#anyways wish me luck lol. 3rd times the charm!

[narastories]

Hi Nara, I hope you had a good day!

For Fanfic Writer Friday, do you want to tell me what you're working on (if you are on something currently)?

And if you've got time, I'd love to hear your opinion about the use of the past or present tense in fanfic, because it always gives me so much trouble. I don't really have a logic for using one or the other, so I'd like to know yours.

Thank you <3

Hi! Yes, thank you, I had a great day <3

Ooh, these are two very interesting questions.

1.

I'm sort of working on something... By working, I mean writing notes in my notebook and trying to figure out how to tackle this idea ^^" I really want to write a Dresden Files/FPA crossover! (Let's see if by announcing it publicly I can successfully shame me into going through with it... I doubt it, but we'll try it...)

I've never actually written a crossover, so that's already a bit daunting. Having to juggle twice as many characters/ships as I would normally is also a challenge... Currently, I'm trying to decide what POV/s to use, and how not to make this too long. But I think it would be fun to draw some parallels between the characters, and it would also be fun to bring two of the fandoms I like together like this.

Another, perhaps silly consideration is that I now have 99 fics on AO3... To make the 100th one a little bit special would be cool. (Okay, that might not happen because I have already uploaded my Yuletide fic, and I'm not actually sure where AO3 will put it in the order of fics once the authors are revealed on Jan 1st...)

Anyway, wish me luck, I can tell you that Philes would very much be on the menu ;) 2.

You're asking me this because of the tags on my last fic, right? xD

Oh dear, where do I even start? I actually wouldn't say I have a well-developed opinion on this. And I think maybe it's better if we split it into two categories: what I think of past/present tense, and how I would decide what to use.

Just from vibes alone, I would say past tense is very comfy. It sort of "disappears" because we're so used to it. No one will be turned off by you using the past tense. You can do anything with it.

Present tense, on the other hand, feels a bit more intimate to me. It can work well for a more poetic tone. It has an urgency to it like you don't know what's going to happen. But it will also very much turn some people off ^^"

I will also add that if I'm talking about multiple layers of past events, the English past tenses can give me a bit of a hard time, so using the present tense can gloriously simplify that lol

I do like reading either btw, but how do I decide what to use when writing?

I use past tense 99% of the time. (I mean, literally. I think I have 98 fics written in the past tense, wrote one in present, and I'm pretty sure the next one will be in the past tense as well lol) So I’m no expert here, although I do have some WIPs where I also used present tense and I would totally consider experimenting with it more.

To be honest, there is only one scenario where I would opt for the present tense always, and it’s the 2nd person "you" fics... Dare I say: *whispers* reader-insert. Which is a whole different can of worms altogether that we are now opening.

Personally, in my opinion, if you think old forum role playing was cool but you think self-insert fic is cringe, that’s a *skill issue*. Luckily, I have mastered my destiny and overcame feelings of cringe lmao (I'm joking, you only read what you want, of course.)

What I mean is, I find it very charming how self-insert or reader-insert fic specifically about RPG games kind of circles back around to the roots of the “role-playing” in RPG. I might not read certain types of reader-insert fics, but I think they have their rightful place in fandom.

Now, getting back to the topic of present tense lol To me, sometimes certain things will just fit better for a fic. For example, when I started writing my first Dresden Files fic, I started writing it in 3rd person, because 1st person felt intimidating. But the canon is in 1st person, and something in me knew that it just had to be done that way for the right tone, you know? (It doesn’t mean you have to stick to the way canon is written, of course. It’s more about what fits better with the mood you are going for and what effect you want to achieve.)

Same thing with my last fic: the fandom I wrote it for uses present tense and uses 2nd person for the main character. Yeah, sure you can write an OC and write 3rd person, but the right vibe I was going for was begging me to use the present tense. So yeah, in a sense it was me wanting to stick more with the canon vibe, even if that challenged me. Which is interesting because usually it’s the other way around, no?

That is a really long way of saying I tend to stick to what is closes to canon. But I think you should always listen to your gut and just write how you like it better.

Thank you for the thought-provoking questions and sorry for the long ramble.

#fanfic writer friday #tumblr ask

[letters-to-rosie]

are you named after anyone? nope

when was the last time you cried? idk probably not that long ago lol

do you have any kids? nope! but I'd like to someday

do you use sarcasm a lot? I don't think so but when I use it my delivery is kind of bad lol I've had people complain they can't tell when I'm being sarcastic before

what's the first thing you notice about people? probably like clothes and voice

what's your eye color? brown!

scary movies or happy endings? I cannot lie; I am a sucker for an early 2000s romcom okay happy endings it is

any special talents? I wasn't sure what to say, so I asked some friends. they said I am very flexible and I'm good at breaking into song lol

where were you born? USA

what are your hobbies? um I have a lot. I guess writing, reading, listening to music, playing instruments/singing, baking, exercising, working on the languages I'm learning, going down weird rabbit holes on the internet, painting badly, collecting random knowledge, etc

have you any pets? I have a shit ton of allergies is what I have (otherwise I'd probably get a cat)

what sport do you play/have played? dance in middle school, tennis for a year in high school (then my school lost its tennis team... oh well), did a sport version of a martial art non-competitively during my MA...

how tall are you? let's just say Jinx is my body twin lol I am small

favorite subject in school? history!

dream job? university professor, hence the whole 3rd degree's the charm thing I got going on lmao wish me luck

anyway @hannibalcatharsis-zero tagged me literally ages ago and I didn't do it lol if anyone wants to join in, plz feel free to do so :D

#tag game #personal

[hellopromusic]

H!P All Stars - 憧れのStress-free

Akogare no Stress-free Lyrics and Composition: Tsunku Arrangement: Hirata Shoichiro Music Video: Nomura Toru

Normally I do not engage in idol talk, but I always make exceptions when I'm moved. So this video was great because it showed the members of H!P in a way that shows the popularity of the members and a slice of personality for them. The whole video is a collection of Solo Shots (one red background, one blue background) that were put together in a manic fashion. This girls on screen correspond to the girls singing in the song. Since its the HP all stars, the singing lines are generally split up by group, so one group sings this line, another sings this line, you can see who is singing by what solo shots are on the screen. In general, the groups do not mix when they sing, but not all members sing at once. So 5 girls from MM may sing at one time, but its not a mix of 3 MM and 2 Angerme girls on screen at once. Its pretty cool. I think Dawa and Fuku-hime are the only ones to get a solo line, and they are the leader and sub-leader of hello project respectively. If you focus on the center of the screen, you can see who the "most popular" girls are in each group. The  closer to the middle of the screen, the more popular, except probably Maa-chan who is not represented as such. So fan favorites like Ayacho, Kumikkyo, Hama-chan, kiki-chan, etc got big pictures and were near the center. This gives you a general ranking of the popularity of the girls. If she is off in the corner, she is probably an acquired taste. But if you study those solo shots, my oshis were SHINING! I was Love love LOVING Akane's solo shots, they were almost as charming as Maa-chan's but not quite... I am excite!

Biggest thing in this video is how this is the first single that Beyonds participated in. So It feels good looking at these girls who have been patiently waiting to debut. They look so nice here, but I am waiting until they get more mature as a group to really cheer for them, but I'm patiently waiting for them to blossom.

General Thoughts

Surf Rock + Baroque = WTF. Just how in the world did Tsunku mix the two genres? Why would he even try... this song is another really good example of songs you will only hear in H!P. So surf rock is a style of rock that emerged with the electric guitar. This is probably one of the most popular surf rock songs. The sound of the guitars and the space between the notes... yes, this IS my aural image of the surf rock sound... and baroque is a period of "classical music" that is highly distinct...

Song Structure

Okay disclaimer time. I am no music major or performer, so my musical vocabulary to talk about some of the things Tsunku does is limited. He does not often write typical songs, so I do not have the correct vocabulary for the variety of parts he has in this song. I have just chosen to name the parts of the song as follows and whenever I want to mention a part of a song, just know that is what I'm talking about.

Lead In - 1 bar Intro - 8 bars 1st Verse -  8 bars Chorus -stress 8 bars 2nd Verse - 8 bars Part A (Peace) - 8 bars Part B (Naritai) - 6 bars Baroque Bridge - 10 bars 3rd Verse - 8 bars True Chorus (Fuku-Hime) - 2 bars  True Bridge - 20 bars

1st Verse -  8 bars Chorus -stress 8 bars 2nd Verse - 8 bars Part A (Peace) - 8 bars Part B (Noritai) - 6 bars Baroque Bridge - 10 bars 3rd Verse - 8 bars True Chorus (Dawa) - 2 bars  Outro 10 bars

Lyrics

Its hard for me to tell what this song is about without me translating it. I do not want to translate it at the moment, so I think that I will just be in the dark about this song until I translate it. However, it seems to be a song about the stress in young women's lives. They stress other bring to them, and the stress that they put on themselves. I think the protagonist wishes that they lived in a stress free time like when they were a child, but alas, no such luck.

Arrangement 

So the sounds in this songs seem to be keyboard, drums, guitars, bass. A very stripped down small combo sound. I generally favor this sound over the very large, tons of sonic layers, sound. Its probably a symptom of my Jazz preferences. I think the most understated part of this song may be the bassline. Tsunku is known to be a fan of "funky" basslines, and in this song he really gives the song a lot of bounce with his basslines in the verses. In the intro, the bassline is very typical of surf rock, but after the intro the bassline gets very groovy baby. It is, of course, very plain in the Baroque Bridge, because its baroque-like. But outside of the baroque bridge the bassline is really worth noticing.

The True bridge is quite "ProTool-y" in that its like a EDM breakdown-y type thing. No emulations of live instrumentation like the other parts of the song. It certainly is a different experience.

I think I have clearly stated that I am a very very helpless circle of fifths addict and would do anything to "get my fix." Tsunku serves up a really nice version of it first 4 bars of the baroque bridge. Here is an example of legit baroque music played on piano. Of course the voice is one melody (and harmony) and the keyboards play another melody and the bass is the slope that serves as the base for us to descend the beautiful circle of fifths slide.

One of the notable things in this song is the amount of space in the song. Its a fairly open song with so much space in between the notes and the phrasings of the instrumentation. Its not this huge cacophony of sound. Its likely because so few elements were used to make the song and the genre of the song lent itself to leaving spaces and openess between the instruments. Its so great, its like a grilled cheese sandwich, the lack of things competing for your taste buds allows you to really taste what the cheese, bread, and butter bring to the eating experience... In a way that they may be lost or not as noticeable in eating a fully dressed burger. Anyways, I just think that the keyboards play the most chilled part in the background part of the song. Ever so often, just popping in on 1 to give us some color to the song. The rhythm guitar is just chugging along, lol. The lead guitar is like a drizzle of dressing that just shows up every so often and just gives us a sweet simple guitar lick to chew on, then disappears. Then that main guitar riff that starts the song off in the lead in is playfully withheld from us listeners.

The vocal part in general is two part harmony. But in times is gets more complex (Part A Peace) and more simple (True Chorus). In my opinion, its standard H!P fare (which I like a lot), but I think that its hard to notice how much flavor H!P give to songs without listening to instruments. Maa-chan already told the people they need to listen to more instrumentals... On the other hand, the harmonizing parts of the vocals are not shabby. The youtuber “Hello Factory” has a channel full of extractions of the isolated vocal and chorus versions of H!P songs. Please like and subscribe to them if you like what they are doing. You can find their channel here. Just listen to the harmonies in this song, aren't they just splendid? Listen to the Vocal Version and the Chorus Version。Its actually more nuanced and has more parts than I realized on first listen. The harmonization is so beautiful... man H!P is certainly for music wota.

All in all. I think its songs like this that make it worthwhile to be a Tsunku wota. All of his stuff is good, but from time to time he will give you something you can only hear from Tsunku. This is one of those songs.

#憧れのStress-free #hello! project #hello project all stars #tsunku #つんく #ハロプロ #ハロプロ・オールスターズ #analysis