#also what i'm looking for is whether the scenes i have make sense internally and also work together

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

Hiii, I just dicovered your acc and i'm loving it 🥰 I have this lil problem where I have in mind and write scenes but without a plot. And I'm very fond to the characters so I can't put them into a plot because I don't want them to suffer or a think if they do suffer it'll we forced and too much. Any tips for that?

How to Plot A Novel If You Only Have Characters & Scenes

So, you have a great cast of characters and some exciting scenes in mind, but you're struggling to put them together into a cohesive plot. Don't worry, you're not alone. Many writers struggle with plotting their novels, especially when they have a strong focus on characters and scenes. I have also been facing difficulties with this recently. But fear not, in this article, I’ll help you explore how you can plot a novel even if you only have characters and scenes to work with.

Why Is Plotting Important?

Before we dive into the how, let's first understand why plotting is important. A well-crafted plot is the backbone of any successful novel. It keeps readers engaged, creates tension and conflict, and ultimately leads to a satisfying resolution. Without a strong plot, your novel may fall flat and fail to capture the attention of readers.

Types of Plots

There are many different types of plots, but they can generally be categorized into three main types: character-driven, plot-driven, and hybrid.

Character-driven plots focus on the internal struggles and growth of the main character. The plot is driven by the character's desires, flaws, and decisions.

Plot-driven plots focus on external events and conflicts that drive the story forward. The characters may still have their own arcs, but the main focus is on the events and how they affect the characters.

Hybrid plots combine elements of both character-driven and plot-driven plots. They have a balance of internal and external conflicts that drive the story forward.

Understanding the type of plot you want to create can help guide your plotting process.

How to Plot A Novel with Only Characters & Scenes

Now that we understand the importance of plotting and the different types of plots, let's explore how you can plot a novel with only characters and scenes.

Start with Your Characters

Since you already have a strong cast of characters, it makes sense to start with them. Take some time to fully develop your characters, including their personalities, motivations, and flaws. This will help you understand how they will react in different situations and what conflicts they may face.

Identify Your Main Conflict

Every novel needs a main conflict that drives the story forward. This could be a physical conflict, such as a battle or a chase, or an emotional conflict, such as a character's internal struggle. Identify what the main conflict in your novel will be and how it will affect your characters.

Create a Story Structure

A story structure is a framework that helps guide the flow of your novel. It typically includes the beginning, middle, and end, and can be broken down further into acts or chapters. Creating a story structure can help you see the bigger picture of your novel and how your characters and scenes fit into it.

Map Out Your Scenes (High Priority) 🚩

Now it's time to map out your scenes. Start by listing all the scenes you have in mind, even if they are not in chronological order. Then, arrange them in a logical order that makes sense for your story. This may require some rearranging and tweaking to ensure a smooth flow of events.

Connect Your Scenes with Conflict (High Priority) 🚩

Once you have your scenes in order, it's time to connect them with conflict. Every scene should have some form of conflict, whether it's internal or external. This will keep readers engaged and drive the story forward. Look at each scene and identify the conflict present, and how it connects to the main conflict of the novel.

Create a Character Arc for Each Character

As your characters go through different conflicts and events, they should also experience growth and change. This is where character arcs come in. A character arc is the journey a character goes through, from their initial state to their final state. Create a character arc for each of your main characters, and make sure their actions and decisions align with their arc.

Add Subplots

Subplots are smaller storylines that run parallel to the main plot. They add depth and complexity to your novel and can help develop your characters further. Look at your characters and see if there are any side stories or relationships that could be explored in a subplot. Just make sure they tie back to the main plot in some way.

Use Plotting Tools

If you're struggling to put all the pieces together, consider using some plotting tools to help you. There are many resources available, such as plot diagrams, beat sheets, and storyboards, that can help you visualize your plot and ensure all the elements are in place. If you need help with scene structure use my new scene workbook here.

Real-World Examples of Plotting with Characters & Scenes

One example of a novel that successfully uses characters and scenes to drive the plot is "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. The main conflict is the trial of Tom Robinson, but it is the characters, particularly Scout and Atticus, and their reactions to the events that drive the story forward.

Another example is "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. The main conflict is the Hunger Games themselves, but it is Katniss' internal struggle and her relationships with other characters that keep readers engaged and invested in the story.

Final Thoughts

Plotting a novel with only characters and scenes may seem daunting, but with the right approach, it can be done successfully. Start by fully developing your characters, identifying the main conflict, and creating a story structure. Then, map out your scenes, connect them with conflict, and create character arcs. Don't be afraid to use plotting tools to help you along the way. With these tips, you'll be on your way to crafting a compelling plot that will keep readers hooked until the very end.

If you require assistance with developing your scene structure, you can access my Scene Workbook for Writers at no cost.

I am sorry to the individual who sent me this question. I have a lot of questions in my Tumblr inbox and have only recently come across this nice question. I apologize for the 4-month delay.

#thewriteadviceforwriters #writeblr #writing #on writing #writing tips #creative writing #writers block #how to write #writers and poets #writing plot #plot points #plotting #character building #writing characters #aspiring author #writerscommunity #writerscorner #indie author #novel writing #writer #author #writersblock #writers on tumblr #writerslife #writersociety #female writers #writer things #character sheet #original character #character idea

[ohnoitstbskyen]

one piece live action thoughts?

It looks very much like a live action adaptation of One Piece. For better, and very much also for worse.

I mean this in the sense that it's adapted to fit a form that helps it make sense 1) in live action and 2) to a general audience which isn't intimately familiar with manga or anime, and which a broadcaster or streaming service would want to reach.

Luffy especially, at least going by the relatively tiny snippet we have seen so far, seems to have had some of his more peculiar edges sanded off to fit more comfortably into the mold of a typical young adult protagonist, which includes the... I guess what people call "marvel speak" now? The little funny quips and asides and ironic saying-the-obvious-thing-out-loud beats, which are more Americanisms than Marvel specific but I digress.

In One Piece, Luffy is most often not the point of view character, especially early on. Luffy is usually observed from outside by other characters - Koby serves this role in the early chapters, and from then on usually we see Luffy through his crew, or through whatever secondary characters they're interacting with in that particular arc.

People have observed this before, but in the manga, we essentially NEVER get any internal monologue from Luffy, he always either SAYS what he's thinking, or he runs on head empty no thoughts just vibes instinct and gut reaction.

And that... probably doesn't really work with a typical young adult protagonist. If adapted faithfully to screen, I think a lot of audiences would read him as just a reckless, inconsiderate and kinda heartless asshole, because a framing and presentation of Luffy that makes sense in a manga or anime just doesn't read the same in live action filmmaking.

Like, One Piece opens with Luffy recklessly sailing off to sea despite having no idea how to sail, getting sucked into a whirlpool and surviving on sheer dumb luck, getting picked up by some pirates in a barrel. Then he meets an abused child named Koby who has been getting the shit kicked out of him daily for months and immediately calls him a clumsy, stupid, cowardly worthless loser to his face and laughs at him.

Like, if you adapted that faithfully, how would that come across to a general audience? Imagine this scene staged in live-action, with human actors having to portray this conversation rather than stylized cartoon people. It simply wouldn't come across the same way, Luffy would come across as an It's Always Sunny character at best. Why would a general audience sympathize with him? Why would they find him compelling or worth investing emotionally in?

And I'm not saying there aren't ways to adapt One Piece faithfully into live action, there absolutely are (much like the manga, I would make everyone ELSE the point-of-view characters looking AT Luffy rather than try and present him as a Likeable Protagonist, for example).

My point is just that in any translation into live action, there are going to be concessions to the medium, there are going to be concessions to film language, concessions to audience expectations, concessions to the market conditions, concessions to the studio funding the filming, and so on. That's just the nature of the endeavour.

When it's done well, you get an adaptation that preserves the spirit of the thing while fitting its medium. Lord of the Rings comes to mind, an adaptation which changed huge amounts from its source material, but preserved the spirit.

When it's done poorly you get... well, Cowboy Bebop on Netflix.

I don't know from the tiny trailer snippet we've seen whether this show will preserve the spirit of One Piece, it very well may not, and end up another victim on the pile of bad anime adaptations. But I don't think the fact that it changed the vibe of the characters or Main Character'd Luffy alone are reasons to dismiss it, at least not yet. Those might have been necessary concessions for the show to work in live action at all. We shall see.

I'm not super optimistic or excited (because, again, I remember Cowboy Bebop), but I'm not despairing of it yet either.

#tb answers #one piece #one piece netflix #netflix one piece #luffy

[1moremilgram-enjoyer]

I'm really glad to ask some (a lot, lol) question~ 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 12 for Es 2, 5, 11, 12, 14 for Amane and 3, 5, 6, 19, 20, 21 for Kazui ❤

Yay questions!

CW Cults and indoctrination, child abuse, internalized homophobia

Es

1- Favorite song lyrics?

They don't have a lot to pick from, huh? But from Undercover, it's probably:

The fine line between "Hate" and "OK" Shouldn't you look beyond your EGO, before it all ends?

The first line, to me, really encapsulates how black and white the judgement system in Milgram is, and thus how horrendously inefficient it is. There's very little we can actually do to convey nuance in our voting, it really is a choice of just "you're perfectly okay and have done nothing wrong" or "we hate you and think there is no way you could ever be Forgiven", with only the 50% voting line separating the extremes. Sure, we can try to communicate with the voices in their head, but that's highly unreliable and unpredictable, so in practice "hate or ok" are really our only options. And Es' by extension.

Then the other line, asking to look beyond our own experiences to understand people with lives extremely different from our own, and how we have to do it fast because we don't exactly get unlimited time to come to our conclusions.

Though of course, this isn't just about us. Es is the one singing to themself in a way, and seeing how these things are phrased, it really helps show that despite how Es always act in control and on top of things, they still have their doubts and worry about how their judgement can affect the prisoners.

There's also Hibana, and for Es (and in general) my favorite lyric there is:

I don’t want to love a weak-minded love Come on, make it hurt more properly Going so far it’s no longer funny, is surely much more enjoyable come on, melt me more properly

Going by my personal interpretation of what the hell is going on in this cover, this line really ties together the meaning of Es wanting to make decisions with confidence, when it actually gives them extreme anxiety. Which, I do realize makes no sense when you look at the line by itself but I swear it works in the context of the wider interpretation.

2- Favorite MV moment/frame?

They have like three scenes what am I even supposed to say. Anyways it's probably this one.

It's definitely the most intriguing thing related to Es themselves in my opinion, only really challenged by the time they show up after all the smiles. The reason I'm not using that one is that it's difficult to tell whether or not it actually is Es even though contextually it's the only thing that makes sense.

Anyways about this spotlight scene. I like that Es isn't wearing all their uniform; they're missing the cape, the hat, the 'reciffO nosirP' (Prison Officer) and 'tse mudnatibud subinmo eD' ("Everything must be doubted" in Latin) band things... The point is to show that there is a person under all that, Es is not just the Warden. It's still a heavy part of their person, as they're still wearing most of the outfit, the gloves, and the keychain thing, but it's not all they are. Plus the spotlight and their expression, because again, as much as Es tries to confidently judge others, they themselves can get nervous when confronted, when there's a 'spotlight' placed on them.

Anyways I like it :D

3- Favorite non-MV official illustration?

This question made me realize I really don't know how many non-MV illustrations there are lol. Anyways here's the Tumblr compressed version of the third anniversary artwork.

I just love how this looks, and there's two Es'! That's double the fun! Plus them literally trying to grab at the prisoners' minds like grabbing at sand; it always falls off, Es literally cannot grasp what's going on in all their lives. Love it.

5- Favorite voice drama line/moment?

You'd think it would be difficult to pick considering the guy shows up in literally all the VDs.

It isn't.

[Of Blessedness and Punishment] Amane: You're a child, too! Es: Wrong. I'm fifteen, so I'm an adult in Puerto Rico and Haiti. You're twelve, so you're a child no matter the country. Amane: ...!! Es: Hehe. You look angry. Amane: I don't. Es: You do. Amane: I don't!!

The siblings ever. The fact Es completely made up the fact is even funnier.

For something more serious:

[TASK] Es: What is this shit about being a companion? I exist to judge your sins - as a guard! I don't have the need to shake hands with you!  Kotoko: Es? You don't see yourself as the executioner, right? Es: ...!? Kotoko: I've said it before, there are a lot of sinners which the law cannot punish. On the reverse, it is the same, there are also innocent people who are wrongly accused due to unsound laws. You also have the duty to forgive these people, no? Es: Haaah… Kotoko: You are not the executioner who convicts people for their sin. The person who offers to save the murderers who deserve to be forgiven.. It's also you. Es: Aaah.. Mm.. *shallow gasping* Kotoko: Come, Es… then, listen to my sin… Es: *gasp* Prisoner number 10.. Kotoko.. Come..! Sing… your… sins… *sob*

Es angst inject that shit in my soul-

[Imposter Boulevard] Es: It’s a personal dislike of mine. People who act based on their sexual urges like that, that is. Kazui: It’s personal? Es: Yeah. That’s right. Kazui: That’s strange. I did think that, despite being neutral as a Warden, you had some things you dislike, but… Es: … Kazui: Isn’t it unusual to openly reveal a personal dislike as a personal dislike? Es: You’re splitting hairs.

In case it's not obvious, I love when the mask slips a bit and we can tell Es as a person is more than just an extension of the audience. Look! They have personal dislikes! And of course it's Kazui who gets to see a bit of the "real" Es surfacing, because who the hell else would it be?

There's way more of course, but I have to limit myself a bit.

6- Favorite relationships with another character in the prison?

Amane. Again, the siblings ever.

More seriously, it's not just that I love their interactions when they're fucking around, I also love all the parallels and the ideological clashes. The undying devotion to an extremely harmful system. The view of themselves as an extension of a group rather than as an individual ("we? what's we?"). The way they both hate being seen as children, forced to grow up too fast. The way they both try to convince themselves they're happy with their life and condition, to the point it's almost convincing, until you look closer and see the cracks. How Amane hates Es because of what they've done to her, because they're the same as her abusers in her eyes. How Es goes dead silent when Amane brings up their similarities, when usually they'd lash out at the mere idea of the Warden being like a prisoner, because they understand to an extent. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

I also love Es' dynamics with most of the prisoners, but Amane is something else.

7- Favorite relationships with another character if they weren't in Milgram, the way you'd imagine or would like them to be?

Honestly, this one's kinda hard because so much of Es' character is directly linked to Milgram. Imagining them outside the Panopticon in general is sorta difficult.

I think they and Amane could still be besties, but other than that, maybe Yuno? I think she wouldn't feel the need to put up a front next to the "I hate everyone anyways" vibe Es gives off, so they'd be judgmental buddies! Just imagine them doing each other's makeup while shit-talking everyone they can think of. Maybe throw Muu in for extra shit and giggles.

12- What do you wish would be discussed more often about them in the fandom?

I mean, literally anything? Es isn't discussed very often, which I guess makes sense, but it's unfortunate. More specifically, I wish people discussed the more concrete things we know about their personality a bit more. There's plenty of posts speculating on what is going on with them; where they came from, whether or not they're related to the prisoners in some way, what is their connection with the eleventh cell, that kind of stuff. And that's all very fun, I love those posts! But I have never seen an Es character analysis the same way I've seen analyses for practically all other characters (<- also hasn't written a proper analysis of them beyond the Hibana cover post). Still, I do understand why people don't, there's a lot of interesting characters in Milgram!

Amane

2- Favorite MV moment/frame?

This is like asking me to pick a favorite child what do you mean. I love her MVs too much why would you do this to me.

Anyways here's my favorite child moment.

Look at her!!! She's going to fucking destroy her mother let's go girlie fucking kill!

I just love how happy she looks here. Plus the eyes, the eyes. This entire part of the MV is great, it just makes me happy to see Amane happy you know what I mean? Plus the whole rainbow and rain and umbrella symbolism, and the fiction bleeding into reality (the eyes!), it's all awesome. I love her so much, she should smile like this when she stabs Shidou in the stomach I think he'd understand.

5- Favorite voice drama line/moment?

I could be cheap and tell you it's the same as Es', but it's really not.

[Apostle and Death] Amane: Okay! I’m kind, so I shall forgive you. That’s nice, isn’t it? If my parents were in my place, you would have been lectured for another hour. [...] Amane: ...isn’t it condescending of you to assume that just because I happen to be a child, I am incapable of hating someone enough to kill them?

Amane Freudian slipping into admitting she fucking despised her mother will never not be extremely entertaining to me. Yes, talk about how much you fucking hate her, kill girl kill!

[Of Blessedness and Punishment] Amane: You fool. Isn't MILGRAM trying to enforce a new standard of judgment precisely because laws cannot guide this world onto the right path? Are you still being weighed down by the law? [...] Amane: "We"? What's "we"? Are you not just "I"? Es: ... I...? Amane: Aren't we the same? Me and Guard-san.

PARALLELS

Also when she attacked Es with scissors. I think Milgram should have allowed it, it would have been funny if the Warden just fucking died before Trial 2 ended.

11- What are your favorite points about their story and the narrative surrounding them?

What aren't my favorite points of her narrative? Again asking me to pick a favorite child here.

If I had to pick one, probably the way the line between her cult's beliefs, Amane's interpretation of her cult's beliefs, and Amane's own desires blurs to a point it's really hard to figure out what she's actually thinking at any given time. Especially because of how Amane views all these things. Her cult is unquestionable but also she subconciously hates a lot of its aspects and twists its beliefs to justify her actions to herself. Her desires are sinful and animalistic (Animal cover and cat parallels go brrrrrr), but she still wants to follow them so so badly. Ugh, internal conflict my beloved.

And also I love how desperate she is to endure everything that's happened to her. Her unrelenting will to survive and go against the people who hurt her, the way she's still glad to have been born, the way she still tries so hard to be happy and make others around her happy. Holy shit this kid is the strongest (in terms of willpower) character in Milgram and no one can tell me otherwise, it's so unfair she has to be that way it makes me immensely sad augh-

And also I love how angry she gets occasionally. How spiteful and rage filled she can be. I will never get tired of seeing Amane in pure, unfiltered fury. Yes, girl, stab Es with scissors, kill your mom, stab Shidou, do it!

And also (could keep going for several thousand words)

12- What do you wish would be discussed more often about them in the fandom?

I think Amane is discussed pretty well here on Tumblr, much as I've heard horror stories about what the Discourse looks like in other sites. But if there's one thing I wish more people brought up is how despite everything, Amane is motivated by the desire to make everyone happy. Positive Parade cover go brr.

Especially in things like the Fuuta situation. I feel like some people see it as just her trying to recruit for her cult or something, when really she's just trying to help him. Same with warning Mahiru against medicine to "save her soul" in a way. Healing the cat. Becoming the "perfect girl", the March Leader with the cloud ribbon, to make her abusers happy. Trying to make the best of the situation by attempting to turn Milgram into an ideal world. Trying to stay happy because that's the one thing she's worked towards her entire life.

In fact, I personally believe this is why Yuuri is depicted in Magic as maybe "kinder" than the others (might make a post about that at some point). Its ordainment is "Thou shall deliver unto those thou believest in", as in, "help those you believe deserve it." This is the one ordainment which is actually kinda in line with Amane's desires, so she imagines Yuuri as less angry at her and more compassionate than the others.

My point is that a lot of the time I feel her actions are talked about as either just motivated by her cult or just motivated by Amane's """sinful""" desires, be it her anger at her abusers or her cravings like wanting to eat cake, when really I think the happiness thing is the main motivator behind those things and it's not quite talked about as much. Does that make sense?

14- Any headcanons on their appearance?

Huh, I usually don't have many headcanons on appearance, but I can try.

I think my favorite is Amane having really sharp fangs. Like, talking anime style unrealistically sharp fangs that make her a terrifying hisser. Cat Amane my beloved.

...

Also she has small (say, 0,5 cm diameter), red circular scars all over her back. Stun gun injuries (no picture on the link) basically. Listen things with Amane can't stay very wholesome for very long-

Kazui

3- Favorite non-mv official illustration?

Uh... Maybe his door?

(That's kinda small lol)

It looks nice as it is, plus it has some nice symbolism as does every door image. I just think it's neat.

5- Favorite voice drama line/moment?

[Imposter Boulevard] Kazui: I despise myself for lying, too. Being a liar, you see – it’s painful. Es: Heh. Then just– Kazui: So I’ve tried to change! I’ve tried to change. I have tried to stop lying to myself and others! Es: … Kazui: I’ve confided in others. I’ve tried to be myself! I’ve tried to just be the way I was born! Es: …Hey, Kazui– Kazui: It’s not my lies that killed her. She’s dead because I stopped lying to her! If I had just kept lying- She wouldn’t have died…! Es: Kazui… Kazui: I can’t live unless I lie. That’s how I was born… I’m pathetic, aren’t I?

I mean, come on. It's the basis of his character and crime, and the voice acting is fucking insane in this section. Apart from how emotional it is, I also like that it still ends in the same somewhat performative self-loathing Es calls him out for in the first VD.

[Gouging in the Night] Es: Showing a hint of weakness and trying to get on my good side like that… Is that another one of your "adult techniques"? [...] Is there anyone who lets themselves get fooled by a specifically prepared "weak" side of yourself? I see, I see… So these are the kinds of skills that you gain when you've lived for a long time.

Gotta love it when a character regrets something bad enough not to be able to forgive himself for it, but he's so afraid of facing consequences and social reprimand because he's built his entire worth around others' opinions that he still heavily plays up the self-loathing to be pitied.

Timelines [23/9/2] Yuno: Haha, we both lie, don't we? The difference is the reason for lying. Kazui-san, you lie to protect yourself, because you're important to yourself. For me, no one is particularly important. That includes myself as well.

Unlike Yuno, who explicitly doesn't want to be pitied. Love these two.

I don't know if I'm explaining it right, but that's what I get from the whole mess.

6- Favorite relationships with another character in the prison?

I love his interactions with Yuno, of course, the Liar Duo. Yuno is such a little bitch to him all the time, I adore it. However, I also love his dynamic with Es, if they count for this question. Kazui's VDs are great.

But honestly Kazui has a lot of good options here. The smoking group with Shidou and Mikoto is fun, his interactions with Mahiru and Amane are also always nice, etc.

19- What do you think their childhood/teenage years were like?

Extremely closeted homosexual, of course. Probably tried to """compensate""" in some way by acting as traditionally masculine as possible, I imagine he was quite the dudebro. With how much emphasis his parents seem to have put on his strength and tradition, I get the feeling he may have been a somewhat stereotypical jock.

That's why I think he may have done a lot of really stupid shit as a teenager and tries to distance himself from them now, which is why he puts so much emphasis on his age despite being less than forty years old. He feels like a completely different person than who he was as a teen, and while he was always self-concious about a lot of shit, he's maybe especially self-concious of the shit he did when he was younger.

Don't take any of that very seriously, though. All of that is practically headcanon vaguely guided by the text!

20- What do you think their social life was like before milgram?

Going off the previous idea, I imagine he only kept a few connections from his teenage years, which is why the one childhood friend he brings up is so notable to him. It's the only one who Kazui really wanted to stick around.

There's obviously Hinako and Kazui's other coworkers, fellow policepeople. The way I interpret the bar scenes in half is Kazui meeting with friends, the bartender being the childhood friend and the woman being someone he met as an adult.

Other than that, I imagine he was pretty closed off and didn't talk to many other people. He seems like the type to enjoy a mostly closed off friend group, but I don't really have anything to support that claim other than vibes alone so.

21- Do you have any similarities with them/relate to something in them?

Uh... I guess personality-wise we're not too different. In real life, I'm quiet and reserved, don't express much emotion, mostly have a "well this is happening now I guess. We vibe though" attitude to most of what goes down in my life, and don't like talking about myself much which yes is making this question sorta difficult.

Thanks for all the questions! This took a while lol.

#milgram #amane momose #kazui mukuhara #es milgram #000 #ask game

[mamamittens]

I spent the first half of my day at work daydreaming an official plot with Nikia. Still not sure where exactly to place her on the timeline in terms of age, but I'm ignoring it for the time being.

I also successfully napped but getting out of bed was hard lmao

OC rambling thoughts under cut

Specifically working up her character progression over her lifetime and a very sweet plot that (of course) derails the original plot a bit later. Marineford of course because I love very specific fanfic things.

Mainly the "this new character makes wider changes in very small and unexpected ways" and "the out of left field person does the thing multiple others have failed to do".

Look, if I'm shipping her me with Thatch, I'm not doing the OG ending. That's just depressing as fuck lmao, I'm already perpetually single irl, I'm not fantasizing eternal maidenhood into my daydreams. I'm not that fucking weird. I do actually like romance as a concept.

I also internally examined some things and the size shifting devil fruit fits harder than I originally thought though I'm still work shopping the details of how it works. Mainly how to do what I want it to do (change wing size and boob size because I can't imagine running and flying with H cups, I'm sorry, not even in anime. Shit hurts). I was thinking changing the size of individual parts would work fine within reason. Mainly handicapped by balance. Too much or too fast and you'd just be falling all over the damn place whether something grew bigger or smaller.

Also what kind of transition happens. Like, when she grows big or shrinks, if there's some sort of effect. I thought it would be cool if there's steam or smoke. Would make a really great scene if she gets pissed and stalks forward, growing in height with every step, only to stop while towering over someone and just exhales smoke in a hiss. Very good visual. Much love.

Workshopped what kind of haki she's naturally good at. Already knew it would be observation haki and armament later on while training to be a ranger for flying in blizzards. Hail hurts like a bitch lol. No conquerors but thought it'd be neat if she could 'slide under' by minimizing her presence. Big hitters could still flag her but the common ones would miss her completely. Observation specifically works as long range sensing/vision and minimal intent/emotion sensing. She's naturally very 'quiet' in her own haki which means she absolutely sneaks up on folks very easily even if they're good at sensing people.

I just spent 10 minutes writing the plot I came up with but deleted it so I can surprise y'all later and also it's late so I need to go back to sleep lmao

Ya know, before I completely spoil everything

#mittens rambles #one piece #one piece oc #nikia oc

[bahoreal]

jay's wee guide to editing fics

by popular demand (five likes on a post i made asking if anyone wants this)

please note this is a loose guide of what works for me and is designed to give newbie fic writers an idea of what purpose an edit has. if you don't vibe with it you don't have to follow it. if you have your own preferences please feel free to add them!

first i should say it is important to do an edit before you post your fic. this can apply to any work of writing (some of the QC details I used a lot in the scientific papers i wrote)

an edit can be generally categorised into one of these: update/style check, QC, consistency check, proofread. this can either be done by you (the writer) or by a beta reader

update/style check: there's probably a better word for this kind of edit but I don't know it. This the most in depth and time consuming method of editing and generally done on first drafts. it is an edit done where you're not happy with the work to be published as-is, where you think parts are missing, parts could be updated, parts might be out of sync or not fit with the flow of the piece. when you're doing an update edit, you should be looking for things like:

- did this feel jarring against the rest of the tone

- did i have to read any of the sentences multiple times to figure out what they meant

- do I have enough elements that reflect the theme i'm trying to build, or was the theme too on the nose?

- are my characters behaving in character

- are there any points where a character knows about something before it has been confirmed in the text - is this intentional, or was it a mistake and the character shouldn't know? This is especially important with longer fics, sometimes the timeline can get messy

note for beta readers/if you are using a beta reader: specify whether this edit is meant to be granular to word choice, or about sentence/paragraphs. I have had beta readers that changed every fifth word I wrote because they thought a different word would fit better (which switched my story to their style, which I didn't actually want), and beta readers who would highlight a sentence or a word and go "this doesn't make sense, consider rephrasing" or a paragraph and go "this felt cut short" o.e. (which was very helpful)

QC: quality check. generally refers to formatting, updating to a style guide, etc. When I am doing a QC I look for things like

- grammar issues (non-intentional)

- typos (non-intentional)

- spelling mistakes (non-intentional)

- language consistency, e.g. going between England English and American English (non-intentional)

- formatting errors (e.g. I tend to add three paragraph breaks between new scenes, and I check that that's consistent throughout)

- tense consistency (switching back and forth between tenses when writing can break the reader out of the immersion, if you're in the present then try to stay in the present unless the character is remembering something. Instead of "She has nothing in the house. She went to the shops.", try and stick to one tense, "She has nothing in the house, so she goes to the shops.")

(- in papers/essays this is also the point where you would fix your referencing)

proofread: a final check done on a final draft that combines the QC and consistency checks. If i've copied to ao3 I tend to do this in the ao3 word editor and make sure all my formatting is in, for example italics, which aren't preserved in the copy/paste into the ao3 editor

consistency check: does what it says on the tin. If there are consistency items you want to keep flowing through your story, such as

- a character calling another character by a certain nickname and then progressing to a different nickname as you move through

- names used in internal monologue are consistent throughout, vs. names other characters use in speech (e.g. I wrote a fic from the perspective of an american, who says "couch", but the english characters say "sofa" aloud.)

- was that character holding a glass? where did it go? were they suddenly on the other side of the room?

- are the times/days correct? was it summer one scene and winter the next? if time is referenced, is it passing appropriately? (also ensuring it's non-intentional, unreliable narrators can switch between times as a stylistic choice)

(- in papers/essays this is also the point where I would make sure my claims are substantiated in the references I have used)

The things to look for are non-exhaustive. In my fics, I tend to do one single edit that combines all of these, or one update/style check and then a proofread if it's a long fic. This is because I don't tend to spend a lot of time on fics. with my original works, I tend to do each check individually, with the update/style check first, then a consistency check, then a QC, then the proofread. 4 drafts (at least, sigh)

A beta reader can help with some of these, especially the consistency check and the update/style check - when you read your own work a lot you do tend to miss things. However I cannot stress enough when you are asking a beta reader to look over your work, set your expectations:

tell them which kind of edit you'd like them to do. If you want a QC and you get back a style check it can feel a little insulting

if you want a more thorough edit like a style check or a consistency check then set expectations for the level of edit. If you want to develop your own style of writing, then specify you don't want your beta reader to be too picky over word choices, only calling out if, e.g. words don't make sense in context. If you want a language check (maybe your first language isn't english and you are worried about writing in english) then ask for more detailed notes on your specific word choice. it's entirely up to you, and knowing what is expected of them can make the beta's job easier!

And some things personal to me:

items/advice about how i write my own fic, these are things I look for in the update/style check to ensure the conclusion is built to in a satisfying way

plot themes, and building callbacks: I like to pick a few callbacks for my characters and have them mentioned a few times throughout the story - enough that readers will notice and appreciate the callback, but not too much that it's all the characters talk about. it's a delicate balance and depends on the length of the fic and the themes you choose. for example in the longfic i'm writing I have romcoms as a theme, where the characters bring up their favourite big romcom lines a couple of times, then joke around finding their own when they finally kiss. in my original novel i have one fun theme of one of my characters absolutely loving bread and always eating it whenever there's bread offered, and also a plot related theme of discussion about poison, poison preparation, and contemporary medical diagnoses of poisoning which leads a character to realise [REDACTED] might have been poisoned (these things are unrelated my character does not die of poison bread lmao) sometimes these callback themes can reflect the plot of your fic, or it can be a fun character thing that keeps coming back, or it can reflect how a character has grown from the start of the story

characterisation through your story: I'd suggest figuring out where your character starts, and the growth you want them to go through to make the characterisation more fulfilling. this can just be something specific you want that character to realise, or the character settling into the role they have and realising they enjoy it and fighting back less, or a character striving for something and either getting it or not getting it and deciding whether they even wanted it, etc. sometimes the simpler the fundamental character arc, the better. it can help with linking the character arc to the plot, and figuring out how minor characters are doing in the background of the fic

have fun and enjoy! don't feel obligated to follow my advice exactly or stick rigidly to one of the edit types, having a mix between them is just as useful and sometimes certain items slip from edit to edit! sharing your work is scary, but knowing you've picked up on typos and minor errors before you share can reduce that fear a bit :)

#fic writing #fic advice #i have no idea how useful this will be but. maybe it will make editing feel less daunting cause it's broken down into parts #again this is what works for me if it doesn't work for you that's compleeeetely okay #and i did not proofread this post so if there are any mistakes well that just proves the importance of proofreading to you #and if you don't edit and post direclty well power to you i have typos every 3 words so i always do at least one read over khfdkjs #also if the edit types have different names then u can also share those! i just use the names i am most familiar with haha

[thedaytheworldburned]

'Chasing That Feeling' MV First Reactions

Guys, I'm reacting. The blog isn't dead. I'm just also going to the Wild Kpop Fest in Sydney, so had to get ready for that. It was fun and I enjoyed seeing all three groups, but especially New (ahem, bias altert, ahem).

But let's have a look.

First, this MV pretty obviously follows on from 'Good Boy Gone Bad,' 'Sugar Rush Ride' and so on. It also has what I interpret as some nice Magic Island references, but I may be completely wrong (as always). So let's get into it!

I feel like this ray of light depositing TXT on Earth is a pretty obvious representation of them being expelled from Magic Island. It shows how violently they have been expelled after abusing their power, and it conveys how they, like Gfriend and unlike BTS, were born on the island, as such, and thus are basically supernatural non-human beings.

Also, the rubble and water are reminiscent of 'GBGB' and the Japanese MV for 'Sugar Rush Ride' - instantly visually connecting this storyline to the heartbreak and insanity one which those MVs discussed.

And, of course, we have the continuation of the star and the number 5 - there are 5 tunnels leading out of this hole, 5 colours in the light, 5 lights they chase, 5 points on the star, and so on.

There's also a nice contrast with the idea of angels coming down from the sky, and TXT being dressed in black - reminiscent of when they went crazy and were decidedly not angellic, despite being supernatural.

This is also emphasised by the fact that they are styled with tattoos.

Also, as always, TXT's choreographies are great.

Don't ask me to colour analyse the colours of light each membr chases - it would take far more time and research than I have today to do that in depth, and is thus better suited for a proper MV analysis. The most I can say so far is - Kai is gold - since he is the 'angel', Gyu has been associated with green before, especially in the webtoon through plants, and Yeonjun gets the other side of the cat - blue and green, thus he gets green.

A lot of this MV is them further abusing their powers, since they clearly didn't learn their lesson. Also - note that there are a lot of cars featured in this MV - cars being something we have seen in Magic Island arcs before, and which is generally a symbol of transit - as TXT are continuing their journey.

Interestingly, only Gyu, Yeonjun, and Taehyun seem to actually attain their power in this MV - Kai and Soobin are just constantly chasing it. We know Kai is in an internal battle, so it makes sense why he chases. Soobin is also being held back by doubts and the glass box the cat put him in. Yeonjun, Taehyun, and Gyu are all very firm in their beliefs - whatever those might be, and whether they're good or evil - so they can grab that power and feeling since they know how.

Trains are back - another way to get to Magic Island. They also emphasise the sense of danger in this MV.

Also, are you wondering why no one - except for the people Yeonjun LITERALLY RAN INTO are reacting to them in this MV? I'll discuss that more later.

I also think this scene is the best visual representation of the longing and desire they feel in the MV - Soobin reaching forward for power, for love, for literally everything he could ever want, but forced ackwards by the momentum of the train and his own doubts.

Like, look at this face!

Also - note that the tattoos on his neck look a little like the branches/veins V had on his neck during 'ON' era - a coincidence? Idk, but it's interesting.

So here we see that Taehyun has his power, and, like the rest of them, he is wonderfully misusing it.

Same with Gyu - although in a far more dangerous way.

Yeonjun too.

I'm not entirely sure if this is supposed to be Kai having his power or just grabbing a lift to try and catch up to it - but since there's no golden light, I'll assume he doesn't have the power.

I don't think this has any point other than to show how he's cool, how he's using his power, and possibly associating him with Gyu considering the light is green.

Star time again!

They've unified - making them more powerful, as expected. But interestingly, in this explosion, I only really see the red and blue, and, by proxy, purple. Was there a reason for this? Soobin, Taehyun, Yeonjun - generally but not always portrayed as good - vs Gyu (who smothered Taehyun) and Kai (who has a demon inside him)? Maybe I'm completely wrong.

So the Dr Strange stuff going on here is interesting because it shows that their abuse of their powers is literally breaking the universe/breaking reality. It also made me think that they were moving between dimensions - you know, since it's the mirror dimension. Which brings me back to people ignoring them and the light falling from the sky - it's possible that they have been shoved into another dimension, either by their own volition or because of the harm they did to Magic Island. This is a nice use of visual shortcut and also offers a potential explanation for why they are suddenly in some random city in America or England - I thought it was London but my knowledge of these places is almost nonexistent so please forgive me for not knowing.

I also find it interesting that they suddenly snap back to reality.

And also an odd shot to end on. The only thing we would think we would get from this is seeing the boys leave, but we also see the cars, the people walking, and the buildings. I have no doubt there is hidden meaning or are hidden detailsl, but the only thing I can really point to is that it reminds me of 'My Fair Lady,' and that the steam rising up could be considered the damage left over from the world knitting itself back together after going all mirror-dimension.

So that's the end of the MV!

I love the choreography, as always, but that is best analysed in a different video. Interestingly, I think it does little (compared to their other choreos) to tell the story, and instead is just cool and portrays the mood of the song.

Let's talk about the lyrics for a moment.

We've of course got the mandatory mentions of the night and moonlight, and of the highs of being in a 'loving' relationship.

The 'thief that keeps on stealing' is interesting, because there's the obvious meaning of 'stealing my heart,' but also the implied meaning of stealing power etc.

Then of course, the idea of miracles. Lightning is also often associated with a dangerous form of love (See Romeo and Juliet for what is probably the oldest example of that). And the kalidescope and butterflies are of course related to the butterfly effect and the fracturing of the world through the mirror univserse/dimension.

And that's pretty much it. A nice simple set of lyrics for a short little song.

Conclusions

It follows on from the previous MVs and storyline. Although slightly different themes are explored in each MV, they seem to be very obsessed with the 'high' phase of the relationship, rather than, you know, the fallout and the healing from it. Maybe they're serially dating toxic people. Psychologically that would make sense. Storyline-wise? Not so much.

That said, they probably like keeping the romance for the title tracks since that sells well, and keeping the funky mind-bending curse stuff for award shows and bside MVs, since the fans love that, and it makes jaws drop in award show season. In fact, they released this basically just in time for award show season - was that for a reason? Or is that a conspiracy theory of mine?

As a matter of interest, this (generic title tracks and crazy bsides) is something that exists in the whole industry but ESPECIALLY in HYBE.

#txt #tomorrow x together #txt theories #mv analysis #the name chapter #tnc #the name chapter: freefall #chasing that feeling

[joel-smallishballs]

Crushed Olive Branch Typology Post

For those who don't know, Crushed Olive Branch is a story by @calronhunt which you can read here @crushedolivebranch ! I'm gonna be making a typology post about it, specifically finding their MBTI (using cognitive functions), enneagram/tritype (not instinctual variants cuz I'm not very good with them LoL), Alignment, Big 5, Psychosophy, and Temperament. I will only be going in depth for MBTI, Enneagram, Alignment, and Psychosophy since Temperament in big 5 and kinda easy to figure out the reasoning for yourself

Starting off with MBTI, originally I was gonna put them all in one text post but after seeing how long Theron's got I'm gonna break them up LMAO

STARTING WITH

Theron:

First off, I would say he's an I//J. Being an introvert is kind of obvious, he internalizes everything and keeps his thoughts to himself, preferring to retreat into his mind to come to conclusions. He only blurts his opinions out when he feels forced to (eg the confession scene) and highly prefers to think than take action (not including when it comes to actual fights or action scenes, but we don't get his thought process during those, so it's hard to take those into account :P)

Now what's NOT as obvious is the fact he's irrational, I think he's more irrational because he percieves first. An introverted percieving type is someone who sees and thinks before making sense of it logically or moralizing it, while an introverted judging functions would see things through a lense of logic or morality before percieiving the real meaning. I think this shows in Theron, since he doesn't really have a concrete set of morals, he listens to others and doesn't really think for himself, preferring to listen to others and internalize that to be the "correct" thing.

This also explains his Fe, his morals are completely divorced from the internal, his morals come externally. This is shown ESPECIALLY during the backstory parts, where he first starts thinking for himself and learning about himself, but then ends up in the same hole as before with his biggest mentor going from his father to Dominic, who forces the idea that societal norms are more important.

Ti is less shown, but it's still there just...weaker. He has his own set of logic, though those tie in with his morals more than not. Specifically shown afte he starts learning to think for himself, he comes to impartial, logical conclusions based off of external morals (eg him wanting to ask Dominic out, he heard from one person that he should go for it, so he internalizes that fact, and logically comes to the conclusion "I should just go for it")

Now for his percieving functions, I think Si-dom makes the most sense. He's always living in the past, and I know that that isn't specifically what Si is about, but Ni does NOT fit him at all. He doesn't live in the future, he doesn't look underneath the surface, he doesn't necessarily take things at face value but he has a hard time looking under words and realizing the predjudice behind them. This leads to Si>Ni, meaning he uses Si/Ne

This leads to the conclusion that he's ISFJ! ISFJs are stereotyped as being gentle people, selfless and kind. They're seen as paternal and gentle, wanting the best for the people they care about. Notable ISFJs (that I just took from PDB) include:

Fluttershy (MLP)

Rory Gilmore (GIlmore Girls)

Captain America (Marvel)

Willow Park (The Owl House)

Luigi (Mario)

Now onto Dominic:

At first I thought he was surely going to be an extroverted rational, but after thinking about it, extroverted irrational fits him WAY more. He doesn't use morals or logic whatsoever, he percieves first (eg he hears the name Olive and without a second thought is like "THAT MUST BE MY MOM!")

Whether he's Ne or Se is kind of tricky, he's not a person who craves stimuli (either mental or physical), so we have to go off of whether he's more of a future or present oriented person, and (in my opinion) he's ALWAYS focused on the present. He doesn't once think about why Theron is acting the way he is, he doesn't even think about how his words would affect the ones around him. He's always doing things right as he thinks about them, without any forethought (showing low Ni)

So we know he's an ES/P, and I think it's pretty obvious he's an Fi/Te user. His logic comes externally, this is inherently different from morals coming internally (like Theron) because he doesn't base his morals off of them, eg he doesn't want people knowing that he has sex with Theron because LOGICALLY he's seen people act homophobic around him, not because he MORALLY thinks that being gay is bad (I hope this doesn't sound like I'm excusing his actions, he's still a homophobe LMAO I'm just explaing how he uses logic to justify it instead of morals)

His Fi shows up in like. Every little thing he does. He's ALWAYS doing stuff his own way, he doesn't care about others opinions, I know this sounds like the old "Fi are selfish" but he clearly uses his functions unhealthily, and unhealthy Fi usually shows up as selfishness.

This means he's ESFP! ESFPs are stereotypes as party animals and socially oriented. Examples of ESFPs off of PDB include:

Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad)

Goku (Dragon Ball)

Korra (Legend of Korra)

Undyne (Undertale)

Beast Boy (Teen Titans)

Every single shounen anime protagonist ever /j

Mattais:

Mattias is the DEFINITION of Fi-user, he's moralistic and doesn't take the general consensus at face value. Also very indivisualistic when it comes to showing off his personality, he doesn't mind being different and often, but he's healthier than Dom. He still cares about people (often too much) and takes into consideration their needs.

I think it's kind of obvious he's Fi-Dominant, but less obvious is being an introverted rational. At first I thought he was definitely irrational because of his constant need to put others before himself, but I think that actually points more towards rationality? His morals tell him to care for others, not his perception of the world, which points to morality/logic>percieving/judging

Next, is whether he's Se or Ne, and this is very tough....I think he has a preference for Ne, though. He's seen with kinda shitty Se, he's always in his head, thinking about what could go wrong that he never lives in the present.

This means he's INFP :3 INFPs are stereotyped as anxious, but individualistic and artistic people! Examples of INFPs off of PDB include:

Shinji Ikari (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

Peter Parker (Marvel)

Mob (Mob Psycho 100)

Doofenshmirtz (Phineas and Ferb)

Nerissa:

Nerissa is hard to pin down, at first I thought she was surely introverted rational, but after thinking about it I think she's an extroverted rational. She's focused on what's real, and doesn't care for digesting what she sees internally, instead she uses what she sees to act logically, trying to become the best ShadowHunter she can be.

She's also logically focused, point to Te instead of Fe. She doesn't exactly care about morals, instead (like Dom) she views her logic through what she sees. She sees people are conservative, so she hides the fact that she's a lesbian, ignoring her own feelings on the subject.

She also has REALLY good use of Se, almost to the point where I wanna say she's Te/Se/Ni/Fi...but I'll stick with E/I/E/I function stacking LoL, so this makes her Ni-Aux. I think her Ni can be seen in how she is someone who sees behind the words. She's attentive, yes, but this stems to the real world and words as well, she's able to look behind what people are saying and clearly is thinking about the future first and foremost.

This leaves her being an ENTJ. ENTJs are stereotyped as serious and no-nonsense business people. They are also stereotypes as evil as all hell LoL. Examples of ENTJs on PDB include:

Asuka (Evangelion)

Light Yagami (Death Note)

Griffith (Berserk)

Princess Bubblegum (Adventure Time)

Princess Caroline (Bojack)

Here's some more characters that I won't go as in depth for, mainly typed by vibes LMAO:

Ava: ISTP? Still unsure, I think she's introverted rational due to...not much evidence, but she doesn't seem to be extroverted and she doesn't seem like someone who percieves internally, preferring to look at things though impersona logic. She could also be ISFP, but I see Fe>Fi, specifically the way she encourages Mattias in his crush on Theron and just having a general fondness for gossip. She also seems Ti>Te, she does show internal logic (eg thinking it's unfair to have her and Dom go out right after getting lunch-yes I know this was a joke but that's all I got folks)

Examples of ISTPs from PDB: Black Widow-Marvel, Toph Beifong-Avatar, Sherlock Holmes

Cicero: ENFJ, BARELY shows up, but seems like an Fe-dom. He cares about people, often to the point of hurting himself (example: when his parabatai dies, he's so taken over by grief that he needs someone else to fill the voice even somewhat). Ni because he seems to be more future oriented. Could also be INFJ, ESFJ, or ISFJ

Examples of ENFJs from PDB: Iroh-Avatar, Princess Celestia-MLP, Mufasa-The Lion King

Roman: ESTP, I'mma be real this is a "kin" vote. Sorry not sorry, I need to collect Transhet ESTPs LMAO. But for realsies, he's DEFINITELY Pe dominant, he acts before thinking and is very present oriented. Ti because he chooses what's logical internally, this leads to him thinking that Kiera isn't a good leader with basically no proof and also just making shit up (eg that Kiera isn't doing shit when he is doing shit. Kiera is doing shit.) Could also be an ESFP

Examples of ESTPs from PDB: Thor-Marvel, Sonic the Hedgehog-Sonic, Zeus-Mythology

Trevor: ENFP, I see signs of extroverted percieiving just a healthier one since he's literally 100+ years old so he's learned how to use his lesser functions by now LMAO. I DEFINITELY see Fi/Te access, he's not exactly no-nonsense but he knows how to get things done. As for Fi, he's individualistic, proudly saying his opinions no matter what. Could also be an INFP

Examples of ENFPs from PDB: Naruto, Luz-The Owl House, Aang-Avatar

Kiera: ESTJ, Kiera is SO HARD TO TYPE TBH, originally I was thinking ESTP, but he seems to think before doing anything, which leads me to thinking ENTJ....I honestly could see either Ni/Si aux, but I chose Si due to the fact he seems to be worried more about the past than the future, and doesn't seem to have the best skills when it comes to looking behind the surface. He could also be ENTJ, INTJ, ISTJ, ESTP, ENTP, ESFP, ENFP

Examples of ESTJs from PDB: Sokka-Avatar, Vegeta-Dragon Ball, Blossom-Power Puff Girls

OK THAT'S IT sorry for the dissertation I promise I tried to keep it short JLKRWJLKKJWRL

#Crushed Olive Branch #CoB #Typology #Long Post

[cantsaythetword]

TickleTober Day 9: Torture

~A/N  - Ok so this is my first EVER Originals fic that I'm writing so I really hope it turns out the way I want it to. It's a reader fic with Elijah and Klaus and some spooky witchy magic which gets you in an interesting situation...

This might be a long one sooooo buckle the fuckle up. Also might have some slightly more intense tickle scenes, so a slight TW for that (tied up, tickle interrogation, not exactly soft and fluffy but not terrifying either lol)

Hope you guys like it!

- Enoy! ~

Tag List:

Masterpost Link || TickleTober 2022 Masterpost Link

"Hello there."

You blinked drowsily, the clinking of chains above you waking you violently from your half-conscious state. Where were you? Why were your hands tied? Who was talki-

Oh no.

"I hear you have some information about the whereabouts of a certain vampire I've been looking for."

You locked eyes with none other than Klaus Mikaelson, fear instantly rippling down your spine.

"Words seem to have escaped you..." He said, face tilting in mock concern. "Allow me to help with that."

You gasped, internally cursing yourself for reacting.

"Oh there's no need to be afraid. I won't need to cause too much damage." He grinned, walking around your suspended body. "See, I have a friend of mine who is very handy with spells."

Where was he going with this? Was there some horrific psychological torture you were about to endure? Just how long would you hold out? How long could you hold out?

"And one of my absolute favourites is a little nerve-amplifying spell."

So that was his plan? Set your senses on fire and just wait?

"This little masterpiece allows even the smallest blow to be absolute-" He paused, pinching your bicep.

You screamed, pain shooting past your shoulders and slowly dissipating along your chest.

"-agony."

It was more than anything you had experienced before.

"Are you ready?" Klaus

You tensed, awaiting what you could only imagine would be horrific anguish.

"Niklaus, wait."

The well-dressed immortal in the doorway had his hand held up, halting his brother from beginning what could soon be the worst moments of your life.

"Ah brother, come to see the show?" Klaus opened his arms like a circus ringmaster, welcoming Elijah to his little makeshift torture chamber (which was really just chains hanging from the roof keeping your arms up and ropes keeping your ankles together).

"Unfortunately not."

Klaus sighed. "I suppose you've got some self-righteous monologue coming my way?"

Letting out a chuckle, Elijah stepped towards you, effortlessly keeping your attention with his intimidating presence.

"I have entered into an agreement that no harm shall come to Y/N under any circumstances." The older brother said.

"We barely have to touch them to cause unimaginable pa-."

"Irrelevant." Elijah interrupted. "I gave my word, and I shall hold myself to that."

Klaus rolled his eyes. Clearly this wasn't the first time Elijah had ruined his plans.

You certainly weren't complaining though.

The brothers stood for a few moments in silence, looking you up and down. You weren't sure if they were trying to figure out a plan or purely trying to intimidate you.

Whether it was intentional or not, it was working.

Finally, Elijah spoke.

"Y/N." He moved towards you. "You seem like a sensible young person."

You kept your eyes locked to his. It wouldn't surprise you if he could sense your anxiety, but you weren't going to make it any easier for him to see just how shit scared you were right now.

"Surely you know what's at stake-" He began, placing a hand gently on your back.

But you didn't just feel a hand. You felt each fingertip press into your skin, his palm push against your muscles in an unbearably odd manner.

You couldn't help but let out a muffled yelp, arching away from him.

Klaus tittered in amusement, while Elijah simply gave you a puzzled look.

He turned to face Klaus. "Just how bad was that witch's spell? I can barely brush against them without them recoiling in pain."

Proving his own point, he brushed his fingers against your side and you squealed, violently trying to jerk your hands down to protect yourself.

The younger's snickers turned to a few seconds of laughter.

"That's not pain, brother." Klaus chuckled, and for the first time you shot him a look of pure fear. "I think our friend has another little secret they don't want us to know of."

You couldn't quite see Elijah's face, but clearly something had clicked. For when he turned around next his face could only be described as predatorily calm. He took his place behind you, where all you could see was his hands coming closer and closer to your hypersensitive body.

Once Klaus readied himself in front of you was when your calm composure dissolved into nervous giggling.

"Wahahait plehehease!" You begged, jolting the chains your limbs were currently wrapped in.

"Oh you've got no chance." Klaus grinned.

And then it began.

Elijah's fingernails felt like claws scratching every ticklish nerve under your arms. Each point of contact acting as a conductor of ticklish volts rocketing down your nervous system and setting your body alight. Klaus's thumbs seemed to connect with each fibre of your muscle tissue on your lower sides, massaging your obliques with the speed and intensity of a woodpecker's beak.

The tickling was so much you couldn't react for a few moments, stuck in the stasis of shock while your vocal chords caught up with your physical senses.

You squealed, bursting into manic unstoppable laughter. It felt like your mouth wasn't your own, cackles interrupting every breath you took as they poured out from between your lips.

"Now this seems to be an effective extraction method." Elijah teased right next to your ear.

Klaus's hands wandered slightly lower, squeezing against your hipbones. Each pinch like his hands were scraping against you, making your skeleton vibrate with ticklish sensations.

"NAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" You pleaded, though no comprehendible sound came out. Being so caught up in the absolute agony of feelings you were experiencing, it took you a second before you realised the unholy screeching sound was coming from you. Your hips were just too much to bear, and your waist danced from side to side in an attempt to briefly escape the horrific fate you were being subjected to.

"This seems to be the killer Y/N!" Klaus simpered. "Wouldn't you agree?"

It was too much. You were about to snap. You couldn't breathe, you couldn't think. You didn't know if you'd ever feel again. No human has ever experienced this much pure sensation before, and there was nothing you could do but scream. Your eyes and ears were barely giving you any information about the world around you, every sense had shut down in the hopes to preserve what little sanity you had left.

This was it. The breaking point. You were on the edge of just letting go...

"If you boys are done playing, I've managed to figure it out without torturing poor Y/N."

Rebekah! Your knight in shining armour. The only way those torturous hands were anywhere near likely to retract.

"Excellent." Elijah grinned. "I suppose we're done here."

"Aw, but we were just getting started!" Klaus groaned, giving you a menacing wink.

"I'll sort it out, you two fix this mess." Rebekah said, but not before flashing you an amused smirk.

You watched your saviour exit the room, before letting your head hang limp towards the floor.

"Now, how to ensure you don't speak a word of this to anyone..." Klaus said, tapping a finger against his chin.

"Oh with the redness on their cheeks, I highly doubt they'd be sharing this little adventure with anyone." Elijah smirked, eliciting a blush from your traitorous cheeks. "Plus, this spell of yours should take a few days to wear off. If they go blabbing their mouth, who knows who may take advantage of this sensitive situation."

"In that case," Klaus took a step towards you, wriggling his fingers. "shall we continue?"

Elijah smirked. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt."

#fic #mine #tickletober2022 #tickletober day 9 #the originals #elijah #klaus #i hope this was ok and not too OOC im only on like season 1 but im obsessed with elijah #he gives off such ler energy and i cant stop thinking about it #im not usually a vampire guy #but damn id let him have a lil nibble of my neck #tw intense tickles (fiction) #FUCK THIS IS LONG IM SORRY #and late too #hopefully worth it ???

[oathkeeperoxas]

I dont get your tags on that fight scene post, how does a fight scene and a sex scene work the same? Theyre completely different in like every way I can think of? Im curious as to how you approach sex scenes since yours are always so good to read

Ah thank you anon! I'm glad you like my writing! I'll do my best to explain. An obligatory disclaimer though - this is all technical advice, which in my opinion is less important than characterisation and choice of kinks when it comes to writing sex that others might find appealing. I'll read the most technically inept sex as long as it has good character voice and kinks that I'm into. Sex is an inherently subjective topic where opinions often clash, so my strongest advice would be to indulge yourself and write what you want firstly. That being said, I do think the technical elements used in the right way can elevate a sex scene from good to great, and can also convince others to try a new kink or pairing if they know that you have a good technical grasp on the execution of a sex scene. And of course it's always valid to want to think about how to improve your writing!

Referencing the tags on this post

I'm going to steal a lot of terminology from that post because it's top of mind and because I need something to contrast against when I'm talking about writing sex scenes. I was good at writing fight scenes before I ever properly attempted to write a coherent sex scene (my first was my first codywan piece, which puts me at almost exactly 2 years of writing smut!) and had heard that fight/sex scenes are not too dissimilar when putting words to paper, so that was how I attempted to frame my work. That being said I've definitely improved in the last 2 years, so practise and actually writing smut does help even if you aren't actively seeking ways to improve - it just helps to have a framework to think around when looking to technically improve your writing.

So the VIOLENT method - for sex. Quotes from the original post in italics, with my minor edits then in bold. Under a cut because this got long.

Visceral: Make sure your audience feels it by keeping it grounded in sensations and emotions. Sex is an incredibly emotional event (I would argue that fights are also events of very hightened emotion, so you can take this advice for fight scenes as well) and your characters need to react to that. Whether this is a one off fling, a first time after years of pining, or a couple that's been together for most of their lives, there's going to be heavy emotions involved. What those are depends on the situation, but to me satisfying smut needs an emotional hook to draw me in to really appreciate the meaning of the actions and what's happening. To relate to a character makes the physical side of things that much more intense. That being said, the physical sensations are also incredibly important - 'he put x in his y' is flat language that may titillate, but only due to the reader's own internal associations with sex. Humans have 5 senses, put them to use! People often tend to focus on sight and touch, and sometimes to a lesser degree smell/taste (how often have you read 'he tastes like vanilla and scotch and something uniquely him) but often less so on hearing. I try to intersperse sensations from all 5 senses in my sex scenes, to grab a full breadth of sensation. This gives the reader a break too - if you're constantly saying 'he touched this, he touched that...' then they're scrambling trying to adjust to the new information instead of letting it deliciously sit and simmer. Combining senses can also give a multiplicative effect. What someone smells AND hears AND feels across their skin gives a fuller picture than one sense alone. That being said, I never use all five for one moment, and never in the same paragraph. That's another way to tire out your reader! Three senses at the maximum for each paragraph and moment, and a different combination in adjacent paragraphs of description. I would also encourage you to get gross with the details of sensation - comment on tiny things to keep your reader engaged and interested. It's likely they've read sex scenes before. The more minute you make your observations about what's happening, the more unique you'll be and the more you'll grab your reader's attention. Readers are intrigued by the new! Again, this is all applicable to fight scenes where sensation and emotion can really put a reader in a character's shoes. I can copy and paste almost the entire last 2 sentences from the main post as a final comment on visceral: Also, really critically, people are exhausted after sex. Your characters should be wrung by the time it's over, even if it only lasted for a few minutes. <- so true! Even if they're strapping 18 year olds, sex is usually a lot of physical activity. Give them a breather afterwards.

Immediate: Keep sentences short and punchy. This ties a lot into what I said in the tags on the original post, as someone who typically writes long sentences as my preferred style, fighting and having sex is when I quite deliberately attempt to limit myself and scatter in a few one or two word sentences to keep the pacing fast. Periods, dashes, semi-colons, and colons all have a real world effect on your reader's breathing. A period is a hard stop and requires a breath, while the other types of punctuation let a sentence continue and maybe only half a breath to be taken. Several short sentences in a row mean that a reader is breathing more quickly than they would otherwise be, and that leads to their heart rate increasing too. If they're already aroused (and this can mean a hightened state of awareness if they're in the throes of reading a physical fight, not just sexually aroused) then this added oxygen and heart rate adds to their physical reactions of the text and increases their connection to it, and lowers the chance of them disconnecting. You want readers to read your fight/sex scene in one sitting, because going to another tab or looking at their discord messages or whatever will break the flow of your text and their emotional connection to it. That distraction requires another hook to get them back in, which might not happen right away if you as a writer assume that you already have an involved audience due to your set up and prior hooks.

Obnoxious: I probably won't quote from the original post on this one as I think it's where the tone differs the most, even though I agree with the underlying idea. To keep the reader guessing and to keep them engaged, introduce new ideas throughout your fight/sex scene. This could be through something in the environment that they have to react to, or changing sex acts, or noticing something about the other character that they never have before. It's important that this is done deliberately though - I'm pretty sure we've all gone 'wait what position are they in??' when reading a fic before. You're looking for a new hook to latch your reader, a fresh idea that will get them asking 'what's going to happen next?' not a way to confuse them, as this will break their immersion and connection to the scene. Change things up, and if you want to return to what was happening before, then you can do that later down the line as another hook.

Liquid: Sex scenes flow. There's a definitive rhythm and momentum to a sex scene. While the characters won't necessarily have a great idea of everything happening, they WILL have a sense of the momentum around them and the way sex is making them move. Momentum and movement are going to be the key to writing an impactful sex scene and give the reader a sense of excitement. All of this! There's a back and forth in a sex scene, no matter if there's one person involved or 20. It also can be an overwhelming experiences - senses are firing, heart rate is up, every sensation can be a lot. It's okay not to write every single way that someone moves their arms or bodies, in fact I would argue that doing do would grind the immediacy of a scene to a halt with too much information. Look below on the purpose of your scene and then use that to inform the pacing - if desperate, then the back and forth should be fast. If indulgent, the back and forth is probably going to be a lot slower. Whatever it is, try to stick to one throughout the scene to avoid rapid mood shifts that could throw a reader out of their flow and make them question what's happening. Not to say that slow->fast sex can't happen (and the other way around too, and everything in between), but that shift should be recognised as impactful by the tone and prose as well as the characters on the page, to keep the readers engaged with the scene.

Environment: Where's the sex scene happening? How is everyone moving? Describe the surrounding environment. This is very good advice, and something that is critical when constructing the underlying movement and flow of the scene. Alone in a bedroom is going to be very different from people fucking in a public space. How they react to that environment can add to the emotions of a scene - do they feel safe there? Sex is an inherently vulnerable act, and doing that somewhere safe/unsafe will have an affect on the character. Are they familiar with the space? This can lead to a character knowing where condoms/lube/sex toys are, or if they're somewhere unfamiliar, being surprised if their partner/s pull out something that they weren't expecting. What's a character's reaction to that unexpected action? It can inform the tone/direction of a scene significantly. Have they had sex there before? Newness/familiarity is something that can be easily worked into a scene to ground the characters - if they know that they need to change pillows or locations because that one is too soft/squishy/rough/has a bad texture, this can tell us about a character and their desires. Sex scenes are character building! Use them to show a different side of your character/s that wouldn't normally come up! Using the environment can be hot too - if there's a risk of being discovered, or someone is picking someone else up and slamming them against a wall, or there's a mirror in the room, these can all be kinked on and add to the titillation of the sex scene. Temperature is important too. If it's freezing and they're taking all their clothes off to get sweaty with each other, that can break immersion. Alternatively that risk can again, be a part of the point of the scene if you choose to play it that way and draw focus to it on purpose.

Narrator: Who is your narrator in the sex scene? An incredibly important question! As the original post says, What a soldier notices, what a correspondent notices, what a martial artist notices, etc, are all differences. Keep an eye on how you present this. Someone who's never had sex before is going to think about sex differently to someone who goes out every weekend to get laid. A sex worker is going to approach a sexual encounter differently to someone who has only ever had sex with a man and is now looking at having sex with a woman, is going to approach a sexual encounter differently to someone who is in love, is going to approach a sexual encounter differently to someone who doesn't care about their partner at all. And these can all overlap depending on the situation. What importance is placed on speed, tone, sex acts, submission/dominance, location, etc is going to differ depending on who the narrator is. My rule of thumb is that if you switch out your narrator for a different character, the scene shouldn't make sense anymore. Everyone is different and filtering experiences through a narrator should very much impact the scene. If you can sub a different name in and the scene reads fine, you likely need to go in and add some lines that directly relate to your narrator - they're your greatest hook in drawing a reader in, and their quirks are what lets a reader connect to them!

Tactics: What does everyone want out of the sex? This question is probably the most relevant one, as it should inform the rest of the above points. The goal can be as simple as 'to get off' and as complicated as you can dream up. Keep in mind that if there are multiple participants, their goals may differ, or even clash, and this can add a point of tension to the scene that should certainly effect what's happening, whether it's directly acknowledged or not. The purpose of the sex in a scene also comes into play when setting the tone, pace, and positioning of the characters. If one of them is pissed off, that's going to read differently to if they're having desperate 'thank god you're alive' sex. If they're having slow morning sex that's going to read differently to highly visible sex happening in a public place. What you as a writer wants to convey also should factor into this. Why is there a sex scene happening? What are you showing a reader about a character? Again this can be as simple as 'to get off' but if you're using sex as a narrative device or a character building moment, then that should have it's place in the story to make sure you're getting your intent across. The length of a sex scene can also play into this. If it's three lines, that implies a perfunctory nature or lack of importance that can be leveraged in the narrative flow. This can be subverted though - trying to brush over a traumatic sexual encounter, or as foreshadowing or character building that you'd like to include without breaking the greater flow of the narrative to dedicate screen time to a full sex scene. When doing this, I usually try to have one sentence of brutally intense sensation to gut-punch the reader - depending on what emotion you're trying to convey, the content will change of course but almost everyone has an emotional response to the idea of sex. Use that to your advantage to deliver a strong and impactful line.

I hope that explanation is of some use to you! In summary: have a broad idea of what you want the sex scene to do, think about how your narrator will interact with their environment and any other individual/s involved in a sex scene, and use emotion and sensation to be as gritty in the details as you like. And like real sex, make sure to enjoy yourself too 😉

#asks #anonymous #writing #writing tips #2.5k later and I feel like this is just an off the cuff overview but anyway. very interesting to think about!

[variousqueerthings]

I know I'm going to die. I have to say it, the truth. Without hope. Without witness. Without reward. I am your friend.

I'm sick, so I can just sit around and talk about Doctor Who. today, "Extremis," aka the gameification of alien invasions feat. M*ffat using the Vatican church as an excuse to write dialogue that he thinks sounds clever (fun facts for everyone who wants to morosely shake their heads, M*ffat is writing a show about cancellation and has plans to make a British West Wing...)

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 7/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 4/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 4/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 7/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 3/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 6/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 6/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 7/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 5/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 55/100 (if I can count….)

We're back into more of a standard M*ffat era rating with this one. makes sense, seeing as this was written by M*ffat

OBJECTIFICATION: I rate this one down purely for Nardole calling Bill "babydoll" -- yes, yes it's a joke, but I don't like Nardole's character, I don't think the joke works, and I think it's patronising rather than charming/silly/whatever they were going for:

BILL: Nardole, are you secretly a badass? NARDOLE: Nothing secret about it, baby doll. (Then he stops suddenly and whimpers)

there's also the way M*ffat writes lesbians... unsure whether to put this here or under hamfisted sexiness, so I put it under both. I don't think this is the worst in the way M*ffat has written women on this show, and in many ways I still think Bill is far more well-written than, say, the relationship between Jenny and Vastra, and I think that may in large part be due to Pearl Mackie not playing it as sultry in the way I know is so common in M*ffat era. the script runs like this:

BILL: Are you okay? PENNY: Yeah. Sorry, I'm just not quite used to all of this. BILL: Well, whatever this is, and actually it's not anything yet, it is absolutely nothing to feel guilty about. Okay? PENNY: Okay.

this is, to be clear, pretty much the extent of the date that Bill and Penny are on that we see, this is the main gist of conversation they get to have, alone at Bill's apartment. whether they were out before that, or whatever else they've talked about in the past is unknown (and then they get interrupted by the main plot starting)

it's got the air of forbidden lesbian pulp leading into a steamy sex scene, and it's a shame it just hovers in the middle of nothing like this (what do they have in common, how was the rest of their date, have they spoken about this before, etc), so yeah, I am rating it down, but not too far down, because I think Pearl Mackie and the other actress manage to deliver the lines without them sounding completely stupid. still, M*ffat, you've managed to write lesbians who don't talk like a porn-intro simulator. they could have been chatting about literally anything that gave us an insight into why Bill likes this girl!

PLOT-POINT: Bill is revealed to be a simulacra in this one -- not like when Amy was revealed to be flesh, and her apparent involvement in the first half of s6 completely irrelevant, it's just this one episode

still, it means Bill's actions in this episode are somewhat pointless.

Simulacra!Bill on the other hand, goes through all the stages of horror upon finding out she isn't Bill. I think it would have been cool if this had been more the core of the episode, and not only at the end, after all a lot of Doctor Who is "who is a person (everyone)," but this Bill is in the end not there to explore that, she's mainly there to reveal the plottwist

COMPLEXITY: IIIII wasn't a fan of the execution of this episode. I kind of like the idea (aliens simulate invasion plans and people within them at some point come to the realisation that they're not real and it drives them crazy), but the execution is so overblown and ridiculous, I don't take any of it seriously, and frankly several times wondered if I'd missed something as I was going through it

I think M*ffat does this a lot while I'm watching, and while it isn't technically his fault that I feel stupid watching his plots, it does make me resent him whenever it happens -- I'll watch a plot, lose the thread for a bit, go "wait, am I understanding this right?" look it up, discover I am understanding it right, and M*ffat just put in several pointless set-pieces that got me distracted, and it's not that complicated

there's just no need for it to function in the way it does. I also think it's such a missed opportunity to really lean into a Matrix-like world -- not to say Matrix itself, but the ways the Matrix makes the audience notice the oddness/inconsistencies of "reality," puts you on the scent, vs this episode which is designed to make you confused, but not because you think anything's amiss, M*ffat just confuses people constantly without reason

there's this bit as well were a bunch of CERN scientists blow themselves up, and I think it's a shame that this didn't take place purely at CERN in a way that introduced it properly to a younger audience -- I think you'd be forgiven for coming out of this episode knowing exactly as much or little about CERN as you did coming in, except now you associate it with crazy German guy blowing up a cafeteria full of people all spouting the same numbers (because they're simulatioooons, which we don't know yet)

all the Vatican stuff is sooo... ok I'm biased on that. I find the Vatican intensely boring as concept, and I think it's because everytime I see something about the Vatican (barring idk. the young pope or the exorcist) is always about making it this mystical fascinating place, more or less completely devoid of anything that delves into its humanity, never mind its horrible no good chokehold on millions of people and historical cover up of a whole buncha crimes. I get the latter, this is Doctor Who, but what was the purpose of the Vatican, other than to be like oooh cool mysterious Italians. Dull dull dull

OH AND THE FUCKING!!! COMPUTER CHARACTERS FEEL WHEN YOU SHOOT THEM THING!!!! STUPID! WAIT I'M GONNA PUT THAT ONTO POLITICS JUST YOU WAIT M*FFAT! I'M NOT LETTING THIS ONE GO!

the ending is neat, I like the ending. everything getting there is soooo peak M*ffat, minus a woman being sexually assaulted or harassed

oh and there's a simultaneous little narrative of the Master being sentenced to execution and the Doctor has to be the executioner. I always like the Doctor and the Master interacting, of course, and technically this could be cool. To be honest, I think there could have been a great whole episode about this concept, but unfortunately this is not going to happen, and this is one of those excuses to make the Doctor seem soooo cooooool. I'm actually not sure why it's there other than to reveal that the Master is in the vault

thematically I don't think the two plots have much to do with one another, but then I watched it about 2 weeks ago so maybe I've forgotten something important

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: at the end of this, the Doctor doesn't kill the Master, and there's an invasion coming, the Doctor is still blind, and Bill decides to shoot her shot with an attractive woman that the Doctor saw her simulacra self go on a date with

I like once again how the Doctor takes an interest in Bill's life, and in this case urges her to give it a go, and I'm always a fan of seeing the Master, but it's of course the invasion that will be followed up on in the next two episodes, and again, I like the idea of aliens running invasion simulations

just noticed nothing that happens in this episode is actually the way the invasion goes... that's next episode's business though

COMPANIONS MATTER: in this one, they do not really. it's interesting because simulacra!Bill and simulacra!Nardole actually spend a significant amount of the episode away from the Doctor, doing their part of plot, but there's nothing really that they discover that the Doctor doesn't also figure out, so.....

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: the rating in this part is, I confess, almost purely because of the whole execution bit. because at the end of that we have another M*ffat classic. the Doctor essentially says "hey, I can do what I want" the alien says "lol no" and the Doctor counters "I'm the Doctor actually and I've killed sooo many people" and the alien is cowed and awed into letting the Doctor do whatever they want

actually I wonder now, in the grand scheme of the universe in Doctor Who, has the Doctor killed more people than others? not discounting that there aren't a lot of fatalities, but even including the ones the Doctor elected just... not to save... even including the Time War (which we've partially undone so the count is back down again), you telling me there aren't whole galaxies destroyed in other wars or ruled by tyrants or idk. buncha weird species out there who enjoy doin a violence

like yeah, he's killed a lot of people, but surely these "we specialise in execution" guys have seen worse, considering they must execute the worst of the worst (or whatever, they're not well-developed). perhaps I'm being pedantic, but eh

remembers that M*ffat did this aaalll the way back in silence of the libary and then never stopped doing this. it's one of his get out of jail freecards that I hate the most

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: there aren't really any callbacks or tie-ins. the closest would be that fuckn killcount machine moment

“SEXINESS”: I rated this down for the lesbians writing, because despite how it was played, that script was dumb as hell

INTERNAL WORLD: see, technically M*ffat could get away with not being a particularly good world-builder in this one, because it's not real, but I'm not letting go of him casually tossing in the Vatican and CERN just cos in the way he did, and the space executioners are just there to give flavour

you'd think this would have been a dream come true for M*ffat, he could have done anything, and instead it was indistinguishable from his usual world-building

POLITICS: okok, let's talk about simulacra and computer games. this episode is actually completely devoid of politics, something I pointed out was kind of odd considering they're giving us the Vatican and CERN (not to mention the beginnings of an invasion plot), but then the Doctor has to throw out there just for flavour that apparently computer game characters feel it when you shoot them

I think that's the thing with M*ffat and politics. either they don't exist where they probably should, or they're just for flavour. but let us consider this concept for a bit, from the perspective of the simulacra -- the Doctor has acknowledged, on some level, that they are alive. alive enough to feel pain, to go crazy upon discovering they're not the people they think they are, to (in simulacra!Bill's case) plead to be saved

is he saying then, that every character in a computer game is alive? or has the potential to come alive (when sophisticated enough). what does this mean for the rights of computer games in the world that they inhabit? and within that idea, what does it all thematically, metaphorically mean for real life rights, because scifi politics is really always about real life politics

I mean, we're never going to explore that in this era, because it wasn't about that. I think there's a wider question that Doctor Who has to ask in its "everyone is people" conceit, because as we all know not everyone is really people in Doctor Who. it's one of my favourite parts of Doctor Who, but it's enforced loosely, which is a shame

I'd be curious about a "everyone is people" ranking (possibly starting with nu!who, I'm too early in my classic watch for my brain to do much more than simply go brrrrrrr), and when this matters and when it doesn't -- there's a biiit of leeway, because sometimes villains are people, and sometimes they're not, but also sometimes the Doctor's in too much of a hurry to explore the personhood of a villain, so... it's not a hard and fast ranking, I'd just be curious

anyway, this episode fails the "everyone is people" criteria sooo badly

FULL RATING: 55/100 (if I can count….)

this one has many of the M*ffat hallmarks: overblown plot with a ton of stupid dialogue that's meant to sound deep (the flipping way they use the word extremis in the plot itself is soooooo *rolls eyes forever*), a lack of thematic relevance overall, and an inability to give the companions something important to do or mean in the plot

it's not the worst of M*ffat plots, but it's kind of a disappointment for having a pretty cool core idea that feels like it needed way more drafts to cut out the dead weight and shift some of the flightier notions into something workable

it does however set up the next two plots, which I've cautiously decided to do together, even though they're quite tonally different. we'll see how that goes. and gomez!master is great as always

#im watching nu!who #im watching capaldi who #episode extremis #the measurement

[deadendtracks]

Lizzie and tommy: Ruby's death, pt. 7

So after Tommy promises to pay Esme to find Evadne Barwell, he returns to Birmingham, only to find out Ruby has just died.

It's an awful scene: Lizzie is devastated, screaming at him where were you? And Tommy stands there stunned.

If you had doubts whether or not he expected Ruby's immanent death, I think that should change your mind: he absolutely did not expect her to die this quickly. He's so shocked he can't process it, he stands there staring at Lizzie as she collapses in grief, and his expression is almost confused.

In that horrible moment he can't offer Lizzie comfort, because he's in shock. And she can't offer him comfort, because she's angry that he wasn't there with her. Like I've said, her anger at him is very understandable and human; but it was a horrible situation and he didn't abandon her to it on purpose, you know? Even if you believe 100% that he should have stayed by Ruby's side with Lizzie and that this is the objective only right thing to have done in the situation, he lost his daughter as well.

It's very strange, but there tends to be this reaction in fandom towards him as if only Lizzie lost Ruby. So Tommy's role is to comfort her, which he fails; no one seems to look at Tommy as if he is also deserving of comfort. And by saying that I'm not saying Lizzie fails him by being unable to give it to him right then, either. I'm just saying it's a horrific situation and they're both deeply human and flawed and aren't able to comfort each other.

Tommy went into a tunnel, one of his worst fears, to try to save Charlie when he was kidnapped. This was the equivalent for Ruby, I think; the problem is it's much messier.

It's all tied up in Tommy's belief that he himself is cursed. In that first scene at the hospital, he tells Lizzie "They wouldn't let me pass. They wouldn't let me pass. They did it on purpose, to punish me." He tells Esme that if he makes amends for all the bad things he's done, Ruby will live. Even Esme, who cursed him herself after John died, seems surprised and asks if he thinks Ruby's illness is his fault.

The answer is yes, and that's not rational, of course. But again, it's not something he's *doing* to other people, if that makes sense. He's traumatized and mentally ill. The IRA murdered Polly and told him it was his fault, and I think he internalized that. And even before that he absolutely believed the safety of his family was his responsibility; it's why he doesn't leave with Grace in season 1.

I think you can have compassion for both Lizzie and Tommy here. Lizzie's reactions are more in line with what we expect from a parent so they're easier to sympathize with, but Tommy's reactions don't come from nowhere, and they're intimately tied to his experiences. And I think you can even have compassion for him without going on to be proscriptive about how you think he should have reacted, as well. Up to this point, nothing he's done is at all harmful to anyone and none of it is meant to reject or harm Lizzie. In this case it's not about him being careless with Lizzie's feelings, either -- hopefully I've explained enough about his internal workings to make that clear. This isn't him just not caring about Lizzie enough to be there for her, in the slightest. It's him doing what he thinks needs to be done to save their daughter.

#peaky blinders #meta #lizzie and tommy

[commsroom]

Hey✨! (First will just say you by all means don’t have to answer this! Representation and interpretation of ai characters is something I’m really interested in so just wanna hear some of ur thoughts if your up for it!)

I’m curious as to whether you have though about how ‘human’ interpretations of Hera are and whether the want to represent her but the lack of understanding on how being an ai would feel (for obvious reasons of, we are not ai) effects how much people portray her as ‘human’ to try and understand how she works (drawing her with eyes that look at screens and hands that fiddle buttons to work the Hephaestus, making outcomes where she can get physical affection, something we consider staple to our relationships because humans need physical affection where an ai might actually not ect)

Also!! Just wanna disclaim I do not mean interpretative ai characters in more human ways is bad at all and all the interpretations are incredible, I’m just interested in how ones own humanity may affect that interpretation. Have a good day!

okay, this ask is so old by now; i’m sorry if you don’t even see my answer. but i wanted to make sure i could link you to some version of this post first, so... if you're mostly interested in my perspective on 'human' interpretations of hera and how i think that fits into her canon perspective/self-image/portrayal, then. your answer is (hopefully) in there.

i'm going to try to be brief and not rehash everything i said in that post, hence... why i'm linking the post... but i think the question of whether hera would express a desire for physical interaction or affection is kind of. already answered by the show itself, in that she canonically does experience physical loneliness in the way she perceives herself 'away' from the rest of the crew in memoria. like, if it's a question of AI Characters in General, then i absolutely agree that it's unfair to assume they would necessarily have the same desires or priorities, but... i don't know how much that particular discussion is really relevant to hera.

something else i didn't bring up directly in that post, but i think is worth considering: wolf 359 uses plenty of audio tricks to suggest inhuman or nonlinear perspectives at other points in the show, but it doesn't make much of an effort to ever apply those from hera's perspective. if anything, hera comes across as more human from her own perspective because of the added physicality in her self-perception and the lack of filters on her voice (and the addition of filters on everyone else's, further equalizing them and suggesting physical distance rather than a different state of being entirely.) that doesn't change that the reality of her situation is more complicated, but it's an intentional choice in what it communicates about hera as an individual, and in what it says re: how hera fits into the show's broader theme of asserting and recognizing humanity in people who have been dehumanized.

i think there's also just a question of practicality when it comes to fanart, like... hera can be an equal presence in an audio format in a way that she couldn't be in a visual one, so if you want to represent the feeling of a scene rather than Literally How It Would Look, you have to make some choices there. like with my personal design for hera, i ask people to draw her with that kind of blue hologram look, but i don't think that's either. literally how she looks, or how she sees herself. it's just a design choice that i feel will make her more recognizable.

i definitely don't expect everyone to come to all of the same conclusions that i do, but i think... based on the way all of this information is presented in canon, i think we can get a pretty good sense of how hera sees herself. i think it's important, at least, to acknowledge that she does have that internal self-image, that it matters to her, and that however she might feel things throughout the station due to the ways she's connected to it, the station itself doesn't represent a physical sense of self for her. again, she does express a desire for physicality and she experiences physical loneliness. so, while i can't definitively say why any individual artist might choose to, i do think that representing hera in a more 'human' way is a reasonable extension of her canon portrayal.

at the very least, i hope this answer + the linked post make it clear that this is something i've put a lot of thought into, and that i'm not making these claims lightly or out of an assumption of human physicality as the default. and i want to say, i totally get why a lot of people who feel not-quite or other-than human tend to get very attached to AI/robot/etc. characters, like. i am one of those people! and given the track record of a lot of sci-fi, i know how frustrating it is when it feels like Being Human is treated as something necessarily aspirational, or as if it's interchangeable with Being A Person. that's why it's important to me to be clear that i'm talking about hera's specific circumstances, her own self expression, and that i'm only talking about hera.

#wolf 359 #w359 #hera wolf 359 #asks #i'm so sorry again for how long this took me #i hope you see this and i hope it's. a satisfying answer at least #even if you aren't on the same page as i am #there's no way i'll ever be able to express everything i feel about this particular topic #but it is very important to me for some very complicated reasons #and i hope that consideration is clear. #also i'm sorry i'm always like 'i'll try to be brief' and then i write six paragraphs #also. of course i think you're right that it's inevitable that Being Human like. obviously that is an inherent bias in all stories #but i think there's a distinction when a story is /trying/ to portray an experience that isn't human #vs. whether it is a story fundamentally about humanity and human experiences #if that makes sense.

[surely-galena]

Hey Galena!

Do you mind sharing how you write your fics? Do you have a process? A starting point?

Also, I know a lot of ppl talk "show not tell" in writing, but how do you know if you're telling instead of showing (& vice versa)? Cause for me, I would look down at what I wrote and have no idea if I'm showing or telling.

I've searched online too. People all talk about "show it not tell it" but there's never any steps to tell you how to differentiate between the two.

Hey Rose!! :D

And ohh, those are fun questions!

1) Fic writing process

All fics start with an idea, and when I get one, I store it in a document of fics (it's a numbered list of ideas with some bullet points if I want to expand further). I don't look at the fic again unless I have nothing to write OR the idea keeps swimming around in my head and I need to get it out in a more concrete form.

I don't put too much effort into outlining a fic. Often I'll make a short list of bullet points with notes, scenes I want to include, and other things I don't want to forget. A lot of the time, stuff comes to me as I write, so I don't worry about the tiny details.

When I think I like an idea enough to see it to completion, I'll open a new document and put down the summary and tags on the very first page. Here's what that looks like for my fic Sorry, we thought this was a meal for four, not one: 

Usually, I don't insert the summary quote until much later. On the same page, I'll also generally have things I want to include in the notes or details I really need to remind myself on. They don't always make the most sense:

Longer, more plot-driven fics tend to have more notes. I think for my Vyn Wonderland fic, I moved my story ramblings to the notes app on my phone (and actually ended up with a brief chapter-by-chapter outline).

I don't always have a finished outline when I start drafting, but when I do start writing I try to speed through the first draft. It's very much "write first, edit later" on my end because I convince myself that I can make it better during the editing process.

Speaking of editing, once I have a first draft I like to let it sit for a bit, whether that be for a couple of hours or overnight. Then when I return to the draft, I should have a better perspective on what needs to be fixed. I go through at least four rounds of editing, sometimes more, and the last round is always with the work pasted in the AO3 editor (because the change in font once again gives me that new perspective to get typos/errors I missed in the previous rounds). I also make sure to click 'preview' and then return to the draft because that allows me to fix spaces after italics, line breaks, etc.

Once I'm satisfied with the one-shot/chapter (or just tired of reading the same thing 5-6 times in a row XD), I click the post button!

2) Show don't tell

My interpretation of show don't tell is a lot to do with emotion. Mostly something like "if you can define the emotion then try not to state it". Character A isn't happy at some good news (telling), they're grabbing their friend and spinning them around in a circle (showing). Character B isn't angry (telling), a fire is burning in the pit of their stomach and/or their throat is tight and/or their fists are clenched (showing).

It's not a hard rule, of course, because I tell sometimes, too!

I think another way show don't tell is used has to do with internal voice. Like how telling would something like "he thought so-and-so" and showing would be putting the thoughts directly in italics or indirectly in normal text.

Telling: He wondered what the secret ingredient was.

Showing directly: He swallowed the bite of lasagna. Huh, I wonder what the secret ingredient is.

Showing indirectly: He swallowed the bite of lasagna. What could the secret ingredient be?

I've used all three in various situations, so you don't always have to show each and every thing. Find what works for you and go with it :D

I don't know if that makes sense at all, but hopefully that helped!!

If you get stuck, you can always refer to writing styles you like and see what the author does with their prose, dialogue, whatever you're studying -- and then see if you can execute it in your own writing!

Thanks for stopping by, Rose!! Hope I didn't ramble on for too long ^_^

#asks #roshie-writes #okay_galena

[tojikai]

Omg PM IV!!!!! Thank you for the tag! Amazing as usual! It's very hot here in the UK, so I was literally laying in my bed crying due to the heat. Me toes and tits sweating off and I see my tagged notification and got up so quick!

Little TW for anyone who might read this. I do mention a little bit about self h*rm in my second paragraph about Rie. Just wanted to let you guys know in case x

Right, so... Satoru is really still convincing himself that Rie is perfect. He was catching all the things she was saying and in disbelief, but still internally convincing himself she's lovely and can't be horrible, bad etc. I feel like a part of him is still convincing himself of this to justify that Rie is the right girl for him and what he did was fine. And I think that he would have tried to keep up with this easier if YN never found out about the kiss. Because all this time, YN never knew but it seemed as tho she was ok with all of this to their friends. Now the facade is up. Gojo looks like an even bigger prick. He's trying to have the best of both worlds. Which is unfair on both the girls. He's kinda giving both false hopes. Kissing YNs hand (and yeh i know it could have just been a tender moment, but still very intimate) and she thought he was coming back to her. And Rie is like yeh but you love me and you're dating ME. Kinda reminds me of chapter 1, and please correct me if I'm misquoting your work, when YN says you don't love me anymore and he says something like no it's not like that. It's like that again but the other way round. I've tried being civil this time, but flippin heck, this arse just wants his dick wet but doesn't know by who! Ugh! PM GOJO YOU BRING OUT THE WORST IN ME! Wish version Jack Frost looking ass bitch! (I actually love non PM Gojo, im sry bbz ily)😅😂

Now Rie, I feel bad because, yes in that situation she probably can't help but think shit I'm going to lose him. And the questions going through her mind when she saw Gojo holding YNs hand... because once a cheater always a cheater. They both were part of this cheating, so it's only natural for her to think he's done it once, he can do it again. And she's already not a fan favourite. She really pissed me off when she said YN was self h*rming for attention... (some of my old 'friends' who were very close to me had said this to me and it hurts more than the physical pain :/). She's getting very insecure and acting irrationally and saying things out of desperation. I feel like this weird subtle chasing dynamic is either gnna mirror the relationship Toji had with his new gf in his series, because she had him without having him. Orrrr it will drive him away and they both lose on what they wanted.

Loved that scene at the end with YN and Suguru. It was so sweet. I hope she gets a tattoo that represents her strength and is part of her healing so she can get up and do some boss girl shit. And I hope that Shoko and Suguru become her chosen family/people (whether YN ends up with one of them or not (still kinda hoping for YNxSuguru lol)), because her shitty parents and Gojo failed her miserably. Gojo watching that scene made it so much better. I hope he gets that he can't be part of her healing, because it will be like rubbing salt on the wounds. Personally, as much as I love that person, I could never trust them again. I'd live like a walking corpse if I chose to be with them again constantly thinking about that betrayal. Gotta put me first! (I keep thinking of the Cookie Empire gif and I dont know how to add images in this on my phone because I'm shite at this lol). He lost something amazing, 5 whole years, over 5 minutes of infatuation. But I guess it showed that YN wasn't his, rather than Gojo not being YNs, if that makes sense. Because really and truly she didn't lose, which I hope she sees later on, but he did.

Omg, also that mini flashback of how the 3 of them met. I wonder if Suguru saw and liked her first, stepping back for Gojo and now is his time to shine... 👀👀👀

Sorry that's my rambling done. Thank you as always! I always eagerly wait for the next chapter. Gnna go reread this chapter in case I missed any details! Please make sure to take care of yourself!

P.S. I've just shared this chapter with my non tumblr friends and waiting for their discussion! 😄🙌🏾

Hiiiii omg woww, i so love this !! i like how you tried to dig deeper into their thoughts and their feelings and how you kept it all realistic and rational, like u made points for what possible reasons made this character do this and that !!! about that part that u shared, that u've been told what rie said abt yn, bb im sorry u had to go through that. those people are not your people. i hope u feel better now🥺♥️

anyways, thank you so muchhh for reading and for sharing omg, that makes me really happy !! please do take care of yourself too, and i hope you're doing great ~<33

#🍭—kaitalks #f: permanent mark #tw.self harm

[erisenyo]

For the fic writer ask game, if you haven't done them already : 🦅, 🛒 and 🙋‍♀️ ?

🦅 Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants?

So much outlining lol. I brainstorm out ideas, anywhere from vibes to chunks of dialogue to scenes to character moments. Then I organize them in some rough order and start trying to put some structure around the fic, something like thematic chunking or day breaks. Then I start outlining the overall character arcs--what's happening with the individual characters? With the characters' interactions with each other and interpersonal relationships? How are all those things starting vs ending in the story, and what gets them there?

And THEN I start shaping it into an initial outline, which then turns into scene skeletons, which then becomes a sketchy draft, which then gets edited into something usually of shareable quality.

Just so much planning. But I've found I work better when I know what I'm driving toward, and where I have a sense of the emotional/character/plot moments that need to happen within a given set of scenes.

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

Had to think about this one a little! Definitely water and fire imagery for Sokka and Zuko, particularly when it comes to their internal state. Lots of things flowing and rippling or blazing with them haha

Lots of intimacy around food. I think most of my fics now that I've made myself look at them feature some kind of moment around making food or getting food or knowing what someone likes to eat as an act of care and affection, whether romantic or familial or platonic.

I also love writing scenes where people need to confront how well they are known by someone else--either because they've just been walked in on in, or because someone is surprising them and revealing how well they know the other person, or some sudden awareness that they are revealing more of themselves than they intended. I like when characters suddenly encounter and need to deal with the fact that they've just been perceived haha

🙋‍♀️ Do any irl people know you write fanfic?

Yes! Six people know I write fanfic specifically as opposed to general writing, four of them know it's ATLA fanfic, and three of them have my AO3 handle (not sending my cousin a link to my Zukka smut lol)

For this fanfic emoji writers ask game!

#asks and answers #ask games #(I saw your tags on your ask - thank you!! <3 <3)

[kittimau]

i can’t remember a random Wednesday ever being this blessed! A kenobi episode AND a new TW chap! The update was EXQUISITE! I recall an anon asking about whether you’ve ever thought about doing a chap from OBi wans POV but I can’t remember whether you said you were thinking about it/considering it/or it was unlikely? Can I be cheeky & inquire again? 🥺 I wanna know so bad what’s going on in his head! Anytime he looks at anakin it’s prob just head empty, dick hard but I wanna know for sure!

YES KENOBI DAY!

I just caught up a few hours ago and am still sorting it out in my brain. Literally everyone in the episode was a BAMF?! Even baby Leia, look at her go! So proud. And by the Force, she is so much like her mom but in this episode I saw a ton of Anakin. Brilliant.

On to Troubled Water:

I have briefly talked about the Obi thing, yeah! From the start, I wanted the majority of the story told from Anakin's POV, and to end it with Obi-Wan's.

As for whether I'll do any like, direct rewrites of chapters from his POV, I'm not sure yet so I can't make promises, only say that I am thinking about it. It may simply depend on what all gets covered in the main fic because I do plan to go back and address several things. If I do my job right, Obi-Wan's reactions, and his feelings, should make more sense in hindsight and/or upon rereading.

"Head empty, dick hard" cracked me up tho ngl 🤣

He 100% has a couple moments where all higher brain function ceases. But there is usually a lot going on in his mind. Whenever I write a scene I am always thinking about what he is thinking and feeling just as much as I am with Anakin.

Anakin just isn't the most reliable narrator. He's still very emotionally intuitive - not as dense as he seems or as I joke about him being - but he is prone to misinterpreting the emotions he does sense or assigning meaning to them that isn't there. He's looking at it as, "this is the reaction I want / if it were me, I would do this," and when Obi-Wan's responses don't line up with his desires or expectations, he jumps to conclusions. Obi-Wan is just better at hiding his feelings, but they're still there. In every chapter so far, he has dealt with his fair share of internal conflict.

Once they reach a level of camaraderie where Obi-Wan can just be himself with Anakin, not as a Master or even a Jedi but as a friend and partner, their communication will improve. They both have some personal growth to achieve, but they'll get there.

(fr tho Obi-Wan is also horny as fuck and suffering because I'm evil that way, muahahahaha)

Like ok, this scene from ch4?

Glancing up from his master’s tempting lap, he finds Obi-Wan staring at him oddly. Eyes glazed and distant, lips parted as though he was about to speak but lost his train of thought.

“Master?” he repeats.

Obi-Wan blinks, eyes refocusing. “What?”

“You look tired. Maybe you should rest before we arrive.”

Obi-Wan holds his gaze a moment longer, then looks away and shifts on his ass, tugging awkwardly at the cloth over his knees. “Yes, I suppose you’re right,” he says, lying down on his own bunk with a weary sigh. “Who knows what sort of mess we’ll be walking into.”

Literally them:

art source: lindebergart

Anyway I hope that answers your question! Thank you so much for the interest, it really helps me as a writer to understand readers' perspectives as well. What to look out for, things that may require elaboration down the line, which breadcrumbs to return to later etc. Hope you have an awesome day, my friend, and may the Force be with you! 💙

#anon asks #mau answers #Troubled Water #Anakin Skywalker #Obi Wan Kenobi #obikin #fic talk #my fics #kenobi series #kenobi spoilers