#The Well - Book 1 Chapter 2

[ssreeder]

I started reading this like 4 days ago, time has blurred together. I have not slept over 5 and a half hours of sleep in that time, I had to get up at 6 for something and was going 'just one more chapter' several times until it was 2am. The only thing that I can think about is LIAB, I am quickly losing my sanity to Zukka and the prison camp. I came here for a fun time, a good time and the sheer amount of angst that I had heard this had. And, I was certainly not lied to.

I am the type of person to read hard core angst. Impaling, torture , doesn't even phase me anymore (bit concerning but ignore that), I have taken to the blank word document to get that sinking, queasy feeling when the angst gets really hard core. First few chapters of this had me captivated and then Zuko came into it, *Chefs kiss*

I can't read long fics because I don't have the attention span, but for this I make an exception, also if you read it all in like 4 days the attention span doesn't have time to run out! I am on the 3 part, chapter 2 and I actively plan to binge read it tonight. Do I have school in the morning? Yes. Am I still going to stay up until 1 in the morning reading this and make up for my lack of sleep with caffeine? Also yes.

I really hope that Jet dies in this, I hope that he has a really anti-climatic death as well, like he falls off a slightly too high ledge. NO ONE and I mean NO ONE gets to separate MY GAYS LIKE THAT BECAUSE HE JUST HAD TO TELL FONG THAT ZUKO WAS AT THE BLOODY CAMP!

and the Forest Lesbians, may they live forever in the local folk lore about two witches that lived the forest and used the power of being gay to cure people.

thank you for writing this, it has really made me happy reading this even though my favourite gays are getting traumatised (more traumatised than usual for Zuko). I have only been reading this, my friends are concerned about me since I don't think I have willingly left the house in... *looks down at fingers, realises I don't have enough fingers to count this* umm... too long!

*holds your hands* how are you doing friend??

your ask had me both nervous and excited haha & the greatest thing about responding to this a few days late is that you’ve probably finished it by now haha. I feel sorry for your sleep schedule but I also don’t feel bad haha <3

I’m glad LIAB met your expectations in the angst, it’s probably one of the more angsty/ darker zukka fics & it’s probably going to get worse lol. (Not for zukka specifically, everyone gets to join this time) But you’ll see… if I can hold your attention until the end haha.

as for your Jet thoughts I’m sure you found out what happened to him by now ;) <3

thanks for this amazing ask seriously you’re great & you deserve to get yourself a treat for taking the time to send me this haha YOURE AWESOMEEEEEE

#I always get nervous when I get long asks #I think I have negative comment PTSD or something haha #I’ll get an ao3 comment or tumblr ask and I get all nervous like OH NO THEYRE GOING TO CRITICIZE MEEEEEEEE #& then it’s really nice and I feel SILLY #anyway yeahhhh I’m sure LIAB is one of the more darker zukka fics lol #I say that casually but also warn the shit out of people in the tags #I don’t want anyone to ever get triggered #Because I do think people sometimes don’t take tags seriously #But I’m glad you liked it so much you got all the way to the third book #You’re seriously amazing for reading all thay #I wrote all of it and I don’t even wanna read it all haha #I had to go searching for something the other day and I had to like suit up to dive into all that and find my fact #I’m very serious about connecting facts haha #I may have foreshadowed something in chapter 2 book 1 that I’m holding onto for chapter 20 book 3 haha #I’m crazy sorry haha #Anywayyyy I’m curious if you did catch up #I’ve got another 20k chapter almost done lol #Well anyway THANKS FOR THE ASKKKK #LIAB #RIA #ITF #ask

[kazscrows]

Crooked Kingdom Reread

Part One: Forsaken

Just in case it isn’t obvious full spoilers ahead for both books and the show. Okay. On with the reread—

Chapter 1: Retvenko

Am I the only one who always forgets who this is?

Like we joke in the fandom a lot about Joost and his mustache being forgotten but…

Who the heck is Retvenko??

Is he at the Crow Club? Just some random bar? Why can’t I remember anything about this chapter?

…it was hard to take him seriously dressed in the absurd fashion favored by the young men of the Barrel—a pink shirt with sleeves that looked fit to split over huge biceps, a garish red-and-orange plaid waistcoat. He looked like a dandified soft-shell crab.

Pfffft

I always forget about Barrel fashion

Or really it’s that I forget that not just Jesper dresses like that

I know it’s a little disappointing they don’t dress like that in the show but..

At the same time I’m kind of glad my eyes aren’t constantly being assaulted by neon colors and flashy patterns

Ohhh. Retvenko is grisha-

I’m starting to remember now

He passed along Grafcanal, shivering as he glimpsed Black Veil Island tucked into the water’s bend. That was where the Kerch wealthy had once buried their dead, in little stone houses above water level. Some trick of the climate kept the island shrouded in shifting mists, and there were rumors that the place was haunted.

The only things haunting it are Kaz and his Crows

I’ve got a feeling that Retvenko isn’t ever going to make it home to Ravka

Ah, yeah, see?

The shu’s grisha are here

Don’t they have metal casing on their skeletons or something??

“Ain’t no one taking the payroll.”

Retvenko watched in shock as the gangly clerk stood like some kind of avenging warrior and opened fire. By all that was holy, nothing could motivate the Kerch like cash.

Power, money… corruption

Yeah alright I remember the winged ones

They’re freaky

Rip Retvenko

Next |

Want to read my SoC rereads too?

#aaand here we go #my crooked kingdom reread finally begins #I might post chapter 2 this week as well since chapter 1 isn’t from a main character’s pov but we’ll see #crooked kingdom #six of crows #shadow and bone #grishaverse #reading #books #leigh bardugo #CK #soc #kazscrows #kazscrowsreadsck

[capitalist-bastard-showdown]

Capitalist Bastard $howdown: Round 1, Match 3

Directory

#granted there's a part of me that wanted to put the original book Onceler instead since... #well personally I agree with the criticism that the Illumination version really weakens the original message with how they portray Onceler #but I would get banished for ten thousand years for that so here we are LOL #capitalist bastard showdown #polls #round 1 #left bracket #the onceler #the lorax #the lorax 2012 #the greedler #spamton #spamton g spamton #deltarune #deltarune chapter 2

[mejomonster]

To get good at telling stories... writing stories... one must... practice by writing stories ;-;

#rant #i tell u what i think id have functioned well in a wrbnovel publishing format. but i dont think #any good sites for that exist in english as of yet? (i think theres one but its contract is Yikes i heard) #but just like. the idea of publishing chapter ever 1-2 weeks until youre done. maybe 20 chapters maube 2000. maybr you never finish. #most of the chapters free and maybe idk you make some advertizing money on ads viewed on your chapter page. or make the last couple extras #paid only idk. but the big thing? the point im getting to - sorry i got lost in the sauce - #my point is: you probably DO write shit at first. or write fine with some SHIT ARCS or rushed chapters to hit ur weekly updates #and 5 years from then youll look back and wanna overhaul some of those fucking stories (weve seen many a jjwxc writer revise later). #but wow will you have practiced writing a LOT. #youll have 100k 500k 1 million 5 million words worth of writing under your belt in a few years #and youll probably be a hell of a lot better at knowing how to make more chaptwrs on average interezsting and Building Consistently to your #main plot and arcs. you'll probably get much bettwr at raw scheduling of wriitng and pre-planning that works for you and structure mapping #youll have a much better idea of your personal strengths whrn you need to lean on them for a rough month when your story's turned #into a mess. youll value your own writing more (i hope) cause LOOK how much you fucking accomplished. #like. npss? dmbjs author? idk about others but i can definitely see the improvement in wriitng skill #between dmbj book 1 and the recent heihua book and mountain village book #(in terms of style in word choice. and goals for the story set out to be told) #i look at priest and newer novels by priest are as impressive as any literary novel ive ever analysed #(and older ones while i also love i do see their slightly rougher word choice and how some were executed a bit #more up and down/not as tightly) #i just. agh. i am :c feeling that ill probably write 200k words this year #and none of it will be as good as i want. but i NEED to write these first 200k #because the only way i get better. get to the way i want to write. is to make the progress of improvement with this first 200k. #ToT fun fact i wrote 170k words this year. WOW. and maybe 400k words of fanfic in the 4 years prior (so 100k words on average) #i know i am imptoving. i just gotta keep at it. #also? annoying i cant focus my attention lmao. 160k words is mkre than enough to finish a 1st draft novel #but me? i split those among like 20 projects this year. so the novel most written so far is still only at 40k #and im probably going to need 60k more words to finish it

[someone-always-cares]

chapter 5, page 41

first - previous - next

[image description: an sac webcomic page. “i was literally mid-sentance, what was that for- and they’re gone. great” jade says, turns around to face where split was, angrily. “...woah” says lewis, looking back. “Well that's the second time we've been booted out of a place by a friend with some weird eye thing going on, and hopefully that's not a sign.” jade says, turned back over to lewis. “was that, uh, fast travel?” lewis asks, holding the not bloody corner of the business card in his mouth to sign. “no, she can’t teleport, he just pauses time. lucky bastard. what was faer deal anyway? we don’t have time for this shit!” she continues. “actually i... i got the address” lewis responds, handing over the business card. “the creepy guy in the back gave it to me after i bit him”. he continues. “that’s great! no time to waste, let’s- i’m sorry, you bit him??” end id]

I so badly want to print this comic but there’s so many things i need to do first and the start of that list is “figure out what things i need to do”.

also looking into making washi tape, pins, and keychains which are much simpler to make but still kinda pricy.

#sac #someone always cares #if you ever see me having an actual phone number thats because its not real and one of the numbers thats reserved for #tv shows and shit that arent real numbers #however i am trusting wikipedia on that i am not fact checking #email.com is apparently a real email place though? #also the things i need to do include spell checking all the previous pages because im bad at spelling and idk where i can pay someone else #to do that because i probably wont be able to do that myself #the other things include: making sure i can even use the pages for print comics #checking all the pages to make sure all the dark scenes are legible and the colours work well in the conversion from rgb to cmyk #and fixing the ones that dont #adding page numbers and bonus pages and little details #need to go back and tweak a few things also i have a list for that #also figure out how kickstarter works #hopefully by then i will also figure out how overseas shipping works #thinking of starting book 1 with chapters 1/2/3 because that feels best to me #also mayyybeee redoing the prologue. i dont want to remake any pages but those ones are. particularly bad

[kirnet]

Just read your maa alasud post and I am BUZZING with excitement for where you go with Don’t Wake the Ancients you have no idea!!!!!!! Appalachia and folk horror my absolute beloved I and so so so excited

Ahh ty ty! Your excitement is making me even more excited ah!! I’m so happy you like it so far! :D

#i actually just finished outlining every chapter of book 1 + am one scene away from finishing chap 4! #and I’m brainstorming a bunch of stuff for books 2/3 bc I’m combining them hee hee… I just need to think of like. a title that will work #well for that one lol. maybe ‘don’t curse the wardens’ or something like that idk #love u anon!!! if ur the same one who asked about old gods I’ve been listening to a bunch more of it lately too! #ask #anon #dont wake the ancients

[sh-tposter2021]

how to do book annotations without losing your mind because scribbling notes in the margins and a ton of sticky notes looks messy to you

#i really wanna start a series on my tiktok where I read one chapter a day #i have rules for it tho #1. i have to make a video summarzing that chapter #2. i have to annotate at least two things from said chapter #yes i will have to show annotations for proof #and possibly even just talk about thought process behind them #i just cannot annotate for the life of me though bc post it notes overwhelm me whe they stick out of my book (especially bright ones) #and annotating in the margins makes the pages look messy and overwhelm me as well #i also cannot in good faith write in my books

[aroaessidhe]

2022 reads // twitter thread    

The Last Hero

end of the trilogy!

rebellion is burning across the solar system. secrets are uncovered as the war comes to a head

lots of POVs

mostly focused on platonic relationships

#the last hero #The First Sister #aroaessidhe 2022 reads #vague but not super spoilery: #I feel like. there’s too many POVs? or like too much 3rd person. I feel like the main 3 could be in 1st and everyone else 3rd. i keep gettin #mixed up. actually there’s a couple 3rd person chapters but not enough #also there’s like no interactions between the main 3 til the very end….that was my favourite part of book 1. like I don’t really want astrid #astrid/hiro to happen i just want them to interact #about each other…..there’s a war and other people to protect and a brief romance they had is not the most important thing to them #i actually do appreciate that there’s circumstantial romances but when the plot pulls them apart they aren’t spending the whole time moping #like i didn’t rly care about luce and whoever in the last book and she barely thinks about him at all #it didn’t have like. the plot twists. which i guess makes sense as it’s the finale. #well one thing i thought was a big plot twist but i misinterpreted it lol #I still feel weird about lito as asexual representation re: various things that happen...and mostly that it's not really in the book at all #I guess. like one vague line in book 2. I appreciate the platonic relationship focus I guess; tangentally related #um this is mostly complaints - did enjoy it overall! not my favourite in the trilogy. but i think it's good overall

[oshaviolater]

i wonder if im going to like the ending or not.......

#theres 2 door left #but the chapter count or more like the title count for door ends at the fourteenth door #which is gonna be there 11th door #the author wont be squeezing 2 doors in 1 door unless ofc theres some fucking plot twist #anyways ive heard equally good and bad things abt the ending #so the ending.....im really anticipating it actually #i rarely read horror its usually boring for me but im interested in how the author will be wrapping up their story #a tragic outcome is very likey but the shit thing abt having a fully translated novel is: a motherfucker can do a ctrl + f #that motherfucker is me #some1 who likes spoilers #now i know some1 who died earlier is present in the end-most chapters #im veryyy curious as 2 how that happens #if the author pulls a cheap trick like timeloop i wont be touching more of her books #but if its some mind blowing plot twist........now now #that is very interesting isnt it #i was also hoping for some supernatural entity to be at play for the protags but :P #so far nothing like that :P #which is sad i think that would actually have been cooler #but web novels have this really bad habit of not developing the protags well beyond certain archetypes #so far ive read enuf novels to deduce it's a genre thing #theres always gonna be one out of the duo (usually the love interest) who gets the short stick in terms of development in their character #it really is an extremely sad and notable phenomenon #hmm anyway yawns its 3am i should probably sleep id finish this novel for sure tmrw #my exchange order got cancelled today im extremely sad abt that as well #the tee i ordered is 2 big i literally drowned in it ugh #my friend said i could just tuck shit in it would look sexy but like ugh #so annoying #i also ordered these sneakers nd a) their platform is like 2-3 inch i cant be certain i can walk in them #so i might have to return it which is.....b) eta 4 my order is 23 july......if i return the product nd like.....order again #uh ive 2 go back 2 uni on 5 aug.....i might not have any shoes by then.....tch SO ANNOYING

[itsalwayswellattheworldsend]

Chapter 1 - Ralph Meets With Love in the Wilderness

Text

Audio

Synopsis:

Ralph and the Lady abscond together, really talk to each other, and some unpleasant truths come out.

Summary:

 "Tell me truly, and beguile me not; for I am a young man, and without guile, and I love thee, and would have thee for my speech-friend, what woman soever may be in the world. Whatever thou hast been, what art thou now? Art thou good or evil? Wilt thou bless me or ban me? For it is the truth that I have heard tales and tales of thee: many were good, though it maybe strange; but some, they seemed to warn me of evil in thee. O look at me, and see if I love thee or not! and I may not help it. Say once for all, shall that be for my ruin or my bliss? If thou hast been evil, then be good this one time and tell me."

Ralph awoke while it was still night, and he knew that he had been awakened by a touch, but like a good hunter or warrior, he was not startled and did not cry out. When he was fully awake, he saw the Lady bending over him, and she said in a kind and quiet voice: “Get up, young man, get up, Ralph, and be silent. Come with me into the woods before dawn, for I need to speak with you.

So he got up and was ready to go with her, his heart thumping with joy, but she stopped him. “No, get your sword and armor in case something bad happens. Put on your chainmail; I’ll help you.” And she held it for him while he put it on. “Now,” she said softly, “put a helmet on that curly hair of yours and strap on your sword, then follow me.”

He did so, and felt her take his hand (for it was still dark as they went into the trees), and she led him into heaven, for he heard her whispering voice and it was like a touch and a laugh of joy in each word.

She led him quickly, not stumbling at all on the paths between the pine trees, though it was as dark as it could be. Ralph thought that at any moment she would stop and tell him what was going on, and that she would then have to leave him, so he prayed that the silence and handholding would last a long time—for he could think of nothing else but her—and in truth it did last a long while. She said nothing, though now and then a small laugh—like the softest warbling of a bird—would come from her lips, and the rippling of her clothes as her swift feet carried her sounded loud to him in the dark, windless wood.

At last, after more than half an hour of walking like this, it grew lighter and he could see her beside him, and she still held his hand and glided on faster and faster, it seemed to him. And soon he knew that outside of the woods dawn was passing into day, and even there among the trees it was hardly darker than twilight.

A little further, and it grew lighter still, and he heard thrushes singing a little way off and knew that they were on the edge of the pine woods, and still she ran swiftly onto the grass, where there was nothing but maples and thorn bushes: it was light here, though the sun was not yet over the trees.

There she let go of his hand and turned to him, her face flushed and excited, and her eyes were very bright and her mouth half-open. He stood looking at her, trembling with eagerness and fear of what she would say when he told her what was thinking, for he had made up his mind to do just that. He took off his helmet and set it on the grass, and he noted that she was only wearing her dress, having left her cloak and coat behind.

Ralph straightened up and was going to speak when she put her hands to her face and shuddered, her shoulders quaking with sobs as she burst out crying so hard that tears flowed between her fingers. Then Ralph threw himself on the ground in front of her groveled before her, wrapping his arms around her knees and pressing his cheek against her skirt, saying many soft words of love while she continued to weep wordlessly. At last she reached down and held his face in her hand, and he let his lips press against it, and they stayed like that a while. Then she pulled him to his feet and led him away quickly once more, and he did not know what to do or say, and he did not dare stop her, and he could not form the words to ask for an explanation.

So they ran across the open ground, unhindered by the trees, he being silent and she never tiring or slowing or faltering in any way, until they came into thick woods again. Whenever he would open his mouth to speak, she would hush him with a “Not yet!” Until at last when the sun had been up for more than three hours, she led him through a stand of hazel trees like a thick hedge and into a clear, grassy place where there were great grey rocks around them, as if they were in the crumbled remains of a circle of standing stones built by some forgotten people. Then she threw herself to the ground and buried her face among the flowers, and was weeping and sobbing again as he bent over her, until she turned to him and drew him down to her and put her hands on his face, laying her tear-streaked cheek against his, then kissed him long and sweetly, so that he almost began crying, himself.

Then at last she said: “This is the first thing that I have said to you since I have brought you away from death, and it is so sweet to me that I can hardly bear it.”

“Oh, and it is sweet to me,” he said, “for I have waited for you for many days.” And he kissed and hugged her as one who would never have enough of it.

At last she pulled away from him a little and, looking at him, smiling with love, she said: “Wait a little, until we’ve spoken some.”

“Yes,” he said, “but may I hold your hand while I wait?”

“No harm in that,” she said, laughing, and she held out her hand to him as she said: “I said that I have brought you away from death, and you have not asked me about that.”

“I will ask you now, then, since you want me to.”

“Do you think that he would have let you live?”

“Who would kill me, when you would let me live?”

“Him,” said the Lady, “your enemy, the Knight of the Sun. Why did you not run from him before? He didn’t want to kill you, just drive you away, but if you were at Sunhome with him, he would run a sword through you, or at least throw you into prison for the rest of your life—or so it seemed to me.” She faltered as she spoke, looking at him.

Ralph said: “How could I leave when you were with him? Did you not see me there? I thought that you wanted me to stay.”

She looked at him with such tender love that he started to throw himself upon her, but she stopped him and smiled, saying: “Ah, yes, I saw you, and I did not think that you would leave me; therefore, I had to be careful.” She touched his cheek with her other hand.

Ralph sighed and furrowed his brow a little, then said: “But who is this man that he should kill me? And why is he a tyrant over you, that you must flee from him?”

She laughed and said: “Fair creature, he is my husband.”

Then Ralph flushed red and he opened his mouth to speak, but she stopped him and said: “But he is not quite my husband. Before we got to bed, he cursed me and drove me from his house.” And she smiled, but her face reddened so deeply that her grey eyes looked strange.

But Ralph jumped up, half-drawing his sword and crying out: “I should have killed him! Why didn’t I?” and he angrily paced back and forth across the grass in front of her.

But she leaned forward to him and laughed, saying: “But, my Champion, we will not go back to him, for he is stronger than you and would kill you. We are far from anyone here, but you are being loud—maybe too loud. Come, rest beside me.”

So he went back and sat down by her, and he took her hand again and kissed her wrist and said: “Yes, but he wants you, that was easy to see. It’s bad that I didn’t kill him.”

She stroked his face again and said: “It would be a long story if I told it all to you. After he drove me out and I fled from him, he caught up to me several times, which is not unusual for his brother is the Captain of the Dry Tree, that tall man with whom you have seen me. Each time, this lord has come to me and confessed his love as one who would be in utter despair if I did not love him back but oh, my love with the bright sword” (and she kissed his cheek and held his hand with both of hers) “each time I rejected him.” And again she blushed.

“And his brother,” said Ralph, “the big captain that I have encountered these four times, does he also desire you?”

She laughed and said, “Only as much as other have, no more. He will not kill anyone over me.”

“Did you know that I was waiting for you at the Castle of Abundance?”

“Yes,” she said, “Did I not say that I told Roger to lead you there? That was after the first time we met, after I had ridden off on the horse of that butcher you killed.”

“Why were you so long in coming?” he asked. “Would you have come if I still waited there?”

“What else could I want except to be with you? But I had to travel alone, for our riders had gone north to fight those of the Burg, but as I came to the Water of the Oak, my husband and that other man caught up to me. And this time, all of my refusals were not enough, and whatever I said to him, he demanded that I return with them. But they quickly turned to fighting each other, as you saw.” She looked at him sweetly and honestly, as he had been her dearest brother.

But he said: “You were upset that they were fighting; have you known the Black Knight for long?”

“Yes,” she said,  “I will not hide that he loved me, but he has also betrayed me. It was because of him that the Knight of the Sun drove me away. Pay attention, for this concerns you: he spread a rumor of lies and truths mixed together, saying that I was a witch and an enchantress, and my lord believed him. I was shamed before the entire house, and thrown out in anguish, barefoot and bleeding.”

He looked and saw the pain and grief of the memory in her face, and the fierceness of his loved changed his expression so much that she got up and withdrew a little away, standing and looking at him. But he also got up and knelt before her, and he reached up and took her hands and said: “Tell me truly, and with no tricks, for I am a young man and not wise to uncovering hidden meanings, and I love you, and I would have you as my partner, whatever sort of women there might be in the world. Whatever you have been, what are you now? Are you good or evil? Will you bless me or curse me? For I have heard tales of you: many were good, though strange; but others have warned me of evil within you. Look at me and see that I love you! I cannot help it. Say once and for all, will you be my ruin or my bliss? If you have been evil, then be good this one time and tell me.”

She neither reddened nor paled at his words, but her eyes filled with tears and they ran down her cheeks, and she looked down on him as a woman looks on a man that she loves from the root of her heart, and she said: “Oh my lord and love, I hope that you will find me no worse for you than the best of all you’ve heard. But how can I tell you about myself when you would believe absolutely anything I said? But oh, my heart, how could you, so sweet and fair and good, fall in love with an evil thing? At least I will say this, that whatever I have been before, I am good to you—I am good to you and will be true to you.”

He drew her down to him as he knelt there, putting his arms around her though she still shrank a little from the eager flame of his love, but she gave herself to him and let her body glide into his arms, and loved him no less than he loved her. And there in the wilderness, there was between them all the joy of love that could be.

Notes:

Apparently, Ralph has curly hair.

It specifies the “Seventh Heaven,” which is a mythological/cosmological distinction that I don’t want to pry apart right now for a metaphor, so just suffice to say that he’s very happy.

The “circle of standing stones” is described as a “broken doom-ring of a forgotten folk” which is a really metal way of saying it’s like stonehenge.

The story repeatedly uses the verb “fell” to mean “begin” (such as “they fell to eating” or “fell to talking”) but it also uses it for kissing which makes me laugh for some reason.

I left the line “She laughed and said: ‘Fair creature, he is my husband.’” completely untouched because I love it. This is the second time she’s referred to him as “creature” (though I believe the first time it was “creature of God.” I wonder if anyone else refers to anyone that way in this story?

The exact situation (as she says it) is: “Yet is he not so much my husband but that or ever we were bedded he must needs curse me and drive me away from his house.” Basically, they were married or betrothed or something, but before they had sex he turned on her, kicking her out and then chasing her down.

When I used the word “partner,” the original word is “speech-friend,” which is the word the Maiden used to refer to her missing beau.

A recap of the Lady’s backstory as I understand it (just the part she talks about here). She and the Knight of the Sun were involved and probably wedded, but before they had sex, the Black Knight (probably trying to stop the wedding so that he could have her) lied to the Knight of the Sun and made a believable tale claiming she was a witch (we’ve heard these accusations against her before, and I have no doubt the Knight of the Sun had, too). The Knight of the Sun shamed her publicly and threw her out of Sunhome, and she returned to the Fellowship of the Dry Tree (this all happened some time previously, not in the period of time since Ralph first met her).

The Knight of the Sun, still loving her and wanting her back, pursued her and (since her Captain is his brother) found her many times since she left. She refused to return with him. This most recent time, Walter was with him and they fought each other, which we saw in the story.

I’ve always found the bit here about whether or not the Lady is good or evil very interesting. One would expect that the truth is that she is good, and that all the bad things said about her are simply jealous rumors… but that is not what she says. She isn’t good or evil; she’s human, but she promises to be good to Ralph.

As for their love, remember what I said before about Tomie. The Lady possesses an extreme charisma that draws others to her and entangles them in her love. I’ve hinted before that Ralph possesses some similar power (perhaps hers was at the same level before she drank from the Well?), and the narrative has also given us signs before: I think specifically about the Maiden saying that even if he found bandits in the Wood Perilous, he’d most likely win them over to his side and have them as his own men; and also of Roger who declared his allegiance to Ralph in the Burg (which I took as true, even though he was otherwise deceiving him). Not only is Ralph entangled by the Lady, but she is also somewhat entangled by him. Someone said before that they didn’t think the Lady would ever love some man unless he is one “with whom all women are in love.” This same phrase was also used earlier, where it was said that such people are those most likely to find the Well at the World’s End.  I do believe this will be further expanded upon later.

And one last note: I left the last line relatively unaltered. The original is “And there between them in the wilderness was all the joy of love that might be.” I’ve wondered about this since the very first time I read it, but does this mean they had sex? At first I thought yes, then no, then back to yes, and now I’m not sure. I can say that (despite his religious beliefs), Ralph isn’t too hung up about premarital sex (at the very least in situations where the two people are very much in love and dedicated to one another).

Map updated to show the lake’s name (the Lady called it the “Water of the Oak”).

Map:

#the well at the world's end #william morris #the well - book 2 chapter 1

[dinasilvertongue]

#05/13/23 #(2 of 4) #(could have been 2 in _Siege of Stone_—which was cancelled by 19) #(or 1 in _Heart of Black Ice_—which was cancelled by 11 *and* 18) #(interestingly this is the first time in the history of all programs where more than 2 different chapters from same book fit equally well #there was actually another one (29) that kinda-sorta fit—but I stick to the when-in-doubt-leave-it-out principle)

[blacktabbygames]

Slay the Princess Concept Art

We shared a bunch of concept art on Twitter today. Sharing it here, too, where you can find it all in one post. Post contains spoilers, so proceed with caution (or just play the game already if you haven't 😉)

Going to start with the first piece of concept art Abby drew for the game.

In the earliest stages of development, we toyed around with the concept of there being multiple "end game" forms of the Princess.

The initial outline, rather than being tied together by an overarching metanarrative, structured a full playthrough as a 5-6 chapter long, self-contained journey down a single route, determined by your decisions in chapter 1. Here's an alternative late-game form:

The idea of deviating end-game forms didn't lost for very long, though. As we explored the game's themes more deeply, it made the most sense for there to be a singular "true" form.

If your reality is shaped by subjectivity and perception, then the "truth" has to be what's left when that subjectivity is swept away. the Shifting Mound's final design feels like that initial truth for the Princess, though there's also another truth if you push back against her and press on into the final cabin.

We really liked this "void" design, and I played around with the idea of it being an intermediary to the final form. The "void" Princess would be what you saw upon encountering the final Princess without understanding your own truth, but once you had that understanding, you would see her as the Shifting Mound, as depicted in the game.

That gave way to the intermediary design of the SM being a sea of disembodied limbs, and we also took parts of both designs and incorporated them into the protagonist (particularly the wings.) You can see the eyes and feathers for this void form in the ending card of the original trailer below:

You can see extremely early concept art for the spectre (top), nightmare (top-right), stranger (left), beast (bottom) and ??? (right) as well!

The eyes became a motif in the Nightmare route (Paranoid's manifestation of the fear of being watched), but I also like to think of them as a part of The Long Quiet's truth. You are space and emptiness, but you're also that which observes those things, and it's your perceptions that give the Shifting Mound shape.

Anyways, on the note of the original original concepts for the game, the Princess was initially going to remain human for several loops before taking on more monstrous forms. Some concepts of that are below. Had to get Abby to tone down some of the more horrifically cartoonish designs because they creeped me out and I didn't want to romance them in a video game.

We had to hold our cards close to our chest in the non-metanarrative early drafts, which is part of why, even in the first demo, the cabin doesn't really change much in chapter 2. More room to subtly play with the concept of transformation over time.

There were a lot of reasons we moved in a different direction for the full release. The branching was unmanageably large to write, and the game felt like a slog to write.

Using an overarching narrative as a framing mechanism in the final version gave us a lot more freedom to explore wildly divergent ideas within routes while still driving the player towards the originally planned finale.

Anyways, now we've got some concept art for individual princesses. There's a lot more than this lying around somewhere, but it's all in sketchbooks, and we'll probably wait until we make an art book to show it off.

First is the tower, who really didn't change much at all. (She got a little thicker, I guess. All of the Princesses did)

Not a lot to say about her, other than the fact that we knew we wanted a set piece where she gets so big that the trees and cabin orbit around her.

The stranger went through many many redesigns over the course of development. Here, she was a "princess skin" filled with a hive of sentient bugs. The script wasn't working for me, though, so instead she became a peak behind the curtains without the necessary context to know her.

A lot of people ask how these earlier drafts of the Stranger route would have played out, and the answer is I can't tell you, because I couldn't figure out something worth writing.

The writing process for individual routes didn't really start with outlines or plot beats. Rather, the routes started from a theme and a relationship dynamic, and I organically found their outcomes by exploring actions within those themes, and then seeing if those passed Abby's editor brain.

Neither of us found actions we wanted to explore with those versions of the Stranger, at least actions that weren't a beat-by-beat retelling of chapter 1, which contained way too much variation to put on a single chapter 2 route.

If each princess examines a relationship formed by perception and first impressions, the Stranger examines one that's fundamentally unknowable. One where you've seen too much, too quickly.

An insect hive-mind pretending to be a person seemed like a good starting point, but it was too difficult to write any interactions that didn't immediately feel knowable, if still strange. So the final version of the Stranger was designed in such a way where her unknowability makes interacting with her on a human level fundamentally impossible, and you don't get to have a real conversation with her unless you satisfy extremely specific criteria.

Anyways next up is the razor's final form. We decided she needed more swords.

Hearts became an accidental motif very quickly in the development process, too. (The fact that it is only strikes to the heart that fell her in the demo was accidental, but it felt poetic so we extended it to the rest of the game.)

So on top of adding more swords, we made her heart visible. This is something we did with the fury as well, as a way of showing their emotional (and physical) vulnerability.

Here's an early version of the Adversary and what would eventually become the Eye of the Needle, back when she was still called the Fury. Originally her hair was going to be fire (as seen on the right), but it didn't feel right in its execution.

She's hit the gym since this concept art. Good for her :)

And we're going to end with the Beast, who at this point was called the Adversary. I think this was before the Witch was added? The Beast was originally designed to be a Questing Beast who lurked in the shadows, where you'd only see glimpses of her, and where each glimpse would make her appear to be a different animal. This was too difficult to execute, though we gave her a more chimera-like appearance in the final game.

This design was from when we still has the Voice of the Obsessed, and the route was going to be a more feral mirror of what eventually became the Adversary, but it felt too thematically similar while being less interesting, so we moved in the direction of making the Beast about consumption as a form of love.

Anyways, that's all we've got for you right now. Hope this was fun!

#slay the princess #interactive fiction #character design

[saraswritingtipps]

How do i Plot a Book?

1. Start with an Idea:

Begin with a clear idea or concept for your story. This could be a theme, a character, a setting, or a unique scenario.

2. Outline Your Plot Structure:

- Introduction: Set the stage by introducing your main character, the setting, and the initial situation.

- Inciting Incident: Present a problem or event that disrupts the status quo and sets the story in motion.

- Rising Action: Develop the plot by introducing conflicts, challenges, and obstacles that the protagonist faces.

- Climax: Reach the story's highest point of tension and conflict where the protagonist confronts the main challenge.

- Falling Action: Address the aftermath of the climax, tying up loose ends and resolving subplots.

- Conclusion: Provide a resolution to the main conflict, wrap up the story, and show the character's growth or change.

3. Create Well-Defined Characters:

- Develop your main character (protagonist) with clear goals, motivations, and flaws.

- Introduce supporting characters with distinct personalities and roles in the story.

4. World-Building:

If your story is set in a unique or fictional world, develop the setting, rules, and details necessary for readers to understand the environment.

5. Conflict and Stakes:

Ensure that your story has compelling conflicts that drive the plot forward. Make the stakes clear to the reader.

6. Subplots:

Develop subplots that add depth and complexity to your story and intersect with the main plot at various points.

7. Foreshadowing:

Use foreshadowing to hint at future events and create suspense.

8. Pacing:

Balance action, dialogue, and introspection to control the pace of your story. Speed up or slow down as needed for dramatic effect.

9. Themes and Messages:

Consider the themes or messages you want to convey through your story and how the plot can reflect them.

10. Outline Chapter by Chapter:

Create a chapter-by-chapter outline that details what will happen in each section of your book. This doesn't need to be overly detailed, but it can serve as a roadmap.

11. Writing and Revising:

Start writing your book based on your outline. Be open to changes and revisions as your story develops.

#writing #writer on tumblr #writerscommunity #writing tips #character development #writer tumblr #writblr #writing advice #oc character #writing help

[othercrossee]

I studied half of chapter 1 and I'm here to say I have given up hope and just gonna do fuck all as per usual

#z rambles #if i can pass with 80/100 for my midterm when i didnt listen to shit except drink my little drink and text ny friends in class #then i can pass the finaks with at least 50 right right right right right #ya know idk why i started from chapter 1 i shouodve started from the kost recent maybe im stupid idk #4 questions huh idk what type of questions shes gonna put on there #i have some theories but those alrrady appeared in the midterm so idk honestly maybe shell let us pit socialism and communism againdt ea #well not to worry. tomorrow exam is gona be worse than rverything ever cuz he did not teach shit and just make us read 🫶 #open book finals imahine lmaooo #man idk ehat if my gpa drops to 3.0 i usually dont care sbout score but me finks me killing myself #honestly i just look forward to the break man #i hope the break isnt actually 2 weeks they gotta be joking right haha

[kathaynesart]

Eugh boy. April what have you started?

BEGINNING || PREVIOUS || NEXT MASTER POST

Sorry for all the exposition. This chapter has a lot of setup. In fact, I plan to split it here since it's been rather long. It will be a new Arc on the master post, though it pretty much starts up where this one leaves off. At least it looks like we'll be having some fun in the next one.

Also, people have been asking what my plans are with Replica, so I thought I would give an idea of what to expect. To be completely transparent I plan to split Replica into 2 Books. Book 1 (which we're about 2/3 through) will focus on setting up the colony, understanding all the characters, what happened in the past, and the drama that ensues from it. Book 2, is going to be where all this setup is going to come into play. Lots more action leading up to the beginning of the movie. I'm super excited for book 2, it's going to involve a particular mission mentioned briefly in the movie and the chain events it causes that will ultimately lead to both their greatest success against the Krang as well as the colony's ultimate downfall. So all this setup is kind of necessary since this is a little more... plot heavy. I am sorry it is in my nature, even though I know we all just want to see sweet/sad scenes of them all hugging it out (we'll get there eventually)! At least we'll get thatsooner in the Cass Apocalypse crossover I'm now working on. Look forward to it and bring your tear ducts!

#rottmnt replica #replica #rottmnt #kathaynesart #save rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #unpause rise of the tmnt #unpause rottmnt #omega #future april #future bootyyy shaker

[physalian]

Pacing your Story (Or, How to Avoid the "Suddenly...!")

Arguably *the* most important lesson all writers need to learn, even for those who don’t give a damn about themes and motifs and a moral soap box: How your story is paced, whether it’s a comic book, a children’s chapter book, a doorstopper, a mini series, a movie, or a full-length season of TV (old school style), pacing is everything.

Pacing determines how long the story *feels* regardless of how long it actually is. It can make a 2 hour movie feel like 90 mins or double the time you’re trapped in your seat.

There’s very little I can say about pacing that hasn’t been said before, but I’m here to condense all that’s out there into a less intimidating mouthful to chew.

So: What is pacing?

Pacing is how a story flows, how quickly or slowly the creator moves through and between scenes, how long they spend on setting, narration, conversation, arguments, internal monologues, fight scenes, journey scenes. It’s also how smoothly tone transitions throughout the story. A fantasy adventure jumping around sporadically between meandering boredom, high-octane combat, humor, grief, and romance is exhausting to read, no matter how much effort you put into your characters.

Anyone who says the following is wrong:

Good pacing is always fast/bad pacing is always slow

Pacing means you are 100% consistent throughout the entire story

It doesn’t matter as much so long as you have a compelling story/characters/lore/etc

Now let me explain why in conveniently numbered points:

1. Pacing is not about consistency, it’s about giving the right amount of time to the right pieces of your story

This is not intuitive and it takes a long time to learn. So let’s look at some examples:

Lord of the Rings: The movies trimmed a *lot* from the books that just weren’t adaptable to screen, namely all the tedious details and quite a bit of the worldbuilding that wasn’t critical to the journey of the Fellowship. That said, with some exceptions, the battles are as long as they need to be, along with every monologue, every battle speech. When Helm’s Deep is raging on, we cut away to Merry and Pippin with the Ents to let ourselves breathe, then dive right back in just before it gets boring.

The Hobbit Trilogy: The exact opposite from LotR, stretching one kids book into 3 massive films, stuffing it full of filler, meandering side quests, pointless exposition, drawing out battles and conflicts to silly extremes, then rushing through the actual desolation of Smaug for… some reason.

Die Hard (cause it’s the Holidays y’all!): The actiony-est of action movies with lots of fisticuffs and guns and explosions still leaves time for our hero to breathe, lick his wounds, and build a relationship with the cop on the ground. We constantly cut between the hero and the villains, all sharing the same radio frequency, constantly antsy about what they know and when they’ll find out the rest, and when they’ll discover the hero’s kryptonite.

2. Make every scene you write do at least two things at once

This is also tricky. Making every scene pull double duty should be left to after you’ve written the first draft, otherwise you’ll never write that first draft. Pulling double duty means that if you’re giving exposition, the scene should also reveal something about the character saying it. If you absolutely must write the boring trip from A to B, give some foreshadowing, some thoughtful insight from one of your characters, a little anecdote along the way.

Develop at least two of the following:

The plot

The backstory

The romance/friendships

The lore

The exposition

The setting

The goals of the cast

Doing this extremely well means your readers won’t have any idea you’re doing it until they go back and read it again. If you have two characters sitting and talking exposition at a table, and then those same two characters doing some important task with filler dialogue to break up the narrative… try combining those two scenes and see what happens.

**This is going to be incredibly difficult if you struggle with making your stories longer. I do not. I constantly need to compress my stories. **

3. Not every scene needs to be crucial to the plot, but every scene must say something

I distinguish plot from story like a square vs a rectangle. Plot is just a piece of the tale you want to tell, and some scenes exist just to be funny, or romantic, or mysterious, plot be damned.

What if you’re writing a character study with very little plot? How do you make sure your story isn’t too slow if 60% of the narrative is introspection?

Avoid repeating information the audience already has, unless a reminder is crucial to understanding the scene

This isn’t 1860 anymore. Every detail must serve a purpose. Keep character and setting descriptions down to absolute need-to-know and spread it out like icing on a cake – enough to coat, but not give you a mouthful of whipped sugar and zero cake.

Avoid describing generic daily routines, unless the existence of said routine is out of ordinary for the character, or will be rudely interrupted by chaos. No one cares about them brushing their teeth and doing their hair.

Make sure your characters move, but not too much. E.g. two characters sitting and talking – do humans just stare at each other with their arms lifeless and bodies utterly motionless during conversation? No? Then neither should your characters. Make them gesture, wave, frown, laugh, cross their legs, their arms, shift around to get comfortable, pound the table, roll their eyes, point, shrug, touch their face, their hair, wring their hands, pick at their nails, yawn, stretch, pout, sneer, smirk, click their tongue, clear their throat, sniff/sniffle, tap their fingers/drum, bounce their feet, doodle, fiddle with buttons or jewelry, scratch an itch, touch their weapons/gadgets/phones, check the time, get up and sit back down, move from chair to table top – the list goes on. Bonus points if these are tics that serve to develop your character, like a nervous fiddler, or if one moves a lot and the other doesn’t – what does that say about the both of them? This is where “show don’t tell” really comes into play.

4. Your entire work should not be paced exactly the same

Just like a paragraph should not be filled with sentences of all the same length and syntax. Some beats deserve more or less time than others. Unfortunately, this is unique to every single story and there is no one size fits all.

General guidelines are as follows:

Action scenes should have short paragraphs and lots of movement. Cut all setting details and descriptors, internal monologues, and the like, unless they service the scene.

Journey/travel scenes must pull double or even triple duty. There’s a reason very few movies are marketed as “single take” and those that are don’t waste time on stuff that doesn’t matter. See 1917.

Romantic scenes are entirely up to you. Make it a thousand words, make it ten thousand, but you must advance either the romantic tension, actual movement of the characters, conversation, or intimacy of the relationship.

Don’t let your conversations run wild. If they start to veer off course, stop, boil it down to its essentials, and cut the rest.

When transitioning between slow to faster pacing and back again, it’s also not one size fits all. Maybe it being jarring is the point – it’s as sudden for the characters as it is for the reader. With that said, try to keep the “suddenly”s to a minimum.

5. Pacing and tone go hand in hand

This means that, generally speaking, the tone of your scene changes with the speed of the narrative. As stated above, a jarring tonal shift usually brings with it a jarring pacing shift.

A character might get in a car crash while speeding away from an abusive relationship. A character who thinks they’re safe from a pursuer might be rudely and terrifyingly proven wrong. An exhausting chase might finally relent when sanctuary is found. A quiet dinner might quickly turn romantic with a look, or confession. Someone casually cleaning up might discover evidence of a lie, a theft, an intruder and begin to panic.

--

Whatever the case may be, a narrative that is all action all the time suffers from lack of meaningful character moments. A narrative that meanders through the character drama often forgets there is a plot they’re supposed to be following.

#writing advice #writing tips #pacing #writing tools