#writers not remembering their own writing

[lananiscorner]

Can't speak for anybody else, but depending on where you went to school and who your teachers were, I'm afraid paying attention and giving a damn is only half the battle.

Personally (went to school in the 90s and 00s before AI was a thing), I had so. very. many. teachers. who just utterly FAILED at making us understand WHY and HOW the things they were teaching us were going to be important later. It was really more of a "this is on the curriculum, and it's my subject which is always awesome, how can you not see this is awesome and enjoy it just for its own sake?" vibes. And yeah, unless the student you are teaching is into the thing you are teaching, you are not going to get them to pay attention like that.

My most abysmal subject in school was history, primarily because most of my history teachers thought learning about history was inherently FUN and "why can't you guys see this is FUN? How are you not seeing the FUN in this? What's wrong with y'all? How do you not ENJOY learning all those dates and watching timeline grow long?" Meanwhile, me and most of the class were sitting there like "I will never be able to memorize all these dates and everyone involved has been dead for hundreds of years, society has marched on, why should I care?" All I can say is BLESS the two or three GOOD history teachers I had who actually made the jump to go "okay, so forget the dates for a moment, focus on the how and why and let's see how this is still relevant TODAY". If it hadn't been for those two/three teachers, I would have remembered fuck all and I would be entirely unprepared for the historical fuckery that is happening RIGHT NOW.

The same applied to German and English class (I am German, had English as a second language since grade 3). Our English classes were almost entirely about learning the rules of the language and basic geography/history of major English-speaking countries. Our German classes were almost entirely learning the rules of our own language and our Cultural Heritage™ and also, here are the most famous writers (almost all of whom were white, middle-aged upper class men who died hundreds of years ago and whose lived experience was so far removed from that of a teenager in the 90s/00s, it might as well have happened in a different dimension) and we gotta analyze why THEY were brilliant why THEIR WRITING was brilliant.

Like, I WISH we had actually taken apart some newspaper articles/podcasts and analyzed them for how to identify the proper information and spot misinformation/propaganda. I WISH our teachers had succeeded in demonstrating to us why we should care about media analysis, other than wanking about guys who wrote something decent 300 years ago, but most of them really didn't.

Then there is the cascading failure of teachers in later years assuming that you already learned to do something years ago, so clearly they don't need to teach you. They don't even need to ask if you know. Of course not.

I still remember vividly the one history teacher we had who gave us an assignment to make presentations on some very specific local Jewish businesses and institutions that were sacked during the 1930s. Most of us had utterly abysmal grades on that one, not because we didn't care about the subject, but because it was highly local history, so good luck finding anything about it in the local library or on the internet, both of which tended to take a "top to bottom" approach of there being lots of information on global or national events, but very little on local events.

Our teacher gave all of us mediocre grades (deserved, because our presentations were mediocre at best) and then went on to complain how disappointed she was that none of us seemed to have done any research in the city archives, to which almost every single one of us responded with: "wait, there are publicly accessible city archives that we can access for this kind of information? Even as underaged students?"

She had the GALL to be surprised by our reaction, and to complain about how we should know about this already... and then she didn't even bother to teach us how we would go about accessing this kind of information! She saw a leak, and instead of teaching us how to plug it, she just complained about the leak and moved on.

You know, this would have been a nice chance for a field trip? Take the class down to city hall? Let the archiving clerks explain to us how information is stored and sorted and what we can access and what not? I don't know what this woman was expecting from us, honestly, because if "archive research" had been on any of our history curricula before, our teachers clearly hadn't bothered with it, and we were students living in former soviet territories--our parents grew up in a communist dictatorship where asking the wrong questions landed you in prison getting interrogated and tortured. Just how nosy/curious exactly did this HISTORY teacher who clearly should have known about the HISTORICAL background of our area think we were going to be, and how did she not even THINK to ask us "so this next task is about highly local stuff--do all of y'all know what the city archives are and how to access them?"

Like, I'm not saying that none of this failure to do research and accurately interpret and formulate texts is down to student laziness, especially in the face of AI. All I'm saying is, the cards are already pretty stacked against a lot of kids to begin with.

I cannot stress the importance of paying attention in language classes in high school. Maybe the reason why your English teacher taught you about unreliable narrators is because a lot of the media around you is written by unreliable narrators posing as reliable. Maybe they gave you assignments on interpreting texts so you could draw your own conclusions about news articles. Some of you clearly thought English classes were useless in high school and now are unable to engage critically with media.

[f1divorcefest]

2024 Formula One Divorce Fest

The F1 Divorce Fest is a prompt meme challenge that aims to shine a spotlight on the teammate pairings that got split up at the end of the 2024 season. It runs from February 12th until July 24th 2025.

How it works

From now until March 31st, you are allowed to submit prompts to the AO3 collection.

From March 16th until May 18th, you can claim one or more of the prompts anonymously. Don't worry - there are open prompts for each ship if none of the ones listed speak to you.

You have until July 3rd to create and submit your work(s). There will be rolling reveals throughout the first "summer break" of the 2025 season (July 7th to July 24th).

FAQ

What ships are allowed for the fest?

The main pairing of your work or prompt has to be one of these:

Alexander Albon/Franco Colapinto Alexander Albon/Logan Sargeant Valtteri Bottas/Zhou Guanyu Pierre Gasly/Esteban Ocon Lewis Hamilton/George Russell Nico Hülkenberg/Kevin Magnussen Liam Lawson/Yuki Tsunoda Charles Leclerc/Carlos Sainz Jr Sergio Pérez/Max Verstappen Daniel Ricciardo/Yuki Tsunoda

Side and background pairings that fall out of line with this list are allowed, but they should not be the focus or endgame ship.

There is a blanket ban on any and all new teammate ships of the divorcees involved in the fest (for example, you would not be allowed to write a fic focusing equally on Charles' relationship with Carlos and with Lewis). Mentions of those other drivers are allowed, but the point of the fest is to highlight the ships listed above! Please use your own discretion.

How long does my submission have to be? What about multi chapter fic?

Minimum word count of 1k, encouraged 1.5k. No Maximum.

Multi chapters are allowed as long as the first chapter fills the word count and you pinky promise to finish them.

Can I prompt and not write? Can I self-prompt?

Yes to both. As both prompting and claiming is anonymous until the reveals, you are free to claim your own prompts.

What if I can't finish my submission by July?

The event is purposefully long, in order to give participants as much time and freedom as possible to complete their works. That said, things can always happen, be that writer's block or IRL, and no one will bite your head off if you cannot fill your prompt in time. Ideally, you let us know so that we aren't in the dark once Jul comes around.

There will be check-ins and writing sprints in the discord, should you want them to hold you accountable. You can also use the channels there to brainstorm and discuss to help your writing process.

What about ratings or darker themes?

As long as the prompt you are filling has not specified any DNWs, you are free to write about any themes, kinks, tropes, and within any ratings and warnings. Remember to tag them properly, and go nuts.

I have a question that hasn't been answered here.

Feel free to send in an ask, DM, or ask for clarification in the Discord.

Links

AO3 collection Discord

The event itself allows both explicit content and minors participating and we trust that everyone moderates their online experience accordingly and appropriately. That said, the discord server is 18+. This is for moderation purposes. You are free to claim a prompt and submit a work without participating in the discord.

[coraniaid]

I know I keep going on about this, but I really do think that the majority of the Buffy fandom downplays the importance of Buffy's relationship with her mother to, at times, an almost ludicrous extent. Obviously it's not a perfect relationship (if you think Buffy has a perfect relationship with anyone on the show you've really not been paying attention) and indeed at times it's a very strained one, but it's a central part of understanding who Buffy is and why she says and does things that a lot of writing about Buffy on this site just ... pretends isn't there.

There are more or less extreme examples of this -- I saw a "Giles should have adopted Buffy!" post a couple of years ago that didn't even acknowledge that Buffy had a mother who might have objected -- but so much analysis of the show seems not to engage seriously with the thought that Buffy might care about her mother as a person or worry about her mother's opinion of her. And really, the show is very, very clear about this. There are multiple episodes in the high school seasons where the emotional stakes only make sense if you accept that 'demons from hell might end the world' and 'Joyce might think her daughter is getting into trouble at school' are two roughly equivalent problems for Buffy to navigate.

I recently saw a post about Season 5 that listed Joyce's death as just one of several different reasons for Buffy's burgeoning depression that season -- along with Riley leaving and her having to drop out of college -- but .... that's not right, is it? Those aren't three isolated and independent issues at all. All of those factors go back to Buffy's mom. Riley leaves her in Into The Woods because he decided the fact she's too worried about her mom getting sick to spend time humoring his fragile ego means she doesn't really love him. Buffy drops out of college in Tough Love because her mother died and she has to take care of her sister ... which, when you remember that Dawn is explicitly presented as a stand-in for Buffy ("she's more than [my sister]," Buffy tells us in The Gift, "she's me"), can only be read as Buffy dropping out because she has to take care of herself. "Who's going to take care of us?" as she asked Dawn in Forever.

Buffy's depressive spiral in Season 5 happens because her mother dies. There are aggravating factors, sure, but this is surely the heart of it. It's not because her crappy boyfriend left or she suddenly remembered she was a Slayer. It's because her mom gets sick and dies, and Buffy Summers -- who is afraid of hospitals, who blames herself for every death in Sunnydale, who has been trying to protect her mother from the supernatural for years, who hates the very thought of there being problems in the world she can't solve, who loves her mother more than she can say -- doesn't know what to do about it.

"I don't know how to live in the world [...] if everything just gets stripped away. I don't see the point. I just wish my mom was here," she tells Giles in The Gift. It's Buffy who turns to the door to let the shadow of her mother back inside in Forever, and Dawn who has to break the spell that brought her back. In Season 6, Buffy is trapped by a demon in a fantasy world where she was never the Slayer and her mother is still alive, and it's that image of her mother, telling her that she's strong and urging her not to give up which allows her to break free. When Giles comes back to England that season, and offers Buffy a temporary reprieve from all her new financial worries, the highest praise Buffy has for him is that this uncharacteristic generosity on his part is "a little like having Mom back".

There are people in the world Buffy cares about as much as her mother (but not as many as some of you think), and there are perhaps a dozen characters who appear in the show more or get more speaking time than Joyce Summers, and there are certainly lots of characters the writers obviously care much more about as people in their own right. (Like many of you, the writers seem pretty dubious about the idea that middle-aged women could ever be interesting.)

But there is nobody in the world who means more to Buffy than her mother, and I think trying to analyze the show as if there were is going to give you a very strange impression of what's actually going on. Ideas like, well, maybe Giles should have adopted Buffy.

[erinwantstowrite]

Any tips or wise words of advice for an aspiring ao3 writer who's planning to start a Dc x Mcu fic lol?

crossovers are a lot of work because you have a LOT of research to do if you want to be as accurate as possible. character work is the most important imo because it makes or breaks what you write. make sure you know your stuff before you write it all out, but also don't stress yourself out trying to make it perfect. LoF is it's own universe so i pick and choose canon, but i have to know canon in order to do that

also i am totally not speaking from experience but fight scenes are the devil's work so you should never write them ever. i'm only half kidding. this just ties in with the advice from above. if you decide to write a fight scene, my best advice is to have some action figures in front of you, a map of your battlefield with examples of what is around them, and a page dedicated to having every character in the fight and all of their powers, abilities, and equipment. also, looking up fight scenes for specific characters is your best friend

tdlr: read the comics, stalk character wiki pages, and do not be afraid to get crazy with it there is so much comic content between these two universes that you could do, like, anything. i pulled out something for Loki this chapter that's referenced exactly twice in the Thor comic books that no one will remember. i brought in Black Spider because no one ever uses him

...and don't use the Laz pits. no hate to anyone who uses them, but we can have SOME FICS without a Laz pit, i PROMISE

[gollancz]

Dr Tingle is not a Gollancz author, but I wanted to share this because the points he's making also apply to a lot of our books (and many books besides).

In particular, I'd like to note that we were, back in the day, the original publisher of Orwell's NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR, which we reissued as part of our SF Masterworks a couple of years ago.

Orwell's observations seemed prescient to today's world, but it's also important to remember that they were a satire of the politics at the time he was living in. He wasn't extrapolating to a far flung future as a thought experiment, he was making a point of the present day.

Also in our SF Masterworks is SWASTIKA NIGHT by Murray Constantine, which imagines an alternate future where the Nazis ruled and the world it creates. This isn't a retrospective, like FATHERLAND. SWASTIKA NIGHT first published - again, by Gollancz, as part of his Leftist Book Club (one day I'll do a post about that) - in 1937. Katharine Burdekin (a lesbian writing under a male pseudonym) wasn't taking wild ideas and making a dystopia, she was writing about the dystopia she was literally seeing built before her eyes.

Another of our writers, @lrlamauthor, in a book published by Wildfire, wrote GOLDILOCKS, an incredible feminist SF. At the time, some reviewers claimed the imagined future where women's rights were rolled back so extremely was a fallacy, attempting to make a heavy-handed point. GOLDILOCKS published in 2020. Roe vs Wade was overturned two years later.

While @jonnywaistcoat's horror features ghosts and ghoulies and monsters, what drives them all is greed, social inequality, and the power that certain segments of the population have over the disenfranchised. THIRTEEN STOREYS has a wealthy man sacrificing others for his own enrichment. FAMILY BUSINESS demonstrates how disposable people can be if deemed unimportant enough.

These stories deliver the gut punches they do because they reflect the realities around them and it's uncomfortably, uncomfortably close to the world in which we're living.

shooting the messenger

something you learn writing SOCIAL HORROR of any kind is there is just a huge portion of buckaroos who will always think the political things being reflected in art are not real or overblown, and theyre almost always wrong. i believe love wins out, but there ARE scoundrels to battle on our way there

in my first horror novella STRAIGHT the buds are going out to a cabin three years after first annual zombie day because theres a vaccine. theyre acting normal. amount of early reviews docking stars for 'being unrealistic that folks would return to acting normal in just three years' is HILARIOUS now

in BURY YOUR GAYS there are were some folks all the way up until a few weeks ago who would review and say something like 'loved the book but this issue is over. queer media is mainstream'. YET SUDDENLY we now have pride days getting removed from official calendars, gay media deleted, flags banned

so point is IM RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING. just kidding. although i am. BUT ACTUALLY my point is that HORROR taps into something SO important. it taps into fear yes, but it also taps into a subliminal deep knowledge that culture KNOWS but most people are not ready to hear yet. it is a MESSENGER genre

maybe that is why i talk to much about connection between PUNK and HORROR. both strong messenger genres, and how fitting that we have whole idioms about 'killing the messenger'. these artistic expressions are often maligned as 'too much' because sometimes the truth is hard to hear and feel and read

all of this is to say I AM SO PROUD to trot here in the world of uncomfortable truths with you. im also deeply honored, and it is fight i will not back down from. fortunately WITH LOVE AS OUR FUEL this is battle we will win. that is a truth i am certain of, so lets HOIST THE FLAG OF LOVE AND TROT ON

PS: as far as pointed messages go, my next book LUCKY DAY has a ferocious way and sure as heck isnt pulling any punches. give it a preorder if you can

[randomfoggytiger]

The X-Files (In-Depth): Scully's Pregnancy, Mulder's Abduction, and the Truth Behind Requiem and Season 8

This meta is going to uncover the (oft jumbled) web cast around Season 7 and Season 8, from Amor Fati's planned pregnancy to Existence's closure and Season 9's irreparable fumble. Scully's pregnancy: was it in-character? Mulder's abduction: was he supposed to be killed in Requiem? Closure and "Domestication": what was and wasn't planned? What is truth, and what is obfuscation?

TLDR: @bakedbakermom's post here was right on the money.  

The first two sections are going to be pulled directly from Marc Shapiro's book The Official Guide to "The X-Files": all things-- those quotes will be italicized-- and the latter five sections will stem from collected interviews, Tom Kessenich's EXamination, and my own thoughts.

THE HISTORY BEHIND REQUIEM

Marc Shapiro's The Official Guide to "The X-Files": all things begins:

The rumor had begun toward the end of Season 6. Season 7 would be the last season for “The X-Files.” Or would it?

“We always anticipated that, most likely, we were going into the final season,” recalls producer Paul Rabwin. “We knew David's contract was up and we felt that, maybe, the show had run its course.” And so Season 7 started out in a decided state of flux. Many crew members felt they had to protect themselves and their families by investigating potential jobs for the year following the current season, while others insisted that they would wait for a final answer. Needless to say, Chris Carter was on the horns of a dilemma, one that he was agonizing over. 

“I just remember that I felt bad because I had no clear and firm answers to give everyone about whether we were coming back,” he admits. “It was all about David. I kept saying that I would not do it without David. Fox was asking me to commit to doing another season with or without him.” 

But Paul Rabwin remembers that things began to change as Season 7 got under way. “As the season progressed, we found ourselves starting to get energized again. Word started getting around that maybe this would bot be the end. The network certainly wanted us back and Gillian was still under contract for another year. As we got toward the end of the season, everyone was kind of hopeful.”

But hope did not translate into a final decision as the days counted down to the point where the final script of the season had to be written. There were several options. The episode could end the series, it could be a cliffhanger for an eighth season, or it could be the cliffhanger for the long-talked-about series of “X-Files” feature films. Early on there was talk about the season finale being a two-hour or ninety-minute show, but those ideas were quickly discarded. Stage meetings between producers and writers took on an extra sense of urgency. 

John Shiban recalls what was going through everybody’s mind during those meetings. “If this were the end, what would we want the end to be? Where should Mulder and Scully end up emotionally? Where should the conspiracy and the aliens end up? We didn’t know what the status of the show was and so we decided that whatever we did would have to apply as either a conclusion of the series or a cliffhanger.” 

“The first thought we had was, what… are we going to do?” recalls Spotnitz. “We were tossing all kinds of ideas back and forth and finally the suggestion was made to go and finally the suggestion was made to go back to the pilot. Our idea was that if this was going to be the end, let’s go back to the beginning. At that point, we only had one idea that was definite. Since the beginning of the season, we had known that Scully’s pregnancy would be a great idea as a whole, a wonderful way to end things if this was going to be the end. So we had to devise a story that would allow for all possibilities.” 

It went without question that Chris Carter would write the script. And, in an attempt to keep the element of surprise, the particulars of that episode were made known to only a select few. Consequently the rumors began to fly thick and fast, along the Internet superhighway as well as round the Fox Studios lot. There were hints that since Duchovny would, most likely, not return to the show, a recurring cast member would step into the Mulder role. Mentioned quite often as a possible replacement was A.D. Skinner.

“Me?” Mitch Pileggi laughed during a break from filming “Requiem.” “That’s probably the most ridiculous rumor I’ve heard so far. I’ve heard millions of them and that’s all they are.” 

Now, an “X-Files” script being completed at the last possible moment was not uncommon. But as the days wound down and the time when the production company would have to begin prepping the episode drew closer, everybody connected to the show mentally geared up for yet another wild ride.  

Paul Rabwin remembers the day the first draft of the script came out. “The first clue as to the kind of script it might be was its title, ‘Requiem.’ It was a significant title: a Mass said for the dead. The first thing I read on the script was ‘Bellefleur, Oregon.’ I immediately recognized the site of the pilot episode. It sounded like a full circle situation. I didn’t know what to make of it.” 

Slowly but surely, literally one act at a time, the script came out. Cast and crew were finally getting an idea of what “Requiem” would be. Rabwin relates, “By the time we started shooting, we knew Mulder was in the woods, there was a spaceship that took off, and Mulder was nowhere to be found. But, like anything else in ‘The X-Files’, that really didn’t answer any questions.” 

…”I wasn’t surprised that they called me back,” insists Lea. “I would have been shocked if they hadn’t. They’re opening up the closet and bringing everybody back, so why not Krycek? It’s always been that way. Nobody knows where I’m at or even if I’m alive and then I just sort of pop up.”

Filming began on “Requiem” on April 20, 2000, on Soundstage 5 at the Twentieth Century Fox lot. There was the usual joking and good-natured banter during the first few days of filming. But there was also the underlying tension of not knowing, even as the last episode began filming, where “The X-Files” would be back. 

Chris Carter remembers his unease: “I honestly did not know, even through the filming, if we would be back.” 

Adding fuel to the uncertainty and rumors on the set was the fact that the now-completed script was missing the final two pages. 

Pileggi acknowledges, “I don’t know what I was feeling at the time. I was kind of numb.”

For Anderson the missing script pages were not the major source of concern. “It had more to do with not knowing if we were coming back for another season or not and if a new season was going to be involving David.”

…Bruce Harwood saw “Requiem” as the prototypical Lone Gunmen episode: “That was actually the most typical appearance we had that year. Basically we just showed up and used our supertechological information to move the plot along.”

There was nothing typical about A.D. Skinner’s role in “Requiem.” Mitch Pileggi was enthusiastic about the fact that after a season of being largely office-bound, he was now in the thick of the action. “He goes out into the field and is there when what happens to Mulder happens. He’s definitely involved.” 

“The X-Files” production wrapped up shooting at the studio at the end of Day 4 and relocated to the mountain resort of Big Bear, California. The picturesque mountains, glassy lakes, and long stark stretches of forest made Big Bear the ideal backdrop for the final days of the “Requiem” shoot. The Big Bear stay coincided with a number of the episode’s most demanding visual effects and stunts….

THE ENDING (WITH GILLIAN ON BOARD)

Shapiro concludes:

Back in Los Angeles, Chris Carter was sitting in front of his computer. The final day of shooting “Requiem” was a day away. It was time to write the final two pages.” 

Carter remembers, “I did not write the final two pages until the day before thy were to be filmed. We had been talking about two pages for a long time, but I held back on writing them until the last minute because I didn’t want to create something that would let the cat out of the bag and give anybody the opportunity to spoil our fun. Then I called line producer Michelle MacLaren and asked her to make sure she scheduled the final hospital sequence between Skinner and Scully as the last shot.” 

Frank Spotnitz was well aware of the attempts to keep the ending secret. “Clearly the idea of the pregnancy was built into the structure of the show but we didn’t want anybody to know until they had to know. We wanted the element of surprise. We knew Mulder’s abduction would get out, but we wanted the pregnancy to be a surprise. Chris finally wrote the ending, showed it to me, printed up one copy with the exception of the last paragraph, and had somebody drive it up to Big Bear at ten o’clock on the morning of the last day of filming. Chris left at four that afternoon with the final paragraph and drove up to Big Bear.” 

Carter arrived at the Big Bear Hospital shortly before the scene was to be shot. He approached Kim Manners, Gillian Anderson, and Mitch Pileggi and calmly handed them the final paragraph. Carter remembers their reaction. “Gillian said she knew it. She thought it was a great idea and it just blew everyone else away.”

WHAT DID MULDER MEAN IN BELLEFLEUR?

Mulder and Scully have an important-- albeit ambiguous-- discussion in his Bellefleur motel room. Quoting from this transcript:

MULDER: It's not worth it, Scully.

SCULLY: What?

MULDER: I want you to go home.

SCULLY: Oh, Mulder, I'm going to be fine.

MULDER: No, I've been thinking about it. Looking at you tonight, holding that baby... knowing everything that's been taken away from you. A chance for motherhood and your health and that baby. I think that... I don't know, maybe they're right.

SCULLY: Who's right?

MULDER: The FBI. Maybe what they say is true, though for all the wrong reasons. It's the personal costs that are too high.

MULDER: There's so much more you need to do with your life. There's so much more than this.

MULDER: There has to be an end, Scully.

In Requiem's script, Mulder's concerns are highlighted clearly and Scully's reactions are more physically engaged and questioning:

There's important interplay here. Scully and Mulder are both concerned about her health; and, while the script writes that she downplays her struggles-- only to internalize them later-- the episode amplifies Scully's anxiety: when he puts forward the idea that she's suffered enough, she doesn't outright disagree. Further, they both have no idea what she's suffering from-- "Why is this happening to me?"-- and fear it's connected to her former abductions. When Billy Miles disappears, Mulder packs up and takes them home, effectively abandoning the case with barely any notice: Scully's safety, he is proving, trumps the files-- trumps his own wishes and fears and needs.

all things resolved what had been brewing in Scully's heart since Never Again-- a fear and frustration she succinctly repackaged in her pointed Biogenesis question: "Mulder... look, after all you've done, after all you've uncovered-- a conspiracy of men doing human experiments, men who are all now dead-- you exposed their secrets. I mean, you've won. What more could you possibly hope to do or to find?" Scully made her peace: the x-files was still Mulder's passion and pursuit; and she chose to stay the course because she wanted a life with him. She was-- they were-- content.

...But. There's always a 'but'. The basement isn't end game for either Mulder or Scully-- not really. Chris Carter to this day maintains he has a vision of their final moment on-screen-- a vision he tries to bring to fruition but can't fully realize due to his aspirations (to be discussed below)-- of them together, victorious. Mulder was meant to find his closure (post here), Scully was meant to find her voice (post here), and they were meant to find the Truth in each other and leave the world to chase its own tail in futility. As Frank Spotnitz famously declared,

"You can't get the truth. You can't. There's a larger truth, though: that you can't harness the forces of the cosmos, but you may find somebody else. You may find another human being. That may be kind of corny and all of that, but that's really it: Love is the only truth we can hope to know, as human beings."

Circling back to the original topic: what did Mulder mean in Bellefleur? Did he mean Scully and he should leave together? Did he mean they needed a healthier work-life balance? Did he mean to go it alone from now on in order to keep his partner safe? Had he wanted Scully to simply verbalize her own thoughts? Had he even reached a substantial conclusion?

Tom Kessenich makes some good points in his book EXaminations:

"The Pilot:" To look at how this relationship has evolved, we obviously have to go back to where it all began. ...I believe the scene in Mulder's hotel room in Oregon is the one that truly laid the foundation for this relationship. Not only are we given insight into Mulder's quest, but Scully is enthralled as well. She (and we the viewer) can feel Mulder's passion for his beliefs, and the intensity with which he relays the mission he is on is seductive. In fact, you could say Scully is seduced by Mulder's words and the powerful way Mulder intently describes his past, present and where he believes his future is headed. In that instant, Scully is hooked. And so are we.

"Fight the Future:" ...Scully is wracked with self-doubt, questioning her place alongside Mulder, convinced she is yet another obstacle in his dogged pursuit of the truth. Mulder's response is crucial. For the first time, he extends the nature of their relationship beyond the aspect of trust. When he tells her that she has made him a whole person, he is pulling Scully inside him, filling the gaping hole created the night his sister was abducted, the night Mulder lost a part of himself as well. Mulder can't go on without Scully because she has become as essential as "the truth" had always been. The elusive truth was the fuel that drove Mulder's quest. But Scully had now provided the soul he needed to not only persevere, but to survive.

"Requiem:" Much of this episode is about looking to the future while feeling the past nipping at Mulder and Scully's heels. From an FBI audit which threatens the future of The X-Files to, more importantly, the progression of the Mulder-Scully relationship, it's clear a new chapter is being written. Mulder seems resolved to move to another place in his life. He wants something more for Scully, something more for himself and his growing relationship with Scully symbolizes the change in his life. He is prepared to move forward, but before he can, he believes he must put an end to the past that had driven him for so long. The irony of Mulder's abduction is that it came at the precise moment in his life when he no longer needed it or was driven to embrace it. His "quest" no longer sustained him entirely.

Requiem, then, was the final gasp of their old existence.

I believe Mulder senses something is changing-- the same sense that led him to predict "A change for us, it's coming" in Tooms. This same sense alerts him to the FBI's looming intent to close the files and leads him back to Oregon seven years later.

Unfortunately, authorial intent has been lost to time, along with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson's thoughts on the matter. That leaves us, then, with three routes of conjecture:

Mulder is prepared to move forward, and ready to let go. Tom has already explained that point thoroughly, so I won't belabor.

Mulder and Scully are preparing to leave... but not quite yet. I'm going to pull from @baronessblixen's thoughts (who so generously had many chats about this topic) because they sum up this point so well: I think both were questioning things. To me, Mulder wasn't as determined anymore as he used to be - and why would he be after finding Samantha? His priorities have shifted and his priority is Scully. So yeah, he wants to do the right thing and wonders whether Scully should go home, stop working on the X-Files, but I think he was wondering about himself too. They were definitely in transition. The X-Files aren't just Mulder's; Scully's lifeblood is in them too. So yeah, she's not ready to let go either.

Mulder is not prepared to move forward, but doesn't want to hold Scully back-- hence, he will carry on with the work while she (hypothetically) goes to "be a doctor."

As is always the case in these gray matters, the choice is left to viewer interpretation.

Where I stand currently (subject to change): I don't believe Mulder was ready to let go. He is dispirited after the audit, knowing the Powers That Be are looking for a way to shut him (and Scully) down. The phone call from Bellefleur perks him back up because it was proof there is still work to be done. That hope morphs into regret when he sees Scully cuddling a baby-- the truth is a never-ending line that will swallow them whole, he realizes-- then fear when Scully becomes ill at the motel; then terrified resolve when she collapses in the forest.

As Mulder said in Fight the Future, "They call me Spooky. Spooky Mulder, whose sister was abducted by aliens when he was just a kid and who now chases after little green men with a badge and a gun, shouting to the heavens or to anyone who will listen that the fix is in, that the sky is falling...." Two years later, no one listened-- still, there are aliens conniving and scheming as he howls at the moon. But FTF taught him he can't do "this" without Scully-- that he'd rather she "go be a doctor" than live in a world without her.

I believe his fears in Fight the Future are the same in Requiem: that Mulder thinks Scully should "go be a doctor" for her sake yet doesn't want to lose her, or the connection of their partnership, either. I believe Mulder is still struggling to let go of the files, even after his sister's closure-- and that he ignores multiple signs to let the truth be and live his life on this planet with Scully (and their unknown baby.) I believe that struggle lures him into the jaws of captivity and face-first into the darkness of death. And, I believe, he has to learn to let go after his resurrection: not because he's afraid to reenter life (Three Words, post here), not because he's forced out (Vienen), and not because he's turning away from his true nature to avoid the pain of losing that connection (Alone.)

DID MULDER MEAN TO LEAVE?

As Tom Kessenich rationalizes in his book EXaminations:

The question then becomes: Did he leave willingly?

Leaving Scully behind willingly is an affront to their relationship. But I would venture a guess as to say Mulder was intoxicated by the events that were transpiring around him and caught up in the moment he has dreamed about since the day his sister was taken from him.

The power of that moment swept him away. Literally.

...as the alien bounty hunter approaches him and Mulder looks towards the heavens, that opportunity [to see the truth firsthand] is there. Does he take it willingly or is he being led by the moment? I would say it was the latter.

But let's not take Kessenich's word here. The script describes this moment as:

The authorial intent, therefore, seems to be that Mulder stepped into the light of his own accord, but was forced onto the ship against his will.

However, David Duchovny plays this scene differently: purposefully hollow. His expression mimics the faces of the other encircling abductees-- not one in awe of a wondrous new phenomena (@dd-is-my-guiltypleasure's comparison here.) Mulder barely reacts when his captor appears before him; but his eyes are troubled and unwilling. DD, it would appear, is playing a character under control of some sort of influence, similar to Scully's second abduction experience in "Patient X."

The answer, no matter how you cut it, is a resounding "No."

SETTLING RUMORS ABOUT MULDER’S ABDUCTION AND SCULLY’S PREGNANCY

I’ve read elsewhere that it was speculated by fans-- nay, planned by the producers-- to kill Mulder off in Requiem’s finale. By the same token, I’ve seen echoing sentiment that Scully’s pregnancy was tacked on as a last-minute attention grab to green light Season 8. And while there may be degrees of truth to both ideologies, the facts presented reveal a different, more realistic truth: Scully’s conception was planned around the alien ship in Biogenesis-The Sixth Extinction (post here); and Mulder’s abduction, not death, was going to be filmed the same with or without an eighth season. 

Quoting Marc Shapiro’s book:

“Requiem” wrapped filming on May 5, 2000. The consensus was that the season finale was stark, bleak, and ultimately satisfying episode. But there still were no answers. 

“Nobody knew when we started that episode that we were coming back,” concludes Spotnitz. “Nobody knew it at the wrap party. It was a very odd wrap party. We were all saying, ‘This can’t be the end because it doesn’t feel right.’ It just didn’t feel like we had closure.” 

Shortly before “Requiem” aired, Fox announced that “The X-Files” would be back for an eighth season. David Duchovny had agreed to come back but would only appear in a total of eleven episodes….

That fact is repeated in other interviews, which also claim-- over and over-- that Scully’s pregnancy was definitively planned when The Sixth Extinction and Amor Fati were penned:

This May 2000 joint interview--

Did the producers shoot an alternative ending, as reported?

That`s just crazy talk, insists Carter: “I would have played it the same way whether [Duchovny] came back or not.” In fact, Carter says he`s been planning Mulder`s abduction and Scully`s pregnancy since the start of the season. “I thought it was a finale that would work for any eventuality. And because we had planned to do movies, I thought that would be a place to pick up with those things.”

Perhaps the alternative-ending rumors stem from the producers` clandestine high jinks: Because they wanted to keep the prenatal plot under wraps, the pregnancy scene wasn't revealed to the crew until the night it was shot. “The last page of the script was never published,” says Spotnitz. “That was a secret we were trying to hold as long as possible.”

--this July 2000 interview-- 

“I [Carter] had to write the season finale — which is called ‘Requiem’ — I had to write it without knowing whether or not we’d be back.” 

--this November 2000 interview--

We heard there were 2 possible endings for “Requiem”…can you tell us what the other ending we didn’t see was and how long before you filmed the episode did you decide to make Scully’s pregnancy an option?

"It was never an option, it was always the ending. I [Carter] just did not inform the actors or the crew that Scully’s pregnancy was going to be in the script. I had planned this for months with Frank Spotnitz and only delivered the script pages to Kim Manners — the director — and to Gillian and Mitch Pileggi minutes before they performed the scene. I’m just paranoid!" 

--this Frank Spotnitz December 2000 solo interview--

When was the decision made to pursue a storyline in which Scully becomes pregnant?

Spotnitz: "At the very beginning of season seven, we hit upon the idea and it seemed wonderful to us. There was beautiful symmetry to it. We knew that was our target all season, and so we did a number of things in episodes that would be tantalizing for fans who later were to look back at the episodes and try and figure out when Scully might have gotten pregnant and how. And that’s something we will continue to explore this season. But all questions will be answered by the end of the season, we promise." 

--and the information presented in previous sections of this post all bear up under the same narrative.

But potentially the most shocking bombshell of all, Spotnitz admitted in May 2008 that a pregnancy for Scully had been in the works since Season 5:

Q: When (the year or the season) did you plan the storyline about Scully’s pregnacy?

FS: We had thought about it for some time (at least since Season 5), but we didn’t definitely decide on Scully’s pregnancy until Season 7.

Although CC’s word is tentative at best, Spotnitz never wavers from honesty when asked a direct question; and I'm inclined to believe him.

But if neither are to be believed-- understandable-- then one glance at Amor Fati’s ending script should crush any remaining doubt: 

(More Amor Fati script bits can be found here.) 

A parallel with purposed intent. 

Is a pregnancy at odds with Scully's personality? No, I don't think so: she's open to having kids as early as The Jersey Devil and brings the subject up pointedly to Mulder in Home (post here.) She mourns her infertility in A Christmas Carol-- "I just never realized how much I wanted it until I couldn't have it"-- and grasps at an IVF chance in Per Manum's flashbacks (posts here and here.) The FBI itself is actually a considerably safe career, and quite supportive of their agents' familial obligations. The problem-- if one could call it that-- is The X-Files: an undeniably, astronomically unsafe and unstable career that is not conducive to family needs or structure... which the writers crafted purposefully, as will be discussed below.

Mulder wants a normal life just as much as Scully (@thursdayinspace's post here) but gave up those aspirations-- literally in The Jersey Devil-- in order to find his answers and unveil the Truth. His character arc and growth is a meta post all its own; but though his journey was concluded in Closure, his detachment from and transition away from the files didn't conclude until Season 8's Vienen. Be that as it may, he speaks about a wish to settle down in a place like Home and dreams about "another life, another world" with a wife and children and his sister, safe at last.

Why, then, does the baby arc feel so tacked on-- despite the roots of its conception (pun intended) tracing back to at least Season 5?

Surprise, surprise: the writing is a mess.

In March 2003, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were both glad the show was coming to a close. She gently hinted, “I think it’s good to finish now. We had a great run, but we’re getting out at the right time when the show is still a hit" while he blatantly asserted, “You cannot say it died anything but a natural death." No surprise, considering their excitement over Scully's pregnancy and Mulder's abduction were reduced to footnotes--

Tom Kessenich’s EXaminations:

...Anderson wasn't thrilled with the amount of attention the writers were lavishing on Doggett. ...she believed with Duchovny gone this would be her chance to step into the show's spotlight. Instead, the light shines on Doggett...

...Duchovny felt some frustration as well once he returned full-time for the final six episodes. In interviews after the season, he lamented the lack of resolution to Mulder's abduction and that Mulder was rendered into being a "peripheral" character.

...Duchovny also did not care for the paternity tease since it prevented him and Anderson from establishing any proper dramatic foreshadowing. The two stars were also reportedly unhappy the relationship between Mulder and Scully was not expired more fully since Duchovny planned to leave the series at the end of the season.

--and both had to begrudgingly accept, as parents, that their characters effectively abandoned (for his own good, we're told) William--

"Duchovny, Anderson, and Shiban (all parents) reportedly were not thrilled with the idea. They grudgingly consented only after Carter revealed his plan to end the series with Mulder and Scully on the run, hardly in the best position to raise a child."

What's worse, then and now, is: both agreed, largely, with the direction and decisions of the show heading into Season 8; and heavily disagreed with the direction and decisions of the show unfolding in Season 9. Not only was David and Gillian's interest in Scully's pregnancy and Mulder's abduction squandered, but their own characters' recovery and happy ending was swiftly destroyed not even a year later.

A COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP WITH CLOSURE

Something gave me pause: in Marc Shapiro’s book, Spotnitz (as mentioned above), admitted: “Nobody knew when we started that episode [Requiem] that we were coming back…. Nobody knew it at the wrap party. It was a very odd wrap party. We were all saying, ‘This can’t be the end because it doesn’t feel right.’ It just didn’t feel like we had closure.” 

Which begs the question: what is "closure" to the open-ended minds at 1013 Productions? And why, then, did they toss it away once they had it?

Carter has long maintained that The X-Files is not a domestic show (post here); however, he has also maintained that Mulder and Scully fell "in love" in the Pilot-- a knitting of souls more than a romantic attraction-- and that Scully wanted "a normal life" (and children) while Mulder wanted answers to his sister's disappearance (and a peaceful existence not dissimilar to Home.) CC also let us know, obliquely, that "domestication" refers to anything personal in his characters' lives-- be it their friends, hobbies, life outside of work or, most importantly, their personal and romantic connections. Wedding these two beliefs together gives birth to the indisputable fact that Chris intended (as he's reiterated, many times) to build up to a final closure for both: ride Mulder and Scully off into the sunset-- away from the files-- and let them have their happily ever after, miraculous cherub included... off-screen, of course (post here.) Top off that union with the knowledge that he has a vague idea how the show will end--

March 2001:

I’ve heard many times that you’ve always had an idea of the last episode of the X-Files. Has that vision changed with the absence of Mulder and the addition of Scully’s pregnancy, or is it mostly the same?

Chris Carter: Mostly the same.

--and you'll notice that: A. CC has a specific 'end credits' scene in mind but B. no mapped-out footpath leading to that vision.

The writers were at their best when they had to channel towards a goal-- e.g. crafting Fight the Future during Season 4, creating the cancer arc to separate then re-bond Mulder and Scully, and building Season 5 towards the basement disbandment. Amor Fati, all things, Requiem, and Existence fall into that same category by letter-of-the-law standards: pre-plotted end points all aiming towards a final conclusion. As @gaycrouton points out here, Carter flipped Sartre's 'existence and essence' philosophy around to tie the concept into his "fate versus freewill" mytharc; and as I pointed out here, William was meant to be-- Mulder and Scully's happy ending-- but only came about because of Scully's freewill choices.

The truth, in full: CC never knows when to stop. He and Spotnitz brainstorm on a possible pregnancy for Scully as early as S5 (in case that season is the last, I'd wager.) He continues to tease the MSR angle until Fight the Future, then pulls the characters back from a kiss because that wasn't the end of their story. He teases another kiss or avowal of their feelings through Season 6, knowing he has another season (Season 7) still to go. When Fox drags their feet on Season 8's confirmation, Chris and Frank reveal the secret pregnancy ace and smudge in Mulder's abduction-- writing off David Duchovny while leaving a window open for his return, and giving Scully her own form of closure or bittersweet happy ending, regardless: an ending, as Spotnitz says, that doesn't "feel like closure." (Because it isn't, really.) Season 8 is a go, but DD only agrees to come back intermittently, and Gillian's contract is almost up. Then, and only then, do CC and Spotnitz craft a healthy transition and happy ending-- a closure, if you will. Hence, the resolution in Existence-- Mulder opening Scully's apartment door for the first time with his key (post here), Scully cementing William as his son (through Mulder's father's name), Mulder affirming they both knew but feared the truth. And Scully asking, pivotally, what that truth is; and Mulder, pivotally, confirming it with a kiss. The actors and crew on-set are touched by this heartfelt moment--

[Kim Manners]: “As they come together to kiss, you’ll see the camera pull out of the door and that was the last shot of David and Gillian together. We wrapped and David and Gillian stood in that room together alone and held each other for a good five minutes. They didn’t talk. They didn’t move. They just held each other, tears running down their faces.”

-- and communally feel that, finally, Mulder and Scully have closure together. Finally, domestication. Finally, the end.

And then the writers fumbled.

I say "writers" plural because Spotnitz cosigned a lot of Chris Carter's creative choices in Season 9-- breaking Mulder's character to lazily write out Duchovny; neglecting Scully's arc until she became a hormonal, irrelevant mess in her own story; handing off William with little care or concern to a random couple in the middle of nowhere (who were, canonically, later murdered because of that adoption); etc. In fact, it was David Duchovny who kept returning and salvaging their disaster (and who gave fans many memorable Season 8 and 9 moments, post here); but that's another post for another time.

But why?

Simple: Carter wanted to make a movie series instead of Season 8 (interview here.) When that fell through, he realized he'd have to bring on another actor to eventually replace Gillian; and hired Robert Patrick accordingly. Doggett became the focus for that and the following season (which upset GA and DD)... but still no movie deal materialized, despite Spotnitz's speculation that The X-Files could extend into a tenth and possibly eleventh season if the show was able to attract an audience (interview here.) Subsequently, the writing suffered-- parallel to Chris's passion for The X-Files-- and the ratings tanked until he admitted defeat and pulled the plug to save everyone's dignity. Still, he refused to acknowledge the flailing writing; and Spotnitz seemed to agree with him, stating:

January 2002:

 Some may argue that it was one season too long, but Spotnitz isn’t sure what caused the decline. He is sure, though, that it wasn’t competition from ABC’s “Alias,” starring Jennifer Garner as a secret agent, in the Sunday, 9 p.m. ET time slot. “That’s silly,” says Spotnitz. “I’ve heard many, many theories about the show this year, but I don’t think there’s anything to that. If you look at the numbers for ‘The X-Files’ this year, in the very first episode, there was a significant portion of our audience that just didn’t come. They just weren’t there.”

Spotnitz also doesn’t see a connection between FOX’s pickup of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator Joss Whedon’s science-fiction series “Firefly,” and “X” creator Chris Carter’s subsequent announcement that his show was over. “No, it’s just a coincidence, because the decision really was Chris’, and the timing of it was Chris’. He came to them. He had thought about it over the Christmas vacation. We delivered two really strong episodes at the beginning of January, and the audience wasn’t any bigger. He said, ‘Let’s get out while we’re ahead. We don’t want to limp out.'”

In short, Chris (and Spotnitz) couldn't let go; and hasn't to this day, still pitching The X-Files to anyone that's interested (say, a reboot.)

Where does this leave us?

For me, Season 8 is the true bookend of the series, with Season 7 serving as its necessary precursor. For others, Je Souhaite is the dropping off point; and they can ignore the seeds that were sown in Amor Fati and all things with a clear conscience. For the rest, canon continues until the point they deem best to stop, be it another movie, season, or all the way. The choice, really, is up to you.

CONCLUSION

Finally, the Requiem meta has been exorcised.

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

[shocked-collar]

Got any advice for writing Ren?

OOOOOOO yeah i got a lil bit!

Ren is one of those more difficult characters to keep a grasp on due to his spontaneous yet grounded personality. Ren is also special because he has MULTIPLE different interpretations. BTD1, BTD2, TPOF, and YKMET, though we don't know much about that one yet. I find by remembering my little 'character rules' he's easy to play in any of the aforementioned settings.

Also, ALL OF THIS should be taken with a grain of salt as I'm only a fanfic writer/roleplayer online and don't know how Gato herself would write the character.

First rule I follow is to remember that Ren is desperate. The moment he's determined to do something, he becomes desperate to finish it. The moment he's decided he wants something, he becomes desperate to get it. The moment he falls in love with something, he becomes desperate to keep it. This really only applies to things he REALLY cares about. He has to REALLY care about it.

Second rule is to remember that Ren never got to manage his emotions. He's emotional. He's quick to anger, to sadness, to happiness. He works like a sword made of markers; One movement too hard and he'll fall apart.

Third rule is to remember that Ren is starving for things to go his way. He's manipulative. This isn't always intentional, he just hates hearing the word 'no' and despises any kind of pushback. It's been coded into his nature to snake under peoples better judgement to get what he wants after being denied for so long. Even before Strade he was pushed down and silenced, so now it's almost triggering to be on the sidelines.

Forth rule to remember is that Ren is obsessive. His friends are HIS friends. His shows are HIS shows. His food is HIS food. You are not allowed to challenge these ideas without him getting irked. If you talk about another friend you have, he'd be delighted to meet them! But if you talk about them too much, he'd begin to resent them. How good can they really be, right? Not better than him. He's a GOOD friend...

Fifth rule for Ren. He is very proud. He's proud of himself on a subconscious level! He's proud of his cooking, his abilities, his media knowledge, his hair/fur, and especially of his species. Which rolls into the final rule!!!

Rule six, arguably the most important one (in terms of playing post-Strade Ren)... Ren is a fox beast-kin. He is not human. He works differently on a fundamental level than humans do, the largest concern being his diet. He fits in, he makes friends, he engages in society, but in the sort of way that farmers engage with their cattle. He can eat and consume any part of you he needs to. He reads you as delicious. His language and tendencies will be different than a normal persons, like his habit of nesting instead of sleeping in a bed, or even marking territory. He WILL be argumentative, and quite frankly hurt, if any of his animalistic-behaviors are mocked or frowned upon. He is not human, and he wants you to know that.

There are differences in personality when it comes to WHICH Ren you're playing. BTD1 is very reserved because he has to be. He's quiet, obedient, and bites his temper a lot, but do remember he still has one. Despite the daily-terror, Ren finds it hard to hate or love Strade, as he's constantly dished with praise, pets, love, cuts, bruises, and violation, in some sick healthy diet of intimacy.

BTD2 Ren is overly-confident and proud of himself. He feels like a hidden super-villain! He feels like... Strade. A normal guy doing normal things in the normal world, but look out, he's ACTUALLY a big scary-spooky man you should be afraid of! But not so much you don't love him! When in reality he's... ahead of himself and in his own head. He struggles to come to terms with what's happened to him. He's both so happy Strade is gone and also feels not helping him was the worst decision of his life.

TPOF Ren, or Fox, is back to being reserved- but in the way that you should be scared. He's under no ones thumb in this timeframe and still keeps the same temper he's always had. He carries himself with a menacing poise because he knows his emotions are expensive, like the rest of him. The slightest furrow of his brow can indicate a world of consequences for whoever it was aimed at. Despite his appearance, his obsessive nature fails him, keeping him stuck in a mental cycle of correcting and forgetting the past, two contradicting items that slowly tear him apart. He is disgusted by his past and pleased that he has gotten so far away from it, yet can't shake his quiet adoration of German accents.

I hope this??? Helped???? Somehow??? I'm sorry for the yapping novel and also if it's messy, I hardly read it back cause I have a lil bit of a headache

[campcampkirbykirbykirby]

Camp Camp Commentary Notes - Season 1, Episode 2: Mascot

Writer's Commentary

Kerry doesn't remember anything about writing this episode

Except that he does because he wrote the Rube Goldberg scene to mess with the crew because it would be hard to animate and they did it anyway

Miles worked with Al McClelland, Jr (storyboard artist) to come up with the different parts of the machine, including the inhaler, another reused element from the scrapped pilot

Kerry helped to establish the levels of weird the series could go which had not been properly foreshadowed in the first episode, likely due to time

Kerry, as well as Rooster Teeth pariah Gray Haddock, had the most involvement in making the Quartermaster who he is

Kerry took this being the second episode very seriously, trying to figure out what a normal episode after the pilot is, but then decided making it "normal" was a bad idea so they made it weird instead

At this point, the only three episodes that were in progress were this, the pilot, and Scout's Dishonor.

Lots of little details that come up because the crew thought it would be funny

David has very red elbows

Yet another repurposing from the scrapped pilot is Neil's line about the camp being a future Walmart parking lot

In fact, it was part of a much bigger blowup Neil had in that pilot, compared to the one we got

Quartermaster has a lot of his own sound design, like changing his hook hands, which they deliberated on for a moment

Bear ears don't have bones, likely added for clarity

Lots of jokes added by Al, not all make it in

Kerry will sometimes write entire episodes around single lines he comes up with, such as Quartermaster's "grumble grumble jews" bit (which does come off as anti-semetic but could really mean anything, according to Kerry)

Said line being uncomfortable is the point, in that way it's no different from anything else about the Quartermaster

Before Harrison's backstory was his brother was pinned down, his initial shtick was just being bad at magic

The "bad idea in hindsight" line was added to justify them running to the dock

Point of the episode was to give the camp the worst mascot imaginable

All the other animals, the crew made as cute as possible, meanwhile the platypus "eats the shit out of Larry" per the script

MYSTERIOUS BLACK HAIRED GIRL (it's really more of a dark blue)

Cast and Crew Commentary

Jordan, Maggie, (Sick) Elizabeth, (Healthy) Cole

Larry's screams were done by Maggie

Platypus has 3 voices: Alena Lecorchick on snarls and growls, Miles doing the "Donald Duck talk", Jordan did all the muacks

This was the first episode to be really worked on start-to-finish, the pilot didn't get too far before being reworked

Quartermaster's bag might have dead goose or whale carcass

The nose-wiping bit is highlighted in both commentaries, it was part of the crew trying to understand the characters, as was the whole sub-plot with Max and Quartermaster

Elizabeth makes her friends watch Camp Camp, something she doesn't do with most of her filmography, help get some of them hooked

Some backgrounds here were reused in Season 2

Some consideration was put into perfecting the creepy atmosphere of certain scenes, like the centipede

Okay, so the bear skeleton in the cave was changed specifically to look more bear-like

Plug for the out-of-print Platypus plush (have fun searching eBay!)

No one is quite sure where the "King of the Forest" bit came from

Matt Hullum lost it when he saw it, which is a sign they've done something right

The stab was initially way more gruesome, it was toned down for the final episode

Everything Nerris sees is magic, established with the tin can/"wizard's amulet"

Docks give the crew trouble, they can't remember if there's supposed to be one or two

Mysterious camper again, this was part of the initial concept of the camp being bigger than just what we see, with extra camps and campers strewn about, but this was eventually phased out

[booxmowo]

I still pretty regularly think about Lucy Westenra's character being summarized/conceptualized as just "girl - dies".

The entire description of her character is "girl" and her role in the plot is simply "- dies". I don't know, I guess because I like Lucy Westenra as Bram Stoker wrote her it feels weird seeing her reduced to... no... originate as a simple two word entry in a list. On the other hand there's no way this is an unusual way to come up with characters; you write the barest outline of their role first and then flesh them out later, and that includes inventing characters for the sole purpose of dying.

But on a sort of meta level it makes me feel sad for Lucy Westenra the completely fictional woman, because she was always going to die. Like, not just independent of any choices she could make, but independent even of what sort of person she was. She was destined to die because she was invented to die.

girl - dies

She is a girl, a simple fact that is of course established immediately within her introduction to the story. She dies, an event that by definition happens to her only at the end of her role in the story. All other features of her as a character can only happen in between.

Dracula is one of the most adapted storylines in all of English literature and by proxy Lucy Westenra, though she doesn't appear in every version of Dracula, has been adapted to film, television, theatre, etc. dozens and dozens of times. And honestly, the various adaptations of Lucy are often so different in personality from each other that it does feel like "girl - dies" is the core of her identity. Every new writer/director has their own take on who this girl is and why she dies.

Years ago... coming up on half a decade ago now, I wrote a silly post where Lucy herself explains how everything she does can be read into and used to prescribe the "meaning" of her inevitable death. I don't remember if the description "girl - dies" was part of the original inspiration, but it certainly fits.

What are very probably the first notes Stoker wrote regarding Jack and Lucy in the process of planning Dracula.

[leana--ww]

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✨ Cass & Steph are girlfriends in this fanfic—do you want to read it? ✨

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🌹 Example of my work: [ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lbo3yq1fgWg__G95XcRVWE5COH3FuzGZ7r-OY64JIZY/edit?usp=sharing ]

If you want a custom fanfic, send me a message! 📩✨

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Parallels: Buffy probably hinting that she enjoyed her and Angel's physical relationship.

So... there's a large part of me that actually hates this, of course. I feel like Buffy and the writers themselves have forgotten all of Buffy and Angel's good times (we even saw some of this in "Chosen"). And this is just completely inaccurate, because they actually talked a lot. All of season three, that's what their relationship was about, and that's all they could have then, really. And in fact, Buffy was often telling Angel things that she didn't anyone else. If I'm going to defend this at all, I guess it could, sadly, make sense that with everything that's happened with them, and the time that's passed, she's somewhat forgotten that (I think that's partly what was going on with the "Chosen" conversation, too). She's also furious in the last pic (and for good reason). And Buffy has been known to cut people to the quick when she is.

Why am I posting this, then, if I really dislike it? Because I feel like a lot of people in the fandom like to try and spin that Buffy and Angel didn't have the greatest physical relationship in the world (good--over Riley and her for sure--but maybe not great in the end)? Especially after they could no longer make love, and when compared with another ship? Buffy feels differently.

[weaponizedmoth]

"Faeries were always supernaturally beautiful, even if they didn’t look like they’d be. No human flaws mattered when it came to faeries: Double chins, crooked teeth, too thin, too fat, too small, it was no problem. They always seemed absolutely lovely. The only ones who could tell each other’s imperfections were their own kind.

(...)

Cornelius had a thin, oblong face, usually framed by his shaggy, now shoulder length hair, which was sometimes blonde, sometimes black, sometimes red, depending on his whims. His eyes were a dark blue that looked black to the untrained eye, and were topped by well kept blonde eyebrows. And sure, it all looked rather nice—but he was a tad cross-eyed (on the right eye, which you could notice when he looked at you), and he had a smile that was wide,"full of teeth." (...) His smile had been described as cute, especially when he laughed, which made him look like a flower petal—delicate. However, even with all his alleged beauty, Abigail also heard it being described as creepy and off-putting, especially when he was smiling without true emotion. She sided with the latter reports."

My final OC lore dump of the year <3 it took me days to get Neeley looking right and I still don't know if I did it, tbh. I also created a specific font for the Fairy Society Gazette, which will be below the cut. I have no idea why photoshop ate the quality of the text so much when the drawing looks fine, but oh well.

Happy almost new year!

(The font is rather crooked as it was hand drawn using bad hardware and my own handwriting as a base).

[thranduilseyebrows]

I am back! I remembered! Lol

Here are some that I have favorited on FFN! Note that I also follow Here, Where the Fire Grows and would also highly recommend following that one as it's still a work in progress!

And Never Back Again by Padma The Q: An Aragorn/OC fic

A New Life by LadyLindariel: A Legolas/OC fic where OC is from modern Earth but her heritage is an interesting past.

Call Me Maybe by Brigid the Fae: Ok this one is a bit of a funny one but it's a Legolas/OC fic. It's funny because OC + Mom is from Middle Earth but are trapped in Modern Earth and the LOTR characters have to travel to Modern Earth to get OC + Mom back to Middle Earth. So you get Haldir, Thranduil, Celeborn, Eomer, Galadriel, Elrond and a whole hoard of others dealing with the weird planet that is Modern Earth. The writer was working on a re-write extended edition of sorts called Call Me Again but that one's been on hiatus since 2020.

And here are a couple from AO3:

Home With The Fairies by I_Mushi: This one is definitely a realistic slow burn as it definitely takes a while to get into some semblance of a LOTR plot. It's not a Tenth Walker but it does end in Boromir/OC and it's completed! Pretty light on the romance but it's a good story nonetheless.

Double Heart by @bonjour-rainycity: This one was posted on Tumblr AND AO3 but alas I believe it is a work in progress so read at your own risk. It's Haldir/OC and part of the heartbreaking storyline (so far at least) is Haldir coming to terms with falling in love with a mortal (and one brother in particular has a bit of a rough time accepting it). Not much of a Modern Earth because OC doesn't remember anything but I still like this story. Again, unfinished though.

These ones are still unfinished as well and I have no idea whether the writers will eventually finish them or not. Read at your own risk of an unfinished plot lol

The Waves of Dol Amroth by bowmaiden: Technically OC ended up in Middle Earth when she was like 5 so she doesn't remember much, but I suppose it still counts. She has a thing going on with Eomer and Boromir.

Guardians of Arda by Ponytail Goddess: Ok ok ok so technically this is Haldir and Elves stuck in Old World-y Earth (1860s) so Middle Earth hasn't come into play yet but the plot was so unique that I figured I'd give it a shout anyway. Haldir/OC

I literally love you and trust your wisdom on this topic since you have one of the best. Do you have any recs for modern girl in middle earth fics?, they can be old new just need something. I’m new around here lol. Thank you fellow Boromir gooner 💗

Thank you so much anon!! I'm so flattered! Unfortunately I don't have a particularly long list to recommend you- I never read tons of MGIME fics when I was younger because I was always so picky about what I wanted to happen in them (hence me writing my own eventually) and now that I'm an adult who's slowly withering away from executive dysfunction, I haven't finished reading any fics in a long time.

That being said, anyone who sees this post please reblog with your own favorite modern girl in middle earth fics, or advertise your own!

Some fics I recommend include:

Here, Where Fire Grows by @esta-elavaris - admittedly I'm way behind on this one but it's one of my greatest regrets lol. Incredibly written, very original and the Boromir romance is making me foam at the mouth

Home with the Fairies by i_mushi - an old classic, expertly written, pretty light on the Boromir/OC romance but really engaging

Cat of the Fellowship by @mimilind - an admittedly very weird premise that leads to a unique Legolas/OC story with some great fluff; it's also based on the book versions of events, which is a nice change of pace

This Destiny Is Mine by MessyInsomniacBookGirl - a really good start to a Boromir/OC fic, though it's only 12 chapters in

The Forest in Winter by @fishing4stars - okay admittedly I haven't read this one yet (Legolas/OC) but it's been on my radar for ages and fishing4stars is a remarkable author, so it 100% won't disappoint

[adhdtsukasa]

prosekai au where everything is absolutely the same except niigo, instead of being a music circle, is a fanfiction writing-ish group. kanade is a writer, mafuyu is her beta reader, ena makes fancomics based on kanade's fanworks and mizuki makes trailers for upcoming fics. and basically that's it. niigo lore but everything revolves around them being wattpad ao3 users

[mizuribbons]

from my time being in many different fandoms and encountering countless more i have seen a surprising amount of "flower shop with an extremely mentally ill florist who falls in love with a customer" aus. i mean, i see why. it's amazing, and i love this concept, it's just perfect. but also it's pretty fucking specific and there's way more of these than expected.

[rmbunnie]

Another little inconsequential red hood thing and I'll admit that I'm decently biased but it irks me to see the whole "Jason can't shut up about his death/he makes his death everyone else's problem" take really frequently because he simply does not do that enough for it to be a thing in like any actual Red Hood story.

It's a thing you see sometimes in modern annuals/comics with large casts, particularly if a writer doesn't seem super confident with writing all of the characters that they're working with or if he's just a background character in this one, because with comics it's quicker to reduce a character to recognizable landmarks than to try and work out a whole new complex voice if you don't really need to, so it's tire iron, Jane Austen, Joker, and death, and it's all written out in dialogue because every character in a group event can't have their own internal monologue, but like. That's pretty much it. UTRH is the establishing event for Jason Todd post death so of course a lot of it is about his death, although it's arguably about the lack of response to his death more than his death itself, and he certainly makes it Bruce's issue but one beef doesn't make a trend. Plus if his death is anyone's issue beyond his own Bruce and Joker are like the number one guys whose issue it is. He THINKS about his death a ton in Lost Days, but it doesn't really reflect externally on any of his interactions besides with Joker, which again, that's justified and relevant beef. Teen Titans 29 is more about his place in the hero community/feeling like he was an outsider even before the bomb/Tim being the new robin than about his death, and side note, that being counted as an attempt on Tim's life also bugs me. He beat him up and then left of his own volition. That's not an assassination attempt its called a fight, albeit a sneaky and unfair one. But anyways. I can't speak on Battle for the Cowl because i haven't read it, both that and Batman and Robin 2009 don't really compel me, but it's entirely possible that's an outlier to my point seeing as I kinda sorta haven't read it and don't care to lmao. Even New 52 (although HIGHLY unpopular) and Rebirth/Dawn of DC/Whatever we're doing now Red Hood content don't really have him talking to people about it besides the occasional little quips. He might make stances that were developed because of his death other people's problem, like in the Mia Dearden Green Arrow situation with the "getting involved in other people's business" issue, but acting like he makes specifically his death everyone else's problem is ignoring all of the perfectly valid actually canon things he makes other people's problem. Most of the unpleasant traits he brings to the table are a result of his death and the sense of abandonment and betrayal that came with it, but that doesn't mean he's bringing his death into it when he acts unpleasantly any more than he's bringing his birth into it when he shows up in the first place. The consequences do not equal the event. All this to say it's irritating when people say the character is grating because he doesn't stop whining about his death when that kinda just indicates to me that they're working off fanon based on fanon based on kinda mid batman annual.