#doomed by the narrative unless?

[zzdinde]

homosexual

#i fucking #AZUEGSVHDF #i love them im insane #doomed by the narrative unless? #tokyo revengers #maitake #sano manjiro #takemichi hanagaki

[wyvernspirit]

Also can’t get over the fact that Pearl wasn’t even the one to kill gem, she tried to set it up offered a sword fight instead, but in the end her loyalty to scar won out and she stepped back to let him finish Gem

And isn’t that worse? Isn’t stepping back and letting someone else do it worse?

Isn’t there that quote “The opposite of love is not hate it is indifference. If you hate someone you still care” if Pearl has so truely desperately loved Gem then shouldn’t she have been the one to land the final blow the way Gem had killed her and killed her again before?

#geminitay #secret life #life smp #pearlescentmoon #life series #shiny duo #oh they make me so ill #doomed yuri #doomed by the narrative #platonic yuri #almost queer platonic vibes tbh #a relationship you can’t really define #(but I try to avoid shipping cc’s unless it’s like #stated in the series itself?)

[roseofcards90]

I like how Kotoko is in her loser failgirl era rn because legit she’s gonna lose her mind when she sees this LMAO 💀

#oh girlie this ain’t looking good for you 😭 #I highly doubt Mikoto’s is gonna change soon and unless deep cover mv can do some wizard shit #Kotoko is most likely doomed by the narrative 😭💀 #milgram #kotoko yuzuriha #my posts

[imogenkol]

IMOGEN KOL — the rogue inquisitor (x)

[template by @unholymilf]

tag list (ask to be added or removed!): @adelaidedrubman @florbelles @marivenah @simonxriley @shegetsburned @voidika @kyber-infinitygems @v0idbuggy @eloquentmoon @inafieldofdaisies @statichvm @socially-awkward-skeleton @aceghosts @carlosoliveiraa @risingsh0t @thedeadthree @cassietrn @jackiesarch @gwynbleidd @shellibisshe @loriane-elmuerto

#oc insp: Imogen Kol #new year same oc hyperfixation that I subject everyone to ✌️ #the real question is will I ever get tired of making Imogen edits for every template that crosses my path? probably not any time soon #and yeah I’m linking her playlist again because I have not stopped listening to it and it completely overtook my wrapped #age is based off 0 BBY btw. if she makes it that far 😬 ha ha jk. unless doomed by the narrative? #anyway I feel like this looks a bit wack but it was like 12:30am when I finished it up and I stared at it too long so I’m yeeting it out ✨

[miraclemaya]

"doomed by the narrative" more like "just what stories are"

#i hate i hate hate hate doomed by the narrative #unless your story is super forth wall breaking or meta it literally means nothing #and even if it is its soooooo boring

[theartthatleavesthemark]

here is a question that i probably know the answer to but @ black sails mutuals has anyone else read seminal renaissance epic poem orlando innamorato by ludovico ariosto? because every day i get closer to writing a fic that is just my excuse to cram as many parallels between the show and the poem into one document as possible and i am curious if there is anyone at all out there who would be even remotely interested in reading this LOL

#unsurprisingly #unless you went to high school in italy it is fairly unlikely you would have ever been exposed to this #or unless you are some flavor of academic (me) #but when i tell you there are SO MANY THINGS in there that drive me a little crazy #its about legacy! its about love and trust and what relationships mean! its about battles that are doomed but fought anyway! #its about prophecy and inescapablility and the looming tyranny of the narrative! its about writers who lie and writers who are God! #its also an incredibly bitchy indictment of a man named ippolito d'este but i only include this because it is funny to me #anyway i think post-canon defeated flint should have to read it #or inter-canon stuck on the island miranda #or jack

[just-some-guy-joust]

great news everybody. 2000 word jonny sims submission is no longer the longest submission i've gotten

#directly calling out vollybird because i'm so fucking excited about this. 2750 word essay!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #letting you send me your essays for your submitted characters even tho submissions closed was the best idea i've ever had #(sorry won't let anyone else edit in essays unless you can confirm which submission is yours) #this is why i'm not stepping away from this blog even tho some things are fucked #this is genuinely giving me so much serotonin i am LIVING #doomed by the narrative showdown

[forgivenpunishment]

you're not patching this up alone. let me help. // from eldritch world vash !

⩥ @humanitysong (w|16) || let people care about you!! [OPEN]

you're not patching this up alone. let me help.

Nick responded with a blank stare and a few blinks as he attempted to slink off to patch up his wounds (or rather, pluck out the needles) on his own. Vash managed to get the drop on him, somehow, causing him to fall face first into more needled-plants. Ironic.

He'll have to work on covering his tracks in this new kind of terrain. This world was strange—full of flora and green and... trees...

Plenty of places to sneak off and hide from a certain nosy party of wanderers who would just get worried about him... Or make fun of him for getting covered in needles from flora of all things.

"Fuck, who thought putting needles on flora was a good idea?"

The blond helps him up, careful not to bury the nettles further into his skin, and leads him to a small clearing. Wolfwood brushes his pants off before sitting on the soft patch of grass below them.

"I know you're just gonna tell me that I don't have to fix this all on my own, and that I'm being stubborn and I should just go apologize, or whatever..."

He gets started on plucking the needles from his skin, "But before you preach at me about that, maybe help patch this up instead before I lose my mind."

#humanitysong #[doomed by the narrative; world 7] #[prying eyes; asks] #// we'll say he's overreacting to upsetting one of the party members... unless something better comes to my mind x_x #[pack tactics; merylverse]

[oc-cinematic-universe]

"doomed by the narrative" more like doomING the narrative. it was entirely their own fault but theyre gonna blame the narrative anyways

#text #in a manor of speaking #reverie #going insane about how no matter what au theyre in the still find a way to doom themself #in every version of themself they long for an escape theyll never get because they imagined a perfect world. perfect worlds do not exist #and even in a perfect world they would claim it was wrong. its wrong and they have to keep looking for their perfect world #i scoop them up and place them in another story and they cant stand that one either. it wont matter what i do #it doesnt matter what the narrative does #reverie will always always find a way to hate it #theres no end in sight for them unless they can slow down and really look at the world around them. the worth each story has. #but they wont.

[mothmanchronicler]

everyone is arguing abt bughead vs jabitha today but i'm pretty sure he loves both of them (in a most unfortunate way)

incoherent thoughts abt this in the tags but the conclusion is that tabitha deserves a happy ending

#sometimes you literally cannot help the emotions someone drags out of you !!! #i have an ex that can still make me feel the grief of our break up years later #i'm not in love with them anymore and i'm happily dating my fiancé but like ??? sometimes pain and love are seared into your essence dude #also i think it's a better narrative choice because it creates a very emotional/intense choice for tabitha to make #and maybe this is wishful thinking with the rvd writers but jabitha choosing to stay together in the end would be ... #bittersweet? realistic? #a true picture of loving someone so much that you choose them even when it hurts both of you? #and on the flip side- if bughead got back together? WOOF #i won't stand here before you and lie that i didn't enjoy bughead (it's fun to watch tender loving toxic relationships sue me!) #and yeah i'd enjoy the whiplash insanity that a bughead reunion would bring to the show for the drama #but i think bughead is not good for either of them!!! at least where they stand as individuals now #specifically thinking abt jughead lying to his loved ones still #and betty's refusal to like face her traumas with open vulnerability ? #and also both of their for some fucking reason life long aversions to therapy #but there's def more reasons that bughead not matter how much they love each other are doomed to an unhealthy relationship unless #there's a major shift in both characters (not even pretending to hope that rvd will ever explore mental health in a good way lol) #and you know what? i would love to watch that but for jughead tabitha is the chance of a healthy relationship imo #long story short betty and jughead both lack a sense of indentity in ways that hurt themselves and each other #i can't elaborate on that yet but i know it's true lol #all of this ignoring that i'm almost entirely convinced that jughead's love will be tabitha's literal demise #tabitha loves this broken little man with all of her heart and i'm wondering if that's a healthy relationship for her #i want to know more abt what jughead envokes within tabitha that she feels makes him worthy of such love #actually i just want to know more abt tabitha's life before riverdale #i'd like a list of her exes as well thank you #just!!! her devotion to jughead #i really want to know more abt it and her own relationship to that devotion #i'm very high and i'm thinking VERY hard abt the canon ships #don't even get me STARTED on barchie and varchie #ps jughead is gay i'm just thinking and saying words for fun

[our-inspire-verse]

Doomed by the narrative all by yourself honey?

No, doomed by my own trauma, roots and the Cycle of Abuse

#joking. unless? #system babbles #vent kinda #ok to rb #trauma #ptsd #breaking the cycle #doomed by the narrative

[justruse]

Blood touched your lips.

One moment you were walking home, and the next you were waking up in a hospital room with a searing pain in your neck and an insatiable hunger lingering in your belly. The events of the previous night were a blurry and chaotic mess of fear, panic, and blood.

Your blood...

ONCE BITTEN is a dark romance interactive fiction game set in a vampire-infested 1990s New York City. Navigate the city as you try to regain your footing and find your place as a recently-turned vampire. Being a vampire isn't as glamorous as the stories make it out to be, especially when you have a group of Hunters that want you dead.

Content Warnings: suggestive themes, violence, gore, blood, body horror, drug use, death, animal cruelty, homophobia, and transphobia

* Note: Content warnings, with the option to disable them, will appear before each chapter.

DEMO ✦ PINTEREST ✦ SPOTIFY

Play as a customizable protagonist, with the ability to choose your name (including nicknames), gender, pronouns, and appearance.

Befriend a cast of characters and pursue one of five romance options.

Explore New York City and its vampiric nightlife as a newly-turned vampire. Experience what it truly means to be a creature of the night.

Adopt a dog, or don’t. Be warned, it will come back to bite you.

A focus on choices, rather than stats, that will alter your relationships with the cast as well as the narrative moving forward. Will you choose to embrace your new existence?

Dr. Joseph Levi (he/him)

A seemingly quiet, albeit quite sarcastic, professor at first glance, Dr. Joseph Levi is more than what meets the eye. In reality, he is a type of vampire hunter known as a Keeper—and he also happens to save your life and doom it too.

Vanya Kreisky (she/her)

Beautiful, cunning, and deceptive, Miss Vanya Kreisky is the queen of the Scarlet Palace, a historic hotel and casino nestled in the heart of Manhattan. She much older, and more powerful, than she first lets on, and seems to have an odd interest in you.

Rana Ayari (she/her)

Rana Ayari is the owner of Lilith's Lounge, a small bar near West Village. She's a welcoming face to strangers with an easy-going attitude. Unless you're stirring up trouble, you'll be welcome at Lilith's.

Addison Reyes (he/him | she/her)

Only turned about fifteen years ago, Addison is probably the youngest vampire you'll meet, and because of that, they have a sense of optimism and adventure many older vampires lack. They like to have fun and they'll share it with you—well, whenever they're not stuck working a shift at Lilith's, of course.

Dr. Michael "Ellie" Elliot (he/they)

Dr. Michael Elliot is a doctor working at the hospital you wake up in after being turned. They're quite zany, in a way you can't quite place, and it's obvious they've seen some things in their centuries long existence that they quite haven't processed yet.

#if: once bitten #interactive fiction #if wip #no demo #upcoming if #intro post #twine game #twine if #interactive game #queer characters #lgbtq #vampire

[bbnibini]

Solomon "unrequited unless reassured and re-validated for the millionth time" The Wise

Solomon "telling you like you're a couple when you've been married for 10 years" The Wise.

Solomon "adds a just kidding in every love confession to avoid the inevitable heartache caused by rejection" the Wise

Solomon "doomed by the narrative" the Wise

Solomon "is it gay to risk your life and follow your apprentice in another dimension to save them" the Wise

Solomon "a side character in his own love story" the Wise

Solomon "pining is my middle name" the Wi-

#obey me solomon #kinda a vent he's so sad and pathetic and babygirl coded #obey me nightbringer #queue #im going through it right now besties

[madelynraemunson]

CASUAL part 2

see part one here.

modern!incel!asshole! eddie x fem!reader

It’s 7 in the morning. Eddie is seen doom-pacing in the halls of Hawkins High.

a/n: i promised y’all part 2 so here ya go. let’s make him pay. 💋 also shout out to @love-anonymous-writer for bringing this universe to life. a little angst here and there is good for the soul <3

who got the last laugh?

[WC: 1.1k words]

“Please respond…please respond…please respond…”

The soles of Eddie’s shoes slam against the tiles of Hawkins High as he rushes to your locker. Meanwhile his entire soul has left his body.

You didn’t answer any of his phone calls. All the texts he sent you were left on read. Having been so accustomed to your instant replies, Eddie essentially catapulted himself into a full-blown panic last night when he saw the ominous text you sent him...and the nothingness from you that followed soon after.

The crickets of Forrest Hills that taunted his eardrums later that night served as a vengeful metaphor of the brick wall you built between you and him. The girl who once gave him everything has now started giving him nothing. You’re nowhere, but everywhere. It’s like you’ve become a ghost.

When he sees you, color drains from Eddie’s guilty face. You look so beautiful today, hair curled down to the small of your back, a nice simple dress and some slippers, with makeup ever so gracefully applied. A class act, even when plagued with the utmost disrespect.

“Hi," he says to you as he approaches.

“Hi.”

As far as Munson knows, he no longer exists to you. He's a shadow now, a carapace of a boy you used to love 'cuz now — after hearing what you heard in his trailer — you know he's not the same boy that made you feel all the butterflies. That boy is long gone. You even start to wonder if that version of Eddie even existed.

“C-can we talk, please?” he requests.

“What’s to talk about?” you challenge him, stoically. “Don’t wanna annoy you with my rambling.”

“You never annoy me…” he attempts as you mindlessly comb through your locker for your homeroom notebook.

“Mm.”

You were casual about it. Too casual about it.

“You… uh…” he clears his throat. “You made me cookies yesterday?”

“Yeah,” you shrug. “I was at your door for quite a while so you must’ve been busy. Cookies were taken care of though.”

“I see…” Eddie mutters as the pieces all start coming together.

He thinks about how he always leaves his windows cracked open. His uncle would whoop his ass if he hot-boxed the trailer again, so it became a habit. But the trailer park is small, and on certain afternoon, if someone from a nearby unit had dropped a pin, Eddie would hear it. Suddenly, fear arises in him.

Surely, you didn't hear everything he and The Boys™️ said. He had his headphones on and he couldn't have possibly been that loud, could he? Unless technology failed him again.

The warning bell sounds throughout the halls and you excuse yourself from the narrative. Eddie tags after you like a lost puppy, nearly tripping on his shoelaces along the way.

"W-wait!"

The first class of the morning is homeroom. A class you unfortunately shared with Eddie, Grant, and Harmony.

You didn't want to see any of their faces. Eddie's face would serve as a reminder of how fake and construed the fucker is. Grant's would remind you of how insignificant you were to the guys (despite how welcomed they made you feel at the start). And Harmony. Harmony's beautiful face — with a body far too developed for a girl in her grade to match — would only remind you of the fact that the girl didn't inherently do anything to you... other than be beautiful and get caught in the crossfire of horny, greasy teenage boys.

It’s a fucking mess.

You swallow hard and keep your chin up regardless. Because what other choice do you have? You either feign your confidence or let irrelevant boys crush it.

You continue strutting over to your seat as Eddie trails behind at a measurable distance. Along the way, you inevitably run into the Junior Queen of Hawkins High herself, Harmony Heathers.

Harmony issues you a sweet smile. You smile back at her in return. And you didn't even need to turn your back to know that Eddie most likely did a double-take when sliding past her.

The late bell rings, indicating the start of class.

“Okay,” your homeroom teacher Mrs. Helleck exhales as she clasps her hands together. “Good morning everybody. For Red Ribbon Week this week, we’re gonna be doing a group project. Worth 20-percent of your grade.”

The class erupts in agonistic groans while Mrs. Helleck attempts to calm them down. You feel Eddie’s gaze burn into you, indicative to the fact that he was looking forward to using you again like he always seems to do. This time around it would be for a grade instead of a two-pump fuck. But you had something else in mind.

“You will be doing a presentation,” Helleck continues. “With a partner of your choice. Your job is to create a slogan along with a list of reasons why you should stay away from drugs.”

“Drugs Instead of Hugs,” Grant mutters to Eddie.

The general vicinity collectively praises his lukewarm wannabe 4-Chan edged joke.

You roll your eyes while your poor homeroom teacher tries to proceed with her instructions, despite the immature snickers.

“You will be presenting with your partner on Friday. Do not wait until last minute to do this assignment please. Deadlines catch up to you fast.”

Mrs. Helleck makes her way over to you.

Like Dungeons and Dragons, everyone in the class is assigned a “classroom role”. You’re the leader of the pack, the ‘foreman’, to which you never understood because up until today you never had the confidence to call the shots. The alphabet has never been on your side anyways.

“Now dear,” your teacher smiles down at you. “Since your last name starts with an A, you get first choice. Who would you like to work with?”

Eddie’s gaze is extra fixated on you now. It gives you a greater deal of satisfaction than tossing those cookies ever did. It was you who had the reigns now, instead of those woman-patronizing incels.

You start to smile connivingly, to which the guys start to gulp over. You can tell they’re putting two and two together, their two brain cells collectively working over time to discover that you had a delicious upper-cut up your sleeve.

It’s the very least they can do. If they wanted to taint your name to smithereens in your absence, you’re sure as hell going to give them something else to lose their minds about in Math 3.

And when all eyes are fixated on you, you tilt your chin up to project your voice. You want to make sure everyone, especially Grant and Eddie, hear you loud and clear when you sinisterly announce,

“I pick Harmony.”

tag list: @damp4eddie @eddiesguitarskills @babygirl229 @love-anonymous-writer @ziggeddie @socially-awkward-eliza @shesahellfirebabe @ali-r3n @yourdailymemedelivery @mincloud @jupitersnights @ineedtosusoutmyreadinglist @whisperingtales @fearlessreid @emma-munson

divider by: @benkeibear

#eddie munson #eddie munson angst #eddie munson one shot #eddie munson mini series #requests #maddy’s requests 🍸 #part 2 #eddie x reader #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson x you

[physalian]

What No One Tells You About Writing #4 (100 Follower Special!)

Have you got any that deserve to be on these lists? Don’t be shy! Send ‘em over.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

*This list contains mentions of assault, #4

1. Zero cursing is better than censored cursing

I made the mistake in the early days of writing a self-censoring character, and every “curse” she said just took the teeth out of the rest of the statement. I’m talking gosh, darn, dang, etc, not world-specific idioms a la “scruffy nerf herder” or “dunderhead” instead of “dumbass”.

Look to any American TV show that so, so badly wants to use f*ck or sh*t but has to appease the sensitive conservatives who still somehow believe strong language is worse than graphic violence and horrifying psychological damage. For shame! Your characters can be angry without expletives, so rework your sentences to include equally damning insults that don’t resort to potty mouths if you’re concerned about ratings.

Or go full-throttle into the idioms of the world or the time period like Pirates of the Caribbean. Or just… don’t. There’s zero modern cursing in the Lord of the Rings adaptation and not a single sentence that censors itself. The dialogue is above vulgarity and feels more *fantastical* that way anyway.

2. “Yeah, you aren’t the target audience.”

It’s kind of hilarious seeing the range of reader reactions to two characters I intend to have a romantic relationship. Some will go “I ship it!” after the first page of them together… and another will go “wait, I thought they were just friends” up until they kiss. Sometimes you might be too subtle, other times it might be better to just accept that you can’t rewrite your entire book to please one naysayer.

When I’m pitched a fantasy adventure book that turns out to be a by-the-numbers romance where no one is allowed to be a peasant and every important character is royalty in some way, with a way cooler fantasy backdrop, I get severely disappointed. That doesn’t mean the book is bad, it just means I’m not the target audience.

3. There is no greater character sin than making them boring

Unless you live in the wacky world we find ourselves in where any flaws whatsoever are apparently harmful depictions of so-and-so and not at all written with things like ~nuance~. I will gush over your heinous villain committing atrocities because he’s *interesting*. I will not remember Bland Love Interest who’s a generic everyman with zero compelling or intriguing traits or flaws.

There’s another tumblr post out there that I cannot find that says something like this, and I believe the post goes “his crimes are fiction, my annoyance is real”. Swap annoyance for boredom and you get what I mean. So, I don’t care what your character does so long as they’re memorable. I will either root for their victory or their doom, but I do need *something* to root for.

4. The line between “gratuitous” and “respectful” is actually very thick

Less what no one tells *you* about writing and more what no one tells screenwriters. Y’all do realize you can write a character who experiences assault without actually writing the assault, right? Fade to black, have them mention it in their backstory, or have the horrific aftermath as they come to terms with it. An abrupt cut to this devastated character when it’s all over and they’re alone with themselves can be incredibly poignant and powerful. This goes with anything sensitive, especially if it’s not coming from experience.

If you want to write it or film it respectfully, romanticizing assault, for instance, is when it’s framed as if either character has earned or “deserves” it. If the narrative in any way argues that it's justified. The victim might have "earned" it for any of the BS reasons we use in the real world, or the perpetrator might've "earned" it because of temptation, desire, pressure to assert dominance, etc. Representation is important, but are you “representing” to shed light on a misunderstood and maligned topic, or are you doing it to satisfy a fetish or bias in yourself?

5. Don’t let your eyes get bigger than your stomach

Fantasy has no limitations, which means you can dig way deeper into the well of your worldbuilding than you realize, until you look up and realize you’re stuck down there. I have never seen a more obvious inevitable disaster looming than the pilot of GoT season 5. Why? Nobody has any plans. They’re all just led around by whatever side quest the writers throw them on, twiddling their thumbs until the writers deign to pull the trigger on the White Walkers.

To the point that what should be a major character can skip an entire season because his arc is meaningless. Everything in the last half of that show was one big “eventually” while the story toiled around in an ever-expanding cast of characters and set pieces (seriously, it’s hilarious how jarring the extended version of the theme music became compared to the pilot episode to fit all these locations).

When you have too many directionless characters, too many plot elements, too many ideas you want to fully mature and get their due spotlight and then somehow combine them all together for a common foe in the end, writing can get tedious and frustrating very quickly. Why, I imagine, the book series remains unfinished. Fantasy is great for being able to create such complex worlds, but don’t be the snake that eats its own tail trying too hard.

6. No one cares about your agenda if you insult them to push it

This deserves its own post but here we go. Peddling an agenda is a paradox: those who agree with you won’t need to be preached to, and those who you want to persuade will instead reject you further because they feel belittle and disrespected. This is why so many recent “strong female characters” fail on both sides of the aisle. Feminists see an annoying caricature of the movement they’re passionate about. Antifeminists see an insufferable, shallow, liberal mouthpiece when they just want to be entertained. You have failed both sides, congrats.

The answer? Write a strong, nuanced, well-developed character. Then make them a woman. I know this has been said before but this BS keeps happening so clearly the screenwriters aren’t listening. Entertain me first. Entertain me so well I don’t even realize I’m learning.

7. Today’s audiences won’t react the same way as tomorrow’s

Sometimes genres or tropes get oversaturated and need a few years to cool off before audiences are receptive to them again—teen dystopia, anyone?—that doesn’t mean your story is inherently bad because it’s unpopular (nor does it mean it’s amazing because it is popular).

You should always write the book you want to read, not the book that chases trends. I can pick up a well-written teen dystopia I’ve never read before and enjoy it. I can continue to ignore Divergent because it has nothing to say. Write the book you want to read, but then accept that you might make no money because no one else wants to read it, not because they think it’s bad. And, who knows? You might get a boom of chatter months or years down the line when readers stumble upon an uncut gem.

8. Your characters don’t age with you

Depending on how long you’ve been working on your world and what age you were when you started, the characters, concepts, morals, and story you set out to tell might no longer reflect who you want to be as an author when all is said and done. Writing can take years, some of which can be incredibly turbulent and life changing. I wrote the first draft of my first original novel in my freshman year of college. Those characters and that draft are now unrecognizable and has left a world I’ve poured my heart and soul into in limbo.

I’ve slowly creeped up my characters’ ages. My writing has matured dramatically. The themes I wanted to explore in the height of the 2016 election are just demoralizing now. That book was my therapeutic outlet and, as consequence, my characters sometimes reflect some awful moods and mindsets that I was in when writing them. But nothing in that world grows without me tending to it. It’s not alive. Despite all the work I’ve done, there’s still more to be done, maybe even restarting the plot from the ground up. When I think of what no one told me about writing, staring at characters designed by someone I’m not anymore is the hardest reality to accept.

—

If you think I missed something, check out parts 1-3 or toss your own hat into the ring. Give me romance tropes. Mystery, thriller, historical fiction, bildungsromans, memoires, children’s books, whatever you want! Give me stuff you wish you’d known before editing, publishing, marketing, and more. 

Also, don’t forget to vote in the dialogue poll!

#writing advice #writing resources #writing tips #writing tools #writing a book #writing #writeblr #fantasy #sci fi #character design

[whetstonefires]

see the really fun thing about luo binghe for me is we're taking the established critique of a certain style of protagonist, the guy who goes killing and fucking his way through the world, accumulating victories and treasures and bitches and wreaking deserved vengeance,

the critique of this kind of fuck-emperor (i'm told many centuries established in chinese literature) that he is very clearly miserable.

that you don't live like that unless there's a gaping hole inside you that no amount of sex or power can do anything to fill, and yet you can't find any other way to even patch it over.

and then it's like. okay so why is he like this. does he have another option. the narrative doomed him to this; he is the audience's little toy. he is the audience's collective scream. he is the cycle of abuse made flesh. he is thirteen years old forever. at what point was he still salvageable. could he have ever saved himself.

and the answer to that last one is simultaneously no, he could not, people aren't made to be alone, how can you learn to be good and happy when the world gives you nothing but pain and betrayal; everyone needs a little kindness, sometimes all anyone needs is just a little kindness. but also:

he was always the only person who could.

#hoc est meum #svsss #luo binghe #meta #they are both the scum villain and both the protagonist #and neither title means anything #and i will put up a spirited defense of this hill #i fuckin love semicolons guys gonna use two of them in one post nobody can stop me #poor little meow meows unionizing call that a main ship somehow