#ymmv on my ability to write romance

[darthkvznblogs]

Who do you ship the main Avengers with in the Kverse?

More specifically, is Steve/Buck a possibility?

I'll preface this by saying that shipping is kinda low priority in my writing - I typically go with canon pairings if they're convincing enough to me or popular alternatives if they aren't, with few exceptions. Much like with many of the character interactions in the Kverse, romances are not one of the things I typically plan ahead for, rather playing them by ear as the stories go along. That being said, I have given them some thought, just to get an idea of where they might head in the future.

For the main Avengers,

-Tony and Pepper, as you know, are together. I know Tony's traditionally kind of a ladies' man, but it wouldn't really feel right to go that way with this version, so I don't really plan on changing up their relationship (not in a potentially breaking them up way, at least).

-Bruce, I dunno. I like the idea of eventually reconnecting him with Betty, but I wouldn't bring her back just for a romance. I'd want to give her something to do that naturally brings her back into Bruce's orbit (and solely being Thunderbolt Ross's daughter isn't enough to me, tbh). If anyone reading this is a fan of Bruce x Natasha, I do apologize, but I have zero interest in that ship. I found it bizarre in 2015 and I haven't seen anything to change my mind since.

-I guess the biggest change here, I was never a big fan of Clint and his secret family - not so much the characters themselves, I think they're fine, but Clint never struck me as the type to even pretend to try and settle down. He is currently single in the Kverse (though that's not to say Laura and the kids don't exist. Details on that will have to wait). I might've shipped him with Natasha in the very early days, but I prefer their platonic life partner schtick these days, and I don't have a planned alternative for him at the moment.

-I think Natasha's actually somewhere in the aromantic spectrum and claims to be casually fine with it - but she kinda isn't, at the core of her being. She's had no shortage of partners (regular ones and fake ones as a Widow, with all that that entails), but she's so far been unable to form meaningful romantic relationships, and I do think a big, rather frustrated part of her (understandably) blames it on the Red Room's brutal "training". I think, deep down, she wishes to eventually find a way to disappear for good and settle down with a partner, but whether or not it's a genuine desire, or her vindictively wanting to stick it to the Red Room, or something else entirely, is anyone's guess (including hers)(these guys need so much therapy).

-Thor's a difficult one. I do think he's big-time smitten with Jane Foster at the moment, but he's not stupid. Her lifespan is the blink of an eye for him, and no matter how much he might come to wish otherwise, I don't think Jane would be super down for gaining immortality - even if it is the Norse, "can get killed in battle" type. It might be a point of contention later on, but for now, they're barely starting out as a couple, so no changes there.

-I think Cap and Peggy had a really sweet thing going back in the forties, but (and I apologize for the hot take) I do think it was kind of a mistake to have him choose to stay in the past and live out a life after Endgame. It was satisfying in the moment, but upon reflection, it feels like a weird choice for Steve Rogers to make. I can see him passing on the mantle to Sam, sure, but leaving his world behind in ruins, even in victory? Abandoning his friends and fellow heroes without warning? For a lost love he'd come to terms with? I dunno, I don't hate it or anything as a conclusion to his story, but it also doesn't really work for me anymore.

(there is an interesting wrinkle regarding Cap and Peggy in the Kverse but I can't talk about it at all yet, for big spoilery reasons) As for Steve x Bucky specifically - I'm not sure. No shortage of potential or chemistry between those two (as evidenced by thousands upon thousands of fics focused on them haha), and I do like them together, but Bucky is gonna be so messed up even if he gets promptly rescued in this timeline. I don't think he'd be in a place to even consider a relationship for a while, and I wouldn't want to force it on a shorter timetable. I think there was something there, in the past, but not something that would've naturally resulted in a relationship - from the war, the time period and culture, Peggy and Steve kinda sweeping each other off their feet out of the blue, take your pick. Obviously, their circumstances will have very much changed by the time they meet again - for better or worse.

[saintmachina]

Hello! I hope this isn’t a stupid question but as someone who just finished evocation (and loved it) and is writing fiction that also features polyamory, what,if any, advice could you give to writing a well rounded polycule in fantasy fiction? Thank you for your time!

Hi there! This isn't a stupid question at all, it's a great question with some very kind words!

I'm still figuring this out as I go along, but when I see polyamory done well in sff by other writers, and when I feel like I'm really locked in with the relationships in my own work, it when I see it treated with the same complexity and care as monogamous relationships.

Even though polyamorous romances can create truly unparalleled juicy drama in fiction, it's important to remember that polyamorous romances are no more inherently volatile or sensational than monogamous romances, and even though polyamorous stories can create truly unparalleled moments of tender care and intimate connection, it's important to remember that polyamorous romances are no more inherently wholesome and pure of heart than monogamous romances.

Anyone in love is all sinner all saint, all wounded animal and compassionate healer, all messy human being trying to figure out how to treat other messy human beings well in a complex, sometimes merciful, often hostile environment. That's the starting line for everyone. That's the north star I align myself with when I feel the story going off the rails towards melodramatown or tweecore country. And your rails are different than my rails of course, so ymmv.

On a technical level, from one writer to another, give yourself more time and more talking than you think you need to tell the story! You don't need to belabor every milestone or draw out every conversation, but more people in a romance means that you will probably need more scenes (or more scenes pulling double-duty at least) to establish everyone's growing connection to each other and then nurture those connections both individually and as a unit.

As far as conversations go, some Big Relationship Conversations (are we boyfriend/girlfriend now? do we feel ready to have sex without a barrier? do you want to summer with me in Italy?) should probably be had with multiple people, or multiple times. It can be challenging laying that groundwork without repeating yourself too much, but it's worthy work. To that end, the more people you add to a polycule, the longer the wordcount can get in drafting. Not necessarily a problem or a prescription, just something to notice!

And this is just small tip, but it can be really helpful to give characters who are linked in a polycule but not themselves dating something in common that is not just the person they are both dating. It will help you so much, I promise!

I hope this was helpful to you in some way big or small! I'm excited to hear you're writing polyamorous fantasy. I think committing to writing polyamory to the best of your ability in a story where it fits and feels natural is really commendable.

Best of luck!

[lacependragon]

2024 Book #1: The Hanging City by Charlie N. Holmberg

Intended Audience: Adult Genre: Romantasy (Romance-focused fantasy) Length: 335 pages Finished: February 17th, 2024

Narration: single narrator, first person pov

Summary: In a fantasy world consumed by an endless drought, a young woman on the run from her father has arrived at the last place that might take her in: the troll city under the greatest bridge ever built. But in order to get in, she must tell the leaders of her strange magic ability - she can push fear onto others, though she'll feel it too. As Lark, our MC, tries to fit into trollis (their preferred term) society, she finds herself struggling to fit in when kindness and compassion don't get you far in a society of strength. But some trollis soften to her, especially a handsome one named Azmar that Lark can't stop thinking about, no matter how dangerous it is.

Review: This is a very good book. Lark is a fun, compassionate, and quick thinking main character whose mistakes are understandable and who uses all the information at her disposal in clever ways. I loved how her compassion and struggle to fit in led to so much of the conflict in the story, and I loved how it also was a huge part of her success in the story, too. Lark's relationships with other characters, including Azmar and Unach, who she lives with, are just so, so good. I loved the job that Lark ended up with - monster hunting - and I really appreciate how it never stops being relevant to the story, both in activity and in social situations. In fact, this is just a very tightly written little book and everything circles around in some very fantastic ways.

The writing is lovely, too. I really enjoy the way this author writes books - I own a few of them - and I find there's a nice cadence to the words. It's smooth to read. And that spreads into how information is given to the reader, as well. Everything feels very smooth and easy flowing.

And, just to come back around, I really, really love compassionate protagonists. I love when characters want to help others, no matter the cost, and sometimes make stupid decisions because of that. Lark is such a fantastic protagonist who works around everything she is given. I love her. I love Azmar, too.

I think my biggest problem is that this is a seriously closed door romance. A few on-screen kisses and that's about it. Some light references. I would have loved to see more - I prefer my romances a little smuttier - but YMMV.

Just a fantastic book, seriously. So glad it was my first of the year.

Things I liked, specifically:

The romance was good. I understood why Lark was attracted to Azmar, and even though we never get Azmar's point of view, it was clear to me why he liked her. Watching them fall for each other was just adorable. Also, I love when a romance doesn't rely on badly done miscommunication for its third act drama. This does something SO GOOD that has nothing to do with that!

The worldbuilding was really neat. This is a standalone, so there's a lot of questions left unanswered, but the answers we got were fun. I also loved how it tied into the plot, as well as the culture of the trollis. You really get a sense for what their people value when the architecture is described. It's very evocative. And the cultural bits we get, the government and tax and law systems, the currency and caste stuff. God it's all so good and intriguing. Layered in just enough, in my opinion.

The friendships. There are so many good supporting characters in this story, including Unach, the trollis woman originally assigned to look over Lark. She's Azmar's sister and she's basically my fave. She's so gruff and short-tempered but also fantastic. Love her. I loved all of the supporting characters. All of them were well-written, well-rounded, and had motivations that were clear to me.

LARK. Again, emphasizing that Lark is just a fantastic, compassionate and kind protagonist. She is tired of fighting. Tired of having to hurt others. She wants a family, friends, and peace, and it is beautiful to watch her strive for her.

The themes. Sometimes you can't change a place, only you can change. Family isn't what your born into, but the people who will accept you no matter what you are. It is always right to try and save others. What is a monster? What is a man? Just to name a few that I personally pulled out of the story that I just adored the execution of. It's so good. And the trollis society embodies both good and bad, and you get to see the way it echoes into the themes and guh.

Rating: 4 1/2 stars.

Recommended for: Fans of romance who enjoy good worldbuilding, fans of Holes, fans of Gentle Giant men.

[chysgoda]

Thaliak, the Scholar 7. When it comes to formal education, does your character have any goals? 8. Does your character enjoy reading? If so, what kind of books? 9. How important is education to your character?

So quick (ha ha I thought before I actually started writing this) head cannon to contextualize some of what I��m going to go into. Also this is a very YMMV head cannon so ya know I like it others may not. But we’re talking about my characters so full steam ahead!

The Echo acts as a hand dandy hand wave for why WoL can speak to everyone and written language is included in this universal translator per Eorzean Encyclopedia 1. However, on a logic level this doesn’t work entirely for me.

Spoken language works in the meta of the world because when two or more people are directly interacting there also all of the related body language, vocal intonation, and aether/dynamis right there to add all the delicate nuances that come with spoken language. the Echo can really just fill in the gaps (I also think this a big charisma stat bonus for WoL because their in person communication skills have a pretty strong empathic boost)

Writing however has more than a few levels of abstraction and varying amounts of time between the writer and the reader. There’s a lot of very specific ways different cultures use written language to fill in the blanks left when you take out body language and vocal intonations. Another layer of abstraction is translation where you go from an original writer through another person(s) before it ends up in a language the reader can consume. This translation even exists within one language if there’s a chunk of time and language shifts. Two examples of this are; Received Pronunciation vs. Original Pronunciation in Shakespear’s plays (look up the youtube channel Shakespear on Toast and watch his lecture series on this and other things. It’s fascinating) closer to home older Millennials trying to interpret Gen Z slang/abbreviations. So given that the Echo is the ability to “cross the boundaries of the soul” there’s a lot of dead space between the souls and the Echo acts more like google translate rather than a nice fat stat boost. I also think some kind of actual experience with the language outside of the echo is needed otherwise WoL could just read all of the ancient allagan nonsense that keeps popping up.

So given all of that, on to actually answering the question.

Art’imis is ambivalent with regards to any formal education in relation to herself. She’s very well aware that she would be an absolutely dreadful student if someone made her plop her butt down in some Studium class. A large portion of that is her struggle to actually be able to read most of the materials. She was entirely illiterate when she first got to Eorzea (her echo woke on the Azem Steppe before she came to Eorzea) because she had no experience with Eorzean common in any way other than what was spoken in the Kuagane port and on the ship to Eorzea. Her mentor in the gladiator’s guild taught her to read well enough that she could negotiate contracts and part of that negotiation was an instance on plain language. That demand however isn’t something you can ask of an already written book and books are kinda important to formal education. It isn’t until she’s with the scions and Bel is learning to read that Art’imis’s own skill starts improving because she doesn’t want bel to have her limitation and so helps encourage her daughter by learning with her. Even after her reading improved, complicated texts, both technical and poetic, took her a long time and a lot of effort to wade through. So technical stuff she can learn but prefers to learn through conversation. Eorzean trashy penny romance novels are generally straightforward enough and entertaining (in both good and bad ways) enough that she enjoys reading them. Which was where she was kinda floating until Hozan and Yugiri showed her some of the texts that they had managed to save and bring with them. Art could get through those easily and had her first solid clue as to where she came from.

So tl;dr for Art: no; ambivalent/ more likely to sketch; in relation to herself no, in relation to others absolute cheerleader

For a Bel, she was raised by a mix of adventurers, post doc nerds, an ascian pretending to be a spook/post doc nerd, and Ishgardian nobility, so she has much more distinct opinions about education/reading than her mother. She started learning to read around when her echo awakened in the bowl of embers because it looked close enough to burning meteors from the perspective of a 7 year old to trigger the generational soul pstd. Learning to read for the first time, at that age, with the echo, presented some interesting educational challenges. Lahabrea was the one that taught her how to read around the echo (for REASONS (™)), the scions and various associated adventurers encouraged a love of reading and learning. If the bloody banquet hadn’t happened she probably would have gone to the Arcanist Guild in her early teens. In Ishgard any mage schooling was a hard no and Edmont tailored her education so that she could step into a role as a schenchal, politician, or just in general have a very solid I can make things happen and keep happening skills at her disposal when her career as a dragoon eventually came to an end. When that career ended very early due to injury she made the decision to go train at the arcanist guild after a lot of conversations with a lot of different people. She finished her delayed thesis for the arcanist guild shortly after Endwalker since the guild mistress had very kindly handed out end of the world extensions to anyone who asked. For casual reading Bel will pick up just about anything that catches her eye or that someone in her extensive family network suggests. When you’re raised by an eclectic group of people you end up with an eclectic set of interests.

tl;dr for Bel: She’s currently conducting research about using arcamina to channel dragon aether; yes and pretty much everything; yes

[strangehunger]

hi! from the stuff you have on your blog we seem to have a similar taste in media, so i wondered do you have any recommendations for quality enemies to lovers content? whether that be a book, film, fanfic, whatever! thank you, and hope you have a lovely day

Ooh, I love this question! I really like the enemies to lovers trope but I'm picky about it, so the list of things I'd genuinely reccommend is a little small 😅 most of it is also gay.

Keep in mind some of these are first in a series or have ambiguous endings or are still in progress in some way, so some of this is going to be lovers to something incredibly intimate and on the cusp of lovers.

Books:

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Yeah. You knew this was coming. Billed as lesbian necromancers in space. A necromancer and a swordswoman who happen to be childhood enemies are forced to team up and undergo a series of trials to ascend to a godlike position at the side of The Emperor. In space. With a big cast of fun characters. I think the sequel will have more layers of enemies to lovers too. You like enemies? You like learning to trust your enemy? You like fealty? Here you go.

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. This one has been making the rounds lately. Epistolary novel told as letters between two time traveling agents in an "edit war" who fall in love. f/f. Pretty unambiguous ending.

THIS IS HOW YOU SURVIVE THE COHABITATIONAL BLISS THAT FOLLOWS AFTER YOU WIN/LOSE THE TIME WAR by Scott Lynch. Yes. Scott Lynch. This is a fanfic for the aforementioned Time War he wrote as a gift to the authors and blessed the rest of us by posting it to ao3.

The Amberlough Dossier by Lara Elena Donelly. It's hard to say if this one is actual enemies to lovers. It's a non magic fantasy set in a country on the verge of a civil war that mirrors Weimar Germany but, like, glitzy as hell. The two main characters are in a relationship from the start of the book, but it stars two incredibly snarky assholes, one of whom is an intelligent agent for the government and the other of which is a drug smuggling kingpin and also a drag queen. They SHOULD be enemies but are at a relationship at the beginning by the first book, though they definitely are constantly keeping things from each other and still working for their own sides. Heavy on politics but gorgeous writing. Everyone's the asshole here. m/m.

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders. Okay this one isn't REALLY enemies to lovers, more like childhood friends to adult friends whose relationship ends up fractured by being on different sides once they are already lovers, but it's cool! Set in a near future on the verge of collapse, the two characters are like the prodigies of a tech company and a magic coven that are kinda fighting for control to restore balance on earth. This is actually m/f, for once.

The Binding by Bridget Collins. A little slow to start, this one is a historical fantasy in which certain people have the ability to "bind" the memories of others into books. I don't want to say much more bc it might give a way some of the twists. m/m. TW for explicit mentions (though not descriptions, if I recall accurately) of sexual assault, though not involving either of the MCs.

For tv and film, I really don't watch a lot of either 😅 so I just have the one

Killing Eve. If you haven't watched it, you really should. A British intelligence agent and a Russian assassin play a game of cat and mouse across Europe.

Things I haven't read or watched/read or watched but disliked/am on the fence about but YMMV:

Criers War by Nina Varela. This one is fantasy with steampunk elements with a romance between an automaton princess and a human servant who is secretly part of a human rebellion. This one is very much loved but I wasn't into it, it was a bit YA for my taste and also just... I didn't love the characters. It's pretty popular though.

The 100 had this with Lexa and Clarke but honestly save yourself the rage and just watch a supercut; the rest is not worth it.

Compass Rose by Anna Burke is on my list and I THINK it's enemies to lovers? It's supposed to be f/f and space pirate-y.

Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear is also on my list. It's sci-fi and I think it has like, enemies to idiots who make bad decisions and make out but I am pretty sure it doesn't have a full on romance? apparently it's hella queer

I'm sorry, the odds you have read/seen a handful of these already is probably fairly high 😭 especially because that trope is Having A Moment. Fanfic is hard to rec without knowing what you're interested in. I'm mostly reading Gideon the Ninth fanfic right now and almost all of it is, in some way, enemies to lovers. Good Omens has a lot of incredibly petty and funny or like serious and emotional enemies to lovers fanfic too.

[overthinkingkdrama]

hi! love in sadness anon again. if you can rec some good melos i would be thankful.

[Oh my gosh, anon. I suck. Seriously. I’ve been trying to sit down and get this done from the moment I got your ask and I just haven’t been able to do it. Anyway, hopefully you see this. Thank you for your patience.]

Little do you know how long I have been waiting for this moment. This is my time to shine! Jk, but I would be happy to give recs. It’s a delight. I started going through my MDL and realized just how many dramas in this genre I have actually seen and realized I would probably have to trim my recommendations somewhat not to seem like a crazy person. Also I have subcategories! Yay!

(I’ve included the *** next to titles that I have watched multiple times or that stand out from the rest of the pack.)

First of all, Movie Melos.

Sometimes you don’t have time for 16-30 hours of drama. Sometimes you want to get all your feels out in a single sitting and move on with your life. That’s where movies are so helpful. My favorite bite-sized melos are:

Always*** – An ex-con trying to get his life together falls in love with a blind woman, but his efforts to help her recover her sight might drag him right back into the violence he’s tried to escape.

Shoot My Heart – A young heir is forced into a mental hospital by his rich family where he meets a disturbed young man. They become friends, try to protect each other, and eventually escape. This one has a bit more of a comedic element to it than the other movies I’m recommending, but there’s plenty of the melo tone as the movie goes on.

Will You Be There? – After finding out that he’s dying of cancer, a man travels through time to beg his younger self to save the life of his first love.

Butterfly Sleep – This is a Japanese movie, but it also stars Korean actor Kim Jae Wook, who recently got a boost in popularity from Her Private Life. The movie revolves around a poor young man from Korea who ends up living with an older woman, a novelist who has just discovered she is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, and the passionate relationship that develops between the two as he helps her finish what will be her final book. #tragedy_tag

High Quality, Human Melodramas

So, this category is for if you want something with all the emotional gut punch of a really wild family drama, but you also want your melos to have actual artistic merit so when you tell your non-drama watching friends and family members about them they don’t end up losing respect for your taste.

Just Between Lovers – This is the story of two young people involved in and scarred by the same horrific accident, but survived and end up finding solace in one another as they deal with their combined traumas. If you’ve seen this drama around the kdramasphere on tumblr you might have seen a lot of gifs of the soft romance. Don’t be fooled though. The romance is indeed wonderful, but the themes are heavy and it can be rough sit.

My Mister*** – I really am just looking for every possible opportunity to recommend this drama. It has supplanted my former favorites and become my top drama of all time. It’s about two people, a troubled young woman in her 20′s and a structural engineer in his 40′s who have become beaten down and broken by life. Their two lives end up intersecting and they develop a really complex friendship that changes both of their lives. Acting, writing, directing…I have nothing bad to say about My Mister. This drama is actually perfect. 

The Smile Has Left Your Eyes – Do you like your melos a bit murdery? I know I sure do. Give me a sociopath any day of the week and I’ll say, “Thank you. I’ll take two.” This drama is about a young man who might be a monster. He becomes a detectives prime suspect in a murder investigation. At the same time he meets the detectives younger sister and they begin to fall in love. #tragedy_tag If this sounds like your thing, but you don’t like super sad endings check out Hello Monster, also starring Seo In Guk.

Secret Love Affair – I think it’s probably safe to say this drama is considered a modern kdrama classic, and for good reason. A story revolving around a woman who gave up her dreams for security, trapped in a loveless marriage, who meets a piano savant from an extremely underprivileged background and he sets off a spark for passion, music and love that she hasn’t felt in a long time. This is a quiet, pensive drama with a lot of wonderful music and atmosphere. YMMV depending on your tolerance for cheating and a slow-burn pace.

Alright, Cut the Crap Jona, Show Me the Extra Soapy Guilty Pleasure Dramas We All Know You Like…

Maybe you don’t go in for this type of self-conscious, “serious” drama watching. You’re going to watch these things in the sanctity of your own room and never tell a soul about them. Or perhaps you’ve evolved past needing other people’s approval to enjoy the things you like. Good for you, I say! As it should be. In that case, I have some top shelf makjang crack to deal you. This is the part of the list where the sliding scale of quality gets a little wobbly. Most of these shows contain a little, if not a lot, of crazysauce. All of them are over-the-top melo fun.

Baker King Kim Tak Gu – A drama about the illegitimate son of a conglomerate CEO who has inherited his preternatural baking abilities looking for his place in a family that will never acknowledge him. Yeah, the premise is pretty “what”? When I first watched this drama I thought it was supposed to be a satire of the makjang genre. To this day I’m not sure how seriously this drama actually takes itself. What I will say is it’s hella entertaining, even as it piles on more than it’s share of craziness (machinations, murder, affairs, chaebol fuckery, love polygons, gangsters, birth secrets, and on and on.) I was surprisingly invested and remarkably satisfied by the ending.

Ms. Perfect – This drama is something of a gothic romance/makjang melo mash up. It involves a woman whose marriage shatters just as she loses her home and finds herself desperate to take care of her family. She’s enticed by a mysterious woman to live with her in her huge house, but this stranger has eerie motivations of her own. Really fun, weird show. But brace yourself to be blue-balled by the romance. It’s one steamy make out session from being noona-romance catnip. 

Money Flower*** – I unironically love this drama. It’s very close to the platonic ideal of the Revenge Melo. It involves a Dantes-esque male lead, Kang Pil Joo, who is willing to destroy himself to enact his multi-decade revenge on a wealthy family that took everything from him. He is the shadow of a spoiled young heir who he plans to use to take down the whole evil empire of Chungha group, but in order to do that he has to orchestrate the heir’s marriage with the innocent daughter of a powerful politician, the woman who Pil Joo himself is in love with.

That Winter, The Wind Blows – This one is a lurid conman tail about a gambler who, in his attempts to pay back a dangerous gangster out for his life, pretends to be the prodigal brother of a blind heiress. He tries to get the money and skip town, but ends up falling in love with the mark which comes with a host of other complications, not the least of which is she thinks he’s her brother. This one is high on the guilty-pleasure-o-meter for me.

Come and Hug Me – Some people might disagree with my putting this one on here, but for me the premise is too wildly melodramatic to omit. The leads start out as childhood sweethearts, but the problem is his father is a deranged serial killer and her parents end up two of his victims. As adults he becomes a detective trying to make up for his father’s legacy of cruelty and she becomes a famous actress like her mother. Traumas resurface when she becomes the target of an apparent copycat and their past connection becomes the fixation of a ruthless tabloid journalist.

Thank You – After his fiancee dies of cancer, a Doctor travels to a remote island to fulfill her last wish–to help the family of a little girl the late fiancee was responsible for inadvertently infecting with HIV. Unexpectedly he finds himself attracted to the girl’s single mother. However, he will have to contend with the prejudices of the island people about AIDS and the reappearance with the girl’s father. This one is as heavy as it sounds, and the oldest drama on this list, from 2007, with all the idiosyncrasies that go along with older dramas. But it’s remarkably well done. From the same writer of a bunch of classic melodramas (I’m Sorry, I Love You; A Love To Kill; Innocent Man; Uncontrollably Fond, etc) but this is my personal favorite of hers.

The Last Empress – Okay, I couldn’t omit this one. I tried. Average musical actress Oh Sunny winds up married to the Emperor in an alternate history version of Korea and becomes embroiled in the machinations of the corrupt royal family. With a nice side helping of revenge plot. It’s demonstrably not a good show. It’s one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen. But it had me hooked early on and then I couldn’t get myself free. What a magnificent train wreck this drama was. If you’re looking for problematic nonsense melos that were MASSIVE hits in Korea and you’re torn between this and Baker King, go with the silly bread show and keep this one in your back pocket.

Fated to Love You – This one is probably the most off-brand on the list, because it leans heavily on the comedic tone, especially for the first half. There’s a definite turn at the midpoint of the drama where it becomes MUCH more melodramatic (with all the tropes you expect to go along with that), but I think it pulls of the transition impressively well. Besides, it’s a fun watch with a fluffy feelgood ending with a bow on top. It’s a dash of sugar for your melodrama sojourn, a genre that admittedly can be a bit of a bummer.

There it is. I tried to do an extra good job with my list because it took me so long to get it out. I’m sorry again. Happy watching!

Jona

[inqorporeal]

Every even emoji prompt for the fanfic writers meme.

That's just cruel xD

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

Basically any instance where Zohli tries bonding with people

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

Pretty much every cliffhanger.

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

I like to try to incorporate different senses when describing settings; it's not just the appearance that matters but the smells and sounds and even the feeling of air on your face

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

After over five years of consistently writing -- nearly every day -- my skills have improved so much. Sometimes it might feel like I'm not trying hard enough or writing to the best of my ability, but then I look back at older parts and I can see so much improvement. Maybe it ate my life, but I'm glad it did!

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

Yep. When I'm on the train, it's whatever's on my mp3 player, but at home I can be more choosy. Lately it's been nu-synthwave like Essenger

⛔ Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?

Yeah, about a decade ago, I envisioned a frankly daunting project basically mapping the origins of the world of Eve Online. I still have literal notebooks full of planning and research, and fifty or so pages of actual writing. I scrapped it for a number of reasons, most of which I'm not at liberty to discuss, but I also fell out of interest in Eve after a while.

🍦 What's the sweetest fic you've created so far?

Other than a number of unfinished scraps for my FFXIV main, I think Passion & Providence is the sweetest, despite the drama and politics. It's intended to be primarily romance of the deeply emotional Sith variety.

🍆 Do you write the spicy stuffs? If so, what's your most popular nsfw fic?

Rarely. I don't think I'm very good at it. Of the two E-rated fics I've written, A Trooper's Guide to Lightsaber Maintenance is by far the more popular, but SWTOR OC fics are incredibly niche compared to CodyWan.

💖 What made you start writing?

In general, or writing fic? I've been writing original stuff since I was five and stealing little 8-page journals from kindergarten to create in at home. The first things I wrote that could be considered fanfic were entries in my gaming blog (I've put them on AO3, but since it's Eve Online, ymmv). Initially they were a way to explore the world's unwritten lore; later I was being paid in ingame currency to write serials for a fanzine. I still prefer writing things that fill in the content blanks.

❌ What's a trope you will never write?

There's a long list of things I will never write, but tropes are not among them. With enough effort, any trope can be worthwhile.

🧐 Do you spend much time researching for your stories?

So much time researching. Sometimes I just need the name of a person, place, or thing; sometimes I need to know details of specific locations or canon history.

🎃 Do you write fics for certain holidays? Which is your favorite holiday inspired fic?

Nope. I don't really do holidays.

🎨 How do you feel about fan art of your stories?

Love it. I don't get a lot, but the little I do get is fantastic <3

🦅 Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants?

A bit of both. I have an outline of the major beats I want to hit, major events that need to happen, and then the space in the middle is fair game for seat-of-pants flying.

🤗 What advice would you give to new fanfic writers that are just getting started?

Don't worry about an audience, or if your stuff is any good. Write what you want to write, how you want to write it, and throw it out there, because the only way to improve is to keep writing. Also: do not ever ask for concrit from your readers when you're starting out -- find someone to be the kind of beta you need (every beta has a different approach, and make sure to communicate what you're looking for with them) and ignore everyone else's concrit. Even as an experienced writer I get unsolicited critique from people who seem to think I'm an impressionable high schooler who doesn't know that my stories don't need all that queer stuff, which is, of course, complete bollocks. The majority of concrit you will receive from readers is bad feedback issued in bad faith and not worth listening to.

🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

It's snowing again, fluffy clusters of flakes drifting like moulted feathers to stick and melt and re-freeze on the cracked pavement. A damp January wind slithers across your exposed cheeks, reeking of decay and low tide, and you tug your scarf a bit higher under your goggles. The sun is making a tactical withdrawal behind the underlit blockwork of mid-town Boston to the south-west, and the world begins to light up night-vision green around you as the mist rises.

"Check, Swear, what's the plan?"

You can just see the glowing tip of Calum’s imported cigarette from where he's gone to hold point; the scent of cloves hovers about like a gothic ghost. Your lip quirks in a smirk and you key your comms up. "You remember what happened the last time I came up with a plan?"

 "Nobody's spotted any manticores for months, sister."

🎉 What leads you to consider a fic a success?

Someone leaves a comment

📚 Would you ever want to turn writing into a career?

Technically I've had a writing career for a while, but it's been in terms of writing game content. I've been working towards finishing a couple novels for a few years; someday I want to try getting them published.

🤯 What's a genre you struggle with as a writer (ex. romance, action, etc.)?

Romance. I'm very aromantic and a lot of the standard romance tropes feel very "sounds fake but okay" to me.

💥 How do you feel about criticism?

Unless I'm actively requesting it, don't bother; if you're lucky, I'll ignore it, if you're unlucky I will write you an Enlgish or history lesson in the replies. As I said above, the majority of unsolicited crit I receive is people complaining about the queer content, and they can go get fucked imo. The work they're critiqueing was not written with them in mind as an audience.

🥰 How do you feel about reader interaction? Are you open to receiving questions about your fics?

All the time! My ask box is always open -- I just have anon turned off.

[paimonbaby]

Hottest Take on the Mass Effect

ok so I finished Mass Effect Andromeda and I’ve got some Thoughts

•game is buggy as hell and has some weird ass problems

•main story was pretty meh but the final mission and ending was choice👌

•the characters are pretty good but none of them stuck with me the way some previous games did, mostly because there’s a lot of banter but not a whole lot of 1 on 1 situations.

•Liam and Vetra are the best ones

•Gil Brodie was cute and all but was a real disappointing romance and I had like no real connection with him

•Movie Night was the best part of the game’s writing and scene work

•Combat was a real hoot and forced you to play way more aggressive and be more mobile so that was fun

•destroyers, observers, and anointed make me want to scream on harder difficulties

•big krogan enemies and the big floaty ball kett all take rly long to kill, but aren’t hard at all so idk

•why did I only hear like one real ability call out used for the squad mates (peebee’s “gravity going away in 3..2..”)

•squad mate customization was p lacking overall. lack of abilities and no equipment was lame

•I liked that all the squad mates were brawlers. Seeing Vetra powered up and slowly going in or Drack just running in and headbutting was a good time

•Loyalty missions were solid, Liam and Peebee’s both made me laugh

•use of 1 alien model with small changes for all the races was a big yikes

•hard to really remember most non human npcs because they all look identical

•too much space mumbo jumbo at times

•I loved how the crew moved around the ship and talked to each other all the time instead of just having a single place to hang out

•elaaden is best planet

•havarl was pretty but the limited fov made combat annoying with all the trees and fauna

•crafting was really neat, but there weren’t enough kooky augments imo

•the asari sword was the best thing

•emails were fun and had a lot of insight into characters

•vaults were fun but why was the autosave so punishing

•Natalie Dormer is a good voice actress tbh

•some scenes had really strong animations and some others were hilariously bad

•what does my face is tired mean

•Kesh and the politicians in general were a bit underused imo

that’s all I can think of rn but basically andromeda is good but also YMMV with the bugs and small annoyances

[sunlitroom]

 @millicentcordelia said

I was glad to see this post. There’s been so much talk of Oswald not understanding what love is, or caring about another person. He made a huge sacrifice to keep Jim out of jail, and look at what it ended up costing him.

Oswald knew that Jim and Leslie were engaged, that she was expecting a baby. Oswald was never anything but nice to Leslie. He had no expectations by this point that Jim was going to return any feelings that he may have had for Jim. The most he could have been hoping for was friendship.

This also reminds me that Jim treated Oswald callously when Oswald was in Arkham and has never apologized or addressed that in any way.

@sunlitroom said

Yes - this idea that Oswald just learned that this is what love meant was silly.  He took the fall for Jim with no expectation of a favour in return.  It was unselfish and big-hearted.

It was why the ‘what good is love if it’s one-sided’ line was silly - because we know what good it is: it actually brought the best out of Oswald.

Even beyond romantic relationships - we see Oswald loves his parents.  He was willing to dance to Galavan’s tune to get Gertrud back, and cared for his ill father.  He was even desperate for his stepfamily to accept him, to the extent where he was willing to live as their servant.

When a storyline is dependent on the audience forgetting a whole load of plotpoints and characterisation - it’s a poor storyline.

@millicentcordelia - I think the scene in Jim’s hallucination has told us, at least, that it plays in his mind.  He knows Oswald put himself in danger’s way for him, he knows there’s a bond there, he knows he shouldn’t have left him behind.

One thing that’s tricky about that storyline is that although it’s hideous to the viewer - because we know what Hugo’s doing - Jim doesn’t know what’s actually going on.

He’s desperate to dissociate himself from Galavan’s murder - and so he does what he tends to do, puts himself on his moral high horse to create a division between himself and villains, because he’s terrified by how blurred that line is becoming.  

So he looks down on Oswald for taking an insanity plea, and tells himself that Oswald should probably be doing time for some other crimes anyway.  You see him weighing Oswald’s accusations about Hugo - there’s a flicker of doubt, and he looks him over - but it’s easier for him at that point to assume that Oswald is lying.  Yes - it’s lazy, and it’s cowardly, and it’s hypocritical - but I think that if he had actually known what was going on, he wouldn’t have left him there.  It would have been crossing the moral event horizon for him.

@littlehollyleaf said

@sunlitroom @millicentcordelia The way I’m understanding Ozzie supposedly just learning that love is about sacrificing personal happiness etc. is that the storyline is not trying to actually claim he hasn’t already experienced real love, but that:

a) Eddie is a twat (I say lovingly :p) who was utterly wrong about Ozzie’s ability to love, so his claims are not meant to count for much (and may have been based partly on misinformation - from what he knows of Ozzie’s relationship with Gertrude, it could seem Ozzie put his own criminal aspirations above her safety/happiness, and presumably Ed has no inkling of the depth of Ozzie’s sacrifices for Jim, seeing Oz lying for Jim as part of a failed alliance as opposed to a sign of selfless love?)

b) Ozzie’s own confusion about how to love and whether he was capable of it, and the way sacrificing for Eddie seemed a lightbulb moment for him, speaks to a deep lack of awareness/understanding of and insecurity about himself and his emotions. Like - I think there’s a case to be made that he never considered/recognised his feelings for Jim as love, even a friendship kind, but instead rationalised their relationship as a business friendship/alliance? (tho ofc in truth emotionally it WAS much more than that to Ozzie). Plus, he absolutely blames himself 100% for his mother’s death (see his Arkham dream!), so he maybe (probably?) believes he couldn’t have truly loved her or at least loved her right because if he did she wouldn’t have died. His father he didn’t know long enough to make sacrifices for, so never really had his loved ‘tested’ you could say, and well he did ofc kill his step-family, so probably doesn’t consider his feelings towards them as particularly loving because of that :p So the fact that he was delighted to have his love for Ed ‘proven’ seems a fitting reaction from him to me, because it’s potentially the only time (at least since his mother’s death) he has personally been both completely aware of his feelings and 100% sure of them as real/true/whatever.

So the ‘what good is love if it’s one sided?’ line - well yes WE have seen how good it was for Ozzie to love, but I imagine Ozzie himself wouldn’t have? Esp if we take it that he didn’t recognise his feelings for Jim as love - because that way, for Oz, his love for Ed would seem to be his first experience of romance, and as such it would be understandable for him to consider such an emotion as pointless if not returned I think?

Tl;dr - I don’t think the storyline was relying on the audience forgetting past plots and characterisation necessarily, because I think it was about developing/exploring Ozzie and Eddie’s own, flawed, understandings of each other and themselves and what personal love is supposed to feel/look like. While we, the audience, can see they are or have been mistaken when it comes to various assumptions.

Re: Jim - completely agree with your assessment. His rejection of Ozzie’s claims of torture and refusal to listen always made sense to me, callous as it seemed.

@sunlitroom said

I think, for me, this is one of this instances where you, as a viewer, are doing a ton of heavy lifting re: interpreting slipshod writing, and coming out with something way more intelligent and nuanced than the writers actually intended.

I think I can agree, to an extent, about Ed being shown to be wrong (he does wander into twatness frequently :D)  He’s prone to hubris – and we see him falter here when he realises he was wrong about Oswald’s capacity for love and self-sacrifice.  I still sort of feel, though, that we’re not asked to consider Ed’s knowledge of Oswald’s past as faulty (it’s never mentioned or nodded at here at all) – but rather that we’re supposed to think, and be taken aback, along with Ed - that Oswald has suddenly demonstrated the capacity for love for the first time.

Like - I think there’s a case to be made that he never considered/recognised his feelings for Jim as love, even a friendship kind, but instead rationalised their relationship as a business friendship/alliance? (tho ofc in truth emotionally it WAS much more than that to Ozzie)

I think, though, Oswald’s frustration in interactions with Jim was precisely because he felt Jim refused to acknowledge what Oswald felt was a deeper connection.  He’s insistent on crossing the business line, much to Jim’s frequent discomfort.  Then they gave us that daft line about love being no good when it’s one-sided, and that discontented little look, which was a tacit acknowledgment of Oswald’s feelings on that front.  

(I hope you don’t mind me adding your tags because you stash half your argument in there, and then it disappears in the reblog, which seems a shame :))

#it occurs to me i’ve posted several things talking about ozzie sacrificing himself for ed as character development/growth#i guess i was seeing that more in terms of his understanding of romantic love specifically#which i was taking as something he only knew how to experience selfishly#because i don’t see him as recognising his feelings for jim as romantic#…or maybe even his love for eddie specifically#which i thought the show was going to keep as a selfish love#in any case - i can’t deny ozzie has loved deeply and selflessly before ed#and if i implied otherwise i was wrong about that - whoops and sorry!

I think this is probably something that will be very much YMMV - because I can see your idea is valid, but I came away with the opposite idea.  I’d already seen Oswald experience what read as (so unsubtly it was almost not subtext)  romantic attraction, deliberately take the fall for Jim with no deal in place to protect him, willingly offer to make sure Lee was safely out of the city, then ask her not to think badly of him - in short, demonstrate pretty much the opposite of what we saw him do with Ed and Isabella, where he was selfish and destructive.

And I think that’s why the pairing (as portrayed in the storyline, I have no issue with whatever shipping people do) made me so tetchy.  I was simultaneously seeing something that looked nothing like what we had been shown Oswald was capable of in terms of love and generosity, but then I was asked to swallow it as not only romantic, but as evidence that Oswald could love.  And I just felt not only was this the sort of repetitive storytelling that annoyed me with the Van Dahl stuff, but I just found it wilfully ignored so much previous characterisation and story.  

And yes - re: Jim, I think s2 Jim can be summed up as ‘disappointing’.  It’s definitely a nadir for him.

Tl;dr

Ed - can be a twat

s2 Jim - disappointing

Oswald - capable of love

:D

@littlehollyleaf said

I think, for me, this is one of this instances where you, as a viewer, are doing a ton of heavy lifting re: interpreting slipshod writing, and coming out with something way more intelligent and nuanced than the writers actually intended.

A very sweet way of saying I’m reading perhaps too much into things :p Fair point though - I’m used to analysing texts from a ‘Death of the Author’ perspective, so my grasp on authorial intent can be weak (and is also something I’m not generally interested in, which is why I try and avoid considering writer intent as much as possible… and always inevitably fail with WIP tv shows! see: much of our discussions about Isabella).

At the end of the day then - screw the writers, right? :p Ozzie is and always has been capable of selfless love and his relationship with Eddie and Eddie’s machinations didn’t reveal anything new on that front. Agree.

And I also agree, personally, that his crush on Jim was insanely obviously romantic - certainly I was reading it that way pretty much from the start! …however, as obvious as it might have seemed, his feelings for Jim were never explicitly shown/stated as romantic or even explicitly shown/stated as love, meaning there was, I think, a significant level of plausible deniability that meant his feelings COULD be, and probably WERE by a fair few viewers, read as non-romantic and not love (if either he or Jim were female that probably wouldn’t have been the case, but blah)… Ergo, while Ozzie’s relationship with Ed most certainly was NOT the first evidence given of Ozzie’s capacity/ability to love (both in general and romantically), it was at least the first time the show had provided explicit evidence of his capacity for romantic love, so… idk, that’s a thing maybe? …a good thing from a representation perspective, debatably, but, yeah, somewhat annoying in terms of characterisation, at least the way it was written, because, gah, yeah, the explicitness with Eddie is probably part of what makes Ozzie’s feelings for him come across as his first experience of romantic love period, and thus, like you say, suggests it was via his feelings for Ed he learnt HOW to love and that we were being shown he COULD love, ah, yes, that’s annoying… (perhaps if the show were to be more explicit about his feelings for Jim now it would help…?)

in any case, I’ve warmed to my own interpretation of Ozzie in himself not consciously recognising his feelings for Jim as romantic or even as love now though, so I might chew on it for a while :p Like, I don’t think it necessarily contradicts what you’re saying about him feeling he and Jim had a ‘deeper connection’ than just business, that he was subsequently upset Jim refused to acknowledge - you can argue it’s just that Ozzie didn’t understand that connection was love, let alone that it was a one-sided love. He just knew he cared for/about Jim and wanted to help him. So it’s like… when Ozzie was just feeling/experiencing romantic love, he was instinctively selfless (protecting Jim, helping Lee etc. with no real thought to having his feeling reciprocated), but then with Ed he actually LABELLED his emotion as romantic love and that made a difference to his behaviour… potentially… plus there’s a whole different dynamic with him and Ed where Ed initially sought Ozzie out and had a bit of a hero-worship thing going on and all the ways Ed presented himself as a substitute for Gertrude, which perhaps made it seem like Ed and Ed’s love SPECIFICALLY was Ozzie’s to claim, leading him to covet Ed’s love when it was denied him, in a way that doesn’t exist with Jim… and then we can factor in all Ozzie’s loss/trauma in-between his selfless loving of Jim and falling in love with Ed, which we can argue made him more inclined to be selfish and cling harder to the people he cared about for fear of losing them, hence why his manner of loving Ed was so different to how he loved Jim… (sorry I’m rambling now! this is just me thinking through ideas, not making any claims as to whether this was intended or comes across esp. in the show proper!).

(and sorry OP, this got rather involved! - we might have to take this discussion to a new post if we wanna keep going :p)

@littlehollyleaf - took your advice and started a new post :)  Many apologies for taking so long to respond - buried under deadlines.

A very sweet way of saying I’m reading perhaps too much into things :p Fair point though - I’m used to analysing texts from a ‘Death of the Author’ perspective, so my grasp on authorial intent can be weak (and is also something I’m not generally interested in, which is why I try and avoid considering writer intent as much as possible… and always inevitably fail with WIP tv shows! see: much of our discussions about Isabella).

Ha! :D  I do genuinely think your reading is better than the writers’ likely intentions.

I know what you mean, though, as regards taking a ‘Death of the Author’ approach, my background is Eng Lit, so I tend to do it too.  Playing in the spaces and parsing motivation is fun. I think the thing is that I get grumpy if the writing moves from leaving fun gaps in the text, to huge whopping chasms  – and then get distracted by fulminating over it.

At the end of the day then - screw the writers, right? :p Ozzie is and always has been capable of selfless love and his relationship with Eddie and Eddie’s machinations didn’t reveal anything new on that front. Agree.

Gracefully gliding past Gotham’s writing infelicities is the only way to keep watching. :)

 And I also agree, personally, that his crush on Jim was insanely obviously romantic - certainly I was reading it that way pretty much from the start! …however, as obvious as it might have seemed, his feelings for Jim were never explicitly shown/stated as romantic or even explicitly shown/stated as love, meaning there was, I think, a significant level of plausible deniability that meant his feelings COULD be, and probably WERE by a fair few viewers, read as non-romantic and not love (if either he or Jim were female that probably wouldn’t have been the case, but blah)…

I think Jim and Oswald are presented much more as the kind of subtext that anyone who liked, say, Clex, would be familiar with.  There’s something there, but we’re never going to state it outright, nudge nudge, wink wink.  It’s interesting – I was actually talking about this elsewhere, and we wondered whether that’s why Oswald’s interest in Jim is allowed to be much more sexual: because everything’s going to stay subtext, and therefore safe.  Showing sexual interest when romantic intentions have been made explicit… not permitted, apparently.  It’s going to be totally subjective, of course, whether you take that from a scene, but it’s something that struck me about this storyline.

 in any case, I’ve warmed to my own interpretation of Ozzie in himself not consciously recognising his feelings for Jim as romantic or even as love now though, so I might chew on it for a while :p Like, I don’t think it necessarily contradicts what you’re saying about him feeling he and Jim had a ‘deeper connection’ than just business, that he was subsequently upset Jim refused to acknowledge - you can argue it’s just that Ozzie didn’t understand that connection was love, let alone that it was a one-sided love.

I can see how that interpretation works – it’s just that one line that argues against it for me – what good is love if it’s one-sided?  To be honest though - like you - there’s a lot I’ll have to chew over with this storyline until I can make it work for me.  It’ll be interesting to see how they proceed in the next part of the season.

[figjelly]

How do you approach worldbuilding?

Okay, full disclosure here but I’m still working on feeling comfortablewith my abilities in “world-building” (I put the phrase in quotes for a reasonI’ll explain in a moment). When I started writing fanfiction, I did so becauseI wanted to write but didn’t reallyfeel like I had the skills to develop something from scratch. But I had a fewcharacters and I was really into playing Skyrim at the time. So, I thought, “MaybeI’ll just start out writing a journal for Rook in Skyrim.” Rook was a characterI thought I had a good-enough handle on (spoiler alert: I didn’t and, boy, do Isometimes STILL pay for it) and I thought sticking with the Dragonborn DLCwould be a really easy story to chart a beginning, a middle, and an end for acharacter I didn’t have to build from the ground up or build an entire world ora story. A diary for a character seemed like a good start.

Rook of Skyrimquickly became not a journal (althoughin the first couple of chapters, you can still see where it started out assuch). There are probably still some of the very first drafts on a Skyrim forumsomewhere (that I just never bothered deleting because who cares). Whilewriting in this older style though, all ofthe characters started yelling at me (“I don’t sound like that!” or “I see how it is—I’m just a cardboard cut-out to put hereas a convenient thing to mention. Fuck you too.”).  So, while I’ve feel I’ve gotten better atdialogue and the like, world-building is still something I keep floaters onfor. That’s not to say I’ve not tried my hand at world-building (Cognitiva Uprising had eleven chaptersbefore I sort of put it aside. I don’t think it’s hosted anywhere currently,but it was something that I have a beginning, middle, and end for. There arestrong characters. The world was just a bit weaker than I wanted it). Fanfiction is basically the way in which I practice small-scale world-buildinguntil I can get a handle on it. With something like The Elder Scrolls (althoughat one time I also wrote for Dragon Age so I think that would work well inaddition to Fallout), big events exist and some details but thegames don’t often give you mechanisms for why the world is the way it is a goodamount of the time. It’s easy to build a world and populate it but it’llbe super flat if you’re looking to build a narrative that has some richness toit. For a story like Thistle Do Nicely,I don’t have to build a world—or atleast worry about the mechanisms behind why it is the way it is. It’s set inthe reality we have first-hand experience with. I don’t have to explain howcollege works in Thistle Do Nicely. IHAVE to do work in Relentless toexplain the academic systems of knowledge on a number of levels: an individualstudent’s progress, dynamics of an individual institution, how a particularinstitution interacts with local government/state government, and how otherinstitutions view one another (to be fair, I also use Raven’s Song to do some of this work). We do not have firsthand experiencefor the world of The Elder Scrolls. We dohave firsthand experience for what issues concern universities in ourworld.WHEW. That was really long-winded. Why did I put “world-building” in quotesabove? Because I feel that it the phrase is often used as an inefficient proxyfor “external environment.” I would classify developing characters as internalworld-building and building the environment around a character as externalworld building. I think we could then classify these even further (e.g.interpersonal relationships as being an “ecosystem,” a character’s interactionswith the physical environment as being “embodied world-building,” etc etc) butit would detract from the point. Here’s what I’ve learned from my own experiences and approaches ofworld-building. The usual YMMV and these are from my perspective und so weiter:

Don’t build worlds off of our currentworld’s assumptions. I don’t care if you are writing a modern day romance set in the United States, take allthe assumptions you have and put ‘em in a box because you’re gonna need to dosome hardcore reassessment about “the way things are.” For example, compulsoryheteronormativity isn’t just a story we hear when looking at the “usual”romantic comedy but also things like a “socially-acceptable” transgendernarrative that looks like “I am a woman in a man’s body.” It’s a narrative thatconforms to the expectations and assumptions that heteronormativity asserts. Inhomosexual relationships, it is common to hear, “So who’s the man and who’s thewoman?” Even beyond hot topic issues (such as gender and sexuality), there alsoexists assumptions about how communication works (usually “data transferbetween two people”), how social interactions work, and even how someone thinksabout the world (we don’t all interact with the world in the same way, we don’tall have the same mental dialogue with ourselves etc etc).

Become an expert at thetop-down/bottom-up analyses of your world. “Ash,” you sigh. “What the fuck does that mean?” Here’s an example:

A lot of writing advice with world-building has writersthink about what the lay of the land is. So, is the setting on an island? Alarge, land-locked continent? Near mountains? That’s fine. But I think whatthen happens is a disconnect between thinking about the land to thinking aboutsomething such as governmental policy or import/export mechanisms. When I sayto think about your world from a top-down perspective, I’m asking you to thinkabout larger phenomenon and behavior of the characters and then how we cantrace that back to smaller elements in the world. For example, if you statethat in your world the local government has always had strict policies in placethat regulate the hunting of certain wildlife, then it’s also important to knowwhy that is from smaller, foundationelements. Perhaps the particular wildlife upon which the regulations are enforcedare a species that in some seasons are superimportant for soil recovery (idk like maybe they have a jacked upmetabolism and poop a lot). THEN you might look further down and see, “Ah,well, these people would want a quicker turn around on soil recovery duringseason X because farming season Y is right after that time.” And so on. Youkeep taking this large-scale, overarching observation (strict rules on huntingduring a particular season) and then keep breaking down the whys and hows until you’ve got a good idea for why things are the way they are. (obvs I like repeating myself). But what about a bottom-up approach? Let’s take something like a friend groupfor this example. Suppose you have three characters that are really goodfriends (A, B, and C because I’m so creative). If friend A says somethinghurtful to friend B, then not only will friend B’s feelings become hurt butalso friend C will have a/some reaction(s): be angry at friend A, besympathetic to friend B, agree with friend A, not give a fuck about either A orB because it ain’t their business, etc. We’ve got individual elements A, B, andC but we can now trace this one incident like a ripple effect. A, B, and C havelives outside of their relationship so how does this effect their otherrelationships? Work? Family? Etc etc. Let’s take our Poop Factory species fromthe top-down approach to understanding the whysof a world. Think about the very first time the local government first passedthe regulation. What did they notice? Well, sometimes the crops would be stableenough to sustain people but then other years it was absolute shit. You canpretend one of the Top Poop Scientists of the Country (I’m sure you’d give thema better name) was also like, “Hey guys, I think I’m noticing that on years inwhich the crops are better, there are more Poop Factories around.” And on andon. Now, is it important to describe all of this to your readers? Absolutely not unless it is important to the story. If it’snot, then you’ve got a good working knowledge that you can explicitly describeinside and out—AND THAT will shine through in your world.

Consistent, tinydetails matter. So, you’ve gotthe world, you’re an expert in it, and you’ve got a pretty solid idea of yourcharacters. Just don’t forget to include the tiny details in the story! Treat thislike seasoning on food. Too much will ruinthe balance (garlic is the exception in the food analogy, so think of garlic inplace of “good grammar” because you can’t have enough of that).

 Culture andreligion: usually a hot topic to bring up in any world-building how-tothat can be found via google. I would add to this simply by referring to the “Don’tbuild a world off of this world’s assumptions” advice. Religions are usuallydeity-based but one should think about how deities are interpreted/ARE in a particularworld. A really good example of this is the pantheon in Bastion (rpg by Supergiant Games). Each god seems to represent theextreme ends of a particular spectrum (e.g. health and atrophy) and would grantfollowers one or the other with no rhyme or reason. In the game, this plays outin two ways. In the world, there are temples but you get the feeling thatthings aren’t quite stable (inreference to the deity impulses, not the actualworld that is literally fallingapart from under your feet). In gameplay, the main character can worshipone god at a time. If you choose to worship the god I was referencing above(health/atrophy), protag will get +5% on experience and currency earned in eachfight but all enemies become resistant to physical attacks. This is a unique mechanismby which deity creation drives the mechanisms by which religion is establishedand how culture conducts itself (if we are all subject to the god’s whims, nomatter how deep our belief and devotion, how would that come out in culture?).You might have entire towns where nowhere daresbe anything less than a devout follower of a particular god.

But I’ve done a bad thing and lumped these two ideastogether. In actuality, culture gets played out in a number of ways: food,medicine, geography, clothes, dialect, how to conduct oneself based on powerdynamics, etc. If you’ve decided to world-build on an island, I bet thatculture is going to differ a lot than if you’ve decided mountain valleys areyour thing. The difference will probablybe reflected in the geography by which characters are bound. Meals willlook different and because they look different, you might see a difference inwhat is considered polite ways to eat food or to conduct one’s self at a meal. If you’ve got specific questions about the myriad of ways culture is going tobe built into the world, hit me up. I haven’t even touched tool-use anddevelopment!Okay, I’ve written a lot so that’s it for now!