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neoaevis · 3 years

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How Much I Love You/Hate You 3

Taglist: @ijuuy @brrrrrrah

Word Count:1689

Warnings: None

A/N: Aaah finally part 3 is up sorry if this is short and kinda fast paced but I wanna get into to it so yea expect part 4 is into it(the arrange marriage scene will start there proly) and I feel like the last part is really rushed but plss give me some feedback I ish need it alsoo plss chat me or ask me if you wanna be tagged.

Y/N’s POV:

The bright light of the sun hurts your eye the moment it tries to open up making you groan and stretch your arms as you were now getting up slowly from your deep slumber, you eye your room and notice the things you failed to notice the night of your arrival, your childhood room has undergone changes with example the colors that used to be in a pastel shade now in a dark shade to compliment your mature taste but you will never fail to see how all the pictures of your childhood were still on full display on the desk you used to use whenever you were studying, getting up you can’t help but smile how things change so fast the girl who was once playing around in this very room was now getting ready to enter the corporate world, you wash yourself up before coming down to the breakfast that your mom asks the maid to make every single time. The bath made you smell like a full bloom rose which is one of your personal favorites, the outfit you chose for today was the Versace mini blazer dress with a pair of black Louboutin heels and underneath is a sexy lingerie from Victoria secret, the scent you went in for today was from Giorgio Armani Sì.

As you went down everyone was in awe seeing you big smiles evident in their faces, when you were munching yourself with breakfast your mom can’t help but compliment from head to toe and tell you how much she misses you and things she plans now that you are here, her stories made you really miss her so you also told her stories about your stay in New York “Mom, did you know there was one time I was actually really drunk in this one party and when I went to class the next day with a massive hungover my shit ass professor dropped the bomb at how we have a quiz the next day because of that I had to cave myself up the whole day and review this much” you showed her your hand and she chucked at your story remembering how she was during her college days, more exchange of stories went on and that made you feel your mom’s warmth once more( well you were always close to your mom she was the only one you had growing up) the breakfast was special today not until your mom dropped a question you find odd “Honey, do you perhaps have a boyfriend or any potential husband right now?” she asks with a smile plastered on her face which makes you raise your brows “Mom, why talk about that you do remember me saying that I don’t want to get married right?” you tell her with a firm tone but she begins to sigh “You’re only saying that now Y/N, I was like that once but eventually I got married” she counters what you said but you feel frustrated “You got married and dad cheated” you tell her while eyeing her “Y/N not all men cheat, it doesn’t mean if your dad cheated all the boys cheat” she tells you to comfort you a little “Either way I have no plans on marriage, but why the sudden question mom do you perhaps plan to get remarried?” you ask her as you stand up to tuck the chair back in to leave but she replies “M-me no I prefer being single’ she said feeling flustered “ So am I mom” you tell her as you now finally make your leave to go to the company

Mark’s POV

Mark was awaken due to his alarm but truth be told he was never actually been able to sleep well ever since the day his heart got broken and maybe that’s the reason why he would drown himself from too much workload or sultry nights with different girls, as he got up he eyes his room that he never thought he would go back to because this was the room that witnessed his lovely passions to his miserable state but he knew he should not dwell into it much because he is different now, this room should no longer remind him of the girl that tore him, he should move on and be stronger to prove to her how she wronged him. Mark decided to take a shower to finally get ready for another dreadful work day, he did not really enjoy working in a corporate world rather he enjoys creating music but due to too much guilt towards his parents and how he gave up on the life he enjoyed with her he decided it was best to follow the footsteps of his parents, honestly it was hard at first but through time he learned that it was not that bad after all, today he wore a grey suit from Armani that perfectly showed his toned body.

Mark did not bother to have breakfast as it was not really his thing even though his mom insists he eats something, he was fetched by his secretary Taeil and the car ride was rather cold he did not bother to chat with Taeil like would do normally, arriving in the company he was greeted by different department heads right from the entrance and was escorted towards his office, his arrival was a gossip amongst different staffs some saying he was a “playboy”, “spoiled” ,”kind” and many different mixed opinions but one in particular has caught his attention “he got a girl pregnant before they say and the baby died” that caught him in his tracks and immediately diverting his attention towards the girl “What did you say?” he asked with anger filling his eyes making the girl feel small as she was caught red handed “N-nothing s-sir” she said stuttering “Let me just remind you, you don’t get paid to gossip you get paid to work” he said slamming the desk of the girl and immediately heading towards his office Taeil seems to catch on so he gave small apologies towards the people and then following Mark after “S-sir are you alright” he asked the moment he entered Mark’s office but Mark just signaled him to leave to which Taeil cooperated too, deep thoughts occupied Mark’s mind especially since every day he dreams of his baby that died, it always fills him with guilt how it died so soon not even given the chance to see the world.

When Mark’s father knew that he was now in his office he immediately wanted to see his son that he misses so badly, “Mark” his father exclaimed opening his door to which he smiled at “Dad” Mark replies while giving the same enthusiasm “You look great in the office son” he compliments his son to which Mark replied to with a small “Thanks” but since Mark has a meeting soon he tells his dad “I actually have a meeting in about 10 min, let’s catch up later dad” but his dad stops him as he has something really important to tell him and it’s about the most awaited event where there big announcement will be known “I actually have something important to tell you son” Mark raised an eyebrow towards his father at him being so serious suddenly “What is it dad” he asked “We are hosting a charity ball son and I need you to be present” he announced “Yes, you told me” Mark replied “But son this ball will not just be a ball but we will be merging with another company-“ but before his dad can finish his phone rings “Excuse me son” his father said but then left immediately cause he also has a important meeting, Mark just shrugged it and went on about his day as he did not really think of it as something serious.

Y/N’s POV:

You were chilling in your office when your friend Yuna barged in “Y/N,Y/N” he said with a full glee to which you chuckled at “Don’t you have a company to run” you ask her while welcoming her for a embrace, the embrace was rather long with how much you miss each other, well before coming to New York , Yuna was your best friend as you have known each other till you were in diapers “Well I do but it’s lunch time” she said with a smile on her face and a cute doe eyes, you can’t help but giggle at how adorable she is “What brings you here” you asked her while motioning her to sit while you page your secretary to bring you some tea “First of all I miss you and second of all because you are merging with the Lee family and third we need to go shopping for dresses for the ball” she said while pointing her fingers at you “W-wait what merging and what ball?” you asked her very confuse about what’s happening “Oh you don’t know?” she asked again as if she could not believe you don’t know “Well yes idk” you repeated “ Well your mom is merging your company with the company of the Lee’s” you were shocked as your mom did not even bother to tell you “Second they will be holding a charity ball to announce the merge” at this point you really don’t know anymore “When is it” you asked her to which she happily replied to “Saturday”, well it’s basically three days from now “My mom hasn’t told me about that” you tell her as you tea arrived “Thanks” you tell your secretary “Maybe she will, but at least I told you didn’t I?” she said while taking a sip of the tea. Your Mom did indeed tell you within the day that there will be a ball that you need to attend to and it’s with the Lee’s who she wants to merge with, the whole situation made you feel like you are in a very fast paced world because it’s just your first day in Korea yet there are too many surprises that awaits you.

#mark lee #mark lee smut #mark smut #mark fluff #mark angst #nct mark #nct imagines #nct scenarios #rich!kid

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danhoemei · 2 years

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Are there any danmei novels that you would want to see made into a drama or an anime that haven't already been produced/being produced? Or contrastingly are there any that you wouldn't want to be adapted despite liking them? Idk why this sounds so formal lol

yeah tons of them, totally, I love watching stuff, let me just-

*runs away*

anyway, I'm a bookworm

don’t shoot, but tbh i haven't watched any dramas or anime adaptations yet (except the untamed, but i’m on hiatus for the time being, as uni and life came knocking on my door x/). I do love manhua adaptations however, and I'd like to see them for literally everything i read or plan to read. Maybe guardian, lmw, reader & protagonist must be in love, all of mxtx novels (I think only svsss doesn't have its own? except those 2 abandoned chapters), definitely all priest novels omg yes, TYK MANHUA PLEASE TAKE ALL MY MONEY GIVE IT TO ME, HOLY SHIT I GOT SO EXCITED, I HAVEN'T THOUGHT ABOUT IT BEFORE AND NOW I AM IN NEED WHAT HAVE YOU DONE ANON. TYK AND QI YE

sjhfbsdkjf ANYWAY to sum up: manhuas 👌👌👌 pls gimme. Donghuas? I may not feel like watching them. Dramas? Like donghuas, with the addition of me not being used to asian acting and special effects which ngl make me cringe sometimes xd

I really love reading because I slowly weave myself into the world and the characters, I can see them in detail, imagine their voices and expressions as if I’m standing among them, catch all nuances and get into their heads, either through their thoughts or by detailed descriptions of their actions. I feel as if I get to know the world and the characters really well.

When I watch stuff I feel more like a spectator looking from afar, kept behind a barrier of appearances and limited by my own senses. Did I miss something on the screen because I blinked, or because it was too dark, or too quiet for me to hear, or voices were overlapping? What does this person feel, why did they make that face? What are they thinking during that pause? I think I know, but then I get surprised by something and learn that I really don’t understand this character as well as I thought. And it doesn’t really matter when I’m okay with being a spectator, but if I wanted to write about them, I wouldn’t feel as confident and comfortable as after reading the book.

And where do manhuas come into this? Well, my imagination is limited so I like to see fuller visualizations by someone more knowledgeable and skilled, who could aid my blurry images in becoming more full. I have fun comparing my own visuals to others’. Also manhuas tend to be faithful to the original, so it’s like reading the book one more time but with pretty images <3 Only good stuff

It could be similar with anime/donghua adaptations, because they’re almost like animated manhuas, but I have problems with watching stuff xd Idk if it’s my attention span, but I get fidgety and impatient if I’m watching something alone (I’m fine when it’s with friends but we’re all busy recently), so I often watch on 1.25x or 1.5x speed (once I even reached 1.75x). I don’t really know why that is, maybe it stimulates me too little?

With books or comics you have to imagine a lot of things, hear voices in your head, focus on intonation, create the whole world with the feeling of the wind on your skin, cold or heat seeping into your body, smells in your nostrils, small noises around you. In movies many of those things are already in front of you and you just have to absorb it. I noticed that I don’t imagine smells or touches while watching something, as if everything is behind the screen where I have no access to. You can also go by your own pace while reading, slow down when you want to zoom in on something, speed up when you get impatient, or easily go back to double-check something. While watching, I am forced to comply with the movie’s pace, and can only change the speed (if that’s even an option) because skipping forward gives risk of completely missing an important part. I am also painfully aware how much it’ll take me to finish the whole thing. And it doesn’t matter that when I read I can fly away for much longer than an episode would last, somehow it doesn’t feel as confining and doesn’t stab me with the notion how much time I’ll spend on ‘leisure’ instead of Doing Something Productive.

For dramas they can stray pretty far off the original, and I do quite like that they create almost another version of the story. But they usually get much more popular than the novel and people don't keep the tags separate, tagging drama stuff with the novel tag and effectively flooding it. So what if you want to look just for novel fanart or meta? Good luck lol.

It's really great that many people get into the story thanks to the adaptations, but searching for content when you’re primarily the novel fan can get very frustrating... So yeah, I’d like to see manhua and donghua adaptations, but I’m not really looking forward to drama adaptations 🙃

#that got long and chaotic lmao sorry #ask #anon #ask opinion #sorry anon for letting this sit in my inbox #I've been busy and rarely open tumblr recently #cql #mdzs #shl #tyk #qi ye #pls don't tag drama stuff with novel's tag

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dirt-cup-draco · 4 years

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Fred Weasley x Reader - You’re Just So Cute

hello! if your request are open may i ask for some Fred Weasley? maybe the reader shes super nervous and shy around him "crushing hard" and hes just love it and doing so on propose?idk just lots of fluff!! and happiness :D thank you for your time!!! @stars-shaped-clouds

Warnings: Short mention of PTSD like behaviors, injury

Diagon Alley had flourished in just a short time after the war. It was a good way to focus on the fact that even though everyone had lost so much, Voldemort was dead and everything was looking up. It was hard some days to feel fine, it almost felt like you were betraying those you had lost. But you tried to remind yourself you couldn’t stop living. It would truly be a betrayal to those who wanted you to be happy.

You walked around waving to people as you passed, a new appreciation for those around you. There was an air of unity between you all. You had all fought together, a common cause and the fight for your survival and beliefs making you all a family of soldiers.

With the sound of something erupting from above you startled, arms going over your head as your heart rate spiked. Your eyes were wide and they darted from person to person. Why did no one seem concerned? You took a risk and looked for the source of the noise, only to find a shop you used to be quite familiar with your last year of hogwarts. Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes stood in all it’s glory and sense finally caught up to your panic.

You had thought for a moment someone had been attacking. You sighed and tried to shake your nerves as you decided to enter the shop. It had been quite some time, it wouldn’t hurt to visit would it? You weren’t close with the twins but you enjoyed their humor and had messed around with them once or twice in school. One twin remained your favorite thought. Fred Weasley, your date to the yule ball and your first kiss. Not that he knew that.

He’d asked you out on a whim, George talking his ear off about he had already found a date, what was Fred waiting for. As he passed your table Fred had stopped in his tracks, tapped on your shoulder and asked you to go with him. Unbeknownst to you, he had reveled in the way your crimson blush had painted your cheeks and the tips of your ears. He’d kissed you that night after the dance, firewhisky spiking your punch and giving you courage.

It’d been a tad sloppy if you were honest, his limbs much longer and more awkward than yours. He’d had you pinned against a column, lips tugging at yours and trailing to your neck before someone had interrupted, drawing his attention away from you. Fred had given you a wink, and then disappeared.

“Y/N!” Came a booming voice and you startled, coming back to yourself, cheeks red hot as you realized where your mind had been stuck. A twin stood in front of you, hair shorter and eyes brighter than you remembered.

“Weasley!” You exclaimed lamely but with a laugh as he chuckled in response.

“It’s George, look, no ear!” He joked, swiping his hair to the side so you could see that he was in fact, missing one.

“Oh! I’m sorry-” You began but he waved you off.

“Please no apologies, its a blessing, now people don’t mistake me as the less attractive twin,”

“Oh bugger off,” Fred said, his voice softer than you remembered. In comparison to his brother, life had seemed to taken a bit more out of him than expected. He had a cane supporting him as he hobbled to you with surprising speed. “We all know Y/N thinks I’m cuter,” He winked, a sly smile sneaking onto his lips.

Your cheeks seemed to be permanently stained at this point and Fred loved it. He took one last step and tossed a friendly arm around your shoulder. “Well come on in then stranger, make yourself comfortable, I was going to make tea,” Fred commented, leading you in and past the whirring, buzzing, popping products they had become well known for.

“Don’t forget to make me some!” George hollered as you made your way up the stairs.

Above the shop was a nice space with a crowded kitchen that seemed to be used more for storage than cooking. Boxes with the twins’ logo were spread everywhere but Fred moved all around it seamlessly, grabbing 3 mugs and setting a kettle on the stove.

You followed him and sat at a small table that was crammed against a window that looked over the alley.

“You’ve always been quite the people watcher,” You commented and Fred smiled, leaning back in his chair with a groan.

“Depends on the people,” He said honestly with a shrug of his shoulders, honey flecked eyes trailing from the tips of your toes to the top of your head leaving you feeling warm and embarrassed. “I love when you do that, rosie,” he teased and your eyes bugged out with the fond nickname he had given you the night of the ball.

Rosie, for always turning rose red in his presence.

“It’s embarrassing,” You muttered, standing and waving him back down into his seat as you shuffled around the boxes, hitting your shin, on your way to the whistling kettle. Serving up the tea you muttered a spell, George’s cup making it way to him downstairs.

“I think it’s cute,” Fred said with another wink and you couldn’t hold back the giggle.

“One thing hasn’t changed about you Mr. Weasley, you are a flirt,”

“Oh please don’t call me Mr. Weasley, I already feel old enough with this damn thing,” He growled, eyes burning into the cane beside him. “Makin’ me feel like my dad,”

“There isn’t anything wrong about having a cane Fred,” You said honestly, hand reaching for his as he glowered into his mug. “The war- it took... it took a part of all of us,”

“Some more than others,” He replied dryly, hand warm and calloused against your own.

“You’re still the same old Fred I know and love,”

He was snapped out of his bleak mood, eyebrows shooting up past his hairline as what could only be described as a shit-eating grin lit up his face.

“Don’t say a word!” You scolded immediately, ducking your head and letting your hair create a curtain that would keep him from seeing the embarrassment you felt. You kept making a fool of yourself!

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” He said innocently, hands reaching upwards in surrender.

“Liar,”

“I would never!”

“Bullshit,”

He laughed out loud and squeezed your hand, dragging it towards his mouth so he could press a kiss against your knuckles.

“I would never lie to you Y/N,” He said more softly this time, a sparkle in his eyes.

“Then if I asked if you missed me? What truth would you tell me?” You challenged, even if you were still unable to meet his eyes.

“Then I would say, I missed you too, rosie. I thought about you a lot, and I consider myself the biggest idiot in the world for not saying anything to you after the ball,” His voice got quiet and he let his long finger run around the rim of the cup in his hands, “A-and when I thought it was all over, that that blasted death eater got the one up, my life flashed before my eyes. I didn’t have many regrets, but I did regret not finding you sooner to tell you all this,”

Your heart jumped in your throat and choked out any words you might have had. “Oh Fred,” you sniffled, getting up to throw your arms around his neck as he wrapped an arm around you even as you rattled the table, tea spilling. You were seating comfortably in his lap and he held you so your chest was pressed comfortably against his.

“You are so cute,” He breathed out, hand going to your cheek as you leaned into his palm. You wanted to turn away again but he kept you facing him. “You are cute,” He repeated, lips brushing against your nose. “You are sweet,” He added, lips traveling over your cheeks. “You are mine? If you want,” He asked, lips hovering in front of yours, his breathe fanning between you. The scent of tea and cinnamon and ash filling your senses and making your head fuzzy.

“I”ve always been yours Fred Weasley, you don’t even have to ask,” You spoke, surging forward to kiss him. It wasn’t sloppy like it had been when you were kids. He took the lead, his lips set in a determined pace, arms strong around your waist as he nipped at your lips, tongue sliding against yours sneakily as you whined into his mouth.

“I’m actually George,” He said, once you pulled away and you smacked his chest.

“You can’t fool me, I know what you taste like Fred, you never forget your first kiss,”

“Y-you mean that I-? Fred asked, pushing your back into the table as he slid his chair out a bit, keeping your comfortably on his lap but needing to see more of you. You chewed your lip but nodded.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, I am completely yours,” You said as his features lit up, looking more like the man you had met in Hogwarts and less like the man that had been scarred by war.

“Merlin, you’re cute,” He breathed out again, feeling more complete than he had in some time.

#fred x reader #fred weasley x reader #harry potter #hogwarts #request #ask #fluff #he didnt die #so lets get that straight #denial aint just a river in egypt #oop

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vanveronicango · 4 years

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if you don't mind me asking, what aspects of s2 did you dislike? bc for me, although i liked it a lot better than s1 (mainly for the increased focus on sibling dynamic scenes). i also kind of realized that it had kind of a Lot going on, that although i appreciated, didn't get enough equal attention? idk

i agree that the dynamic scenes this season were pretty great. we got some great interactions between characters that didn’t have much last season (personal fave being klaus/allison/vanya and every individual combo in that trio).

i personally love reading other peoples’ opinions on shows/movies, even if they don’t match my own, because a lot of the time they open my eyes to some stuff i haven’t seen, and i love to see work affecting others the same way it does me, even if it has a different outcome.

so, i know i said i wouldn’t, but since you asked, under the cut i’m going list out some of the stuff i wasn’t a huge fan of, and some of the stuff i really liked.

(edit warning: this shit is LONG. but please don’t take this as me absolutely hating the season - I didn’t. there was some genuinely enjoyable stuff. but, in my opinion, it didn’t have the spark and intent that s1 did. it wasn’t the caliber of the season i fell in love with. i think it’s still rewatchable though, unlike a certain godawful season of a certain hit netflix show...... coughstrangerthings3cough)

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

1. not enough characterization/development in most of the characters (this will be the longest point, so I’ll get it out of the way first) - for one, the siblings - save maybe vanya & allison - really... did not develop much this season, and weren’t explored as heavily as in the first season. hell, even in vanya and allison’s cases, i still think s1 did a better job at delving into their characters and psyche, even though they still had a bit of it in s2. but especially in the other siblings cases, i feel like SO MUCH of this season leaned into trivial things the fans liked, that it either (at least) took time away from or (at worst) was an active detriment to the characters’ development and plots. they said oh you like banter? we’ll give you unnecessary arguing and jokes that go on for 20 minutes too long when we could be delving deeper into these interesting situations we saw on the surface. here’s some fart jokes and forgettable music when we could be seeing more of how these characters are coping with the literal end of the world/being sent back in time/facing the prospect of never seeing their families again.

in s1, we got luther’s immense internal struggles in living up to his “name” and only existing to please his father... diego finding his relationships through his jaded nature towards his siblings and himself, and grappling with feelings of inferiority... allison’s coping with the effects her powers have had on her life, and trying to become someone without rumoring everything into existence, which is a new feeling altogether that she isn’t quite sure how to cope with... klaus going through intense development as a simultaneously self-obsessed and self-destructive drug addict that gets thrown into a gruesome war for a year, only to watch the person he loves most die, grappling with his ptsd from war & his abusive childhood, and discovering new powers... five coming back home after decades of solitude and then being used as a weapon, trying to reestablish himself within the group while dealing with an eating feeling that he doesn’t belong in his body or in this group.... vanya, oh vanya, with her depression, anxiety, feelings of loneliness and betrayal, feeling invisible and utterly ordinary, gripping to whoever makes her feel special (and dealing with that fallout) before suddenly being slammed with unbelievably powerful abilities that she can’t control.

in s2... yes, we get lesbian!vanya who becomes truer to herself, and - through intense struggle - finds a way to harness her abilities so she isn’t so out of control and can finally feel extraordinary herself. but much of the latter was given up for a vast majority of the season bc she literally didn’t know who she was (there was a positive in that though, which i’ll list in my positives list), and so we lost a LOT of potential coping and learning time, which easily could have mingled with her sissy storyline! allison’s storyline i actually dug, i don’t have too much gripe with it except that i wish her throat injury didn’t just kind of magically heal, and they could’ve addressed it more. the end of ben’s story was interesting, but still lacked depth imo. as for the other siblings.... it all just felt like a TON of jokes that were funny at first, but quickly became stale and had me wishing they would take the story a bit deeper. that said, a lot of the gags, jokes, and quips were great, but they could’ve been incorporated WAY more intelligently, and allowed for characterization at the same time. loads and loads of banter, not being balanced with poignancy like s1 did very well.

we could have seen luther’s descent into the criminal underworld, and why he felt the draw and obligation to go that route. a more detailed look at klaus’ beginnings and relationship with the cult, his motivations (which s2 kept super shallow), more of diego’s life inside the asylum and even beforehand. but no, we got five and old five farting.

2. the music - man, the s1 soundtrack was iconic, was it not? effortlessly cool scene/music combos, countless iconic music moments, brilliantly and thoughtfully done. this season felt like they said “music? oh ok throw music EVERYWHERE” and it was just. not. good. instead of music that intertwined with each scene like it was a character itself, amplifying the tone and adding a new layer (like in s1), the music this season was mostly just distracting, forgettable, and felt like they were this close to just making a bunch of music videos. i even found myself hating a couple of their choices (the rest i just kinda... forgot). i did like the vanya/allison/klaus dance scene, but other than that.... eugh.

3. the handler - I HATE. HATE HATE HATE. when shows/movie franchises do shit like make a big deal of killing off a villain or lead and then just being like “hehe jk uwu” and bringing them back with some totally bs reason that they lived. a metal plate? really? and she magically awoke... how long after? not to mention how unbelievably lazy and lame it is. they could’ve done so much more with carmichael and the swedes, but they had to bring back... the villain we already had? don’t get me wrong, i LOVEEE kate walsh, but come on. it’s season 2. give us something fresh.

4. the swedes - in s1, cha cha and hazel had personalities, wants, desires that were all explored. we knew their motivations, their doubts, their fears. we liked to watch them. then the writers threw in the swedes... who were completely devoid of any and all characterization (they could’ve gone in my #1 point too heyo), personality, backstory, anything. it was so painful that when each one died, it was clear that we were supposed to feel something for the others, but did any of you really feel anything? no. because we didn’t know these characters at all. they were walking guns, pretty much. nothing substantial.

5. ben & klaus - being someone who loves these two characters so, so much (hellloooo, my old url?), this one breaks my heart. i was so unbelievably disappointed with them this season. all either of them were was horrible to the other. in klaus’ case, he just decided to keep ben’s presence a secret, not even telling the group ben loved them, or that he was there. he called him his ghost bitch, he used him as a personal pet, he lacked sympathy or compassion. we saw a glimmer of hope when he allowed ben to possess him, but that’s where ben’s issues start. seriously, possessing your brother past his breaking point, fighting him out of his own bodily autonomy, until he is in a state of complete exhaution? then saying he “regrets nothing”? and then the show playing it off as ~comedy~ bc that’s almost all they cared about this season... no... there was nothing in their relationship this season that compared to last’s. no moments of tough brotherly love, where ben tries to help klaus through his drug/alcohol desires or ptsd flashbacks, no moments of teamwork (besides the brief moments of consenting possession before that was ruined), no tender moments between brothers in general. all just REALLY FUCKING LOUD “comedy”, anger, resentment, bickering, and cruelty, all played for laughs. not about it son

6. “we’re not blood related!” - and, once again, getting played for laughs... for a show that became uncomfortably self-aware with trivial fan desires (but not the deeper stuff...), they sure do lack a lot of common sense of realizing what we don’t want

7. hazel (& agnes) - they went through the trouble of saving hazel and agnes just to have agnes die off-screen before the season started, and for hazel to die five minutes into his only appearance? lame. lame lame lame.

8. plot pace - i don’t really recall any moments in s1 that i thought “this scene doesn’t need to be here”, “this is moving so slowly”, or “this is being really rushed”. there was plenty of all three of those in s2. s1 was constant, everything was either towards the main goal or was filled with private and fascinating character moments. i love just watching characters live and do their thing if it’s done properly... but those scenes this season really weren’t very entertaining (save one or two), didn’t really seem to serve a purpose or hold weight, and didn’t give us any character insight.

9. klaus - the reason he’s listed specifically even after i mentioned him in the first point, was because of how personally saddened i was by his “arc”, if you could call it that. i know, him being my favorite (along with vanya) in s1 isn’t an original thought. but the writers, directors, and robert created a character so entertaining, charming, layered, and multi-faceted that it was hard not to fall in love with him. for all his goofiness, he then got a shit ton of characterization and development in the war, in dave, in his ptsd and discovering his power. his poignant moments were so powerful because of how different it was from his typical outward appearance. and fuck if he didn’t develop! this season, klaus felt... shallow. the cult stuff had no depth, no real reason to be there at all (the show really wouldn’t be much different without it, besides it being how five and allison found klaus), and it was kind of a throwaway point anyway, just another tool to get - shocker - more laughs. those touching, serious klaus scenes were completely absent in s2... he was just the ~quirky~ and/or ~high/drunk~ guy. there was literally no depth to his character at all this season. yeah, he crawled from behind the desk in e9.... and what else? nothing. robert did all he could this season, but something tells me even he was probably disappointed by just how one-dimensional klaus was. he was really no different at the end than he was at the beginning of the season, which is a no-no.

10. klave - this is kind of an expansion of #9, but i was so disappointed by it that it needed its own spot. the only stuff that was supposed to be serious in klaus’ story - the klaus/dave stuff - was really not good. the moment the shopkeeper said “david?” in the store, i literally gasped bc i was so excited... but that was the last of any excitement i felt for the two, which, if you know me, is BONKERS considering how much i adore s1 klave. but this new young actor had ZERO chemistry with robert (fuck if rob wasn’t trying, though. it looked painful for him, but this guy really was just not well casted) (cody and rob were phenomenal together and had a fraction of the screentime this new actor had), and klaus being 30 and this actor/character being a kid was just... weird to watch. plus... so many white actors look the same, they really couldn’t find someone who looked like cody ray thompson? c’mon now ...... also, was there any point to it? at all? dave just wound up going anyway and there was literally no differences made in that situation. i think the writers thought they were catering to the audience by adding dave, but you need actors with chemistry (cody! cody!!!) and a good plot to do so.

11. s1 fallout - there really was none. that’s it. you’d think there’d be more after the explosions in the relationships of these siblings, but everything was just kind of glossed over.

12. sparrow academy - mostly here because... does this mean 7 more characters? meaning MORE time taken away from our og siblings, who already (mostly) didn’t develop well this season? i’m not gonna lie, i’m worried/

WHAT I LIKED

1. the chestnuts - i absolutely loved ray, loved allison, and loved their and their group’s work this season. the issue of race is so important all the time, but in the 60′s the tensions were so high and it would’ve been a joke if the show hadn’t addressed it or just kind of went with little racist remarks. these two had some of the most touching scenes of the season, and the sit-in scenes/every police scene had me incredibly anxious. that was well done, imo. which is proof that they still know how to do a good storyline, which makes me even more upset that the show was overall lacking that this season. i’m also so glad they didn’t go the “oh sry ray i still love luther’ route bc i literally don’t know if i would’ve kept watching. ANYWAYS im gonna miss ray sm :(

2. vanya & sissy - lesbian!vanya is all i want and more. vanya/sissy was all i want and more. these two, much like the chestnuts, breathed so much life into an often-dull season. so in love!!! vanya connecting with harlan even in just the most human ways!!! sissy finally standing up to carl (and carl d*ing god bless).... little found family oh my GOD!!! super devastated that sissy didn’t come back to the future with vanya, but because of harlan’s ending, something tells me we haven’t seen the last of them. oh and i am so conflicted about vanya’s amnesia, bc while i think so much more development could’ve happened without it, i also don’t think a lot of what happened with her and sissy could have happened, at least as quickly, if vanya was bogged down by guilt, anger, and lingering feelings of self-hatred and anxiety.

3. sibling dynamics - okay, this one is a contradiction, kinda sorta. i know i said the ben/klaus relationship was horrid. and i didn’t dig absolutely everything with all the siblings.... but they had some REALLY strong stuff this season. i know i’ve already mentioned it multiple times, but vanya/allison/klaus was everything to me this season. i knew i wanted klaus/vanya stuff happening, but adding allison to the mix gave it a whole new layer and they all just worked SO. DAMN. WELL. i just kind of wish it was vanya with her memories getting that bonding time, because i feel like the trio really could’ve gone in with how they all related to each other, their struggles, etc. but still, just some Happy Time was much appreciated. in addition to them, i really did dig a lot of almost every sibling dynamic this season. not every relationship got the attention it deserved, but it wasn’t too bad, it would be really hard to get all of that into 10 eps. plus, the fact that almost all of them grew so much closer was everyyyything. it’s odd, because good dynamics usually come with good development but uh..... nvm im keepin this section positive

4. the humor - another kind of contradiction, maybe. for some of the humor, i thought it went too long, was extremely heavy-handed, often took away from the plot, and some of it even degraded certain characters and situations (see examples throughout my points above). however, the stuff that didn’t fall into these categories was so, so good. some favorites: olga foroga, “think of batman, then aim lower”, “you look like antonio banderas with that hair” “thanks man”, i’m t h e d a d d y h e r e, “not everyone here likes you” “sounds ridiculous but go on”, klaus’ little pop culture quips to his cult, “being smart doesn’t make you interesting” “neither does that beard”, klaus calling ben to manifest and ben being like ”...nah”... there are plenty more, but these were the first i could think of in 60 seconds off the top of my head. some of it really was laugh out loud funny, which can be hard to do, especially consistently. if only they didn’t lean into it so damn hard, and put in WAY too much heavy-handed humor that it dampened the experience

5. old five - although i don’t love all of the stuff in the five/old five scenes, old five’s actor was fantastic! he got aidan’s mannerisms down really, really well. it’s always cool to see actors do that kind of thing when they play a character at a different age, or a character’s sibling, etc.

6. time period bigotry - i’m really, really glad they didn’t gloss over the intense racism and homophobia of the era. it was mostly brought up with allison, vanya, and klaus, and all three actors did a great job in their respective roles when expressing their reactions to the hatred. the scenes were really hard to watch, but well done.

7. pogo/grace/reggie - don’t get me wrong, i still hate reggie with a burning passion. but i actually found his scenes with these two really interesting, and it gave us great insight as to why pogo was always so loyal to reggie, and how grace was more than just a face on a robot to hargreeves. (which actually makes lack of development in our mains even more infuriating... they clearly knew to put some in there, where is it for the rest of the sibs who got nothing this season!!!)

alright, i’m gonna stop here. i’m sure i can think of more for each section, but i’ve been thinking this out and typing for an hour (holy shit) and it’s 2am and i need sleep xoxo

#anon #ask #tua2 #this is the most i've really sat and analyzed the season since it came out #feels good

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timextoxhajima · 4 years

Text

Playlist Feels

Member: Yunho

Genre: mellow, lofi cafe feels idk, long-forgotten romance??

Word Count: 1.9k

your eyes were fixated on the laptop screen, a daily cup of white chocolate mocha steaming next to your laptop on the surface of the table. you stretched and took a deep breath.

the holidays were here, snow was falling like cotton outside, but you were sitting here in your favourite cafe, comitting yourself to your work that, though drained you, was inviting enough to keep you occupied in this season. the sight of couples strolling outside was the first thing that caught your attention, followed by the children running around and making footprints in the snow piled up against the sidewalks.

your eyes drifted back onto your computer screen, when the bell that hung on the entrance door of the cafe jingled. the scent of roses drifted through the air, and you weren't sure if you were just being sensitive with your sense of smell, but you started to wonder how come nobody else was reacting to such a strong scent.

It wasn't a scent that not many wore, much less a man who had just entered the cafe -- your eyes reacted to the scent faster than your thought process, finally realising who it was.

you lifted your hands off the table, leaning back in the seat as your eyes traced the shape of his forehead, his browbone, his nose, his lips. you looked back at the screen, then tried to steal a look at him through your lashes, just that this time, he was looking at you too.

"Latte macchiato with spoon of cocoa powder," you heard him order.

Hmm. you hum. still the same order after five years.

He walks over to the table warily, his hands jammed into his coat pockets and his hair now longer but neatly combed up to expose his forehead, browner with more dye. "Still the workaholic you were when you left, i see."

"i was going to stay a workaholic regardless of the people i was with," you leaned forward and offered him a small smile. he pulls out the chair opposite you and sits down.

he smiles back with his eyes. "five years."

"five years," you almost whisper in response. you take a sip out from your own cup. "if you still think it was easy convincing myself to leave back then--"

"no, i didnt think it was easy," yunho shakes his head. "i just wish... i had more power to keep you here. i just wish whatever we had was enough to make you stay, but i guess i was wrong."

he looks you in the eye, gently blinking his tired, jetlagged eyes.

*flashback

you trudged your way back to the apartment, your mind elated but your heart heavy in your chest as you thought about the conversation earlier that day.

"i'll be sending you over to paris to work with chanel on their promotions."

"Huh?" You raised a brow, your hands held behind your back as you watched your boss pack her table and shove some files back into the shelf behind her.

"you've been producing quality work. so, i'm choosing you to go to paris and be our representative to work with chanel on a new contract."

new contract?

"this isn't a one-time business trip?"

"no, it's not. chanel's picky about the collaborations they offer other companies, and the one we got is based on a 7-year contract. If you accept it, you'll be staying in paris for the next 7 years."

you sucked your lips between your teeth and blink at your boss upon hearing the offer.

"i know you're in a serious relationship right now. but you deserved this offer, which is why i raised the topic in the first place. whatever you choose to do with it is up to you." your boss had her palms flat against her desk as she leaned forward and scanned your facial expression.

reality yanks you back to current time, when yunho gets the door of the small house open before you even reach the walkway.

"Oh, you're back! i was about to drive out to get you--"

"yunho," you breathed, picking up your pace as you turned into the walkway. "we need to talk."

yunho blinks at you, unconsciously wrapping his hands around yours as he pulls you through the door.

*now

"do you regret the decision?" you rested your cheek in your palm, looking at yunho's facial features. five years had zero impact on his looks. he still looked as good as the last time you saw him.

"of letting you go to paris?" yunho raised a curious brow, taking a sip from his latte. you nod.

"no," he shakes his head and licks his lips, resting his forearms on the table top and rests some weight on his arms. "you told me at the start of our relationship that your career was top priority, and i said i respected it. i still do."

there he was. the man you fell in love with. his maturity and ability to understand you on a different level was what made you so attracted to him in the first place.

"we both know i wouldn't have been able to stop you anyway."

your brows tilted backwards on your face, and you cocked your head to the side at his words. you felt shitty the week you left yunho, but all you could remember was him telling you to do your best, and that this was what you had been working for. 'you deserve it', he said. he might have been mature enough to respect your decision to pursue your career, but you were the one who chose to leave him, the only man whom you truly loved and wanted to be with.

"yunho, i--"

"no, please," yunho shows you his palm. "don't apologise."

you look down at your closed laptop, rubbing your eyes and running your hand through your hair. yunho finishes his drink and notices that your eyes were a little red, probably from staring too much at your screen.

"where are you staying now? i'll send you. how long are you staying for?" yunho hands you a napkin.

"hotel rendezvous. about 10 days." you take the napkin, knowing that he's already noticed your tiredness.

"okay. let's get you back to the hotel. you're already exhausted," yunho stands up. you remember this tactic of his. it was a power move that made you anxious, that made you pack up and leave with him, so you did just that.

the drive to the hotel was quiet, but strangely comforting. The car was filled with yunho's scent, so you felt like you had just been thrown back five years to when you first started living with him.

time seemed to pass, even when not many words were spoken. it was almost like god was punishing you for choosing your career over yunho. you fumbled through your wallet for the keycard, pushing the heavy door open and holding it, gesturing into the room towards yunho.

"are you sure? You're exhausted, you should be resting and not entertaining a gue--"

"Oh, shut up and get in," you chuckle, leaning forward and pulling him in.

you got your bag off your shoulders, carefully placing the laptop on the table next to the bed. yunho looked around the small, but elegant room while you pulled off your coat and your earrings.

you leaned down to the corner of the table, reaching for the socket switch to turn on your charger as yunho walked to the large sliding door a few steps away, looking out at the snow falling gently onto the balcony.

"how does it look like in paris?" he asks quietly, the warmth from his breath creating a small cloud of vapour against the glass. you stand straight again after checking that your laptop was charging before walking over to the sliding door, shoving your hands into the pockets on your butt.

"oh, gorgeous. especially when it snows. it's beautiful."

you hear yunho give a small laugh through his nostrils.

"you know, i thought about it. i thought about flying to paris to look for you, because i was never able to let you go."

you purse your lips and gulp, a strange feeling creeping up on your chest. it felt like when you first crushed on him and you had no idea if he would reciprocate. it was a feeling of anxiety and uncertainty.

"can i ask you something?"

oh, no.

"okay."

yunho finally turns to look at you, his height suddenly extremely in your face because of the lack of space between the two of you. you were dangerously close to him, so much that the only thing you could smell was the scent of him mixed with the rose cologne nobody else wore.

"do you still love me?"

you freeze at the question. your eyes try to look away, but yunho shifts his head to meet them. you slowly look down at your feet, only for him to tilt your chin upwards to look at him.

"i just need an honest answer."

you sigh, feeling your heart and presence completely melt at his touch. it was light, and gentle, and you would be lying if you said you didn't miss it.

You'd be lying straight through your teeth if you said you didn't still think about him every other day, even when you were in paris.

yunho realises that you've gone quiet for a very long time, and he is aware that the only time you do that is when you know a truth you refuse to admit.

yunho closes the gap between the both of you, pulling you closer to him by your chin and kissing you lightly on your lips.

a feeling of nostalgia, warmth, and love overwhelmed you all at once. It had been five. long. years.

yunho pulls away and looked you in the eyes, knowing that there was no other person who could read you better.

"i do," you breathed, as yunho's hands shifted to your cheeks, his cold fingertips right below your earlobes. "i do, and i always will."

a small smile pulls his lips up his cheek, and you could see his eyes welling up with tears before he pulls your face to his again, this time, pressing harder, pressing longer, allowing the both of you to reminisce the taste of each other's lips.

"i'll never let you go again. i let you go once, i'm not letting you go again." yunho presses his forehead against yours, then pulled you into his embrace and burying his nose in your hair. you shut your eyes tightly, grimacing at the warmth and presence nobody else besides yunho could provide you.

"yunho," you were trying your best not to cry.

"hmm?"

"i'm assuming you still love me then?"

you felt yunho laugh a little into your hair.

"i'll love you for the rest of my life, and in the lives after this. no matter where you were, no matter where you will be, you will always have my heart."

A/N: i may or may not have busted a big fat uwu writing this, this might be the softest one shots ive ever written.

#timetohajima #ateez fanfic #ateez x reader #ateez imagine #ateez fic #ateez #ateez yunho #ateez scenarios #ateez imagines #yunho #yunho scenarios #jung yunho #yunho oneshot #ateez oneshot #playlist feels #Spotify #timetohajima playlist feels

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gayoperatorgunclub · 4 years

Note

For the ultimate ship meme, Lion and Doc? I'm sorry, I'm LionDoc trash-

it’s all good!! whenever someone sends in an ask, i get an excuse to talk/write about one of my interests! really, it makes me so happy to be able to create content that people hopefully enjoy!! 💝💝💝

General:

How long will they last? - until the end of time, babey

How quickly did/will they fall in love? - it was love at first sight but then they started talking i do think it was some form of ~interest~ in one another at first sight, but then all that drama and lack of communication happened so they didn’t really allow themselves to even dream about the possibility of a relationship. HOWEVER! once lion joined rainbow and they talked their shit out like people who know how to cope, there was a period of a few months that is now referred to as The Four Months of Pining™, during which glaz did a lot of paintings where the subject (who usually bears an uncanny resemblance to doc or lion) is staring at something (or someone) longingly. he calls it his french period. when they finally get together, a LOT of money changes hands. and goes straight into sledge’s pocket (he was the only one who bet that it would take them this long). diana gets a brand new collar (handmade), bed (handmade), dish (handmade), and many new toys (some handmade, some store-bought. sledge’s craftsmanship can only get him so far)

How was their first kiss? - you know how the french are supposed to be super suave and confident??? and how gay people are trying their hardest but they’re just Not Good at things????? (i know these are stereotypes but stay with me). well, with their 5/8 french blood (i hc one of doc’s parents is fully algerian while the other is half french, half algerian), and their 4/4 gay blood, they have an 81.25% chance of success in matters of the heart. sadly, that 18.75% chance of failure came into play during this situation. picture it. doc and lion. romantic, home-cooked dinner. le festin is playing in the background. they’re holding hands over the table. suddenly, doc’s cat goes into labour. all hell breaks loose. lion is getting flashbacks to his son’s birth, so now he’s hyperventilating. doc carries him to the couch and turns on the fan so he can cool off and catch his breath, before carefully moving his cat, Rayie (arabic for gorgeous, pronounced rye-ah) to the living room in his handmade Birthing Box, then grabs a pile of blankets and a heat lamp and situates himself on the ground nearby so he can help her if she needs it. once the kittens are born (they’re twins!! Sadiqi is the boy, and Amirti is the girl!!!) doc makes sure they’re nice and warm and that Rayie is recovering, and gives her pets while she cleans her babies. once the happy family is all settled in for the night, doc walks over to the couch and just. lays down on top of lion. once he’s gotten over the adrenaline of the birth, he takes lion’s face in his hands and says “promise me you’ll be more calm if we ever decide to have kids” and gives him a BIG smooch while lion’s just short-circuiting like “does he know i have a son???? did i forget to mention my son?????? also what about these kittens??? are they not sufficiently childish to count as children????? DOES HE WANT KIDS????? does he want to marry me??????? wait why is he getting so clo-”

Wedding:

Who proposed? - lion. it was the day of their two year anniversary (yes i AM saying they got together the august after outbreak don’t @ me) and they were on vacation at doc’s family’s Secret Beach House. they were vibing on the balcony, watching the sunset, when lion suddenly clears his throat. doc turns to look at him and finds his boyfriend down on one knee, looking like he might flee to Bermuda. he’s reaching for something in his pocket. doc starts laughing. lion, completely misunderstanding his reaction, flushes and stammers out an apology. doc sees this, and immediately stops, though he’s still smiling gleefully as he catches lion by the biceps, then reaches into his own pocket and pulls the ring he was going to give olivier. they exchange rings, giggling like little kids, and spend the rest of the night making out on whatever surfaces are available.

Who is the best man/men? - for lion? montagne. (his son is the ring bearer and doc’s niece is the flower girl). for doc? rook. he’s so happy he gets to participate in his dad’s wedding

Who is the bride’s maid(s)? - for lion: finka. for doc: twitch

Who did the most planning? - both of them!! do you know how hard they worked to ensure the ceremony was valid in the eyes of both of their religions

Who stressed the most? - s e e a b o v e

How fancy was the ceremony? - Back of a pickup truck | 2 | 3 | 4 | Normal Church Wedding | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Kate and William wish they were this big.

Who was specifically not invited to the wedding? - lion’s parents. they tried to call him during the reception but doc’s grandma grabbed his phone and started cussing them out, talking about dishonor and how they tried to disown him so they’re not his parents anymore, and besides, his new family absolutely adores him, so really, it’s their loss. once she hangs up, she pulls lion into a hug and he calls her his favorite, if only, grand-mère

Sex:

Who is on top? - who’s topping? lion. but sometimes doc gets bitchy so he gets to set the pace if you know what i mean

Who is the one to instigate things? - they are both lowkey horny 24/7 so 👀👀👀

How healthy is their sex life? - Barely touch themselves let alone each other | 2 | 3 | 4 | Once a couple weeks, nothing overboard | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They are humping each other on the couch right now (only because they do get to see each other fairly often. if one goes on a long mission without the other, once they get back they will bump it up to a 10 real quick)

How kinky are they? - Straight missionary with the lights off | 2 | 3 | 4 | Might try some butt stuff and toys | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Don’t go into the sex dungeon without a horse’s head

How long do they normally last? - idk long enough ig. maybe longer if someone feels they’ve been left ~unsatisfied~ they might go a few more rounds ;))

Do they make sure each person gets an equal amount of orgasms? - ok it depends on what they’re doing but usually it’s one or two each, but on ~special~ occasions it’s either doc getting edged and denied for hours, OR doc getting forced to come over and over again until he’s begging for something, whether it be more or a goddamn break even he isn’t really sure. either way he’s crying and lion is consistently asking if he needs to safeword and otherwise checking in because they may like it rough but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care

How rough are they in bed? - Softer than a butterfly on the back of a bunny | 2 | 3 | 4 | The bed’s shaking and squeaking every time | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Their dirty talk is so vulgar it’d make Dwayne Johnson blush. Also, the wall’s so weak it could collapse the next time they do it.

How much cuddling/snuggling do they do? - No touching after sex | 2 | 3 | 4 | A little spooning at night, or on the couch, but not in public | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They snuggle and kiss more often than a teen couple on their fifth date to a pillow factory.

Children:

How many children will they have naturally? - unless someone’s hormones and organs get fucked, zero

How many children will they adopt? - probably none?? idk they’ve already got lion’s son and they’re both busy enough with work so

Who gets stuck with the most diapers? - NEITHER!!!!! DISGUSTANG!!!!!!!!!

Who is the stricter parent? - god i wanna say both. like lion and his attachment to rules??? but doc and his Mom Friend energy????? but ig lion BUT HE’S NOT STRICT TO THE POINT HE’S A BUZZKILL OR ANYTHING HE’S JUST RESPONSIBLE (he will NOT allow his husband and son to go vandalize the property of some islamaphobic brits, as much as he agrees with the sentiment)

Who stops the kid(s) from doing dangerous stunts after school? - doc will only allow vandalism if it’s in the name of righteousness. meaning, he’ll allow their son to spray paint the walls of a goddamn walmart with shit like “eat the rich” and a portrait of robespierre and a guillotine, but it is a HARD NO on defacing places like the library or community center (unless he has a good reason to do so). lion spends his time praying and making sure his son knows which acts of civil disobedience are acceptable and which are distorting their goal

Who remembers to pack the lunch(es)? - doc. he (privately) dreams of retiring (eventually) and living out his lifelong dreams of being a househusband. so

Who is the more loved parent? - SHUT THE FUCK UP RIGHT NOW GET OUT OF MY HOUSE IM GONNA BEAT YOUR ASS. but ig lion??? BUT ONLY BECAUSE THEIR SON HAS KNOWN HIM LONGER. doc is half Dad and half Cool Uncle Who Gives Me Spray Paint And Tells Me To Make Myself Heard (to clarify, i know doc is a pacifist, but im kinda projecting my own sentiment of “we’ve tried to be peaceful but you wouldn’t give us the time of day. now that we’ve “acted out” we’ve gotten your attention, and rest assured, things are going to change.” he won’t hurt anybody, he’s just tired of having to be everyone’s “muslim friend” and educating people on things they could google themselves)

Who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings? - it used to be lion out of necessity, but when people started asking about his “wife” he was really torn between telling them that he and his son’s mother separated, but now he has a partner and his son seems very happy about it. when doc finally attends a meeting with lion, people really struggle to hide their shock. a few clunky but well-meaning “we support you”’s and “we’re sorry for everything that’s been going on”’s later, doc has used his charm to make friends with literally everyone. from then on, he is on pta duty on behalf of lion and his ex

Who cried the most at graduation? - lion! his parents purposefully didn’t show at his, so it’s a big deal for him to show his son just how proud he is. doc tears up a little too, but manages to mostly keep it together so he can support lion, who spends most of the day heave-crying about how proud he is into his husband’s shoulder. gustave just pats him on the back and tells him that they’ll run out of donuts if they don’t get to the concession stand soon

Who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law? - doc. civil disobedience, baby!! he has never been caught. lion fears the law after his youth, so he tries to avoid any visits to law enforcement. he also can’t stand to see his son behind bars

Cooking:

Who does the most cooking? - doc. househusband, remember?

Who is the most picky in their food choice? - doc, but only because he can be a bit of a spice supremacist. he has to get his ingredients from these very specific farms and markets or else his great grandmother will begin manifesting in their house to curse them

Who does the grocery shopping? - doc, bc he does NOT trust lion to not just sweep all of the microwave ramen and kraft mac n cheese into the cart then sprint to self-checkout

How often do they bake desserts? - whenever possible. doc and maestro live by the philosophy “don’t do anything halfway” if they’re going to go through the trouble of making a meal, it will have multiple courses.

Are they more of a meat lover or a salad eater? - doc is more of a salad eater but only for ease of consumption with halal laws. he adores filet mignon

Who is more likely to surprise the other(s) with an anniversary dinner? - lion! maestro enlists himself as assistant head chef after walking into the base’s kitchen one day to find lion covered in flour and lying facedown on the floor, crying

Who is more likely to suggest going out? - also lion! though he’s memorized doc’s order at all of their favorite restaurants, so he usually just gets take out and puts on a big show of being a “tired housewife who works in the kitchen all day just for this one meal” and setting up the table so it’s all nice and romantic

Who is more likely to burn the house down accidently while cooking? - lion. he tried crème brûlée once. never again

Chores:

Who cleans the room? - lion. organization is everything to this man. doc helps with laundry and such, but for the most part he leaves organization to lion and his systems (think leslie knope levels of planning and organization)

Who is really against chores? - neither! they both understand that teamwork makes the dream work, baby!!

Who cleans up after the pets? - doc, since lion’s already asked him which color hanger should represent “clothes i can tear off my husband before we fuck” and he needs a Moment

Who is more likely to sweep everything under the rug? - neither. they don’t own a broom

Who stresses the most when guests are coming over? - lion because of the deep-seated catholic urge to appear perfect in front of others, and doc because people will gossip, olivier!

Who found a dollar between the couch cushions while cleaning? - lion. he immediately called doc into the room and asked “is this your stash of drug money?” doc, who had been asleep because it was 3 in the morning on a saturday, just stares at him

Misc:

Who takes the longer showers/baths? - it is so bold to assume they don’t shower together to “cut costs”

Who takes the dog out for a walk? - lion is known in their neighborhood as the man who walks cats. there is a facebook page where people post pictures of him walking his cats. vigil is an admin

How often do they decorate the room/house for the holidays? - LITERALLY EVERY HOLIDAY GETS DECORATIONS. lion makes his own for the muslim holidays since there really aren’t many “of good quality” in stores. when they first started dating, doc came home to find his house covered in ramadan decorations, and lion standing precariously on a ladder, trying to string up fairy lights while learning how to pronounce important arabic words. needless to say, doc cries

What are their goals for the relationship? - mutual joy and contentment!!!!

Who is most likely to sleep till noon? - doc. he’s sleepy

Who plays the most pranks? - lion, but they’re stupid ones like replacing certain pictures with danny devito. doc gets back at him by replacing pictures of jesus with ewan mcgregor, and putting yoda into his nativity scene. lion doesn’t notice

#ask #anonymous #r6s doc #r6s lion #doc/lion #ass alert!#could you tell i forgot whether or not lion's ex and son had names #thank you for interacting!

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riceccakes · 3 years

Text

Earth, Wind, and Coffee: Chapter Three Analysis

chapter one analysis | chapter two analysis

back again for another chapter analysis. i think ive been looking forward to this chapter the most, it’s where some big decisions were made!!! this analysis is a long one, i hope that’s all right! i kinda got carried away. so, let’s dive right in, shall we?

some fun stuff before we start!

chapter three was supposed to be the last chapter of the fic

idk if any of you were there when i first started writing this fic, but it was only going to be three chapters with a possible epilogue. however, everything changed when i finished the end of chapter two. (lil atla reference there for ya) (sorry i know that was bad, moving on). like i said in my last analysis, i had an idea of what i wanted to happen (the separation of korrasami) so that they could come back together. it was just a matter of what separates them. so, i’m not sure where i got the panic attack idea but once i did, the rest of the story changed. i realized i couldn’t quite possibly finish the story in one chapter so i split the ideas i had and decided on it being four chapters

now, this being said, maaaaajor changes were made in my story outline. most notably: korrasami was going to be a couple in this chapter

this was originally going to be a full fledged “they meet, they get to know each other, they fall in love, happily every after” but the thing was, i planned on treating their romance as korra’s recovery; that being with asami is what made korra better, that all she needed was a partner, someone to love, and that is not what i wanted to portray with this story. i’ve never been a fan of stories that give a character a love interest and all of sudden their problems are fixed and they’re completely happy, and here i was about to do just that. i knew i’d never respect myself if i continued down this narrative, and when chapter two ended with korra’s panic attack, i realized her growth needed better love and attention. so, i changed what happened and gave her some therapy

this change in the storyline also let me explore more of kuvopal !!! (is that their ship name?)

so, back to LOVE WITCH for a second (because that glorious fic really did steal my heart) not only did it make me love kuvira’s character more, it also got me into the kuvopal relationship! and yet again, i wanted my own go at it. with the original timeline, there was just no space for me to include the lil bread crumbs of their relationship. however, however, however; by splitting the ending between two chapters (and adding some stuff in between) i was able to lay some foundation for them, which im very happy about :)

into the chapter we go:

let’s talk about the meeting! the whole reason this fic came to be! i’ll start by saying i always knew the project was going to get pulled out from under asami. 1) because thats some angsty/hurt shit right there and im a sucker for writing angst 2) i didn’t feel like creating a whole ass presentation because knowing my ass i would’ve made a powerpoint about it so i had every detail down to the font asami used and 3) getting the presentation taken away from asami was a pivotal point in her character arc.

i actually started the chapter in two different ways. at first, i’d written her whole entire morning with there always being one thing that was off. like, instead of a perfect omelette, it was going to split and asami would’ve had a scramble, still good, but not her favorite. instead of going through all green lights on her way to work, asami was gonna meet every. single. red. light. i would’ve gone through with this if it hadn’t felt strange; i wanted to give the impression that something bad was going to happen but i felt like having something go wrong with every thing in her morning was gonna be a dead give away that some even bigger big bad was about to happen, if that makes sense. so instead, i went with the picture perfect scenario, almost too perfect, if you ask me. and indeed, it was too perfect, because hiroshi was too much of a coward to tell his daughter any sooner that his board agreed to get a new presenter

im just gonna cite a bunch of my favorite lines/bits from this chapter because i really enjoyed writing it xD

Iroh has already begun but Asami hears no words, only a blaring ring in her ears. Her face feels hot and she wonders how red she is. She stares at the black binder, notes the natural grooves and curves of the material, the plastic covering over top of it, the metal spine peaking out at the bottom. She’s only brought out of it’s dark trance when she feels a hand be placed on her arm; Kuvira.

when you’re upset, do you ever just, hyper focus on one thing and its like you’re analyzing it under a microscope for the first time? yes? no? well, i do that, and personally, i do because if i focus on my anger/hurt emotions any more, im going to explode and i dont want to explode. so, this instance about looking at the grooves in the binder and each of the components of it just hits with me, idk if does with you too, but like bruuh.

Asami has her hand over her mouth, silently sobbing, feeling as if she’ll throw up. She leans her head on her wheel, her mind wanders to what could’ve been, what should’ve been. She feels as if her car is closing in on her, that the metal is compacting. The seatbelt keeps her locked down to the driver’s seat and she can’t leave if she wants to. The Satomobile holds her hostage and she lets it. Even while it’s hurting her, even while it’s harshly molding itself onto her, she stays at her father’s heel because, what else is she to do?

this is one of my favorite things ive ever done with asami’s character, is using future industries/satomobiles as a sort of vehicle (heh) for her relationship with her dad. this paragraph just kind of hurts, but the good hurt? but also not good hurt? it’s just, (and not me over here boasting about my writing or anything) it’s so poetic that she has this breakdown and she’s so upset with her dad, i mean “what should’ve been” like, asami KNOWS that the shit that’s just happened is more than wrong, yet asami is still somehow wondering how she can please her dad and it’s in the literal legacy hiroshi built for himself. “she stays at her father’s heel because, what else is she to do?” i remember writing that and being like “shit, am i really gonna do this? yeah” ugh, i could go on forever about how i love this section, but i’ll stop here for now.

Asami begins yelling, screaming at the top of her lungs, letting all the thoughts, all the insecurities her father gave her finally be released into the world. Kuvira lets her, simply nodding and following along on the couch while Asami paces her living room. She spews out word after word, about the work, about the presentation, about Iroh, his position, her position, the company, the CEO, and she only stops when she feels the weight of her father rest on her shoulders.

back with more diction; i really love this paragraph because of how we circle back to hiroshi. note how i first say “the CEO” and then a few words later say “her father” because, in a way, this is asami’s confession that hiroshi is CEO first and father second, if i haven’t already explicitly said so. it’s so heart wrenching and sad but my favorite thing about it is this isn’t even about korra. like THIS right here is a prime example about how i realized this fic became more than just a love story. in the planning stages of this fic, asami was going to go through getting the presentation taken away from her, but what was she going to focus more on? the fact that korra wasn’t around anymore. and yes, asami still does think about korra after this, but so much more happens for her. asami gets to know kuvira more, asami gets to know her lab partners more, (and my personal hc is that they’ve all been lab partners for two years and only NOW asami is getting to be friends with them in their senior year, but hey, better late than never!) and to me, what’s even better, is that a bunch of realizations come to asami w/o korra being there. asami is growing and the idea of being able to grow without needing to have a partner in order to grow is so important to me, not only for the fact that growth should be endless and something you do all the time for yourself, but asami literally wants to share it with korra. not boast about changing and growing and becoming better, but just be better with korra. sdlfakds i swear, im fangirling over my own writing, oops

okay, moving on from The Meeting and onto the rest of the chapter

this dock scene was also another part i wrote beforehand and it had a completely different ending in that asami was going to ask korra out on a date. of course, korra would’ve said yes, and then yay yay happy ending. this didn’t happen and i’m glad it didn’t. in one version of this dock scene, asami was actually going to be upset with korra for disappearing, and even worse, mad that korra wasn’t there to comfort her after the presentation. oof, i know. so so glad i didn’t continue down that line, cause it is toxic, and my girls aren’t like that at all.

Once Korra’s eyes meet hers, Asami says, “That doesn’t mean you always have to be on your own.” She smiles at Korra, at the girl who’s turned her world upside down. Her hand remains on Korra’s cheek and she feels the girl sink into her palm. “I’ll be here for you, and it seems like Tenzin will be too, what with saying he was calling you more. And you have his family, and your own family, even though they’re away, they’re here to support you, we all are. You can still be strong and turn to other people for help. It takes great strength to ask for help and I know for a fact you’re strong enough, those bags of coffee beans were nothing for you.”

i like this line of dialogue here for a few reasons, mostly because asami is so soft and so right and the joke at the really helped lighten the mood but didn’t take away from what she’d just said before. i don’t have too much else about the Reunions section, though if you guys have any questions or anything you wanna point out, please do so! i think what i will say is that i tried to be as real and gentle with korra’s progression. i was so nitpicky about everything i wrote because i didn’t want to get any of it wrong or over dramatized or fake. recovery from anything is so important and it takes time and it’s not a straight line so i hope i did a good job with it the rest of the fic.

moving on, i love the found family trope and this leads me into the next section, New Friends

when i think about this section, i like how soft it is, and i really enjoy the ending bits: korra recounting memories from the south, asami meeting tenzin. i think what i like about the end of this chapter is that, it kind of leaves the question: what’s next?

asami has grown, she’s changed, she sees the errors of her father’s ways but she’s not excusing them. korra has grown, she’s changing, she’s taken the first step in recovery. now it’s just a matter of, what happens with this growth now. and i really loved how i wrapped up the fic in the next and last chapter, so i hope you enjoy it too :))

honorable mentions:

there were a lot of changes in this chapter and one of them got changed twice! korra was gonna get a therapist but then i was like, we gotta get the krew together, and then i was like supppppoorttttt grouuuppppp, because lets be honest, all the krew has stuff they need to work through, and i know therapy isn’t for everyone, but mental health is so vital and important. asami is an advocate for therapy in the chapter but there are also other means to take care of yourself and your mental health and while i’ve never been to a support group, i understand finding comfort in knowing you’re not alone.

i guess what i’m trying to say is please take care of yourself and dont be afraid to lean on others. i know not everyone has the means to get a therapist/psychiatrist and i know that your friends aren’t made to only be your therapist. buuuut, don’t be afraid to reach out, there’s nothing wrong with needing help and support :)

anything i would’ve wanted to change?

honestly, i think the only thing i would’ve wanted to change was mako’s speech during the support group meeting. for me, it was a lil bit too poetically out of character. not to say i want to change the content, but rather the manner in which it’s presented. other than that though, i really loved writing this chapter :)

so this analysis was reeeaaaalllly long, i understand if not everyone made it to end. anyways, thanks so much for reading this analysis and the fic! once again, i’m very much open to questions and any comments, i love them very much! i’ll see you guys in the next analysis of the final chapter :)

#ricewrites #earth wind and coffee #coffee shop au #chapter analysis #writing analysis #korrasami #korrasami fic #korra #asami sato #lok

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iovnyu · 4 years

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happy ending (5/?)

summary: being cinderella’s daughter has many pros and cons but on top of that you are soon becoming responsible for the citizens of auradon. the first thing you do to show the citizens of your worthiness is by creating a program to bring kids from the isle of the lost, a isolated island where villains and their kids are held, onto auradon. with this new program, you undergo harsh realities and maybe a little bit of love and drama along the way, who knows?

a/n: i am still playing around with different layouts of the story lol... please bare with me through this process. i don’t really vibe with writing in notes but idk yet. also i noticed i am barely using disney references LMAO,, anyways if u want to be added into the taglist please comment

y/n was deep in thought when she walked to math class. she knew that at the end of the day, she had to pick which students deserved to go to auradon from the isle. it was hard to not be biased, she wanted all of the delinquents to come over.

“boo!” a voice jolted y/n out of her thoughts. y/n looked next to her seeing that jun was the one who scared her. “god, do you ever pay attention to your surroundings?”

“hey! i do, it’s just that my mind is too preoccupied to care about the world right now,” y/n said rolling her eyes. usually, she observed her surroundings - she had to - it was one of the unspoken rules of being a princess.

jun smiled at her, knowing that he shouldn’t pry y/n on her thoughts. they walked down the long hallway of classes, making sure to smile and wave at the teachers outside of their classrooms. “well m’ lady, time for you to go to your class. have fun.” he sang, lightly pushing her into the most boring (and useless) classroom.

y/n sighed but tried to not make it noticeable as mr. hyunh greeted the students. she walked to her seat and pulled out the supplies she needed to make her notes look pretty.

“let’s quiet down please,” mr. hyunh said over the loud chatter of the students. “take out your books and get started on the assignment.”

y/n quickly walked out of class, not wanting the pythagorean theorem to be haunting her in her sleep. as she is walking to her next class, she makes sure to walk fast because she knows that seokmin is waiting for her.

seokmin waits outside of his classroom almost every day and waits for y/n so that they can walk to history class together. it was hard to get away from any of the princes. y/n didn’t mind it though, they never left each others’ side ever since they were babies.

“let me guess,” he turned his head towards y/n, “you are stuck on which students to bring over here because you don’t want to make it look like you are playing favorites - but in reality, you know who you are going to take because you know how they would react if you didn’t pick them.”

“okay. first of all, how did you manage to speak that fast without breaking a sweat, and second, can you please stop doing that thing.” y/n never knew how he would be a moody person due to the lack of sleep to become a mind reader. she seriously needs to hide her thoughts more if she is easy to read.

“what thing!?”

“you know! that thing you do whenever i am thinking about something.” y/n huffed.

“y/n. darling. my prettiest friend. the apple to my p-”

y/n interrupted him, slapping his shoulder. “i get it. we are best friends, get to the point talking beauty.”

“nice pun. anyways, what i am trying to say is that,” he stops and turns towards y/n. “you are easy to read.”

“hey! i’m not. y-you are just an over-analyzer.” y/n argued. seokmin started to walk away from her, making sure she sees him roll his eyes. “come back here! seokmin! god, i’m going to make sure he doesn’t sleep tonight.”

after another dreadful day of school, y/n throws herself on her bed. seokmin, mingyu and jun make themselves cozy in their own way in her room. “y/n, don’t sleep too long. remember you have that meeting with the council today.” jun reminded.

y/n dragged herself off of her bed and towards her wardrobe. “look at what they are making me wear! it’s just like an hour meeting and i have to wear such a dramatic outfit.” she whined.

“y/n. the press is going to be there! and to remind you, you are going to announce the program, so obviously you have to make a statement with what you wear. you have to make sure you look like you know what you are doing!” mingyu reasoned from your couch.

even if he did have a point, y/n wouldn’t admit it. she never liked the outfits her stylist made her wear for meetings. it never showed y/n’s true personality, it just made her look like a boring person. don’t get her wrong, she loved the outfits that were made for daily wear and fancy events - it’s just plain.

“think of it this way, you still have like maybe two to three hours left until the meeting. you’ll do your homework, put on the outfit, head to the meeting that will last an hour, then you can take off the clothes and never look at it again!” jun smiled, gently squeezing your shoulders.

“it’s not the outfit that is making me dread the meeting. it’s the reactions i will get from the citizens of auradon. heck! the whole royal court!” y/n put her head in her hands, trying not to think of the many bad results of the people.

jun turned his head to the other two in the room only to be met with shrugs. “uhm. well if you think of it that way, i don’t have an answer for you. but even if they do get mad and disagree,” y/n looked up at jun. “-at the end of the day, it is you who believes in those kids. you have us, we will be by your side and i know for a fact that we do believe what you want to do will have a great outcome.”

“yeah. i mean you are barely a princess, can you imagine how it would be like when you are queen?!” mingyu said, agreeing with jun.

seokmin flicked the back of mingyu’s head, “what he means is that this is only just one bump in the road. don’t stress about it.”

y/n nodded, “okay, yeah. you are right. i can’t have this stopping me. but what is stopping me is my homework.” the boys laughed, getting their homework out of their bag.

when y/n laid out her homework on her bed, she sighed. it was too much for her brain to handle. she looked at jun laying out his books and noticed something written in small print on his palm. “hey, what is that?” y/n asked.

“hmm? what is what?”

“that.” y/n leaned closer to jun, pointing at his palm. it was a little sentence that said, ‘make sure to ask her!!!’

jun laughed nervously, frantically wiping his palm on his pants. at this point he didn’t care if his pants got dirty. “that is nothing. i just- i put it there to remind myself to ask ms. lin about a test. nothing else. yeah...”

y/n nodded her head, believing what he said. mingyu and seokmin had looked at jun and then at each other, knowing exactly who ‘her’ meant. seokmin made a mental note to ask jun about it later.

turning to their assignments, they immediately started on it. y/n’s first mistake was grabbing her english homework. usually, it was math that was hard, but shakespeare was harder to understand. there were too many complicated words that made no sense, the story wasn’t interesting and there weren’t any signs of pictures.

jun noticed y/n’s frustration and laughed. y/n looked up at him, giving him puppy eyes. “oh. oh no. no, definitely not.” jun shook his head, not daring to look at her.

y/n slumped in her bed and pretended to be sad. she knew what she was doing, she always does this and jun always falls for it. “y/n.”

y/n continued to ignore him, sighing loudly. mingyu and seokmin dismissed her behavior, already used to this encounter. “...fine. what subject are you doing?”

y/n immediately smiled and gave jun her book. “it’s macbeth by shakespeare. we have to analyze the story. i don’t get it. can you please help me?”

jun sighed, nodding his head. even though he hates doing this, deep down he knows that he secretly is okay with it. mingyu and seokmin shake their heads, it’s a known fact - whenever you do homework, be as far away as possible from y/n or else you’ll regret it.

finally, after two hours, they were done with their homework. y/n knew that the next thing she has to do is get ready. “okay, i’m going to go get changed, so please don’t mess up my room.”

y/n carefully grabbed the clothes off of the hanger and carried it to the restroom. as she put on the outfit, she decided that it did not look bad after all. “guys, should i do my hair also?” she screamed from inside the restroom.

“depends. do you want a boss lady look or fresh out of the womb type of look?” seokmin screamed back.

“dude, you don’t make sense.” jun shot seokmin a confused face.

“i don’t know. does this outfit need anything else? should i just go like this?” y/n say coming out of the restroom. she did a little twirl showing off how it looked.

“uhh... i think you look fine just like that. if you do too much you would look like a try-hard.” mingyu eyed y/n, making sure she looked put together.

y/n nodded and straighten her posture in the mirror. she was thankful she had the boys’ opinions - although she would appreciate a girl’s opinion in case the boys were lying to her.

jun, mingyu and seokmin had finished their homework while y/n was changing. they all put on their bags, checking to see if they left anything behind. “okay y/n. remember be relax. don’t stress, you got this princess!” jun walked up to y/n and hugged her.

y/n pursed her lips together and gave a smile to them. one by one they left her room, leaving her to pace back and forth. she had started to rethink things as she went over her notes on what to say. she was caught up in her thoughts, not noticing her chauffeur waiting for her in her doorway.

“ma’am. sorry to interrupt, but we have to head to the meeting now.”

y/n nodded and quickly grabbed her belongings. she followed him through the long corridors of the castle and into the garage where a suv waited for her. she took a deep breath and stepped inside. let’s hope all goes well.

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spockandawe · 4 years

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Okay, I want to pull together more detailed thoughts at some point, I think, because the sheer amount of material means I have about ten billion thoughts to sort out. But I’ve read all three of the mxtx novels now, and loved all of them, in different ways. Though I already tried to figure out if I can pick a Favorite, and tbh, I can’t. I love them all in ways that are too distinct to let me rank them easily. And... man, it’s lucky for my friends that social distancing is in place, or I’d be hassling them shamelessly to give these novels a try.

RIGHT. So.

The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System: Shen Yuan goes to bed full of rage directed at a trashy webnovel with a grimdark blackened hero who conquered the world and collected hundreds of women into his harem.... and wakes up in novel, while that hero is still an innocent youth. As the hero’s abusive teacher. Who is doomed for a horrifying death unless he can somehow turn things around.

I think I had the most fun with this one. I really enjoy self-referential stories, and stories poking fun at certain genres, and I’ve run into the concept of transmigration before (the idea being a person enters a fictional world, a la lost in austen), though I’m blanking on any media like that I’ve actually consumed. This was chronologically the first book mxtx wrote, and it has less of a sprawling cast with complicated relationships than the other two books, but it definitely has the thing where she lays early groundwork for later revelations that shatter my poor heart.

And there may be fewer relationships to play with, but my GOD, do I love the relationships we got. I’ve been rolling around in svsss fanfic since I finished the book, even more so than mdzs or tgcf. There’s a lot of good crunchy relationship content with the 79 ship (they destroy me, all day every day), Liu Qingge owns my whole-ass heart, and Luo Binghe makes for a fascinating love interest. I love that even at his best, he remains a needy, needy, manipulative boy, who’s so smart and strong and nEEDY. I don’t love how the book handled moshang, but mmmm the fan content is Good. And Shen Qingqiu does the unreliable narrator thing that is usually not my jam, but works so WELL in these books, in that his unreliable narration is hugely skewed towards not giving himself nearly as much credit as he deserves. Xie Lian takes this to UNBELIEVABLE heights in tgcf, but in Shen Qingqiu’s case, it’s done on such a casual, immediate, personal level that I’m fascinated by everything he does.

And, since Shen Yuan/Shen Qingqiu is a millennial fan of trashy romance webnovels who gets yanked into the universe of a novel he hates, into an old-timey xianxia setting, the prose is SO COOL. You swing between modern slang and old school high society courtesies at the drop of a hat, and I’m honestly awed that the translators were able to catch so much of that. Like, in-setting, I love all the nuance you can get in ‘qi-ge should give his a-jiu the scroll’ vs ‘yue-shixiong should give this teacher the scroll’ vs ‘you should give me the scroll’. But then it adds a whole new layer when the person ALSO has modern-day casual speech bouncing around in their head. It makes for a fascinating, fascinating reading experience.

The Grandmaster Of Demonic Cultivation: Thirteen years ago, Wei Wuxian died. And then he wakes up! In someone else’s body. I’m not going to try to summarize the premise of this one, go look up The Untamed if you want someone to do a better job of this than me XD

Ahhh, this was the book I read first. I still haven’t watched the show (only clips) and I’m not sure I ever will, because adhd is a hell of a drug. But it’s hard to purely evaluate the prose when there’s also this gorgeous, beautifully-acted visual adaptation all over my tumblr to bias me in its favor. I think this book benefits a lot from the MYSTERY of it all. From the very start, there’s the question of ‘what the fuck is up with this goddamn arm’ that the characters pursue, even as that takes them through flashbacks and other arcs within the story. It gives a thrust to the novel that I think isn’t exactly there in tgcf, though I’m torn on which one is “better.” This gave the story momentum, yes, but it also meant I was much more impatient in yi city and the 3zun flashbacks, because this isn’t what I was focused onnnnnn this is cool but how much longer will we BE HERE--

That being said, I think I’ll be more patient with those flashbacks on my next time through the book, now that I have a better picture of where everything is headed. I think the balance and structure of the book worked really well, I was setting myself up for self-sabotage because of the pace I was plowing through the thing. My reading habits didn’t lend themselves well to the nonlinear storytelling, and it speaks to the story’s strength that it held up that well despite me. And the CAST. My GOD. I went in not caring about anyone but Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji and maybe the jackass nephew, but... that Did Not Last. I didn’t intend to care about 3zun? Nope, too bad, you care so much now. Who cares about Xue Yang? Me. I care. Way too much. HECK!!!

And something that happens in this book and tgcf that was much less of a thing in svsss is that there are some meaningful holes in the story that I’d like to be filled, and I really care about filling-- and the story doesn’t go there. But it doesn’t leave me unhappy, it leaves me cheerfully scrabbling around in the throwaway details trying to piece together a picture of what happened when I wasn’t looking. What happened to Wei Wuxian in the burial mounds? How did Hua Cheng take control of the ghost city? Idk, but let us Rummage and theorize and roll around in ideas and have a fantastic, speculative time. Svsss might hook me more than the other stories from an au+shipping perspective, but mdzs and tgcf do a great job of making me want to roll around and create within the bounds of canon.

Heaven Official’s Blessing: 800 years ago, Xie Lian ascended to heaven. And fell. And rose again! And fell again. Now he’s ascended for the third time, and things are Awkward.

God, I just finished this, and I’m still reeling. This is the LONGEST mxtx book, that’s for sure. I also think it’s the most tightly edited translation. All the translators did an unbelievable job, I could never even approach what they accomplished, but I am genuinely stunned that a book this long was edited so well. I blew through this in about 3.5 days (if not for work, i could have made it in three dghsafdsgf) and my brain was cooking in my skull by the time I was halfway through, but I couldn’t STOP. I was ENCHANTED the entire time! I was reading so much my head was destroying me and I still sulked so HARD every time I had to put my phone down and sleep.

This book sprawls the hardest, I think, because it involves a cast made of mostly immortal/immortal-adjacent people, so time and space get... flexible. And I feel really bad saying this, because Lan Wangji is DEVOTED, but this is seriously the book with the most attentive and adoring and respectful love interest. Hua Cheng is..... god. I truly don’t think I’ve EVER read a character quite like him before, and I am so, so sad, because I don’t know how I’ll find one who lives up to these heights ever again XD I recommend reading this book just for the Hua Cheng experience, if nothing else. I was making audible noises at literally flailing at multiple points in the story, but most often, it was because of him.

Shipping is what usually drags me into a fandom hardest, and all of these books do pretty well for themselves, all of them have a nice selection of fluffy and crunchy ships to choose from. And this one... goddammit. I just realized, that the best, most crunchy ships are too spoilery for me to be willing to talk about them here. Hell. Goddammit. But I think tgcf has the crunchiest ship of all, even better than xuexiao. I was so invested, and then there were Reveals, and then I was like OH NO THIS IS TERRIBLE BUT MY INVESTMENT HAS EXPONENTIALLY INCREASED.

And something that I really, really appreciate, is that across the mxtx books, even though a lot of characters fit into strong archetypes, there’s nobody that is blurring together for me, either within or across the books. Liu Qingge isn’t Jiang Cheng isn’t Feng Xin. They’re all blunt, fighty boys, but all super distinct in my head, and what I want for each of them is distinct and character-driven. I want Liu Qingge to be properly cherished and I want Jiang Cheng to relax with his brother and nephew and I want Feng Xin to [goddammit i don’t want to spoil this book AGH]. It’s something I appreciated in the other books too, but I can really FEEL it in this book, with how long and luxurious it is.

And last thing I have to say, I think, is that tgcf is so long. It’s so, so long. But I would FITE if anyone tried to pare it down at all. I can’t think of anything I’d be willing to sacrifice. I enjoyed every last piece of it so much, and it was all ultimately SO well-constructed and interlocking, that any piece I can think of snipping out would take away significant emotional impact from what was left. It’s a nonlinear story, like mdzs is nonlinear, and I loved mdzs a lot! But the construction here is so, so, so elegant. I’m just in AWE of how well it was assembled. I was in Agony as reveals happened, because oh no no no no, now that they’ve told me this, that casts this whole other scene in a brand new light! The one I read hundreds of thousands of words ago! Literally, I need to go start the book over so I can savor the shitty teens in new ways, given [redacted] as revealed in like, the last twenty percent of the book. The book was a fun experience, but there’s so Much here that I know I haven’t even absorbed yet. I loved the other mxtx books a lot, and in many ways, they were easier to get a grasp on than tgcf was, but even before I finished tgcf I was already despairingly trying to figure out how easily I could fit a full reread into my life, and I think that says a lot

#tgcf #mdzs #svsss #long post/#[sad journaling noises as i realize that whatever ridiculous wordcount tgcf has still only counts as one completed book on my list]#i need to get an actual wordcount at some point #then stack up enough physical books to visually represent each of these monsters #i know i read a lot #enough that i very much want to know *how much* i read #because CHRIST

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frenchibi · 3 years

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hey, so i thought maybe you could tell us a little what you're currently interested in? ♥ like, what have you been doing during quarantine, are there any new shows you watched that you enjoyed a lot, did you maybe take up a new hobby or something? :)

Hello!! I did not forget this lovely message, I was just in no state to answer (who’d have thought that recovery from surgery is, y’know, taxing) BUT I’M BACK NOW and ohhhh do you know what you’ve unlocked by asking me this question...?? I cannot give you a comprehensive list but I can tell you a couple of the things that I got into during quarantine, and the things I am currently super passionate about! My memory is, uh, not great but thankfully I do journal and write down things so I am confident I can answer this for you :D (plus I do always love recommending things so - aaa??? Thank you for this ask????)

Putting things under a cut because I physically cannot chill but if tl;dr I want you to take away one thing from this it’s that everyone should read Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Thoughts below.

(Also. I would love to go off about my interests more on here but am not sure what... shape that should ideally take? Text posts? IDK pls give me suggestions, help me out?? dfhasjkldf)

Movies

I have not seen many, but I can and will scream about The Old Guard over and over because... it was everything I never knew I needed in an action movie?? I don’t reblog many things about it anymore but I love love LOVED it!!

Also, upon recommendation by one of my friends from India, I have been delving into the world of Bollywood movies and WOW Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara was so fucking good??? idk if it’s on Netflix in every country but it is in mine and I highly recommend it. It’s thoughtful, honest, emotional and shot absolutely gorgeously, and it also has that cheesiness that is just... so good... sometimes you just need the cheese y’know???

(Side note, 2020 was the year I saw Pride and Prejudice (2005) for the first time and I am a changed woman. It is now my ultimate comfort movie. Please see it if you have not, I cannot believe it took me this long. I saw it for the first time on an airplane (in january... a lifetime ago) and have seen it many, many times since.)

TV Shows

So, to everyone’s shock but especially my own, I have not really been into TV lately? I watched The Boys because my brother recommended it (it’s good, but gorey and pulls no punches, the R rating is deserved), and recently started watching Jujutsu Kaisen because my sister recommended it (I haven’t watched a new anime in like a year which is kinda wild to me? But I am enjoying this one - the opening SLAPS and what I’ve seen so far has been fun! Plus I’m watching it with my sister and I like sending her reactions xD),,, and that’s pretty much it for this category?? I am aware there is a LOT of good shit out there I just.. .don’t seem to have the attention span for multiple episodes of a Thing these days. Meh. I’m sure it’ll come back to me eventually ^^

Musical Theater

One of the main reasons I think I haven’t been big into TV is because my Musical Passion is in FULL SWING (haha get it). Probably because the only thing that has remained for me during this quarantine is my singing lessons (and lemme tell you... over skype, that shit is ROUGH but still better than not singing at all) and I have been obsessing over learning new songs and finding shows through recommendations and compilation videos on youtube... So.

Shows I listen to a lot these days include Starry, Anastasia, The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals, Come From Away (I made a post recently specifically about musicals, you should be able to find it under #French speaks) - specific songs in my range that I am currently learning and obsessing over include “Bring on the men” from Jekyll and Hyde, “The Mad Hatter” from Wonderland, “Show Yourself” from Frozen 2 (I liked it ok I DID), and “Go Tonight” from The Mad Ones (this one makes me cry... I’m making my sister duet it with me bc I can’t stop thinking about it).

Also, if you’re interested in hearing me sing things, head over to my instagram where I post covers (and also art)!!

(Musical people, I am curious to hear opinions about Great Comet, and also The Count of Monte Cristo - two shows I’ve been meaning to check out!)

Video Games

Listen. Animal Crossing New Horizons is awesome and I’m glad I have it (...give me Brewster back, Nintendo, or I WILL RIOT), but I have been branching out into other games for the Switch (might as well make this purchase worth it amirite) - current faves include Celeste (which is SO HARD but also SO FUCKING FUN) and Spiritfarer which I specifically bought to play at the hospital bc I knew I was going to be there for a few days, and let me tell you - best decision of 2020. Please watch the trailer if you haven’t heard of it, it’s GORGEOUS and beautiful and emotional and I loved every second of it. Both of these can also be purchased for PC and I think they are definitely worth the investment!!

In other news I’m back on my Stardew Valley bullshit. It’s just so calming.I revisit it a lot lmao

Books

So... I have been reading. A LOT. I read over 70 books this year, which for me is... average tbh? I have had some less productive reading months but overall I have torn through stuff and BOY do I have recommendations if you want them?? For the sake of brevity I will only mention a few here:

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir “Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space”. That is all. This was my first five star fiction book of the year and I will never be done screaming about it. There is a dedicated but smallish fandom here on tumblr and it deserves SO MUCH MORE. Please, please please. Everyone should read this damn book. It’s confusing in the beginning but I promise it’s worth it IT’S SO GOOD!! And also the sequel is out and it’s also confusing and SO GOOD!!!

Educated by Tara Westover. This is an autobiography and it’s one of those books that like. Stick in your mind for months after you’ve read it. It’s about how this woman escaped an abusive household that was religiously oppressive and also like... survivalist (prepping for the apocalypse) and avidly believed in conspiracy theories - by educating herself, working her way up to going to Harvard. Nothing I say could do the emotional impact of this book justice - and also just, the perspective this book gave me?? Incredible. Education is the most powerful tool and this woman grabbed it by the hair and did not let go and I was FLOORED. Everyone should read this. I don’t even usually read biographies but DAMN.

The Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden.(Book 1 is called The Bear and the Nightingale). This is a bit of a slow burn type deal - it’s a retelling of a Russian fairy tale (I think?? Or like a folk... story? Something like that) and it is just. So magical. It’s not fast paced but it works up to FANTASTIC moments, the focus is on family and magic and change and “making your own way” and all three of these books were wonderful. It reminded me of Naomi Novic’s Uprooted and Spinning Silver (both of which I also loved back in 2019 and would highly recommend) and they are PERFECT winter reads if you’re looking for something to get cozy with. I liked book 1 well enough but books 2 and 3 knocked it out of the park. Fantastic. Loved them.

I have many more recs but this will do for now hahah

Music

Gonna keep this brief too - my music taste is all over the place, but here are some songs I have been obsessed with recently!! Beware of genre whiplash though because these are Very Different from one another (and different from the musical theater stuff above)

Factories - Autoheart (that bridge gets me every time, idk why. This is one I could have on repeat for hours and not get tired of it either. Something about it just gets me!!)

History Read - The Altogether (The lyrics!! Tbh the entire Silo album is GREAT, but this one is my fave. Their music is so... mellow, in the best way??)

Weather Man - Valley of Wolves (ok this one is just a banger. I’m a sucker for a good sing-along-able hook (that’s not a word. you get me though right) and this fucking DELIVERS. I also just think “I make these dark skies blue, I make these mountains move, let the rain come down, I’m pushing through.... [pause] ... ‘cause I’m the weather man” is such good execution of a concept?? That PAUSE GETS ME it’s just SO FUN?!?! idk man I like a good upbeat banger and this is that.)

I believe (get over yourself) - Nico Vega (this one is just a callout at myself tbh?? “you’re a fool” I AM and I needed to hear it?? It’s also SO FUN to sing!!! We love a banger.)

Kiss me you animal - Burn the Ballroom (mentioning this mainly because it reminded me, lyrically, of Gideon the Ninth and I need someone to confirm this for me before I go insane?? “everybody knows that home is where your teeth sink, love” - I mean c’mon??? Also it’s a banger. I do like some rock from time to time... and this also has a killer driving bassline. This is super fun to drive to, too!!)

((If we have overlap and anyone wants to exchange playlists with me - I am SO here for it. Always looking for new music!!! I mean it!!))

Youtube

Last and certainly not least... meet my newest hyperfixation!!! I have always loved watching video essays, and booktube videos, and arttube videos - and my current niche of favorite creators is the Polygon video team!! They made videos about video games and board games and anything gaming-related and I just. I’m only peripherally a “gamer(TM)” but I love anything and everything they create. (Also you don’t have to know much about video games to enjoy all of their content!! A lot of it is still accessible to Non-Gamers(TM) or casual gamers!) BDG is my new favorite creator, the Unraveled series he does on the channel is a work of genius - but I have also started watching their streams and older series and I am enjoying myself SO MUCH! I love boardgames so their series on them, Overboard, is so fun and entertaining (and I already know a bunch of games I want to buy based on seeing the gameplay), and it also made me invested in the other creators - particularly Simone, I would die for Simone?? And Pat? And Jenna? They each have their niche and they work really well together too and their videos are my Main Serotonin Machine in these trying times(TM), thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Also. If you’re already following me here and you are familiar with Polygon things I BEG YOU TO COME AND TALK TO ME ABOUT THEM because I am like, bursting, but I also don’t want to flood my dash with stuff that 99% of my followers are unfamiliar with y’know??

...I think I’m going to leave it at this - it’s already a lot!

But thank you once again for asking and for letting me Go Off about things I am interested in!! I just... I very often wish I could do this more, but I’m not sure how to go about it? Should I just do text posts about things?? Would that be interesting to anyone?? Or is that like, annoying? Should I start a review blog or something? dhfajkldhf I just want to talk about things that excite me, but whenever I’m here I often just stick to reblogging other people’s stuff... help?? What do y’all want to see??

#French speaks #rec #media recs #book rec #thank you so much for this seriously

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ranawaytothedas · 4 years

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slightly emotional venting...

I put the actual post below a cut if you want to avoid the emotional word vomit...

(TLDR - My anxiety over potential backlash for Maeve has caused my writing to slow and my anxiety over posting to increase because she is so much of a self-insert and I deal with a lot of my personal trauma with her...thus making her “problematic” in some people’s eyes. We also just need to generally be better to each other in the fandom... just a lot me rambling and spewing emotions...)

You know what’s frustrating when you want to put out new content but you are also in the middle of evolving your writing style and learning digital painting.. so you don’t have anything that you can/want to share. I have a bunch of half-finished oneshots....a folder full of WIP.... but nothing like... substantial... not right now.

Since becoming part of this fandom, one... I just am way more critical of all my work because DA is not an active fandom. The handful of things I wrote in my old style haven't done well.. I know that likes and comments are not the purpose behind writing but it’s nice. So that just makes me think I must be a shit writer... maybe I am... IDK.. but it’s forcing me to change the way I write to try and see... if I am a shitty writer. I have never doubted my ability to write fic...till now....

The second big factor is that has somehow, after 20 odd years of active fandom participation, I am actually scared to post stuff... I am scared for people to read my writing. I have lived a rather...shit... life... not looking for sympathy but it’s just a matter of fact. A lot of my trauma comes up in my fics (points to her AO3). This means I often write things that people could deem problematic. I make no secret of the fact Maeve is very self-inserty... Poly-Bi, snarky and deflects all real emotions with humor, has a soft spot for the unwanted creatures of the world, with a mischevious and sassy male cat <.<., that falls in love with a guy she has known most of her life and was like a brother for a time (this is actually how I ended up with my husband IRL), with a narcissistic control-freak mother who wants to impose her will upon her child... like guys... *gestures wildly* that is basically me... yes things are different but there is reason Maeve has such depth because I put sooo much of myself in her... She is fairly unique among DA OCs, at least through my digging and the pride I have in creating her and doing all this stuff for her is immense... like SO MUCH pride. I love each person that engages in Maeve’s content because like that engagement is validation for the countless hours I (and cornfedcryptid) have put in fleshing Maeve out (and she is still isn’t 100% there) and also because there is so much me in her... maybe I do take things a little more to heart with Maeve but... like I don’t know if I can express how much this character I created has come to mean to me...

So that fear of people reading her story and saying “Well... this is problematic. for all these reasons..” And then come at me is SO real. I has me actually terrified to do anything. I am not saying that I have had anything but fairly decent interactions with the fandom. Even the few times I have put my foot in my mouth or said something that was/could have been taken the wrong way... things were fairly civil. I am a grown-up and know that yes, I still have growth to do as a person... At 31 almost 32... I still have more to learn... but I just want to write my fic and be in my happy bubble of trash...

One reason I am so excited about all these little “fandom positive” things that are popping up lately is that it reminds me of the communities I was in back in the days of LJ and early tumblr... when people got excited over their friends and fellow fans creations... like some young people may have missed this but it used to be... amazing and I still am real friends with some of the people I met through these types of events.

The modern world is a lonely, hate-filled, tragic place... I do all I can to make my corner of it less so...I retreat to the internet to find people who have the same interests as me because my life doesn’t afford me the ability to have a social life in the “normal” way... It doesn’t... I love my son, I would die happily for him... but he takes up so much of my attention, time and life... No regrets but it is what it is... I am home all day watching Paw Patrol and Super Monsters, doing laundry or cleaning.... It’s not some grand life... my grand life comes from being able to write fanfic...do art and make friends who enjoy doing the same...

I am really lucky to have made the friends that I have in this fandom, I meet amazing and lovely people... but I have seen a lot of really not nice things in my short time.. like these little events like the Awards and stuff like that can have consequences at times... I know this. I lived through LJ I KNOW THIS, but I also know that the intent behind these types of things are usually genuine and come from a place of wanting people to feel validated by their peers.

I get people may be overlooked, I am one of them, but I also like to think I am self-aware enough to know that just because I may be overlooked because Maeve isn’t popular, my fear of potential backlash has slowed my writing to GRRM like pace so she has little actual content other than HC, a few drabbles and some art I did and really lovely commissions...that other people who even if they are “popular” don’t also want/crave/enjoy the validation that comes from people say... yes... I LIKE YOU... I LIKE WHAT YOU DO... here is the made up award that says WE LIKE YOU...

I guess my point is... we need to be better to each other... I get why people don’t want to be nominated but it also is a sweet idea at it’s core... and we need to make this fandom a place (even a small corner of it) someplace where people aren’t petrified to post their fics... because feeling like this honestly sucks fucking ass...

#jane has emotional word vomit #feel free to ignore #I should probably delete this later but will forget

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aquacure · 4 years

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ok im gonna. ramble about somethin mundane but also slightly personal for a hot sec here. lots of art talk i guess n me being sentimental

my mom’s been talkin about converting the back patio into an “art studio” for me (aka storage for my big pieces n an actual place for me to paint that isn’t in my bedroom) and im gonna be real im very excited about that

it always seemed like one of those things where ur parent would just. say it outloud bc they don’t know what to do with a space. but she seems serious about it, she took out the huge riding lawnmower we bought like six or seven years ago, cleared out the back n is planning to throw out the junky furniture there... she’s been talkin bout makin the walls like. glass so i can still see outside n get sunlight in there

and idk it’s just. very rare for her to be invested into anything i do hobby wise. she doesn’t really have an eye for art, she never asked to read my writing or paid attention to my readings in high school (n she always makes those “oh you should write a book you can make money off of that, whats stopping you from writing a book” comments which is another thing entirely), she never asks about how i make something or why i need certain supplies its just. yeah. the fact that she cares enough to make an art space for me is kind of mind-blowing. i’ve complained about not having a space to do art plenty of times before but i never thought it was something she took to heart

i’ve always had to like squeeze in all my work and all my hobbies into my bedroom so having a space dedicated to art would probably be a lot easier for me mentally (for fucks sake im storing a huge sheet of watercolor paper n an entire painting in my closet)... i went outside tonight to just. look at the patio now that it’s mostly clear and i could just imagine myself walking around in it and pacing and listening to music n jamming out while i get back into oil painting or sitting down at a desk plopped there n concentrating on a watercolor piece while it’s still bright and im in private, but not like. stowed away in a corner.

maybe it won’t happen n it’s just going through the motions of “fixing things up” but the idea that i can have my own space for art that i don’t have to split for anything else, it’s not an art spot and my bedroom, it’s not an art spot and a dining room, it’s just. an art studio... makes me really excited. if there’s anything i really miss from my classes in community college it’s the art studio i was always welcome in, to just. work when i wanted, if there was space for me there. and normally there was. just quietly painting in a lil space meant for art.

siiiiiiiiigh. i love art, man. i really do. n i love the environment that art gets created in. i miss it a lot. n im hoping i can have a little bit of that at home.

#yadda yadda daze #BRO WHY DO I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY ABOUT A PATIO AND MAKING ART. BROOOOOO.

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vanaera · 4 years

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Hi!! I was wondering if you had any basic writing tips. I honestly NEVER through I would write anything but one day I just did casually because I loved reading fics so much and now I'm in way too deep and became way too attached to whatever I'm creating rn. I love THH and your style and you blog in general so I was just wondering if you had any basic tips to offer. ok thank you luv you Bye

Hi hon! I'm happy you enjoyed The Heart Holiday and had a great time in my blog! But I am happier that you are enjoying writing. It's going to be a wonderful adventure! 😊😊😊

I don't really know much how to make a cohesive writing advice post bc my thoughts are just scattered around when it comes to the how-to's of writing (I'm a mess, I'm sorry). However, these are some tips that really helped me to write (Idk if they're basic but these are the fundamentals I always consider when I write).

*Contains spoilers for movies Minority Report and Whiplash

Define your character's wants/needs

So you've got your character. You know how they look like. You know what are their likes and dislikes. But the wants/needs will help them become more substantial. More interesting to follow bc your readers are going to be hooked as to whether your character will be able to achieve or not their goals. A character's want is what they desire. It's usually evident at the very start of the story. Most often, it is the premise, itself. (Ex: Minority Report's John Anderton wants to prove his innocence to a future-predetermining system). Meanwhile character's need is what they have to become to fully achieve their goal. Unlike the first, this needs more unearthing in the story. The character usually don't know their needs at the start. The conflicts in the stories pushes them to realize their needs eventually (Ex: John Anderton realizes he needs to let go of his belief in pre-determined futures bc the system has great faults and they are already ruining his life). It's like this: wants = the temporary goal; needs = the real goal. And both of them project character development, for better or worse or to stay the same way despite the challenges (hello flat character arcs). The needs especially show this. This is one of the factors that make your story interesting to follow. Your readers are going to want to know how your characters are going to realize their needs, how they will change to become what they needed to be.

Define the conflict

Conflict is the one that creates the drama. It orevents your character from achieving their goals. It is the obstacles your character must overcome to reach their wants/needs. Conflicts propel the story further. It also makes it more interesting, especially when they layer upon each other (ex: Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight). But conflicts also define characters. The decisions your character makes in face of a conflict says a lot of things about them. (Ex: In Whiplash, Andrew is faced with the decision to sue Fletcher for his extreme teaching style. Or to endure it and become the great musician Fletcher claims he can create. Andrew chooses the former but soon feels empty. When he meets Fletcher again, he gets enthusiastic and even agrees to play for him, despite knowing Fletcher's extreme methods. So in here, we see Andrew is driven by his need to be a great musician, no matter what it takes). Bc of this, your reader gets to know more about your character in a deeper level. It also helps them sympathize more with them.

Establish your story world

This is something I really want to emphasize. The story world plays a large part in defining your characters. It consists of the things that will help your character grow stronger, as well as the conflicts and limitations that will challenge your character to realize their needs. Not only that, a fleshed-out story world sucks the readers into your story (I think this is the reason why Harry Potter and Avatar: The Last Airbender are so fun to read/watch; it feels like you're going onto a vacation in another place whenever you indulge in them). This tip tho doesn't only apply to fantasy genres. Slice of life stories also need a stable story world to work on so your story can be as realistic as you want it to be (Ex: In 3 Idiots, we see how much education is greatly valued, at the same time, how much the students are letting their grades affect their lives. Much more in a prestigious unibersity for Engineering. Readers, especially those who are studying Engineering like the protagonists, will be able to empathize more with the struggles of the characters).

Lengths of sentences

This is something I'm still struggling to learn. Okay, so now you've got your story world, characters, and conflict. You now have to execute your story. Different lengths of sentences will help you that. Sentence lengths help the flow of reading. It creates the tempo and the beat of your story. If the scene is fast-paced, you can opt for shorter sentences bc it creates wuick beats. If you want your readers to stay for a while, say for example, you're describing a place, long sentences are great for defining those details. But make sure you must have a combination of both bc you may lose your reader in the story if you wrote long sentences upon long sentences. While keeping everything short will make your story sound robot-like. Chsnging it up also makes the tone of your story not monotonous. You can better keep the attention of your reader that way bc a non-stagnant flow helps in seamless reading. I tend to write long sentences before and I realized this is true when I tried reading my past works. I then learned how to change things up and then I saw how interesting and enjoying to read my stories now have become.

Find your own style

This is a lesson I learned the hard way. When I was just beginning to write, I followed the footsteps of a lot of reknowned writers. Only to end up writing in a way I'm not happy about. End up writing something that doesn't feel truly myself. I made a lot of mistakes until I learned that no matter how many people say "don't write this way, but this way," or how much you get pressured with thoughts like "Oh, I have to write this way bc this is the trend, this is what most readers will like," nothing feels better but to write how YOU want to write. It's your story. How to write it should be totally up to you, because no one will be able to write your story, but only you. Find and do your own style. It may not feel rewarding sometimes. But trust me on this, there are people who will like what you and how you write and they are going to look for you and anticipate your upcoming works. You know why? Because only you can write that story/that way. So don't lose hope, and just keep writing.

These are just some I follow to help me write my stories more effectively. If you wanna learn more, you can search the tag #writing tips in my blog. I reblog writing advices and encouragement posts for writers there.

Also go to amazing blogs like @theliteraryarchitect and @yourlocalwriterblog . They give the most helpful advices here when it comes to writing in general- writing, editing, publishing, and even screenplays, you name it.

You can also go to nerdwriter1, justwrite, and Lessons From The Screenplay on YouTube. These channels have helped me a lot in writing my stories. Though they usually talk about films and screenplays, their tips are very hepful in writing in general. I always go to them whenever I feel lost and need guidance in writing some certain parts.

Sorry this got so long. I just lobe love writing so much, I don't know how to shut up about it. I hope I was able to help you, hon. Good luck in your writing and if you finally posted it and want me to see it, just feel free to hit me up 😊😊😊

#aers blushes #the heart holiday feedback #the heart holiday #reviews #writing tips #aera writes #sorry for the typos #and how this may look messy #i tried my best hehe #aera gives tips #this is my first time writing a writing tip #and my brain is fried #im still trying to learn how to group these tips in cohesive topics #bc srsly im planning to write How To Bullshit Your Papers 102 #101*#for college graduates #cus I wanna also share the tips that heloped me in writing papers #I have no clue to nail at all #or even finish for that matter lmao

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tartagilicious · 5 years

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games/routes i’ve played + my favourites

..to be updated

*send me recommendations if you’d like!

(if i give a game a bad rating, it’s just my opinion. you don’t have to agree with me)

MysticMessenger :

routes: Zen, Yoosung, 707, and Jumin Han

my favourite: definitely Jumin Han! he’s more of an unpopular choice, and I see why, but, I love him. his story was borderline obsessive at some points, and im not going to try and defend his weird behaviour, but there was a reason for it. he got everything he wanted as a kid expect for the love of another person, which is why he treasured Elisabeth the 3rd so much, because in a way, she was the only one there for him. but, then after he gets close to the mc, and then Elisabeth goes missing, he sees the mc as the same type of warmth. he definitely could’ve been more casual about his approaches, and less weird about everything, but I see where it’s coming from. the boy’s got some trauma. and, I mean, the mc is kind and stays with him, understands him, and he opens up to her and falls in love with her. I don’t think it’s entirely unrealistic for an otome game. his character development was great. but, enough of Jumin. this is a really well thought out game. the storyline is impeccable, and the characters are all diverse enough that it’s usually not that much trouble picking one guy/girl over the other. but, this game is really heavily dependent on the emotional labour aspects of the boys, which I don’t like. if you want someone’s route, you had to constantly be excited for them and constantly support them and no one else. a prime example being zen’s route, which is still a great route from experience, but there’s too much flattery in the initial stages, if you ask me. also, I don’t have the energy to get up at 3am for a chatroom, sorry Jaehee.

my rating: 7 or 8/10

The Arcana :

routes: asra, julian, and nadia (portia, lucio, and muriel are current)

my favourite: Asra! this magician and his snake familiar got my attention pretty fast, and his heartbreaking past with the mc just sealed the deal for me. his route is so romantic and touching, but has a lot of action. it was honestly perfect. the devs did a great job with the writing of the game, and the storyline is, again, impeccable. I honestly cried when I found out about Asra’s history with the apprentice, and lemme tell you that is a DIFFERENT type of pain.

my rating: 10/10

+Lost Island :

route: ryo tsuzuki

my favourite: none. ryo was definitely eye candy and a perfect guy, but he was the only route I played, and frankly, was the last. the only good things about this game were the action scenes, which were admittedly heart-wrenching since the game took place on a zombie infested island. But otherwise I hate this game with a burning passion, and will frankly be seeing it down in Dante’s inferno, in the depths of hell with every other shall we date game. It was my first otome game, I found it when I was 11 - just out of the womb lmao - and I was so entranced that I ended up spending sixty Fucking dollars on this game!!! I regret it deeply to this day, because the game was horrible. it moved so fast, it was pretty predictable (and I spent the sixty dollars to move it along even though when I look back at it the game exposed itself so many times??) it was so weird. after we cured the strange virus that his ‘missing’ sociopath scientist father created with an antidote hidden in Ryo’s blood and left the zombie infested island, he proposed to me in a bush! a bush! he popped the question in a bush, beat that level of romance ladies and gentlemen. and, I know now that I type it out it some points sound like a pretty good plot, but trust me, don’t let that fool you. I will argue with you about this until my death. and not to mention this bitch was a horny little shit in the middle of what the characters thought was the zombie apocalypse. all in all this game is the bane of my existence, thank you (I’m sorry this is so dramatic lmao)

my rating: -100000/10

Dangerous fellows :

routes: Zion, Harry, Eugene, Ethan, and Lawrence

my favourite: Zion! omg what a cutie, still highkey owns my heart. he’s your run of the mill rich kid that eventually rebelled, but his sense of humour and toughness is what won me over. His heartfelt promises and uncharacteristic seriousness in the face of danger were my favourite parts. he’s so adorable and owns all my uwus. I’d fight someone for this boy. this was the game the birthed this account a couple of months ago, and I still love it.

my rating: 10/10

Lost Alice :

route: Owen Chester

my favourite: I know this technically doesn’t really count, but I did like the joker! I never played his route, and he wasn’t involved in Owen’s route much, but what little I saw of him was great. He was joking, vague, and helped Alice out a lot as a guide in the very beginning. if I had the courage to even download this godforsaken game again I’d definitely go for him! as for Owen’s route, I honestly didn’t like it at all. all of these games have a timeline, and the end point is always the main characters fucking. like?? not the thing where you randomly travel back and forwards in time? no, just both living in her world and ignoring it, because, me and bae are official now and that’s all that matters 🤪 plus, classically, he was like the formal king trying to seduce her for funsies and then accidentally falling for her.

my rating: 0/10

Modern Cinderella :

route: Rudolf Oak

my favourite: ..I didn’t really have one. I’m sorry this was a shall we date game, need I say more? the ’stoic’ restaurant owner that ’never opens up to people’ saw me stand up for myself literally once and suddenly his entire worldview of me has changed, and surprise surprise, he wants to date me. This was one of the worst ones I’ve ever played. I really had no favourite, except maybe for the guy that let me stay in his apartment in the beginning of the game and gave me food after he found me in the rain 🤧

my rating: 0/10

Ikemen Sengoku :

route: Hideyoshi, Yukimura, Nobunaga, Sasuke, Shingen, Masamune, Kenshin (mitsunari is current)

my favourite: yukimuraaa, yukimuraa, that bean. i can’t explain very well it but I love him :((. i really loved Mitsuhide, but I liked masamune too! I love masamune’s attitude atowards the mc, and his nickname and nonchalance around her (in sasuke’s route where he hesitated on killing him just because the mc yelled ‘stop!’ out of fear?? 🤧🤧), and I also love mitsuhide’s slightly threatening but caring personality, and that he’s deadly smart! you can’t hide anything from that man lol. Plus the mc describes him as a a good person even in hideyoshi’s route, which I respect. (ugh the devs knew he would be too powerful with a route) but, I didn’t like that after you finish a route, your intimacy is completely reset. like :(( it disheartens me in playing a little because it takes days to build up grace, and im not about to go scouring on those offer pages, because i’m not willing to put myself through that again after dangerous fellows. the formatting is a little wack too, but it’s still nice and something to look past, since the game is pretty great otherwise, and it’s a little older. I love almost all of the characters, (the ones I don’t are for personal reasons, not because they’re bad characters or anything) and I don’t think its cringey at all! it’s honestly a great game altogether.

my rating: 9/10

Ikemen Revolution:

routes: fenrir, edgar, ray, kyle, sirius, lancelot, luka, jonah, loki, and zero (all, idk if I forgot one lol)

my favourite: every time I see edgar my heart goes boom!! I started playing his route literally like a week ago and god, this boy deserves the world. I love his gentlemanly personality and his habit of joking around and giving vague statements or warnings when in reality, he’s very sweet and kind. you’ll never know what he’s thinking, and I love that I constantly have the chance to surprise him when no one else ever does. though, I really love my boy Kyle at the same time. he’s a real one 😤 I really like how the devs handled the Alice in wonderland concept! I’ve seen that go wrong a few times, so this was refreshing. again, with the ikemen games, they’re never really fast paced or cringey in the way some other games are. it takes the mc usually at least 13 chapters to even admit to themselves that they’re crushing on the guy, which I like. it’s more realistic then, say, the nightmare harlem (see other review). also the plot design, the character depth, uGh, as a writer, don’t even get me STARTED. it’s all amazing. and!! the intimacy doesn’t reset, so I can basically just blaze through all of the intimacy checks right away. The only thing I maybe don’t like about this game is about how long it takes to complete one route. it may take you a shorter amount of time to pay, but I always play free

my rating: 9 or 10/10

Mystic Code:

routes: cold case, lost case, happy ending: case closed, wrong suspect (2), true ending

my favourite: this technically isn’t an otome game. I admittedly didn’t really like this game as much as I liked dangerous fellows, but it was still really good! I just thought dangerous fellows’s story was a little better, and there’s obviously the added bonus of being able to romance any of the main characters. You couldn’t romance any of the characters in mystic code, and while the story made up for that a lot, I was still a little disappointed. Plus, romancing the characters could‘ve really made for a more complex storyline.. 👀 I won’t give any spoilers,, but the story really did make up for it for the most part. but, I guarantee you that if you could play routes, I’d choose eliot. he’s got that confident and playful but serious and smart personality I fall into every time, and I would’ve liked to get a chance to see more sides to that.

my rating: 8/10

Love and Producer (Mr Love: Queen’s Choice):

routes: —

my favourite: ohoho do I have a story about this one. i was going through pinterest one day a few weeks ago when I came across this picture. and idk, something about it had me starstruck, so I looked for what the image was from and found out that it was from a chinese otome game! at the time, I didn’t know that there was an english version out, so I was really disappointed when I found out I couldn’t play it. but!! through a dangerous fellows account I follow on instagram, I downloaded this game by chance and realised it was the same game under a different name. now, I was completely right to be starstruck, because I love Gavin, he’s amazing! He and the mc were classmates in high school, and they have this ~thing~ that happened in the past that’s vaguely talked about, which is a moment with the wind and ginkgo leaves (which is super nice and romantic af, since he has a wind evol) and I think there’s other parts, but I won’t give away any more spoilers that aren’t obvious and/or easily accessible. the only thing I maybe have wrong with this games that the cliffhangers it can leave you off on before it tells you to level up more are emotionally shattering, and the karma levels/movie shootings are a little annoying, but they’re easily fixable and easy to pass if you snoop around the game a little and figure out how it works. I also really like how though there are no technical routes, each “romance” with the other the guys is completely plausible and any could be endgame easily.

(+ damn, Gavin’s one main line ‘as long as you’re in the wind, I’ll find you.’ is really nice and romantic to me also, since there’s another line from a book I love that’s “I’ll be your map. Where you go, I go.” but idk maybe i’m just biased)

my rating: 9/10

The Princess Closet:

route: reo

my favourite: honestly, I hated this game, so I didn’t really have a favourite. It sounds dramatic, but it’s really true. I was snooping through the App Store one night around midnight looking for a new otome game, and I stumbled upon this one with pretty great reviews. So I, the otome hoe that I am, was like ‘okay fuck it’ and downloaded it. Basically, the game’s storyline is this guy comes up to you and is like ‘you’re my princess, I finally found you’ and the mc is like ‘wtf are you talking about’ but is flattered and sorta curious so she goes back to his studio where she agrees to become a model. like?? girl what?? he could’ve taken you into a back alley and killed you, but she didn’t care. then, in the first chapter, she does her first modelling job then the main guy (reo, also the fashion designer) comes up to her, basically pins her against the wall and is like ‘I knew you were perfect, but I didn’t imagine this. Now, since I always get what I want, I’ll have to make you mine because I’ve taken interest in you.” like,, okay bro. I deleted the app after that. if you like that kind of stuff, that’s fine, but it seems too outright and cringe to me. plus, this isn’t really relevant but I didn’t really like the formatting.

my rating: 0/10

Ikemen Vampire:

route: Napoleon, Arthur, Leonardo, Mozart, Vincent (double clear for both Arthur and Napoleon!)

my favourite: oh my god, this game finally came out with an English version and I’m so excited! I barely knew anything about this game before this morning, but it’s seriously good. I was sceptical in downloading it at first though, because vampire related things usually come out in a fashion similar to something like diabolik lovers, but this blew my expectations out of the water. the writing is amazing, and had me literally stopping between moments and being all nerdy about it. plus, all of the characters are based on real people of history, and I like that part. It’s a really cool idea. but the best part!! all of the characters are more or less like normal people. I’m not sure if that exactly makes sense, but it’s relief to me. I’m also really thrilled about some of the stories in the game. like, bonaparte is a half vampire?? nice, I wanna know more! you have to be da vinci’s fake lover?? coolio. but, I’m kinda bummed that there aren’t more routes out. Issac Newton, Napoleon Bonaparte, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Theodorus Van Gogh are definitely my favourites,(Theo is best boy 😤✊🏻) and I would’ve liked to play other routes too, but that’s totally good, because games are hard work.

my rating: 10/10

THE NIFLHEIM+:

route: Leo

my favourite: I gotta say, this wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. And that’s surprising, since this is a shall we date game. The storyline was pretty good, sorta like sleeping beauty with a twist, and while it was really cringey at some parts, it wasn’t too overbearing in my opinion. There’s a variety of characters to romance, and while they all have pretty stereotypical personalities in some way, it was still somewhat enjoyable to play. Though, I didn’t finish the game because I didn’t like the route I was playing, the way it was set up or the ticket system was kinda weird (one every 4 hours. you could log in once every month and it would say ‘welcome to your fourth day!’ even if it’s been four months in reality) if I did another route, though, it would probably be Nick, because his route seemed fun from the preview.

my rating: 3 or 4/10

Nightmare Harlem:

route: oswald

my favourite: honestly, my favourite was still Oswald. (though it’s a close second to Lucas, who never entered the room in any way other than the window) he was a sweet bean and didn’t deserve any of the shit any of the other suitors gave him. now that I think about it, the plot is creepily similar to ikemen vampire’s. the mc is walking home one night when a portal opens up under a red moon that takes her to a mansion full of vampires! but, maybe that’s just an overused plot. this is from the same company as princess closet, but I think it’s a little better. don’t get me wrong, though, it was still cringe to the max. the mc insisted on helping with work around the mansion exchange for letting her stay there until that portal opened again (hello ikemen??) and the main guy was like ‘pfft sure’ and that’s where she met oswald, the gardener. but, the main thing that turned me off of this game was how fast the romance came. she spent a day outside with him, talking about whatever, then decided she liked the time she was with him and was disheartened when he had to leave. you know, totally not like any kind of normal friendly relationship at all. and after that she was like ‘oh shit what’s this feeling in my chest’ when she saw him at dinner. like, I get the quick crush thing but she’s all like “am I falling in love??/?” and to make it BETTER the next day he’s like ‘oh shit what’s this feeling in my chest’ after, again, spending a day with her and doing nothing more but exchanging smiles otherwise. and the other guys are in on it instantly too! one of them even tries to set them up! and I just- I couldn’t take it seriously after a while.

my rating: 3/10

Ayakashi: romance reborn:

route: Koga

my favourite: honestly, how to choose?? At first, I really liked Ginnojo and Toichiro, but after playing for a bit, Koga and his stupid dice swept me off my feet. I’m only at chapter 20 since I started playing a few days ago, but I can already tell that koga is very friendly and jokes around a lot, and the moment she ever has a problem he’s there to help her. he’s an oni ogre ayakashi, and I also think that’s super cool tbh. the game itself is sort of like mr love queen’s choice in the way that you get cards and have to level them up and that corresponds to how well you do in the game, but there are more romance aspects to this game than mlqc. after you finish book one (comprised of 50 chapters) it branches off into the 4 routes that are available to play. (Koga the oni ogre ayakashi, Kuya the tengu ayakashi, Ginnojo the Mizuchi dragon ayakashi, and Aoi the satori seer) I think it’s a really interesting and fun game, but I don’t like that the only way you can get keys to play the main chapters is through patrols, which can get repetitive, especially when you can only play the same 5 or so locations before the lp cost is more.

my rating: 9/10

Honey Magazine:

game/route: wanted: son in law // taiga takajo

my favourite: I should really change this label ^^. Honey magasine is an otome app that’s comprised of many stories that you can play at once. honestly, I didn’t have high hopes for this one based on the look of it, but I was pleasantly surprised. I am super super super super picky when it comes to otome games, but this one genuinely could’ve been worse. in the story I played, a journalist was invited to her billionaire grandfather’s estate to pick out a fiancé, but that was unbeknownst to her, seeing as this was the first time she’d talked to her grandfather since she was 5 years old. she went through the whole night meeting these different guys before she had to choose one the next day. I didn’t like this part because I probably got one interaction with each character max, and really didn’t get to go very deep into any of them. in the end, I chose Taiga, the heir to a fortune and the CEO of his own company at the ripe age of his early 20-somethings. honestly I only picked him because he kinda looks like Yuta from nct and since I didn’t really like any of the others, I had nothing to lose lol. He’s emotionless and very cold but subtly caring, and this drives the mc crazy as he claims that he’ll just parade around with her if he needs to and act in front of other people. she promises that she’ll make him fall in love with her, and well, the rest is history. I won’t get into his route much, but, I think it’s about what you would expect from a situation like this, not that it would ever happen. it’s not terrible, and I think that if someone had paid a little more attention to it it could’ve been great, not just okay.

my rating: 4/10

Twilight School:

route: Wade

my favourite: this game was actually recommended to me by a follower, and honestly, I do really like it. but, it’s a good thing that I liked Wade, because I’m not the biggest fan of either Rylan or Hogan. I’ve never liked the idea of werewolves, and Rylan is just the epitome of twilight meets vampire diaries to me. (even though neither of them really have to do with werewolves lol) and, hogan, idk. he’s got a nice personality, but I’m not really interested in him beyond that. Wade reminds me of Eugene, to be honest. that’s not why I like him, but I just thought I should get the observation out there. what I don’t like about this game is the gem system. yes, I wanted to kiss wade’s hand when he was sitting next to me after I woke up from being sick, but could I?? no. and I’m still disappointed about it, thank you very much. I also don’t really like the scene where they all fight over her in front of her. like, uh, can I get a waffle?? can I PLEASE get a waffle? but overall yes! it’s a very good game and I love the storyline and mystery.

Samurai Love Ballad Party:

route: yukimura sanada

my favourite: (i keep mixing up the name smh) is every yukimura character an absolute sweetheart?? because it sure seems like it. I found out about this game though a discord server I’m in, and honestly, from the looks of it, my expectations were low. Format is a big part of an otome game, and this one is obviously old, and that kind of dimmed my likeness a bit. But, the story is really fun. Kinda cringey, but still fun. I had no idea it was also in the sengoku era, so that was a fun surprise. I played the prologue laughing and joking around the entire time, and it was honestly really fun. i knew I liked yukimura from the moment he appeared, and chose his route immediately when I could. One thing though, this doesn’t bother me, I just think it’s kinda funny, is that the choices you make actually determine a good or bad ending rather than the romantic or dramatic I’m used to. So, seeing that ‘you could’ve chosen better...’ message after a chapter is always refreshing lol. (I get those a lot because I literally have 2 brain cells 🗿)

overall rating: 6/10

Obey me!:

route: —

favourites: THIS IS A SHALL WE DATE GAME?? it blows my mind, because I absolutely love this game but normally hate swd games (see lost island for reference lmao) the format is cute and modern and easy to navigate, but isn’t in your face bright and not too bland either. there’s a lot of options to go for, like the random calls and messages you get throughout the day plus the person you want to choose from majolish and display on the home screen has little things to say to you ever 15 seconds or so. the ap/stamina system is similar to ayakashi, so it was refreshing to already know how to deal with that, and I do like how while it goes fast, it doesn’t take much to regen. The actual story function is similar to that of mlqc, though, with the mission and then story part. There are no actual routes in the game as of right now, but the game is still being updated, so there might be in the future when the storyline is complete! I really hope there is, because I totally wanna do some of their routes like 😳 My favourite at first was Mammon, because from the get-go he’s the energetic dumbass that’s always by your side like fenrir and I just appreciated that, especially when I didn’t know any of the other characters yet. but then I actually got into the game more and while I still do like mammon, it’s a bit less and I do have some new favourites now. first off is Lucifer, who I really was neutral with most of the time (which shouldn’t have been the case considering he threatened/tried to kill the mc at least twice lmao) but yeah, sometime along the way I went from 😶😶😶 to 🥰🥰🥰 and that was that. Second is probably either Satan or Belphegor because they’re just both adorable and I like belphegor’s voice and sense of humour and satan’s love for books and considerate personality

favourite: Lucifer

—

CURRENTLY PLAYING: mr love queen’s choice, ikemen sengoku (mitsunari), obey me!

#otome #otome x reader #mystic messenger #the arcana #lost island #Dangerous fellows #Lost alice #modern cinderella #ikemen sengoku #ikemen revolution #Mystic code #love and producer #the princess closet #ikemen vampire #the niflheim #nightmare harlem #obey me!#mr love queen's choice #mlqc

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hardlyfatal · 5 years

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gary’s writing workshop: lesson 3:

Plot Structuring, Part 1

What is a story? Stories are accounts of transformations: situations, people, attitudes, establishments. If something isn’t changing, what is there to write about? Nothing.

Our job, as writers, is to describe the change and repercussions so that they’re effectively and entertainingly communicated to our readers with as much readability as possible. There are three components to managing it, which I’ll be going over here..

In this lesson, I’m going to ask you to change how you perceive and write stories.1

1. Plot Points & Purpose

Instead of looking at scenes from the outside – instead of looking at them from the POV of the reader, and considering their entertainment value – I want you to look at them from the inside. Or, rather, from below. From what basis, to what purpose, do they spring?

Scenes do not exist just to be entertaining. The wow factor is great, but it’s the icing on this particular cake. You can dress up a scene with elaborate setting, intense dialogue, brisk pacing, and boatloads of UST… but if they don’t move the plot along, they’re like a broken pencil: pointless.

Thus the new way to look at stories, at individual scenes, is to scrutinize them for purpose. The only purpose or reason any scene should make it into a story is because it moves the plot to its next point. These are in fact called plot points, and every scene requires one.

It’s a pretty existential way of looking at the matter, but it’s necessary, in order to create a satisfying tale that flows logically from one place to the next, that feels continuous and makes sense. Making sense is a very important, and often overlooked, aspect of storytelling.

Let’s use my story, Shoot the Moon, as an example. Going into it, I knew my overarching story premise: I wanted them to meet, hate each other, but slowly grow to learn about, become attracted to, eventually love each other, and then part. Not knowing that they actually lived in the same city, they meet again and reestablish their relationship. Finally, they find the motivation to overcome their personal demons to be together.

If you tease apart those plot points, you’ll see there are three acts:

They meet, hate each other, but slowly grow to learn about, become attracted to, and eventually love each other.

They part, not knowing that they lived in the same city, then meet again.

They overcome their misapprehensions about each other, and personal demons, to be together.

So how do I get them from A (beginning of each arc) to B (end of each arc)? The chapters in each arc have to have purpose; they have to have a point. Thus each scene was created to serve the purpose needed. A few examples:

I wanted Jaime to see how loving and gentle Brienne could be in contrast to her appearance and behavior to that point, so I created the scene where she shows the twins the bird eggs.

I wanted Brienne that, for all Jaime’s dickishness, he carried pain and perhaps deserved a bit of understanding and patience, so I created the scene where she confronts him and he reveals how he’s been parenting the twins by himself since his wife died.

I wanted to show Brienne’s persisting lack of self-esteem and reinforce Jaime’s attraction to her, so I created the scene where Arianne opened the door in just a robe, exposing most of her goodies, and Jaime hardly noticing because he was paying attention to Brienne instead.

As long as your story is driven by plot points– that make sense – that’s it. You’re probably suspicious of how simple it is, but it really is just that uncomplicated.

Despite that simplicity, I see a lot of people including gratuitous scenes, the purpose of which is to stroke the reader’s kink for whatever (hurt/comfort, fluff, smut, drama, etc.) instead of to push the plot forward. Either nothing much occurs in the scene, or it’s merely a reiteration of plot development and exposition that has already occurred before.

In the case of the latter, you need to have self-discipline and choose one or the other. There is no need to repeat yourself in romantic fiction – it just bogs things down and kills the pacing. Redundancy is wasted time and effort. If you’ve made a point, the point is made and does not need repeating. Have you noticed yet that I’ve said the same thing four times in this paragraph, just worded differently? Yeah.

In the case of the former, it just needs to go. If it’s dead weight, it’s dead weight. Be like Marie Kondo: thank it and let it go.

That’s not to say that hurt/comfort, fluff, smut, and drama can’t be included. They absolutely can and should be; they just need to have a point, and you only need to make that point once.

The point of a hurt/comfort scene could be one of them learning to trust the other, or discovering they have the capacity to be gentle and caring with another person, or that being vulnerable – with the right person, i.e. the other half of the couple – is not only safe but freeing.

The point of fluff could be one of them revealing they feel secure enough to let their inhibitions down and show spontaneous affection, or to show their joy in being able to openly express their love instead of having to keep it hidden and fearful.

The point of smut could be one of them developing the confidence to be a more active or even dominant lover, or show their surprise to be given pleasure for their sake instead of used for their partner’s satisfaction before their own, i.e. that they matter as well and that they doesn’t have to sacrifice their own pleasure in order to make the other person happy.

The point of a dramatic scene could be an expression of any of these – trust, capacity for gentleness, security in the other’s affections, confidence, realization of self-worth, revelations of secrets – possibly with some sort of action-y component. Is there a dramatic revelation that will somehow directly impact the romance between the couple?

To illustrate what I mean, I chose to deconstruct a scene from the show specifically because it is so spare of dialogue (relatively speaking), to show you how effective scenes can be even when there’s not a lot of verbal exposition, at least about the true reason for the scene.

This scene has nothing to do with her loyalties to the Starks or Catelyn Stark, though it may seem that way at first. It exists to give Jaime an opportunity to get to know Brienne better in ways that speak to her core personality and character.

Example:

TV!Brienne takes on three Stark men – who had killed a group of prostitutes after servicing Lannister soldiers – while Jaime watches. Youtube link, if you’d like to watch it to see exactly what happens..

Reason it was included:

To give the audience not only more evidence of her fighting prowess but also insight to her thoughts/feelings (her pity for the prostitutes in particular and of women’s plight in being under the control of men in general, and that she’s empathetic to the point of being vengeful on behalf of others who have suffered).

To make the audience understand that Jaime is now aware that Brienne is a formidable fighter; is not an empty braggart/can back up her claims of ‘knocking men into the dust’; is passionate enough about her convictions to fight and kill for them; is brave enough to face, and skilled enough to defeat, three men at once; is more committed to her loyalty to other women than she is to the Stark cause.

What was accomplished:

Jaime sees her as more than just her unusual appearance or another random person who loathes him like everyone else or a Stark lackey. She becomes a real person to him in this scene.

2. Making the Reader Give a Damn

You have to retain the reader’s interest from one chapter to the next. If you lose them along the way, you’ve lost any reason to keep going with the story. I know we all tell ourselves “I’m just having fun!” and “I’m doing this for myself!” but I think we all agree, though maybe just secretly, that it’s kind of bullshit: stories are made to be read by someone, somewhere.

If a tree falls in the forest and there’s no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? If no one reads our stories, was it worth the effort of writing them? If we’re boring the pants off our readers, why bother? Maybe it’s because you love to know you’re making others happy, maybe it’s because you love the appreciation you receive, whatever. IDK your life. But for the most part, there’s some external validation going on, and if others are quitting your story in the middle, or foregoing your stories entirely because past things you’d written had been unreadable, you’re just shouting into a void.

The main issues where readership hangs in the balance are pacing and description (setting, blocking, inner voice/narration). We’ll go over all of these to a greater degree in later lessons. For now, I’ll just say… if these are compromised, you’re going to be giving a skimpier, shallower, boring-er version instead of the lushly-detailed story it could have been.

3. Making Sense

Getting them sucked in with your word-picture and the flow of plot points is only two-thirds of the job: you also need to make sense. And before you start yapping about suspension of disbelief, yes, that’s a thing, but it only goes so far. There are certain premises than can stretch credulity and still work, but others that go too far and just ruin it.

This is one of our Battles of the Balance: you have to find how far you can go until it just doesn’t work and starts to feel stupid. It negatively impacts readability because it’s so outlandish that it tugs the reader from their reading trance and makes them wonder WTF you’re trying to do because what you just wrote is highly improbable. It kills the story’s readability. It’s important to stay grounded and retain an open mind about your balance in this regard. You need to be able to analyze what you’re doing and seeing if it is going over the top rather than blindly trusting your first impulses and, worse, ignoring feedback that indicates that you need to tone it down.

This is why the work of A Certain Someone fails: she contends that human people are able to produce bodily secretions to a volume that is not physically possible. She loses us because she forewent logic for the payoff she was reaching for (presumably arousal?). Instead of us getting all into the smut and romance, grinning dirtily, instead we frown and grimace because we’re imagining rivulets and puddles and sodden carpets and crusty mattresses, etc. And her ego prevents her from understanding that she is imbalanced in this way, with the result that she keeps churning out fic after revolting fic that many potential readers avoid.

It’s also why Mary Sues and Gary Stus spur such a knee-jerk loathing in so many people. It’s fine to give your characters fine, admirable qualities, but if you heap them on, or don’t counter them with just-as-significant flaws, it will no longer make sense because it’s illogical that anyone would be so fantastic and lacking in defects.

Chekhov’s Gun3 vs. Deus Ex Machina

Chekhov’s Gun2 and Deus Ex Machina are two sides of the same coin: the need for continuity. If it happens earlier, there needs to be resolution later. If it happens later, there needs to be mention (aka ”foreshadowing”) earlier.

Chekhov’s Gun is a literary principle stating that elements in a story have to be relevant. The presence of superfluous details constitute ‘false promises’ on the part of the author, because they’re offering a concept to the reader that will never have any point.

This doesn’t mean you should never mention non-essential things that have no bearing on the plot for fear of creating Chekhov’s guns willy-nilly; you need to create ambiance with description of setting, etc. It just means don’t make a point of mentioning something beyond its level of importance to the story. Brienne’s nose is mentioned as being crooked to emphasize her ugliness as well as symbolize her atypically unfeminine lifestyle since the huge majority of Westerosi women don’t get their noses broken, due to their less active lifestyles. Jaime’s nose is mentioned… never, because it doesn’t matter.

Disclaimer: I am terrible at the Chekhov’s Gun thing, because I have a shitty memory and will put in a detail that I fully intend to do something with… only to completely forget it exists and never mention it again. This is bad. Do not do as I do on this one. I mention it because it’s a continuing issue I struggle with and continue to work on. My poor betas...

Deux Ex Machina is a plot device whereby a problem, conundrum, obstacle, or mystery is solved when an unlikely resolution presents itself without any hints or foreshadowing earlier in the plot, often in such a convenient way that it feels contrived and anti-climactic.

Example that I just cooked up: The big fight in King’s Landing, Jaime and Brienne fight a pitched battle to reach the throne room where Cersei is seated upon her pile of swords. Together, they manage to defeat Gregor Clegane and just as they’re about to confront the queen, Arya pops up3 from behind the throne to tug on Cersei’s left earlobe. Turns out, Cersei is actually an android and had been malfunctioning for a long time, hence her erratic behavior. Bran had a vision about where her off-switch was, and used magical mind-speak to tell his sister how to cut Cersei’s power. Et voilà!

Example that actually happened in the show: Dragons fly at the speed of light and can whisk people around a continent comparable in size to the United States in an hour or two. Similarly, ships can navigate long distances at a fraction of the time supported by actual reality, and horses can rocket down the Kingsroad like Maseratis, if the speed with which Brienne and Pod made it from Winterfell to the dragon pit is any indication4.

Homework

If you are currently working on a story: create an outline of its plot in terms of each scene’s purpose. Identify any gaps in the progression of plot points, and come up with ways to bridge those gaps.

If you are not currently working on a story: do this with one of the stories you have already published. Think up what you could have done differently, or what you could have inserted, to connect the loose ends.

If you are not currently writing anything, and have never published anything: Take one of my stories, nothing too short because it won’t have enough transitions to make the effort meaningful, and nothing too long because LOL this is supposed to be fun, and do as instructed above. I suggest Signs of Life, Vision of Love, or Full Fathom Five because of their middling lengths. Identify gaps, and suggest fixes for them.

Remember to look for connections and flow from scene to scene, NOT chapter to chapter.

Footnotes

1 – Unless you already do this, in which case… well done! Carry on!

2 – This refers to Anton Chekhov, Russian author, not any Star Trek character.

3 – I SWEAR TO GOD I wrote this months ago, before the last season. Wish I hadn’t been prescient about it... *weeps*

4 – Like, I know about the compression of time through editing but COME ON.

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