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swallowerofdharma · 2 months

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Yashiro’s Cruel God part four

There are probably brilliant analyses out there about the first part of this manga and what I say might as well be just an uninteresting repetition. But we analyze things for ourselves first, to understand them better, to make sense of a story for ourselves, so I’ll give it a try anyway.

Continuing my thoughts on Doumeki and another digression: You’ll be fine. I’m a man and you’re different from your father, right?

If there hasn’t already been a tension within Yashiro between his nihilistic tendencies and his yearning for change, the story wouldn’t be possible. If Don’t Stay Gold is the original one-shot where Yashiro appeared as a background character, when Saezuru begins that some story is repurposed masterfully as a critical starting point for a Yashiro that is now a main character: This setup would become nothing more than a knife that gets thrown right back at me. You can already see this is going to be brilliant writing. When Doumeki was introduced, Yashiro had to be at a point where he was ready to let go of Kageyama, but - at same time - the fact that he had wished for them to be more than friends, that this was something he had remained open to, despite his past and despite his failures, was essential to show a believable story of him falling in love with someone else. What about Doumeki then? I have been asking myself, what are Doumeki’s motivations for being so persistent?

Yashiro is captivated immediately by Doumeki’s eyes, he makes a comment about it and later, in chapter 4, Yoneda captivates the readers too with a beautiful page with no words that isolates Doumeki’s eyes in the rear view mirror of the car, while his gaze is focused on a melancholic Yashiro. The previous sequence, at Kageyama’s clinic, was in large part framed coherently with Doumeki’s point of view as he witnessed for the first time Yashiro interacting with his doctor friend. In chapter 23 Yashiro realizes something unexpected about Doumeki. The English translations of this dialogue varied, I’ll reference here the official translation: The truth is, we’re not similar, at all. From the beginning you were always different. That’s why you look at me like that. With different eyes than his. Yashiro’s expression here is fearful and lost, because he only had those few points of reference, and those he cared for most were his parents who had abandoned him and Kageyama who had rejected him.

After Yashiro was injured on Doumeki’s watch, Nanahara orders him to cut his finger off. Needing medical attention, he goes to Kageyama and tells him about what happened. The doctor’s reaction here is so cold and heartless that if at this point you care for Yashiro at all you can’t help feeling really hurt hearing his words.

The source of Kageyama’s cruelty is his ignorance. He doesn’t know Yashiro well or rather he has built a static image of him and he can’t shake it; he constantly shows how shortsighted he is when it comes to his supposed best friend. And I remember reading people’s thoughts about the symbolism of the contact lens that Yashiro stole, so I think that was sufficiently discussed. I’ll add my two cents to this topic, because I find it interesting the detail of Kageyama being the son of a doctor and becoming one as well, not a very good one he said himself. When his classmate Yashiro told him - in that awkward and nonchalant way of his, another product of the distorted reality that his parents left him with - about the abuse he had endured from his stepfather, Kageyama stops touching him, doesn’t get closer anymore. I think that in his mind, because he had already internalized attitudes that come from medical practice just from his father, in that moment Yashiro stopped being someone he could touch because he became a “case of child abuse”, someone he needed to emotionally distance himself from. I wonder if there are readers doing the same. When Yashiro goes to his father’s wake, Kageyama is happy to see him there, that his classmate cared, but later Yashiro, so unaccustomed to his new delicate feelings, fumbles badly for the right words and any potential connection falls flat. Yashiro didn’t really need confirmation that Kageyama wasn’t straight, he had understood that much, or that the reason he was rejected had to be a different story. Kageyama’s shortcomings now and later are tied to his inability to perceive Yashiro as a full person, capable of yearning, of changing, of suffering from something else rather than the obvious. Yashiro becomes a “mental case” and the good doctor can’t do anything much about it, since it isn’t his specialty. He’ll stay as a friend, but unkind. And when Doumeki discovers that the only person Yashiro is attached to could be so unsympathetic to him, he is angry. Doumeki doesn’t confront Kageyama, for Yashiro’s sake, mostly, for reasons of hierarchy and responsibility, he needs to treat respectfully someone who is on equal standing with his boss. The ones who confront Kageyama are Kuga and Nanahara and it works: when Yashiro brings Ryuuzaki’s girlfriend to the clinic, Kageyama’s perception of him has changed and readjusted.

Doumeki could see glimpses of Yashiro’s yearning, of Yashiro’s love, and he is still determined to see it through now as he was before. He won’t let go or accept lies from Yashiro and about Yashiro. Doumeki isn’t just foolishly in love and enduring everything that comes with it, he wants to know. His motives are layered with the stubbornness that comes with detective work, after what happened between them in chapter 25, he wants to confirm that Yashiro reciprocated his feelings, because he also needs to prove himself that he isn’t a rapist, he isn’t just like his father. He fully committed to it. Only if we acknowledge our selfish reasons, we can really be honest about our feelings, about how we open ourselves to others, how we want them, and all the things we want from them. Yashiro and Doumeki aren’t letting go of their feelings in part because they need a confirmation that they are good enough. And that’s why this story surpasses the romantic premises about love and makes sense from a very down to earth, realistic perspective of how grown men behave, too.

We established that Doumeki is someone who was looking closely at Yashiro since the beginning and won’t stop looking for the truth until he is satisfied. The root causes of his conviction and commitment are various but ultimately go back to his sense of failure regarding Aoi. He aimed to be and became a policeman and failed to see something that was right under his eyes. To be continued…

#saezuru tori wa habatakanai #saezuru analysis #yashiro #doumeki chikara #yashiro x doumeki #yoneda kou #eri reads saezuru #is Doumeki cute? I can’t tell #I am generally not attracted to manly men with lots of masculine energy even in their gentle giant form #Nanahara calling out Kageyama is another big big point in his favor #but I still want someone near Yashiro who would not pursue him romantically #Kageyama’s notorious shortsightedness #not a fan of him #look at how the glasses make it so you can’t see his eyes when he looks at someone else #but you see them when he looks down: two sides of what he is saying #he doesn’t want to admit he cares for someone like Yashiro but he really cares #and Kuga knows that Yashiro was a formidable competitor

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ecoamerica · 2 months

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Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

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thethirdgenesisbooks · 6 months

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How to Put Words in Your Book - 5 Tips to Actually Start Writing

There is a problem among a great many writers and aspiring authors: so many of us never actually put any words into a Word document. Some writers will spend years developing a story idea. They’ll think of everything; the world-building, the characters, moving scenes, but never actually sit down to write the story.

Sometimes this comes from a lack of confidence. Writers think, “What if my story isn’t good enough?” These writers need to realize that the only thing worse than a bad story is the story that’s never written at all. For other writers, the reason why they can’t seem to actually get anything written is because while they know where the story has to go, they don’t know how to start. For still others, the problem is simply a matter of motivation.

Here are five tips to help you get your story rolling:

1 - Read the Opening of Someone Else’s Novel.

Sometimes, it can be hard to know what sorts of details to introduce first in your story. Do you start with a physical description of the character? A quote? A scene with characters in peril? Seeing how other authors started off their books can be helpful in this regard. I’d recommend reading the opening of a novel in a different genre from the one you’re writing. That way, you aren’t tempted to borrow too heavily, and can focus on putting out your own material.

2 - Listen to Music.

My wife and I developed this game that we sometimes play that utilizes her skills as a musician and mine as an author. I’ll sit or lie down on the couch with my eyes closed, and she’ll start playing an original, improvised piece of music on the piano. As I listen to the tune, I’ll start to describe a scene that the music brings to mind and tell a short story. Similarly, whenever I sit down to write one of my books, I listen to instrumental music that’s appropriate to the story I’m working on. I recommend that if you choose to use music to inspire your writing, you make sure it has no lyrics, as your writing may start to reflect the words you hear. I also recommend not using music that you associate with a particular scene. For example, when I tried writing while listening to “The Barber of Seville,” all I could see when I closed my eyes was Bugs Bunny shaving Elmer Fudd. You want music into which you can put your own meaning.

3 - If You are Spiritual, Pray or Meditate.

This piece of advice is pretty simple. If you are a spiritual or religious person, then before you write take a moment to stop and either pray or meditate. There’s a reason the Greeks thought goddesses called “muses” inspired art. The right side of the brain is associated with creativity, intuition, and spirituality. So, activate that side of your brain by doing something spiritual. Personally, when I was writing the first novel in my Third Genesis fantasy series, I prayed every time that “words would flow from my fingers to the page.” Most days, I wrote around 3,000 words in that book.

4 - When Stuck, Get Up and Walk.

You’d be surprised what even the tiniest amount of exercise can do for you. Do you have stairs in your home? Walk up and down a few times. Do you have a stationary bike? Ride it a little. Any form of exercise, however small, can get your mind going.

5 - Act Out the Scene.

Do you know your characters well enough to know how they speak to each other, what their goals are, and what they want out of life? Then play pretend for a bit, as you might well have done when you were a child. Improvise the scene, and pretend that you are all of the characters in the scene engaged in a discussion or struggle. You may find that you’re not good at improvising their dialogue, but that’s alright. When you say it out loud, you’ll get a better idea of what’s natural conversation. You’ll also gain some insights into what the characters would or wouldn’t do, based on what they want.

These are just a few things you could try to get the creative juices flowing. All of these have worked well for me. Good luck and happy writing!

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universeofdreams · 10 months

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Nightmare-free nights

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James Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader

Genre: Fluff

Wordcount: 1365

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Summary: Sam and Bucky need a lawyer for the crimes Bucky's currently in court for and who else would they choose if not Y/n? The ex-Avenger comes to the compound to help them out and unwillingly reconnect with James.

A/N: god, I hate writing os's with so much dialogue but I had no other idea TT. pray for me that I find motivation again

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„I recommend visiting me in London next time, Sam. I hate flying."

Complained the female and followed the ex-falcon, while one of Y/n’s assistants brought her suitcase to the hotel.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry okay! But you need to be here! You’re one of the Avengers that are left and also a lawyer, we definitely need your help.”

He explained while pacing around the compound.

“Hold your horses man, WE? You’re literally alone.”

Y/n smirked and thought he found Sam’s weak point but Bucky came to appear behind him.

“Ok now you can say we.” ,she admitted.

Bucky came to a halt and now stood in front of the girl, his steel blue eyes seem to stare right through her soul.

“New haircut?”

Y/n grinned and James just nodded. But the lawyer didn’t grin long, the way Bucky walked off to the Livingroom concerned him.

“Something’s up with him?”, whispered the young woman while nudging Sam and making him follow James.

“I believe he’s just disappointed.” He stated and sat down next to Bucky, Y/n opposite from them.

She started spreading different pieces of paper around the coffee table and turned most of them around so that Sam and James were able to read them properly.

“Okay, we got pretty much a lot of work to do here. These are the judgements against Walker-“ And then she pulled out a few sheets. “-And these are yours.”

“First of all, James, you helped Zemo escape. That’s already a bloody crime, you know. Just give me an excuse, okay? Something you might say why you did that.” Y/n demanded and Bucky just shook his head.

“Bucky, that is important, she’s not your therapist.” Sam now mocked.

“I’m not speaking unless you leave, Sam.”

And Y/n heard Barnes voice since two years. And he sounded completely broken, it almost teared Y/n apart.

“Are you too shy to talk while I’m here or what?” Sam asked pissed and the girl definitely understood why he was that, but she could also understand Bucky.

“Sam, honestly we don’t have time for that right now.” Y/n said, trying to sound understandable and neutral, which Sam caught up to.

“Okay, I’m leaving.”

And he was gone.

James still looked out of the window, not paying any attention to Y/n.

“James, it really is important. Do you want something to drink?” the lawyer asked, knowing how nervous Bucky could be.

“Answer me one thing, then I’ll talk.” He just said and made Y/n nod.

“Whatever you want.”

“Why did you leave?”

“Is it so much of a big deal?” Y/n sighed.

Of course Bucky would be mad, they were so close before Thanos and now they basically were strangers.

“It is.”

James now did look her dead in the eye and muttered. „Just water.“

While the still younger one got the water ready; he started talking.

„It’s a long story.“

„And I have a lot of time.“ She seemed determined to know.

„Is there another guy you like?“

„No! I mean- there isn’t. I just felt bad you know, I couldn’t save Tony, I just ruined it all, thought it was better to leave.“

„You left me on my own, Steve never knew what to do with me.“

She came back with a glass of water in her hands, placed it on the papers and sat herself next to Bucky.

„I’m sorry. There’s nothing else to say because I can’t explain, you know?-“

And Bucky nodded.

„You don’t have to. I helped Zemo escape because he knew how to find the serum and it felt weird to know that there were people like me. Maybe people that are like me but they fight for the wrong things. I felt so responsible and that was the only way of getting information.“ He admitted and Y/n listened carefully, trying to get every detail.

After a silence filled with writing sounds from Y/n’s pen, she looked up at James.

„How have you been, James? A new haircut, new style, you recovered?“

James flinched at the memories of his way there and slowly nodded, again.

„I’m good. Really good.“

And he lied.

Did he forget that Y/n could easily find out how he felt? That’s what she did right now, because the female knew when Buck lied.

She jumped right into his mind and saw how Bucky was sleepless almost every night, nightmares creeping up in his dreams and he hadn’t had a proper night sleep lately.

‚I‘m sorry Buck but I‘m not blind.‘

The y/hc haired thought and put the brunette to sleep by her telekinesis.

Sam really thought she was suspicious when she carried his friend out of the room into his own bed.

„Did you know he had trouble sleeping lately?“ was the first thing the female asked when she entered the kitchen.

„He always says he’s fine but I honestly don’t believe it.“

„You were right actually. I couldn’t resist putting him to sleep for tonight, hope that’s fine.“

„Of course.“

„I feel a fair share of pity for him, even up in London they know about his past.“

Y/n leaned against the counter, Sam was on the other side of it and chopped some apples.

„He’s not a bad guy anymore, you know?“ Cap smiled and took a plate out of one of the cupboards.

„Of course he isn’t, but where should they know? I thought about taking him in but when I did some research, I found out that the brits really are determined and scared of him, which I don’t understand.“ Sam nodded, placing the apples on the plate and started eating them.

„Yeah, you know him quite well, that’s why I called you as our lawyer.“

„James was so genuine once ago, I feel like the press destroyed that young mans character, you know.“

„Yeah.“

Y/n stole one of Sam’s apples.

„Are you staying over the night? The hotel is back in Nyc-“

„I‘m not sure…“

„I think Buck would like you to.“

„Huh? Why do you think so?“

Well, that was a problem for Sam. Could he tell Y/n? She has to find out, Bucky wouldn’t tell her by himself.

„He didn’t shut up about you the last two years. He was always determined about your well-being or if you were having any issues, how you looked like, your hairstyle- Stuff like that. He always said how he misses you and here you are. I think you should stay.“

And Sam hoped that Y/n did stay, he would love to see his kind of best friend happy again.

„Okay, I’m staying. But under one condition, I’m sleeping in my room.“ She stated and Sam wanted to tell her that Bucky usually sleeps there but Y/n just cut him off and jumped up the stairs, leaving him alone.

When Y/n entered the room, the lights were off and she could hear a light snorting coming from the bed. It was immediately recognised as Bucky‘s.

„He’s really been missing me huh, then it shouldn’t matter if I stay here or not.“ She muttered to herself and threw off her trousers, leaving in a t-shirt and her underwear.

Crawling onto the bed, James could feel how the mattress shifted beneath the weight of the female but he didn’t react at first. As some arms wrapped themselves around his torso he turned around, just to see Y/n almost half asleep.

She muttered a small „I’m here baby, I won’t leave you.“

And Bucky nestled into the crook of Y/n’s neck, falling back to sleep for the first time in days without nightmares. They did that quite often, even if Bucky that time woke up alone.

He stepped downstairs just so smell something like pancakes and then he saw Y/n, the girl he still had a crush on, doing her thing in the kitchen while preparing food.

Bucky mumbled a small “good morning” and pushed himself up on one of the bar chairs while watching Y/n.

“Good morning sleepy head.” She chirped and kissed Bucky’s cheek which the soldier didn’t see coming.

“Did you sleep well?” The younger one asked and Bucky nodded, not being able to remember the last night.

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes #bucky fanfic #bucky x you #winter soldier #james bucky barnes #x female reader #bucky x female reader

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kovajean · 9 months

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As someone whose favorite movie (second only to Whiplash) is Karate Kid III, I’ll never understand people that think it’s a bad movie.

Although my reasons aren’t entirely objective, it’s still worth writing about. It’s crazy how nearly tailor-made this movie is for me.

The over the top villains in Mike and Silver are perfect, because they have hardly any motive. I love simple shit like that.

Why is Silver doing this? Because his best friend was embarrassed. Why is he doing it in this way? Because he’s evil. Why is he evil? Because he is. Let’s also not forget the fact that he’s a corrupt oil barren. That shit’s hilarious. He’s also hot as fuck and I, as a gay man, am allowed that as a reason.

Why is Mike doing this? Money. Why is he doing it this way? Because he likes beating people up. Why does he like beating people up? Because he does. Who cares that there’s no deeper meaning behind it? I certainly don’t. I like when villains are bad because they like to be. I don’t want anything different. And I especially love that Cobra Kai didn’t retcon his insanity, like they’ve retconned other people’s wrongdoings...

The dialogue is both great and fucking awful at the same time. Here are some of my favorite lines from the movie:

“They made you suffer, so I’m gonna make them suffer—and suffer, and suffer, and when I think they’ve suffered enough, then I start with the pain.” (This line fucking SUCKS LOL)

“When I'm finished with that kid, he'll be begging me to be his teacher. And you know what he's gonna learn from me? Pain. In every part of his body. And fear—in every part of his mind. And here's the kicker: He's gonna thank me for it.” (This is probably my favorite line ever from any movie. It’s so good. The first time I showed this movie to my ex-boyfriend he would quote this shit at me every single day.)

“Johnny, by the time that little twerp steps into the ring to defend his title, I’m gonna have him thinking he’s invincible. Then he’s gonna find out what pain and fear really mean. Right in front of a thousand people.” (This line gives me chills. So good. Would be better if he used something less Disney bully than “twerp”, though.)

“It’s okay to lose to an opponent—Must not lose to fear!” (This along with the majority of Miyagi’s lines are great. I don’t need to go through them all. This is just my favorite one.)

The thing about these movies is that each one has varying levels of dialogue quality. KK1’s dialogue is fucking awful. But at least some of the lines are funny enough to laugh at. There are some good lines in there, but that’s just it. Good lines. Not memorable. Same thing with KK2. The dialogue in that movie is just good. That’s all. I can’t recite a single line from that movie. Because the lines aren’t memorable. Except for, of course, “honk”. Do not get me wrong though. I'm not saying this movie is the best Karate Kid movie. No way. It's just my favorite, and it's not as bad as people make it out to be.

The score had me looping it for 3 months straight. I'm not even hyperbolizing here. The whole of it is just wonderful. The reused and remixed songs like Kata Training are great. But when I get to Silver’s theme, that’s a whole different thing. Listen to this shit:

How is this real? I’m a huge classical music fan, and I could not stop playing this song over and over and over again. Listen to this one:

Did you know that this song wasn’t even used in the movie? This is an alternate version of Terry’s Next Move, which plays over the Kreese and Silver phone call as well as the Mike Barnes Magazine Car Ride. The one they went with certainly works better for the scene, but I love, love, love this one. So much more.

I never thought I’d be hooked on a series of songs from a Karate Kid movie composed by the same guy who did Rocky, but here I am. 6 months strong, too. I was in a high school theater production when I watched this movie for the first time, and every free moment I had backstage was spent looping each piece with any bit of Terry’s theme in it (such as Terry Silver, Terry’s Next Move, Terry Sneaks In, and Daniel Submits. I also had Terry Owns Daniel on loop occasionally, but that song doesn’t have any real instances of Terry’s theme in it–it just sounds similar. And yes, these are the official names of the songs in case you weren’t aware.) I also listened to these songs on loop while doing an art class project (which was of, you guessed it, Karate Kid characters).

I love Daniel in this movie. Love him. More so than any of the other movies. He’s exponentially sillier, he becomes best friends with a girl instead of dating her, he demonstrates color theory, and his irritability and sass are on full display. I also like that he's not super skinny anymore, and that he actually looks his age. (My love for him may also be aided by the fact that I relate most to his personality and appearance in accordance with this movie versus the first two).

I LOVE JESSICA! You will never meet a bigger Jessica fan than me. I love her so, so dearly.

She brings out the good in Daniel.

She shows us that Daniel is good with rejection. When she tells him she has a boyfriend, his opinion of her stays the exact same. He doesn’t push her. He lets it go, and they immediately become best friends. All because she told him that she hadn’t made any friends yet.

I like that Daniel is protective of her despite the fact that they’re not dating. He really cares about her, and he doesn’t expect anything in return. He’s not spoiled. But I also like that Jessica gets mad at him, because he went way too far. She doesn’t let him get away with it or treat him like a hero. She gets upset. Because Daniel just assaulted someone who hadn’t done anything deserving of violence (yet). And when she leaves, Daniel recognizes his mistake. He recognizes all of his mistakes. All because of Jessica. I can promise you, had she reacted positively, the movie would have ended differently. She was the step he needed to snap out of his power trip. And I love her for it.

She also trains with Daniel! None of his love interests did that!

I’m saving the color theory section for a separate post where I will go over every Daniel outfit and what they mean for the scene because I have the free time to do so and dammit I’m not hyper fixated on Karate Kid III enough already so I might as well let myself get worse. You feel me?

Despite the fact that Daniel's clearly nervous around Silver, he’s still a piece of shit during their training sessions. I respect that. He’s also incredibly snappy towards Mike and his gang even though he knows he shouldn’t be. His morals are also on full display if you think about it. He’s mean to mean people, even if being nice to them will work out better in the long run. Because he refuses to be nice to people who don’t deserve it. As well as vice versa. Except for when he snaps at Miyagi. Hmm, I wonder why he does this? Perhaps, is it maybe, the fact that he’s being manipulated to use anger as a coping mechanism?

People go on and on about how whiny Daniel is in this movie, but they don’t seem to consider why.

Daniel is assaulted over and over again by Mike and his gang, and his new best friend gets roped into it. He stores this anger because he has nowhere else to put it. Then he meets Silver, someone who gives him an outlet for it. He finally has something to do with this pent-up rage, until he’s given mixed signals by the people around him when he uses this newfound coping skill. Miyagi gets upset, Silver praises him, Jessica leaves him. How is he supposed to know what to do? Of course he has a mental break. He rants to Jessica about it, then to Miyagi, and he thinks he has his problems fixed. Then, to make matters worse, he finds out that Silver was tricking him the whole time. Now he has to relearn Miyagi-Do. That fucking sucks. I’d go crazy too. This, along with the fact that he wanted to compete in the All-Valley so badly that he brought it up to Miyagi on multiple occasions, was shot down every time, finally gave up, and then was forced to care again? AND Miyagi refuses to train him even though it’s hardly his decision anymore? How Daniel kept going in this movie is beyond me. He’s not whiny, he’s livid. He can’t catch a fucking break.

I’d say his anger is accumulated throughout the movies. This one year has been more eventful than the rest of his life was prior. Everyone he meets seems to want his head on a stake and there’s literally nothing he can do about it. He just wants to be a normal guy, and no one will let him.

He’s also certainly not weaker in this movie in comparison to the second. He’s been broken down by everyone trying to fight him and he’s at a point where he’s trying not to care. He’s trying so hard, but when Mike shows up it’s difficult for him to keep pretending. The fact that Daniel loses to him is meant to show you that Mike is strong, not that Daniel is weak. Anyone that can defeat Daniel after Daniel’s torment in KK2 deserves to be feared. And don’t forget that Mike had the ability to kill Daniel in the bonsai scene. The only reason he’s less threatening than Chozen is because his acting is bad.

If you want to argue that he’s weak throughout the entire movie, then you’d be half correct, I guess? He’s a different sort of strong for the last half of the movie. This is because Silver teaches him different moves. Daniel stops using what he used to know (the style of Karate that we’ve seen him use up until this point), and is now using exclusively this new style. And when you consider that this new style only has 3 different moves, of course he’s going to look weaker. The All-Valley scene Daniel also isn’t weaker if that’s your argument, because there is genuinely no other way he could have beaten Mike than with Kata. Mike is immune to Miyagi-Do. That’s why Daniel never beat him in any of the scenes leading up to the All-Valley. Daniel is also overcome with fear thanks to Silver. The ineffectiveness of Miyagi-Do on Mike and the lasting fear of the manipulation he dealt with is not a good combination. He beat Mike with Kata because he caught Mike completely off guard. That’s how you beat him. We know that’s how you beat him because it’s the first time we see him genuinely lose, other than when he lost to Miyagi multiple times, which is another instance of Mike being caught off guard and losing, because why would he expect an old man to be that good at Karate (and also, it’s Miyagi, of course he’s gonna lose to Miyagi. He’s not comparable to Daniel). Can you assume that Silver told Mike to be wary of Miyagi? He’d never seen the guy fight.

Anyways this movie has been on repeat in my brain since March and nothing I can do can stop it so why not indulge in it, huh? Just a look into my dark and twisted mind

#the karate kid #kk3 #daniel larusso #jessica andrews #terry silver #mike barnes #This essay is 6 months in the making and this isn't even everything I have to say #as i stumbled off at night towards the train tracks

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inknopewetrust · 2 years

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Fanfiction Recommendations! As the summer comes to a close, I want to highlight some of my favorite authors and their beautiful talent with all of you.

Take a moment, read their work, and support them by commenting and reblogging—all to let them know their work matters and their contributions to their respective communities are valued and heard. Heed all warnings before consuming content, the authors and myself are not liable for the content you interact with.

Cherry Blossom Colored Kisses // @queers-gambit [Eddie Munson x Reader]

I am normally a streamlined reader. One of those who doesn’t venture into supernatural, folklore-esq fics but something spurred me to read this and all I can say is that it was perfect. There are few words beyond perfection to describe this work. It is simply phenomenal. I never wanted it to end; the writing was beautifully heartbreaking and lovely, and the emotions—God! The emotions! I have re-read this multiple times and will be reading it until the end of my days. I only wish I could be as brilliant a writer as you. Thank you for sharing your gift with us.

For you, I’ll Go into the Woods // @aniqua [Eddie Munson x Reader]

If you continue reading this rec list, you’ll also see that Aniqua is in the masterlist category too. She is simply amazing. Every work she’s ever produced has been excellent. A true, exquisite talent that I am so happy to call my mutual. Not all writers take time and care into how their readers are represented, but Aniqua shows that with impeccable kindness and strength because in the end, all we want for ourselves is to be the best version we can be—and well, she writes that. Aniqua, you are the best. Your writing transcends from the page and into our hearts. We are so lucky that you continue to write and produce work that we love. Thank you for sharing your gift with us.

My Favorite Henderson // @luvfae [Eddie Munson x Reader]

Listen, I love Henderson!Readers. I do. Plain and simple and very much a fantasy because 1. Dustin is my fav and 2. I adore Eddie. This series is fantastic. It’s long (which is an absolute plus), well written, and totally engaging with great dialogue and a really wonderful representation of Eddie as a character beyond the scope of what we know of him. I tagged the whole masterlist of the series for you to check out—you can’t stop at one, you need to read them all and stay up all night because you can’t stop reading it. Fae, thank you for sharing this with us.

Detention // @mycurrent-hyperfixation [Eddie Munson x Reader]

While I like the good ‘ol canon fic like everyone else, imagining characters outside what we’ve seen is so interesting and goddammit I love this one. First, Eddie would definitely be stuck in detention more often than not because he’s a non-conformist and that bugs teachers; second, he would absolutely fall in love with a student he wouldn’t expect to see in there. This fic is so cute and wonderfully crafted. This author knows how well to write Eddie and the kind of character he is supposed to be—which makes all the contexts that they put him in all the better to be read. Thank you for sharing this with us.

High School Sweethearts // @uselesssomebody [Eddie Munson x Reader]

This is a [ongoing] fic series that just started and I cannot wait to see where this goes. I love the dynamic–Eddie on the outskirts of society while Reader is woven within it trying to find an out. It’s got that enemies to lovers, faking dating trope that we all love and let me tell you, one ‘chapter’ in and this author has me in the palm of their hand. Their username is uselesssomebody and while I don’t know the context for it, I can tell you all (who decide to venture this far and actually read everything I wrote) that this author is far from useless and is certainly not just somebody. They’ve created conflict and empathy and the foundation for the story in a few thousand words while understanding the motivations of reader and Eddie so well. I cannot say enough, and maybe for the second time now, that I am jittery thinking about how this story will progress and I hope all of you will join me in enjoying this journey. I am simply smitten. Thank you for sharing this with us.

Night Moves // @eagerbby [Eddie Munson x Reader]

Oof did I love this. I’m a sucker for exes to lovers and the way Nicole wrote this is not only a beautiful, comprehensive story but the innate ability to be a storyteller in the most amazing sense makes this fic a perfect combination. Reader and Eddie have a realistic, palpable connection and the angst that slowly evolves into the revelations and resolution of the story is just fucking wonderful. And I don’t know at what point I begin feeling like a broken record, but there are phenomenal writers on tumblr (as well as Ao3–in particular) and being able to discover them through fandom is a great honor. They understand characters and their motivations (dare I say) better than the original authors or creators and that says something about the creativity and intellect of them. Nicole is one of those writers. You will also find her masterlist under the ‘Masterlist’ section of this fic rec list because it’s just that fantastic. Thank you for sharing your gift with us.

Spring Break // @strangermarvelss [Eddie Munson x Reader]

This fic. I want more! I want MORE! Enemies to lovers besties and goddamn does Sava do this well. I’ve read this three times because it makes me feel something and that is a testament to her writing. It’s fantastic and I love that authors are taking Eddie and adapting him into different types of scenarios. Like sure, is Eddie a golden retriever type who’s got big brown eyes and is a softy inside? Yes. BUT! Eddie could easily be irked by someone who doesn’t mesh with him in the way others have. Having Eddie in an enemies to lovers situation with a reader who is in the fruity four’s circle is just *chef’s kiss.* So, one, thank you for writing this and I, like many others, would love to see a continuation of this dynamic because you write it incredibly well. Second, thank you for sharing this with us because if it hadn’t been for you posting this, I wouldn’t have known what it felt like to love a fic so much.

Never Have I Ever // @me-gongoga [Eddie Munson x Reader]

Angsty fics that resolve with fluffy romance are bloody brilliant. They can make you feel ten different emotions if it is written well and shit, I’m here to tell you that yes, this fic is written exceptionally well. Not only do we feel every emotion and slight second hand embarrassment from the question Eddie thinks he has stumped everyone with, we also feel so profoundly rewarded by the end. UGH the satisfaction of that is amazing. As a reader who is getting older and who has been doing this *thing* for a decade, I adore when I come across stories that touch me in ways I wish I knew were possible ten years ago. So, thank you. Thank you for sharing this with us and creating feelings that are realistic and sound to the point where I kick my feet and giggle at myself. You make me feel sixteen again.

Right to the Bone // @havecourage-darling [Eddie Munson x Reader]

This fucking fic blew my nonexistent socks off. I loved it so much. Not only is it more than one part, it is incredibly written and the characters are wonderfully crafted. V, it’s not enough to simply recommend this story because I need to scream about it from the rooftops. Lovers to exes to ??? Exactly. Exactly what I’m looking for and because we are all simps for Eddie, only happy, complicated ends for this man and V gives that to us. It’s also not short. I love when fics are long so knowing that I’ll be reading it for more than a few minutes is the best, exciting feeling to have before actually jumping in. Thank you for writing this and sharing it with us. I hope those of you who take the time to read it simply adore it as much as I do.

I am a top gun girlie simp. It’s not something I will apologize for.

Bad Habit // @seasonsbloom [Jake Seresin x Reader]

There is no reasonable place on earth for me to sit and enjoy something this much. One, I love Jake. He’s exactly the guy I shouldn’t like but I do anyway and you know what? Fine. If he was real I’d hate him but I’d love to hate him… get the gist? This little series is amazing. Great writing, great use of the characters, and totally feels in canon too. All the top gun writers are great—and it’s fucking wonderfully long! I love long fics because I write long fics and to see other authors embracing the wc’s over 6 thousand words is amazing. Thank you, May, for taking the time to write this and sharing your talent with us.

Small Doses // @purelyfiction [Jake Seresin x Reader]

Again, here with another Jake fic but let’s be honest, this whole section will be Jake x Readers and so long as these fantastic writers continue to bless us with their work, it will a solely Jake list. Knockout. Not the call sign, but the code name for the fic. It’s a fucking knockout of a fanfic and I’m so happy to have come across it. It’s sexy and makes my heart do leaps because it has snark and steam and love and thrill. Hit the goddamn trifecta here, Ashley. Thank you for sharing this work with us.

Save a Jet, Ride a Pilot // @bradshaw-fanclub [Jake Seresin x Reader]

Please. The name for this fic alone should make you want to read it. There is a commonality between many Jake fics and I’m not mad about it (the “you hate him but love him at the same time” trope) and this fic… this fic does it brilliantly. I literally feel like kicking my feet from under by comforter because it’s just so fucking good. I signed my name with a heart in Hangman’s whorehouse just for this fic and I don’t regret it. Won’t apologize either. Thank you, Hayley, for sharing your talent with us.

Wine-Eyed // @whirlybirbs [James Norrington x Reader; POTC]

I used to sell myself as solely a Will Turner kind of gal but the older I got, I realized that Norrington was totally my vibe. I will die on that hill now. So, as any sane person does, I read all the fanfics I can and when a new one comes along, I read it, I love it, and birbs—listen… you knocked it out of the park. Absolutely wonderful, phenomenal, brilliant, amazing, life changing, awesome-ness. You keep this small fandom living for content alive. Thank you for sharing your work with us.

Ride or Die // @writefightandflightclub [Santiago Garcia x Reader; Triple Frontier]

I am 90% sure I’ve recommended at least one fic, if not the whole masterlist, of Luna’s before and every time I’m looking for something good, I come back to older fandoms I’ve been in and find new or past fics that I adore. Santi is a whole man of mixed emotions and complications that just make you want to say “I can fix him.” Ride or Die is that. Ride or Die is Santi at his antithesis and Reader being at the center of everything. I love it. And I highly suggest if you read this one, you’ll love all the fics that they’ve ever written because it’s not just Santi but many of Oscars other characters that are written perfectly. Thank you for continuing to write and share these wonderful stories with us.

Hot Summer Nights, Mid July // @luxurybeskar [Johnny Soprano x Reader; MSoN]

I went back through my archives to see what fics I may have forgotten to recommend in my last list and this is definitely one that I should not have looked over. Actually, probably all of Thea’s fics should be on here too. I love the Sopranos and while The Many Saints of Newark wasn’t the best film in the universe, the cast was sizzling and JB’s Johnny was certainly one of them. Thea writes him so well and self-indulgent too which is the best kind of writing tbh. If you enjoy this one, check out Thea’s other Johnny works and other writings because the catalogue is vast my friends. Thank you for sharing this with us.

Aniqua’s Main Masterlist // @aniqua

From Moon Knight to Shadow and Bone to Stranger Things, Aniqua’s writing will take you from universe to universe and leave you in love. Take the time to explore the masterlist she has created for all of her works because they are absolutely terrific.

Masterlist // @eagerbby

Everything on this masterlist is gold. It’s slowly growing with more content every week and I seriously cannot wait to see what else this author produces. Please, if you’d be so inclined, check out this author because their work is great and just like Aniqua’s work above, they’ll transport you to a little island of happiness for as long as you stay.

Masterlist // @masterofmunson

From Eddie to Peter Parker, everything is amazing. Amanda knows how to write these characters that I’m sure she could do it in her sleep, but I couldn’t pick one that I loved more than the others so I just smacked the whole masterlist on here for everyone to enjoy. Enjoy it, dear readers. They’re phenomenal and deserve all the love and support.

Um. How did we get here?

I’m a writer too, I guess… and I’d like to plug my own work—because Jesus Christ if no one else will, then I’ll do it myself! My name is Kelsey, I’m 24, and have been writing and reading fanfics for nearly a decade. Below are a couple of fics (and my masterlist) that I’m immensely proud of. It takes a lot for me to admit that I like my work—and certainly not all of it—but there are a few that I can’t help but love.

Thanks for all the support. Go check out the authors above and show them unconditional tumblr love.

Masterlist // @inknopewetrust (aka me!)

This masterlist contains every written fic I’ve ever posted on tumblr. You can find some of the work on Ao3 and different fandoms on my Wattpad.

Exile // @inknopewetrust (still me) [Darkling x Reader; Shadow and Bone]

This is a short series based in the shadow and bone world. Darkling x Fem!Reader that kind of set me on a path here on tumblr. It was the first mainstream series I’d ever done and the attention brought to it was very kind. I am very proud of this fic. I think it represents me as a writer very well and I was able to explore different themes of sensuality, romance, heartbreak, pain, and hatred, all in one.

The Hideout | It’s You and Me | Secret | Electric Music | and The Denim Vest // @inknopewetrust (oh yeah, still me) [Eddie Munson x Reader]

These are all of my Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader fics. Eddie is a comfort character. He’s the guy I would have been crushing on in high school and just like millions of other people on the planet, completely swept me off my feet. A few of these fics contain scenarios deeply personal to me—conversations I’ve had, situations I’ve been in—and to be able to therapeutically write about them through fiction has been a great pleasure. I’ll always believe Eddie to be one of my favorite characters to write for. He’s wonderfully odd—just the way we all like him.

Resolutions // @inknopewetrust (do you wanna guess?) [Marc Spector x Reader; Moon Knight]

I grew up loving Marvel. After a very traumatic experience writing for the fandom, I decided to take a step back a few years ago but I found a connection with Marc and Steven. There was an acceptance that I hadn’t been privy too, so it makes me incredibly happy to have extended my hand back into the pond. I am proud of this little series because I feel it dives into the complexities of what it means to be a partner—a loving, committed person when so much is going on. I hope that shines through for you too.

Volition // @inknopewetrust (Mhm… me) [Rafael Barba x Reader; L&O: SVU]

Rafael Barba is my favorite SVU character. Maybe that’s because I’m a Broadway girlie and RE is an absolute legend, but Barba is a whole deal by himself. I wanted to write a story aligned with canon and this is what I came up with. A complicated, dueling interest fic with a sequel that leaves lingering potential for the hypothetical future to be happy. I love Barba; he deserved better in the end.

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ecoamerica · 1 month

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Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

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theswifterhood · 1 year

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Stranger Things 5 Theory/Prediction: The Importance of Max’s Letters.

So, i’ve been thinking a lot about season 5 over the last couple months, and how i think a lot of things left unexplored in s4 will come into play in the final season. Originally, when i made my ST4 bingo card before volume 2 dropped, i thought Max would end up in a coma (bingo!) and that her letters would be read aloud at the end of the season, much like Hopper’s at the end of ST3. Obviously that was wrong, but i still can’t help but feel like the Duffers would not have Max write letters that are clearly holding weight within her relationships and her life, and have it go nowhere. So, i’ve come to the conclusion that Max’s letters will play one of 2 purposes next season. I’ll be using clips from Avengers: Endgame, so if you haven’t seen that and want to avoid spoilers, here’s your warning. If you want to come back after watching, i’ll see you then. Here we go!

Theory 1:

I for one think that Max’s letter will be the post time jump motivation for the other’s returning to Hawkins. I think after they fail in the beginning of ST5, they’ll decide it’s hopeless and will let Vecna do his thing. More likely, they’ll think Vecna might be too weak to do anything and ignore Will’s tingle. Imagine Lucas or El, years later finding Max’s letter and deciding that they can’t just leave her there. Max loves them. She deserves to be fought for. Hawkins might not, but her and the rest of the world do. Think of the scene in Avengers: Endgame. Tony refuses to make the time machine until seeing a picture of Peter and realizing he’s worth saving. He’s worth the risk. (“I accept the risk” - Max, ST2)

Link to Endgame scene:

youtube

Alternatively, i think El could just not be strong enough, and she’ll have to go train w/ Owens. This leaves the characters going their separate ways until El is strong enough. I think El brings her letter from Max with her to Nina 2.0, and is motivated to carry on every day because of it. At some point she’ll be strong enough and ready to fight. Imagine some dialogue from El (or maybe even Lucas) when Max is revived to some degree, and El parallels Mike in ST2 (I called you everyday…), telling Max that she never read her letter, because she knew she wasn’t gone. This would be so sweet #elmaxrights. Max’s letters can’t be for nothing. Now i bring you to the less fluffy alternative.

Theory 2:

Since i believe the letters must have value, but i know the Duffers don’t believe in fan service and the executives at Netflix cried over the ending pitch, i feel the need to acknowledge the very real possibility that Max may die in the end. I’ve said before that Max is the only character (in addition to Hopper) that i believe is safe from death. This is mainly because she’s died before and it would be repetitive. But, seeing as she’s the only character who has written a letter (that we know of. Looking at you Mike.) and in that letter she addresses her death, i think it’s possible her letter will be read aloud by Sadie over the final moments of the show. This would be similar to the end of ST3, but more-so like the end of Avengers: Endgame. In the end, Tony dies saving Peter and the other half of the universe, but not without the last word. He has preemptively left a goodbye message in the event of his death. It is played over shots of various characters happy after the war, and people celebrating victory. His letter also addresses “not being alone”, something that Max’s Dear Billy letter also does. I will also say that in a true parallel, El would be the one to die saving Max (Would parallel the end of ST1, and Tony’s sacrifice.) However, I don’t think El would write a letter. I could be wrong though. The only other character i can see this going down with would be Mike. He is a writer after all. He could (in the context of flickergate, and him going in the UD to save Will) write a letter admitting how he feels and addressing that if he dies he had the time of his life fighting dragons with you (😉) (you being Will + the party?). This wouldn’t be revealed til the end of the season, giving the Duffers, Netflix, and the homophobic GA/Milevens an out to a byler kiss or full on acknowledgement of it the rest of the season. This is my least favorite outcome. I hope you guys find this as interesting (and tragic, a word used to describe the end) as i do. Here’s to more theories over the next 2ish years! Happy New Year!

Link to the end of Endgame:

youtube

#stranger things predictions #stranger things 5 #stranger things theory #stranger things 5 theory #stranger things #max mayfield #elmax #lumax #el hopper #lucas sinclair #will byers #mike wheeler #byler #the duffers told me #the duffer brothers #shawn levy #elumax #Youtube #avengers endgame

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hehehehehenrik · 4 months

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Just a little text post because I keep thinking about that.

I already mentioned somewhere that every time when I write a character I have one thing as a main point: it doesn’t matter who that character is, what they have been through, what their goals and surroundings is, that character is still human, with emotions, weaknesses and fears. Except when characters not humans by the nature yeah. And actually there’s one specific thing that I always remembering when thinking about it.

There was an nge visual novel, Steel Girlfriend 2 or something like that, if you know you know, and there was a moment that I still remember clearly. At one point when Shinji gets into NERV headquarters there may be vending machine interacted, on which Shinji will comment something like “Well, father needs to drink too”. It’s just so…fucking good. I don’t know if I can explain it. Like damn, Gendo is so demonized in his point of view that he forgets that he have a basic human needs. I love it so much.

The correlation with my “Every human is human after all” maybe hard to read, I understand that, but it’s more like what is my motivation to write such bastards as Gendo the way I do. People around them may fucking forget that they are, well, a human beings, while inside they even more pathetic than those who are lower than they are. Maybe even more human because of this, because of how much more impact on them there been because of something purely emotional. No matter how logical, stoic and cold blooded the character is, they still can be impacted with something that so dear to them. And there always will be something like that. And I love exploring it so much.

And when these inhuman like bastards interact it’s even better. Yeah pretty much why I love the idea of duo of Domek and Caligura. Like it’s just so stupid and yet pure. They’re being demonized and even encouraged to act accordingly for so long that they themselves prefer to see it like that. Being stead off from the others for so long they forgot the reason, they just know it’s the only way. Being one versus all the world and at one point, somewhere so close to the end of this all, finding a…friend. A comrade, an ally, someone who finally being on your side. Something so alien and something awakening that little sparks of pure human nature. Ah, poetic.

Yes I’ve just been praising my own headcanons at this point, what there’s to do. Anyways you got the idea. Also love their dynamic so much I can’t, it’s so strong…they’re meant to be like that even though they obviously never meant to even be aware of each other existence. It’s just how it works. Don’t see any issue with that.

I mean…listen, when(if) Caligura will be playable I’ll take a screenshot in that only cutscene with Domek so they technically will be in the same frame and it wouldn’t even be photoshopped. Also we’ll get that dialogue when you playing as Marina, seeing deadbeat being in walls, and other characters in the party saying something about that. He will say something about him! Maybe! How much of a dicks all the priests or whatever. That would be awesome. Or maybe he even say something in party talk in orphanage entrance, with Domek’s portrait you know. Lik- ok I’ll shut up.

#just rambling #maybe I should actually use some personal tags lol

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blackandwhlteaesthetlc · 2 years

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When you said you also watched an early screening of mp, does that mean you also saw dwd? If so, impressions? If not, sorry about the ask!!!

I honestly can’t WAIT for this dwd shit to be over and start with mp promo. I’m soooooo looking forward to that!!!!

No need to apologize, anon ❤️

Just finished a big dinner so I’ll do my best to express myself coherently. 😂

Yes, I also watched DWD. It was at an early screening LAST YEAR. I can’t stress that enough. I haven’t watched it recently and I don’t intend to watch it again. I don’t even have a desire to watch it illegally but if people absolutely want to view it? Save your money and find a link here @igotthecinemapop

Be gay, do crime, etc & so forth.

Anyway, I signed multiple NDAs which is pretty standard for the type of event I attended where it was shown. The film is out now so I can share my thoughts freely but please know I’ve been DYING this whole time and really wish I could’ve shared more much sooner. I’m really boring and not a rule breaker though so here we are a year later. 😅

Moving on…You can probably guess I’m not a fan of the movie. And here I’m going to do my absolute best to remove my bias from the situation and explain why speaking strictly as someone that loves and studies film:

The writing is incredibly weak. Multiple plot holes with scenes that go absolutely no where and are never explained. The one that drives me the most crazy is an unnecessary plane crash. Listen, you can have confusing or disorienting scenes so you as the audience member start to take Alice’s side and root for her. She’s confused, you’re confused (we’re all confused, bro) so subconsciously you’re invested in her story and want her to get out of there. But there’s no satisfying payoff to these scenes. It was a jumble of weirdness edited together, it seems, to make you go “huh?” and nothing more.

Cringy, flat dialogue delivered by two-dimensional characters. Kiki Layne and Gemma Chan deserved better. It hasn’t escaped by attention all this time that these two women are woc but were pushed to the background (both in the movie and during promo) in favor of the director getting more screen time. Harry and Chris Pine also deserved better.

Speaking of Harry. Oh, Harry. Jack Chamber’s motivation to incapacitate his girlfriend because she works too many hours and doesn’t have time for him? The “twist” is explained in a rush at the end of the film so when this was revealed, I was already annoyed and disappointed. But this? All that build up to the lamest “ta-da” I’ve seen in a while.

It borrows too blatantly from other more notable films, including GET OUT, THE STEPFORD WIVES, SUSPIRIA, ROSEMARY’S BABY, INCEPTION…I can go on but you get it. And by borrowed, I mean the exact storylines, character designs (Violet has a pixie cut and is a wide-eyed newcomer to the town, too reminiscent of Mia Farrow as Rosemary), actual scene structures. I’m thinking particularly of the ballet studio scenes that had Suspiria written all over it. But Olivia’s “reimagining” did absolutely nothing new except just copy, copy, copy. These weren’t homages, it was just lazy plagiarism. Please watch any of the above, and I can absolutely recommend more, to see how a story like this can actually be executed well.

Was it pretty to look at? Yes. When I got out, I immediately thought “okay, well that’s a nomination for Cinematography and Costumes for sure.” Now, given how everything how panned out? Idk anymore. It may still get technical recognitions, possibly for music too. But I don’t see any acting nominations. If Flo or Chris Pine get nominated, I can’t imagine they’ll campaign too hard for it. And really I don’t blame them.

And now that I’ve brought up acting, I’ll say this about Harry. There are moments, I felt, he overacted because the scene called for him to have big emotions. He’s still a novice to this but he was leagues better in MP so I’m eager to see what he does next, outside of Eternals, because he has tons of promise to get better and better. I think he does well in quieter moments and has a good sense of comedic timing. His face is so expressive, you can see real emotion there when it’s needed. But sometimes, just sometimes, you could see him reaching or trying to pull the emotion forward too forcefully. And it took me out of a couple scenes while watching him DWD. I think he did much better in MP because Tom as a character can be stiffer and more reserved. But don’t get me wrong, his scenes with Emma and David were lovely. I think he felt a real comfort there that allowed him to let go completely.

I don’t think I’ve said anything new here but those were my thoughts from a year ago and I’m sad to see that so many reviews since Venice echoed those same thoughts exactly all this time later. Nothing seemed to get fixed and it’s a shame. I’ve already shared my thoughts on the marketing so no need to reiterate that again.

My last thought is I’m just disappointed for everyone involved that sought out to make a genuinely interesting and entertaining movie without any bullshit. They were let down by the studio and the director in a truly gross fashion.

#dwd #don’t worry darling review #reviews #film talk

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staticl0ve · 1 year

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WRITER ASK (I might have just seen it🧍🏻‍♀️)

🌈 - is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with?

🎀 - give yourself a compliment about your own writing

🤍 - what's one fic of yours you think people didn't "get"?

💫 - what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?

AND ANOTHER EXTRA ONE I MADE UP because I can and you cant stop me 😌:

👀 - ARE THERE any scenes from any fics of yours that didn’t make in the final cut?

LOVE YOU BABE♥️🫂♥️🫂♥️🫂♥️🫂♥️

AHHHHH. Girl, I love you so much 😭. Gonna SOB MY EYES OUT before I can write this. ✨

🌈 - is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with?

I wanna say, Garden of Eden’s chapter 8 where it’s all about machine!Connor and there’s so much tension before the filth. Getting the tone down, plus making sure he felt reasonably like a machine was extra hard.

In the same vein, of TBND, You Drive Me Crazy’s part two with Cain/Nines was SO DIFFICULT to write. It took weeks of back and forth cutting and moving aspects of that chapter around to get the vibes right.

Something the two examples have in common is trying to find the motivation of a cold, emotionally removed character and making the spark of change happen in them. It’s especially hard because these colder characters don’t talk a ton and can’t wear their emotions on their sleeves and there’s a need to sprinkle in sexual tension so it’s not all stiff and mean interactions.

I love Nines, I wanna write more Nines. He’s just a difficult man to properly portray and be interesting/sexy the whole way.

🎀 - give yourself a compliment about your own writing

Uh. 🧍‍♀️Whutchu mean?

I jk. Put that gun away.

I’m pretty ADHD as hell so I wanna say I think I enjoy the pacing of my scenes. I try to jump around or keep things interesting/getting to the point, cause I personally can’t focus on something too long if I’m writing it. I’ll even cut stuff from scenes when I edit if I feel like it’s too much to read and doesn’t have to be there.

🤍 - what's one fic of yours you think people didn't "get"?

Funny enough, I left so many clues in Dollhouse about the plot and even fully explain it in the last chapter and I got comments where people were confused or didn’t understand how it could have happened that way. 🤣 Most people got it, I think I leaned really heavily on the pop culture reference of hoping others read the tags and watched Ex Machina and had a sense of what they’re getting into.

💫 - what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?

Any! I love all comments, they make me feel so fuzzy on the inside. 💙✨

In particular, I always love it when people comment about the character dynamics, enjoy a scene or if they’ve found my side jokes in the narrative. I recently had someone laughing over a joke I slid into Dancing with the Devil and it made my day.

👀 - ARE THERE any scenes from any fics of yours that didn’t make in the final cut?

SNEAKY. I love your questions, they make me think.

There was meant to be a family picnic scene planned for Sixty’s TNBD part two. I thought it would be entertaining if Hank gave his son crap and embarrassed him further in front of his reader. I forget why I cut it, and chances are, it was cause I wanted the pacing to not get stalled by a scene that at the time… I still felt too new to dialogue to confidently tackle and keep interesting.

Some scenes don’t get cut, but morphed entirely so it reads really differently but the original vibes are there.

The Pig and the Fox was actually drafted with the interrogation scene first, looooong before I even thought about the plot. The scene was really different, at the time I just wanted a focus on the sexual tension of two characters: one who wants the other and one who’s aware of the other but “hates” them.

So the dialogue was a lot meaner and more spiteful. It took a fair amount of workshopping to adjust the scene to fit the plot since that scene ultimately ended up in chapter 3 where a lot of context has changed how the two characters would interact. I’d like to think I still preserved the spicy tension though. ✨🔥

Ty again, babe. 💋💙✨ These questions are so sweet!

Ask me anything from this writer ask.

#my asks #dbh fanfic

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cuddl3s4shur1 · 10 months

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I’m asking all of my fav writers this because im so stuck. How do you become motivated to write stories all the time. How do you know that they sound ok and people will like them. I have so many ideas in my brain, but I like can’t write them out. I can have amazing pen when I want to but I can’t when I’m trying to hard. Are there any tips you can give me??

Love

-anon

Hiii , here are my writing tips

Number one when it comes to making your stories or making them come alive him either write it down like in a spreadsheet of like your ideas for each character or just start writing the exact time you have the idea

For example when it comes to me and making my stories:

What I like to do is , I see a idea I think about the character on who I want it to be about .

Once I do that I write down the idea In my notes app or docs and then I comeback to the document from time to time

I start writing the story in my head . I proceeded to make the whole story in my head, including dialogue and scenery. then when it comes to me, wanting to write the story and post it, I add more scenery, more dialogue, more descriptive words .

Number 2 : when it comes to posting your stories, you always have a audience on your stories. My audience right now is across the spider verse fans and black panther Wakanda forever fans you could just like use those hashtags under your post and somebody will find it.

Number 3: I actually don’t really post consistently. I usually just have a bunch ideas come to my mind every single day all the time and I just write them right on right on and then I just get tired of riding I get tired of making stories doing everything that I need to do to make him so then I stop then I’ll come back and is a endlessly.

Number 4: just go for it there will be somebody who will like your stories and there will be tons of people who will come along and like your stories, writing and your work.

Number 5: don’t be so hard on yourself if your story doesn’t do as well as you wanted it to because overall someone l will like it

Number 6 : if you end making the stories please tag me I would leave to see your work 👍🏾

I don’t know if this helped anything but continue with your ideas and I would to be your biggest fan and or supporter.

#love you #i hope this works!#but please if you see this #I would love to read your stories

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i-am-beckyu · 1 year

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hello

have some questions about writing

just for you

do you prefer writing dialogue or description?

hardest character to write?

when did you start writing g/t?

did you write any type of fanfiction before you got into gt/mcyt g/t?

from the fics you've posted (and one's you're in the process of writing), which character would you like to meet? why?

what is the hardest part about writing for you?

do you write for yourself or people?

do you struggle with exposition? (ex. you have a really good scene idea but don't want to/can't write a fic to surround said scene)

what's your favorite size (in a g/t sense, not a font sense) to write? why?

i've asked before but i'll ask again, what font do you write in and what size? do you color the text?

do you like to have a set time to write or would you rather just do it when you have the time/when the time feels right?

if you do have a set time to write: when is it? do you do anything special to make the atmosphere more pleasing? is there anything that helps you get motivated to write? do you do writing exercises?

how often do you write? bi-daily, daily, weekly?

you can only write fluff or angst for the rest of your life, which do you choose?

do you worldbuild beforehand or just jump straight into writing?

okay there you are, sorry for a short list, i've got quite the list of assignments to get through for school dshgjfsdnf

answer them all, pick your favs, idm 🙃

ps. as always, take a brick. take two.

🧱🧱

Brick I swear, as I start to think of questions to ask you; you think of questions I wanna ask you and beat me to it >:/

Many answers under the cut :D

I also didn’t forget to post this nope

Do you prefer writing dialogue or description? I like writing dialogue, but have a bad habit of just wanting to write dialogue like a movie script and force descriptions into existence lol. Hardest character to write? Honestly? Like all of them. I know some of the lore as whole but not really how all characters act and think. I find writing c!tommy and c!wilbur the easiest because I like to read crimboi centred fics. So I know what I know from what I read.

when did you start writing g/t? Literally started actually writing a decent fic when I joined Tumblr and found the prompt I’m still writing. I think I may have one or two fics I tried writing as gt buried somewhere on usb’s from when I was still at school but I’m not sure but they’d be like 4 or 5 years old now.

did you write any type of fanfiction before you got into gt/mcyt g/t? 1. I have one fan fic. Not gt. Its a miraculous ladybug fic. Set in the future and I wrote it just after the end of season 1. It’s my lil baby and on my ipad. from the fics you've posted (and one's you're in the process of writing), which character would you like to meet? why? uhhhhhhhh sheesh hard one. Um probably Tommy from the fic I haven’t posted yet. I can’t explain why without spoilers, but I love him.

what is the hardest part about writing for you? Just having an actual plot and endings. Endings so damn hard qwq do you write for yourself or people? Myself. With everything I create, its for me. I do it for fun. Sometimes, if I get really inspired, I’ll create for others because I’m a gift giver and I like giving people things. But trying to create for others feels like I box myself in and am forced to create which I just can’t handle.

do you struggle with exposition? (ex. you have a really good scene idea but don't want to/can't write a fic to surround said scene) MMmmm I used too, but then I found a thesaurus :D That makes no sense

what's your favorite size (in a g/t sense, not a font sense) to write? why? I think writing being small. Like the feeling of something massive in front of you and the daunting feelins that come with it. Lots of fun!

i've asked before but i'll ask again, what font do you write in and what size? do you color the text? Arial, size 11 and all black. I like to highlight points that need work when editing tho.

do you like to have a set time to write or would you rather just do it when you have the time/when the time feels right? Just write whenever. As I said when it comes to writing for people, time frames feel to constricting. I just do what feels right. if you do have a set time to write: when is it? do you do anything special to make the atmosphere more pleasing? is there anything that helps you get motivated to write? do you do writing exercises? no, music I guess, not really motivation just hits and we go zooooom, nope :3

how often do you write? bi-daily, daily, weekly? Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh next question.......

you can only write fluff or angst for the rest of your life. which do you choose? Why would you make me choose T-T Fluff. I’d be sad if I never got happy endings.

do you worldbuild beforehand or just jump straight into writing? Jump into it.

Thanks for the questions Brick!!!!!!! Always getting my brain ticking! Have some lollipops 🍭🍭🍭

#brick my beloved <3 #beckyu answers #Brain go brrr always

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1eaf-me-alone · 2 years

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hmm… 8, 20, and maybe 24 for the weird writing ask game?

8. If you had to write an entire story without either action or dialogue, which would you choose and how would it go?

I would choose to do it without dialogue, it would probably be in a very long and descriptive format and because of that it won’t need any dialogue- the pure description alone will be good enough to make a story.

20. If a witch offered you the choice between eternal happiness with your one true love and the ability to finally finish, perfect, and publish your dearest, darlingest, most precious WIP in exactly the way you've always imagined it — which would you choose? You can’t have both sorry, life’s a bitch

i would definitely chose the ability to finally finish, perfect and publish my most precious WIP. I have so much unfinished stuff due to procrastination and Writer’s block and finishing it would be like finally scratching a point in your back that you’re unable to scratch - the satisfying feeling of having it done and being able to relax. My aroace butt has no care for the “one true love” a close friend is good enough for me

24. How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?

It usually starts with a huge mass of writing and ideas that I just need to write down ( at around 1am in the morning or so) by then I’m too tired to function and kind of just vomit all my ideas on a page. After that I’ll spend time editing and sorting everything into bullet points, working and expanding my ideas and improving or taking away ideas I’m not a fan of. After that it really depends- when I have inspiration and motivation I have a good hour where I’m just speeding through everything and all my ideas are coming through, after that motivation will just disappear for a long time. I’ll spend days, weeks, months, on world building- and I find it really fun to do (apart from when Writer’s block kicks in which sucks.)

send ask here for weird writers ask game:

#Wow that was longer than expected #Writers thing #asks

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nanamispto · 1 year

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3 for the get to know your fic writer

Get to know your fic writer!

Describe the creative process of writing a chapter/fic.

I really only start writing something new when I get inspired by something—most often art or music! The most common time for me to get an idea is when I’m driving. I’ll usually try and stick with the thought and write it down in my phone once I’m parked.

Beyond that, it’s a matter of finding a time when I have the time, energy, and motivation. I’m an fiction MFA candidate and teach creative writing, so I often find that by the time I can sit down to write fic (not often because I’m grading papers, making lesson plans, and working on my manuscript), I’m exhausted and have nothing left in the tank. So, I have to find the right moment.

When the car notes aren’t concepts for the plot they come in the form of snippets of dialogue, description, or interiority. 60% of the time, the language is already fully rendered in my head and it’s just a matter of jotting it down, but the other 40% of the time, I try and capture the feeling of it to the best of my abilities. When I have the time to write, it’s just a matter of sitting down, looking at what I have that’s usable, and expanding upon them. Then, I look for connective tissue, and figure out how they piece together.

If it’s not clear, I don’t write chronologically, or from top to bottom. I have to write what compels me, or I can’t get the momentum to continue. I have sections of fics that are a five or six chapters out, because I needed to get them down then.

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33roda · 2 years

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I have some tips for you ☄️anon!

dango’s (shitty) advice on how to write fanfics 🤩

1. Be descriptive

How else will the reader imagine the same thing as you when you’re not describing it properly?

Instead of “His cock was hard as he waited for you to do something to help relieve him.”

(I’ll put the changes in bold) “His cock was hard and throbbing as he waited impatiently for you to do something to relieve him of his pent up stress.”

More descriptive words help the reader visualize it better

In my example, it shows that he has pent up stress. It shows that his cock is not only hard, but throbbing as well.

It also shows that he is impatiently waiting. It could either mean that he is an impatient person or that he had been waiting for some time and had gotten impatient. It’s up to the writer to pick out which one

2. Just like Dove said, find synonyms of words that you use too often.

It’s important to do this because you don’t want it to be repetitive.

In some cases it’s okay to repeat a little such as:

He hated it. He hated it all. He hated how you degraded him. He hated how easily you made him submit for you. He hated how he loved it all so, so much.

But a case where it is not really okay is:

He whined as you teased his cockhead. “Hahhh…please..stop teasing..” He whined. He whined when you stopped the movement of your tongue. “W-Why did you stop?” He whined.

In that example, the word “whined” is used too often.

If you can’t think of any synonyms, always feel free to search them up!

You can replace “whined” with swords such as whimpered, mewled, wail, cry, etc.

The revised example would be:

He whimpered as you teased his cockhead. “Hahhh…please..stop teasing..” He begged. He whined when you stopped the movement of your tongue. “W-Why did you stop?” He cried.

This way, it doesn’t sound repetitive but you still get your point across

3. Don’t only think about the sex, think about how both you and the character are feeling

When adding emotions from both people, it helps the reader visualize it better. It can help the reader know if it feels good. Does it hurt? Does the character hate it? Is Y/N angry?

You don’t always have to directly state that they are feeling good, you can do it through actions

Such as:

His thighs shook as he moaned loudly. He threw his head back and closed his eyes as he gripped the bedsheets tightly.

In that example, it only shows actions, but you can just directly state how he is feeling

You don’t have to use just actions, you can directly state it (through either description or dialogue) if you want. Such as:

The feeling of your cock buried in him was heavenly. It felt so amazing and pleasurable when you hit his sweet spot so perfectly. “F-Feels good…a-aH! Don’t stop please!”

Or you could mix the both

He moaned loudly in pleasure. His thighs squeezed around your waist as your cock thrusting in and out of him. Your cock felt so good. He jolted every time you hit his sweet spot. “T-There! Feels good! Please—a-AhhH!—keep going!”

4. Dialogue

Dialogue is something I struggle with, so I’m not much help in this area

Honestly, I just go for it lmao

But make sure to think, “If I were actually in this situation, what would I say? What would he say?”

5. Find inspiration & Motivation

I write only when I’m motivated because if I wasn’t motivated, it wouldn’t be as good

That’s the case for me, but feel free to write whenever you want to

I also listen to music to help write fics. Certain songs help set the mood for what you intend to write for

For inspiration, I usually use what I do to my boyfriend. It’s a lot easier to describe how you are feeling and to describe what is going on with personal experience

If you don’t have any personal experience, then that’s alright! You don’t need to have personal experience to know how to write smut

Just like Dove said:

Use any horny thoughts that come across your mind

Find inspiration in art

Find inspiration in other fics/thirsts (remember: inspiration. It’s never okay to just copy another person’s work.)

Find inspiration in audios

Find inspiration in real porn

6. How do I start?

When brainstorming, I just jot down what I want to be in the fic

You need to have a main event that the fic is focused on

You can add additional scenes to build up to the main event

I’ll be using Kaeya for the example

For example, you want the main event to be fucking Kaeya

You can add 1-3 additional scenes. It depends how long you want your fic to be.

For this example, I’ll be adding fingering as the additional scene

You can also add smaller scenes to build up to the additional scenes, such as kissing him or spreading lube on your cock

So you have what you want to be in your fic

Fingering that helps build up to the penetration

You have your outline now, so the next question is:

How do I begin writing the fic?

I mainly start it off by describing the room or using dialogue

You can start it off by:

The fireplace cackled in the background as you kissed Kaeya’s neck.

Or you can start it by:

“F-Faster…please..” Kaeya begged as you slowly pumped your fingers in him.

7. The Fic

You’ve got everything down now, time to write your fic

I’ll be using the tips I provided to write this

The fireplace in the background cackled as you kissed Kaeya’s neck. Soft moans escaped his lips as you palmed his erection through his pants, his hands gripping tightly on the back of your shirt. “Feels good…keep—hahh..—keep going please..” He sighed. You sucked on a particularly sensitive spot on his neck, causing him to let out a pretty moan. His legs squeezed around your waist and his hands gripped tighter on your shirt. You lifted your head up to see the hickie you left on his neck. “So beautiful,” you said in awe, “So, so beautiful.” Kaeya face heated up at the praise and he looked away in embarrassment. “Kaeya look at me,” you said, gently turning his face to look at you. “I want to look at your pretty face. You look so gorgeous like this..all flushed and embarrassed.” You leaned down and kissed his face as you unzipped his pants. He let out a whimper when you stroked his hardened shaft. You hand glided up his cock to his tip. You used your thumb to spread his precum over his cockhead. Soft moans left his lips. He sounded so sweet, like molasses. Your hand left his cock—causing him to let out a mewl—to pull down his pants and underwear off of him completely. You grabbed the underside of his thighs and pushed them towards Kaeya’s body, signaling him to hold them like that. His knees were at his shoulders, his legs spread widely for you to see every lewd thing about him. You took two fingers and pushed them into his mouth. Kaeya looked at you with alluring—and desperate—eyes as he sucked on your fingers. You pulled out your fingers that were now covered in his saliva. “Good boy,” You praised. You circled a finger on his rim before slowly inserting one finger in. You started to slowly pump your finger into him, trying to find his prostate. When Kaeya suddenly let out a loud moan, you knew you found it. You started speeding up, curling your finger and abusing his prostate as you did so. You inserted another finger into him and started to scissor your fingers inside of him to help stretch him out. Squelching and moans echoed in the room. His nails dug into the meat of his thighs as his cock throbbed from being untouched. He bit his bottom lip as he threw his head back onto the pillow. “A-AhH! F-Feels so good! Faster, please!” He begged. You listened to his pleas and sped up. His moans were louder and his legs shook. After a few more pumps, your fingers slowed down and slid out of him. “Wh-Why did you stop?” He whined. “I..I want to be in you, Kaeya.” You confessed. His face grew beet red as he turned to look away from you. You let out a small giggle at his adorable reaction. You spat into your hand and spread it all on your cock. After you were done, you aligned your cock at his entrance. “You ready?” You asked. Kaeya gave you a nod. You slowly eased yourself into him. His hot walls squeezed tightly around your cock. He felt so good. He mouth was gaping as you took you in. He looked so slutty. Once you were fully in, you waited for him to adjust. As you waited, you leaned down and kissed his neck. You gave him hickies on his neck, enjoying the feeling of him tightening around you for each one. When he told you he was ready, you started thrusting. [OKAY I KNOW THAT THE MAIN PART OF THIS FIC IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE PENETRATION BUUUTTT I LOST MOTIVATION FOR THIS 💀 but yeah you get the idea, just actually finish writing fics unlike me 🥲 also I half assed this, sorry 😭 and I know that the next one says to proofread but I’m too lazy to do that 🥰 damn I’m such a hypocrite 💀💀]

8. Proofread

This is pretty self explanatory

Proofreading will help you fix up mistakes and gives you some ideas to add to the fic

that’s all I have to give lmao. but if you have any questions, feel free to ask ^^

I hope this was helpful 💀

i totally agree with everything here AND THE LAST FIC BIT IS SO CUTE??? very good tips dangooo, i wish i had more to add but I really think you got everything 💀 thank you so much!

#chat #🍡 anon

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ghoste-catte · 3 years

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I was curious what advice would you give to someone new to writing fics? I've been wanting to get back into it but haven't seriously written something since high school. I hope this isn't an annoying question or anything!

Not an annoying question at all! I'm just a little worried that I won't have terribly good or useful advice. To be honest, I also sort of stopped writing in earnest right as I finished high school, and didn't pick it back up until my late 20s. It's certainly an adjustment! But I think the few things that really helped me get back into writing fic as a hobby and something I spend quite a bit of time on would be:

Write for yourself first, then find your other motivations. My original inspiration in getting back into fic writing was that there just were not that many fics I liked for my favorite pairing, and I wanted more of them, and I especially wanted more with the tropes and characterizations I wanted to see. I think at the very core of anything you need that internal spark that drives you. At the same time, for me at least, if I just relied on my own drive, I would not get much done; I need some external guardrails. So having people send prompts, or writing for particular events, or writing stuff for friends really helps me to get my ass in gear and finish stuff. That may not be the perfect motivator for you, and that's fine! You just gotta figure out what is.

Be open to inspiration. Anything and everything can be spun out into a story with the right tweaking. Obviously stuff like music is a classic inspiration source, but I've also pulled ideas from poetry, from memes, from Reddit threads, from YouTube videos, from rambling conversations on Discord and from real life to make fics out of. So many times, someone will post a silly Twitter screencap, and I'll think, There's a fic in this. And a lot of the time, there is! Research is a wonderful thing, but so is serendipity. If you're out there actively looking for ideas, eventually one that you like will stumble past you.

Find your community. I can genuinely say I never would have finished more than one fic if I didn't have fandom friends to talk to about even stupid headcanons, to bounce ideas off of, and to encourage me (and to encourage them in turn!). Discord has been a godsend, and some of my closest online friends are people I met in the GaaLee discord server. As I've gotten more comfortable as a writer, I've also joined general writing servers and Reddit communities and have found them immensely helpful on both a motivational level (bingos, sprints, owe-me challenges) and on a craft level (plot workshopping and writing ethics and live grammar help). It's a lot easier to think about fic ideas and hash through problem moments when I have a constant stream of fandom-related chatter coming from the little people who live in my phone! Ao3 is an amazing website, and it's great as, well, an archive, but it isn't social media by design. If you want conversation and human connection and cheerleading, you've gotta forge out and find it.

Make it a habit ... If you want to produce anything longer than a couple hundred words, you really have to set aside time for it. And writing is just like knitting or dirt biking or painting little model figurines: the more you do it, the more easily it comes. When I was first getting back into the proper swing of things, I committed myself to 30 minutes of writing per week. Just 30 minutes. I didn't even hit that goal every week, but there were tons of weeks I got on a roll and went over that amount, and by the end of the year I'd written over 200,000 words. I used to spend an hour laboriously tip-tapping out 200 words, but now I can easily blow through 1k in a 50 minute sprint. It's all about training that muscle.

... But don't make it a chore. With fanfic, you aren't doing this as a job, and you aren't ultimately doing it for anyone other than you. That means you can take breaks when you need them, you can set deadlines and then fail to meet them, you can write stuff and then decide to never post it. When you start getting burnt out, when the practice loses the joy and energy, stop. There's no 'hustle' here. In our capitalist society we're so trained to push past our limits and keep going even when it hurts us, but the hobby you do for connection and relaxation and whatever else shouldn't be like that.

Ignore metrics. Sometimes stuff isn't gonna get hits, or kudos, or comments. There are some basic 'rules' as to the stuff that does and doesn't get traction, but every time you post something it's a roll of the dice. If you're focused on watching that kudos counter tick up, you will get bummed out fast. And any writer will tell you that the stuff you think is your best work will never be the stuff that gets the most accolades. So you have to find something else to give you a sense of success. For me, it's watching my wordcount go up in my stats and those occasional comments where someone has a lot to say and that one person who always leaves me a <3 emoji (and, shout out to @egregiousderp, having someone to have long one-on-one conversations with about the stuff that never made it to page).

Don't strive for perfection. It's really easy to want your first ever fic to be a complete showstopper, the best fic fandom has ever seen, hitting all the tropes and the ideas and the characterization that you just know fandom is missing and would be everyone's top favorite if only it was written. This is a trap. No one fic can be all things. Most people who want to write an epic as their very first venture will not see the end of that epic, because they haven't put in the practice hours to make something on that scale work. That's not to say you can't start out with a big, sprawling multichap, just don't expect it to be the greatest thing since sliced bread if you're just starting out, and be okay with abandoning it for greener pastures if you get to that point. Think of the first time someone makes a vase out of clay or bakes a loaf of bread. That's never their best vase or their best bread. If they keep up with it, they'll make more and better vases and loaves. Likewise, your first fic is probably not gonna be your best fic. See it for what it is: your launchpad.

You can't edit an empty page, but you can over-edit a full one. This kind of spins off of #7, but if the words aren't there, you can't fix them. Daydreams and headcanons are fantastic (and god, how many times have I wished for a speech-to-text engine that projected my falling asleep thoughts onto a Google doc for later perusal), but they aren't fic. If you want to write fic, you've gotta get comfortable with the idea of sloppy outlines and rough first drafts. You can't build a house without a frame and you can't build a man without a skeleton (I mean, you can, I guess, but he'd be one floppy man). The nice thing about fic is that it doesn't matter if that frame is structurally unsound or the skeleton has 18 too many bones, you can clean that up in the editing process. But you can't start hanging curtains and arranging furniture in something that doesn't even have walls. That's the process. But! Also know when to set down the editor's pen and say, "Okay, this is good enough for government work", and call it done. ("Done" doesn't have to mean "posted", but it does mean, "I'm done picking at this for now, and I'm gonna go write some more stuff".) Over-editing can make stuff seem laborious and forced, and it prevents you from actually improving. To continue belaboring the house metaphor, you can spend your whole life rearranging furniture in just one room, but the end result of that is a pretty narrow existence and a room with a lot of footprints and tracks in the carpet.

Write shit down. When you have ideas, jot them down--in a notebook, in a Google Doc, in the Notes app of your phone, in pen on the back of your hand. You think you will remember that brilliant line of dialogue or sparkling snippet of narration or genius plot that came to you in a dream, but you Will Not. Write it down. Write it down. Write it down! There have been so many times when a fic was completely saved by past!me having written down my shower thoughts about what happens next in the fic, that present!me had completely forgotten about and was floundering over.

Have fun with it! Try different stuff. Try stupid stuff. Try experimental stuff. Do stuff you've never done before that you aren't sure will work. It's important to get comfortable with your niche (for example, I know I'm never going to be the sort of person who writes intricate plots of intrigue or super long 100k epics or detailed battles), but you can't find that niche unless you explore lots of different niches! Figure out what you love and what you absolutely hate, and then keep doing the stuff you love.

Okay, so that was actually TEN things, but ... I hope you still found this helpful. Feel free to send another ask if any of this was confusing or unclear. Good luck with your fic writing and, if you want, send me a link to what you've written once you've written it! I'd love to read it.

#answered #anonymous #writing advice #i guess?#am i qualified to give this?#no #but im doing it anyway

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