#yeah these characters either lose because 1) “too many rules my head hurts :(” 2) haha simps and 3) bad luck

[linagram]

Its board game night (INCLUDING the guards, no matter how much eiji bitches about it) who's winning, and who's flipping the board?

ohh, this is an interesting question actually! :O

i'll just rate all of my ocs from those who are the worst at playing board games to those who are the best at it

12. Shun (Poor boy doesn't understand what's going on. Too much to memorize. Too much to do. He's so confused, he will just let others win)

11. Miki (First of all, she's just like Shun and gets confused easily, it's also very hard for her to understand the game's rules. Second of all, she just lacks that competitive spirit and she prefers to let others win, because "all of them deserve to have fun")

10. Asahi (If something goes wrong, he just throws a tantrum. Also, he's just bad at playing board games, so yeah, it will be very hard for others to calm him down)

9. Aimi (She's just so happy that she can play board games with someone that she ends up paying no attention at all to the actual game. She has friends now!! They're all having fun!! Oh no, she lost. Oh well..)

8. Yurika (The thing is.. she's not even bad at playing games like that. She's actually pretty good at it. Her luck is just really bad and she ends up getting distracted/losing to people who don't even care about the game that much/etc. She pretends that everything is fine, but literally everyone can feel how angry she really is)

7. Eiji (He hates this whole thing and he believes that the prisoners shouldn't be allowed to play together like this, but eventually he agrees to do it because Miki asked him to join them. Also, he will do anything to make Kei lose and it doesn't help that Eiko keeps saying things like "I'm sure if somebody is going to win, it will be Guard-san~" He ends up losing though.)

6. Naomi (Pretty good at board games! It's not like she's an expert, but she's not that bad either. When younger characters like Miki or Aimi lose, she tries to calm them down and gives them candy to cheer them up, but when it comes to Asahi.. she's trying so hard not to laugh at him.)

5. Reina (Literally couldn't care less about the final result. She's just here to have fun, even though she claims that she actually has this secret evil plan to make everyone lose. However, even though she doesn't even try that hard, she almost ends up winning)

4. Kei (Actually good at them! He enjoys seeing everyone's reactions when they lose (especially his own brother's) and he suggests that they make this game even harder. He loses right after they change the rules)

3. Riku (He knows a lot about board games because he used to play them with his family often, so he has experience. Probably loses because it suddenly becomes harder for him to focus on the game after Miki saying that she believes in him.)

2. Akio (He almost wins, but here's the thing. This guy is smart, but his luck? Isn't so good. So no matter how good his strategy is, he will lose at the very last moment because of something stupid, but very important. Will just sit there and try not to cry after that)

1. Eiko (Like Reina, she doesn't care about the game at all, but she ends up winning exactly because of how calm she is. She's not particularly happy about her victory, but she accepts it. After seeing Akio's reaction, she pats him on the head and says that he did great. She jokes that she would kiss him on the cheek as a reward but he's a little too young for her and also Sanada brothers are watching)

[aurami]

I was tagged by @dialover-author-couples ~!!! ❤️ Thank you so much sweetheart, I’m looking forward to filling this out. Thanks for tagging me and all the support you give me here~! ❤️ Rules: List your top 10 favorite DL characters (it doesn’t just have to be the dateable guys, any characters are fair game) in order. And the answer the questions. Blank questions at the end. 1- Subaru Sakamaki 2- Ayato Sakamaki 3- Kou Mukami 4- Shuu Sakamaki 5- Yuuma Mukami 6- Azusa Mukami 7- Laito Sakamaki 8- Shin Tsukinami 9- Ruki Mukami 10- Reiji Sakamaki 1. Number 5 (Yuuma) has decided they want to completely change up their wardrobe and they take you shopping with them so you can give your opinions on what new outfits they should buy. What sort of clothes are you going to recommend? •Oh my goodness this would be so much fun- honestly, my mind goes back and forth from wanting to see him in nice black jeans with a nice collared blue and white checkered shirt, to ripped up jeans and a black leather jacket with his hair down. So, either cleaned up a little more than he already is, or total badboy ^^ 2. You walk into your room one day to find number 2 (Ayato) standing on your bed, dancing to your favourite song while wearing nothing but your favourite underwear. How do you react? •....Excuse me sir? What is this?? Those are my panties??? Also lol it would be very amusing to see him poorly try to sing Ariana Grande and her high notes heheh. But, well, I would be very confused and red and like what oml- 3. Number 7 (Laito) has to go to the dentist but they’re adamantly refusing. How would you persuade them to go? •...Can I get Misa to help me out with this one? She would be best to persuade him. Yeah, I would probably go get Misaki to come help me out -w- 4. You lose a bet with number 6 (Azusa) and now have to be their personal maid for a day. Do you go through with it or do you try to get out of it? •I would probably be going with it because I know Azusa wouldn’t do anything too bad with me. Okay, I would refuse parts of it probably if it involved hurting him or myself, but I wouldn’t mind sharpening knives? 5. Number 4 (Shuu) takes you to see a horror movie however they end up getting absolutely terrified halfway through and bury their head into your shoulder. How do you react? •At first I probably wouldn’t pick up on that he was scared and believe it was just him falling asleep as normal, but then I would probably realize it and feel absolutely horrible. That would be followed by gently stroking his hair and telling him that he’s going to be okay, and that I’m here for him. I’d probably also be panicking about this scary movie though- 6. Number 9 (Ruki) surprises you with a cake they’ve baked especially for you. Are you going to eat it? •Hell yes that cake is probably some really good fancy stuff. But maybe not, who knows? Although I know his cooking is excellent so I would very much enjoy it. I’d probably also ask if he wants to share it and such ^^ 7. Number 8 (Shin) accidentally manages to completely trash their room, to the point where it’s uninhabitable. They don’t have anywhere to stay while it’s being repaired and so they ask if they can room with you for the next couple of weeks. How do you respond? •If he comes and stays with me, he would have to stay on the couch. The only way he could probably get away with staying on my bed is if he was in his wolf form because I would just be like what a good boy and forget- 8. Number 1 (Subaru) has decided to learn how to play the trumpet. The downside to this is that, for some reason, they’ve taken to practicing right outside your room around the time you normally go to sleep. What are you going to do? •...Cry because it would break my heart to tell him no but also I wouldn’t be able to sleep so like yeah- I would probably put my earbuds in and play music there to fall asleep just to avoid crushing his dreams. 9. Number 10 (Reiji) recently purchased a cat onesie and they’ve insisted on wearing it everywhere over the past few days. They’ve now purchased a matching onesie for you and they’re being very insistent that you wear it and go out in public together. What do you do? •...First of all ask if he’s feeling alright?? That seems very... not like him. I would most likely wear the cat onesie anyway because I am obsessed with cats and love how comfy onesies are, but I don’t know if I would agree to do it in public. Although I might, just because Reiji can be very intimidating to me. 10. Number 4 (Shuu) is still scared after watching that horror film with you. It’s now late at night and they’re demanding that you let them sleep in your bed with you. What do you do? •Knowing me I would just be like “yeah go ahead come on in!” I’m naturally a really open and snuggly person in general, so I wouldn’t really mind at all. I would rather him be not scared. If he tried to make a move though idk how that would go- 11. Number 3 (Kou) confesses to you that they want to be an Olympic gymnast but struggle to even touch their toes. What sort of advice do you give to them? •Okay but like what- anyway, I would tell him to go for it and practice stretching. Everyone should be able to at least work on achieving their dreams ^^ 12. Number 7 (Laito) decides they want to paint a picture of you. They make you sit still for hours while they work on it, only when they finally reveal it to you, the image bears absolutely no resemblance to you. They ask you for your opinion, what do you say? •... Knowing Laito, it bETTER NOT BE A SITUATION WHERE HE ASKS POSING NOT CLOTHED. I would wear clothes either way though. Anyway, I would just be like “yeah looks great lovely I love it-“ even if it didn’t look like me, since art is something that is important to me and I don’t know if he was actually trying or not. I would feel horrible if he actually tried and I was like “no” that’s just not something I would do. 13. Number 5 (Yuma) buys a large pet python and they try to talk you into keeping it in your room. How do you respond? •nO???? Like snakes are cool and if he were to want one I would support and be all for it, but it’s not staying in my room. There was this one show.. Fatal Attractions? Probably not what it’s called I’m going to look it up but I’ll leave how off I was up there just for giggles... ...Just kidding I was right!! Anyways, the ones with snakes... I’ve seen enough of those to scare me into not wanting a snake in my room whoops- 14. You go on a Ferris wheel with number 6 (Azusa) but when you reach the top, it stops moving and stays still for a long time. There seems to be some kind of fault, which means you’re trapped with number 6 till someone can get it working again. What do you do? •PANIC. I mean, luckily I’m with Azusa, and it would be nothing against him either, I’m just sorta terrified of heights. Poor bean would probably have to comfort me but I don’t know if that would happen or not- 15. Number 2 (Ayato) proposes you play a game of twister. Regardless of whether you want to or not, you get dragged into it. As you’re playing, you notice number 2 seems to be touching you a lot more than necessary. Do you call them out on it, or take some other course of action? •Okay this sounds like something he would do too though so um... well, I would probably try to call him out, but it would be one of those “Aye! Quit it!” Things where it won’t really work because I’ll just start laughing about it. 16. You’re getting changed in your room when you suddenly hear a noise from your wardrobe. You open the wardrobe to find number 3 (Kou) standing in it. How do you react? •......AaaaaAAAaaaah hello-? If I was not fully clothed I would probably panic and pull clothes on as fast as possible. Also like- ask why he was there and what he was doing? I would be very flustered and panicked haha. 17. Number 1 (Subaru) manages to accidentally handcuff themselves to you. They don’t have a key and for some reason, no matter what either of you do, you can’t seem to get them off. What are you going to do? •I would probably giggle at how hilarious the situation was, and knowing Subaru he would be so flustered and snappy and such. There would be so many funny scenarios like seriously, and it would either lead to a way out or to something kinky 👀 18. Number 10 (Reiji) presents you with a bouquet of roses and declares that they have feelings for you. How do you react? •I’d be very confused? Thanks for the flowers though- 19. You go swimming with number 8 (Shin). You’re having a great time until they pull you aside and tell you that they’ve somehow lost their swimwear. Are you going to help them and if so how? •Panic and go look for those swim trunks. I ain’t looking below his waist though that isn’t going to happen- 20. Number 5 (Yuuma) wrote a love letter to you and slipped it into what they believed to be your locker, however the locker actually belongs to number 8 (Shin) and they didn’t bother writing your name on the letter. How does number 8 react when they find it? •....HAHAHA I FIND THIS SO IRONIC- anyway- Shin would probably rip it up and hunt poor Yuuma down. There would be some whole huge drama that’s for sure- 21. Number 7 (Laito) gets very very drunk and tries to give number 3 (Kou) a strip tease. What happens? •I can see this actually happening too whoops haha. Anyway, depending on Kou’s mood, I could see Laito doing it anyway and Kou being either very pissy or recording it for blackmail or to post on his blog to embarrass Laito. Little does he know, Laito doesn’t give a shit and takes it as maybe some endorsement on his quest to get to some more girls- c: 22. Number 6 (Azusa) and number 2 (Ayato) get into a rap battle and they want you to be the judge. Who do you think is going to win and why? •.......Probably Ayato just because like their personalities and yeah. I feel like part of me would be like “no screw this I can’t choose-“ because I just don’t want to have to tell one that he’s better than the other. 23. Number 1 (Subaru) accidentally ruins number 9’s (Ruki’s) most prized possession and begs for your help in covering it up. What do you do? •I could see this happening. I would help out however I could, or end up saying he should come clean. But I would most likely help Subaru despite my own advise- 24. You wake up in between number 4 (Shuu) and number 10 (Reiji) with absolutely no memory of how you got there. Do you have any idea about what might have occurred and what are you going to do now? •Also very ironic. Well, we would have all probably had to have been drunk to get to that point. Me and Reiji would have to at least. I would probably wake up with this “ <: “ look on my face but still. A night of drinking would lead to that. 25. You go on a camping trip with number 9 (Ruki), number 6 (Azusa) and number 3 (Kou). What sort of stuff do the four of you do together? •Well first of all poor Yuuma is left out, but also it’s a blessing they’re all from the same family so there won’t be any fighting (at least I hope). Honestly I would probably want to fish at some point, walk around the woods, take some pretty pictures, draw, and all that fun stuff. I’d probably do a lot of messing around with Kou tbh because the thought of camping with Kou just sounds like a whole lot of fun to me. 26. Number 9 (Ruki) and number 4 (Shuu) have somehow swapped bodies. How do they react and are you going to try to help them get back to normal? •Ruki would be screaming and Shuu would just be like “idgaf.” I would probably go to Reiji for help right away but I don’t know how that would go. 27. You’re playing a game of Monopoly with number 5 (Yuuma), number 7 (Laito), and number 10 (Reiji). Who wins and who goes bankrupt and storms off in a rage? •I feel like Laito would win with some strategy of some sort because I know he’s intelligent with this sort of stuff I’m pretty sure? Yuuma would be the one to go bankrupt and rage. Probably throw and break the board haha. 28. You go on a hike with number 8 (Shin) and number 2 (Ayato). Number 8 is in charge of the map and they manage to get you completely lost in the middle of nowhere. What are you going to do? •Cry- just kidding. But maybe not. I feel like it would be hard being trapped between the two of them just because of who they were. I would probably get teased a lot because of the complete panic and that I’m terrible at directions, so, I would probably have to rely on them to get back. 29. Number 1 (Subaru) has given up on learning the trumpet and has taken up the banjo instead. They write a song and play it for you but it sounds beyond terrible. How do you react? •”IT’S BEAUTIFUL YOU’RE SO TALENTED I LOVE IT SO MUCH THANK YOU-“ there’s no way it would go any other way. Again, in general, music is also one of those things where I couldn’t say no to someone, especially if it’s something for me. He would receive many hugs and I would be super happy even if it was horrible. 30. Number 1 (Subaru) and number 2 (Ayato) get in a fight over you. Number 2 manages to win and asks you for your hand in marriage. How do you respond? •I wouldn’t know how to respond, especially if it just followed after a fight. I would probably be upset, so I probably would say “maybe later” and just kinda step out without responding. I wouldn’t be in the right mindset to say yes or no especially following something like that. It would also depend on relationship status and how close we were and such. Idk. That’s just a big mess ah. —— That’s it, all 30 questions answered~! Thanks for the tag ❤️ I look forward to writing and drawing more on here. Hopefully these can be a few icebreakers her~ love you all❤️ I’m again too scared to tag people so I’ll leave this as it is.

[fallxnprxnce]

#54 xD

54. Any writing advice you want to share?

Oh my, yes. =) Here’s a meta comin’ at you! XD

So... I’ve been writing since I was in my senior year of high school (The Mummy came out in 1999 and that was my first fan fiction story hahaha). I wrote my first “book” in early college, inspired by the anime series Fushigi Yuugi, even though omg it was total crap haha. I mean, it was called Story. (rolls eyes) But even though I’ve been writing for 18 years, I would still consider myself to be a growing and learning writer and I admit that I have so much left to learn. My writing is a far cry from perfect (or even just, you know... not sucky XD), but I have learned several things over the years that either took me a long time to realize or that I actually resisted for the longest time because I thought I had to listen to everyone else telling me “the rules of writing.”

Guess what? There are no rules. Okay well, I mean... use good grammar and sentence structure and spell things correctly, yes, heh, but as far as the process, every writer is different. Lots of writers will taut their method and process as the one that works, but that’s just because it worked for them. But some methods will definitely not work for each type of writer, and if you try to mold yourself into what another writer has told you is the formula for success, you may actually be hurting your chances of growing as a writer.

So here are four tips that you can absolutely take or leave, because this is what worked for me. Some of these tips may be more universally helpful to all types of writers, but others may be specific to the type of writer I am. I will offer them anyway, in the hopes that they might help you out a bit with your writing journey.

Find out what type of writer you are and read authors with similar writing processes. The biggest thing to decide is if you are a pantser (plot as you go) or an architect (outline everything in advance). Some writers can be an even combination of both, but most will fall into one category or another. I am a panster. =) I outline only if I absolutely have to and I hate doing it. I prefer to just... see where my characters take me. First of all, learning which type of plotting you prefer to do can really help move the process along. If you’re an architect, get out those note cards or open that word doc and start making outlines and timelines and all of that. if you’re a panster, start learning what questions to ask yourself as you go along to draw out of yourself all the detail and important information in every scene. If you’re a panster and you’re trying to force yourself to outline because someone told you that you need to have your whole story worked out ahead of time, that’s going to not only be very tedious for you and suck all the love out of writing for you, but you will be going against your natural ability as a writer to gravitate toward a different process. Once you figure out what type of writer you are, accept it and play to your strengths when crafting a novel, short story, fan fiction story, etc. Then do some research on published authors to read some books by ones that share your process. This will expose you to the types of stories, characters, plots, and worlds that writers using your process can achieve. That is not to say that you are limited to what you see in other people’s books, but especially for writers that are just starting out, reading stories that have been crafted in a similar manner to the ones you want to write will help you learn how to do it on your own.

Push through writer’s block and keep writing no matter what! I know this sounds like one of those self-help tips as a writer that everyone throws out there. That’s why I didn’t believe it and resisted it for so many years, haha. I thought no, this is stupid, why am I going to continue to write after I feel my writing is crap? Shouldn’t I fix it first? Why am I going to leave a big blank space for this scene I can’t write right now and just keep going? Why am I going to call this character X because I can’t think of a name and just continue on like there’s no problem? Because it works. Seriously. Fight to keep writing through anything that is holding you back. I didn’t believe it worked until I gave myself 5 weeks to write a novel once (a movie was coming out and I didn’t want to be influenced by it too much after I saw it) and I had to finish it on time. That was the first time I was like welp, gotta keep going, don’t have time to think about all this stuff that’s bothering me. And the weirdest and best thing happened... I was able to get over my issues so much faster. Because there wasn’t this big dark cloud of “great, my writing sucks, it will always suck, I’ll never get better, I should just stop.” Instead, I forgave myself for whatever I was having trouble with, skipped it, and moved on. Or I continued to write using simple words and no description just to bang out the bare bones of a scene, intending to fill it in later. And you know what? I could fill it in later. Because I didn’t feel bad about myself or my writing and I had already moved on to write some things I was proud of. Fixing things later just... happened, heh. It was seriously like magic. I was amazed. Since that experience I always push through whatever I can as soon as I feel it’s blocking me. The more I learned to forgive myself and move past things that caused insecurity and frustration, the less emotional a thing it became and the more it became like a second nature habit. You can always go back and fix your writing, but if you allow road blocks to stop you now, you’ll have nothing to fix later on. ;)

Re-read your writing often, especially if you do not feel like writing new material. You’ve heard the whole, “You have to write every single day!” rule of being a writer? Yeah. So have I. And yeah, if you want to be a writer in any capacity, you can’t write once a month, heh. But every day? Eh... that’s flexible, especially if you really just aren’t feeling the creative juices flowing on a given day. You’ve also heard the, “Don’t edit until you finish the first draft!” rule? I found that that’s largely bullplop. There are some real advantages to re-reading your WIP, so long as you don’t do it so often that that’s all you’re doing, heh. If you don’t feel like writing, open up your file or notebook and re-read what you wrote. This will do a number of things: 1) it will keep you very familiar with what you’ve already written, so you will remember details a lot better, and if you need to go back to look something up, you’ll remember where it is a lot easier, 2) it will keep you immersed in the world and characters even though you’re not writing new material today, 3) it can stir up new inspiration for the WIP if you’re in a creative slump, 4) you may catch consistency errors you wouldn’t catch if you didn’t stay in touch with old writing, such as people’s eye color changing or a name spelling changing, etc., and finally 5) you will fix typos and small quick errors as you go, so when you finish your first draft, you’ll have a lot less technical work to do and can focus on the content of your piece. This is especially useful if you’re like me and your default length and genre of choice is epic fantasy. Epic fantasy novels are looooooong. If you’re writing an 800-page book, by the time you get to page 746, you will absolutely not remember what was on page 23 unless you re-read on a regular basis. 

Outline all your thoughts for the direction of any WIP you are leaving for a time. I just got done saying I’m a panster and I don’t outline. Well, even pansters need to outline in certain cases and this is one of them. I hate.... to outline... so much. But if I have lost the muse for a WIP and feel I need to take a hiatus from it, I will outline as much as I had lingering in my head as far as ideas for plot direction, things I wanted to see from certain characters, major events that need to happen, things like that. Even if I’m just literally putting Chapter ##: someone is born, someone dies, this guy travels here, this girl should complete this by the time this happens, heh. It can be that simple and informal because they’re notes to yourself. Nobody’s gonna see them unless you want them to, heh. You may use all or none of these notes when you return to the project, but I found that nothing kills a project for me like two things: 1) the feeling that I have to finish it in one single attempt, and 2) the feeling that if I leave I probably am essentially saying this WIP is dead and I will never return to it. What jotting down as much as you can think of does for you is it takes a snapshot of your mind while you were immersed in the work. If you think “Oh, I’ll remember everything,” NO YOU WON'T, haha. You will lose details and depending upon how long you’re stepping away from the work, you may lose major events too. Write them all down before you step away. I have an epic novel that I got discouraged about for a personal reason. I wrote 95% of it and literally only had a few more chapters to write and then I was done. It’s over 600 pages long. But I just couldn’t finish it at the time. But I wrote down notes by chapter of everything that I wanted to have happen. It’s been years... and now I’m thinking I may return to the project. I opened up the file, and there are all my thoughts on where I wanted to go with the story (most of which I had forgotten completely). It encouraged me that I could remember where I was and could pick up where I left off, and reading the notes even got me excited again about the story. Trust me, it’s a good practice to do, especially for a panster writer. We pansters fly by the seat of our.... well, pants. XD And we function best and live for the process of being swept away by our stories and letting our characters reveal the story to us. If you lose that feeling and you stop riding that wave... you can lose momentum, inspiration, motivation, etc. Writing down that snapshot of your brain will help you return to that time in your mind when you were totally immersed in your work and lovin’ it. ;)

I hope this has helped, somewhat, and really as always feel free to come to me for writing advice. Like I said, my writing is far from perfect, but I do have a decent number of years of experience on my side. I can tell you pros and cons about most writing tips and methods because I’ve tried them all, haha. I always love helping other writers so feel free to pick my brain about this hobby we love! =D