#your kindness outweighs the negativity in my opinion

[the-bi-space-ace]

Sometimes people are going to leave mean comments on your fics. It’s not a fun thing to experience. It’s not nice, it’s not funny. It hurts and I’m not afraid to admit that. But for every mean spirited comment there are ten good ones. For every person who tried to make me feel silly or stupid for my writing or my choices there were ten more leaving sweet messages and emojis and trying to pour positive energy into the world.

So it hurts. It hurts and it’s hard and it makes me feel like a failure on my worst days. But seeing all the positive things, the kind words, the excitement, the joy. That makes it better. That makes it something worth continuing.

So if you’ve ever thought your kind words don’t matter or that your heart emojis and exclamation points don’t make an impact please know that they do. Every heart and smiley face and keyboard smash and comment makes my world a little lighter.

[mcflymemes]

PROMPTS FOR THE GRUMPY VS SUNSHINE TROPE *  assorted dialogue for that great dynamic between a guarded character and a warmer character, adjust as necessary

GRUMPY CHARACTER

do you ever stop smiling?

life sucks. get over it.

no one ever listens to me. at least, not until you showed up.

i didn't ask for your opinion.

there are more important things i should be dealing with.

i don't talk about my feelings with anyone.

that was a little uncalled for.

i didn't mean to talk your ear off.

i work better on my own.

what did you say to them to get them to listen?

i don't want to talk to you. in fact, i don't want to talk to anyone.

can you just leave me alone?

i never said i would help you.

you can't just talk your way out of problems.

everything was fine until you showed up.

now if you'll excuse me, i have better things to do.

what's so great about this place, anyway?

my opinion doesn't matter anyway.

i don't have time for "fun."

i just want to get this done and go home.

that's never been up to me to decide.

do you stick your head into everyone's business, or just mine?

if it's all the same to you, i'd prefer to be alone.

no one asked you to get involved.

i don't have a choice. it's my duty.

you're interrupting me again.

can we talk about this another time?

you've been listening to me talk for an hour now.

how do you stay so positive all the time?

i'm perfectly content just the way i am, thank you very much.

can't you see they're taking advantage of you?

SUNSHINE CHARACTER

i wish you would just listen to what i have to say.

i have to try and stay positive. it's the only way we get through this.

nothing good can come from constant negativity.

i believe in myself because no one else will.

i've seen what happens when the bad outweighs the good.

we just have to stay strong.

you never know what someone is going through.

i am capable of more than you give me credit for.

i don't think you're a bad person.

there's so much more to life than this.

you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

have you tried being nice to them?

a compliment goes a long way.

i choose to be kind.

i just don't see the point in staying silent.

i'm just trying to look out for you.

there's no need to be rude.

we could work together as a team. did you ever think about that?

if you need my help, i'm here for you.

you should smile more often.

i wish you would just be yourself.

for what it's worth, i like who you are now.

we don't have to fight all the time.

being soft is not a weakness.

i want to make this work between us.

despite all that, i'm still here for you.

if you ever want to talk, i'm here to listen.

you're not as bad as you make yourself seem.

i've never seen you that way.

i've come to care about you.

[xrenjunniesx]

Hi I love your account can you please write dreamies revealing their relationship with a non idol reader

when they reveal your relationship

Idol!nct dream x non-idol!reader

a/n - I really struggled on this for some reason so I’m sorry for the longer wait

mark

you two were just trying to enjoy an evening at a bar for a friends birthday. the back of the bar was booked out meaning no fans were going to even be allowed in. it wasn’t fans that were the problem, but rather it was one of the staffs who recognised mark as an idol.

a photo of the two of you hugging each other and another one of mark kissing your cheek was revealed to the public and immediately the response was strong.

people you knew were recognising you and contacting you, EVERYONE was freaking out.

mark didn’t know at first until you called him, panicking as you explained what happened. he left his schedule as quick as he could and went home to you, calling the company to set a meeting to see where to go from here. he is rather mature about the situation and oddly calm, mainly because he knew this kind of thing was bound to happen one day.

doesn’t mean he isn’t panicking though.

renjun

he was the one who saw the post revealing photos of you two shopping together. in fact he saw the post before it even reached the general public. he was quick to get staff and his members to try and get the post taken down but it grew more popular by the minutes and eventually it was making headlines.

he called you and talked to you through what had happened. he was trying to be calm because this wasn’t the end of the world but damn did it feel like that as he read through the public’s opinion.

he did see a few positive comments but the negative outweighed them, so he deletes his social media apps of his phone, only posting photos on Instagram every now and then before deleting again. goes inactive until everything has calmed down for his own mental health and his suggest you do the same - even if it takes months.

jeno

you two were talking in the background of a behind the scenes video uploaded to the youtube channel. the editors thought you were a staff member, they didn’t even notice you and jeno hugging in the background that was only shown for a split second.

the clip was instantly being spread around and the youtube video was re-edited but it didn’t stop the original from being shown.

when he saw it he was a little shocked since he didn’t even notice that there was any type of camera in the room at that moment, which was why he was comfortably talking to you in the middle of the room.

you contacted him minutes later after he first saw it, crying in a moment of worry for what this all meant for you both.

he will reassure you but he will also be just as worried and be telling you to be careful if you go out anywhere JUST IN CASE.

haechan

on a live one of the fans asked what time it was there and he showed the fans his phone, not realising he hadn’t turned notifications off. you sent a message at that exact moment saying, “love, I’ll be home soon.” he moved the phone away quickly but he knew he was done for. he laughed it off awkwardly at first before apologising and ending the live.

he called you as soon as the live was over. “BABE I JUST REVEALED YOUR TEXT OH MY GOD”

you’re both freaking out but once you’re home he tries to calm down and think maturely about this. “look… they can’t ALL hate me? I’ll still be able to make music…” He is thinking positively and refusing to pick his phone up because he knows if he goes online he will only think negatively.

jaemin

you were somewhat a youtuber, and in one of your vlogs, in the background as you walked with the camera through your house there was a picture of you and jaemin.

people managed to recognise it immediately and you were shocked because you didn’t even notice it when you were editing. you contact jaemin, worrying what he would say. you speak so fast into the phone that he didn’t even get to say anything until you were done speaking.

“love… it’s okay we can sort this out.” “I am so sorry jaemin.” “it’s okay, I’ll contact the company then I’ll call you right back, okay?”

you both ended up just coming out about the situation and admitting your dating. you take a break from your socials.

the only positive to this situation is that he gets to see you more since he doesn’t have to hide anything anymore. you can go to his place and he can go to yours!

chenle

there was two instances where he accidentally revealed it and he didn’t even realise that fans would connect these two instances. the first thing was when he accidentally followed your account on instagram. he went on bubble not long after he made it seem light hearted, “oh I accidentally followed an account while going through reels.”

the second time was when a fan asked to be daegals mother and he instantly said, “she already has a mother. WHICH is me I’m the mother and father. I’m the only one she needs.” he panicked as he spoke and tried to play it off.

fans put the two times together and looked more into it, figuring out that you two HAD to be dating. the one and only time the crazy fans were right.

he is panicking when he realises fans were figuring it out and instantly gets in contact with both you and the company. you’re a bit more calm over the phone about this than he is but when you see him in person you’re also freaking out.

jisung

you two were seen together out in public. it was really late at night when the two of you were going for a walk to a local shop near your place to get some late night food.

fans approached jisung, leaving you both shocked since he was disguised pretty well in your opinion.

the fans kept pestering you both so you two ran away- literally.

it made headlines the next day, and you laughed at the photos of you running away with jisung. your laughter was really just covering for how nervous and worried you were though. He on the other hand was texting everyone he trusted and getting all sorts of different advice.

he is really worried about what this meant for his future and he might consider a hiatus to avoid having to face the fans for a bit if the response is really negative.

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

Respectfully, if we submit a book, are you going to be rude about it? Because disliking a book is one thing but submitting a book to see what people think and you dumping all over it is disheartening.

hello!

two answers to this:

first, if you are submitting books to see what people think, you should be prepared to find that some people (and please keep in mind that I, too, am a person) do not like the books you submit. if you look at polls that have more than a handful of notes, you will regularly find people saying things like “awful book but taught me what I don't wanna write like” or “nah i really dislike the way [x] writes” (all real examples) or “unfortunately yes”. these polls are very specificially not asking whether anyone enjoyed the books, but rather whether they have read them.

second, expressing opinions about books, including negative opinions, is fun for me. I already rarely say anything about books when they’re first queued / posted — I just went through almost 400 books in the queues for both this and the fantasy blog and aside from the many pages of polls with no commentary at all from me there was precisely one instance of what might be unwarranted negativity (which, in an abundance of anxiety, because it’s never fun receiving an ask that begins with “Respectfully”, I have now removed), and only a small number of instances of positive or neutral commentary.

considering the number of books I actually have opinions about — both positive and negative — relative to the number of books I actually say anything about, I have already shown considerable restraint on both blogs. if I can’t freely express opinions about even the small fraction of books that get 100%-yes results — some of which are positive or neutral and some of which are, yes, negative — then the amount of enjoyment I get out of these blogs no longer outweighs the amount of work I put into it, and I will simply stop running the polls. they’re already going in the tags at this point; if you don’t want to see anything potentially negative about books on these blogs, don’t look at my tags.

if anyone doesn’t like the way I run these blogs, you’re welcome to make your own! tumblr is big enough for multiple versions of a concept. if you want a version of this blog where there is no moderatorial voice at all, you should probably make some kind of bot.

[cherrybombfangirlwrites]

OC Questionnaire

tagged by: the lovely @kaylinalexanderbooks thank you!

tagging: Open Tag as usual, and softly tagging @thegreatobsesso | @mysticstarlightduck | @winterandwords | @chayscribbles

Your OC interview questions are: 1) What's your go to coffee order (or equivalent for a fantasy/sci-fi world)? 2) What is the first thing you notice about your appearance when you look in the mirror VS the first thing other people notice when they see you? 3) Who would you consider to be your closest friend and why?

My questions: 1) What is your stance on lying? 2) Do you enjoy people watching? 3) What is the best decision you ever made?

I'll answer with two OCs that are my absolute faves and two that I need to develop more: Princess Snow (FSF), Nickelle (TCIO), Astra (GD), and Tris (FSF).

Responses under the cut cus this is long XD:

Snow (Fractured Stars Falling WIP)

What is your stance on lying?

Snow folds her arms and says firmly, "Even if it's for a good reason I don't like it. My stepmother used lies to hurt me and others, I won't use them unless absolutely necessary, and even then I'm going to feel terrible about it the whole time. I refuse to be that kind of queen."

Do you enjoy people watching?

"No, not really. It feels weird to watch people without a reason to be doing so. It feels dishonest and sneaky to me."

What is the best decision you ever made?

Snow swallows harshly, clenching a fist as she holds back tears and avoids looking at the person who asked the question. "I finally saw through my stepmother's lies. I took over the throne and had her thrown into the deepest dungeon of the palace, after years of giving her excuses and too many second chances. But I was too late to... to save my best friend from getting killed by her because of my stupid mistakes..."

Nickelle (The City is Ours WIP)

What is your stance on lying?

Nickelle bristles at the question, looking at the person who asked suspiciously. Then she shrugs, picking at the glove of her superhero suit. "If it's for a good cause, I'd say it's fine."

Do you enjoy people watching?

She thinks about it for a moment, fiddling with the patches on her leather jacket. "From a distance, in the city yes. If you can get up to one of the rooftops and sit on the edge it's a great spot to watch people go by."

What is the best decision you ever made?

Nickelle looks around to see if anyone is watching or listening in. "I made a choice to protect this city and my team. Other people might not like my methods, but I'm doing what I have to. Hence why I have to do it under another identity, since other people might have... more negative feelings about my methods. I don't like it either, but this has to be done."

Astra (Galaxy Destroyer WIP)

What is your stance on lying?

Astra shrugs, and says like a true thief and space pirate, "Oh yeah it's fine. Sometimes it's the only way to get what you need. Especially in a galaxy where P.I.E. made everything so damn expensive. If I need to lie and steal to live, I'm fine with that."

Do you enjoy people watching?

Astra looks around for potential targets. "For a chance to make a little money off of an unsuspecting idiot? Absolutely, it's not just enjoyable, it's how I make a living."

What is the best decision you ever made?

Astra thinks for a minute, going through all the things she's done and stolen as a space pirate, and all the times she made a not so smart move. "Well one of the worst decisions I ever made was trusting another pirate on a job, he stabbed me in the back and left me high and dry. I don't know about the best decision though, maybe becoming a thief despite the mixed results? Mixed results yes, but I can't imagine being anything else, and the benefits outweigh the risks- in my opinion."

Tris (Fractured Stars Falling WIP)

What is your stance on lying?

Tris presses her lips into a thin line, her hand tightly gripping the hilt of her sword at her side. "Only if it's for a really good reason, and no one gets hurt. Otherwise, lying is just wrong."

Do you enjoy people watching?

She shrugs, the cloud of tight coils that make up her hair bouncing with the movement. "I never really thought about it. Kaye and I prefer to keep to ourselves most of the time. Watching people for no reason has never really interested me."

What is the best decision you ever made?

Tris thinks about it hard for a minute. "I'm not sure, maybe entering the fighting tournament for the prince's hand to get out of my stepfamily's... well it's my family's house but they were going to kick me out at some point anyway. Anyways, joining the tournament to get away from them... well it got me away from them, but I saw and did things in that area that I wish I hadn't... but on the other hand, if I hadn't done that, I probably wouldn't have had the chance to see Kaye again and spend more time with him. Despite the terrible circumstances..."

~

(apologies for the weird formatting on the taglists, I'm trying to make sure everyone gets tagged bc I think I figured out why tumblr was being weird with tags earlier)

FSF Taglist: @rose-bookblood @chalcid @evethenovicewriter @writing-is-a-martial-art

@mjjune @fiercely-raging-writer @wildswrites @corishadowfang

@surroundedbypearls @serenanymph (send me a message to be +/- from the taglist <3)

TCIO Taglist: @friendlyneighborhood-writer @jessica-writes22 @rose-bookblood @yejidoesthings

@space-writes @cljordan-imperium (send me a message to be +/- from the taglist <3)

GD Taglist: @fiercely-raging-writer @aesa @writeouswriter

[tio-trile]

Hello! I've been a long time follower (a good omens fan before the show existed) and I really love your takes, but it's kind of upsetting that you didn't like the second season if only because I loved it myself and I was hoping one of my favorite artists enjoyed it as well. What I'm going for here is, I can see a lot of book omens fans hated Aziraphale's characterization but only by the very end of the series. And that's the thing, it's entirely out of Aziraphale's character to do this. There's this speculation or theory going around if you're wanting to understand why other fans liked the finale: https://twitter.com/nezumionice/status/1685620794679087104?t=FA1ef2gLNhix0TjbLya_wg&s=19

I swear it's a good read, and if it helps lift off any frustrations about the series, then..

Have a good day either way :)

Thanks for sticking around with me all these years! Sorry that we had different opinions on the show. First of all, I don't think book omens fans hated Aziraphale's characterization "only at the end" of S2. For me at least, it was a long-time build up starting from characterizations even from season 1, but in season 1 the good parts outweighed the parts I disliked, so I pushed down any negativity and didn't say anything about them. And it finally reached a point at the end of season 2 when I went "no. I'm done." As for the theory -- I read it, and there's really no way of knowing until season 3 airs, is there? That's the thing about writing -- and, again, this may be personal taste/preference -- if you can't keep your audience's interest in the middle act, the promise of grandeur can only last for so long before they start losing interest. And I feel like a piece of media should be able to speak for itself, and not be good or interesting just because promo of some sort is telling you that "there's going to be another season and it's going to be great".

[faithfromanewperspective]

A) purity culture is a term describing sex negativity in religion and how it impacts people. It's not about like, holding celebrities to high standards

B) you know that conservatives exist in the real world right? They have friends, families, colleagues. Theyre not extremists because they live isolated etc etc. In fact people acting like its a-ok for them to want to destroy peoples rights is what keeps them conservative. If they were ostracised for their viewpoints they may actually reflect on them

C) taylor has had tons of bad friends. Lena Dunham literally molested her sister, for example. You think with Matty then Travis people would have learnt that taylor just doesnt give a fuck about racism, sexism (unless it affects her), etc. Shes not friends with Brittany cos shes trying to convert her- she just doesnt care. She just uses politics as PR- she doesn't actually care

hey anon! thanks for reaching out. working backwards, taylor isn’t a paragon for morality. if she were, she’d do activism properly including when it might reflect poorly on her. I agree, I don’t think she’s in it for some sort of ‘conversion’, she’s just there, and she’s honest about what she believes, but not in any kind of groundbreaking way just like a normal, bare minimum kind of way. more to the point of my post is that I don’t think you need to be a paragon of morality to make a difference. you can be self preservational and only honest when it’s not going to risk your success and still make more of a difference in peoples opinions by being one step less facist or whatever than them, but still being close enough to them that they don’t write you off completely. that’s how people’s minds are softened to new ideas, and most of the time it isn’t intentional (and I don’t think being friends with someone in an attempt to change them in any way is either healthy or ethical, but that’s for another post).

you raise an excellent point though in terms of how do we interact with rapists etc, especially when justice hasn’t been served for them and they’re still living in a world with no consequences. I know what I’d do, I don’t know about taylor or if she cares about figuring out what the right thing to do is there. all I’m saying is that if minds can be changed, sometimes the ways of getting there involve what looks like compromising your morals. we’ve all heard I can fix him. and we can also see that if minds can be changed by interacting in one way it can also happen in the other way and I don’t doubt that has happened to taylor to some extent and we do have a right to be disappointed by that. but like anything it comes with a trade off and taylor being able to post what she did without being brushed off (by some) as ‘a liberal’ and very possibly ‘a marxist’ is one positive aspect. it’s up to you to decide whether the positive outweighs the negative; if I could suggest something to anyone reading this though it’s that if you see the negative outweighing the positive, go and volunteer for a political or altruistic group that you agree with and learn to cultivate hope and confidence in your ability to make a difference, for the sake of your own happiness if nothing else. this advice is for all of us really, but I understand it’s not possible due to a number of constraints for many of us.

I do want to point out that leaning conservative and being a right wing extremist are vastly different things. and you’re so right in that they don’t exist in their own vacuums. for some of them they’re in extremist cults that require a lot of brainwashing and literally restrict who they interact with; for others it’s the small town effect where they never got to know any openly lgbtqia+ people and thus investigated the impacts of certain policies on them or questioned what they were taught about things like poverty being the individual’s fault—but would be open to changing their mind if their kid came out as trans, etc. But I do think in both cases having someone you respect (or at least you can’t bully out of your circles) who thinks differently and is able to articulate why can often be the first step to go from thinking of all liberals as some inhuman ‘other’ to people you don’t agree with but can respect (and maybe eventually learn from). I also think that there are things we can learn from conservatism especially when you look at early industrial era calls to conserve nature, but that’d be taking apart the whole political spectrum and again this isn’t the post for it.

yes, I know what purity culture is. I personally do this thing where I see aspects of it as in similar attitudes and just call it purity culture because often I find that people don’t ever think that just maybe, the same fear and longing for a structure through which to divide the world into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ that causes people to restrict people’s sexual expression could also result in people judging based on who you are willing to hang out with and it can easily all become performative, much like sexual ‘purity’ is also largely performative. while there is space to understand that who someone hangs out with says a lot about them, it also easily breeds tribalism which often does more harm than good—and a prejudice against people whose motivations you don’t know and won’t ever know unless you talk to them and accept them including their questionable behaviours. it’s not just celebrities we do this to, but I think because we can’t sit down and have a conversation with them or pop into their asks like you just did for me, that it becomes the only way in which we judge them. and I would appreciate if we questioned that sometimes. also some people are just fundamentally selfish but also have enough basic empathy or understanding or morality not to do anything really bad and honestly I think most of humanity falls into that category—but it also means they’d be open to realising when something they think is normal actually falls into the category of ‘really bad’. which, again, is something that often happens via exposure. sorry if I’ve made things confusing by calling something purity culture that’s not what it is but only reminds me of it.

[sunnydayjackass]

Probably because we understand that for the longest time, snaccpop was an indie dev group. It's like being impatient with any other indie game.

Also I used to love your content but after this delay message, you've been nothing but negative and not understanding. The studio head was sick, another dev had mental health issues. Be patient. Their health is more important than a damn game

I'd like to be, truly, I would. Mental health, being sick, I get that even if it may seem like via my posts and responses that I'm not. You can have that opinion of me, that's your right.

I've said several times, it's that there's a lack of real responsibility and accountability that bothers me. That there's never a plan after delays or hiccups. The lack of organization and the same kind of updates feel (to me) outweigh what we really see of SDJ.

I know they're people, I hope they get what the need, get better. But doing the same thing over and over that lands them into a bad mental place or impacts their health should warrant a look that something has to change for their sake. Idk

[ask-the-prose]

Hi. I’m the anon who asked about subtle complexity in relationships. How would you go about depicting a love / hate relationship, if one character is trying to repress their more positive feelings towards the other because it’s easier to just hate them. I imagine the characters as either ex lovers or ex friends (undecided on which) if that makes a different

Howdy anon! Thanks for the extra question :) it does provide a little more guidance for what you're looking for. I can only give you my opinion, so feel free to take what you want and leave what you don't!

This is another one of those cases where contradictions can really bring a lot of depth to the characters and your story. Think about the contradictions in loving someone that you want to hate! Lots of complexity there, and having characters do things that contradict what they say can really put that complexity on display.

Romantic and platonic relationships like that are complicated, and when you're looking at it from an outside perspective, reading between the lines will tell you a lot. As a writer, you need to know what you want your readers to see between those lines.

A character suppressing positive feelings towards another character may say nasty things to the other character, but still make kind gestures or do things to help them. Attention to detail will help you as the writer.

Example: Character A may go on a long tirade about how irritating Character B is to Character C in line to get everyone coffee, but when Character C asks what they should get Character B, Character A has the correct answer.

Your reader will pick up on these clues! You don't need to worry about not being obvious enough.

Also, think about what exactly about the love interest/ex may attract the character. Is it the same as what repulses them? That could add complexity too. Maybe Character A thinks that Character B's kindness is fake, or even just irritating. But when B shows A that same kindness, it's endearing.

Your characters are likely going through changes throughout the plot of the story, so it would make sense that their opinions about each other shift as things change. Maybe Character A starts off disliking Character B for a trait they thought they disliked, and over the course of the trials of the plot, they begin to appreciate B's traits as attractive. Or, if you're looking for angst, vice versa.

This can get more complex with exes, maybe A and B had a falling out over something important at the time and it turned out to be unimportant later. That brings up extra baggage and pain. And if your characters are stubborn, it'll take more than just clarification to make the positive feelings outweigh the residual negative feelings.

Ultimately, you are the writer, and so your best tool is internal knowledge of all the characters. I like to experiment with perspective to utilize this tool. Character B may exhibit these behaviors, and Character A may interpret them differently, but you, as the writer, get to know all the motivations and intentions for everyone. Not only that, but you get to decide if your reader gets that internal knowledge as well! Play with perspective, play with dialogue, and play with contradictions, and see where that leads you. You may find a wealth of tension and complexity hidden right under your nose.

--Indy

[wr0temyway0ut]

Feel free to declare that this is not your job and delete this ask, but about your tags on the ‘comments that bug me’ poll - I’ve had that sort of thought (this isn’t something I’d usually go for but this was very good) about fics, and I stopped commenting it for the same reason you don’t like it, but I don’t know whether there’s a better way to say what I really mean - like that the author’s made me appreciate and see the good in something I hadn’t before? Do you think there’s a better way to say something like that, or is “hey you made me like this” outweighed by “I didn’t like this before” and that kind of thing is therefore best left unsaid?

Ps sorry this ask is a mess, I rewrote it like four times but it’s late

In my personal opinion, the "i didn't like this before" outweighs any complimentary part of the comment. The author doesn't need to know that you don't/didn't like their ship. I understand the intention behind the sentiment being "your writing is good so it made me like this" but starting any compliment off with a disclaimer automatically undermines the compliment. If you really want to get that sentiment across, I would recommend sticking to complimenting what you liked about it, or even if you must just saying you'd never considered whatever aspect of the fic until you read it. Like there's a big difference between "I had never realized that these two would have this kind of dynamic and I like it" and "I had never liked these two but I like how you wrote them." Honestly in my opinion, a compliment should never have the word "but" in it.

This is probably too wordy an answer but the tldr is comment "i appreciate [x] and see the good in [y]" and leave out the "i hadn't seen it before." Especially if the "hadn't seen it before" is implying that you weren't just indifferent to it/unaware of it but had a negative opinion of it

[truthseekerthedragon]

Status Update + Thoughts on Media Analysis

Hi there, folks. For those of you wondering what I've been up to recently, my next big project is a thoughts post, kind of like the TFoH one, but instead of covering a Wings of Fire book I'm talking about a video game instead: SANABI, an excellent Korean indie game that came out recently. I'll be talking positively about it, which is a nice change of pace from the TFoH post where it was mostly me seething in rage at how awful it was.

The post is gearing up to be extremely long. Unlike for the TFoH post, where I only had to talk about the story and prose and such, in SANABI's case I need to talk about the animation, visual design, soundtrack, and gameplay on top of the story itself. After all, video games are a fundamentally different medium from literature (but still art). Honestly, I'll be lucky if I can get the post out in time for February 10th, Korean New Year's. Hello there to all my fellow Koreans, by the way.

Not only is this game absolutely fantastic—I can think of very few complaints I have about it, and the positives greatly outweigh the negatives—it's not very well known, at least not in the Anglosphere. One reason I'm typing up a thoughts post about this game is because I want more people to learn about it and check it out for themselves.

Spending time writing about SANABI while listening to the game's banger OST also means I've gotten contemplative thinking about the nature of media analysis. Analysis is always going to have a subjective element to it—there are definitely people out there who hate SANABI as much as I love it—and we might even have differing opinions on the same element.

Take cutscenes, for instance. SANABI has a lot of them, utilized to show character interactions and advance the story. While I love the story with all my heart, I'm sure there are people who don't give half an iota about the (excellent!) characters and hate cutscenes with all the wrath of a thousand stampeding buffalo since they interrupt gameplay. As a writer, I'll always be more inclined to see a video game as another medium for storytelling, as opposed to the interactive side of things, so there's always a personal element in these analyses.

We also have the good ol' industry wisdom: "Cutscenes are objectively bad, you should have as little of them in your game as possible!" And while I can see why cutscenes can be detrimental to gameplay, I don't see cutscenes as the spawn of Satan, but rather as a tool used to enhance the video game. They're a tool in the same way that tropes are; when used well, they can make for an excellent experience. Okay, lemme try and figure out what the point of my rambling was... um, tropes and elements are tools, and don't trust anyone who tells you that you should never use semicolons, period.

I've also thought about media comparisons, which I see a lot in the realm of analysis. While I really enjoy things like case studies where similar tropes or story beats in two different stories are examined (heck, I did this in my TFoH post), it's possible to take this a little too far, especially in the realm of expectations. For instance, I've heard about people criticizing Rain World because they played it expecting an experience similar to the Ori games. Well, guess what, Ori and the Blind Forest and Rain World are completely different games. Ori is a platformer and puzzle game, while Rain World has platforming elements but can be described much more accurately by the term "ecosystem simulator."

While digging around, I found out that people often compared SANABI to Katana Zero, another indie game. And the two games do have similarities, but every game offers a different experience, and if you boot up SANABI (a grappling hook platformer with action elements) thinking it'll give you the same experience as Katana Zero (a hack-and-slash game with platforming elements), then of course you'll be disappointed! So maybe don't walk into a game, or stories in general, expecting it to be exactly like another story you like. Every experience is different.

I think I'm done rambling, at least for now. SANABI is cool, go play it or watch a playthrough. (But please avoid spoilers! It's best to go in not knowing anything.) And happy winter holidays, everyone.

[utsuboarchive]

whats funny to me, is that floyd does have positive interactions with everyone. but he also has really negative ones too. he tends to be really blunt, kind of rude, and really in your face depending on his mood. and opinion and reaction varies a lot from each of the characters in the main cast.

in particular, he's known for his behavior towards riddle. who, if you do compare the two side by side-- is his antithesis in every single way. he does actually have a small handful of positive interactions with him too. but you gotta keep in mind that it's only relative to the negative ones. where he belittles riddle, and mocks him for things that are...really sore particulates of his character. i think people misconstrue this as a form of playful teasing? when i really don't see it as playful, but intentionally rude and even cruel at certain points. the game is a lot more lighthearted than the actual story and characters are. and the english translations are... hm.

floyd does express being impressed by how strong riddle is. but it's not coming from a respectful or kind place. he wants to fight people. eels in real life are actually VERY aggressive. during his beanfest vignette, he talks to epel about it. and how he wants to be stronger, strong enough to squeeze anyone. and honestly if he was capable of focusing himself, he might be one of the strongest people in the school. as jamil says during his P.E interactions. but he cant, he literally cannot control that part of himself, nor how his moods swing. and god damn guys, his UM is so strong, and SO underrated. and it's mostly because the guy can't be assed to care if he isn't in the mood. if he doesn't want to, he wont.

im getting off track though, the point is: i really think he sees riddle as nothing more than a target. when he's bored, its funny to poke at him, and have a laugh. to test the limits of what he can do. and once he's done he leaves, and riddle has to deal with the stress and frustration on his own. like people forget, riddle has gone to jade and asked him to make floyd stop. to do something about it.

his positive interactions with riddle, the very few we get. do not outweigh the rest. as someone who's been bullied, i've had good interactions with my bullies. but there was always this fear that i'd be subject to the bullying at any moment. it's much the same with riddle. and floyd being so unpredictable??? yeah no. a temporary lull or truce between them, doesn't make a basis for them to even be friends.

[mousterian-writes]

🚨My Official Expansion Rankings🚨

Stone Cold Locks of the Century...of the Week:

And by that I really just like these because they are relevant to my writing interests.

I'd be interested on seeing everyone else's expansion rankings (after your done throwing bricks)

Vanilla/Classic - Questing is fulfilling and the world is never richer than it is in this expansion. The classes feel flexible even if they have severe restrictions. It has flaws (the pvp ranking grind), but I think the positives outweigh the negatives. Also, has Naxxramas which is the best raid of all time

MOP - In my opinion the best ‘story’ driven expansion. Pandaria is awesome and well realized and has one of my favorite raids, the Throne of Thunder. 

Cata- Probably the most controversial placement. But Cata is interesting to me because it signifies a change in the status quo for the world. Has some really interesting questing zones with Stonetalon and Hillsbrad. I think all of the ‘Lordaeron’ zones were fairly strong, including the worgen starting zone. I also love Uldum, I think all the Harrison Jones stuff is very fun. Does have issues, I think it marks the beginning of the ‘casualification’ of the game for good or for ill. I only seriously raided during the Dragon Soul, and never really did Firelands but I know it is a popular raid.  

Wrath - Save your bricks for later. Wrath is nice. I dislike the nexus war plot and I hate that we kill Malygos. Has Ulduar and overall a great expansion soundtrack. I would consider this the first 'story' driven expansion, however the way it is implemented is weak. I feel like you really only get the impression that you are at total war with the Scourge for the introductory quests in Borean Tundra and when you are questing in Zul'Drak. I'm excluding Icecrown because it sucks except for the two quest lines that don't suck (more on those later). No one quests in Icecrown since its end game content and most of that is spent doing dailies and getting stuff for raid night. Trust me, I'm a loremaster. Anyway. If we are fighting the lich king everything should work towards that goal and it doesn't always feel that way. Ulduar is *kind of* a non sequitur. The Tournament is goofy and bad even if for some reason I like doing all of those dailies. The Nexus war is a blink and you miss it thing even though its KIND OF a huge deal.

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Honorable Mention

Warlords - Really? Well, this one is more of a conceptual Like. I did not play much WoD at all & I saw it as a cynical cash grab that they coincided with the movie’s release. Also, the premise is contrived and stupid. But, I really liked the lore about the ordering of Draenor and the struggle between the titan creatures and the botanie. I also think it is interesting that they have a whole other ‘element’ (spirit) on Draenor that they do not have on Azeroth. So there are some ideas that I like to incorporate into the background of my AU. 

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Stuff I don’t care about for whatever reason

BFA - Home Tree Burning? Interesting. Loyalist/Rebel? Also interesting. Class Warfare- gettin' spicy. Drustvar having 16th century witch trials but also accepting aid from my worgen death knight?  ......no. Blizzard also has no idea what to do with Jaina post MoP. Would have been more interesting if they focused more on the Azeroth part of Battle for Azeroth and treated it like a new Cata. But no. They didn't do that.

TBC - I’ve quested through here a million times. I played it back in the day and it was okay. But after no lifeing Classic and going to TBC it just has a brutal grind. Feels like it has very little lore that ties into later events. I do like the Kirin Var quests and Sabellian's quests, they are actually some of my favorites in the game. But, overall a boring expac. Hate all the raids except Kara (and I don’t even like that one that much) which should have been a raid in vanilla. I will say it has some very satisfying questing loops, so if you like efficiency it is not that bad. 

Legion - You may now throw bricks at me. I think I just hate fun. Which whatever. I don’t like the artifacts. I hate that the whole thing was able to start because of Draenor. I think its really funny that the high mountain Tauren and the Shal'dori join the Horde and then the Horde turn around and burn down home tree.

Dragonflight / Slands - The amount of bending over backwards, lore wise, is crazy. Sorry to all my mutual who exclusively write SL fics. And then on Dragonflight- the time of the dragon ended.

[dojae-huh]

I am not giving them any value. I was writing on what they think. And.. that’s it? I read my ask again and maybe it sounds like me saying that? I should put quote unquote on the ‘our mc’ line.

Our mc should just stay as mc.

All i’m saying is that’s the narrative they use to justify their irritation towards doyoung. What i think is Doyoung can do can be whatever it is he wants to. He definitely doesn’t need to stay in this perception of being in a different standards as the others. He decides what he wills.

He should be able to change his fate as he wills. He works hard for it and deserves it. He got a a lot of good qualities and even his look is one of it. Yes, he starts slow esp with the late debut as 127 but his progress is really admirable. Standards exist from various perspectives and those who fit in will get a bit of a boost at the start. He perseveres and find lots of ways to find long lasting fans, one is by sharing his passion for singing, covers and all. He doesn’t check all the boxes (i mean who does? What boxes even?) even at this high time of his career (which hasn’t reach the peak btw) but those are just elusive standards we should not even hold against celebrities. I stand by his hard work to become a singer for a very long time and i’ve come to love his little touches in the songs he had taken part arrangement-wise. And I can’t wait for more of his involvement in his musicsss. And he got a lot of fans who appreciate more qualities of his. Soo definitely outweigh more of what these antis are repeating over and over again.

And i stand by my words when i say the way they were promoted also influenced and even shape the perception of fans. These titles , ace, center, visuals does affect fans perceptions towards the members especially at the beginning. However, these perceptions changes over time along with the idol’s skills and values. A lot of antis chose to stay stuck with their early perceptions of an idol (which may or may not be true) and does not want to accept the change. For ex: Oh he doesn’t have lots of fans during debut. And even now, they still use the same things. He doesn’t have a lot of fans. And unknown person yada yada

By bringing up antis and descriptions of their opinions in your first ask, you gave them value. You sacrificed my time for the sake of their narrative. And the space on this blog as well. You and the readers before spred their message from twitter to here. Do you understand it now? The discussion of "what they think" is already attention.

It would be OK one time, but this topic resurfaces constantly. And I want to shut it down.

Doyoung didn't start late. He was a singer before joining SM, he debuted in 2015 and then with t7s in 2016 ine the first NCT unit. He appeared on tv programmes one of the first among neos, he had many duets. Without realising you succumb to the "loser" or "lower status" narrative. Yes, there were fans who disliked him for joining 127 later. There were fans who had been waiting for him. However, the most hated back then was Taeyong. Jaehyun was called a pig during Limitless. This narrative of some neos being more loved or of "higher status" is false. Antis rely on newer fans not knowing the history.

Jaehyun started as a cutie, he is a hot guy now. Taeyong's image was that of a fierce, reliable leader. He is a goofy Tyong now. Doyoung got a girlfriend in his second MV and another one in Star blossom, he had the boyfriend image.

Most of the current fans weren't there at the beginning to form long-lasting impressions. Especially when it comes to ifans.

A celebrety can be most beautiful, smart, talented and kind person on Earth. People will hate for those exact traits. Any individual story to success can be either painted in a positive or negative light. Antis don't need real reason.

[otometrashqueen]

So in keeping with my Doctor Strange, Batch obsession, I decided to start watching Sherlock

Aaaaaaaannnd, I have many thoughts, I just finished season 2, sorry this will be a long one, be warned there are probably some unpopular opinions below 👇

I really WANT to like this show, it’s super popular, and maybe Batch in all his British voice glory really makes the whole thing, but I find that what I dislike about the show outweighs what I like thus far…

I just can’t get over the fact that thus far in the show there isn’t a single likable female character, except for Mrs. Hudson and even she is characterized as the ‘crazy little old land lady’ ( but I do love her to pieces don’t get me wrong)

It seems the show goes out of its way to make the females the villains or weak, Sherlock has an antagonistic relationship with every single female that he comes across

Molly for example, she deserves so much better, Sherlock constantly steam rolls her and berates her, he apologizes sometimes, but it doesn’t ever really feel genuine bc he continues to do it, her uses her for her access to the morgue and the lab! She had to make him say thank you for it but that wasn’t genuine either, he like didn’t understand

Molly really should have slapped him that one time he embarrassed her at Christmas and then Kissed her cheek! The nerve of the man, like that made everything ok

Molly and Sherlock had a little moment at the season two finale that I thought was promising but she essentially said ‘ I know you don’t love me and you love John but I would still do anything for you,’ gag, but I also understand that sentiment, having experienced unrequited love a few times myself and then he ended up asking for her help! which still seemed like manipulation more than genuine interest in her friendship :/

Also it broke my heart that after that whole exchange with Molly and asking for her help, she wasn’t listed as one of his friends to Moriarty, only John, Lestrade, and Mrs. Hudson :/

Irene Adler, who I loved the idea of , still ended up having to get saved by Sherlock, she sold him out to Moriarty, and then he ignored her texts bc he likes her or something?! I didn’t get that

You can also talk about the female Sargent Donovan, has had it out for Sherlock day 1 and she was the one to suggest that Sherlock was a fraud to Lestrade

In the season 2 finale they focus on the female jury member when Jim explains how he threatened all the jurors

Then when they were tracking the kidnapped kids it was the BOY that loved spy novels and painted his shoes in black light paint, the BoY was the clever one, not the girl

The girl screamed at Sherlock making Donovan think Sherlock had something to do with it when that was probably Moriartys set up 🙄

That female reporter from that crooked newspaper in the finale also antagonized Sherlock and stupidly bought Moriartys story 🙄

Sherlock even berates all of John’s girlfriends and dates whether out of jealousy or just shit writing it was kind of funny at first and by now to me is a tired cycle, yes we get you want his d and your jealous as shit

I’m sure there are probably more examples, but its TIRING to me, all the negativity toward women and it makes me not want to continue watching

And it’s disappointing bc I saw Moffat was a cocreator and I really liked some of the women that he created in Doctor Who, it’s just really surprises me that THIS is what he helped make?!

I know it was back in 2010 and I’m not mad about the gay subtext, I love it! I’m a bisexual person, bring on all the gay drama. Actually I find it frustrating that Sherlock and John just don’t accept their feelings and get it on already! You can do a slow burn gay love story and not women hate or shit on women in the process :/

Honestly if they had kept Sherlock asexual I think that would have made it more interesting and hilarious, but he is obviously in love with John and even has his flirtation with Moriarty all good stuff but again I flinch when a new female comes on screen bc it’s like ‘ what bad thing is she going to do now’ 🙄 what nasty thing is Sherlock going to say to her or ‘deduce’ about her, it makes me cringe

I’ve heard season 3 and 4 aren’t much better and I’d really like to finish the series and I probably will but I’ll probably be ranting about it on here again 😆

Honestly, it other people’s fanfics on here that are saving this show for me, so thank you fan creators 🥺🙏🏻

I’m really only in it for HIM 👀

[supramingi]

First of all, I absolutely ADORE you. I’m grateful that you’ve been sharing your talent and passion with the world for several years.

I have a question for you, humbly asking for advice.

That you write a l o t of heavy stuff we already know, and then you’re always publishing them and talking about them openly. I like to write and read dark themes a lot, and I’m constantly considering posting it on Twitter and talking about it more openly, rather than hiding behind the Anonymous label on ao3 when it’s time to publish. The thing is I’m terrified of people hating on dark fanfiction and I hate how it pushed away a lot of writers from fandom spaces, so I keep it hidden.

How do you deal with this? Does people hate on your work too much to this day? I know that with HOC and others there was a lot of bad attention regarding the works, right? I guess I’m just a coward afraid of little trolls on the internet. Is it worth it? Should I prefer my peace? Am I overthinking?

Anyways, I always looked up to you. I hope you’re able to do what you love with peace of mind for the rest of your life. Wishing you the best, always. Thank you for your time.

Hi Anon, thank you for this lovely message! Regarding your questions about dark content, I'll try and be as open as possible with my response.

Truthfully, dark themes in fiction will always anger or upset someone. As an avid consumer of horror media, I've never personally understood the association between content and creator that fandom consumers like to create. It's a complicated issue that I won't go into too much because it's a waste of good time and energy.

To use HoC as an example - HoC did receive some negative feedback, not only in its comments but also from other creatives in the fandom. I was aware of a few writers saying not great things about my stories and me as a person thanks to friends who saw tweets from them.

At first, I won't lie - it felt shitty! I hated being perceived in a bad light for simply writing a story. Having my actual character called into question, being accused of being things that I'm not, etc.

However, as someone that has never really socially engaged in fandom, it really didn't bother me after a while. I know I'm not a bad person, my loved ones know I'm not a bad person, so why would I care about the opinion of someone on the other side of the world that literally only knows me through fiction and a pseud? My ability to just not pay attention to what other people are saying because I was busy with my own life and creating content is a blessing. But I understand that some people aren't able to shut it out that easily.

I don't get negative comments on my work these days (unless you consider the occasional criticism negative comments.) HoC itself didn't receive a lot of negative attention whilst it was still on my AO3 account, the positive far outweighed the negative.

My advice to you is - are you okay with handling small amounts of negativity? Say, one bad comment out of 50, 100 comments? That's pretty much how rare I would say the bad response to HoC felt like. (At the time it felt much bigger, but now looking back I can see it wasn't that big at all!)

If you are the kind of person that doesn't take negativity well, if you might spiral or really be affected by bad responses, I would either advise steering away from sharing. Or maybe sharing content that isn't as dark/extreme to begin to test the waters and see how you feel about it.

I don't know which fandom you would be writing for, so I don't know what the general response is like. But some fandoms have completely different levels of tolerance for content, so best to keep that in mind!

Hope this advice helps!