#and has since revised the main storyline

[lttawnymadison]

TGCF Revised Version Afterword by MXTX

Since I kept seeing snippets of this, I wanted to read the whole thing for myself. I'd already bought the book on JJWXC and did an MTL for this. It's so wonderful that she's back and sharing new things and that the revised is finally done! - Tawny --------------------------------------------- The author has something to say:

Seeing the small red clay stove again.

———— Afterword of "Heaven Official's Blessing" 2022

■ Finally done!

Long time no see! It's another afterword starting with "finally." Without further ado, seasoned readers would know that I make substantial revisions. For instance, scenes like the Bai Feng Mountain Hunt and the ending recognition of Sizhui in the serial version of "Mo Dao Zu Shi" were not originally there.

The revisions in "Heaven Official's Blessing" are the most extensive of all my works. It was a huge project, as it is also the longest in terms of length, serialized over eight months. Due to poor health and other reasons, the revision process was interrupted for a long time before I picked it up again, and it sporadically took about five to six months over several years.

In the era of web novels, there are endless new entertainments, and honestly, not many people re-read a story. Plus, some problems in the serialized version are structural and can't be changed, but I still tried my best to address my regrets. After all, when I was serializing it, I was almost always in a feverish and sick state, barely pushing through. Additionally, I often enjoy comparing different versions of my favorite authors' works back and forth, finding pleasure in the process. So, for readers, discovering "Wow, this part has changed!" is like starting a new journey with Easter eggs in a second round.

■ The new revised version includes about 100,000 words of new content!

These 100k words are mainly concentrated in the latter half of Volume 1 and Volume 3, but there are plenty scattered throughout the text. For example, I fulfilled a promise to A-Hua, giving him several new outfits. Seeing A-Hua dressed beautifully in a new hairstyle to meet his gege made me happy.

In terms of the intensity of revisions, personally, I feel it goes like this:

Volume 1 and Volume 2 > Volume 3 > Volume 5 > Volume 4.

Additionally, the new version cuts some redundant words and plots that weren't very meaningful. However, I tried to keep all the original interactions between Hua Lian as complete as possible. If some minor interactions are missing, they weren't deleted but moved around.

■ One day, I suddenly dug out something.

An antique from 2017, a folder called "Heaven Official's Blessing Setting Collection."

Curiously, I opened it and read with interest.

● Comparing the original setting outline and the main text, the highest fidelity is in the main storyline between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian.

A-Hua, restored at a ratio of 1:100.

Hua's character setting is the most detailed, and virtually every point made it into the main text, including details like "ghosts don't like the sun, so Hua Cheng sometimes drapes a red cloth over his head"...

Points not used, listed a few:

As a child:

· After being saved from falling off a city wall, he foolishly followed a parade over and over again, grabbing people to ask, "Who is that? Who is that person?" People told him, "That's the royal son, the future Celestial God, the most outstanding Crown Prince of Xianle Nation ever!"

(This point couldn't be used because in the text A-Hua was held in the Crown Prince's arms after being saved)

· At home, he was often punished to stand or kneel, not given food, and wore old clothes, accused of stealing money. Whenever he argued with his family, he would stubbornly sleep in the Prince's temple overnight.

· Went to Mount Tai Cang to volunteer sweeping red leaves at Huangji Observatory, just to sneak peeks at his future wife happily swinging.

After becoming the ghost king:

· One of his hobbies is buying and building houses everywhere.

· Very protective of his leather boots, would (badly) polish them until they shone.

· To other devout followers of Xie Lian, he said: "You have good taste."

· Secretly prepared many betrothal gifts for his beloved god, wanting to marry him!

The character setting of Xie Lian as a teacher in the serialized version compared to the initial draft, the serialized text subtly differs. The initial draft was more... exquisite and elegant, very serious. The serialized text is more... humorous. I think perhaps because some plot points were tragic, Xie Lian thought he should be happier to make the readers more relaxed, so he drove me to adjust his mental state! But due to the spiritual oppression at that time, the character's depth was not enough, while in the new revised version, I hope he can show a more self-content state on the same core basis.

Excerpts from the unused original setting:

· Super easy-going. Easy-going means: if given fifty bucks, he would happily dress in drag and dance. Accepts haggling. Thirty bucks works. Twenty bucks too!

· The observatory is small, the house is broken, wants to grow flowers. Leaks during rain, so he uses a bucket to catch rainwater.

· Because he can't afford a caretaker, he cleans himself, and also feeds chickens. Chickens eat flowers. Keeps a cat.

· Completely engrossed in discussing serious matters, he unknowingly finished all the broken sweet dumplings!

● Water, Earth, Wind original setting:

The highest fidelity is the main line between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian, followed by the Water, Earth, Wind subplot.

The main conflict hasn't changed. Just... how could the original setting of Water, Earth, Wind be so dark and terrifying!

The character morals in the main text improved a lot, otherwise, the original Black Water would be sheer scheming + murderous! The ending for the Wind Master would have been more tragic.

The Plain Speech True Immortal [TL note- maybe this is the Venerable of Empty Words - 白话真仙] suddenly became an improvised character. It seemed like an ancient fable-like monster, making the main text more interesting than the original setting.

Overall, the formal version is a bit better written than the original draft.

● The unfortunate life of Lang Ying:

Lang Ying? Is there such a character? I don't remember!

Ah? It seems there was such a person, but I don't remember any of his plotlines.

This is most people's feeling towards the character of Lang Ying. It's not a delusion because he barely had any significant plot. In fact, any valuable scenes could have been replaced equivalently, so in the new revised version, I deleted this character.

But, in the 2017 setting collection, I suddenly found that I had actually opened a separate document for Lang Ying, and his role was defined as a "growing-type BOSS!"

I was silent.

And immediately opened the document, curious about my initial setting. A "growing-type BOSS," how did he become someone whose deletion went unnoticed...? (I even don't know how to address him!)

Who knows, perhaps out of excitement, I accidentally pressed the wrong shortcut, and somehow it became irreversible, leaving only an empty document for me to stare in disbelief. The once "growing-type BOSS" has now forever become a mystery!

This is the unfortunate life of the deleted Lang Ying.

· There was another document in the setting collection called "Swordsmith." I opened the document and read it with interest.

I was shocked. Because I completely forgot I had conceived this story. Why didn't I write it?!

Darn.

I know why I didn't write it. This story... it had no ending!

——————— Thus, the magical glimpse into the "Heaven Official's Blessing Setting Collection" concludes!

■ I like men with stories!

Maybe because I watched an outstanding work as a child. It was a memoir, the protagonist in the biography was gentle and affable, and the protagonist in the memories was cold and ruthless. The story was scattered with the poignant fragrance of white plum blossoms amidst bloody and stormy circumstances.

This almost perfect work deeply influenced my aesthetics, leading me to be most interested in the memory parts of characters in various works. Although many viewers prefer the present scenes, often asking when the memories will end, I actually find these intense and painful memories to be the most fascinating!

A story is the history of a character, as well as the key to their personality. A person with a story stands before me like a puzzle. The way to solve this puzzle is to understand their story. Because the biography makes one curious to know more about a character they like, loving them more now because of their past. When serializing "Heaven Official," my greatest pain initially was telling myself, "This time I don't want to write a memory slaughter," deliberately trying to avoid a structure similar to previous works, yet I still hadn't found a better way to express it, resulting in my deep dissatisfaction with the later part of Volume 1. I was also hesitant to fully commit to the memory scenes in Volume 2, and with the heavy mental burden, this part was very painful to write. When revising, looking at Volume 2 was almost unbearable, because I'm the type of person who, as a child, would immediately switch channels when a TV show's protagonist was about to be wrongfully accused or embarrassed. I couldn't help but knock on a friend's door and ask:

Me: Was the author suffering some kind of mental trauma at the time? This negative energy is too horrifying, the protagonist is so pitiful, I really admire anyone who could read through Volume 2 completely.

Friend: Do you even have the right to say that?

But the memory slaughter in Volume 4 was much freer, written in one breath, so the revisions for this volume were also the least.

So, will you still write large segments of memory slaughter?

Um, well, we'll see, haha, hehe...

■ Closing Remarks:

Lastly, I'll address the question some asked me, "Will the new revised 'Heaven Official's Blessing' be more torturous?"

Me: You're talking nonsense. 'Heaven Official's Blessing' is a sweet pampering story, thank you!

Acknowledgments:

Shi Nai'an wrote in the preface to "Water Margin": "On snowy nights, about five or six people listen to my storytelling; on rainy days, about seven or eight; on bright and sunny days, about ten. I read, everyone listens, and we are all happy, with no other thoughts." When I read this as a young person, I was delighted. What divine days! Writing first to entertain oneself, then to entertain others. Self-expression and self-acceptance are certainly primary, but the affection of others is also a significant positive feedback. Thus, first, I thank the steadfast readers who have accompanied me all this time. I've thought about just walking away amidst the noisy disputes; abandoning the account amidst the tumultuous world! It seems not bad. But looking back, I can't bear to leave some truly sincere readers.

I've had authors I liked disappear from the internet, and I always feel like a part of my youth has vanished, a feeling quite distressing, reminiscent of overly grand and harsh things like the tears of the era or the torrent of history. So, I want to accompany my readers as long as possible, hoping that the day of parting comes later. Perhaps I'm not good enough now, but I will strive to be better in the future. Or perhaps you've never truly understood what kind of person I am, or even completely misunderstood me, but as long as you genuinely like my stories, we can sit down and chat.

And, I must mention my friends, who can be described as having the courage of a hero. Long time no see, Teacher Changyang's illustrations are still as beautiful as those of a celestial being, I hope Teacher CAS can go to bed earlier and worry less, and Teacher Kuohao, who despite a heavy workload, still fully honored our agreement. The "Heaven Official's Blessing" radio drama is really fantastic! It reminded me of the original intention of writing this story, and I was very moved. If it weren't for the silent companionship and efforts of these old friends, Mo Xiang Tong Xiu might have stopped writing back in 2016, disappearing from the world of martial arts, and thus, "Heaven Official's Blessing" would not have been born. I look forward to retracing the paths we once walked together when gathering ideas. And many friends who reached out to help and encourage me, thank you for accompanying me through the snowy nights.

#tgcf #tian guan ci fu #hob #heaven official's blessing #墨香铜臭 #mxtx #mo xiang tong xiu #天官赐福 #tgcf revised version #mine

[transformers-mosaic]

Transformers: Mosaic #620 - "It's Alive"

Originally posted on September 26th, 2011

Story - Curt Lunsford, Juan Pablo Osorio Art - Jeremy Tiongson Colours - Tomoko Letters, Edits - Franco Villa

deviantART | Seibertron | TFW2005

Later revised and annotated for Transformers: The Lost Seasons

wada sez: This is the first part of the “MonsterQuest” trilogy. Per a comment from the team on deviantART: “This is our version of how the three guys that will eventually become [the Decepticon] headmasters were created, they were already existing decepticons when we first saw them in "The Rebirth". They specifically cited a piece of fanart by James Cox, which depicted the trio as the Universal Monsters—see below for that—as being the main inspiration behind the storyline. To counter them, they introduce a G1 version of Crosswise, the monster hunter from Transformers: Cybertron (indeed, Prime’s line “that’s why I asked you to come from Cybertron” has a meta double-meaning to this effect). Crosswise’s character model (see below) was designed by Juan Pablo Osorio; the process was explained as follows: “He's mostly a Smokescreen repaint but with a new head, rocket lauchers and a leg transformation like the one Jazz had. [...] since the Crosswise toy has repainted into Smokescreen and Jazz, I thought if it'd have been the other way around the Smokescreen mold would have been used in G1, with a tough of Jazz transformation scheme just to add variety to the already overused Fairlady mold. By the way, his color scheme is based on the 10th Anniversary gold/black edition of the car”. Skullcruncher’s origin story is based on Frankenstein’s monster, with Scrapper reusing blueprints from when the Constructicons rebuilt Optimus Prime into an alligator in “City of Steel”. Clean colors below.

#Transformers #Transformers Mosaic #Maccadam #Sunbow Transformers #Transformers: The Lost Seasons #Curt Lunsford #Juan Pablo Osorio #Jeremy Tiongson #Tomoko #Franco Villa #Crosshairs #Megatron #Scrapper #Scavenger #Rack 'n' Ruin #Mindwipe #Skullgrin #Weirdwolf #Optimus Prime

[cljordan-imperium]

Pixies - PT1 (JAN 2016)

Due to a newly discovered allergy to MRI spinal contrast, I am sidelined for a second day and unable to do final revisions on the chapter that was supposed to be next. Instead, I'll take you back in time 6 years...to when Brie was an RP Character and I wrote a multi part storyline because my writing partners were all busy and I was bored. Enjoy!!

I pressed “END” and stared at the phone in my hand.  I’d just gotten off the phone with Eric and made sure he was at the club and would be there till it closed.  We were getting ready to head out to battle a small army of demonic pixies, something that had apparently not been seen on Earth since around the time my brother was born.  To give you a clue on about how long ago that was. Justinian I was a childhood friend of my brother.  Yes, THAT Justinian I that was emperor of Rome.  The last demonic pixie infestation is said to be one of the reasons for the Nika Riots that took place in Constantinople in 529 AD.  In case you have never heard of these riots, because I certainly hadn’t before this whole thing started, let me give you a short lesson.  Two things to remember about these riots that lasted over a week is that they destroyed over half of the city and there were over thirty thousand people killed. 

If you were to sit down and Google Nika Riots like I did you would be confused on how a dispute over the pardoning of two members of rival chariot racing teams could lead to such chaos and devastation. According to history, sporting teams and in particular chariot racing teams were like the mob, street gangs and a political action committee all rolled into one.  There were two main ones, the Blues and the Greens.  The Blues were the favorite of Justinian by the way.  For a reason that is never quite explained easily, supposedly the Blues and the Greens fans and members got into a riot after one particularly ugly chariot race and it resulted in over 500 team members and fans being arrested for murder.  They were all convicted and sentenced to be hung.  All but two of them were, those two escaped and it just so happened it was one from each team.  To try and keep the peace among his people, Justinian commuted their sentences to imprisonment but the fans and team members demanded total absolution. This lead to yet another chariot race to determine their fate. Somewhere in the middle of the race, both teams and fans unified to not cheer against each other but to start ranting and challenging Justian. While this doesn’t make sense much to begin with, what came next makes no more and possibly even less. 

By the time you’re done reading about the strange politics and maneuvers that my brother’s friend supposedly did to end the riot that killed so many and destroyed so much, you’ll be sitting there thinking that they must have been half mad in those times.  While my brother’s behavior at times does tend to make me wonder about that, the truth is that to cover such a strange happening as the uprising of thousands of demonic pixies, you have to come up with a very strange tale to explain the devastation that ensued.  So, you end up with what history has recorded.  Now, so you can understand my concern for Eric and why we now had over 700 Nephilim on the grounds of the clave and even more portalling in almost every minute, I’ll tell you what really happened.

The Nephilim have been in existence since the first sin was committed and demonic forces first held sway over man.  There are stories they came later, but in reality our race is as old as mankind itself.  By the time of the Nika Riots, there were claves of Nephilim in all major ancient cities.  In those times we didn’t have to hide our true nature,  people of those times were more accepting that there were beings and beasts that were not of humanity and had not relegated them yet to the bedtime stories meant to scare and thrill.  Constantinople had one of the largest claves in the area, and it also had a horrid demon problem that didn’t seem to be diminishing over the years.  As the clave grew, so did the demonic presence.  Some would say that this was to keep the balance of power between good and evil, others have various theories, but everyone agrees that’s just how it was.  

Normally the demonic forces took their normal forms, that is until 529 when the first reported sightings of demonic pixies was recorded in Constantinople.  Now, we’re not talking about just a few demonic pixies, we’re talking about thousands of them suddenly appeared in the city, and for some reason the chariot races seemed to annoy them.  So at each race, a horde of demonic pixies would rise up and attack the spectators, often killing dozens through the use of their magic.  Being as pixies are, at their tallest, three inches in height, they were hard to kill with the weapons that were in existence at the time because they weren’t accurate enough.  The populace demanded that Justinian do something about this since his association with the Nephilim, mainly my brother, was well known.  The problem at hand were the weapons the Nephilim used were no different then in most respects than they are today.  Rarely does our race encounter such small demonic forces.

Race after race, people were being attacked and killed till that fateful day when the riots began.  More pixies than normal swarmed into the stadium as the races commenced and began the slaughter of the mortals that were there.  Outraged that Justinian had done nothing to thwart the problem, those in attendance began to riot the palace that was next door to the colosseum since it seemed to be immune from the pixie attacks and they blamed Justinian for not having this problem resolved already.  Justinian sent word to the clave of what had happened and requested immediate assistance.  Even in ancient times, Nephilim could portal, so the clave sent out messengers to all the major claves and soon an army of Nephilim were at the palace.

Because the rioting was even more disruptive than the chariot races, the pixies never relented on their attacks on the mortals.  This was what accounted for the high death rate.  Mortals, not able to combat the pixies began trying to catch them on fire.  Pixie wings will burn, but they do so slowly which only caused fire to spread throughout the city, causing the devastation that history has recorded.  Even with the massive army of Nephilim on hand, eradicating the pixies was a slow and tedious process since they could only be killed by iron.  For each pixie, it would need to be struck by iron to knock it to the ground, where it would then be impaled by iron and killed.  When you are battling thousands of pixies, killing them one at a time is not a very productive, nor speedy, process.  So again a call went out among the Nephilim for the mages to be brought together to find a remedy that would allow the Nephilim army to take down the pixies in large groups.

The mages worked tirelessly around the clock as the rioting and pixie attacks continued throughout the city.  Using a few pixies that the Nephilim forces had captured as test subject, the mages tried all different matter of spells, potions, poultices, and powders.  None seemed to have much affect, even those that contained substantial amounts of iron.  Justinian and the Nephilim Council of the time were beginning to believe that the city would fall to complete ruin and that the pixie problem would spread throughout the Roman Empire if it were not contained quickly.  More mages were brought in and more test subjects captured.  Any and every possible idea was to be tested until one could be found that would work.

 

It was during one trial when a mage realized why none of the powders were working, they fell right off of the pixies.  A way needed to be found to make the powder stick to the pixie and then it would work.  Since the pixies were also demonic, the mage came up with perfect plan.  The powder to be used was to be a combination of blessed salt and finely shaved iron, a rather coarse grit instead of fine grit powder.  While the elements of the powder were mixed together, the mage would recite blessings and incantations that gave the powder the power of the Divine.  An Elemental Nephilim would be required for this to work properly, as there had to be something for the powder to stick to on the pixie.  The day before the recorded end to the riots, the first trial was held in a courtyard of the palace.  The Elemental Nephilim caused a fine mist to form in the air around the pixies.  Other Nephilim then used bellows to blow the powder mixture onto the pixies.  As the mage had predicted the pixies fell like stones to the ground and seemed unable to get up from the weight of the powder now stuck to them, they also are reported to have been slightly smoking.  Large iron shields were then used to smash the pixies to death.  

Word was sent out quickly through the city to gather whatever large iron objects could be brought to the colosseum to smash all pixies that could be found, since they most often congregated there because that is where the rioters who were still trying to breach the palace were creating the greatest disturbance.  On that day, it was not one team’s supporters who were rushed out of the colosseum, it was all mortals that were rushed out as the army of Nephilim rushed in.  The Elemental Nephilim took positions high around the colosseum and created an atmospheric disturbance that formed a light mist in the air that coated Nephilim and pixie alike.  As soon as all were coated, the mist was dissepated and the Nephilim on the colosseum floor drew out dry bellows containing the blessed and enchanted powder that they filled the air of the colleseum with until all of the  pixies lay writhing on it’s foor.  Nephilim and mortal alike began using the gathered iron objects to smash all the pixies to death.  In the records it is said that the dead pixies covered the floor of the colosseum in a two inch thick layer, which is about four pixie bodies thick.  To take care of the pixies that were still elsewhere in the city, pairs of Nephilim, one of whom was an Elemental, were sent out throughout the city.  Within 24 hours, all of the pixies were dead.  

As time moved forward and the belief in the supernatural diminished, no longer could the story be told of the pixie invasion of Constantinople.  Those who passed on the history had to come up with mortal reasons for the devastation and massive loss of life that happened during that week.  How they decided in the end to make it over chariot races, I still haven’t quite determined.  Personally, even to the logical mortal mind a pixie invasion would make more sense than that!  But, that is what history has stuck with and no man the world over believes.  Unfortunately, the pixie problem has resurfaced again in my city.  It is threatening those I love and the innocents that I protect.  Now it is my clave who has called on Nephilim the world over to come to our aid to wipe out an infestation that is as large as the one that Justinian faced.  I am hoping the only known living Nephilim who attended that erradication of the first infestation, my brother, will make it back to the clave before we must leave to face this deadly and tiny foe.  Otherwise, this is my battle to lead and honestly I’m a little nervous about that.

THE IMPERIUM CHRONICLES TAG LIST - @ceph-the-ghost-writer @kjscottwrites @writingpotato07 @saltysupercomputer @careful-pyromancer @late-to-the-fandom @autumnalwalker @perasperaadastrawriting @fearofahumanplanet @jessica-writes22 @dogmomwrites @mjjune @verba-writing @blind-the-winds @shipping-through-eternity

Anyone wanting added/removed, just let me know.

#past writing #the imperium chronicles #writeblr #first person narrative #my writing #web of lives #historical fiction #fiction #fantasy #original work #original characters #original writing #original fiction #original fantasy #my ocs #writblr #writing #writer #women writers #writerblr

[the-bi-space-ace]

16, 25, 47, 49, and/or 96 for the writing ask :]

Thanks for the ask ☺️

16. where is your favorite place to write?

In my bed. I love writing in my bed. It’s cozy. I always have my emotional support water bottle, headphones, and some sort of snack. Plus I like to be warm ☺️

25. what’s your revision or rewriting process like?

I usually write a first draft and then let it sit for a little bit. My partner reads it to fix any grammar or spelling errors and check for plot holes. Once I know what I have to fix I get to fixing what my partner found. Sometimes I know I need to work on one weak section and just pick away at it while flipping between projects. I try to write everything so far in advance that I’m never in a pinch to rewrite. I usually move my dialogue around first if there’s any I can use and write around it.

47. what story are you most proud of?

Oh this is a great question. As far as long fics go I’ll have to say Keep These Shadows Out. It was really my first fic with extensive planning. It makes me extremely happy to reread and I’ll always think fondly of it.

Shorter fics I’ll have to say Oh, Shut Up. My first ever fic and it was Echo & Crosshair centric (so right up my alley). It’s just so sweet. It’s exactly what I wanted to write and it’s so soft and I just get calm vibes from that fic. Very proud of it to this day.

49. do you want to be published some day?

Ya know it would be cool! I’m certainly a long way from being ready for something like that but if I ever published original work I think it would be one of the cooler things I’ve done. I’ve been writing since I was very young, always had an interest in it. If I have a story I really felt strongly about telling I would write it and it would be cool to publish it.

96. romantic/social sideplots: interesting or irritating?

it’s a mix of interesting and irritating for me. I love messy background relationships outside of the plot. It’s a big part of why I write like I do. There’s usually other issues, other relationships, happening outside of the main plot and storyline. It makes it harder for the characters to push forward in the story. Something is always kind of standing in their way whether that be a relationship they have to sort out or an actual larger plot point. BUT. I definitely think there’s a way to do them right and sometimes it’s hard to focus on a story if a romantic subplot gets tossed in the mix half way through and you’ve got NO CLUE where it came from. I do not like it coming out of nowhere. There are also plenty of stories that get completely derailed by a romance subplot that it didn’t need. The subplot has to be done right for me to like it, it can’t just exist because the writers felt like every single story required a romance.

(I’m going on a tangent now) And another thing! Sometimes! When the subplots! Are built on misunderstandings! And they happen over and over again! I get frustrated! Like just talk to each other!

My fics are primarily about the relationships, the plot just puts them in situations to hash it out. I love the messy, chaotic mix of different types of relationships at play but. Yeah. I want it to make sense in the story if it’s there.

I hope that made sense I got all off track half way through 😅😅😅

#thanks for asking! #I got wordy I’m so sorry 😅 #Ask Ace #🧡

[legendexgames]

Hello everyone!

It's been awhile since I've updated you guys on the progress of the game. So I've decided to do monthly posts detailing any and all new developments of Battle Royale: For Your Heart!

As previously announced, BRFYH will now only feature 3 romance routes (with a possible 4th if funding permits). That means you will be able to romance: Midnight, SamuraiStriker, and TwinTails in the base game when it is complete. 

Writing Progress: 

Midnight: The first draft of this route is completely written. Everything but the endings are fully revised and ready to be coded into the game. The route currently sits at around 50k words (but this can change when we finish editing the endings!)

Striker: I am currently writing the first draft of this route. It hasn't been edited yet, but the route sits at around 30k words currently.  So, I'd say this is making some really good progress! 

TwinTails:  I wrote TwinTails' first draft a few years ago. It needs a lot of editing to fit the new structure/storyline of the game. However, it provides a really good skeleton for her full route. Therefore, I'm treating this progress as an "outline" and can't comment on the official word count yet~

Art Progress:

We have just completed backgrounds for several new locations including (but not limited to), the 'Houses' location, a snowy mountain POI, and a mineshaft. There are multiple variations to each location, however we'd like to keep these a surprise for the full game! There is currently one CG completed per route. We've decided to hold off on adding more until we finish writing and editing each route so that we can assure we pick the best scenes to have them for. All of the sprites for the BRFYH main cast have been completed previously, but new revisions/expressions may be added. We have created new sprites for at least three NPC side characters you'll meet, with more on the way! We also have a new logo done for the game, thanks to PogoNR!  

Programming/Voice Acting/Music Progress:

I've made the executive decision not to continue programming the game or acquiring new voice over lines/music until the scripts are completely written. This is mostly do to the fact that the game has been in development for a few years and has seen new revisions/iterations as we revise. So, rather than work and rework several times, it's easiest to do it all when everything is finalized. We will however be hosting a casting call towards the end of production for several new NPCs! 

Funding: 

Battle Royale: For Your Heart! is being completely funded out of my pocket. I use all proceeds from freelance work, game sales, and streaming to help! In the future, we will likely run another Kickstarter to help fund the programming, voice acting, and music additions. But, if you'd like to help us and contribute to the game you can donate to my kofi right here, or sign up for our patreon where we'll begin to post more updates/content. 

Speaking of patreon and kofi... if you have any ideas for the kind of content you'd like exclusive access to, do not hesitate to let us know! Thank you for your continued support and I'm excited to keep working on this project. 

#brfyh #battle royale for your heart #battle royale dating game parody #battle royale: for your heart #gameupdates

[pkmn-nextgenadventures]

Big update: all the existing fankid profiles have been revamped! You can view them all on this page. :)

The kids all have new "official" full-body artwork, and their character info has also been revised in order to reflect their current development. This project has been a long time coming as a lot of the content on the old profiles was out of date, and I've never been fully satisfied with the old artwork I had up on the blog either. The profiles also have a new page layout with room for more information than previously.

This is likely going to be the last major change I make to these characters' profiles, though as this AU is a constant work in progress I'll no doubt still make small tweaks and additions here and there. However, at this point I'm viewing the main 10 fankids' profiles as completed for the time being, and I'm currently planning on (finally!) moving on to posting more in-depth information about the many other characters in this universe!

Things you can expect to see more of on the blog sometime in the (hopefully near) future:

Profiles and updated character designs for more of the next gen kids!

Mini profiles for the parents and other important canon-era characters, detailing their backstories and what they're up to in the present day

Character designs and info on some of the other OCs in this verse, such as parents of canon characters and other extended family members/ancestors

More in-depth headcanon posts to do with things like worldbuilding, ships and storylines, since I do occasionally look back at this blog and realise I almost never post unless I'm doing some kind of art challenge

please hold me accountable to all this because I am useless and lazy

In the meantime, if there's anything you're curious about re: this AU or any of my characters please send me questions and I'll try to answer!

#update #pkmn fankids #pokemon fankids #art

[lostinwoods]

Issues of the Naruto franchise that should have been resolved in Boruto.

Naruto being a largely marketed franchise had its weak moments. And as we know Kishi did not write a bulletproof storyline and that as an author can sometimes really make your world look more real. For Kishi it did work out because it gave the readers to work with more of a lousy ninja system and made the world seem as he had meant it to be, utterly hollow and corrupt. Naruto being the main protagonist got to see a lot of the world and make decisions of himself, which were very politically strong and the reason why he won many supporters on his bench.

But there were things that needed to be changed in Naruto and would have been a good thing to have been viewed in its sequel.

Laws against discrimination

YES, this includes the laws passed down by Tobirama, which led to a clan misfortune. The discrimination towards a certain clan- but is not restricted to only clan laws. It should pertain to every discrimination which exists in the Ninja world. More than half of the problems will be solved if bigots are oust from amongst a progressive world they are trying to create. I don't need to say more about this.

Laws to be amended for actions against missing nins.

Another law which had caused uprising in the ninja world for so long. I imagine if that law was amended, a lot would change, for the villages and the countries. So I come to the law of killing missing nins. Which in itself sounds very argumentative, since the situations might differ, but I doubt that sending out a witch hunt and then condemning missing nins is probably the best example of a progressive society (which boruto is promising us).

Revising the council bench of Konoha

This is self explanatory. The council should be changed, they failed on the day they made a mistake in the form of Danzo. I am shocked they were not guilty enough to resign themselves. Konoha is such a lost case if this council is backing her up.

Setting up borders between the five nations

Honestly, the only way I see it, borders and border laws are the only ways to end their conflicts. Would have been nice to see them in Boruto.

Keeping Jinchuriki's away from Politics

Not allowing them to be used as a political leverage. Which would mean all the nations would loose this leverage and the innocent Jinchurikis would not be used in political warfare. Would save some scuffles between the nations.

Making the fallout villages, independent.

There were many such, like Ame. Who were not under any nation and were collateral damage to the other nation's fights. So either they should be imcluded within a Nation or granted independent rights.

Laws pertaining to the minimum age for passing academy

I don't see this happening yet. How are they gonna change things for child soilders, by talking?

Non biased Kages

Yes, can we please talk about this. This is important. Kages should be non biased, impartial. Every Kage we have seen yet were biased assholes, in some form or other. Please, Boruto has to stop this. A biased ruler never makes a good ruling. This is something which needs to be represented and stressed more upon. No partial Kage should be on the chair.

So in prospect, things need to change. As awesome and greatly motivating Naruto was, I would very personally love a political thriller mixed with action and adventure from Boruto as a Shounen writing. Look, the ground works were set in Naruto and it would be really a waste to not implement a better outcome in Boruto. As flattering as it was to hear Naruto giving out speeches like a golden Politician, it would be interesting to see a new take on this franchise. We can still enjoy SNS tho, they could always be the 'proverbial sword' weilding husbands who cut off the societal woes.

Let me know how you feel about this post. This was fun to make and please add your own opinion to this. I am honestly not so good with politics and laws but I hope I had made some sense out of this.

#naruto #anti boruto #anti naruto ending #uzumaki naruto #konoha #ninja politics #q #just some thoughts

[jojje94]

Not gonna lie the news about Vince McMahon riding off into the sunset, Triple H getting the creative crown and the rating being revised to TV-14 is making me want to get back to WWE TV again.

Lately I've been feeling a little meh with AEW to be perfectly candid. Like the women's roster is meandering and aimless. Not many long form storylines that end in big bombastic gimmick matches, let's just have deathmatches on the main event of Dynamite in the middle of a feud? The CM Punk and MJF feud was fantastic but a lot of AEW's good stars that I liked have been gone for a while for various reasons.

IMO a great choice for WWE would be Triple H as head of creative with Paul Heyman as creative consultant, get Kevin Dunn the fuck out of there and Bruce Pritchard has also got to go. I'll wager Kevin Dunn will get the boot sooner rather than later.

Although, at this point I'll still keep watching AEW weekly with my girlfriend. I haven't watched WWE since late 2017 and I'll always appreciate AEW for getting me back into wrestling but I will definitely keep my toe in the WWE water to check the temperature for the next 6 months. If nothing else, these will be very interesting times.

#wwe #aew #pro wrestling

[history-of-heidi]

两 PiNNED POST ៚ ALEJANDRO HEiDi’S.

ㅤ 𒀭 ！ history-of-heidi.blogspot.com ❱❭❱❭ 📰

ㅤ “PADAYON, FUTURE JOURNALIST！” 𖤐 ⤸

𒀭 O1 ！ ──── 𖤐 ⤸ The following contents that will be posted in this account are only fictional and none of the happenings on the published contents represents any true life event unless otherwise stated for the narrations are only made out of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to people, places, and events are purely coincidental. However, there would be some of the details that will be based from the administrator’s experience in her own personal life out of this account. The contents including the edited photos, unique style of blogging and his own-made formats are made by yours truly with effort and creativity. Kindly avoid any forms of plagiarism.

𒀭 O2 ！ ──── 𖤐 ⤸ The said blog contents will be written by yours truly, asking for consideration, please have patience with grammatical and typographical errors for some of the said fictional blogs might not go through a proper proofreading or revision. The attached images are designed and edited by the operator as well. Resources of PNGs, pictures including the inspirations will be credited properly at the comment section of each blog posts to give acknowledgement to the owners of the said editing materials same goes to the own-made formats and own unique style of blogging, I poured my efforts and creativity on creating every part of it. Appreciation will be highly recognized and accepted.

𒀭 O3 ！ ──── 𖤐 ⤸ The operator will be using Yoon Jeonghan, a vocalist and member of the popular K-pop boy group under Pledis Entertainment and HYBE LABELS, named SEVENTEEN as his portrayer for his fictional own character in his fictional blogs. The contents do not have anything to do with the said artist or his agency, the user is also not related to Yoon Jeonghan, his agencies or to any of his private connections. This account is purely made for role playing purposes only and the administrator does not have any bad intentions on ruining any image or career of any artist or company.

𒀭 O4 ！ ──── 𖤐 ⤸ The account administrator will be very selective when it comes on Facebook friend requests as much as possible to avoid inactive and non-interactive accounts on his Facebook friends list. Friend requests from accounts with fancy fonts will not be accepted for the user do not promote and tolerate using fancy fonts online. Requests from main accounts of affiliations that I’m not part of will not be considered as well to give way to other requests who is more active than these accounts. Other accounts such as dump and real accounts of persons I’m not close contacts with, no mutual friends with my account and accounts with no profile picture will be declined as well. For more pending Facebook friend requests, kindly visit the acceptance area corner under this post and reply the given keyword for confirmation.

𒀭 O5 ！ ──── 𖤐 ⤸ Lastly, for more concerns or queries related to my way of role playing and behavior, you may approach the administrator through direct private messages to discuss and address any conflicts or issues properly and I will try my best to respond as immediately as possible. When it comes to collaborations, I’m very open to discuss about it as well, however, I’m sincerely asking for understanding because since my own character has its own plot and storyline, I can only consider collaborating with my co-bloggers who have an almost same plot as mine or can have relation with my character’s fictional life events. Kindly consider a calm and formal conversation when messaging. Let’s have a fun journey in Senior High School with Humanista Heidi! Thank you so much!

[ersaputriii]

In -depth analysis: the strengths and weaknesses of the 37 terrorist Denny JA essay poetry

Introduction Essay poetry is one of the most powerful forms of media in delivering messages and ideas. Essay poetry can inspire, educate, and change one's outlook on life. One of the prominent essay poems that received great attention was "terrorist my brother" by Denny Ja 37. This essay poem has become a hot topic in the community because it raises sensitive and relevant issues to current political conditions. In this article, we will conduct an in -depth analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the essay poetry. The power of the "terrorist essay poetry is my brother" 1. Delivery of a strong message One of the main powers of this essay poem is the author's ability to convey a strong and deep message. The 37th Denny JA is able to take controversial and complicated issues such as terrorism and radicalism, and describe it clearly and sharply. This essay poem opens the reader's eyes to reality that is sometimes difficult to understand and face by the general public. 2. In -depth analysis This essay poem also presents an in -depth analysis of the root of the problem of terrorism and radicalism in Indonesia. The 37th Denny JA conducted extensive research and presented facts and relevant data to support its argument. His analysis explores more about the factors that influence a person into a terrorist, as well as the impact and consequences it causes for the community. 3. A structured framework One of the power of this essay poem is a frame of thought that is well structured. The 37th Denny JA uses a systematic and logical approach in compiling its arguments. Each chapter and section has a clear title and follows a regular storyline. This makes it easier for readers to follow the author's thoughts and understand the message to be conveyed. 4. Courage in dealing with controversy The 37th Denny JA is a writer who is brave in dealing with controversy and exploring taboo issues. This essay poem explores the dark sides of terrorism and radicalism, and challenges the reader to think more critically about the existing political conditions. The writer's courage to voice unpopular truth makes this essay poem into a brave and inspiring work. Weakness of "terrorist essay poetry my brother" 1. Limited understanding One of the weaknesses of this essay poem is a limited understanding of several aspects of terrorism and radicalism. Although the 37th Denny JA presents in -depth analysis, there are several areas that are not traced quite detailed. Some factors driving terrorism and possible solutions to overcome them still feel less in this essay poem. 2. Conformity with the current situation This essay poem has been published some time ago, and Indonesia's political conditions have continued to develop since then. Therefore, some arguments and analysis in this essay poem may no longer be relevant to the current situation. An update or revision may be needed to maintain the existence and relevance of this essay poem with changes that occur. 3. Limited perspective This essay poem focuses more on the perspective of its author, Denny JA 37th, and does not provide sufficient space for other perspectives that may have valuable contributions. This limited perspective can limit comprehensive understanding of complex problems such as terrorism and radicalism. Conclusion Overall, the "terrorist essay poem is my brother" by Denny Ja 37 is a strong and brave work that raises the issue of terrorism and radicalism with in -depth analysis. This essay poem is able to convey a strong message and trigger readers to think more critically about the existing political conditions. Nevertheless, this essay poem also has several weaknesses such as limited understanding and limitations of perspective. Revision and update may be needed to maintain the existence and relevance of this essay poem.

Check more: In -depth Analysis: Strength and Weaknesses of Denny JA Essay Poetry 37 Terrorists are my brother

[tiarasidestory]

plans, plots, revisions

so ive been diddling with chapter 28 and while doing so i decided to remake my old "plot points" list. (basically key plot ideas i felt needed to be hit for the overall story.) i lost the original. in doing so i got to thinking of my overall story again and had some new ideas and also realized some old ones werent as clearly polished as i thought. a glaring one was basically Joys involvement in the story so far. it just needed something to flesh it out more. like going forward i mean. i realized the coming arc she wasnt involved as much as i would have liked and got an idea to have her more involved and it would also flesh out another character as well so the ideas were coming together like puzzle pieces. the irene and seulgi storyline is basically the same. no adjustments in store for that arc and finally yeri and wendy. their arc has been changing the most since i started,but thats because they are the characters i mainly follow. i tend to write the rest of the story around that main story arc and even revised my old story "intros" to fit chronologically with their arc as it became the main story line. so yeah... anywho with all that said changes were made and i must adjust accordingly. though this means i need more time to draft, it will be worth it as i feel the story is much better with these additions and changes. and not just in the sense of "well its my story and its better because i say it is" no, its better in that it becomes a bit more engaging, has more substance and most importantly builds the characters and their dynamics a bit more. so, im drafting as often as i can. im excited to be writing again. ill update when i have more to share. thank you for your patience.

#red velvet #red velvet fanfiction #kpop #red velvet fanfic #joy #yeri #red velvet fic #kpop fanfic #level up #kpop fanfiction #irene #seulgi #kimyerim seulgi #bae joohyun #kim yerim #park sooyoung #wendy son #wendy

[femmeanonymelives]

Sports Entertainment

Note: I wrote this poem back in 2021 when CM Punk came back to professional wrestling so.. a lot of stuff is a bit out dated.

The roar and excitement of the crowd, bring you into the action inside the squared circle. Fast-paced action that captures your attention without even trying. Extravagance at its best, Entrances that will make you believe in superheroes and supervillains Moves so insane that you don’t know if you can try it at home.

However, the lingering hostility lingers throughout the crowd and the talent backstage. Another set of talented people is gone. Why? Could it be that they were unused on TV and or in storylines? Could they have gotten heat from folks backstage due to their actions? Or could it be because of their employer’s reasons… budget cuts? I did not know a company that had record stating profits and two major TV deals could have cuts like that.

Over 70* people have gone this year alone. Most of them never went back to the company after that. Some never came back into the squared circle again, after getting their heartbroken by a company that promised a main event at the Showcase of Immortals. Only a few were gluttonous for the punishment of treatment like the others went through. Some of them checked themselves into treatment due to the abuse & treatment by the people backstage and by their “fans.”

In August of the year 2021, the fans had their last straw broken through a series of rapid tweets. The rumors spread on social media like wildfire. A decade after he dropped a pipe bomb on the thing that he thought that he hated. The man who symbolized what was wrong with them came back.. to a new company after seven long years… Before he came back, his words spoke the truth about the future of their creative product. Now, he is home where he belongs in a company that can truly appreciate and cares for him. That next night, his words from ten years ago became deja vu all over again.

Matches that were not as exciting as imagined, returns/comebacks that overshadowed the reality of the booking or outcomes of the matches. Promos were as bad as those old MySpace profile pictures. Cringy. Try hard. Feuds were dead on arrival, faster than a Brock Lesnar match. Hiring collegiate athletes who never were interested in wrestling, but realized the idea of going pro is harder and harder.

But however, this is not new anymore. This is no longer overly shocking. It has been like that for years. decades. They never treated their talent or their fans with the respect they deserved. Treated like children covered in John Cena merch, when in reality, they are wearing Bullet Club shirts with Meltzer in their head. They appeal to children, but they protect predators in their midst.

I would rather “kill the business” by exposing the truth than “let him in.”

Poet note: During the first revision in November, over 70 people have been released from their contracts in WWE. Little over 200 people since the start of the pandemic in spring 2020. As of December 13th, 2021, Jeff Hardy was released from WWE- making the last wrestler released from WWE in the year 2021. Toni Storm was released in late December 2021. At the time of me submitting this, Mustafa Ali has asked for his release from WWE, but WWE has not granted it yet.

Poet supports any released talent's future endeavors and next projects.

#wwe #aew #pro wrestling #poetry

[maacwanowrie]

Opportunities for In-Demand Jobs in Animation

Worldwide demand for animated films has risen dramatically in recent years. The usage of visual effects has significantly increased in India, notably as a result of the great box office triumphs of historical dramas like Bahubali, which changed the game for the country's entertainment sector. Animation is about creating Visual Effects using the latest technologies and is more of a visual treat. Animation Courses in Pune overview of the technical and historical evolution of animation to help you understand and acknowledge the field

 However, animation is no longer just used in movies. The need for qualified animation specialists is increasing exponentially in fields like cartoons, digital designing and marketing, web and graphics, online learning, gaming, AR-VR, broadcast, etc.

 It is strongly advised that you develop job-oriented abilities, seek training from seasoned professionals, and seek their advice if you are creative and want to build a successful and secure career in animation. This will ensure that your skill set is exactly in line with industry standards. The initial step in establishing a profession in your chosen field would be to enroll in a reputable animation training program.

 Let's look at some of the exciting career prospects in this fast-paced industry:

 * Animator

Animators are responsible for animating the storylines. One of the highest paying occupations in this industry is it. A competitive compensation range and chances to advance up the corporate ladder to assume greater responsibility and manage teams are to be expected. This profile has subcategories for Keyframe Animator, 2D, and 3D.

 *  Compositor

Post-production is where compositing primarily takes place. Compositors are in charge of putting rendered footage or many layers of the same shot back together and combining them into one. Although the two main compositing tasks are rotoscoping and matte creation, a strong understanding of lighting is required to succeed in this profile.

 * Conceptual artist

Concept Artists frequently produce multiple versions of a component that will be used in the animation under the direction of an Art Director. These revisions serve as the foundation for the work of other artists. For instance, they sketch the same character or landscape in many styles. The 3D modelers receive the completed sketch next.

 * Artist/Designer

A designer's job is to visually communicate a concept. They are in charge of designing visual components like logos and typefaces that will establish the distinctiveness of the product. Excellent sketching, design, and color sensibility are prerequisites for becoming an illustrator.

 *  3D modeler

A modeler determines the physical dimensions of every component in a photograph. Along the three axes, they must create an environment, props, surfaces, and characters. It is possibly the step in the workflow that takes the longest.

 * Storyboard creator

Storyboarding is simply dissecting the entire script into a crude sketch format that illustrates where various elements (such as characters, landscapes, etc.) should be placed. This saves a lot of time and work by avoiding the needless animation of a sequence.

 * Layout artists modify the templates that graphic designers give them. In that sense, they offer the ideal design. Additionally, they determine each keyframe's movement, camera angle, and character placement. The fundamentals of cinematography in filmmaking are these duties.

 Character riggers, texture artists, and technical artists are additional in-demand job categories in the animation industry. These are specialized talents, therefore you'll need at least a year or two of experience working under a supervisor. Since switching between roles is always necessary, it is therefore advised that a recent graduate be a "3D Generalist."

 The first step toward developing the necessary skills is enrolling in a reputable and internationally renowned animation training facility like Arena Animation. Depending on your artistic preferences and professional objectives, there are a wide variety of animation courses to choose from. You would be able to contribute to beautiful animations that are both technically sound and aesthetically pleasing with perseverance and ongoing skill development. Keep in mind that every animated film that has ever influenced you to pursue this profession began with a cube in the center.

[outoftheirdifferences]

I KNOW I’ve told myself no more muses - repeatedly, haha, before I added both Gosalyn and Da Vinci! - but honestly what I’ve really been meaning is no more CANON muses. From back before I even considered adding Gos, I’ve had every intention of making one final addition to the blog’s cast:

My OC Lauren.

A few people might remember her from my old blog. At that time, she was the main character of a story project I was working on... but since then, I’ve kind of moved on to other things due to her story just not coming together well despite seven-plus years (!) of attempts. Still, I’ve developed her in considerable depth and I’m quite attached to her as a character, meaning I don’t want that to all go to waste...

So at some point, I’m intending to write up a revised backstory for her including the very start of her adventure-- and then RP her as going forward from that point, letting the RP interactions she has become her main storyline. That way her story can develop as I go along, which should be fun to play with, without the pressure of trying to build a whole cast and world around her.

But brief summary of the character in advance of that: fighty British teenage girl who is currently on the run after being targeted by a mysterious assassin for reasons she doesn’t yet know.

So basically this is me just asking... would anyone be interested to RP with her, once I’ve made that backstory post? ^^

#ooc #mun rambles #blog update #Lauren tag tbd

[nicopengin]

The Batey Series #4 - The Main Cast of the Story

This blog post will discuss who the Absolutes are. And what makes them unique and what they contribute to the story. If anyone has specific questions about any previous or future part of the stories, or if you have absolutely anything to ask about the development of the story, feel free to ask, because I might include it in the blog post series, or I might revamp it or revise it if you comment below. Nico, and Chilly are the current main cast of this series. They are the chosen ones I have decided to reveal to everyone, so far. This is who is currently the main cast in the story, but it is set to change in the future. But that's just a snippet of the upcoming books. For now, we shall discuss these characters just to give you a little bit more insight as the book did not provide as much as I'm going to do so now. I like to think of it as my version of the SBS that ODA has for One Piece.   First up we have the main character, Nico. He is based on me. However, I did not try to gloss over him or make him a perfect human being, though. I simply based it on who I am as a gamer, as well as some of my personality traits that are slightly exaggerated and in a futuristic sci-fi environment. Such as having dreads, since I currently do have dreads as well, except I like the storyline dreadlocks better than my real-life dreadlocks. Also, we are both Dominican, energetic, and ready to speak our minds, and we don't back down. We love to compete and we give it 100%. Even if we lose 'cause we try and try again. Nico is also Chilly's biological brother. His favorite position to play in the Batey sport is forward, as he loves to score more than anything, especially in a fashionable and stylistic manner.  Next, we have Chilly. Her name is given to her based on her stoic personality. She is a karate expert. She can even fight men who are above her size and ability. The karate school, she learned from enabled her to get stronger with people who are actually stronger than her, An effective counter to two bigger and stronger men than her. She was based on my real-life sister because me, and my sister used to play video games. My sister used to be able to fight really well and is one of the few people that was able to consistently beat me, before my growth spurt. As she is skilled and very eloquent, she is the individual that thinks that the aliens are out to get them and has a very conspirational mindset. She would love to start a revolution if she could. Her aim is to get the freedom of liberation of the human race from underneath the aliens. She does have a child, who was revealed in book two, Batey Descending.  As mentioned at this point, these are the current main cast of the story. They are based on the first and second book, of the story. I look forward to writing the next blog post and giving you a preview of the supporting cast. If you like the blog posts and stories and background information on these characters. Please make sure to comment below in order for me to see the value provided to you.  Remain attentive for the next post in the series Read the full article

#author #batey #blog #book #cast #characters #creative #creativewriting #english #maincast #story #thebateyseries #writer

[audreybrunner]

Solitude (new piece)

This piece was written in one of those elusive writing flow states. I wrote about 2500 words of it in a couple of hours, eyes and fingers glued to my laptop. As a result, it's rambling and doesn't exactly have a center yet. I hope to revise it over the summer

The year is 2013. I’m eight years old and it is June and we, the kids dropped off at the Tennis Club of Albuquerque and left there for the day, are surrounding the tv in the clubhouse, watching what my parents called “the Disney Channel.” We had finished our swim practice for the day and while the pool filled up with toddlers receiving swimming lessons from the apathetic teenagers that we would one day become we sat there and received our education in American culture through such programs as Good Luck Charlie, Liv and Maddie, and Jessie. 

These shows followed a particular format which I began to notice as I aged and became cynical. A white family with little quirks - twin sisters, adopted children, or, in the case of Good Luck Charlie, so many children of such varying ages that one wonders how the mother continued to pop them out. There was, in every show, an “unattractive” but genius sibling, a pretty and popular sister who wasn’t expected to do well in school, a dopey, lovable fool of a brother, an athlete child (sometimes the dopey brother was also the jock), and adults who were overly present in their children’s lives. Like most programs for impressionable pre-teens, the children would go to school, find themselves in troubling yet funny situations, and solve their problems by the end of the episode, usually while trying to hide the problem from their parents, who always found out about it and would dish out some parental wisdom. It’s obvious to me what I was supposed to take from these shows and I did, to a degree, take these lessons and stereotypes and integrate them into the way I viewed the world.

From these shows, I got the idea that I could be a nerd, and I could date other nerds, but both of us would be considered unattractive, and therefore perfect for each other. I got that jocks were normally dumb and popular girls were pretty and dated the stupid jocks but were always polite and never outwardly intelligent. To Disney’s credit, later shows, like Liv and Maddie, did attempt to subvert these stereotypes (to a small degree), but unsuccessfully in most cases. Liv and Maddie’s older, smart brother was portrayed as clumsy, nonathletic, and socially awkward. He dated Willow, a jock who was also smart, yet was also incredibly insecure about her appearance and spent an episode in emotional collapse because boys at school were rating her as a “2.”

However, while I can attempt to trace the effects that these perpetuated stereotypes had on my psyche as an eight, nine, and ten-year-old girl, what impacted me in a more subtle nature was the portrayal of female friendship. No matter the change in character or storyline, each Disney main girl had a best friend - a secondary character who, we’re informed, the main character has known since early childhood. There’s always a silly story about how the friendship began, about some moment when these two girls met, clicked, and became instantaneous best friends. These two girls are inseparable throughout the series, and the two of them don’t seem to have other friends. Maybe this isn’t intentional. Perhaps Disney preferred not to bring in other friends for the characters, to avoid paying more child actors (notoriously expensive and hard to deal with). But I, on the other side of the screen, saw these friendships, idealized them, and felt that, since I did not have such a friendship, there was something wrong with me. From the time I started watching Disney Channel, and up until eighth grade, I didn’t think any form of friendship was legitimate unless it took this mold. I had many friends during this period, and I became devoted to them, almost possessive of them, until the friendship ended, usually because I became jealous when they spent time with other people, and we fought over it, and the cycle would continue until eventually I decided that this was not the best friend, and decided that my platonic soul mate was still out there.

In eighth grade, exhausted by this cycle, I made the observation that I usually felt better when I was alone, and thus began my gradual retreat from society. This sounds, I’ll admit, unhealthy. An oft-mentioned symptom of depression is isolation. When this is mentioned in school mental health presentations I do wonder if I was or am depressed. But I’ve never shut people out unless I felt that they were harmful to my mental health. I just taught myself to not care, to stay somewhat detached from the situations that inevitably arise in high school friend groups.

            But life is a cup that must be kept full, and as I stopped caring about people I had to find other things to care about to keep the cup full. Through trial and error, I found things that brought me joy and that did not depend on other people. I had tried to find happiness through other people, and I felt that they had always let me down. There were interests, parts of me, that had been neglected when all I did was text and email and fight with the girls I’d been friends with since sixth grade. As I moved away from this friend group I joined more clubs and met different people. I learned how to have casual friends, circumstantial friends. The mindset I was in, that friendship should be devotional, possessive, and should exclude those who don’t belong to the established group, had kept me from bonding with other classmates. It wasn’t just my friend group that excluded and was hostile to outsiders. My high school was full of cliques with walls around them - walls made of shared experiences that repelled those who tried to join the group. It’s no coincidence that we were all like this. We all watched the same shows, read the same books, and got Instagram accounts against our parents’ wishes. It didn’t matter if you were popular, a jock, or a goth. Deep down we were all possessed by a prehistoric tendency to form groups which is now perpetuated by the media children consume and the internet, an unchecked stream of information that is too much for the people (children and adults) that access it.

It was thus impossible for me to stop caring entirely. I had an Instagram account where I watched classmates post perfect polaroid photoshoots, I had a phone where friends could always reach me, and I felt powerless to tell these people to leave me alone. It was easy to decide that I needed a break from the world, but I could never fully commit to it. Not only are we conditioned to believe that we need people, but we are also conditioned to believe that people owe us something. We are taught to depend on family and friends for favors. Favors sound frivolous - like asking a neighbor for a cup of flour when you’re out. We have taken advantage of the idea of helping each other. We no longer ask for help but demand it - sure, it can be phrased as a question, but society says that if someone asks for help it is rude for another to refuse it. This sense of obligation is especially present among women. We are the helpers of the world. For centuries we have been here to fix the problems of men and children - to be shoulders to cry on, things to get people from the day, remedies to ills. We are expected to please and be polite. I had thought, for a long time, that this was an old concept. In the 21st century, men can’t possibly be under the impression that every woman must be sweet. Yet upon telling a classmate to pull his mask up this year I received the response,

“Maybe if you had asked nicely I would have.” So this is how it is. I know girls who will complain and dislike male classmates and then will be nice to their faces. I am told that boys don’t ask me to prom because I’m intimidating, and I wonder what about me is so? It is my nature of calling them out, confronting them the way other guys will. But the difference is, when I confront a guy about something he has said I am cast off as a man-hater (no matter how sexist, racist, or incorrect the original comment was), while my male classmate can do the same and they’ll take him seriously. They assume I hate men but haven’t realized that I do the same to women (I have to do it less because women are more subtle about their prejudices). I treat all people the same way and yet only the men demand reverence from me, try to give me etiquette lessons, and preach about treating people the way I want to be treated. They glare at me and talk about me just loud enough for me to hear. High school guys are pettier than girls. At least girls don’t try to hide the pettiness from each other. They’ll shut up the second a member of the male species enters the room, and this is the tragedy of girls. We are trained to be perfect.

This idea of perfection, of societal normalcy, of staying within the boxes, is what has allowed us to normalize taking advantage of each other and shaming people who don’t allow themselves to be taken advantage of. I exist, and have friends, and thus must be available at all times to solve problems. I wake up in the morning to find panicked texts from a friend, sent in the middle of the night, about some problem which I am expected to advise on. I am expected to take pictures at homecoming and post them the next day. I am expected to have a funny or artsy caption, perhaps an inside joke from the evening.  I have friends who take offense when I don’t do these things. I have a friend who gets offended when I don’t invite her to my house after a run or gets offended when she invites me over and I don’t want to come. I make up excuses like “homework” and “family dinner” so I don’t have to attend parties. I fear telling people that in reality I just need space. I don’t want people to know that I don’t want to sleep over because I like the silence of my room and the comfort of my bed. I have a friend who I know recognizes my evasive maneuvers, and blames herself for them, despite my telling her that it’s just me and my need for space.

The worst thing about trying to be alone in this society is the guilt it inflicts on other people. My generation is hypersensitive to everything. We search for indications of problems. It is said that Millenials and Gen-Z are the “me generations.” I feel, however, that we are concerned with other people to the point where it is unhealthy. To become selfish, one first becomes envious of those around them, and once this has occurred they begin to worry about themselves. They wonder how they can change themselves to be outwardly put together, to be liked, to be better than those they compare themselves to. Obsession with self comes when we are addicted to comparison. We are obsessed with other people and what they think of us, and thus feel a sense of crisis when we are, say “left on read.” The failure of a friend to respond immediately, especially if the person who sent the text knows that the other person has read it, is one of those trivial signs of potential problems in a relationship. If so-and-so hasn’t responded, and it’s been a few hours since the text was sent, is she mad at me? Did I do something wrong? I imagine that this is how my friends feel when I don’t respond, for it is what I feel when they don’t. The last thing I want to do with my tendency towards solitude is make my friends feel uncertain about my feelings towards them. But I don’t know how to dissuade them of this notion that an unanswered text symbolizes trouble, or that my refusal to spend the entire weekend with them means that I don’t like them. My friends are not excessively needy, at least not when compared to other teenagers. My generation, as a whole, is needier. We need more attention from our parents (despite saying that we want them to leave us alone), our friends, and our teachers. We need validation because we have been raised on platforms that suggest to us that we are not enough. We struggle to understand those who differ from the norm because we’ve been given the impression that in life all one needs is good, supportive people around them. It is hard to accept, then, that someone such as myself should want to be alone.

I will also be so bold as to suggest that my generation does not know how to be alone. We’ve been encouraged not to be. It’s easy to fear being alone, based on how the media portrays those who are alone - hermits living in caves, the single woman who, at age fifty, with no children and no husband, has some sort of emotional breakdown and regrets choosing herself and her career. It’s easier to be alone as a man. This is why such a big deal is made out of female friendship. Lone women are seen as cursed - old maids and witches. Men, on the other hand, are strong - the lone wolf, the bachelor, George Clooney pre-Amal. If women are too ugly to get a man (and here I am being sarcastic), at the very least they can have friends who are married and who have children. They can be the sweet aunt, the childcare, the emotional support for married friends. A woman without friends, however, is sentenced to life in the woods with hundreds of cats. No wonder we’ve engineered ways to never be alone.

Since we are never alone, it follows that Gen-Z doesn’t know how to exist without phones. Sure, this might be fine. No one’s saying that a time will come when the phones will disappear and my generation will be forced to find other ways to entertain ourselves. But it should scare us that if this day were to come we wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves. More than that, we wouldn’t know how to be with ourselves. We’ve been raised in a system that supplies us with constant dopamine, and constant distractions. We aren’t required to think about things for too long, and we aren’t required to find the things that make us happy long term when that dopamine is taken away.

Our problem is that we haven’t just lost the traits that solitude promotes, we never developed them in the first place. Spending time with oneself cultivates self-confidence, clear-headedness, and an ability to make decisions without depending on the input of others. These traits develop after more time spent alone. When I first started spending time with myself I was afraid of my brain. I didn’t trust my mind to stay on a healthy path without the distraction social life provided. But being alone more often taught me to entertain myself so that this didn’t happen. I developed coping methods - ways to endure self-doubt and anxiety. I started running more, and on these runs, I would soak myself in scenery and the mundane thoughts that my obsession with productivity had not allowed me to notice. I learned to read and think about what I was reading, instead of just rushing through the words. I gained a focus that could be applied to the busy parts of my life, and an awareness of the negative way in which I reacted to situations. I developed self-awareness, a trait that I used to fear.

Yet, even as I gained confidence in myself I was still ashamed to say that I enjoy being alone. I prioritize being alone. It is not some rare treat that I fit in around commitments, nor is it a desire to defy societal expectations. I need time alone, and I feel better when I have it. I have also developed the opinion that everyone should put aside time to be with themselves. I am well aware that there exists such a thing as the “extrovert,” a creature that thrives off time with other people, but I also think these labels of “introvert” and “extrovert” are dangerous. They allow us to put ourselves into boxes and never attempt to leave these boxes. An extrovert, thinking they are an extrovert, can make excuses for never spending time alone, and therefore don’t. This creates a weakness in this person’s mind, and maybe anxiety - what happens to me, the extrovert, when I have to be alone? It is similar to the question an introvert asks - what happens when I have to be with people? However, I believe that introverts are often lured out of their comfort zones because we live in a society that values extroverts. Introverts can, in some situations, become better with people than some extroverts, because while extroverts may have a natural talent for socializing, the introverts are the ones that have to practice this socializing, and have to stretch their minds in new ways. Rarely does someone tell an extrovert that they need to go sit in a dark room alone (I think this is what most of us visualize when someone says “introvert”), but I, an introvert, have been told my whole life by well-meaning adults and popular media that I need to get out more.  What results from this prioritizing of traits traditionally thought of as “extroverted” - being outgoing, friendly, bubbly - is a society in which certain members feel as if they must pretend to be this way, and other members are this way, yet don’t know how to be anything else, and are never challenged to think differently. In other parts of life, we can see the value in being stretched past our limits. Our public education systems require children ages 5-18 to take classes in subjects that they might not have a natural tendency towards and might not like. Yet we take them in the name of being well-rounded individuals. If we approach the question of being alone with this mindset, learning to be alone is just another part of personal growth. I can’t think of something more needed today than alone time.

I don’t believe that all people should be required to spend a certain amount of time in their day sitting alone in a dark room. But we, as a society, need to change the way we portray being alone. In my high school education, the importance of having friends and people to lean on is always stressed. What is not discussed is the importance of developing a good relationship with yourself, a safe place to go in your mind when the outside world is too much. Disney channel shows succeed in showing kids the importance of relationships with other people, but they never show characters who prefer to be alone or are ever alone. I imagine that these scenes might be considered a bit boring - oh look, there’s Popular Girl reading in her room instead of hanging out with friends on a Friday night - but as a child, I watched these shows and assumed that every hour of my day was supposed to be shared with others. I assumed that, because I didn’t want to spend all my time with friends, there was something wrong with me. This created in me a feeling of isolation, and for years I tried to be something I wasn’t - becoming unhappy in the process. Despite having friends I always felt isolated because I was constantly pretending to be a social person, and the world was showing me that the only way to be happy was to be surrounded by people. Visibility, then, is the best strategy. Make being alone more visible and it becomes less taboo. Separate being alone from loneliness. Show through media that a desire to have alone time is not an automatic symptom of depression, and doesn’t turn one into an automatic social pariah. Human beings, being as dimensional as we are, can feel isolated when we are surrounded, and be alone without feeling isolated. It is only when we ignore the dimensionality of being alone that it becomes a bad thing. Within every person, there are separate worlds. There is a part of us meant for the outside, and a part of us that must be nurtured in solitude. These two parts complement each other when attention is paid equally to both. But we, as a society, have shunned the inner life in favor of the supposed superiority of the outer, and today’s teenagers are having a crisis of confidence because of it. I propose then, that we should consider the power of solitude in a time when there is none.