#also storycrafting is still!

[sparingiscaring]

Did my first Mask playthrough with the update- it's satisfying. That's the best way to put it! You can do so much, unlock locations item, and dip your fingers in so many pies... it feels fuller! It feels more like the history, of London.

Like, of COURSE my PC, Miss Robin would set out to marry Griz, and be swayed by Milton. Of COURSE she would meet a certain Entrepreneur with Tentacles with a different name, and fail to set up his business quite yet, but instead broker a future for the Rubbery Men in London. Of course she would turn to the plan with Parliment, when the murder investigation seems to be going nowhere. Of course she'd write a manifesto against the Masters, and yet still see Pages as a brother, just in the way she does Archie. Of course the ceiling would open, and the sun would kill many.

It's delightful. It's wonderful. It's weird and it's amazing. I adore it, now.

#when i am asked to make a character #i make a contradiction #before this. it was too settled. either you were doing Badly at a lot of things or just Really Good at two things #but now??? #now i feel like a protagonist in a fallen london game #and i am allowed to be complex and have contradictions #I care for griz! for her inexperience in romance! for her want be efficient and practical! how it ties into her character! #i feel charmed by milton! i also love virginia in this! she's such a bitch to me! she's great! #i used to hate pages but honestly i'm endeared by it! unfortunately! especially after the window situation and it's fear for your life! #archie!! baby boy! lil guy! criminal! #i still have no clue who committed the murder! #i have stopped trying to solve it! because things are going great! #it's fine i'll do it eventually but! i can get distracted! i can save him other ways! #motr spoilers #mask of the rose #also FERRET #i love them #i SWEAR my friend i'm going to get those rats in the church for ya NEXT TIME #also storycrafting is still! #so! #fun!

[audioroleplayconfessions]

On the subject of fanart limits;

If you're referring to VAs imposing strict limitations on the kind of fan works people can make, then I agree. People have come to me really nervous about making fan art of my characters because they'd had bad experiences with another VA who basically disallowed headcanons. The artist was unsure if they were allowed to even come up with OCs set in VA's universes. That sucks. Headcanons and OCs are awesome, seeing what people come up with is some of the most meaningful response I can imagine to storycrafting, showing that my stories have stuck with people enough that they're still thinking about it after the audio is over!

One of my favorites was when a trans artist asked if it's okay for them to share art where they headcanon one of my characters as trans. I treasure that.

Conversely I can't agree with the other asker saying there should be no limits and that the VA should be paying you if you make things they approve, a request to not make adult content isn't a commission. For a lot of people, especially when you're writing your own characters, you put a lot of yourself into them. Most of my characters are explorations of my own personal insecurities, I use stories to explore these feelings in a fictionalized world as a way to try and understand and overcome some of my flaws, and because I think that putting a bit of myself in my characters makes them feel more real, more relatable, and if people get something like that out of my stories then that's fantastic. I think it's fair to ask people to please not make NSFW art of my characters, since the asker was replying to another asking about NSFW fanart. One of my main characters is built out of my own self-doubt, and is deeply personal. Making porn of that character would be inappropriate.

Come to think of it, something a little like that happened. A channel started stealing my scripts a while back, and that particular character's script was changed to be all flirty with them calling the listener "cutie". That felt deeply violating. The script theft was bad, but the changes made me feel sick.

There's a reason there are rules in places where you can share scripts for VAs to fill that stipulate a VA can't change the script without the writer's knowledge and consent. Characters and stories can come from a deeply personal place, and I think it's important to keep that in mind. Whenever artists ask me what my limits are with fanart, I tell them go nuts, I love seeing what people come up with! I don't like limiting artists, and when they ask for refs I often add to say feel free to go off-model. That said, I think some limit is fair, and I draw the line for most of my characters at NSFW things. I understand some VAs are cool with that, especially if they themselves make NSFW audios, but I don't think it's unreasonable to ask people not to make porn of my boys.

To the original asker, most VAs I've talked to are cool with headcanons in art, but if you're asking specifically about NSFW fan works, especially for a VA that doesn't do NSFW audios, it's probably best to ask first.

TLDR I remember a VA imposing strict limits on what is allowed for fanworks. That's dumb. But also I can't agree with a blanket no-limits at all.

.

#VA answers #anon replies to anon

[ethereousdelirious]

Chronic overthinking moment but at the moment I'm turning over the idea of like. Idk if anyone calls it this, but story theory and sickfic. Storycraft?

I am always chasing my Ideal Sickfic and someday I would like to be good at just banging them out like it's nothing, and that requires the sort of deep thinking I'm doing now...

When I was writing for Sicktember, I made sure that my sick character always had A Goal. Which I think was a good start. But usually that goal was illness-related: "Hide my symptoms," "Don't pass out," etc. I think the next step is to give the character a goal that is impeded by or secondary to their illness.

And THAT'S the tricky part. I made that list of scenarios a while back, but a scenario is not the same as a goal. I was thinking about making a list of goals, and I still might, but I think what really makes a sickfic delicious is a tailored goal that really, REALLY suits the character.

I could write about my beloved boy W.illiam T S.pears rescuing a lost kitten while suffering from a head cold. I could do whatever I needed to do to sell that narrative to the audience. But it wouldn't HIT. He has nothing to do with kittens. The goal isn't custom-tailored, it just doesn't NOT fit.

So phase 2 of writing Things For Me That Appeal To Me (And Also To Other People Sometimes) is really training my imagination and ability to write when I don't feel like it, using the power of self-discipline and self-bribery with little candies.

Disclaimer: You can reblog this, but it's my own personal musings. I'm not trying to make any rules or guidelines for other people to follow.

#ethereous speaks

[thecoramaria]

How to foreshadow without predictability?

Thanks for your ask, Peratrice!

So first I'd like to say that a fanfic (or any story really) being predictable doesn't always mean it's bad. I think the frustration people have with predictable storytelling is when the story still expects you to be surprised, which makes the reader feel like they're being talked down to. That's why, if you feel like your story is too predictable, it's better to repackage a plot twist as dramatic irony instead.

But of course, sometimes you want to foreshadow a plot twist or reveal, and that can be great too! As I'm sure we all know, foreshadowing is important to prevent a plot twist from feeling contrived or coming out of nowhere. We all want it to be the moment where the reader smacks themselves on the forehead and goes "Oh my god, that's what this all was!" Unfortunately, it's impossible to write a plot twist in such a way that every reader will have that reaction, but I'll get more into that later.

So when it comes to plot twists and foreshadowing, other resources will talk about things like hiding your foreshadowing in plain sight, using red herrings, or having your foreshadowing also seem to serve another purpose in the narrative, all of which are great techniques that you should research.

But since this is a fanfic writing advice blog, I'd like to focus on one big advantage our medium has:

Readers come into each story assuming canon is the default.

Yes, even in AUs to a degree, though I will admit this tip is best applied to stories that are still rather grounded in the canon world as opposed to, say, a coffee shop AU. That means you have a full banquet of pre-existing expectations that you can twist and subvert. Unless you tell them or imply otherwise, the reader will always assume that two characters are besties like they are in canon, or have the same powers and abilities, or the world is mostly the same.

That means a great way to foreshadow in fanfiction specifically without giving anything away is to allow the reader to believe those default aspects of canon, while also sprinkling in some hints for your twist. You reader will be so sure that you're sticking to a canon element that when you don't, they'll be gobsmacked in the best way!

To use an example from my own work, I have a story that is presented as diverging from canon after the first cutscene, but is still very much grounded in the canon world and lore. Therefore, readers expected me to follow said lore instead of change it. It was the perfect set up to have my OC villain awaken a sacred power that one of the heroes would typically awaken in canon.

Now, I still primed readers to my divergences from canon by having a princess already be crowned queen and married (the canon hero and the OC villain respectively), and I employed red herrings and made sure to provide a detailed explanation of the lore this story was abiding by (since canon is also pretty inconsistent so I needed to set things straight), but my readers were so sure that the canon character would awaken this power that when my villain did instead, they were shocked! But it also made sense.

Now, no matter what, no one is going to react to a plot twist the same way. Some people are better at picking up on foreshadowing. Some people have read so much that they know all the tropes and clichés. Some people have a greater understanding of storycraft: they can spot the Chekhov's guns or they know what needs to happen next to jumpstart the tension or fulfill a character's arc. I had one reader predict another one of my subverting-canon plot twists and they explained how they knew with such a great understanding of storytelling that I was really impressed, and guess what? They still loved that twist! They had the satisfying moment of "I knew it!" which to me means that even though the twist was predictable for them, it was still executed well.

So yeah, there's my answer. Hope this helps!

#cora's original posts #cora's ask box #just fanfic things #foreshadowing #fanfic writing #creative writing

[archer3-13]

FE3H storycrafting ideas: Different Appearances and Histories for different routes

im sure others have had similar ideas, and well it probably wouldn't be practical from a development standpoint [without cutting some other stuff out anyways] it is a bit of a shame that recruited students not only share appearances across routes but also often share their little 'history' blurbs across routes as well. It saves on development by unifying assets and story elements but still, it probably would have been better for immersion if nothing else if variance appeared.

i haven't hammered the whole thing out, but for an example case of what I had in mind, lets look at alternate dorothea ideas

dorothea silver snow: the default dorothea timeskip in both appearance, history and personality.

dorothea azure moon: frost queen exterior but the most generous dorothea variant, this is due to having had to take a refugee train into faerghus territory when fleeing resulting in a lot more firsthand experience with imperial brutality and persecution during the timeskip. as such shes a lot more cold in demeanour for self preservation's sake and out of bitterness but prone to gestures of extreme generosity as means of honouring the many dead shes come to know in the refugee train. elegant winter getup with a hair fringe covering one side of her face to hide scarring from a particularly brutal imperial 'inspection'.

dorothea verdant wind: party socialite with a loose purse but plenty of gold variant, when fleeing to the alliance she made her way to deirdru and began concocting money making schemes to support herself and fellow opera house refugees in a new big city, eventually settling on theatre performance after noting its popularity in deirdru and soon pioneering the operetta as head of the new deirdru operetta company. now flush with cash even after covering operations, dorothea became big on the society party scene but has begun feeling restless over the amount of gold she has and what she should do with it. flashy leicester fashion with some modifications made for ease of stagework shes become noted for her 'iconic' cap hat in leicester circles.

dorothea crimson flower: dorotheas worst academy traits amplified, close minded despite her background and prone to sycophancy and flattery to secure upwards social mobility despite otherwise showcasing disdain and cynicism for the same circles she aims to enter [and in general]. her outfit would be the most like her school outfit but modified in imperial military fashion/style with an emphasis on militarization.

and thats what im scrapping at so far. be interested in hearing the thoughts of others on how one could spin this.

#fire emblem #fe3h #fancrafting #fan writing #fe16 #not safe for edelvangelists

[tobiasdrake]

Sinister Strange is so over the top, but you can't deny his style. "You ever have that dream where you're falling, as if you've been pushed off a tall ledge? That was probably me." What a fantastic line and delivery for this dipshit of a concept.

Like. What the character is, is a multiversal serial killer consumed by the Darkhold who murders variants of himself in retaliation for... Uh... Not being happy with their lives. Something something never got to be with Christine. It's pretty dumb, and he's not in the movie for very long.

But he is entertaining as shit. Cumberbatch oozes with slimy charisma, and he's shot and edited in all the right ways. The two Stranges turn the music itself into a weapon to fight each other with, with Stephen ultimately sucker-punching sinister with a harp note.

Wizard duel bullshit! I'm here for it! Even if the character is stupid!

He also implies that he caused the Incursion in his reality due to his Darkhold-induced multiversal serial killings. Which. Uh. Okay. So this Incursion-destroyed reality hosting an evil Strange is not related to the unmade reality hosting an evil Strange from What If or to the unsuspecting reality where Strange-838 caused an Incursion?

Part of me wants to be like, "That's just sloppy storycraft right there." Things that feel like they should be connected to each other but just aren't. They're just... Incredibly similar unrelated plot points.

But another part of me feels like this is the point. The sheer quantity of realities where Strange has annihilated the fabric of existence by getting on his shit drives home that message that Stephen "having to be the one holding the knife" does more harm than good.

This is now 3 out of 4 Stephens who are dicks. 4 out of 5 if you count What If Stephen who isn't part of this film. And again, our Stephen must reckon with the fact that the jury's still out on the last one.

#marvel #marvel cinematic universe #doctor strange #doctor strange in the multiverse of madness #stephen strange

[emberfaye]

oooh that tarot writing thing looks interesting!

The Sun and the Page of Cups :)

19. THE SUN: POSITIVITY (What is your greatest writing strength or skill?)

Please don't make me compliment myself No but for real...I think I'm a jack of all trades kind of writer. I can write different genres, I can write different styles. I'm pretty good about balancing elements (dialogue, narrative, pacing, metaphors/similes). I understand characterization and storycraft. I have really good ideas and can do them solidly, even if the outcome still remains better in my head.

32. PAGE OF CUPS: A PLEASANT SURPRISE (What was your most recent writing-related pleasant surprise?) 

That someone searched up my stories to cheer themselves up. They knew my stories would be able to improve their day. I very much was shook.

Also, I recently saw someone I don't talk to much actually comment on a social media site talking about my story and reccing it. That kind of blew my mind.

#ask answered #tarot #writing #shubaka #interaction

[absolutebearings]

ive stopped expecting any historical accuracy sensitivity or respect from vs but it is still kind of a surprise to see how fucking bad the storycraft aspect got too

just in case anyone might think it's reasonable for ivar to conclude that a man who constantly complains about violence and never takes up the defense of the people he's responsible for isn't equipped to fend off a murder attempt, we have thorfinn's newest Chief Simp to tell the audience exactly what to think. we have to screech the action to a halt and stuff any criticism in the mouth of a ridiculous strawman, a big dumb arrogant misogynist meanieface who ruined colonialism by being trigger happy, to have it painstakingly shot down by the person thorfinn most grievously wronged who sternly explains to us that none of this is thorfinn's fault and he would have solved it perfectly with his superior violence skills despite this entire situation being precipitated by his bad choices and incompetent leadership. this is indefensibly poor writing. it is astounding how little faith this story has in the strength of its own argument and the intelligence of the reader.

im not even going to get into how embarrassing it is that the author is this desperate to make sure no one blames the historical colonizer he turned into an uwu gary stu who would have solved all the problems with colonialism with his superior ideology, because then i would also have to get into how seeing the fandom repeat actual goddamn colonizer apologia in defense of these writing choices makes me violently depressed. i wish i'd never heard about this series.

#cello salts

[circle-of-memes]

So one of the hardest things about being a Game Master or Dungeon Master, for me, is that I would put hours and hours into worldbuilding and storycrafting only to have most of my work not come up at the table. Since I also believe in not railroading my players, it felt like a constant battle to make the stuff I prepared enticing enough that the players would choose to engage with it willingly. Frequently, this set me up for disappointment, and I was finding that I was dreading game night.

But I also noticed something else. When my players would engage with the story or worldbuilding, it still didn’t quite satisfy. Sure, it was nice to show off my hard work and when the players genuinely had fun with it, it would make for an epic game session. But something still felt missing. What worked for me is asking myself “what do I enjoy about this game as a player? What keeps me coming back? Why do I spend so much time worldbuilding and character-building?” Now, this answer will probably be different for each person but if you’re anything like me, it would be some variation of “I enjoy the element of discovery, of going on an adventure and finding out what’s around the corner.” When I control the world and flesh it out in detail, that feeling of discovery can be pretty fleeting. By the time my players encounter any given detail, I’d already “discovered” it for myself. 

So once I’d realized this about myself, what did I do? To be honest, I wallowed for a bit. I even handed off my games to another DM, because I was afraid that the core thing I enjoyed about the game was incompatible with leading game sessions. But then this current season of The Adventure Zone dropped and introduced me to a new tool: The Quiet Year. 

The Quiet Year is a standalone game from Buried Without Ceremony that facilitates cooperative worldbuilding between its players. The McElroy family used it to flesh out the details of a broad concept that their DM had. In this manner, they all had a hand in building the world that they would explore in their upcoming game of DnD. 

The next time I had a chance to DM a campaign, I utilized this same technique. I have to tell you, it not only did wonders for my sense of discovery, but also offloaded a lot of worldbuilding and provided bounds for my creativity to flow between sessions. I also discovered that when you give your players more of a role in the worldbuilding of a setting, it makes them feel more invested in the world and its story. 

So, if your DM struggles are anything like mine, I highly recommend giving The Quiet Year (or other worldbuilding games if you know of any) a try before starting your next DnD campaign. You never know what you might find!

#dnd #dungeon master #game master #the adventure zone #the quiet year #dungeon master advice #game master advice #tabletop #tabletop advice #dnd 5e #DMing isn't fun #But wait it can be!

[triplechain]

[Artist: @paradoxbeta]

Name: ??? Nickname(s): Cent, weird cat, rock creature, friend Age: ??? Affiliation: Chaos, Triple Chain Race: ???

A strange creature that started following Cly and the Totem after they traveled through the first portal. Skid was the one to start calling him "Cent" for whatever reason, and the nickname stuck. No one's entirely sure what he is or what his goals are, but hey, he's chill. Usually.

Cent has a penchant for throwing rocks at people. They're small rocks (because he's small, only around 3 feet long including his tail) and usually not thrown out of malice, but more out of curiosity and to see someone's reaction. Results vary. He also possesses a set of teeth that split open from the "top" of his head, and can inject small doses of venom as a result. It's not deadly, but it still sucks.

Strange really doesn't even begin to describe Cent. He communicates through sounds that can best be described as "buzzing". He's a creature of darkness but has glowing antenna. He can't scar. He acts like a cat. He picks flowers for his friends. He's got lore and a somewhat intricate backstory. No one knows what texture he is.

Holpar absolutely adores this strange beast, and Skid is another close friend. Cent may or may not have tried to kidnap Yves on their first meeting (but that's water under the bridge for the most part). Peter is terrified of him and there's some beef between Cent and Shields thanks to calling him a cat [derogatory] as opposed to cat [affectionate]. He likes hiding in Cly's hood and in Horse's pouches and has curled up in Spoons's magic spoon.

[designer's FRIEND'S notes: I'm not actually the one who designed Cent! He belongs entirely to my friend, who made Cent for the specific purpose of throwing rocks at Cly. She saw the image in the previous post and...]

[Cent actually started as something akin to a Wolfos and later a Zoro-Wolfos mix/infected Wolfos... which lasted for all of a few hours before the First Cent was doodled and decided upon. He was supposed to be a "centipede monster" thing but you know what he's better like this. The mother is more centipede.]

[genuinely Cent is one of the main reasons why Triple Chain has persisted for as long as it had. While it's always fun to talk about ideas to friends, having another character that I didn't "control" made for more fun storycrafting and bouncing around ideas. And having another character for Chain 2 to interact with (since Chain C wasn't really a thing until a month in) meant I was more invested in trying to Do Things so I could see more of Cent and his whole story.]

#triple chain #tc cent #doodles and designs #history #triple chain profile collection #artist: paradoxbeta

[anavkour]

it's been a bit! turns out undergoing surgery makes you really tired all the time and you don't have any energy to have thoughts.

however, i've been slowly writing things. nothing specific or that i could call a "project." I got the game bundle for palestine and it had a solo-rpg called A Familiar Witch (it's a supplement of A Village Witch, which I've wanted to play), and it led to some really fun storycrafting! I hadn't considered solo rpgs as a way to just have fun writing something, but now I'm definitely going to use them to keep my writing muscles limber.

I'm also knee deep in rp-server plots + some of us just finished watching tbskyen's The Boss Designs of Bloodborne and we're having Thoughts about it, so again, no specific projects as of late. It feels weird to be trying to resurrect a writeblr and being like "yeah I'm not really like, working on a story or a novel or anything." Still waiting for inspiration to strike, or something. I'm having fun with what I'm doing anyway, which is the important part.

#nova.txt

[rainyblue]

1/25/23

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T. J. Klune

This was a very sweet, cute, feel-good book that made me laugh with a great message about found-families and tolerance for people we perceive as different from us, but I think it was maybe just a little too cartoonish for me.

The plot is centered on Linus Baker, a caseworker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, and his job is to check up on orphanages for magical children and make sure things are going smoothly. His monotonous life is interrupted by a special assignment by Extremely Upper Management to check on a "special" orphanage and the six magical children who live there, one of whom is the Anti-Christ and might bring about the end of days. That's how he ends up at the titular house, meeting the kids and the orphanage master, Arthur Parnassus, and falling in love with everyone and everything there.

This is not really the type of book I gravitate towards, but a lot of my friends have read this book and absolutely loved it and I wanted to know what the hype was all about. For the most part, they were right: this book is saccharine sweet and very wholesome. A low-stakes feel-good, cozy YA fantasy; a warm hug in book form with a cute, neat, happily ever after ending.

It just wasn't my style, which is entirely a me thing. I usually like to read books that are more dark and gritty and make me think. This book was very cute, but I felt that it was very surface in terms of messaging and storycrafting. The theme is literally spelled out for you in every one of the characters' various "life lessons," and while it makes sense in a book about/for children, I appreciate books in which themes are delivered with more nuance and subtlety. The heavy-handed preaching made some of the more wholesome scenes in book feel gratuitous.

Use of symbolism also felt elementary here (Linus' old home town is literally gray and rainy all the time and his workplace is cartoonishly humdrum, while the orphanage is vibrant and colorful) and Linus' character development could also use a little less "telling" and more "showing." The book also kept harping on about Linus' weight, and while I wouldn't call it fatphobic per se, it just feel weird to keep bringing it up.

I loved the children in this book, they were very unique and charming and delivered some of the best humorous moments of the book, but there were also times that their characterizations reminded me of those fake toddler quotes on Twitter.

Still, I feel uncomfortable giving this sweet book about protecting children and practicing tolerance and found families an overly critical rating, since I did enjoy it and had fun with it.

It's a 3.75/5 for me.

[makarovspussy]

I know that I don't count bc I'm your partner, but could you talk about some ideas for your CoD projects for #WIPWednesday?

;0;!!! You absolutely count!!! This is probably gonna be really rambly and disjointed. Also kind of long, so I'm sticking most of it under a cut. CW for mentions/discussions of death and abuse.

(also there's technically still an hour left in WIP Wednesday, at least in my timezone, so @onlycodcanjudgeme)

Honestly I've been fixating on Call of Honor hardcore rn so most of the stuff I have today are related to that. I'm now genuinely considering writing a High Chaos AU (because I love my convoluted multiverses lol), though it'll probably be shorter than canon COH (unless I decide to REALLY run with it) and I probably won't start actual work on it until I'm much deeper into COH.

Betrayal, grief, and trauma are themes that are pretty central to COH, as are trust, healing, and the importance of love (not like the weird amatonormative "romance fixes everything" sense, but like...family. Friends. A support system. Like these people probably could've gone through what they did alone but having a support system of genuine relationships with other people, friendly or familial or romantic or otherwise, is REALLY important to a lot of their growth and healing.) I feel like a High Chaos AU would kind of turn that concept on its head, and also everything is Worse. So that'll be fun.

I feel like I'd want to make a High Chaos AU really different from canon, too, even in terms of the events of the COD timeline. I was kind of playing with the idea of a Double Agent!Yuri AU (inspired by @saint-vulgaris!), because the concept is really interesting to me and I wanted to explore how drastically it would change the events of MW2/3. It kind of struck me to combine the two ideas so that the story is both darker and sufficiently different from the jump? Like, I was toying with the idea of Yuri being the one to kill Soap...but Soap doesn't know. He doesn't realize what hits him, just that he's dying and, in this AU, he's alone. Price isn't there to save him or even try to comfort him. So on top of the trauma he has in canon COH (dying a horrifying, slow death where his loved one was powerless to help him and he was robbed/robbed himself of the chance to say goodbye), he's also dealing with the highly specific trauma of dying an utterly disorienting, horrifically lonely death. Idk I think it would be really interesting to explore how the differences in how he died would affect his psyche in Dishonored 'verse.

I do have more ideas for them and I kinda wanna get into them but I'll save those for another post bc I wanna talk about other AUs now!

I know I mentioned this on Twitter, but idk if I mentioned here: I kind of want to make the Incubus AU (so, both the fics Midnight Kiss and As You Wish) into comics. As much work as comics are, I think writing this AU into one (or two, rather) would satisfy both my itch to storycraft and my unending desire to make art. I still need to figure out what style I want to draw my comic in, and finish my outlines so I have a solid idea of setting. I'm also gonna be stretching my 3D legs and maybe dabbling in Blender to streamline my workflow. It's a pretty big project and I'm really excited to start it, I just kinda...don't know when to (and I'm lowkey anxious to because I'm terrified of everything I write flopping, lol.)

You and I talked about Apoptosis a little, but idk if I shared my thoughts on this either? Publicly, I mean? So I'll do it now. Apoptosis was originally going to focus almost entirely on Price and the police side of the investigation, which is really intimidating because like...I don't trust my ability to write a satisfying police procedural that balances realism with artistic liberty. And I also hate cops.

But now that I'm planning to have more focus on other characters too (specifically Soap, Ghost, and Roach, who I like to call the Apop 141), who are conducting their own street investigation, it feels more approachable to me now. That, and it feels a little bit more similar to JJBA: Diamond is Unbreakable, which is really funny because I'm like 90% sure that it was a huge but unconscious inspiration for Apoptosis. Though obviously Apoptosis lacks that aspect of small town slice of life (and horror), since it's set in a much larger city.

But uh moving on!

I've mentioned this before on my writing/fandom blog, but I'm kind of drawn to the idea of a Soap-betrays-Price friends to lovers to enemies AU, but with an almost Caesar and Brutus slant to it? Not in the sense of actual history, but in the legend extracted from that history. Like Soap idolizes Price, loves him so deeply, transcendentally, unhealthily, just this...codependent admiration that's tangled up in a LOT of trauma and crossed wires. And Price feels similarly, though in a more authoritative sense; he's the one who Soap looks up to, and therefore he's the one who Soap answers to, the one who leads Soap around, the one whose shadow Soap stands in. And no matter how much he tries, Soap can't live up to this perfect ideal of Price. And things worsen from there.

Price goes on this paranoid, bitter downward spiral, and like...maybe the start of it is Yuri sowing seeds of doubt in Soap, not out of maliciousness, but because this is the same path he and Makarov went down years ago and he wants to try to save Soap from that. And in the end, it culminates in Soap betraying Price, and like...neither of them are particularly good people, especially Price (because he's gone completely off the rails), but they could've been, and maybe in another timeline they could've been good together, too. And Price genuinely loves Soap, genuinely trusts him (or at least, wants to trust him; I think by this point he would've long started to suspect something was up with Soap, but still wanted to have his cake and eat it too, so he didn't react as harshly as he might've if it had been, like...Yuri or someone). And just...the betrayal, the righteous betrayal coming from a man who isn't very good himself, and doesn't want to do this, and wishes it could've been different, but feels like he has no other choice and that this is what must be done for the greater good...idk I'm just rambling pure fucking nonsense rn but like "et tu brute?" and all that shit, you know?

And as for Venator. I haven't had many more thoughts on that AU. Mainly because I'm still agonizing over what the fuck I want Soap's hair to look like.

#long post #inbox #solnishka1927 #lovemail #might reblog this to my fandom blog in a little bit #wip wednesday

[c-is-for-circinate]

CR ep 3.06

Gosh, what a nice exposition episode.

It's times like this when you can see how many of the cast is just billowing with storytelling chops, because this episode did things with pacing that felt natural and half-unconscious and clever all at once. (You can do really smart pacing things in an improv format, but half the time, when it happens, it's not even on purpose -- it's instinctual reaction to how things feel they ought to fit together. In this case, a lot of it was Matt intentionally planning, but not all of it by far.)

I think the big thing we saw this week was the group coming closer together, learning more and more about each other, while simultaneously getting bits and pieces around the edges of the secrets they're still keeping. It felt intentional, even, storycraft-intentional. We started an episode with seven new friends sitting down at a drinking game to learn each others' secrets and ended it with one member of the group lying to the others about a family thing that had just come up, his family that was the very first thing brought up in that drinking game, and once again the pure cinema of chance feels like scripted television yet again.

Literally every person in this episode (except Imogen, I think?) lied or hid or tried to subterfuge at least one thing. And I think I like it so damn much because every single person in this episode was also so damn honest, y'know? We learned so many things! Most of the things we learned from the individual characters seemed truthful, even. I still give Laudna like a 30% chance of being Secret Vesper de Rolo, but yeah, killed and then reanimated by the Briarwoods sounds 100% believable to me. Yes I want to know all about Ashton's ragtag group of childhood friends and occasional lovers who left town and left them behind, but nothing he said about them rang false, just evasive. Ditto most of the others; FCG was absolutely playing squirrel to get out of answering questions, and Fearne just hates being pinned down, but dodging questions or not, I don't think anybody really lied except Fearne, and she got caught within ten seconds anyway.

Ugh, and I was wide awake this week until I started trying to think through this post and then I started dozing off on the keyboard again, but a few bullet points I want to mention while fresh in my mind:

CLASS WARFARE CAMPAIGN what did I fucking tell you, their new allies are literally a cell of devout, possibly terrorist anarchists. The ruling class literally hide their identities from the people. So much more of this to come.

I'm sure peoples' mileage may vary, but I absolutely love Laudna and Imogen and the fact that even six episodes in there's been no definite answer to the question of whether they're fucking or just Really Good Friends. Their room is small! There's only one bed! Who knows???

Ahahahahahahahha holy shit Laudna's warlock patron is Delilah Briarwood, I cannot fucking wait to see where that plot goes.

I have the vague suspicion that events are converging to give Dorian a chance to step out gracefully, which I admittedly regret. This is the class warfare campaign! I love having a character like Dorian, who is very rich, in the middle of all these working-class and straight-up-poor motherfuckers. I love seeing that intersection! I'm hoping his brother adds to it and that also doesn't take him away too far.

My words keep going sideways so that is tonight's post-ep post and we will see about next week when it happens.

#cr spoilers #episode 03.05 #if any of these sentences stopped being a sentence halfway through #please forgive me #I am SO tired

[nanowrimo]

Making the Most of Your First Draft

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. Dabble, a 2021 NaNoWriMo sponsor, is an easy-to-use writing tool that lets you organize, plot, and create amazing stories. Today, they’ve teamed up with author and editor Chet Sandberg to bring you some advice for getting the most out of your first draft:

Every year, thousands of first time novelists reach the end of November with +/-50k words and savor the victory of finally finishing something. Perhaps you’ll be one of them!

You take a day, or maybe you take a week, to bathe in the adulation of your fellows, many of whom also completed their manuscripts, along with many who didn’t. Then, you freeze. What’s the next step?

This post is dedicated to helping you get a first draft that, no matter how loosey-goosey or clinical your writing approach, serves as a basis for a great final manuscript.

Turning points: give your scenes movement.

This suggestion is one I haven’t seen elsewhere, but it’s something I do in all my drafts now that I’ve stumbled into it. It works especially well for pantsers or discovery writers, but most plotters I know have deviations from their plots, or they don’t plot the polarity of each of their chapters. Polarity is the movement from a positive overall situation (or at least a stable one) to a negative overall situation, or vice versa. This movement may be strictly external—that is, strictly plot—or it may be internal/emotional. It also may involve the movement from negative to even more negative, or (though this is rare in gripping fiction) from positive to more positive. While you see storycraft experts talk about these polarity shifts, I rarely see anyone mention a system for making them easy to locate and manipulate in further drafts.

As you write, mark critical turning points in the plot or emotional tone of your novel. These will be points where the polarity shifts. Where do your scenes turn? Where does a significant misfortune or internal change in the character make even you—the writer who’s writing the book—wonder what will happen next? Many of these turning points have proper names and descriptions—the inciting incident, as an example—in storytelling craft, and you may or may not recognize, from the first time you see it, exactly what that turn is. That doesn’t matter yet. What matters is that it sticks out. 

When you revisit this first draft, it’ll be invaluable to have critical points marked and easy to find. I use composition software, Dabble Writer (dabblewriter.com), that makes this quite simple. Other manuscript software programs such as Scrivener have these features, too, but I haven’t found one yet that fits my process while still being as easy to use as Dabble. In Dabble, I can simply start a new plot in the plot grid and call it “turning points.” When I note a turning point as I’m writing, I highlight it within the scene (something Dabble makes easy), but I also create a card in the grid for that chapter that shows up in the right margin of that scene. I fill out the “turning points” grid card with a brief description of the turning point, along with any thoughts I have when I first see the turning point. 

Noting turnarounds within individual chapters works particularly well in helping you note where to end chapters, too. Often, a new author will create chapters that end three or four hundred words past when they should, essentially deflating the tension before the scene ends. Marking those emotional or plot highlights that make you curious or anxious about the POV character will help you spot these crucial turns and avoid neutralizing the polarity before the chapter ends. While not every scene can have drastic polarity swings (unless you’re intentionally writing melodrama), you still often want some sort of polarity shift to compel the reader on to the next chapter.

I’ve often said, “Verbs are the lifeblood of all prose.” While that’s true for the nuts and bolts syntax of writing, polarity shifts or turnarounds are similarly important for the storytelling aspects of writing. Fiction that lacks internal or external turnarounds—i.e., polarity shifts—is hard to pull off without an incredibly powerful voice. Such feats are usually reserved for experimental prose, not mainstream storytelling.

If verbs are the lifeblood of prose, turnarounds and polarity shifts are the edges of your story. They give shape to your characters’ journeys. Knowing where they are, vetting them, and finally sharpening them, is essential to good storytelling. Marking them within your manuscript as you go will make the task of creating a coherent second draft much easier. Future you will be thankful for such foresight.

Chet Sandberg is a hospice nurse, freelance line editor, and sporadically published author. Find him at world.hey.com/chetcraft/ where he often posts about writing and storytelling craft. His Twitter handle is @Chet_Novels. The software he mentions, Dabble Writer, may be found at dabblewriter.com.

Top photo by Weston MacKinnon on Unsplash.

#nanowrimo #writing #amwriting #writing advice #turning point #by nano sponsor #dabble #chet sandberg

[the-ghost-of-rusty-shackleford]

Hey guys, so here’s a begging post of sorts. I’m a queer neurodivergent fiction writer, I’ve been writing for years and just a couple years ago I started a patreon where for over a year I posted a story every month. Then pandemic hit and I got burned out and couldn’t write much. I’m finally getting back on my feet and posted my first story in a while. Problem is, I’ve lost several of my patrons due to the lack of posting.  My other job is I’m a caregiver which doesn’t pay that much so it would mean so much to me if any of y’all were to sign up. If you do you’ll receive PDF copies of all of my stories to date. But hey! Get this, my stories are also all free to read online, I know money is tight all around, if you can’t afford to pay I still would love for you to find something you love here. I write all kinds of stories across a range of four different settings. These Disunited States: My flagship project, an alt-history setting where the Confederacy is overtaken by slave revolt to become a new revolutionary republic. These stories explore the roots and costs of American Imperialism and the idea that history has not tended towards justice but it’d sure be nice to imagine if it did. Contemporary Creepy: Sometimes horror, sometimes magical realism, this setting is all about the magic, the wonder, and the terror of the modern world. Fans of Stephen King or Neil Gaiman inquire within. The Dusty Sea and Beyond: A bronze age fantasy setting delving into philosophical and mythological concepts with the goal of reimagining the myths of our ancestors in a world that did not fall to kings and tyranny. A mythological world of cautionary tales and myths of great heroes and wizards for fans of classical stories, and old school sword and sorcery but have always wanted some that wasn’t quite so sexist and classist this one’s for you. World of Beleren: My D&D setting turned to storycraft, I use this mostly for fun little slice of life stories or pulp adventurers ala Conan the Barbarian but with they/them pronouns. Similar to Dusty Sea but with elves and dwarves and all the classical fantasy trappings overlayed with modern anachronisms.

#shameless self promotion #short stories #patreon #fantasy #Alternate History #horror fiction #magical realism