an eye, but only on one end? Zarkon’s ship is stationed at that end of the eye, but there’s apparently something beneath the cylinder of the eye of the storm that blocks the other end, and thus the Castle can’t get out that way? That’s the problem when you make up something like this: you have to explain it/depict it in greater scope to let the reader/viewer understand what it is. If this is just a weird, spinning storm in space that has an eye, we’re going to instantly compare it to a hurricane to try to understand it. The eye of a hurricane is open on top and bottom. But this has no bottom opening?

Zarkon rages, “The Black Lion is all that matters.” The Castle flies out of the eye right past Zarkon’s ship. Even if Zarkon is focusing himself on the Black Lion, I can’t believe the entirety of his ship would just stop and not attack the Castle while it flies past. Voltron starts glowing purple and being pulled toward Zarkon’s ship. Shiro states Zarkon’s trying to take control of the Black Lion. Voltron struggles against the pull, and the Lions start emitting beams of light from their eyes. It’s visually confusing because Zarkon’s ship starts exploding, so it makes it look like it’s those beams of light that are damaging the ship until three camera shots later when it’s revealed that the Castle is blasting huge holes through Zarkon’s ship. Given how much damage the Castle is doing, they should be able to easily destroy the entire ship. Zarkon’s concentration is broken, allowing Voltron to escape.

Hunk’s cookies turn out to be made of the stuff that the lenses that need to be replaced in the teludav. It’s a convoluted, silly scene of the Paladins holding the “cookies.” But it doesn’t bother me. Everyone is freaking out. Lance is screaming, “We’re going to die.” And Shiro is just standing there thoroughly unbothered, with an almost resigned, “whatever” look on his face. It’s like the poor guy’s been through too much to even care at this point. The lenses aren’t enough; they need to be shined, and Coran uses his slippery goo to do so. The system works, they Castle jumps into a wormhole and escapes.

This episode does change the dynamic between Team Voltron and Zarkon. He’s no longer just standing around somewhere distant being a villain from afar. Now he’s actively pursuing them himself. The episode thus heightens the overall tension in the show’s ongoing plot.

[ask-shakespearehigh]

Q&A post with the Mods!!!!

This is going to be a long one oh boy

How strict is the delineation of creative control vis-a-vis characters/plays between the mods? (@pedanticlecturer)

We generally have the plays split up along lines of “what we know”— we have a list at the very beginning of the blog. Sometimes we’ll draw the others’ characters (mostly me drawing some of Star’s…) but even then the final say on characterization is up to the “main” mod for that play — mod aster

what aster said -- mod star

What is your favorite play? What is your favorite character in terms of how they were written in the source material? (@pedanticlecturer)

I think my favorite play overall is Macbeth, just because I like the vibes (and the fact that I too could kill Macbeth), the fact that you don’t say it’s name in theatres, and the fact that it’s a play I did a full read through and analysis of in class. Favorite character? Puck from Midsummer. — mod aster

uhhhh,, hmm. ive always had a soft spot for midsummer since i saw it with aster esp bc of how fun the costumes were. of the comedies it has the largest potential to be the most visually pleasing bc of the concept of fairies,,,and im gay and dramatic so i love that. id die if i got to costume design for midsummer,,,or be in it,,,yeah. fav character. hmm. probably mercutio?? i recently saw a version of romeo and juliet where mercutio was played by a woman and oh my god it was amazing!!! not to mention mercutio’s portrayal in baz luhrmann's INCREDIBLE version of r n j!!! (I based my mercutio design on him) he just spends the entire time making dick jokes. love that. -- mod star

How do you answer asks so fast? I mean it's great but I'm impressed 😂 (Anon)

Personally, it’s a mix of: notifications on, quick drawing speed, and using the blog to avoid my class work — mod aster

aster is fast and (as you can see from all of my answers) im lazey -- mod star

Are there any elements/characters of the plays you're covering that you would have liked to work into this blog's plot, but couldn't due to the constraints of the setting or the synthetic nature of the blog? (@pedanticlecturer)

I wanted to make everyone gay but unfortunately due to plot constraints we have to have some hets but that wont stop me from making it lgbt as possible. -- mod star

I did want to make The Tempest more of a central play, but it just didn’t translate well. Similarly, other supernatural elements like the witches in Macbeth. This isn’t so much a constraint mentioned, but my own time/energy means that I want to show the Macbeth backstory, in a specific format, but I can’t right now— mod aster

Is there a hierarchy of import when it comes to each play's individualized impact on shakespeare high's general arc? If so, what plays are crucial to the foundation of the story? Which ones did you do mostly for shits and giggles? (@pedanticlecturer)

This is phrased like an ACT question and i might not answer it right so sorry in advance but: mod aster and i only selected a few plays for each of us to do given we dont know all of shakespeare’s works, but we tend to put more emphasis on the the more well known. But it also comes down to 1. How much we have plotted out for each play and 2. What the followers ask about most. Our two most popular are hamlet and macbeth bc people are familiar w those but around march caesar always becomes relevant again. I didnt even have designs for some of the characters until someone asked about them. -- mod star

I would say the same as star— it generally comes down to what people ask about. I will say that the overall plot is sort of separated into “has happened” and “is happening”. Like, the human potion of Midsummer, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth are all in the “aftermath” portion, while Twelfth Night, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet, among others, are happening. We’re trying to incorporate as much as we can, and I don’t think any of them were really put in without some thought.— mod aster

What personal significance does shakespeare hold in ur guys' lives? (@pedanticlecturer)

I go to a theater school rn and so ive dealt w shakespeare (although not all of them) it also helps that i was in loves labours lost last year as moth and that i read hamlet and r n j. Theres also a theater in my state that always does One Big Shakespeare per season and they always do them super well!!! My love for shakespeare probably started w seeing midsummer at that theater w mod aster!!! So. Theater kid rights!! -- mod star

To be honest, I got back into Shakespeare Because of the blog. I’ve been friends with some people that got really Pretentious about Shakespeare, and it kinda put me off of it. I did have a book of abridged plays (the plays’ plots written out in prose, basically) that I read as a kid, which is what got me into not only the plots of a lot of the plays, but also the idea of having them illustrated. And, same as star, the theater in state does the One Big Shakespeare— and they tend to do some really cool things with the costumes, setting them in diff time periods. I haven’t been able to see any lately since I’ve moved, but they still slap. — mod aster

🥰😘💙🥰🥰💜💟🥰I 😍💗💚😍😍LOVE🖤🖤 YALL ♥️♥️🧡💛💚💝❣️💕💘💖💗💓💞💝❤️💛💜 okay now i have a question i swear— how long have the two of you been doing art??? and what were your first shakespeare plays??? (@hellaghosts)

Uhh i started drawing when i was like idk 12 and i have the giant boxes of sketchbooks to prove it!!! I moved to digital art at abt 14-15 but mostly stayed traditional until this yr when i got a Neat New Tablet so some of my sketchbooks are sitting abandoned rip. My first shakespeare was either romeo and juliet or midsummer nights dream and i love both of them v much!!! I have a very old piece of art that i did for r n j for my freshman class assignment on it and it hasnt aged well alsdjfjafd circa 2016 i think??? -- mod star

Oh man. I started drawing when I was about 10, but it was Bad. I don’t think I got much into drawing again until I was about 14? Sometime around the end of middle school/beginning of high school. I would say I started getting into drawing as more than doodling/coloring edits sometime around 2015-16? I would draw on my iPad with my finger, then I got a tablet for my computer, and now I pretty much stick to my iPad with an Apple Pencil. My first Shakespeare play was….. uh…… probably Midsummer???? I have No idea. We would go to plays when I was little, so I honestly don’t remember if I saw others before. It may have been Romeo and Juliet— I had that book where it was the original and the “modernized” with the little dog that explained things— which, if you know it makes sense, but if you don’t is probably a bonkers answer. — mod aster

Do you think this blog has like? An overarching thesis (be it b/c intentionally or simply b/c ur own take on the world has bled thru to the point where u believe it’s central to the piece at this point)? (@pedanticlecturer)

Not gonna lie, I had to read that like three times AND dm you to figure out what you were asking from us and all I have is “be gay, respect women, write your own happy endings”. — mod aster

This blog started with an ides of march shitpost and you think we have enough brain energy to write a whole thesis? I projected feelings of found family onto my half of the blog but idk if that counts. Be gay do crime 420 69 -- mod star

What’s the nature/rough dynamic of ur relationship? How do y’all know each other? (@pedanticlecturer)

Met mod aster when i was like 4 and even tho we didnt live close we became like, best friends although the Best part didnt start until we were like 13-ish and eventually we talked like non stop (about anime and homestuck. Yknow. 13 year old kid things) and we didnt see each other a lot bc of Distance and now its even worse bc aster is in colleg.,e but we consider each other siblings regardless of family bc we’re adopted into our own respective families so that bled over into our friendship and it would feel weird calling him anything other than my brother now. We’ve seen each other at our best and worst and if you really want a good insight on what we’re like as siblings watch griffin and justin mcelroy’s overview video of catlateral damage wherein i am griffin and he is the long suffering justin. -- mod star

Star is basically my long distance sibling and functionally the only cousin I recognize bc like their parents are basically an aunt and uncle and like our dads look enough alike that we’ve both accidentally gotten the wrong dad for a hug or similar so like. Anyways yeah Star is the Griffin to my Justin, complete with our absent middle brother who we love dearly— mod aster

Dubiously relevant q but what kind of music do y’all listen to when u do art (if that is indeed a habit either of u partake in) (@pedanticlecturer)

It can depend on the piece? I was working on some (unrelated) oc prints that were song-focused, and for those I just listened to said song on loop. Sometimes I have playlists. Sometimes I’ll just be in a Mood and throw a song on loop. But a lot of time for the blog, I’ll listen to The Adventure Zone for the billionth time, because I have Too Much Attention. I’ve also, on request from Star, linked the most recent “loop song”.— mod aster

I tend to obsess over the same like 3 songs every few weeks so those get listened to on repeat but it also depends on the tone of what im drawing or who im drawing i might genre switch bc of that. If im drawing ophelia i stick to lana del rey and if im drawing hamlet its the neighborhood, horatio is sufjan stevens etc. i have categorized,. Most of the characters i draw into different songs/genres/energies of music but not like i ever follow that. Sometimes i just pull up a really long nonsense video and forget to draw. Essentially: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ -- mod star

How’d y’all come up with ur pseudonyms? (@pedanticlecturer)

I love space so much and my main blog is starryeydsailor space gay rights!! Im also tiny and full of energy and bright so basically i;m star -- mod star

Uhhhh i was like “hey i want to do uhhhhhh flower?” And then I google searched flower names until I found one I liked —- mod aster

How did you end up deciding the rough timeline of events in canon? (@pedanticlecturer)

It’s mostly determined by like. How we choose per story? If that makes sense. Like, we just take story by story, and decide “is it happening, has it happened, and when?” And then we fit them together in relation to each other just by dint of. All existing at once. Like, I knew I wanted Macbeth to be in aftermath, because like, even though there’s no murder, the way I’ve translated it to the AU is still kinda heavy, and it’s something that I don’t know that I could do properly if it were happening right now. Also, it’s more interesting IMO to have them at different times. Tl;dr we wing it per story and slot them together— mod aster (mod star agrees I just can word better, in theory)

If you could tell the story of shakespeare high in a different format than an ask blog, would you? Obviously y'all are making very good use of the format, but would you want to write this as a animated series or like? a comic book? or is the form inseparable from the story? (@pedanticlecturer)

I kinda wanted to do a webcomic or maybe to plot develop through like, animatics but the element of surprise comes from the asks we get and really makes us think so the blog is a good start. We didnt think we’d get this far -- mod star

Pretty much what Star said— there are certain elements where it’d be neat to do as a comic or as an animatic. Like, the fantasy dream is like, an anthology webcomic of each story, where you can like, see other characters in the background and stuff. But to be honest, we develop a lot by what we’re asked— there was a post about developing worldbuilding by being asked questions and then pretending you’ve thought about the answer, and it’s not far off. Personally, it’s hard to just lay out a story, because I have a whole WORLD and what’s relevant? What are people interested in? It’s by getting questions that I can then focus in on an area to develop. And yeah, we Super didn’t think we’d get this far lmao — mod aster

Any headcanons about your characters that you don't think will ever come up on the blog through asks or plot posts? (@pedanticlecturer)

I could make a whole separate post for this!!!!! Mostly its voice headcanons (and by mostly i mean like 1 or 2) or relationship hcs!!!! -- mod star

Honestly same. I don’t think I have voice headcanons for mine, though I bet I could find some. I’ve got a bunch of miscellaneous headcanons that just kinda float around, but like they’re scattered, too numerous for this post, and also not always things I’m sure are canon yet.— mod aster

[iabsolutelyresentthiswebsite]

The Last Jedi Sin #12

I was hesitant to name this post this title because I know how easily it turns people off to reading the post, but honestly, that is what this is and honestly, this one is really worth the read.

It is The Last Jedi Sin #12.

12. Plot-Driven Characters

Up until yesterday night, I didn’t know how to describe what was bothering me so much about TLJ in the respect I will be talking about in a few. It was just “wrong” and “unconvincing” because honestly, what Rian chose to do to these characters is rarely done.

Why? you ask

because this isn’t how you write, Rian!

When I was a Senior in HS, I had skipped a grade, but was taking college classes nonetheless. One of the classes I was taking was English 101 from a local college for dual high school and college credit. At the same time, I was taking English 102 from another local college. One of the first things I learned in my college classes, after y’know...being told them for years, was that good stories are driven by strong characters. This was reinforced when I elected to take Screenwriting 101 when I was a Sophomore in college. The plot is something that happens as a result of what a character does or fails to do. Of course, sometimes you have to push a character to push forward the plot...that’s a necessity of character development, but it has to feel natural and the plot has to feel like it was meant to happen. It has to make sense. The build-up to the climax has to feel as seamless as possible and plot is really to bend around the characters...

Not the other way around.

Did Rian not get that memo? Did like...no one tell him?

What bothers me so much, and is, in fact, The Last Jedi Sin #12 is that the whole movie of The Last Jedi is the plot driving the characters and not the characters driving the plot. It’s hard to describe, but I'm going to do my very best.

In The Original Trilogy, the protagonists and antagonists have a certain dynamic. Vader and Sidious have a master-apprentice relationship, but almost like equals. Luke, Han, and Leia have the friendship dynamic. Luke and Vader, however, have a very different dynamic because they are father and son and are the “Functional Skywalkers” of the Trilogy. (This is not meant to sideline Leia...it’s just that her dynamic with her father was not established until late into VI so the dynamic was overshadowed by Luke and Vader’s that was established as early as the end of IV, but formally established in the middle of V.) 

Vader and Sidious wanted to control the whole galaxy and worked their asses off to destroy the Resistance. Luke, Leia, and Han were members of the Resistance and Resistance heroes; Luke was a Jedi and was bestowed a legacy upon him. The dynamic that really pushed forward the entire saga was the relationship of Luke Skywalker to Darth Vader. 

The plot of the entire Star Wars OT was to redeem Anakin Skywalker, establish Luke Skywalker as a hero, and bring balance to the galaxy, all of which was accomplished, but could only have been accomplished through the dynamic that was Luke being the son of Darth Vader, taking the legacy of his father upon himself, believing in the goodness of his father, and being the strong, emotional, loving, faithful character he was. It could only have been accomplished because Darth Vader still had a heart and cared for his son more than he ever could care about power. 

The entirety of the Prequels was the fall of Anakin Skywalker. The PT was, truthfully, so character-driven, it may have been character-driven to a fault because they were so focused on getting Anakin’s descent to the Dark Side satisfying and “right” that other things seemed to be pushed to the background. The main villains in the PT weren’t the most intimidating, except for Palpatine/Sidious, dialogue was clunky and awkward, but for the most part, the Prequels did a decent job at clearly displaying the internal struggle of Anakin Skywalker to remain good in the face of his dark tendencies, intense emotions he couldn’t control, and disdain for the Jedi Council. 

Even TFA was a pretty character-driven story. JJ knew what to do, as much as few have faith in him. 

The Force really Awakened when Finn saved Poe from the clutches of Kylo Ren and chose to finish Poe’s mission by bringing BB-8 back to the Resistance. Along the way, he met Rey, a girl whose emotions were very strong, had a very hard life, and wanted nothing more than a family. TFA repeatedly reminded the audience that Rey needed to return to Jakku because of her family, but because she found a family in the Resistance, she went full speed ahead into helping them and finding the belonging she sought ahead of her. Kylo Ren’s intentions in the movie were clear: to find Luke Skywalker and presumably to kill him. Why? We allegedly find out why in TLJ, but it’s unbelievable at best. He also desired to “finish what his grandfather started”, which was always a very confusing motivation because we all know Anakin Skywalker defected and murdered the Emperor as his last act in his life.

I digress.

How does TLJ differ from the OT, PT, and TFA?

Aside from the fact nothing in the movie should have logically happened, which I keep saying again and again...things just inexplicably happen to these characters and they just respond to it. 

Like, the Resistance is suddenly on its last legs, so now Poe is a trigger-happy fly-boy and causes the death of lots of people.

Rose Tico sees Finn leaving the Resistance cruiser, so she tases him with no questions asked, thus resulting in this stupid side-quest on Canto Bight.

Rey hands Luke his lightsaber and he rejects it (which he never would have done), so she follows him around for days with literally nothing happening for the most part.

Kylo Ren and Rey have an inexplicable Force-Bond.

Like absolutely, a lot of those things happened because of what a character did, but these things just happen to these people. They react to it and we move on from it. It kinda dies as a concept as soon as someone reacts and by the end of the movie, the characterizations of all of the characters are basically unrecognizable, there was no plot, and we’re right back where we started...a return to normalcy.

Like Finn is exactly where he would have been without the trip to Canto Bight. Poe is exactly the same character. Rose Tico had little to no characterization in the first place. Kylo Ren is just as dark, if not a little darker. Luke’s character was assassinated. And Rey’s character regressed. Like...there was no point to this movie. 

I said at the beginning that “strong characters drive a plot”. With what was just said and is true, none of those characters are strong, especially the one that so desperately needs to be- Rey. Rian Johnson altered their characters from TFA and changed them so that it would fit his narrative. That is an astoundingly stupid move. Because not only are these characters now weak, but they are not even themselves anymore! So these characters, who we didn’t come to see, are not experiencing any character development, in a movie with no plot, are doing nothing. I’m literally watching a movie about nothing with nothing happening!

The Last Jedi was boring in every single way but visually because there was no plot. There was no character development. There was no point except super cool visuals. 

What drives a story is character development and a convincing plot based off of the characters, neither of which The Last Jedi had. 

It has tHiNgS happen, but nothing that actually pushed the trilogy-long plot. 

A lot of stuff happened in the Empire Strikes Back, like Lando in Cloud City with Darth Vader, Luke continues to train with Yoda and learn the ways of the Force, Han and Leia’s relationship happens, Han gets frozen in carbonite and given to Jabba, and whatnot. But what pushes the plot forward was the reveal that the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker’s father, is still alive as Darth Vader. But had Lando not kinda “sold out” his friends to Vader, which led to Han being frozen in carbonite, Luke would have never left Jedi training to save his friends and fight his father, which led to the reveal that he was his father. Most of things that happen in this movie support the advancement of the trilogy-plot.

BUT NOTHING HAPPENED IN THE LAST JEDI. 

The reveal, which could have been the turning point in the movie, making Rey a Skywalker or even a Kenobi, was shot to shit and actually regressed the plot because just when we thought we were getting somewhere, after the shitty central conflict of the Resistance running out of fuel and the slow-motion cat and mouse chase, Finn, Rose, and DJ’s failure and sell-out, we got literally nothing. Nothing supported any kind of plot because there was no plot to begin with. Rian was- objectively- trying to rip off ESB, but failed because he so desperately wanted to subvert fan expectations that he actually sacrificed his plot and characters so that he could be “edgy” and “different”. 

Just when the Kylo-Rey dynamic was beginning to really be grounded and justified, Rian decided “hell fucking no” so whatever plot he was trying to go for, whatever character development he was trying to push forward, whatever he was trying to have happen, literally crumbled in front of the audience’s eyes. 

The whole reason ESB was so good and the dynamic going into ROTJ was high-octane was because of the dynamic between father-son Vader-Luke. There were high stakes in place, there were risks involved, there was faith being tested with the legitimate possibility for validation, and Vader’s possibility of redemption. Luke and Vader’s lives were in jeopardy because of their relationship.

There is no dynamic between Rey and Kylo because they, yeah maybe sorta understand each other a little better, but they still hate each other. They allegedly have no relationship with one another whatsoever, so where are the stakes?!  Kylo betrayed Rey after getting her hopes up. Like I honestly don’t know what to say about this. 

I fear for the franchise because I don’t know how it can be saved at this point.

Rian Johnson wrote not only himself, but JJ Abrams into a corner.  

You can’t write a compelling narrative where nothing happens and the characters simply respond to what happens to them. You can’t write a compelling narrative based on no stakes and no character development. People get bored when nothing happens and nothing progresses. I’ve had children tell me that TLJ “finished the same way the last movie did”. If children, Disney’s target market, can see it, that’s catastrophic. 

This isn’t how writing works, Rian.

[socialmediapromotion2020]

How To Be Successful In Content Marketing As a Modern Content Creator

First let me ask you something, would you ride your pony into another town-with your items, compact discs, your craft, your books, blog entries, or projects stuffed into the knapsack tied to your shoulders-and request your substance house to house.

No. You wouldn't...

It would be irregular, fringe improper, and the 1 or 2% of individuals that may buy your substance products would almost certainly do it because of compassion.

Notwithstanding the content creator way that a significant number of us are accidentally executing a comparable technique, there IS uplifting news.

Because your substance promoting efforts have neglected to change over doesn't mean you have a terrible item, a helpless assistance, or a revile from the universe!

It in all likelihood implies that your advertising pipe has neglected to fashion the association and relationship expected to make the deal, regardless of whether the item or administration is great and important enough to your possibility to think about buying your answer.

Notwithstanding what your selling, in the advanced world, the "know, as, and trust" factor is more significant than any other time.

Because you have an item or administration settled away on a third level page canvassed in fair duplicate and checkout button, doesn't mean you have a useful advertising and deals pipe.

This is the place where the Content Marketing Process comes in to loan some assistance and have it's impact in taking your crowd from intrigued prospect to steadfast client.

Content Marketing is the means by which brands assemble a crowd of people in the advanced world. It is a CORE aptitude for Modern Content Creators, and on the off chance that you are selling substance of any kind or organization, your substance methodology and your substance advertising should be strong in the event that you need to contend in 2013 and past.

Comprehend that substance showcasing may seem like another or faddish term. A popular wave here today gone tomorrow...

Despite the fact that it's a popular expression temporary fad starting late, it's anything but another idea, yet the Modern World has made everything fair by giving the entrance and assets to achieve what wasn't ever humanly conceivable up until as of late, and it's taken a short time for everybody to make up for lost time to the "content as money" idea.

Nonetheless, there is a major distinction between the methodologies that are effective and those that are most certainly not.

Two Approaches

There are just two direct ways to deal with selling your substance on the web. (workmanship, items, administrations, instructing, information, exhortation, and so forth)

1) Send cold traffic straightforwardly to an offer... The end.

2) Send focused on traffic to important substance and assemble a connected with crowd through adding more worth and supporting a relationship, and afterward sooner or later change them into a dedicated client.

Highway two is the situation.

That is the part of substance promoting.

The 3 Shortcuts To Successful Content Marketing

As opposed to call attention to where everybody turns out badly, I'll rather plot the most noteworthy influence arrangements, or the greatest easy routes that you can coordinate into your activities, missions, and cycles to put forth your attempts more fruitful.

1) Mindset-The principal alternate route is to move toward advertising your substance with the correct mentality.

The mindset you need to grasp is that of the Modern Content Creator, and all that intrinsically infers.

A. You are an Artist/Creator AND an Entrepreneur. You accomplish the work that is important, lined up with your motivation, and serves your dedicated crowd.

B. Everything from your main goal and reason, down to each project or mission starts with Clarity + Focus. This is consistently the beginning stage. Jobs and obligations are characterized so you can explain and zero in on your most elevated worth exercises, and afterward augment them with the most noteworthy influence.

C. You are narrator AND you are a distributer. As a Modern Content Creator you are both the master/columnist, AND you are the distributer of the magazine.

D. Content promoting is best considered as a cycle. A progressing discussion with your crowd dependent on the creation and conveyance of substance that enhances their lives.

E. Think straightforward yet complex. He who can handle and teach his consideration, will discover a group of people that gives them theirs.

F. The devices are just as successful as your capacity to utilize them. I figure we can kind of underestimate once in a while exactly how magnificent the force we have readily available really is...

I frequently hear a ton of discussion about what the following NEW "thing" will be...

Some super innovation or informal community that in a split second overwhelms the world.

While ceaseless headways in science and innovation and the a remedy for malignant growth are generally energizing, investing energy pondering flying vehicles is a pointless exercise.

It's not MORE innovation we need, it's the need to utilize the instruments we have BETTER.

Think as far as authority.

2) Message to Market Match

Content is relative, and being pertinent is progressively more troublesome across our uproarious advanced channels.

With the correct mentality, your message to showcase coordinate is the following most significant thing you CAN'T get off-base.

Tragically, for certain individuals it will be simpler to communicate in your crowds language than others. Yet, the substance of being a Modern Content Creator is the advanced comprehension of being both Creator/Artist, AND Entrepreneur.

This implies that you are making, making, giving things that are significant to you, yet additionally important to other people! A ton of the further inclining innovative sorts I work with must be helped to remember the way that their is a whole range of abilities and set-up of pioneering duties that should be coordinated and very much oversaw on the off chance that you need to locate that wonderful equilibrium of unending opportunity and satisfaction doing what you love.

... You need to adore what you do, and you ALSO need a crowd of people who loves how you help them!

The inalienable CREATIVE resources for Artist/Expert and Personal Brands can and should most DEFINITELY be applied in discovering this equilibrium, yet comprehend that an "on the off chance that you assemble it they will come mentality is hazardous."

Gotta offer some benefit. Genuine worth. Gotta understand what that worth is. This all requires understanding the most basic parts of promoting, which is truly compelling correspondence to a characterized target crowd or persona.

This expression and each believable stage is littered across the web. Maybe on the grounds that it is so extremely fundamental, thus regularly referenced that a significant number of us basically bypass the inalienable ramifications to offering that expression noteworthy and measured.

You must be altogether investigated and engaged with your commercial center. That is all. You need to know's who at the best degree of profundity to deal with that precarious equilibrium of tuning in to what your crowd is stating, and understanding where you can add to the gathering, in a significant and very much situated way.

You need to know the situating of those all around dynamic in your space so you can characterize YOUR Unique Value Positioning.

It's an equilibrium, and it's the way to finding your voice, regardless of whether that is as a position, or as a columnist or lover...

In the event that you haven't done top to bottom statistical surveying, on the off chance that you don't have the foggiest idea about the top websites, names, discussions, brands, holes, in your market; than it will be MUCH harder to cut your own space successfully.

Dazzle wounds in obscurity can now and then work out in the event that you maintain a strategic distance from the sharks, know the ideal individuals, and need to surrender your vocation to karma. I realize that master coaches/item makers who might view themselves as astute to this and unwittingly point their nose up at those "uninformed craftsman/performer types," while they, at the end of the day, don't even truly comprehend their market at the level i'm discussing.

You don't have to dive this deep with your market to be fruitful. No. In any case, when you do, there is in a real sense MANY alternatives and courses you could seek after in light of the fact that by then you can see all the holes, you KNOW the market and who's in it.

Presently, on the off chance that you're as of now a specialist, as are a large portion of my customers, at that point it's more a matter of dialing into the discussions and expounding on the most important issues, concerns, arrangements, that exist inside your locale.

It's not just about your own thoughts, or essentially expounding on what you want to expound on... Preferably you'd connect both so you are composing something significant for you, however that is most importantly addressing the persona you are meaning to reach, and does as such in an applicable and connecting way...

That seems like such nonexclusive counsel, however it's the name of game. As Brian Clark from Copyblogger showed carefully in a new meeting I heard, it's more about tuning in to your crowd, than talking at them.

3) Integrated Content Strategy: - Build an Intelligent Marketing Funnel

Pretty much each and every one of my customers, upon introductory admission, come to me with the accompanying:

They've set up their data item, workmanship, book, program, CD or administration on an internal level page (2-3-4) with some nice however generally nonexclusive duplicate and pictures.

Their web traffic is negligible, not followed, and has a system that is regularly flawed if adequately characterized or planned by any stretch of the imagination.

Presently, I trust none of them disapprove of this; I'm not saying it to tease them, however to all the more likely represent my point for you. (they will be all JUST fine;)

However, this is certainly not a successful promoting pipe.

Notwithstanding, subsequent to noting the fundamental yet indispensable inquiries for figuring out what to state and who to express it to, distinguishing the best correspondence designs, choosing the correct circulation channels, it's simply test, measure, and refine...

I figure it tends to be hard to think as far as a promoting arrangement for some, and it requires a generous measure of exertion and energy for me to draw the groupings out in my mind, move it onto paper and afterward actualize it.

Exclusively On Fiverr By  saravlad

However, the missing connection for the larger part that I can see-is an absence of incorporated system for thoroughly considering and delineating your promoting channel and creating the best, best USER experience you can. To know more visit the official website http://bit.ly/39icCwd