#also good writing advice

[partywithponies]

Listen to me. If you want your media literacy to improve, you have to consume a variety of media. And I don't just mean a variety of genres or a variety of writers or a variety of target demographics (though absolutely those as well), I mean a variety of mediums. Read books. Watch TV. Watch films. Listen to radio plays. Watch theatre productions. Watch documentaries. Read comics and graphic novels. Goddammit read fanfic and watch youtube videos as well, just for the love of god have variety. Learn to recognise how different mediums convey themes and information in different ways. It's like food groups, you need a little bit of all of them to be healthy.

#this advice also stands for writing #good writers recognise how good storytelling works in different mediums

[patheticbatman]

I haven't seen any posts about this yet but l've seen some fan art that makes me feel this needs to be said:

Don't forget Leah Sava Jeffries has darker skin when making Annabeth Chase fan art!

She is much closer to Lupita Nyong'o than Zoe Kravitz when it comes to shading, reflection, and complementary color usage :).

Lighting for dark skin is different on light skin. Light skin gets changed by lighting, and dark skin reflects the lighting. Below is a lovely shot of Nyong'o's character from Wakanda Forever in mourning. The filmmakers emphasize the umber qualities of her skin in contrast to the funereal white and (arguably harsh) light across her shoulder below.

Try to pick spots that aren't directly in or near the light, and try mixing 3 or more! You can put it into a color mixer online, or even color pick, lower the opacity, and lay the shades over each other until you find one that fits. And of course, the more 'realistic' you want to go with shading and lighting, the more shades you're going to want to be able to explore vivaciously :D.

Let's take a look at the same 3 beautiful actresses I mentioned at the beginning, with a bad color picked area and a better-ish color picked area. (Please keep in mind, these are not perfect comparisons, as I was not able to find pictures of all 3 actresses under the same kind of lighting.)

Kravitz's has a clear difference between the two, but they aren't too far apart, in comparison to Nyong’o’s and Jeffries’s. Note the dullness in the poorly picked shades as opposed to the better ones. Also keep in mind that while Kravitz has a rosy undertone (at least in that picture - it’s from The Batman, which has stylized coloring) Nyong’o has a slight cool undertone (I can’t pin down quite what, but the picture is definitely not stylized like Kravitz’s).

Jeffries runs more ochre or russet, but neither of those are pink. They are more red than terracotta or umber, but to call Jeffries’s face rosy would be wrong. Err more towards the golden when drawing her.

^^saved an image from a writing tutorial long ago, but can’t seem to find it. If someone recognizes it, I’ll link it. EDIT: it’s from this post. Thanks @autumnrowancollector ! <3

And also, the darker skin gets, the less likely warm undertones are going to appear. Don't be afraid to use blue or purple or even green on occasion!

Additionally, cool lighting on dark skin is always a win imo.

(I was going to use that picture of Jeffries as Annabeth by the lightning bolt, but then I realized the lighting on her face doesn’t quite match up with where it should hit from that angle, and I realized they kind of just turned everything bluer, so screenshot time!)

(Also if you want another really great live action example, check out anything Aldis Hodge is in, like Leverage and Black Adam)(and of course there’s Spiderverse <3 but I want to post pictures of Hodge)

Now, to here’s a list of more experienced people’s advice:

Black facial features & hair

Shading digitally for a (somewhat) monotone Black character

Stylistic choices and places to start looking for inspiration (besides a search engine).

Coloring Black people’s lips

A better coloration tutorial

Also a nice tutorial for Indigenous skin tones, just in case yall want to draw Piper or use this information for other dark skinned characters :).

EDIT: Some actresses who are closer in skintone to use for Annabeth, provided by the lovely @blackfemmecharacterdependency ! If you can’t find a reference for Jeffries in a specific lighting, maybe check out these ladies’ pictures! It’s a reblog, so scroll down.

TLDR: Don’t make Annabeth pink and pale, make her dark and golden.

#Annabeth chase #Percy Jackson #percabeth #leah sava jeffries #pjo #leah jeffries #art tutorial #percy jackon and the olympians #I love superheroes and so of course all of the actors I thought of were from superhero movies lmao #also for the record my advice is mostly from reading others’ tutorials and observation #and I don’t really use it a lot because I stick to lineart a lot lol #like down to mentioning Hodge (love himmmm) as a reference for good lighting on dark skin #there’s another post floating around here that specifically mentions him and Leverage for that #I’m tagging this as an art tutorial but really i want it to be more of a master post #master post so yall can see the tutorials I usually use #but then I ended up writing about Jeffries specifically because I’m dumb #I wanted to go to sleep four hours ago I’m dumb #I really want to draw her and ginger Percy but #irl it’s starting to get busy at school again :/

[sibylsleaves]

the fact that Eddie and Tommy are friends opens up just SO many fun possibilities for this entire dynamic

#like not only will he see BUCK'S side of the relationship #he will ALSO see Tommy's side #and like. would it not be delicious if Buck tells Eddie VERY little about the relationship #but TOMMY is the one opening up to Eddie #because they are friends and Tommy trusts him and Eddie KNOWS BUCK and can give him good advice #like are you guys seeing the vision?????? #i mean this mostly with my fic-writing brain but like. it could ALSO actually happen in the show!!!!!! #911 spoilers #sibyl speaks

[magnusbae]

"...You had to be able to show too much of yourself. You had to be just a little bit more honest than you were comfortable with. And if people judged you, if they felt they knew who you were, that was just something that you were going to have to live with. And what was strange is, once I started doing that, and I was expecting to be judged, or shunned, or people’s opinions or to have to deal with things, what I discovered was, actually, their opinions were, we really like this. We love this story. That’s a good story. It felt huge. It felt personal. And I realized that’s because I was being honest about me.“ —Neil Gaiman

#It was such a lovely speech. I really enjoyed hearing it and I wished to have it here as well. You can youtube it. His name and Masterclass. #Neil Gaiman #The Sandman #How many of you squinted and saw Dream. #Neil Gaiman Masterclass #Dream of the Endless #You know what I WILL tag it because and I will explain #You can really see the parts of himself that Neil put into Dream #This interview more than any truly shows you some of that #Dream is essentially a creator of stories too— One who is not good at being honest with himself— One who too has a facility of voices. #Frankly— How old were you when you saw Neil's little 'self insert' OC and went 'Ah yes. Here he is.' #Also the fact that Neil always wears black and has a messy hair. #Love it. #Quote Edit #Writing Advice #Writing Fiction #buns.edits #buns.all

[vacantgodling]

✨preferences should not be standards for writing advice✨

#whenever i see writing advice i just get annoyed #honestly one of my biggest gripes about writing communities in general is this #constant need to regurgitate certain pieces of writing advice like they’re ambrosia of the gods #my biggest writing advice is to just stop fucking listening to all writing advice that has to do with #prose and style #just stop doing it #read books and find things you like and craft your own style of things #i know this is not simple for everyone but i’m tired of constantly seeing #i think flowery prose bogs things down too much #and i think that direct prose isn’t good enough at putting people in the world #like mate—everyone has preferences and preferences do not make good advice #so like #i wish people would stop acting like their opinion is the next best piece of writing advice #it doesn’t help anyone it just causes fucking insecurities #i am also having sensory overload so perhaps ren doth bitch too much #but you can pry flowery prose and run on sentences and incomprehensible blocks of text from my cold dead hands #bc it makes me happy to write like this and fuck off #ren hot cakes #i’ll delete this later im just cold and annoyed #and unfortunately you can thank my mother bc im extremely passive aggressive

[crossbackpoke-check]

it’s all the rest of what i want with you

connor dewar/brandon duhaime :: 8k

Summary:

“Brandon,” Connor says with a sigh. “There’s no baby in there.”

“Not yet,” Brandon says. Connor feels his stomach twist, almost like what he would imagine a baby kicking to feel like.

in these trying times of dewvorce, may i offer you 8k of pwp inspired by @stillfertile’s wonderful art which i had. several breakdowns about 🫶 anyway please enjoy!!!

#OFFICIAL FIC ANNOUNCEMENT 🗣️🗣️🗣️‼️‼️‼️ i wish i had pretty fic graphics but alas i have No Skill and also. so much work i should be doing bu #HI SHE’S HERE i would love to say this is a complete surprise drop except i have Anxiety & i needed to ask you guys about it beforehand #in my defense i started writing this in like. january far before any tragedy occurred #because square asked about my tags on their dewey2 art and she spawned like. a million more thoughts about it #including the part where i got absolutely kicked in the face with the lightning vision of those two lines. #like those two lines are the first actual lines of the fic i wrote ajdhkwdiowdjiw ANYWAY please be nice to me i know i am always like #‘this is not the first real fic i ever thought i’d post’ and if i had a nickel i’d have three but this is the first pwp i’ve ever posted #and it’s 8k and it’s not a fic for an exchange (although technically i did very much write this for the dewey^2 hivemind so.) #i have SO many things to say i have so many comments on this doc also i couldn’t pick a title for the LONGEST time and i finally decided on #this one but the full quote was too long: #all the rest of what i want with you that scares me shitless #so. i was angling SO hard to make a yung gravy lyric as a title bc i saw the video of him at a wild game but i couldn’t find a good one #and instead y’all got a very sentimental title l m a o. #liv in the replies #shout out to the extended universe this lives in and also my unhinged comments in the docs. #if you liked fun fuck a baby in him friday i’ll be here all week i promise i am the exact same in the comments as i am in the tags 🫡 #the NUMBER of times i wrote something in this by pulling it out of my ass and then actually went back and did the research & was RIGHT is. #far too high. also the amount of coincidental things that dropped while i was writing this (yung gravy song about pregnancy AFTER i wheeze #laughed myself into a yung gravy title the athletic player poll confirming my restaurant & bar choices from googling ‘st. paul good bars’…) #also if anybody got advice on formatting for these little announcements. help. this is different from my miro/luka one &i’m still not happy

[uter-us]

radfem help !!

2 of my little cousins (14yrs and 15yrs) are both girls dating boys right now, and together we are coming up with a "dealbreaker list" of things they will never put up with from their bfs! and also we are including positives, like so they aren't just looking for the absence of bad things, but actual positive things

what do yall think are the most important things to add? (i put extra info in tags)

Thank you so much!!!

#I dont want it just to be “he doesn't hit me” as that's super important but they could end up with awful boys who don't hit them and still #mistreat them. there are certain vulnerabilities that make me worry the most for them. Ive been writing under the deal breakers like exampl #of how it would manifest like things they might say or how they might behave so that way in the moment there will hopefully not be as much #time spent questioning if it counts as a deal breaker. we want to do positives too so like I said in the post it's not just like "he doesn' #put me down“ but also ”he roots for me and encourages me and verbalizes it“. #they are 14/15 so I'm less focused on stuff related to like splitting domestic labor for example but I think a good translation could #be like “he spends as much time as I do planning dates” and “it's clear to me that he put a lot of thought into my birthday gift” or the li #anyway I know they are safer without dating boys (and for the record they both know I do not date men (and only one knows I am SSA) but #they ARE dating and it's much more practical and realistic to reduce harm here since they are doing it! #also this is obviously not the extent of my effort in making sure they are safe and well and not reliant on boys/men; #this list is just one small part!!! #thanks so so much! and if you don't know please share bc maybe someone else has advice! ty!!! #radfem #radical feminist safe #radblr #sex based oppression #mvawg #question tag

[kaidanalenkosprmanager]

THE BEST OF SHENKO 1/?

The end of the world has a way of reminding you of all the things you forgot to say do. Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (2021)

#mira makes gifs ✨ #kaidan alenko #sophie shepard #EDI #shenko #fshenko #mass effect #mass effect legendary edition #dailygaming #OTP: you're real enough for me #i learned i am physically incapable of creating less than like 20 gifs at a time #but shenko stonks are up right now!! #gif’ing my favorite bisexuals gives me joy 🥹 #even though ME2 is dry as shit for shenko content like it’s literally the sahara desert #like a whole ass 10 minutes max of cutscenes between shep and kaidan like come on #like 2 minutes in the prologue and like 8 minutes of cutscenes on horizon #and then an email and looking at the picture in your cabin before the suicide mission #i'm so sorry y'all ME2 shenko canon is absolute shit (besides kaidan being rightfully angry on horizon) which is why we ✨ignore it✨ 🥰 #but i rant about ME2 VS treatment too much so i will not write another essay about it in the tags #i will say the EDI line isn't the exact quote from the game but i think about it a lot tbf #same with the quote i borrowed from anderson too lmao (which is also a tiny bit paraphrased) #i just love EDI asking shep for relationship advice when you get to follow shep and kaidan's relationship/struggles across 3 games #and anderson's quote about all the things you forgot to do in relation kahlee to is just *chef's kiss* when you think about shenko #like whether it starts in ME1 or ME3 shenko has some really fantastic moments across the series #two characters with strong morals who realize that they're falling in love and literally start to become each other's strength?? #their soft place to land?? their support when they need it?? shenko will always have my heart #also the shenko quotes you get are the most fire thing in the world #you're real enough for me?? you make me feel human?? i want to be your strength- your soft place to land?? shenko you will always be famous #I FORGOT IM GONNA FIGHT LIKE HELL FOR THE CHANCE TO HOLD YOU AGAIN TOO LIKE?? #but i’ll stop ranting now bc i do that wayyy to much in my tags lol. have a good day wherever you are! <3

[forbiddennhoney]

im begging people to turn on the post dates for your feed bc sometimes i see ppl rb advice with good intentions but the advice is from 2010-2017 and therefore is WILDLY outdated!!!! and that's not good!!!!!

#personal #like well intentions are one thing #but advice from that time period esp abt very important things like healthcare finances homelessness etc is VERY outdated #as someone who lived thru some of the shit recently that ppl rb this stuff abt #like please please please i am begging #this information/advice is not timeless! nd changes CONSTANTLY #and PLEASE READ THE POSTS CRITICALLY???? #i saw someone rb a homelessness advice post recently that suggested hitchhiking to the midwest or south which is TERRIBLE advice- #-if u arent a thin white cis (passing) str8 (passing) able bodied person!!!! #which lbr the ppl most affected by homelesness are queer & trans & mentally/physically ill black & brown ppl #ive seen posts being shared saying that homelessness isn't THAT bad if u just shop cheap - whcih is ALSO not true?????? #im harping a little on homelessness bc thats admittedly some of the biggest shit ive seen w/ this issue #but yeah just. please turn on the dates and use criitcal thinking b4 rbing any and all “advice” posts #there Are people out there who write well intentioned advice that is extremely dangerous #there are people out there who wrote advice that was good for when it was posted but not now #there are even ppl out there who write fake advice that is legitimately dangerous for people to do #just. please

[wander-wren]

small things to stop doing in your fics

(or any kind of writing, but i live on ao3. we begin with flat-out crimes and then slowly start moving into things that just bug me personally but aren’t wrong)

epithets. if i’ve said it once, i’ve said it a thousand times. you should only be using epithets for characters whose names we do not know. they can also be used VERY rarely to break up the repetition of names/pronouns or to emphasize characters’ relationships/viewpoints, ie “his boyfriend” or “the asshole.”

writing out accents. please stop. you can include a couple of small things, like “somethin’” or “ya” (for “you”), but even keep that to a minimum. specific turns of phrase/references go way farther imo to establish a character’s culture/background/etc. a little goes a long way, and doing it repeatedly can make sentences hard to parse. this also! applies! to children and babytalk! have you ever listened to a child speak? toddlers can enunciate pretty well!

not enough commas. put commas before names and titles. it’s not “Hey John” or “I’m on it captain,” it’s “Hey, John” and “I’m on it, captain.” also, put them after discourse markers/interjections such as “well,” “so,” and “now.” you should be writing “So, how are the kids?” not “So how are the kids?” even if your character is speaking quickly, you still want the commas because of grammar. it can occasionally be acceptable to omit them if you want to indicate extreme excitement/panic/anger/etc, but use it sparingly.

too many commas. i’m a comma fiend like the rest of you so i’m guilty here too, but we gotta at least stop with the comma splices. commas split and independent and dependent clause, meaning that one part of the sentence cannot grammatically stand alone. if all parts are complete sentences on their own, that’s a comma splice. try splitting it into two sentences, using a semicolon, or rewriting. this is usually fine in dialogue, though, that’s just how people talk.

also, using a lot of commas to denote panic is something i used to be HUGELY guilty of and now i hate it. instead of, “I, I, I don’t, I don’t know,” you can try, “I-I…I don’t—I don’t know!” probably not that much punctuation that close together, but for the sake of example. emdashes and ellipses, my beloveds 🫶

roleplay speak. i don’t know what else to succinctly call this? i’m referring to the tendency to be redundant and over-explain, especially in dialogue. it’s a phenomenon i see constantly in rp circles, usually because of post length requirements (and i have little issue with it there, it’s just the culture). things like:

“Surprise!” Adam shouted, popping out from behind the door.

“Oh my god!” Scott screamed, having been completely startled and not expecting Adam to be home yet.

yeah, we can guess that Scott is startled, right? because of the screaming? and clearly if Adam is surprising Scott it stands to reason his presence is unexpected? why are we stating this twice?

i believe this also comes from the mistaken idea that every line of dialogue needs a tag attached, which is….horrible. you can let the dialogue exist on its own sometimes, friends. you can also include an action beat without a tag. like above, i could have just said “Adam popped out from behind the door” and omitted the shouting altogether. we can assume he is being loud because that’s usually how people do surprises. anyway. moving on.

condescending to readers. this isn’t so much about writing as it is author’s notes and the like, and “condescending” may be a strong word, but i’m trying to be succinct. at any rate, please stop telling your audience to not read your fic? “do not read if sensitive to [blank]” or “if you have [disorder] skip this fic!” is a horrible way to trigger warn. people know their own boundaries. tell them what the work actually contains and let them self-select.

i also find “rest stop/check-in” type notes condescending, like “if you are reading this between the hours of 10pm-4am, go to sleep” and “STOP! have you eaten/drank/walked around in the past few hours? go do that!” again, we know ourselves. i’m not your kid, don’t tell me what to do. i don’t mind a polite, casual little “thanks for reading, remember to drink water and take your meds, bye” note, though.

the others in this category? i will straight up not read the fic over that on some days. ESPECIALLY because, in my experience, the people who are most intense about warning for every little thing are the ones with the mildest fics, and that’s not what i’m here for.

complaining about your own wrong tags. this is, admittedly, such a nitpick, and it definitely is more common in certain communities than others. but as longtime followers may know, i’m a bit obsessed with ao3’s tagging system and it drives me BONKERS when people use the wrong tags and follow it with “not actually but there’s no tag for xyz.” here’s the thing: you can still look at all the works that have ANY tag, just the non-canonized ones can’t be filtered on. and the best way to get a tag canonized is, guess what, to USE it! imagine that. also, if you’re using the wrong tag, you’re just going to clog the filter results and get people who don’t actually want to read your fic. just stop.

#writing advice #fanfiction #wren writes #writeblr #this has been in my drafts for a while getting things added to it as i come across them #i think it’s good now #feel free to add your own grievances as long as they’re small #last addition was the commas bc i just dnf’d a fic for having like no commas ever #why is every character talking at warp speed i cant focus #also yes i’m a hypocrite bc you can probably find at least most of these in my fics. ik i have the rp speak one very recently. but thats bc #its a rp turned fic and i’m lazy about editing #i dont mind it in that case i think rp fics are fun its when its clearly Not a rp fic that i get annoyed by it

[the-red-thread-that-strangles]

Continuing where we left off with Akai.

.

Shuichi must've regained conciousness quickly, because when he comes to, strands of soft hair brush against his face. Rei has tipped his head back, holding him steady and leaning in close to check whether he's still breathing. Shuichi actually doing so with sputtering gasps seems to be the wrong move, though. As soon as Shuichi shows signs of life, Rei's heat is gone as the agent hurries to get some distance between them.

The ensuing tirade as Akai's dragged up the stairs to the guest bedroom Okiya Subaru is occupying is decidedly not helping the developing headache and nausea. Everything is pain. But that's par for the course. He needs to eat something, maybe take a painkiller or two, and then he really needs to get back to his watch over Shiho. He's already wasted too much time.

As usual, Rei has other plans. He shoves Shuichi into bed, throws a blanket over him and orders him to stay. put. Shuichi wants to assure Rei that it's fine, he's fine, and he really has better things to do, but the other agent runs off, quietly talking to someone on the phone. Warmth is seeping into Shuichi's bones under the blanket, and the lack of sleep from the last couple of days is rapidly catching up, now that he's bundled up in bed. See, that's why he would usually avoid it. And should really get out, right about now. But he's a little too worn to get up. Maybe he can entrust matters to Rei, just for a little while.

To his surprise, Rei returns a couple of minutes later, stirring Shuichi out of a light doze. He's carrying a glass of water and plate. It smells of summer.

"I thought I made myself clear last time", he mutters to himself, putting the items on the bedside table.

('I won't pamper you, if you collapse again.' Amidst the drowsiness, a half-buried memory threatens to resurface. He might have been sick, before?)

"Not the same", Shuichi drawls in protest, because he can't let Bourbon get away with everything.

('Nobody's forcing you to be here', his memory says. As if anyone could make Bourbon do something he truly objects to.)

Grimacing at the lack of seating opportunities, Rei sits down on the bed next to him.

"Alright, even an old man like you should be able to eat this." Rei nudges a piece of melon against his lips. Shuichi finds himself dutifully taking a couple of bites, and then a sip of water. Eventually Rei relents, gets up. With a click, the room goes dark. Shuichi thinks he might leave for good, now, but then the matress dips as Rei returns to his side. In the unlit room, Shuichi is keenly aware he's only inches away.

('Rest. I'll take the first watch', the echo of a bygone era says.)

Rei stays by his side until the front door rattles downstairs, and the chatter of the Kudos drifts up. Then he flees into the night.

The sweater he came for lies forgotten in its bag in the basement gym.

Shuichi can't remember the last time he slept this well.

III.

"You wouldn't happen to know why Amuro wanted me to fetch him, and I quote, whichever Sherlock Holmes book has The Empty House case? He could just look it up online."

Shinichi is perched precariously on the ladder in the Kudo library, fishing for the book in question. Shuichi's watching it sway, coiled and ready in case he needs to get up and catch the boy. It's probably fine, but he has thought enough about death these past couple of days. He'd really rather not have another avoidable one on his conscience.

"Not particularly", he says, sipping his coffee. For the most part, The Return of Sherlock Holmes is probably of little importance to Furuya. He likely just wanted Shinichi, or rather, Conan (because he's not sure Furuya has cracked that one yet, and it's not his secret to share) out of his hair for the day.

"It's hard to tell with him, but it seemed like it was important." Conan climbs down the ladder. Another potential disaster averted.

Shuichi shrugs. "I don't know of any important missions he has coming up." None that would benefit from reading Holmes, in any case.

At that, Conan raises an eyebrow. "And the two of you have been getting along rather well recently, right?"

There's no reason to lie to the boy. "He's been around. We're working on it." He has been nagging and yelling and an all-around whirlwind, but Shuichi appreciates the company.

"It's about Scotch, right? Why he's mad at you?" Curiosity clear on his face, Conan settles sideways in the comfortable library armchair, legs dangling over the armrest. Watches Shuichi carefully, who can't help but smile. "Now, wherever did you learn that name?" Conan just shrugs, smirks. "I'd rather not reveal my sources. Although this one would surprise you, I think."

There's a limited number of people it could be, considering Furuya himself would never tell, but Shuichi doesn't push it. "Alright. What do you know about him?"

"He was a NOC. A friend of Bourbon. And yours as well?"

"Is", Shuichi corrects, automatically, because that's the important part. "He's still alive."

He finishes his coffee, sets it down. And because he's wanted to talk about this for a while, he tells Shinichi about Scotch.

.

Scotch was a divine blessing. That's neither sugar-coating nor exaggeration, simply fact.

Looking back, Shuichi is pretty sure the rotten company was a major part of why that first year in the organisation was almost unbearable. Everyone, from the executives down, was bad news, but he was most often exposed to his fellow snipers. Korn was fine, mostly calm and keeping to himself. Calvados was annoying in his continuous idolisation of Vermouth, but mostly harmless. Chianti, well, Chianti was the worst.

Shuichi's still not sure how a sniper gets away with being that obnoxious without raising attention to their position ahead of time, screwing over every single operation they're part of. Somehow, she manages - that somehow usually involves killing any unlucky witnesses. That wasn't all, though.

Shuichi is keenly familiar with the thrill of the hunt. He understands the excitement and the pride, even if Chianti is, at best, a middling sniper. But he's always followed a set of principles, and the way Chianti liked to play with her targets, relishing in the pain she caused before finally killing her prey in an absolute disregard of the value of life left him violated at his core. If he wasn't really careful, this could be his future.

And because that wasn't bad enough, Chianti would bring up her accomplishments for the rest of the day, dragging the other snipers into a pissing contest about who had caused the most damage. Shuichi was glad Rye's persona was cold and detached and rarely talked. He wasn't sure he could've kept his cover, otherwise.

So he did what he did best: establish himself as a lone operator. He was clearly superior in skill, didn't even need a spotter. Told whoever was assigned on a mission with him to go take an extended break while he dealt with things. The less time he spent with those lunatics, the better.

Enter stage right: Scotch.

"Scotch made his codename as a sniper. Because he was new in the organisation as well, they assigned him to be my partner."

Shuichi had figured he would hate him, and then he didn't.

Scotch was a breath of fresh air. Cool and composed, very capable. No-nonsense, and most important for Rye's sanity: he wasn't going out of his way to be cruel. Working with Scotch was almost like working a normal job. Sure, they made their business killing people, but finally, here Scotch was, treating it with the appropriate gravitas. What started as smalltalk during stakeouts turned into shared smoke breaks, and, after a while, Scotch insisted they unwind together after missions. They'd grab drinks and junk food, and talk about literally anything but their job. Music, often. Sometimes sports. Life and love, rarely. Off-mission, Scotch was personable when he wanted, even cracking jokes sometimes. Rye couldn't laugh, but Shuichi always felt a little less dead inside.

His risk assessment told him Scotch was dangerous. His was the kind of discipline one could only get from good training. The kind that taught him to take the job seriously, but socialize after a mission, in order to avoid letting the job consume his mind. Shuichi had heard it during academy training, and, seeing the difference in action, thought that just maybe he should've tried sooner. Not that there had been anyone he would've liked to share a drink with, before Scotch. He'd liked to stay in and hide, with Akemi.

That very professionalism really was the downside of working so closely with Scotch. He was the kind of guy who didn't make mistakes. If Rye slipped up Scotch would, indubitably, follow orders and put a bullet through his brain stem without asking further questions. Though maybe, there was a small window of opportunity to sway him, if things came down to it. Scotch, after all, claimed he was mostly in it for the money. (Akai rather hoped the FBI would be willing to reimburse a large sum of money in exchange for an agent's life). With that partnership stable, things were looking up for Rye, for once.

Enter stage left: Bourbon.

Bourbon had made his way to the top in the shadows, appearing almost as if out of thin air. A shark-like investigator, Vermouth's shiny new boytoy, or so the gossips said, and Shuichi quickly realized the less they saw each other, the better.

The word count Rye had uttered in company of BO operatives tripled in a single meeting between them. Because from day zero, Bourbon seemed to hate him, and was pretty vocal about it too. Rye, of course, had a reputation to maintain, and Shuichi's never liked to back down from a challenge, so they ended up arguing more often than not.

On the bright side, most operatives left them to their fights, unwilling to be dragged into a territorial dispute between two predators.

With two notable exceptions: Scotch, calm and sociable, supposedly trying to maintain a work environment where his colleagues didn't shoot each other in the back. At the time, Rye had appreciated the back-up from his partner, but in hindsight, he was probably trying to keep Bourbon out of trouble instead.

The other exception was Gin, wo seemed to delight in watching them try to tear each other apart. Which made it significantly less fun, and resulted in a strange sort of understanding between Bourbon and Rye. They turned their considerable vitriol against Gin, instead. Only Scotch's timely interventions got them out of stupid competitions of who could piss Gin off faster without new holes in their bodies.

With time, the continued involvement of Scotch was the thing that kept attracting Shuichi's attention. The pair of them and Bourbon didn't have joint missions often, usually their respective specialities were needed elsewhere, but every once in a blue moon they did come up. When Bourbon needed security, or he lured out a target for them to take care of; when he had to make the final call of whether it was necessary to permanently deal with a security risk, or if they could be persuaded to keep their stupid mouth shut.

A subtle, but interesting change happened when Bourbon and Scotch were in a room together. Or even just on coms. Granted, Shuichi was a trained intelligence agent and had been partnered with Scotch for a while, but the chinks in their armor became glaringly obvious to him in due time. Both Bourbon and Scotch were capable independantly, but if one paid attention when they were working together, one could see the shift of tension outward, the way they effortlessly trusted each other in a way that was dangerous for two BO operatives. How they got even more efficient about solving problems when combined.

They must have been lovers. Dangerous for them, but they kept it low-profile and ultimately it was very much not his business. He only kept it in mind for blackmail purposes.

Then Masumi found them, returning from several weeks of hell in Osaka.

Each of them saw something they weren't supposed to, that day. Masumi, the three of them. Scotch and Bourbon, how much she meant to him. And Shuichi, well, Shuichi saw how gentle Scotch was with this kid that was prime blackmail material. How he didn't press her for information, but instead taught her some chords with a genuine smile. How Bourbon stepped in to try and remind him who he was supposed to be, before Rye came back. But he saw. And that changed things.

Whether because of the chance meeting or their misadventures in Osaka, Bourbon started joining them for drinks. The two of them still didn't like each other, but Scotch proved himself quite capable of stoking the uneasy cameraderie born from their mutual hatred of Gin into something resembling a tentative alliance. They'd look out for each other, just a little, just as long as there was plausible deniability. It showed in small things; giving someone a lift after a mission; fetching antibiotics when one of them was sick; grabbing an extra blanket for winter stakeouts because someone always insisted he was fine, and then froze his ass off.

They were in the organisation together for a year, after that encounter, and neither Bourbon nor Scotch ever uttered a word about Masumi. Hell, even when Scotch's cover was blown and Shuichi rushed to save his partner, Scotch didn't try to bargain with the dirt on the little girl he'd seen that day. Instead he stole Rye's revolver, and tried to kill himself to erase the evidence of his existance. What a beautiful idiot.

"His cover was blown, but I managed to get to him in time. We faked his death, and put him into witness protection."

It was a damn near thing. Over their struggle, they almost missed the lone car approaching the derelict building, the screeching brakes their warning as it came to a stop downstairs. Shuichi had implored Scotch to stop this nonsense. It wasn't his time to die, not yet, not if Akai could help it. He asked for Scotch's trust, and promised that in exchange they'd both walk out alive.

Someone needed to keep a cool head, and seeing as it wasn't gonna be Scotch, it fell to Akai. A good agent always has a back-up plan, so Shuichi had ushered Scotch onto the railing and then up the emergency staircase's roof. There they waited and watched as Bourbon came and went. In an ironic display of his disposition, Bourbon checked all the ways down, but never once bothered looking up.

With the benefit of hindsight, they could've handled it better, if they had just talked. But at the time, with all the adrenaline and no guarantee Bourbon was like them, Shuichi didn't reach out. Scotch kept his mouth shut, too - understandable, Rye could've been lying through his teeth in an attempt to out both him and Bourbon. Theirs was a fragile trust, forged out of hunches and faith, and it was barely enough to get all of them out alive.

After Bourbon left, they smashed Scotch's phone, just to be safe, and faked his death by blowing up a surrogate corpse in a decommissioned building. For lack of time, they used what was supposed to be Shuichi's own exit strategy. Thus, the corpse found charred in the wreckage was slightly off in build and stature. But back then, Gin wasn't as paranoid yet, and it was good enough.

Not for Bourbon though, who hounded Rye with a vengeance. Shuichi avoided him like the plague for two months, at which point he didn't need to worry about him anymore, because his cover was blown sky high and he had other problems.

"It was sloppy work, and Bourbon never quite got over Scotch's supposed death. Before he could confront me, though, my cover was blown, and I left for the US." Shuichi had turned tail and ran, relishing the opportunity to get out and breathe freely again. There's no way he can tell that to the boy. And knowing what it cost, he wouldn't do it again.

.

Shinichi waits for further elaboration, which doesn't come. After some minutes of silence, he pipes back up. "Let me guess. You left him in the dark, even after you came back to Japan."

Shuichi nods. Smart kid, gets it in one. "Even if I had a safe way to contact him - which I didn't - Scotch never told me Furuya was PSB before he went into witness protection. Suspicions alone could've been my death sentence." He's forced to smile. "Well. An earlier one, I suppose."

"He can be pretty intense, can't say that I blame you." The boy shivers, eyes distant. "Coming clean must have been scary, huh?"

Coming clean had mostly been a relief, really. Furuya was too persistant, it was simply taking up too many resources to keep at arm's length someone who, for all intents and purposes, should have been an ally. Fear in general is a rather foreign emotion to Akai, and has never really crossed Shuichi's mind where Furuya is concerned. Not even when they'd pointed their guns at each other that fateful night in this same mansion's entrance hall. There had been anticipation, the electric thrill of meeting an equal, and the tacit hope that their little game of cat and mouse, intruiging as it was, might finally come to an end so they could focus on what really mattered.

"Not really." He shrugs. "It was necessary for us to lay our cards on the table. There were too many misunderstandings and lies between us. You can't build a partnership on a foundation like that."

Conan nods, seemingly lost in his own head. "How did he take it?" he finally asks, quietly.

"Oh, he was absolutely livid." The bruises had still been fun colours several weeks later.

Conan goes a little pale.

"To be clear, while unproductive, his anger is understandable. Thankfully, Scotch and I share the blame, 50/50, so it's really not that bad. Furuya's coming around." And between all that anger, when they'd put Scotch on speaker, and Furuya's eyes had gone wide with surprise and tentative hope at that first 'Hi, Zero', Shuichi had known going through the semi-official channels to try and dig up where Scotch was hiding had been worth it.

Shinichi is lost in thought, for a while. Finally, he seems to have reached a conclusion. With a tired smile that belies his actual age, he asks, just a little hopefully: "It will be alright, then?"

Shuichi's eyes are drawn to the now-empty take-away cup of black coffee that Conan brought with him from Poirot, dedicated to 'that idiot' in Amuro's neat handwriting. He smiles, and ruffles Conan's hair.

"...yeah. Yeah, I think it will."

.

Sweater weather AU masterpost

#akai accidentally giving Conan relationship advice? it's more likely than you think #the first draft had rei feed akai a banana but I couldn't type that with a straight face and rei is already suffering enough.so melon it is #supposedly it's high in potassium and sugars and therefore good to give someone after they faint #akai: and then I talked to him about scotch. also akai: says a whole eight sentences on the matter xD #sweater weather AU #akam #iris writes things #long post #the rich inner life of akai shuichi

[northern-passage]

i've been having an itch to write an if game, do you have any tips? i feel like its a very bad idea to jump straight in head first yk?

honestly my advice IS to just jump right in. just start writing! can't do anything either way if you don't have anything written down.

besides that, i find i always ask myself two questions when i start an IF story: what kind of story am i trying to tell, and how am i going to use interactive fiction to tell it?

are you looking to write something shorter or longer, linear or branching? and how do you want the player to interact with the narrative?

for example: when i started one day hike, i knew it was going to be linear, but i also wanted it to feel very personal and intimate. i used the link mechanic to insert memories or inner monologues from the main character that the player could click through to experience in the middle of the present narrative. it allowed me to put the player in the main character's head and it broke up the reading experience and still allowed for some interaction.

so with that in mind, while i was writing, i made sure to look for moments where i could potentially insert those links, and it definitely influenced the way i ended up writing that story and dividing the passages.

then with tnp, i wanted an actual customizable player character, i wanted LIs, and i wanted a lot of choices and branching. so when i write that, i'm sure to pay attention for any scenes where i could put a choice, or add some flavor text, or even possibly branch the narrative.

unlike one day hike, the player interacts and directly influences the story with their choices, so i have to account for a lot more and actually do a bit of planning as i write.

it's important to figure this part out early on because you want to make sure you're thinking about these things, and how they effect the narrative you're writing as you write it; both tnp and one day hike are interactive fiction, but i approached them very differently during the writing process because of how i wanted the stories to be told.

BUT that's not to say that you can't change it later on down the line. others have said it before me but when you start out it's soooo important to just let your first draft BE a first draft. it's not going to be perfect right away and that's okay. as long as you get some words down on the page, you can edit it later and mold it into what you really want it to be. both of my stories have changed a lot as i've written them, that's just part of the process.

so once you've answered those two questions, you can really dig in and start writing. there's lots of things you can do with IF, don't be afraid to get weird with it and experiment to find something that you like and that really enhances your story.

#also sorry if u were looking for more coding advice instead of writing but i am BAD at coding LOL #but there are a lot of people that have coding tags and there are a lot of twine templates that help walk you through that part #the twine documentation itself is not that difficult and is all available online #when it comes to the UI of your game i always suggest dealing with that last. again you need something tangible and written down first #before you can do anything else #anyways GOOD LUCK!!! #writing #ask #anonymous

[burning-academia-if]

Hello!! Are there any tips you'd give new writers as to how flesh out a character?? Have a nice rest of your day/night!

I think my advice is a collection of things I've read from other people that stuck in my brain well/worked with my writing style. I should also warn that my creation process is messy and non linear lol. With that said, here's a random assortment of how I go about making/writing characters:

1. Writing is personal which means what works for other people might not work for you. Follow what works and throw out the rest!

2. When making a character, you don't need to know everything about them actually. What you do need to know is usually dependent on the story, but in general I usually start with a general idea of backstory, ideals/morals, goals, fixed personality traits, and maybe a collection of likes/interests. The more I work on the story the more the character gets fleshed out, mostly because I develop the story and characters together.

2. Flaws and strengths aren't always opposites. A character's kindness can also be the reason they're a pushover. A character who's smart and analytical can over analyze everything to the point of anxiety, etc

3. If a character serves no purpose or is redundant throw them out or shove them into a secondary role!

4. Why are your main characters the main characters? How do they affect the plot and how does the plot affect them?

5. A weird one that's more specific to how I write but, my characters are the biggest point of symbolism in my story. They're the main characters because they carry those symbols and themes. I likely won't know what that is when I first start outlining/writing, but they do. If they aren't one of the main anchors of symbolism, that's usually another sign to me they're meant to be a secondary/tertiary character (not that those positions can't tie in to the story symbolically either) because they're probably more there to move plot then anything else

6. Finally, sometimes the concept of a character changes from concept/outline to the actual story. That's fine and I think it's worse to fight it then it is to just go alone with it. A lot of writing is just figuring things out as you go, no matter if you outline or not.

7. Honestly if you're a new writer I'd also argue: don't worry about it lol I think when people try to get into writing when they're older they overthink all the "rules" and how to make something "good" that they intimidate themselves out of trying to write in the first place. Have fun, write tropes and cliches, do whatever you enjoy as long as it makes you fall in love with writing.

#em answers #long post #writing advice #I don't think I'll ever be able to properly articulate how I work/write honestly because I'm so chaotic about it #anyway I'd also argue the way to get good at something is to just do it #things usually don't click until you're in the midst of creating

[vole-mon-amour]

Johnny's range: from taking on Arasaka tower to crying in front of V in their apartment. he's so used to barking orders because so many things have been out of his control for so long.

but in order to comfort him, I need him helpless, vulnerable, defenseless, and maybe overwhelmed. and it sounds worse than what i have in my mind, but still. no barking orders, just tenderness. deep genuine talk. no bullshit such as 'you mean nothing to me.'

that man, just like Kerry, needs so much fucking therapy. (that's why they can work on their feelings together)

#natiswriting #cyberpunk 2077 #johnny silverhand #silverdyne #cb2077 #i'm trying to figure out how the hell do i get out of that ooc silverdyne that i wrote #i need a good balance between his sassiness and his ability to be tender and understanding #also #i need some dog poetry i think #i am Thinking #if you're reading this and you have advice on how to write johnny in character #send it my way pls #though he IS helpless in my fic since he's coming down from both a surgery and a fever

[pastafossa]

how long did it take for your fanfiction to start getting some recognition? did you "advertise" it or "promote" it in any way?

i know that people say this doesn't matter, but i feel like even if you love writing the feeling that you're just talking to yourself gets pretty exhausting at some point. so i'm not talking about having thousands of readers but rather like. what's your advice to have readers at least?

- someone who hasn't even started writing their ideas yet...

LONG POST INCOMING.

First I want you (and everyone else reading who may be struggling with this) to know I'm absolutely with you and generally think 'it doesn't matter' is a horseshit answer. It's this weird thing we do in fanfic that we generally don't apply to other artforms that I've seen. If you're a painter, a playwriter, a novel writer, and you say, 'I want at least a few people to love my paintings, I want some people to come see my play, I want my novel to be published and do at least ok' we all support them, we nod, we agree, we talk about how they can do that successfully. It's considered normal to want some amount of success. But hold up fanfic instead and it becomes, 'how dare you want that praise, you're being egotistical, you should be writing only for yourself'. I'm not saying you can't do that - there are some who do - but it's definitely this bizarre switchup to say there's this single artform in which we can't want attention on our work and that there's something wrong with us if we do. That can be an absolute creativity killer depending on what kind of writer you are (hi, extrovert writer here who only gets writy writy juice from social interaction - aka comments and discussion. So I totally get it being exhausting just doing this on your own).

So let me say this categorically: you're allowed to want things. You're allowed to want kudos, comments, and hits. You're allowed to want messages and asks. You're allowed to want some readers you can talk with about your story.

You. Are. Allowed.

Ok, now that that's out of the way.

Edit: more below the cut cause I didn't realize the length of this on mobile

TRT definitely didn't get popular overnight. The first four chapters were sporadic, and then I took a hiatus due to life things for a couple years. During that time, it kept slowly ticking up bit by bit on AO3, with occasional comments. Iirc it was hovering somewhere around 700 kudos by the time I came back in Jan 2021 - and that's a awesome! It's big! But it's also a number that was gained over a few years, to put it in perspective. It absolutely took off after I came back though, and over the past 2 years both TRT's popularity and the stats of my one-shots in the fandom have grown. Part of that's just the time frame (TRT's been up about 6 years), but it's also due to a couple things that I think built up TRT's popularity.

Building a tumblr presence was huge. Ironically I didn't really intend to do it for advertising; I just wanted a place readers could ask questions or we could all freak out about Matt or I could post some drabbles or updates on the fic. But considering the fact that AO3 and tumblr are the top fic sites online, I wound up promoting my fics unintentionally just by being a friendly, happy tumblr user and fandom goer. All I did was follow the courtesy rules I knew - post stuff regularly, reblog, comment, make friends with other writers, just be friendly in your neighborhood because you love the lady with the gif flower shop on the corner or the wise old pizza maker who serves hot fandom takes all day long. I built familiarity with my writing and name by posting short fics, and by taking part in challenges and prompt lists and short requests for drabbles if I saw them, though that's something that's hard to do if you don't have time (I've got less time now, but I started this blog in the early pandemic so I had aaaaall the time in the world to write and was using it to stay sane). I tagged religiously because I LOVE tags, but that helped, too. Tumblr's search system is half broken but the half that works means people CAN find your writing even if they aren't following. Doing all this over here got me a huge boost over on AO3.

I will say that if you can have a fandom tiktok presence, there's a lot of fic reviewers, edits, and good stuff that can get your fic some readers (I've had some people do this on tiktok for TRT and it sent a surge over). I personally haven't done anything there yet, in part because while I'm on tiktok I try to keep my actual, real person accounts separate from my fic/fandom accounts and i haven't bothered to make a second account solely dedicated to the Pasta name yet.

Longfics on AO3 have the advantage in fic stats in the sense that every time you add a chapter, it gets bumped to the top of the front page and you get seen again. Eventually a lot of people will click out of curiosity. They may not, however, give you a lot of user subs or add to your other fic stats at first, whereas if you do a bunch of oneshots you're more likely to get user subs but less hits on each fic. This is a decision you'll have to make, and I know folks in both camps who built their followings using different methods on each. Either way, it helps if you're posting regularly, either in a long fic or one-shots. I call this the Stephen King method, who said he just writes a ton and throws it all at the wall, and eventually you get enough good despite the bad that you start building a following.

Learn learn learn. This is standard fic advice I always give, but it's still relevant. I think one of the reasons imo TRT has done so well is that I've spent a lot of time over the years learning how to write and edit - I read a ton of books (sometimes just to figure out HOW good authors structure their stories), I took a lot of English classes, I've taken some creative writing courses in my spare time. That two year hiatus was heavily spent doing a lot of research and practice around an original novel I want published one day. And I used ALL of that in TRT, just to see what it was like to put it all together. Be hungry for knowledge, be hungry to learn. The more you learn, the better your fic will be, and the more people that will click.

That learning also includes a looooong string of fanfics that started at a very novice level (hello 12 year old me), to fics that were ok and did moderately well but weren't anything huge. Hell, I had a tumblr account for my previous fandoms before I wandered over to Pastafossa, and while those fics did decently, I never had the huge reaction I've gotten here. But I used each and every one of those fics to learn and grow and adapt. Treat your own fics the same way. If it doesn't get hits, try to learn from it before moving on to the next idea a little wiser and a slightly better writer than before. There will always be people who start to follow you along the way.

A small one, but important: I swear to god, do not shit-talk yourself. Not in the summary, not in the tags, not in the A/Ns. I'm not talking, 'this is my first fic!' That's fine. I mean trashing your own work. Shit like, 'ha ha this sucks, it's terrible but oh well' will absolutely lower your stats, because people will believe you and will ditch your fic. On top of that, it's just mean to yourself, and as I said above, you want to be a good person in the fandom neighborhood. That means not breaking the windows of your own house.

People generally think of summaries as a side note, but a shitty summary can absolutely tank your stats. Treat it like the rest of your fic - this is the trailer before the movie, and it's a huge element of what gets people interested in the first place.

Lastly, like I said at the top, the biggest factor is time. There are people who post one fic and explode in popularity, absolutely. But far, far more little followings are built on the bones of time, of abandoned fics, of muttering and highlighting phrases in books in the middle of the night, of trying and trying and trying until we have at last have a breakthrough and then drag that breakthrough forward with us to the next fic. TRT is absolutely one part lightning in a bottle - the biggest success I've ever had anywhere with my writing, a confluence of fandom factors and world events that gave people (and me!) time to write and read. But it's also standing on the back of whole lot of fics I wrote that look like everyone else's: ones with no comments, low interaction, insults; ones where I had precisely zero idea of what I was doing, but wanted to try anyway. And the way I got through that, as a writer who needs interaction in order to create, was by building friendships in fandom so that even when a fic didn't do all that well, I still had friends I could talk to about the characters, the world, the fandom itself. I asked friends to look them over and give advice. I had friends being my cheerleaders. And if you're an extrovert like me, or just a writer who needs that to create, then those connections are vital as you build up a following.

That's a lot of what I've done. I know there are other ways to build a following, but this is generally what I've done, what I've learned to do, and it seems to have worked. Just remember that there are no bad fics - just learning opportunities. Learn something, and that fic's a success, and work as hard as you can to make those fandom connections to carry you through the process.

I absolutely hope to see your work around one day, so that I can be on of those followers!

#writing advice #fic advice #fic tips #building a following #fanfic #fic #writing tips #tbh i was shocked and still kind of am by how popular trt's become #because i have had ZERO previous experiences in my fic writing time that aligned #BUT #there are absolutely things I did in hindsight I think that helped a ton #and all of the practice and writing fic including the ones with zero interaction helped #i learned how to be a good fandom goer even when i didn't write #because i genuinely loved my little neighborhoods #and i used a lot of that when i started writing again cause why wouldn't i??? #also avoid petty fandom drama you don't need to waste your energy on it #i WANT my blog to generally be a positive space cause i've got shit going on elsewhere and i don't need more #but that also means i think that people like wandering through cause they know there's a lot of happy things here #be the person in the neighborhood watering your daisies and putting out a rainbow pinwheel even when ted down the block #is feuding with susan up the block over the height of ted's fence

[adhd-culture--is]

adhd culture is using stream of consciousness writing to get a better grip on your thoughts. yeah this is an advice post in disguise.

stream of consciousness is when you just sit down with a pen & paper (or screen and keyboard) and just Write Whatever Comes To Mind. the goal is to never stop writing. if you’re trying to brainstorm something, this will help your hyperactive brain to hone in its hyperactivity into the purpose that you want.

adhd culture is trying that out maybe

#neurodivergent #nd #neurodivergence #neurodiverse #adhd culture is #mod durdle #oops it’s an advice post! #also good for studying #and creativity #genuinely i had 3 hours to write an essay about this short story but i didnt really know what to write #so i just sat down and started word vomitting and i had a thesis within like 5 mins