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interact-if · 2 years

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And the final interview for our Religious Diversity Month, with Denna!

Denna, author of Vessel of the Goddess.

I look at Sophie as she’s dying in my arms.

“Please, I can’t lose you yet!” I scream. “Its you. It’s gonna be you.” she breathes out weakly. “What are you talking about?” I say, while letting my tears fall freely.

“You’re gonna be the next vessel.”

In this game you will play as the mortal vessel of a goddess, chosen to guide your realm. But when one of the goddesses goes rougue, how will you make sure your realm survives?

• Read more about Vessel of the Goddess here.

• Denna’s Ko-fi and Patreon.

[INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT]

Q1) Tell us about your project(s)!

My main project is the Vessel of the Goddess, an interactive novel where you play as the mortal vessel of a goddess!

The novel is heavily inspired by all kinds of religions and mythologies mixed with my own original ideas ;)

The fist book of the series will mostly be about navigating your new life as a vessel and meeting your new “colleagues” (who you can romance by the way ;)). You are forced to get used to your new life very quickly though, because when one of the goddesses goes missing its up to you to bring her back!

Q2) Why did you choose to write interactive fiction? What drew you to the format?

I've always loved novels and reading in general, but I was always disappointed when the main character made a choice I didn't like, and with interactive fiction you can decide which choice you think suits the story best.

I had so many ideas and endings for my book and I couldn't really choose between them, so I thought why would I choose at all? With interactive fiction you can combine them all, based on the choices your readers make!

Q3) How have your identity and beliefs influenced your work?

Oh absolutely! Seeing as my current project is literally about gods, my personal beliefs around religion and the divine have definitely influenced my book!

As I'm also part of many minority groups, representation is also something that I really wanted to work on and I hope you can see back in my work. I want every reader to feel like they could also have a place in my books, and make the reading experience much more immersive this way!

Q4) What aspects would you like to be more explored or represented in media regarding your religion?

I would love to see wiccan people just be more accurately presented in general. Not all of us are these stereotypical witches (not that there's anything wrong with that!!), a lot of us are normal people who just happen to believe in less traditional things.

Q5) What are you most excited about sharing related to your project?

To be honest, I’m really excited to share the final work! But for now i would definitely say letting everyone meet the main crew of characters as they really feel like my babies hehe. I’m mostly just excited to let everyone get acquainted with the world I’ve created!

Q6) A tiny bit unrelated, what's your favorite religious event?

I love Easter as a religious event! It feels very hopeful and the fact that we celebrate it in spring, just makes it my favourite overall! Christmas is a close second though (if you can count it as an religious event)

Q7) Any thoughts or advice you'd like to give to fellow authors or readers?

For my authors, definitely do not rush yourself! I find this the biggest struggle for myself, but i would rather release something a bit later but better than release something sloppy and unfinished

And for the readers, your thoughts matter so much to us authors! Whatever you want to say, just tell us because we are going to be so happy hearing it! (Yes, even if it’s just a keyboard smash ;))

#Religious Diversity Month #if: events #Religiously Diverse Authors #Religious Diversity #Interactive Novel #interactive fiction #Vessel of the Goddess

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olderthannetfic · 2 years

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That other post is pretty long, so I’m pulling this out into another.

I think this is a really interesting point about how these nebulous qualities are both identifiable (”I know it when I see it!”) and not often found in published fiction...

See...

I don’t entirely think the latter is true.

What I think is that AO3 House Style, Tumblr House Style, etc. have some variations but are, in essence, BL style, at least if we’re looking at the m/m. And once you understand that, it becomes clear both why traditional US publishers are terrible at producing this work and where to go to find more of it.

Big US publishers mostly see queerness as an #ownvoices thing with all of the issues afflicting that movement. In other words, they expect that m/m will be written by cis gay men. Not trans men. Not bi men. Not other queer people. They expect, furthermore, that m/m exists to be Representation™ of an actual queer male identity from their own modern society, and one that they recognize and understand. Those books should exist too, but I think expecting everything to be that is stifling.

What they don’t expect/understand/approve of is m/m that conforms to “chick” genre standards or where the paying market is not mostly men or—and this is both key and terrible—where the main point of the book is something other than m/m. You see this complaint all the time now from various kinds of authors: #ownvoices was supposed to give them a leg up, and instead, the search for pseudo-authenticity is locking them into realistic family drama genres and into only writing lead characters who strongly resemble themselves and the stereotypical life experiences they’re assumed to have.

In the 90s and 00s, many of the m/m books that got published (in English, in the US) were coming from “gay” presses, which were pretty much focused on cis gay men but also covered other kinds of queerness. The genre fiction coming from these presses was very often old slash zines with the names changed, but in its new format, it was nominally for a cis gay male audience.

There are a few—very few—notable examples of sff that is primarily about the sff plot but that also has an m/m romance b-plot and that is from big, mainstream US publishers.

Currently, MXTX novels are coming out in translation, and US and English language publishers are starting to twig to the fact that BL/danmei sells well.

But overall, our regular, mainstream publishers have failed the Tumblr and AO3 audience. We should not look for our commercial m/m books there. Times one billion if we are more romance focused than sff/mystery plot focused!

However

Starting in about 2010, there has been a renaissance in US/English language original BL. It is typically called “m/m romance” (pronounced “em em” and that’s a slash and absolutely not the letter L).

I dislike the terminology because what I want is BL with a stronger sff/mystery plot and not things invariably shaped like romance novels. I hate how market forces mean that the first novel of all the m/m urban fantasy series is romance novel shaped instead of letting the ship be more slow burn, even though the subsequent books strongly resemble their big publisher het counterparts.

Various more indie options keep dying, so this community in 2022 is largely on Kindle Unlimited. (Boo, amazon, boo, I know, but that’s what’s going on right now.) That’s an all-you-can-read program, so books tend to be around 50-80k with many shorter works and not so many 100k+. Many authors release multiple times per year. A lot of them have patreons.

In the initial rise of this wave of English original BL, there were more indie publishers, and certain ones have survived, but as of the 2020s, a lot of the market is self published. I really cannot emphasize this enough:

The good original English language BL is mostly self published.

Forget the stereotypes of selfpub from before 2010: the world has changed radically in recent years, and plenty of big time authors who pay for real editing and good cover art have entered the selfpub space as traditional publishers have gotten shittier and ebooks have taken off.

This stuff was my big “fandom” prior to getting into BTS and spending the last couple of years just reading BTS fic. Alas, that means my recs aren’t really up to date, but it kills me how much of a disconnect there is between this growing niche and most tumblr types who are interested in original m/m work.

Some of the “m/m” market is still fic with the names changed, like it was in the 00s. However, overall, I think a lot of the better selling, more popular stuff started out as original and does a better job of structure than those 00s works.

You guys know what I mean: Some works feel like a mainstream romcom or mystery novel. Others have a noodly structure that you can only get away with in fic where people already care enough to read to the end. Older m/m originals (even ones that weren’t just serial numbers filed fics) did more noodling. More recent works on average feel closer to a big publisher het version of their genre, at least in terms of structure.

This is my hobby horse because I too managed to miss the beginning of this shift in original m/m.

In 2015, I tried out some of the long-running and most famous series and was shocked at how far we’d come from the stuff I’d been seeing only a few years before. In fact, this shift in the market is what finally inspired me to go pro with my writing. I hope it inspires other people from our communities, many of whom I think would do better self published than with a big publisher.

So if you’re an English-speaking American do go buy those MXTX translations, but also check out some of our home-grown BL. Ditto Canadians and others, but obviously, I’m looking at this through my US lens, so it may be more and less applicable depending on what languages you speak and where you are.

The industry conference for this stuff is GRL, aka GayRomLit. You can see which authors have paid to be official author attendees here. Those aren’t all of the big names (obviously, because this is an in-person event, there’s a strong bias towards authors who live in the US, and often ones who live closer to that year’s event), but it gives you a sense of some of the bigger names. Looking them up on Amazon or seeing what Goodreads lists their books appear on tends to find you names of others in this market niche.

I attended GRL a couple of years ago, and it was exactly what I expected: a small handful of male authors, shittons of female authors, many of whom come from m/m fanfic fandom, a lot of female readers there to meet their faves and shop, and a few male audiobook narrators. There was a contingent that had come over from het romance novel fandom, so the vibe wasn’t pure tumblr/ao3, but I’d say it was very tumblr+wattpad. (Or my part of tumblr+parts of tumblr I don’t interact with much, to be perfectly fair.)

My top rec for checking out this world would be Jordan L. Hawk. I back him on patreon and just plain like the dude, for one thing. For another, I know he’s been in some kind of fanfic fandom (we chatted about AO3), and he has that One Of Us vibe. He recently came out as a trans man after a period of questioning and going by they/them briefly, which will be of interest to many readers I know. And most importantly, he has multiple series with different flavors of sff+m/m, some historical. His latest book is a little toothless and fluffy for my tastes, but it has a trans hero treated in a very blasé way, which I enjoyed. It’s about a youtube ghost hunter and an academic who studies the paranormal, which is so exactly my thing! I just wish his other series with the tentacle man was more tentacle porn-y.

Another I might start with is Meghan Maslow. Her Starfig Investigations series is goofy comedy along the lines of Robert Aspirin’s MYTH series. It also has audiobooks that taught me to like audiobooks. While romance is pretty central, there’s a huge amount of world building in these.

Fairly bland m/m contemporaries sell extremely well and are probably the most numerous out of the m/m market, but they’re not what I like, and I’d love to see better labeling for BL-ish stuff with more plot. It’s currently hard to connect those books with customers, and I think a lot of that is because we lack both good vocabulary to describe it and any kind of reasonable index of what exists. (Goodreads tends to be best for finding already-famous things, and Amazon goes ever further towards only letting you find things whose authors paid for advertising.)

A big lack, and one I would like to see rectified, is the lack of 1. Asian heroes and 2. Asian-inspired genres. You’ll get your random kitsune in an otherwise Anita Blake-ish setting, but it feels to me like there’s a disconnect between the original English language writers who are coming from a weeb or cultivation novel-loving background and the authors who more typically end up at GRL. I’d like to see the people coming from more of a “MXTX but originally in English” side of things and people coming from more of a “Bandom AUs made me want to write original m/m” side of things start to build a common English Language BL type consciousness and community.

Anyway, I’ve recced various authors before, and I should be writing, so I’ll stop there for the day. I’d just love to see more of Our Sort check this shit out because the community/market niche/etc. is really cool yet still has huge room for improvement.

I’m super glad Orbit books is jumping on that! Don’t get me wrong! But we don’t need to wait for the big publishers to do this for us. We can do it ourselves right now.

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itsonlystrange · 3 years

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Okay I’m just saying..do you guys realize what a cultural reset canon byler would be?

Like it would trend on Twitter, 100%. People who have never seen the show before would become interested in it, ESPECIALLY people who are looking for queer representation in shows.

Byler is a good slow burn that’s INTERESTING. It’s not your stereotypical gay guys who obviously like eachother and are only there for comic relief and pushed to the back so that the het ships can get the spotlight. It has DEVELOPMENT. And it’s rare you come across stuff like that.

Neither mike nor will are stereotypically “gay”. They are just regular teenage boys who happen to not be straight. Usually gay ships portrayed in TV and Film are used as comedic relief. Or the overly flamboyant gay guy and the super macho gay guy getting together in the last 10 seconds the show.

Yes, there are a TON of good shows out there that have queer representation however a LOT of them get thrown under the radar or are overshadowed by the more heterosexual ships or shows.

So imagine, a show as big as stranger things, having its two boys be in a canon relationship. Like the internet would BLOW UP. It’d be the topic of every interview. Finn and Noah would be the topic of every interview. Stranger Things would have relevancy again.

Obviously, ST is still relevant however with this whole hiatus it’s falling off the radar easily and people are becoming bored. But this...this would blow it up again.

Obviously queer ships are NOT there to make a show relevant again, at all. That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is, imagine all the lgbtq+ kids that watch ST. The lgbtq+ BOYS that watch ST.

Often, when queer relationships are portrayed in film or television, it isn’t portrayed accurately. And it’s often shown as “if you don’t come out this way then you’re invalid.” Or “if you have internalized homophobia you’re invalid” and a thousand other things. Hell, I remember being much younger absolutely hating myself or not “picking a side” and being so confused with my self and wondering why I was even bisexual in the first place.

But then you have byler, which portrays a much more accurate relationship between two closer than normal boys. It portrays the internalized homophobia, the abuse and bullying people back in the 80’s (and still now) would endure. And yeah, it’s not the most accurate depiction but it’s FAR better than some other popular show’s queer relationships.

Millions of people watch this show, an abundance of them being lgbtq+. And imagine them having a ship to look up to. A ship that doesn’t portray gay relationships as a “joke”. And even better, Mike and Will are teenagers!!

Often, in film and television, queer ships are usually based around two adults. In fact, a lot of times they portray young teenagers being in a gay relationship as “gross.” They say that it’s too “mature”. That having a partner that’s the same gender as you is wrong, and that you need to be a little bit “older” because apparently being in a queer relationship is only for adults because queer relationships are just too “inappropriate.”

But then you have Mike and Will who are two 14 year old boys. Who aren’t stereotypically “gay” as the movies portray. They’re just normal teenage boys. And that’s how it SHOULD be portrayed. We need to stop portraying Lgbtq+ ships as “inappropriate” or “weird”. They’re just two teenage boys in love.

Remember when everyone found out Robin was lesbian after being straight baited? Yeah. The internet blew up. So take that and times it by ten thousand. That would be canon byler.

It’d be a huge step for the media. Unfortunately, we haven’t come that far with queer ships. It’s gotten better but there’s still a lot of steps to take. But having a huge show like stranger things have their two man boys be in a canon relationship and have it portrayed regularly, guys!! That would be huge!!

Imagine all the little kids getting to grow up with that. Or all the teenagers that are Mike and Will’s age struggling with their sexuality seeing these two boys who aren’t stereotypically anything be canonically in love. Like, that would be huge.

I know that if I grew up with a canon byler I would definitely have felt a lot more sure of my sexuality earlier on. So many kids would have a wonderful ship to look up to that isn’t fetishized or treated like it’s “weird.”

And the fact that it’d be the topic of every interview. Noah and Finn wouldn’t see the end of it. People would talk about it non stop. It’d be advertised on social media accounts, the duffers would talk about it, the stranger writers would talk about it. I mean, it’d be big!!

And yeah, it’s sad that a gay ship becoming canon would be revolutionary, but that’s just how the world is. We still haven’t progressed past that yet. And it’ll take awhile before having a gay shop isn’t a big thing.

I often see people say “if byler became canon then everybody would stop watching” which just ISN’T true.

They’d gain so many viewers. It’d be more popular than Mileven ever had been. Yes, Mileven has their cute moments, however at the end of the day, Milevens dynamic has been done before. Thats not to say bylers hasn’t, obviously a canon byler wouldn’t be the first. But it’d be the first big canon queer ship in awhile. Straight ships with mileven’s dynamic happen all the time.

And at the end of the day, ST isn’t a romance show. If Mileven didn’t end up being end game I don’t think many people would care. It wouldn’t be as big as people say it is. I feel like the fandom likes to think that Mileven rakes in all the money but that simply isn’t true. It’s a science fiction show at its core and the core viewers don’t watch for romance. If Mileven is what raked in all their viewers then season 2 wouldn’t have been as successful as it was, considering mike and el don’t even interact until the last episode of season 2. So I really think the fandom is just overreacting on that part. Yeah, people are gonna leave the fandom. Just how people left when stancy wasn’t endgame or when their favorite chatacter died or when something happened that they didn’t like. That’s just how life works. They’re gonna lose viewers regardless of what happens because not everyone will be happy with how season four plays out. But at the end of the day, it’s hot like ST is going to lose 25 million viewers because two 14 year olds weren’t endgame. It’s often easy to forget that the fandom doesn’t reflect ST’s viewership. The fandom takes up only a small percentage OF their viewership. So yeah, some fan accounts may deactivate, just like how a lot of bylers left the fandom after season 3. But it’s not like nobody’s going to watch the show, that’s absurd. Mileven isn’t their main cash cow. It isn’t even on the leader board of st’s main cash cows. If anything, Steve dying would make st lose more viewers than Mileven not being end game. And it’s been made more clear recently that a lot of people prefer Jopper over Mileven, especially with the ending of season 3. We gotta remember that, the FANDOM is mainly teenagers however stranger things main demographic and viewership is ADULTS. And I don’t see many 21+ year olds not watching the show because a ship almost 10 years younger than them wasnt end game. Most of st’s viewers don’t care about the romance

TLDR: canon byler would be huge for stranger things and would probably blow up the internet. It’d also be good commercially and financially for stranger things. Also having byler he canon would be so helpful to all the kids and teens and even adults out their struggling with their sexuality and would make so many lgbtq+ kids, teens, and adults feel seen and feel loved and feel validated. Over all, canon byler would do more GOOD then bad.

#byler #gay mike wheeler #gay will byers #stranger things #stranger things 4 #will byers #mike wheeler

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m-y-fandoms · 3 years

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COMMISSION: Joker/Akira/Ren x Reader Part 2

Part 1

This is gonna be many more parts... I can already tell

Word Count: 2.2k

SFW, SLOW BURN romance friends to lovers, gender neutral reader, anyone can enjoy it and place themselves as the reader!

- Admin Myah

You spent your entire free period up on that roof, hoping by some miracle that you weren’t crazy, that the group of second-year students that had seemingly vanished before your eyes were in fact pranking you, and upon seeing that you weren’t amused, would get tired of hiding and pop out, finishing the surprise. No such luck, however, and so you left, the second-period bell forcing your hand. Spending the first period of your day - a bit of free time meant for studying, finishing homework, or otherwise enriching yourself educationally - up on the roof and unaccounted for by any teachers was a bit risky already, and you were a decent enough student. There was no way you could just sit there all day, skipping the rest of your classes. Sighing, you resolved to just give up the hunt for your destined main character and by extension the group of potential new friends.

＊

Often after school, you headed to the library, which stayed open along with a select few other areas of Shujin for student use after the last bell rang. Today, however, you felt drawn back to that place, back to that rooftop where you’d seen Akira, Ryuji, and Ann disappear hours earlier. It just wasn’t sitting right with you; you felt a stirring in your soul, like a tiny voice in your head, a shimmering blue butterfly in your stomach. Lucky for you, the rooftop was also open, though you’d never really spent time there. Certain students, including another third-year you admired raised plants up there where the sun could reach them, while others simply came up there for the view or the breeze, some private space to study.

Today, the breeze was indeed blowing, and you sat there writing as it whistled past your ears, polishing up some plot points, scrawling down ideas for your protagonist straight from the imagination, since it seemed you wouldn’t be finding any real-life inspiration anytime soon. It was frustrating, writer’s block, and for the past month or so, it’s all you could do to write a single paragraph. You always found yourself lost in the pages of the novels you loved, and you could identify great writing, appreciate the artistry of another writer, but it was sometimes so hard to put your own thoughts down on the pages of your journal. Why was it so hard? You knew what real romance was. You knew which themes and cliches were overdone and unrealistic. You had a mature and healthy outlook on real relationships and could pick apart the stereotypical female protagonist who was strong and independent until she met the man who would break down her walls or the toxic bad boy who women loved on paper but would cry their eyes out over in real life. You’d read thousands of books and fan-fiction, listened to hundreds of audiobooks, watched tons of romance movies, so why, lately, was it not clicking?! Where was the disconnect between having thoughts and transcribing said thoughts down into your very own masterpiece? Fantasy came so easily to you, sci-fi, non-fiction essays for class, mysteries, research papers, but romance, the genre you loved the most, seemed to purposely elude you.

You were shaken out of your frazzled state when something caught your attention out of the corner of your eye. Shaking your head a bit to try and focus your vision, you looked over your shoulder to see that the black spot on the fringe of your blind spot was in fact actually there. You rubbed your eyes just to be sure, but there it was, a wavering black inky spot hovering in the air. Another appeared, then another, now red in color. You were beginning to feel insane for the second time that day, but rather safe than sorry, you quickly stood, shoving your work and pencils into your bag and shuffling away from the blobs, which were now oscillating and dancing around each other, phasing in and out of existence like a fisheye lens. This was a bit too freaky for your liking, and you were beginning to feel a frightening chill up your spine. The hairs on the back of your neck stood up, and you elected to put some kind of barrier of safety between yourself and the floating bubbles. Like any rational person, your mind was screaming “unknown situation: possible threat: run!” but again, that little butterfly in the pit of your guts was saying there was something worth staying for. So, running to the door to the roof, you swung it open, a ringing in your ear starting to buzz and chime. You closed it frantically, pressing your nose up against the small glass windows that allowed a limited view of the roof. A small gasp escaped your lips, and you instinctively grabbed onto your bag a bit tighter.

The red and black splotches began to dissipate and fade like some kind of glitch in reality, and three figures appeared like mist, like ghosts before beginning to solidify and slowly become tangible silhouettes. Then, as if some kind of magic ritual was coming to a close, the figures poofed into existence, and your brain processed the scene before you.

“Holy shit…” you whispered. There, clear as day were Sakamoto, Takamaki, and the new kid. They were just standing adjusting their clothes, stretching their arms and legs, situating their personal items. It was just then that you saw a little furry head poke up out of Akira’s school bag. Your harsh, analytical gaze softened a bit upon seeing the small black cat that appeared. Had he been carrying that cat around all day? Surely not, right? How would he keep it quiet and still? “What the…?” The inquisitive glare returned to your features when they began… speaking to the cat. It wasn’t the cute baby talk people often use with their pets, either. It was a full-on, serious conversation, and the cat was meowing back, clearly, in response to their statements.

It was a bit muffled by the thick door, but you could make out bits and pieces.

Metaverse? Palace. Shadows... treasure? Kamoshida? Great, that asshole, but what could he have to do with this? What even was this?

You were questioning everything you knew. You were wondering if the juice you had this morning at breakfast was spiked. There was no winning in this scenario, either you were crazy, or these kids were. You looked downward, contemplating your navel as your mind tried to make sense of the events of today. You glanced up again, trying to eavesdrop a little better, get some more detail. You took a step closer, trying to will the sound of their voices through the door to be just a little louder, just a little clearer, when Sakamoto suddenly pivoted, stretching and cracking his spine with a sigh.

“Gah!” You shouted out. His eyes met yours through the window and widened like a kid caught in the cookie jar. You jumped with a start, taking a cautionary step back and nearly tumbling down the stairs. It was a miracle you caught yourself in time, but your little outburst had definitely caught the attention of the group. Your cover was thoroughly blown. “Oh, no…” You cursed under your breath, spotting both Ann and Akira’s eyes on you now as well.

“Shit! Do you think they saw?” Ryuji’s hands flew to his hair, mussing and working out his frustrations on the dyed strands while simultaneously, Akira was already in motion, rushing toward the door to apprehend the unwelcome listener.

Your heartbeat sped up, and like a gazelle spotted by a lion, a fire was lit under you and you began to sprint, clumsily fumbling down the stairwell and onto the flat platform where the stairs rotated 90 degrees and continued downward. Inhaling sharply, your foot, nervous and supporting jelly-like legs, missed the final step. Your belongings, along with your body, spilled across the square, flat platform, and the door behind you slammed open.

“Hey!” Akira’s yell echoed through the stairwell, and your thoughts bounced off the walls just like his voice. Scrambling, you scooped only the essentials into your hands: your journal, the phone of course, a few homework binders, ditching the easily replaceable items like chewing gum and pencils. Taking to one scraped-up knee and ready to bolt, you felt a hand close upon your bicep and clamp down firmly. “Hey, hey… slow down.” Akira again, now gentler with his tone, spun you around to face him. You stood clutching your things to your chest like a life preserver. “I’m not gonna like… kill you or anything.” A breathy chuckle, and now he was on the platform next to you, scanning you up and down for injuries with his hands in his pockets. “So, uh… so don’t kill yourself by fallin’ down these stairs, huh?” He played off the tense feeling in the air with humor, but the sheer proximity of him, standing there in front of you mere inches away in the cramped space, it was like you could hear your blood pounding in your ears.

What was he thinking right now? Did he think you were some weirdo stalker? I mean, you’d just met him this morning and now you were watching him through a small window like a creep after school… after following him there. Wait, that wasn’t important right now! Was he going to kill you? He didn’t seem like the type of guy to do that, but then again, he didn’t seem like the type to phase in and out of existence either… neither did Ryuji and Ann… what were people with powers like that capable of?

Right now, you were just going to mind your business, and play it safe. It wasn’t worth getting mixed up with people who warp through a “metaverse” and talk to animals just for some good writing material, not if it turned out to be dangerous.

“Well…” you hesitated, “it’s none of my business, what I just saw, and I won’t tell anyone.” You breathed a little easier, tried to regain your composure, to not look too weak.

“So they did see! Awww, shit!” Ryuji’s head popped through the door, interrupting the uncomfortable conversation, and the hot air of the enclosed space was cut through by a gust of wind from the now open rooftop door.

“Now, just hold on, Ryuji,” Akira held out one hand to placate his rather temperamental friend.

“No, no really it’s fine that you talk to your… cat and just… vanish... and I’m sure it’s all fine and multiverse-y and…”

“Metaverse.” Akira corrected you with a small smile, bending down to pick up the rest of your scattered objects.

“Dude!” Ryuji ran a hand down his face in defeat.

“They saw us, no point in being tight-lipped,” he stood, handing them to you.

“Metaverse… right,” you took them, watching every move he made carefully. “Sorry, I’m… a bit more... eloquent in my writing,” you moved to the side, ready to sneak past and descend the rest of the stairs. Anything to get on with your day and escape this unbelievable situation. Akira shuffled, mirroring you and completely blocking the stairwell. There was something clever about him, something sharp and charismatic. He knew exactly what he was doing, what he wanted to achieve, and he knew how to calmly and smoothly execute his plans, unlike Sakamoto, who was far less… organized.

“Writing…?” He was keeping you locked into this conversation, as gently and amiably as he could, and you were not leaving until he was sure he could trust your word.

“Uh… yeah, that’s why I was up…” your eyes met his, quickly recoiling and looking toward the floor again, “...up on the roof. I was just looking for a quiet place to write.”

“What, uh, what kind of stuff do you write?” Ann had now joined Ryuji at the top of the stairs, leaving you feeling completely caged in. Ann threw Akira - who seemed like the leader of the small band of misfits - a desperate glance, a sort of look that seemed to ask: “Where are you going with this? Are we screwed?”

“It’s… it’s kind of private. It’s just… romance stuff. I don’t know, I do all kinds of different stuff, whatever I’m in the mood for.” Akira nodded, more to his friends than you, something you had a feeling you weren’t supposed to pick up on. He stuck his hand out flat, gesturing toward the rooftop behind you. You took the hint, heading a bit anxiously back up the stairs, Ryuji and Ann making way for you.

“You any good?” Akira followed behind you, and now on the rooftop once again, the cool air felt freeing, less constricting, though his question felt a bit insulting, a bit nosey.

“I don’t know… I’ve been told I am…” The three friends took a seat in areas that seemed very familiar to them, like they’d been up here warping in and out of this realm many times before. Now settled into place, Ann spoke up, obviously as apprehensive as you were:

“Well do you… do you think…?” Her high-pitched voice seemed to be hesitant, not yet confident in her next words, not sure if they were all on the same page.

“Yeah, my thoughts exactly,” Akira smirked as if the three had one mind. He turned to you, trying to make eye contact that you vehemently avoided. “How would you feel about helping us out?”

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classywhump · 3 years

Text

Is Lady!whump Misogynist?

So I logged into this account to see that the discourse of the hour is “whether or not lady!whump is misogynist”. As a lady and a whumper, I think my conclusion on that matter is predictable, but I just wanted to offer a bit of reasoning as to why I think lady!whump is not misogynist.

In order to explain in depth I have to go back in time pretty far, in fact, all the way to the time of Shakespeare. At that time, by the way, “whether women have souls” was a question very much open for public discussion.

At that time a lot of literature and romances by both men and women was focused on proving that women actually do have feelings that are both as deep and complex as men’s. See Shakespeare’s female characters, whose romantic interest in men often drives the plot, as opposed to being only the other way around, which was standard at the time. In fact, the Twelfth Night is a great example of this, as Viola has to disguise herself as a man to get close to her true love and be able to discuss with him the fact that women can have feelings just as much as men do.

This seemed to sink in, and by the time we get to the 19th century people are all about that delicate feminine sensibility, in fact it’s already a bit of a cliche. We’ve gone from “do women have feelings?” to “women have way more feelings than men, and it’s gross”. Because there was still prevalent misogyny, of course, acknowledging that women have feelings meant feelings were increasingly being considered feminine, but women’s feelings were also silly and sentimental, and women were simply too delicate, they could perhaps perish of a strong emotion. What we might think of as lady!whump was actually pretty common at this time but it was also considered cliched even then because it was always pure girls too good for this world dying tragically. Sometimes I have to go back this far to read any good lady!whump (though only the ones written by women are any good) because of what happened after that. 2nd wave feminism hit around the 1960′s and the already somewhat tired, disliked damsel in distress tropes fell into HARD scorn. Feelings = feminine and feminine = weak. And weakness is bad. After all, a woman showing weakness validates the old sexist stereotypes about women. Therefore women in fiction are not to be vulnerable, or have silly old FEELINGS because we’re STRONG, like MEN. Right around this time we have the birth of the female action hero. The female action hero is empowered and sexy. She’s not happy, but she’s not allowed to be sad either. She’s always on top of everything. If she can’t talk her way out of a situation she knocks the bad men out with her four inch heels. If she’s ever captured she’s not allowed to show fear, if she’s hurt she’s not allowed to show pain, and she never needs someone else to rescue her-- she’s about to break out of her bonds and kick ass. She was never in distress, she was capable of escaping the entire time. If someone asks about her wounds, she scoffs-- she doesn’t need their pity.

She’s also completely unrelatable. I know it’s been said that women suffer enough in real life, and fiction is glorifying violence against women or something like that. I can see instances where the death and suffering of women is used primarily for shock value. I’ve always found those extremely unsatisfying. The difference, I think, is that whump, specifically, uses suffering to serve the character, rather than to serve only the plot. When the suffering of women is used to serve only the plot I find it utterly uninteresting. When it’s used to serve the character it’s humanizing and relatable.

Even when I was a child and not aware of tropes, I noticed that even the most distressed damsels were never portrayed as a man would be in the same situation. We’re never locked in the tower with her, we’re on the outside looking in. A woman’s death is used to show off how dangerous the monster of the week is-- and that’s fine on occasion, because the monster has to kill somebody, 50/50 chance. But does a woman get an obi-wan moment? Are women applauded for their courage in the face of fear? Can they crumble and be rebuilt without being faulted by the narrative for weakness? Is this you? Not a hypothetical ideal invulnerable fearless you, but the real you.

I think lady!whump is important for a couple of reasons.

1. When men suffer and die in fiction they often do so nobly, admirably and for their own character development. Lady!whump allows women to have the same opportunity to see themselves this way in fiction.

2. If women suffer, they are allowed to want to be comforted. I’m allowed to want to be comforted. Maybe Scarlett Johansson doesn’t want your pity, but I am not Scarlett Johansson. The Strong(tm) Woman(tm) is not even my role model. It’s precisely because women are hurt in real life that we need lady!whump that allows women to see themselves in fully realized, vulnerable characters capable of strength but also in need of comfort. ~

#ftr Karen Page meets all my standards for female characters #whump #lady!whump #meta #ladywhump #whump meta

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the-ghost-king · 3 years

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One thing that always bugs me is how much leeway straight ships are given while if a lgbt ship isn't perfectly unproblematic then it's devilspawn and shouldn't exist. I think that relationships shouldn't always have to be unproblematic or perfect and fiction is all about exploring different dynamics and stories even if they are unhealthy. Historically cis/het/able bodied romances have been given so much room to be as creative as they like, Romeo and Juliet, Dracula, not to mention so many popular tropes that would be toxic in real life. Recently though there has also been more pushback against straight ships.

It's sad because while yeah, be critical of the things you consume, fiction is about exploring concepts without real life consequences (as long as its aimed at the appropriate demographic and not children), but a lgbt ship needs to be infallable or else it's bad representation and you end up really limiting the amount of stories you can tell. People are often complex and messy and relationships can sometimes turn toxic or a partner can overstep a boundary, but not letting that happen because it's bad rep ultimately just ends up with people getting less interesting and diverse stories and let development in their relationship.

One thing that always bugs me is how much leeway straight ships are given while if a lgbt ship isn't perfectly unproblematic then it's devilspawn and shouldn't exist.

Yes absolutely anon! I’m very upset at seeing caricatures instead of characters so often, often times they’re very one dimensional since they’re not allowed to be a “bad” character or bad person in any way since the character has to exist as “representation”, which makes them about their sexuality/gender, rather than making their sexuality/gender a part of them. Which is kind of the whole thing that were supposed to be against, marketing a character for their sexuality/gender, rather than marketing a book who happens to have a character of a certain gender/sexuality or just be in a certain relationship.

A book I’ve seen a lot of criticism with this issue is “We are Totally Normal” in which there’s a story about the main character, Nandan, who is struggling with popularity, internalized homophobia, and a variety of other issues. He is not always the best person because of this, sometimes using people to his own wants or advantages, or rejecting then accepting then rejecting his queer identity so on and on. That’s led to a lot of criticism of the book, because not only does it paint a queer character with toxic personality traits, but also a character who doesn’t have an easy journey (if you can even call it a journey?) accepting his sexuality.

Historically cis/het/able bodied romances have been given so much room to be as creative as they like, Romeo and Juliet, Dracula, not to mention so many popular tropes that would be toxic in real life.

Personally I think it's important to be conscious of stereotypes/issues affecting marginalized groups, however I don't believe that you should never follow through or create something on the basis of not portraying a certain individual in a bad light- that bad light is not supposed to be a reflection of the whole community that character is from. I think if someone sometimes falls into a negative stereotype with their media it's more important to consider how they execute that rather than the fact that they did it.

I seen a post recently talking about how characters can fall into clichés or “bad tropes” so long as it is a part of active choice on their end and is self-fulfilled. The post (which I can’t find) specifically talked about how never killing off any marginalized characters was also bad, and served as a deficit to those characters; in my example I’ll use the bury your gays trope. If the gay character isn’t being killed in a way that’s framed as a punishment for their sexuality, you’re probably doing okay. The issue is that in certain storylines where the possibility of dying is really high provides stakes the character has to beat, which causes the audience to empathize more with their choices, and care more fully about the character. If this character dies in an act of saving the world or something similar, like saving the life of a sibling, etc, as an active choice on the part of the character- you’ve subverted the stereotype by giving the character the power of their own narrative back. In order to make a more complex 3D character sometimes you do have to play into “negative” stereotypes of commonalities, not only does this do more for the message of the story (See how “Love, Simon” portrayed a stereotypical cis able bodied white male as “just like anyone else”, which plays into a 2D personality for the characters, but also only allows Simon such a high level of comfort in his sexuality because he checks so many of the boxes for an acceptable member of society he’s ‘allowed’ to be gay... (X)), not only does this do more for the message of the story, but it also has the potential to increase empathy in an audience for people they might otherwise write off as “weird” or similar.

Recently though there has also been more pushback against straight ships.

As for the rising instances of this with straight couples, in which they have to be depicted holding a healthy and stable relationship- it becomes toxic as well. There’s a modern problem online with toxic positivity, and also in the idea that a relationship has to be healthy or else it’s “wrong” has a lot to do with current purity policing issues in fandom specific spaces. Just because someone ships something that doesn’t mean they want that same thing in real life, and just because someone ships something “bad” they don’t constantly have to renounce what they ship by discussing their knowledge of how harmful it is. It’s good to be aware of whether or not a relationship being shipped is healthy or harmful if enacted in real life, but it’s not necessary to constantly discuss that, to discuss that in equal measure as shipping the ship, or even to discuss it at all if the person shipping doesn’t want to.

People are often complex and messy and relationships can sometimes turn toxic or a partner can overstep a boundary, but not letting that happen because it's bad rep ultimately just ends up with people getting less interesting and diverse stories and let development in their relationship.

Yes! And the issue that happens here is also that by depicting a “perfect” relationship, you end up once again removing characterization from the people in the relationship. This leads to certain relationships/characters being put on a pedestal, and if being done to a marginalized character becomes tokenizing.

There’s also something to be said about some criticisms of media that I’ve seen going around, and some communities focused on criticism, which pass the BITE model testing for “is it a cult?” - which is extremely, extremely concerning.

#asks #anon #notpjo #fandom tokenization #fandom purity #fandom crit #ghost's posts

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clarste · 4 years

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Sorry if you've been asked this explicitly before, but what are your thoughts on Penguin Logistics, specifically in comparison to the other organisations/factions in Arknights? I recently started and managed to grab everyone within a few pulls, except Sora (and I guess Mostima, unfortunately.) and I think they're easily my favourites. Would love to hear your thoughts. Cheers.

No one's ever asked me that, but they probably should have since I've gone all-in on Penguin Logistics ever since I pulled Exusiai and Croissant early on. I then proceeded to never pull any of the others, forcing me to buy Texas and Sora in the shop and much later dump all of my accumulated gacha currency getting Mostima. Anyway, my goal in life is to use the entire team and also max them all out. PL4life!

Anyway, my initial impression of them was that they were the cast of a 90s anime like Cowboy Bebop or Bubblegum Crisis (...Tokyo 2040). Like, they're an eclectic band of hyper-competent misfits working for a small company operating at the edge of the law. “Penguin Logistics” itself sounds like a euphemism for being, like, smugglers or something. "We'll get your package where it needs to go, no questions asked." Then Code of Brawl came out and I was totally right except they are also very dumb in a funny way. Like, they accidentally got into a turf war with the mafia, but apparently that's just business as usual.

Anyway I want to talk about each of them individually now so apologies if this starts rambling.

Texas is pretty clearly the main character of Penguin Logistics, and you can tell because she's the hub of their whole relationship wheel on the in-game chart.

She's also kinda Spike from Cowboy Bebop, although less laid-back I guess. She's a former mafia assassin on the run from her past, but her past won't leave her alone. Incidentally, "mafia" in this case refers to the various wolf families from the fantasy Italy equivalent in this setting, although they make some interesting comparisons to wolf packs in the profiles. However, Texas's family is dead, which should make her a "lone wolf" that will supposedly never have another place to belong. Except PL itself is proof that that's wrong.

Theoretically she’s just the team’s driver, but because PL is always getting into ridiculous anime fights she’s also good at that part too, using dozens of little... lightsabers(?) that she throws around willy nilly. It would probably look super-cool to see in action, except this is not that kind of game so we’ll just have to wait for the anime or whatever. It’s noted in her profile that her fighting style shows that she unconsciously sees as the only purpose of a weapon as being to kill, and heck, she’s right.

She's cool-headed, adaptable, and the serious one you can always count on, but she's not above getting into friendly(?) brawls just to take out her frustrations out.

Her name comes from the extinct subspecies of Texas Wolf.

Next up is Exusiai, the angel who loves nothing more than guns, god, rock and roll, and apple pie. In that order. In other words, a stereotypical American. Even though she's from the fantasy-Vatican. Basically she's a cheerful, friendly, laid-back person who never really fit in back home where people are expected to be more serious and orderly. Not enough to be, like, shunned or anything but she's always been a weirdo. All angels have guns though, that’s like standard issue. She wishes she could have more though.

She's also super religious, but interestingly never brings it upon her own. I feel like she probably realizes how uncomfortable it can make people who don't share that religion to suddenly bring up Jesus all the time in casual conversation. Like, she's not ashamed of it or anything, but she won't shove it in your face either. Personally, I find that a pretty cool characterization for a fictional religious person.

Which is also sort of a hint that beneath her goofy exterior she's a thoughtful, deliberate person who doesn’t let anyone in by accident. Texas notes that they're exact opposites in this respect. She also has an extremely interesting relationship with the next person.

Her name comes from the Greek word for the order of angels in Christianity often translated as "Powers."

Mostima... where to start...? I guess first of all she’s a fallen angel, apparently because she pointed her gun at her own kind under MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES. Probably related to the whole war in Kazdel thing, where many of the other MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES in this game took place. Long story short, stuff happened in the war, she pointed her gun at another angel, Exusiai’s sister is dead under mysterious circumstances, and Mostima gave up her gun and now wanders the world delivering long-distance packages for PL. But that’s mostly an excuse for to be alone as much as humanly possible. She can also use time magic because I dunno why not. MYSTERIOUS.

She’s friendly enough, talkative even, and has a hobby of visiting new places and trying out the local food, etc, but her real defining trait is that she just doesn’t need other people. She’s explicitly aromantic, saying she has no interest in love, but she also has no need for friends or family or apparently coworkers either. Because of the way the world is, she spends most of her time driving through the endless wastelands between cities, with nothing but a truck, some packages, and her thoughts. There’s something... romantic about that (in the other sense of the word), but even she admits that the romance of watching the sun set in a desert with no one else around for hundreds of kilometers gets old after a while.

I feel like I should note that she has a very “best friend of her big sister” relationship with Exusiai, by which I mean she’s known Exusiai since Exusiai was a kid and to her Exusiai will always be that kid. Also Exusiai only joined PL in the first place to hunt her down and get answers about her sister’s death, but Mostima just laughs it off and leaves town for another year or five.

Her name is probably a corruption of Mastema, a rather infamous fallen angel in mythology.

Croissant is... well, to be honest everyone past this point is more of a minor character. Which is actually a weird thing to say since none of these people are actually major characters in Arknights, but I guess these are less important people even within the group?

Croissant’s gimmick is that she’s always trying to make money by selling stuff. I guess she’s a merchant? But not, like, a formal one who runs a shop, she just gets her hands on stuff through her connections and sells it. But in like, a friendly down-to-earth way, it’s even said that she lives paycheck to paycheck. She’s a girl trying to get by with a second job, I guess is what I’m saying.

Team-wise, she’s the muscle of the group, being a minotaur and all. She lifts the heavy packages and also smashes things with her MAGNETIC HAMMER which I don’t know why I find that name so amusing. Gameplay-wise her special move can knock all the enemies around her halfway across the map and I smile every time she does it.

Her profile notes that she’s really just living her best life as a normal-ish person, and that helps make everyone around her feel normal, and that’s important in a setting where half the people around you are dying of magical cancer (no one in PL is Infected though).

Her name comes from the French word for Crescent and also a type of Pastry. Leaning more towards Pastries in my opinion.

Sora is an idol singer. Because, to be perfectly honest, what ragtag band of misfits is complete without an idol singer? She can’t really fight, but I guess Texas must have saved her life at some point or something because she bullied both her agency and PL into letting her work there part time. And also she is obsessed with Texas. I guess saying it like that makes her sound kind of annoying, but she really isn’t, she’s just an earnest girl chasing her dreams.

There’s also this interesting thing where a lot of her basic information is censored by her agency in order to protect her privacy (”do not dox the idol”). Even including her race. She presents as a wolf, but her promoted E2 art has her as a rabbit, which raises some interesting questions that don’t really get answered.

Her name comes from the Japanese word for Sky.

Lappland is not really part of PL, but she’s PL-adjacent enough to be worth mentioning here. Basically she’s an old acquaintance of Texas from back in their mafia days, and she’s obsessed with hunting her down and... fighting her? Killing her? But in, like, a sexual way? She’s kind of a crazy psychopathic killer. Maybe. She can also be very calm and polite when she wants to be, although with a taste for gallows humor. That just makes her scarier because you don’t know when/if she’ll snap.

There are two kind-of explanations for her being like that: A) her family is dead and she has no “pack”. As a wolf, the stress of living without a pack is supposed to be maddening. B) She’s infected with Oripathy (magic cancer) and there are crystals growing in her nervous system. Which... can’t be good. The answer is probably a combination of both.

But the most important thing about Lappland is her base skill and how it interacts with Texas. Basically, in your base there are various jobs you can assign people to and different characters get different bonuses for them. Most people in Penguin Logistics get bonuses for working the Trading Depot, for obvious reasons. Lappland gets a “bonus” where if she’s in the depot at the same time as Texas, she loses morale slower but doesn’t actually get any bonus to productivity. Meanwhile, Texas gets a bonus to productivity when Lappland is around, but loses morale way faster. In other words, Lappland is slacking off and making Texas so uncomfortable that she works twice as hard just to get the job over with so she can leave. This is their relationship as defined by game mechanics.

Texas also has another bonus where she loses morale slower if Exusiai is there, which completely cancels out the penalty she gets from Lappland. In other worlds, Exusiai being there too calms her nerves enough that she doesn’t feel the need to immediately escape.

Oh yeah, I forgot to talk about Emperor, who’s the owner of Penguin Logistics. He’s a world-famous rapper wearing a Tupac shirt and also literally immortal.

#not touhou #arknights #penguin logistics

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fuckyeahwarriorwomen · 4 years

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Copy of article below thge cut, should the original ever go away

Leading up to the 20th anniversary of the March 10, 1997 premiere of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Yahoo TV is celebrating “Why Genre Shows Matter” and the history of how these shows have tackled universal themes (e.g. how much high school sucks) and broader social issues.

Perhaps because they seek to imagine the world that’s possible rather than the world that is, genre shows have a long tradition of striving to expand the horizons of what’s possible for women on television. Within the realm of space operas alone, there’s a direct line that connects Lieutenant Uhura’s prominent perch amongst the Enterprise‘s largely male bridge crew on the original Star Trek to The Expanse‘s fiercely independent engineer, Naomi Nagata. And each point along this continuum helps inform the next: commanding officers like Babylon 5‘s Susan Ivanova and Voyager‘s Kathryn Janeway are linked by a devotion to duty, if not necessarily temperament, while Killjoys‘ scrappy bounty hunter, Yala, could have been a student of Firefly‘s highly-skilled soldier, Zoë Washburne. On this International Women’s Day, we celebrate the accomplishments of one such influential intergalactic heroine.

Her name is Aeryn. Officer Aeryn Sun if we’re being formal, one of the interstellar outlaws at the center of Farscape, the wildly ambitious Australian/American space serial that ran from 1999 to 2003 on the Sci-Fi Channel. Bred from birth to be a loyal Sebacean soldier in the Peacekeeper army that patrols her section of the galaxy, Officer Sun switches careers after inadvertently ending up aboard a living spaceship named Moya that’s occupied by a motley crew of jailbreakers. These convicts-turned-comrades include towering warrior Ka D’Argo, blue-hued priestess Zhaan, flatulent deposed despot Rygel XVI, and John Crichton, an Earth-born astronaut who is very, very far from home. Created by Rockne S. O’Bannon and produced by The Jim Henson Company, Farscape enjoyed a bumpy four-season stateside run that ended prematurely when the network declined to fund a fifth and final year. (Sci-Fi later aired, but didn’t finance, a wrap-up miniseries, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, in 2004.)

The original cast of ‘Farscape’ (Credit: Everett Collection)

One of the joys of Farscape is that its defining house style is the lack of a defining house style. Episodes can range from standalone homages to body-switching comedies and vintage Loony Tunes cartoons to densely plotted multi-part stories that don’t conclude with conventionally happy endings. The primary constant amidst this narrative and tonal juggling is the turbulent love story between Aeryn Sun and John Crichton. Revisited today, Farscape stands as something of a bridge between eras of space opera, linking the last wave of episodic space adventures like Star Trek: Voyager and Stargate: SG-1 to the intensely emotional serialized narratives that later drove Battlestar Galactica and its ilk. Aeryn is both a traditional and transformational figure as well; raised to be an impersonal enforcer in the Imperial Stormtrooper mold, she comes to live out a promise that John makes to her in the very first episode: “You can be more.”

“Oh, I’ve got chills down my arm,” says Aeryn’s alter ego, Claudia Black, as she reflects on the character and those prophetic words nearly two decades later. “Her evolution as an individual takes off in an extraordinary way [after that].” Over the course of Yahoo TV’s hour-long conversation with the Australian actress, it’s clear that she does regard Aeryn as an individual unto herself, one who took on a life that sometimes superseded the actress’s own. “I was always happy to hand the character off,” Black says. “I would say [to the producers], ‘If I’m going in the wrong direction then please find someone to serve Aeryn, please. Because she deserves to have the full love of a person who can give you what you need.’ She was honestly such a privilege to play, and I never abused that privilege.”

And Black very nearly didn’t get that privilege. The role had already been cast when she first auditioned for Farscape, but the creative team encouraged her to read for Aeryn anyway. That reading later led to a screen test opposite Tennessee-born Ben Browder, who would be playing John Crichton. (Interestingly, Browder’s casting is, in part, what opened the door to Black inheriting the role from the English actress who had originally been chosen as Aeryn. “Because of the Australian co-production agreement, if they brought in a lead actor from America, the second lead had to be Australian,” Black explains. “So thank god for our union!”) Immediately recognizing the crackling onscreen chemistry between them, Browder pushed hard for her to land the role over network skepticism. “I was a controversial choice for sure,” Black says now. “I was just lucky in the end.”

Whatever the circumstances of how she got the role, Black climbed aboard Moya with strong ideas about how to play Aeryn. Superficially, the character is part of the wave of warrior women that swept through genre shows in the ’90s and early ’00s, whose ranks included Xena, Buffy, and even Cleo of Cleopatra 2525 fame. But as conceived by O’Bannon and carried forward by executive producer David Kemper, who became a driving creative force behind the show, Aeryn cuts against that archetype as well. Unlike Xena, she doesn’t necessarily relish battle; it’s something that’s been programmed into her. (Although, as Aeryn memorably remarks in The Peacekeeper Wars: “Shooting makes me feel better!“) She also reverses the arc traversed by Buffy and Cleo, which begins with them in places of perceived weakness — as a cheerleader and exotic dancer, respectively — and leads towards empowerment.

Because of her militaristic upbringing, Aeryn starts from a place of fierce strength. Her journey over the lifespan of the show, then, becomes about softening what Black describes as Aeryn’s “jagged edges” without surrendering her agency. “I’ve always loved science fiction because of the way it affords us an opportunity to look at humanity from an outsider’s perspective,” Black says. “And Aeryn really gets to experience it firsthand the best way that humans can, which is through love, in all of its forms. When I look at humanity, and my own life, we have to break before we can grow. That’s really what happened with Aeryn; she became stronger with softer edges.” (For the record, Aeryn may start out as a superior fighter to Buffy, but Black says that Sarah Michelle Gellar would easily mop the floor with her in real life. “Sarah has a black belt in karate, and I have two left feet! I always felt like a bit of an imposter [as Aeryn] just on the physical front. If I could push the reset button, I’d go back and get good at some form of martial art.”)

But that stronger-to-softer arc is also more treacherous to navigate than a traditional empowerment story, flirting, as it does, with the fanboy-friendly stereotype of the buttoned-up ice queen whose resolve (and inhibitions) melt when love, generally in the form of a strapping male hero, comes her way. The risk of falling headlong into that tired trope is something Farscape had to deal with throughout its run, especially as the core of the show was always the romance between John and Aeryn.

And while that romance takes a number of unexpected twists and turns — most boldly in a Season 3 storyline that saw Aeryn committing herself fully to a cloned version of Crichton, only to see him die and then have to re-learn how to love the original John — it ultimately culminates with two staples of a standard love story: a marriage proposal and a pregnancy. “It seemed pretty clear to me that Rockne’s intention in the pilot was that this was going to be a love story for the ages,” Black says. Not only that, but it was a love story penned by a largely male writing staff who had their own opinions about how to depict Aeryn’s gradual acceptance of Crichton’s love that sometimes ran counter to Black’s feelings. “I recall moments where they wanted me to be more vulnerable with Aeryn, and I didn’t want to be because I didn’t think it was time and I didn’t think she was ready,” she says. “But it wasn’t my place to say.”

Nevertheless, she persistently found ways to make her voice heard, whether it was by talking one-on-one with specific writers or her co-star, who was equally eager to avoid certain genre show clichés. Black recalls one instance early on in the show’s run when Browder actively pushed back against Sci-Fi’s directive that John Crichton demonstrate the same sex drive as James T. Kirk. “They wanted Crichton to have an alien girl of the week. Ben put his foot down and said, ‘No, he’s not that kind of guy. This isn’t the story I want to tell.’ And on my side I was saying, ‘Yeah, what does that say about Aeryn if she’s going to fall in love with a guy [like that]?’ We wanted to investigate and have them experience the more positive aspects of attraction, as well as what’s worth fighting for and what’s worth dying for,” she says. “Maybe the show would have continued longer if we’d been able to please the network! They know what they’re going to need in order to keep [viewers] interested and tuning in. But we’re very proud of what we managed to make regardless, because of those choices.”

The ongoing battle that Black personally waged throughout Farscape‘s run was ensuring that Aeryn maintained control over her own body. In the genre shows of her era, the female leads were stronger and savvier than ever, and that translated into fashion choices that expressed their own body confidence and sexuality. Xena rode into battle in a heaving breastplate, while Buffy fought vampires in halter tops and Relic Hunter‘s Sydney Fox always donned a tight tank top before exploring some ancient tomb. But flashing cleavage, leg, and midriff also made those characters desirable pin-ups for the male audience courted by networks and advertisers. (Farscape added its own version of a pin-up type midway through the first season in the form of Chiana, a grey-skinned con artist with a plunging neckline and a voracious sexual appetite.)

But those fashions didn’t make sense for a soldier fighting in an army where men and women’s bodies were interchangeable. In fact, Black remembers reading a very specific direction to the makeup department in the production notes for the pilot. “When I take my Peacekeeper helmet off [for the first time], the note read in big print, ‘She looks masculine.’ They thickened my eyebrows — which are already thick! — and shaded my face in very minimal makeup. All of the on-set gallery images of me in the first season are with that very masculine makeup.”

Aeryn in her ‘masculine’ Season 1 appearance (Credit: Everett Collection)

By Season 2, though, Aeryn’s appearance underwent a noticeable change; her hair got longer and straighter, and her Peacekeeper uniform gave way to outfits that walked a line between practical and revealing. Black, who describes herself as a feminist, agreed to these cosmetic changes as she felt they were part of a “natural progression” for Aeryn. “I was honoring where she had come from at the same time having to find a way to let her grow into whatever it is she was going to become,” she says. (This clip from Farscape‘s aforementioned Looney Tunes-inspired episode, “Revenging Angel,” neatly summarizes — and satirizes — the female body types commonly featured on genre shows that Aeryn deliberately defies.)

Already objectively beautiful, Aeryn’s sexuality continued to emerge as she grew into her new self. Even so, Black could sense it wasn’t emerging quickly enough to satisfy certain expectations. “I felt that I was being pushed to show more flesh than was necessary,” she admits, pointing to one incident in the show’s fourth season where it was written into the script that Aeryn would sit poolside in a bikini. “I just said, ‘I will get in a bikini for you if it makes sense, but this woman’s world is falling apart.’ It was the last thing I thought Aeryn would do [in that moment]. It felt really frivolous and superficial to me.” (Black had already donned a bikini to play pregnant Aeryn in a hallucinatory scene in the Season 4 premiere. “They not only had me in a bikini, but they gave me a pregnant belly as well, which is really hard to pull off and make it look naturalistic,” she says.)

Black remembers shooting down an even more egregious bit of flesh-flashing in an earlier episode. As an international production, Farscape frequently shot extra scenes for certain ad-free European markets that would fill the time normally allotted for commercials. The cast referred to these filler sequences as “Euro scenes,” and they rarely involved big story or character beats. According to Black, this particular episode dispatched D’Argo and Aeryn on a planetside mission, and the writers cobbled together a Euro scene that she describes as “absurd.” “They said, ‘Let’s have a scene where we cut to them by a lake, and Aeryn turns and sees a bunch of soldiers across the lake. Aeryn takes off her clothes, swims across the lake, and fights these soldiers completely naked, then comes back to D’Argo and off they go.'”

In later seasons, Aeryn naturally progressed towards more revealing fashion choices (Credit: Everett Collection)

“There were so many things about it that were so bizarre,” she continues. “I said, ‘You know what, please explain this to me, how this honestly can fit in.’ In the end, they just said, ‘All right, fine — we won’t do it.’ That’s what I felt I was having to haggle for a lot of the time: my right to keep my clothes on until it was appropriate. I’ve always felt as an actor — and I’m sure other females have felt like this as well — that when you sign on the dotted line and enter the business that somehow you’ve given your body away as a piece of property, and you spend the rest of your career haggling for pieces of it back.” And the actress credits Browder with backing her up in her fight for Aeryn to be in full control of her own femininity and, by extension, her destiny. “Aeryn is really as feminist as I am, but she’s nothing without Crichton, which is an interesting statement to make,” she says. “So as much as we praise Aeryn, we must give full credit to Crichton and to Ben for shaping him the way that he did. It’s the space that he gives her. He’s such an exquisite champion of her growth and development, that it becomes possible for her to grow to her full size.”

In the 13 years since the concluding Peacekeeper Wars miniseries, rumors have occasionally flown about Farscape‘s return. At one point, there was talk of a webisode series following John and Aeryn’s child, D’Ago Sun-Crichton, but funding never came to fruition. (The show did continue in comic book form for a time, but publication ceased circa 2011.) Black, whose recent credits include stints on The CW genre shows Containment and The Originals, has no updates on any future revivals, and jokes that if Aeryn and Crichton ever do return, they’ll be “tired, ornery, and not really wanting another battle.”

Claudia Black as Dahlia on ‘The Originals’ (Credit: Annette Brown/The CW)

In a way, though, Aeryn’s larger battle has already been won. One of the breakout characters on Battlestar Galactica — which premiered in December 2003, nine months after Farscape‘s series finale — was Kara “Starbuck” Thrace, who displays some of the same steely spine, and jagged edges, of Officer Sun. And today’s genre TV landscape is populated with women who, consciously or not, reflect Aeryn’s assertiveness, independence, and refusal to conform to societal (or genre) norms of appearance or attitude, whether it’s Orphan Black‘s Helena, Sense8‘s Nomi, or Jessica Jones.

For this Scaper, she lives on off-screen as well. When my wife and I learned that we’d be having a daughter, we thought about all the things we wanted for her life. To know that she, and she alone, is in control of her body. To be strong in the face of injustice. To be confident in her own power. And to know that when she chooses to give her heart to another person, that person will be her champion, and give her the space to grow to her full size. And so we picked a name that, for us, would embody all of our hopes and dreams for the individual she’s becoming with each passing year.

Her name is Aeryn.

#warrior women #aeryn sun #claudia black #farscape #feminism

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cucullas · 4 years

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Mudarra González: a mixed medieval hero

I’m apparently doing a series on Spanish Romances (Spain medieval and renaissance anonymous folk ballads), usually my favorites ones are about love, family or everyday life. I’m not very much into the epics of killing infidels, El Cid and The Song of Roland got it covered. That’s why I initially was not attracted to the Song of the Seven Princes of Lara.

I was so so SO wrong. This story has it all, petty family squabbles, completly disproportinionate reaction and my mixed bastard main boy: Mudarra Gonzalez. On the realm of medieval fiction where the main concern is how many infidels The Heroic Christian Knight can kill, Mudarra is a Moor, he is the Heroe That Was Promised and he is out for revenge.

The petty story: family drama and no Mudarra yet

Before I start a little bit of story, as you might know the Iberian Peninsula, was partially controlled by Arab and Berber Muslims rulers. From mighty cultured caliphates to dying city-kingdoms, this period called Al-Andalus went from 700 to 1492. During this time Christian kingdoms of Spain had to live with their Muslim neighbours and very often enemies.

In these context our story starts, a Christian Knight, Gonzalo Gustios is the ruler of Salas, he is vasall of the Count Garcia Fernandes and is marries to Doña Sancha. He had a good life and is a not getting any younger but that’s ok cause he got 7 valiant sons to suceed him. They all have names of prowesses... but that’s not that important cause they all die.

Yeah, because you see they had a fight with their aunt Doña Lambra (wife of their mom’s brother Rodrigo de Lara): honor was insulted... A pepper filled with blood was trown and someone menaced to cut a skirt above the knee and those are clearly irreparables offenses so Gonzalo Gonzalez the younger Prince killed a man over the pepper and Doña Lambra promised to revenge.

Rodrigo, Doña Lambra husband them betrayed his nephews giving the enemy information about their battle plans. They all die. His father is captured but pardoned by Almanzor. While in captivity Gonzalo is asked to recognize the heads of some important Christian the Moor army just killed... its of course his 7 kids and he mad with grief. Long story short he sleeps with Almanzor sister, she gets pregnant, he is later release and goes back to his wife.

All the Spanish medieval gore we deserve

Saddly he is too old for revenge and Doña Lambra is a close family member to the ruling Count. In many version Gonzalo is later disable and very weak by pain or captivity/war. Who could save us now?

Mudarra, bastard extraordinaire

Now let’s talk about Mudarra the first time we see him he is showed playing chess a stereotypical oriental game and talking with the also Muslim king of Segura. He has a great position in court but when he is insulted as “hijo de nadie/ Nobody son” he decides to go search for his father.

Antonio Tempesta, a Renaissance Italian illsutrator doing his best to represent a Moor medieval armyhe went from pseudo-Turkish clearly (Mudarra taking leave of his mother)

From Mudarra POV it’s like leaving idk Camelot/King’s Landing/a US middle class family to go and meet your dad a disable owner of a rundown farm in a backwards land. But that’s ok, Mudarra does his best is like

“Nice to met you Sir Gonzales, I’m your son”

“I’ve literally never seen this kid. No way it’s mine”

And this fools no one specially not his wife Doña Sancha because A) Mudarra looks exactly like Gonzalo Gonzalez his late bro and B) In some version Gonzalo Gustios actually gave Mudarra mother a ring.

Gustios is afraid his wife will be mad but Doña Sancha is no mad at all. Specially when Mudarra promise to avenge his late older brothers. She acts as the coolest step-mom and they even do a ceremony so Mudarra becomes his father legitimate heir.

Personally I like Mudarra a lot, he is much more measured that his brothers: he takes time to explain he is without getting mad, ask for justice to the Count (in some version) and is even courteous to his enemy. I bet he wouldn’t kill an unharmed servant over a pepper but that’s speculation on my part.

Yes, he also has a manly revenge speech at the end:

“Tú los vendistes, traidor, en el val de Araviana / mas, si Dios a mí me ayuda, aquí dejarás el alma / vengare a mis hermanos, los siete infantes de Lara [...] Morirás aquí traidor / a las maños de Mudarra”

“You sold them you traitor, in the Araviana valley / with God’s help here you will lay your soul / I will avenge my brothers, the Seven Princes of Lara. [...] You die here traitor, at the hands of Mudarra”

Then of he goes to kill Rodrigo de Lara. He suceeds, because he is our hero but also because Rodrigo won’t be able to pact with the Moors like he did the 1st time because they won’t risk getting into Mudarra and Almanzor bad side. Doña Lambra in some version is burnt but in most “her punishement was left to God” because as we said she was family with the count.

After the revenge we don’t know a lot about Mudarra which is a shame. He is said to have been an excellent knight though.

A place said to be the tomb of Mudarra with 0 reasons, it’s pretty too

Mudarra, raised as a Moor is our triumphant here, and it was not done only for the exoticism value, him being a Royal Moor is a big deal. Here is why.

A Royal Bastard

Gonzalo Gustias leaving to go back to his land is not seem as an offense to Almanzor sister (called Aisha sometimes, she is a fictional character). She doesn’t seem to have problems with it and Mudarra growns up on King Almanzor court as his heir, he knights him and give his squires to serve him.

But you might ask who is Almanzor? Is he fictional? Well, no, he is no King but he absolutely existed.

Bust of Almanzor in the Castillan city of Catalañazor were Spanish say he suffer a great defeat by Christian troops... it’s probably not true.

He is The big deal. His name is Abu Amir Muhammad but the is nicknames Al Mansur, the Victorious. You see at the time from 950 to 1000 the main kingdom of the are is the Caliphate of Cordoba, the King is Hisam II but his minister and de facto ruler is Almanzor. An incredible capable military leader and politician.

Almanzor embodies the mighty caliphate of Cordoba. Almanzor with an inteligent politic of alliances and a lot of Berber mercenaries he kept the peace and prosterity of the caliphate of Cordoba. Almanzor will have two son, after their rule the Caliphate desintegrate in taifas, he is also the embodiement of the a glorious period. A high king.

A king more important than Count Garcia Fernandes, the Christian ruler of this story. In other countries Roland is the nephew of Charlemagne. The French lineage of Lusignan descend from a fae and everyone descends from Alexander the Great. But in this Castille the best thing we have is Almanzor, descending from a King gives Mudarra the power of an army his father doesnt have and also a symbolic power to change stablishment.

Roof of the former mosque now Catedral of Cordoba

Oh and also I have this theory that Almanzor life could have also inspired the story, mostly his second son who was also the de facto ruler: Abd al-Raḥmān called ibn Sanchul or Sanchuelo this nickname came because he apparently really looked like his granpa...the King of Plamplona Sancho Garces II. Almanzor attacked his kingdom and as the Christian king could not possibly win he came himself as an ambassador asking for protection and bringing incredible gifts. Almanzor accepted and even took Urraca Garces, Sancho daughter as wife.

In Burgos they take their legend seriously

While romances, written later in time show a black and white version of the Al-Andalus and Reconquista that was in truth extremely complexe.Mudarra story is an exception. Authors like the great Irene Zaderenko have even called his romance “maurophilo”. I agree, I love the Moors I love Mudarra and I love this soap opera of a Romance. that has tragically the name of the Princes and is not called “El Romance de Mudarra” as it should.

If i convinced me with my Mudarra propaganda you can: Read the first incomplete version of the story (ESP) the romance of the Complaint of Doña Lambra (ESP) and the song of The Revenge of Mudarra (ESP).. thanks for your attention

#romancero viejo #los siete infantes de lara #spanish literature #spanish music #medieval romances #mudarra gonzalez

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allthethingamabobs · 3 years

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thank you for the tag @surprisegents! i’ve been dealing with some insomnia lately, so this was a fun distraction. :)

1. Name: nikki

2: Gender: she/her/comfortable with being a gal who doesn’t really follow stereotypical gender norms anyway

3. Star sign: cancer

4. Height: 5′9″

5. Time: 1:38am (like i said.......)

6. Birthday: july 13

7. Favorite band(s): my music tastes are all over the place, so i’d judge this by who i’d like to see/have seen live. it’s a mix between old alt bands and indie rock like all time low, paramore, the score, the oh hellos, the lumineers, and fall out boy. god i miss live shows.

8. Favorite solo artist(s): ohhh now for this one i’ve got so many that really show my genre range cause it’d be lizzo, hozier, dua lipa, kacey musgraves, and on and on.

9. Song stuck in my head: driver’s license got to me and now i can’t stop singing it.

10. Last Movie: ocean’s eight i believe? gotta love heist movies. and women.

11. Last show: titans because i was so obsessed with the teen titans cartoon, and i wanted to see what this live version is all about. it’s not great, but they’re doing ok on the found family vibes so i’ll probably watch the second season.

12. When did you make this account: i’m pretty sure it was right around pottermore beta invitations being sent out?? so summer of 2011 if i remember correctly.

13. What do I post: lots of funny text posts, writing/book stuff, some evergreen fixations when i remember them, and then mostly whatever show or movie i’m obsessing about so it’s currently a lot of mandalorian.

14. What is the last thing you googled: “black veins book” because i was at barnes and noble for the first time in 9 months to buy some books for myself and my friends’ kiddo.

15. Other blogs: i’ve only got my miraculous ladybug sideblog (miraculousandcute) that is pretty much dead because i started to lose interest in the direction of the show.

16. Do I get asks: i never got a whole lot on this account (the ml sideblog was a different story because i got into the show in its early tumblr fandom phase), but there would be the occasion one back when i was more active. it’s pretty dead now lol.

17. Why did I choose this url: it’s a mix of thingamabobs for the little mermaid, my fav disney movie, and all the things for that meme that was super popular in like high school lol. i haven’t changed this username at all because it just encompasses everything and i am lazy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

18. Following: 532 and i’m sure a large majority of them are on hiatus now because my dash isn’t obnoxiously busy.

19. Followers: 270

20. Average hours of sleep: i was actually getting a decent 7 hours and then it was election month in the u.s. and i haven’t known peace since.

21. Lucky number: 13 ✌️

22. Instruments: i don’t play any of these anymore but i used to know piano and clarinet.

23. What am I wearing: black yoga pants and a gray crop top.

24. Dream job: i do not dream of labor~ but in reality we all know it’s gonna take a while to get rid capitalism, so a mix of researcher/editor for a publishing company or literacy-focused nonprofit.

25. Dream trip: i’m dying to see the beautiful landscapes of norway, japan, new zealand, and ireland.

26. Favorite food: i’ve recently discovered carbonara and all the ways i can mix veggies and protein into it, so i’d say that’s my current fav.

27. Nationality: american

28. Favorite song: it changes all the time but let’s go with headspace by lewis capaldi since i listened to it on repeat last night lol.

29. Last book I read: my mental state has not allowed me the patience for reading lately, but i’m so excited for one last stop by casey mcquiston in a couple months. their debut novel (red, white, and royal blue) was just exactly the kind of content i want from a queer contemporary romance. i also really want to read the priory of the orange tree, but i need to stare down all those pages a bit more to gain the confidence.

30. Top three fictional universes I would like to live in: howl’s moving castle (novel version) so i can be best friends with sophie, percy jackson cause being a demigod just sounds kinda cool, and rottmnt cause i loved the art and humor and want to be friends with all of them.

i’ll tag @catra-the-slayer @about-a-bee @adjit & @ricerobot if you wanna try this out too. no pressure! anyone else interested can just go ahead and use me as your tag. <3

#personal

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docgold13 · 3 years

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On the least favorite x men. I respect your opinion, but man I love Colossus. When creating him as a stereotypical Soviet farmer they created this paragon that just embodies the maxim "Strong legs run so that weak legs may walk" the strong protecting the weak. Piotr realizes that as a man with power he owes everything he has to help those less fortunate. Like his origin is literally saving his sister from the thresher by sacrificing his body. His mutant power saved him. But he managed to actually sacrifice himself for that one mutant virus that analogous to HIV. They injected him with a medicine that would kill him but while dying his corpse would release the cure into the atmosphere. He does have a quiet stoicism that may be boring but I've always admired stoic men. As long as they are virtuous. Although I try to ignore how he acted when he had the Phoenix Force in AVX.

Those are all excellent points. And I certainly don’t feel as fervently in my dislike of Colossus as I do Havok. I imagine we all have rather idiosyncratic reasons for liking and disliking given fictional characters.

When I was a kid reading X-Men, for some reason my imagination had most of the X-Men being full on adults. It didn’t dawn on me that Piotr was supposed to be only eighteen or nineteen years old. Instead I thought he was like 25 or 30. As such, I was totally creeped out by his budding romance with Kitty (who I imagined to be in her early teens).

In retrospect, it seems more likely that Kitty was around sixteen, Piotr was eighteen, and their romance didn’t progress beyond a mere crush until much later when they were both adults.

All of that aside, I was never particularly fond of Colossus and I’m guess it was based on this initial misconception that he was a creep fawning all over a much younger gal.

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christinaroseandrews · 5 years

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Randomization and You: How to ask the right questions, know when to roll the dice, and decide when to invoke the word of God

One of the problems that writers often run into is when they’re world-building, plotting, and character-creating, is finding the answers to every foreseeable question ever. Which is your main character’s dominant hand? When were they born? Did someone get pregnant from unprotected sex? Who dies in this horrific event that didn’t happen in canon? What race is this random side character? You get the picture.

You can answer all of these questions on your own, and if they’re important, you absolutely should. But when it doesn’t matter, when you don’t care, or if you’re unsure, sometimes randomization can help. Randomization takes out bias. Or, conversely, a roll of the dice can clarify the direction that you actually want to go.

The two of us use randomization a lot. Not just in our fanfiction, but in our original works as well. We do it for everything from character birthdays to ethnicity to who a background character might end up with to who lives and who dies. Randomization is a nifty tool if you know how to use it.

In this meta, we’re going to go over when and how to randomize.

A note: there are major spoilers for some of our fanfic and minor spoilers for some of our original fiction. If you want to know what those spoilers are, please feel free to message us.

oOo

When is it a good time to randomize?

Randomization is best done in the planning stages. It’s not something you want to do halfway through the story (although you can, if you discover you need to -- we certainly have!), but it’s best done early on, when you’re still world-building, plotting, and creating your characters.

Say you’re creating a fantasy world. You know you have three countries that are going to be your primary focus. But does the world have more nations? You might not know the answer to that. In which case, it might be time to randomize.

It can also be used in character creation. Sure, you’ve got your main characters and you know what their main traits are, but do you know when their birthdays are? Or other seemingly unimportant details that may end up being important later, like religion, physical characteristics, or taste in entertainment. This is especially important when you’re dealing with secondary characters who may not be as fully fleshed in your mind when you’re in the character creation phase. Because seriously, unconscious bias will come into play here. The number of books and stories we read where the only characters are the ethnicity of the author is staggering. This is especially problematic when it comes to creating accurate representation. Randomization can solve this. Want to write a story about 5 friends who kick ass and take names? You can literally randomize every major trait -- age, gender, sexuality, race, religion, skillset… you name it. You don’t have to randomize everything if you have a vision, but you should randomize things that “don’t matter” like the doctor or the secretary or the janitor. Randomization can remove stereotypes and bias. It’s colorblind casting but for the author.

You also can choose ranges within which to randomize -- for example, if said story is about 5 teenagers, your range can be 14-18. You are definitely not required to use all possible options while randomizing.

Then there’s randomization when you develop your plot. Say you’re writing a romance. You know your main characters will end up together. But what about your secondary characters? Your main characters’ best friends/siblings are going to end up meeting. Do they hook up? Are they interested? Believe it or not, Prim and Bing getting together in Floriography was entirely randomized. (Floriography has since been turned into an original work, The Language of Flowers -- but we kept said randomized relationship.)

Another thing -- in a romance, you know your main characters will end up together and you may know how they get there. But what if you don’t? You can randomize where they have their dates (using both typical and atypical choices such as a restaurant or a monster truck rally), other events that might interfere, and various other beats in your plotting.

Or the biggie... who dies in a major event? Plot Armor is lovely. The trio in Let Me Fly has Plot Armor. (We are not killing our trio, stop asking!) But everyone else… nope… no Plot Armor. That meant when Johanna Mason failed her rolls to survive the flu, she died. We love Johanna. Love her. She’s a blast to write. But she wasn’t crucial to the story we wanted to tell, so she died. The same is true for a lot of other people in our stories. Some deaths we’ve planned. But some that happened ended up changing the story… we’re looking at you, Third Quarter Quell deaths in Let Me Fly. Don’t think we don’t see you. Justice for Justus, indeed!

So yeah. Randomization can completely change your plot and understanding of the characters. It can even help you out of an “I don’t know what to do!” slump.

You want to go wild with the randomization? Go to TV Tropes and pick a list of tropes that would make up a main character. Pick a list of villain tropes. Pick a list of plot tropes, romance tropes, whatever. Number them all, shove them into a list, use a randomizer, and pick ten of them. Congratulations, you now have the outline for a short story. Think this doesn’t work?

Well… here goes.

We went to TV Tropes Character pages first to get our protagonists and antagonist. And this is what we picked.

Sounds fun, right? I bet you can start imagining stories that could fit these tropes already.

We ran these through the randomizer and got the following:

A Gentleman Thief and a Big Beautiful Woman Wake Up in a Room on a spaceship wearing matching rings. The door opens to reveal a notorious Space Pirate who congratulates them on their Accidental Marriage. Unfortunately they won’t be able to enjoy the honeymoon Mwah-ha-ha-ha! While they are making their escape, they end up someplace where they have to truly pretend to be newlyweds and they realize that somehow along the way they’ve Become the Mask and are truly in love. YAY!

Sure it’s pretty rough and there are some parts missing, but it’s an absolutely viable plot… and I’m fairly certain I’ve seen something like this before. This is a great way to get out of a writing slump or even your comfort zone.

It’s all about asking questions and deciding if you know the answer, if the answer is necessary, and what the possible answers can be.

oOo

How do you randomize?

Randomization isn’t always as easy as rolling a die or flipping a coin. Sometimes it takes creating spreadsheets or lists, while other times it involves understanding probability and percentages.

For example, say you’re writing a fantasy novel that features swordplay. Knowing if someone is left or right handed is actually plot-relevant. However, fifty percent of the population isn’t left handed. Here, Wikipedia is your friend. Knowing the percentages will help you know what numbers to use.

Another common time to do randomization is pregnancy. Depending on what method of birth control and/or pregnancy prevention your characters are using, you can research the failure rates. For example, when figuring out if Katniss was going to get pregnant during the arc of Brand New Breeze (second arc of Let Me Fly), we looked up the failure rate for the rhythm method and applied it to each menstrual cycle she had -- which, by the way, the length and duration of her menstrual cycle was also randomized. She did okay for the first few months, and then all of a sudden, right around the time that the three of them got married (which was not randomized), she got pregnant.

That opened up a whole slew of other randomizations, including: did the egg implant? Did she have a miscarriage? Was she carrying twins? Who was the father? Was the baby a boy or a girl? What were its eye color, skin color, and hair color (based off of the parents and what was genetically possible)? How difficult was the pregnancy? When exactly did she give birth? How long was the labor? How difficult was the labor? What time was the child born? What were its length and weight?

You notice that was a lot of questions. But they came in order. The first question that got asked was: did she get pregnant? The rhythm method is one of the least reliable forms of birth control. Without proper medical data, Katniss was guessing, which increased her chances. According to the Mayo Clinic, thirteen out of every one hundred women get pregnant. Because of other reasons, we upped it to twenty percent for Katniss.

Using random.org, we rolled on a 1 to 100 scale for each menstrual cycle, with a roll of 81 or higher being a pregnancy. Katniss did not get pregnant on her first two; she did on her third.

After conception, there are two primary hurdles to a pregnancy. The first is implantation. Many fertilized embryos never implant. The numbers change based off of the age of the mother, the health of the mother, and other environmental conditions, but it’s estimated that at least 30% of fertilized embryos never implant. So Katniss got randomized on that with a roll of 30 or below being a failed implantation. She rolled higher.

Then there’s the risk of miscarriage, which, considering Katniss’s environment, health, and activity levels, we gave her a flat 30% chance of miscarriage. Again, she did not miscarry.

Then it was just answering a lot of yes/no questions and looking up pregnancy-related details. Did you know that the chance of twins is about 10%? Identical twins is 1%, so the other 9% are fraternal. If there are fraternal twins, they can have different fathers.

We didn’t roll for anything higher than twins because the chances of Katniss surviving a pregnancy with triplets or more with no medicine are extremely low, and that’s if she even got pregnant with more than two babies at once -- which is highly unlikely. We did not roll for Katniss dying in pregnancy. That was us invoking the word of God.

But wait, you ask. Didn’t Katniss have a chance of dying?

And you would be correct if this were the real world and not words on a page, Katniss would absolutely have a chance of dying in pregnancy. However, that was a direction we were not interested in exploring, and that’s when invoking the word of God becomes necessary. You have to know what you are comfortable writing as an author. Not everyone wants to write a pregnancy, so they might say, “Nope! This unprotected sex did not result in a pregnancy!” While others, like us, will occasionally roll for this -- while other times we’re like “Nope!” Trust us, we’ve totally noped Katniss getting pregnant… random.org has it in for her, I swear!

Some people might’ve said “oh hell no, I’m not dealing with a pregnancy in this story” and that’s perfectly fine. They wouldn’t even have rolled for it. It depends on what you’re willing to do as a writer. But often that’s something that randomization can help you with… knowing your own mind. Because oftentimes people don’t know where to go next because they have choice paralysis… randomization can help solve that problem.

oOo

So when do you invoke the word of God?

Well, here’s a secret. The two of us invoked the word of God when it came to both of the Hunger Games in Let Me Fly.

For the 74th Games, the original randomized winner was the girl from Three. Unfortunately, that did not work with our plot. Three was too far from our group for Cressida and her group to flee from there and conceivably make it to our characters, which was a plot point we wanted to happen. So we rerolled with an eye toward what would work, and Taylor, the girl from District Eight, won.

For the 75th Games, the initial randomized winner was the woman from Eight, and -- having plotted the 74th Games -- we realized that the Capitol really wouldn’t be okay with back-to-back winners from an outlying semi-rebellious district. So we rerolled and got Chaff. (By the way, some of the side characters -- the infant for instance -- had zero chance of making it out of the bloodbath alive, and each other character had a percentage for what their chances of winning were based on their age, skill, and other factors, and we used a 1-100 scale for randomization.)

However, there was another thing that happened that basically has colored our plot from the moment that it happened.

Justus came in second.

The six-year-old kid only had a two percent chance of being picked at any specific time. But he came in second. And we took that and ran with it.

That is how randomization can end up creating plot for your story, and also why you want to do it fairly early on. If your outline changes, you may need to do it later. Or if you’re a pantser. But if you’re a plotter, you’ll want all your ducks in a row before you get started.

In reality, randomization is all about asking questions and figuring out probabilities. And sometimes the questions can tell you which way you want to go -- and you end up answering the question itself without randomization ever coming into play. Or the randomization tells you which choice you wanted… something you often know by your reaction to the choice you rolled. (If you groan at something you roll, it is probably a choice you’ll want to override.)

Remember that you are not bound by your randomization. If you absolutely hate something that randomized and can’t figure out how to make it work, throw it out! It’s still giving you valuable information, because it’s telling you something about where you don’t want the story to go.

Sometimes it’s even fun to work with the hard things, the complicated things, the stuff you never expected to roll. Making something surprising work is a challenge -- and a way to grow as an author. But if you can’t or don’t want to, you can always toss your randomization.

oOo

So why would you want to randomize?

One of the downfalls of being a writer is that you know everything about your story. Where it’s going, the relationships, everything. Randomization creates that feeling of wonder that you experience when doing something new. It allows you to brainstorm, and it can force you down paths you might not otherwise have chosen to take.

The two of us were very hesitant about pairing up Prim and Bing in Floriography (later The Language of Flowers). They were the siblings of our main characters, they were seven or eight years apart in age, they lived a good four, five hour drive away from each other, they’d just met… and would they even want to be together? We asked the question on a whim. And then we rolled it. And then we ran with it. And it’s become one of our favorite pairings ever.

We would’ve never paired the two together if it weren’t for the randomization.

We’ve even done this when writing whole fics… like we didn’t know what we wanted to write, just that we wanted to play in a particular fandom. So we rolled what characters we were going to play with. This is how we ended up with a Darcy/Tony/Sif threesome because Why Not?

We also do this with original fiction all the time. As stated above, it deals with the unconscious bias that we carry in regards to racism, sexism, and a whole slew of other -isms/-phobias. It can also help shape directions where you might take a story. Like our Adeniyi Siblings Series… we initially had all of the siblings paired with white characters… but then (thankfully) we realized the serious Unfortunate Implications… so we broke out the randomizer. Other than Paige (who we’d already written her story). All three of the other siblings’ significant others changed, and it made our series better in the long run.

In addition to removing bias and answering questions, randomization can be fun. Even if you never incorporate what you’ve randomized, you’ve got these little details, special things that you know about the character or the plot or the world. We can tell you EVERYTHING that Katniss and Prim hunted and gathered in Damaged, Broken, and Unhinged. We can tell you every single character who got sick from the flu in Let Me Fly. This is information that none of you need, but gosh darn it it was fun to find out, and it colored how we wrote the story even if the specifics never made it on the page.

As we’ve hopefully explained, randomization can be a powerful tool in the writer’s toolbox. But like any tool, it’s about knowing when and how to use it. We recommend using it to answer questions. Develop plots and even plot twists. And most importantly, remove unconscious bias.

Now if you’ll excuse us, we have a Gentleman Thief and a Big Beautiful Woman demanding that their story be written.

Until next time!

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avenger-hawk · 6 years

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What do you think about people interpreting cannon sasuke as asexual? Do you(somewhat) agree with this theory?

Unpopular opinion: labels are misleading and reductive.

I dont like to use labels because they box and limit. In real life they’re useful, if used to validate, define and include people, but in fiction they don’t work. Especially in universes so different from ours such as N*ruto’s.

(This is my opinion on my blog. I’m not open to discussion and not interested in tumblr special snowflakes’ life story to prove their points on why I’m wrong according to them. keep this in mind)

Many fans identify as asexual and aromantic so they see Sasuke that way. I can see why and it makes sense. I am more or less ok with it, if their analysis wasn’t superficial and overlooking a lot of his personality, and if those people weren’t the same pushing him into the unfeeling smart stereotype that is how they see themselves as well.

Sasuke is smart, silent, private, aloof, always in his own mind, removed and detached from reality, including people, or sex. His usually uninterested, calm and silent attitude is interpreted as unfeeling and cold, and his detachment as ace-aro spectrum. But he is smart and aloof because he’s focused on his goals, and on his past and family. He is interested in what has to do with his past, and his goal, like getting strong and learning. He’s not interested in most people because they’re weak. He’s interested in strong people.

Sasuke is pure, this goes above sexuality.

So even if he’s never interested in people in a sexual way, even though he doesn’t understand Karin’s flirting or he ignores girls fangirling (and Orochimaru ogling him) which all seem signs of asexuality, it’s because he’s only focused on his goals. He devoted his whole life to revenge, then to avenge Itachi, then to create a new better system. He denied himself bonds and everything normal, he made himself a tool for his goals, he sees himself as an avenger, not as a person. He doesn’t have a sexuality because he almost doesn’t have a sense of self, because everything he does is for his family and for Itachi. So even though he has asexual characteristics, their reason is totally different, so it’s just an apparent similarity, because deep inside he is different.

Sasuke feels strongly and deeply. He cares and protects those precious to him. He sacrifices for them, from Team Taka, that he saved one by one, to N*ruto, whom he shielded with his body, almost dying, by whom he admitted to be defeated and to whom he swore loyalty, devoting his post-ending life to him. He doesn’t express it clearly but his actions speak louder than words. And he does express his feelings for Itachi. All this isn’t sexual in canon, but it’s deep feelings, because Sasuke’s feelings run deeper than most characters.

For me using labels is hard when it comes to romance/sex, since I see people as different individuals that I might be attracted to/fall in love with, not because of their gender and sexuality but because they might stir strong, magic feelings in me. And when I see fiction I tend to see most characters as potentially bi/pansexual, potentially attracted by anyone else, because only their chemistry and affinity matters.

So about Sasuke I might say asexual because at a literal level he isn’t interested in sex but it would still be superficial, especially when associated when unfeeling stereotypes that I find offensive for him.

Demiromantic/demisexual would be more fitting, even though I always find this label weird because when I first read about it I thought it was the norm, that all people felt that way.

#sasuke #itachi seems more asexual actually #not counting his *intriguing* way of touching sasuke when he plays the villain role #vivalarevolution #vivalarevolution: not crazy but desperate #for real tho. when I read demisexual/demiromantic I was like #isn't this normal? aren't all ppl like this? but apparently it's not #wow. ppl really come in all shapes and sizes #also this blog supports sasuke with an older stronger partner so

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ravennest1342-blog · 6 years

Text

BTS Fanfic Recommendations

Ok, so I don’t know if it’s considered weird to hype up other people when you write fan fiction and basically turn the attention away from yourself but IDK because I’ve been dying to share all my favorite fanfics with you guys! I hope you enjoy this, most (if not all) of these will be on AO3! A few will be from here, here being Tumblr. I’m such a dork, omg don’t look at me! But read! Read these beauties and leave me be!!!!! 😂Also, I’ll be putting warnings beside the ones that have smut/BDSM/or anything else that’s weird. A lot of these will have smut because for a long time I was really insecure about writing smut so I tended to read books that advertised it in order to know what the hell I was actually writing.

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The Songbird and the Sea

Author — MissterMaia (follow her on Twitter she’s actually hilarious and I love her)

Pairing — Yoonmin, with side Namjin and Taekook.

Rating— Mature (there’s smut in this so tread carefully)

Description — In a world where dominance of the sea is an endless battle between pirates and mariners, Park Jimin is content living in his little village on a small, uninteresting island by the eastern mainland. He wants nothing to do with the bloodshed of good and evil, the heartless killing of both innocents and condemned, the constant establishment and disruption of order. What he wants is peace, to live his life in the same town he was born in, to spend his days in the beautiful forest, and to use the powers of his Blessed Rune to nurture the home he loves so dearly. But when his island is attacked by pirates, Jimin will have no other choice than to do as they command and leave all thoughts of peace behind in favor of boarding the Agust, a pirate ship captained by the infamous Min Yoongi, Black Fox of the East.

My thoughts — omg, where do I begin? God this book was so beautiful. The character development! The plot! The ROMANCE! AH! It was such a perfect work of art! I never felt bored like at all and normally I get bored pretty easy on long chaptered books like this! She’s also getting the book published! (With different character names obviously and it’s like super edited.) I don’t know what else to say other than GO READ THIS!!! SHE IS THE QUEEN OF YOONMIN!! YOU WONT BE DISAPPOINTED!!!

Hidden Omega

Author — LadyPrussia

Pairing — Namjoon Centric

Rating — Explicit (there’s smut in this so tread carefully)

Description — At 21 Namjoon still hasn't presented leaving him as a dud, with the BTS pack having their own issues and not treating him like a real member a tragic event forces Namjoon's body to present as an omega. Is it really too late for BTS to win Namjoon's heart? Or will one of the 4 other packs steal it instead? Or maybe a darkhorse will appear.

My Thoughts — this book is great! Not only is it super long (over eighty chapters) and still being updated, but the character development is super refreshing. Forewarning though, the author has said that there is a good chance Namjoon won’t end up in the Bangtan Pack but a different one, and originally that made me upset, but with the way she painted the story I actually don’t care what Pack he ends up with; their all beautiful and it’s an amazing book! Lots of drama and angst for you angst lovers out there!

No Spell can Cure Shyness

Author — MissterMaia (seriously — I love her)

Pairing — Yoonmin, mentioned Namjin, Side Taekook

Rating — teens and up

Description — Yoongi really doesn’t expect the witchboy who sent him an accidental text to be the prettiest boy he's ever seen in all his life. Or the nicest. Or the kindest. Or just the best in every possible way. Painfully shy and (un)smooth as he is, Yoongi decides the best way to approach this Jimin person is in the form of a cat. A cat who can't talk. Great plan, Yoongi.

My Thoughts — The FLUFF!!! I can’t even begin to describe how much I love this book! All of this woman’s works are masterpieces that need to be appreciated! Yoongi is so shy it’s hilarious and he has the most extra reactions to like everything — and and I LOVE!!! YOU need to read it! Stop whatever your doing and go read it!

Saltation

Author — momora

Pairing — Yoonmin, side Taekook, and Namjin

Rating — explicit (there’s smut in this so tread carefully)

Description — Jimin had grown up watching his mother sort the point-oh-one percent beta defaults into the alpha-omega communities, but that doesn't make being a part of the statistic much easier. He'd be doing okay at this new omega thing if that watchful alpha Min Yoongi could stay out of the situation. He just wants to settle into his new life and finish his useless degree already. Instead, all hell breaks loose.

My Thoughts — This book is the one of the best a/b/o fics I have ever read in my entire life! Alpha’s and Omega’s live separate from Beta’s due to different instincts and Jimin was born in the beta community but presented as an omega. And it’s really funny because He keeps slipping up and doing/saying things that leave everyone else kind of like (0.0) The writing is fantastic! The characters are absolutely riveting as is the plot and the AUTHOR KEEPS TEADING ME ON TWITTER ABOUT HER NEXT UPDATE AND HOLY HELL IM BREAKING DOWN OVER HERE!!!

Jammed

Author — minverse

Pairing — Vmin, side Yoonseok, maybe Namjin?

Rating — explicit (there’s smut in this so tread carefully)

Description —The rational part of Jimin's brain screams at him to remember what his mother said about strangers and vans. But the rational part of his brain is no match for really bad whiskey and Kim Taehyung. ((au where Jimin gets stuck on the interstate in the middle of a blizzard and Taehyung lives in a van))

My Thoughts — this book! *wheezes from laughter* is so funny! Jimin is trying to make it to Yoongi and Hoseok’s wedding (which he is kind of dreading because Hoseok is trying to set him up with his own best man) and he gets stuck in a blizzard and boom there’s Taehyung! A renowned author that decided to live in his van and travel the world while writing his new book. This book was so funny you guys! I was dying, there was a smut scene and it was pretty great. The whole book was phenomenal and I loved it so much. Because I have literally no self control I’m gonna add a sneak peak.

NU ABO: A Memoir by Park Jimin

Author — decompositionbooks

Pairing — Jikook

Rating — explicit (there’s smut in this so tread carefully.)

Description — The world didn't think it was necessary to give him a guide when it shoved all of these omega hormones at him, so here it is, Park Jimin's handbook on dealing with heats, unrequited love, and Jeon Jungkook.

My Thoughts — this book was so good! Omega’s are really rare and Jimin is so against the stereotypes put on omega’s and he is CONVINCED that Jungkook thinks of him as a tiny child that needs protection and he’s such a little ball of rage and god it’s so funny and he’s so sarcastic and furious that he’s being forced into this cutesy image (that he refuses to admit he likes) and it’s so cute and hilarious.

In Your Eyes

Author — TrappingLighteningBugs

Pairing — Jikook

Rating — Explicit (there’s smut and light dim/sub in this so tread carefully)

Description — On nights where everything seems against him, Jimin wishes he could take Jungkook down a few pegs.

My Thoughts — I originally read this because I was trying to expand my view on what a dom!Jimin would look like for my Bunny Breath book but I actually really liked this a lot. The characterization was good, it wasn’t like most smut oneshots where the characters go at with like literally no push and seems to be mildly dubious consent. This was well thought out and I enjoyed reading it.

A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing

Author — blimpish

Pairing — Junghope

Rating — Explicit (there’s smut so tread carefully)

Description — When Jeongguk decides it's time to live out his fantasy of being knotted, he determines that Hoseok is the best (read: least awful) candidate for the job.

My Thoughts — I read this book because I’m a hoe for Junghope. But it’s really good! I remember feeling mildly dubious about it until I got to this really funny scene when Jungkook (a beta) asks Jimin (an omega)if he knows any alpha’s that wouldn’t be weirded out bu having sex with a beta and Jimin’s just like “I know three but your not gonna like it.” And after that it’s a hilarious conversation of them deciding which of their friends would be the least cringe worthy for Jungkook to sleep with. Jimin admits that Hoseok is great and it goes from there. BUT THERE IS A PLOT LINE!!! ITS NOT JUST SMUT!!

Unfamiliars

Author— themarmalade

Pairing — Yoonseok (my library is mostly Yoonseok.)

Rating — Mature (I can’t remember if there’s smut and it’s a long book so I don’t want to go read through all of it. Fuck I totally will but that’s beside the point. Read the tags when you click on the link.)

Description — Hoseok rescues a kitty in a summer storm. Thanks to some weird magic, Yoongi is that kitty. In a tiny apartment full of plants and moonlight, a simple, aching happiness blooms. But with what Jungkook knows, how long can the happiness last?

My Thoughts — this is so cute! Yoongi is just minding his own business when he accidentally steps into a warlocks spell pentagram and gets turned into a cat by Jin, he positively freaks the fuck out runs away, gets picked up by Hobi and things go from there. It’s so cute and soft and ima go read it BYE!!!!

Bad at Love

Author — shooky__bear

Pairing — Yoonseok with side Namjin.

Rating — Explicit (there is smut and definite don/sub so tread carefully.)

Description —Yoongi was pretty sure he was straight. Pretty sure (And not remotely interested in love or Jung Hoseok.) Alternatively ; that fic where yoon thinks he's straight and he's a bit of a slut and keeps fucking girls tho he likes hoseok and seoks a Patient Loving Gay who waits and Supports yoon through his Gay Crisis.

My Thoughts — this book is full of so much emotion and general truth. I love it so much, I cried several times when reading and admittedly geared up at the end. Hoseok was so sweet and patient and he had to literally teach Yoongi that it was ok to trust him and crap now I’m crying.

Take Me to the Edge

Author — Nasobem

Pairing — Yoonseok

Rating — Explicit (there is smut and Don/sub undertones so tread carefully)

Description —Yoongi takes a pointed step backwards and glares at "Hobi". "What the fuck kind of name is that," he says, "and don't touch me." Namjoon makes a funny noise. Yoongi ignores it for the sake of eviscerating "Hobi" with his stare. It seems to be weirdly ineffective. Or Yoongi is hired to work Tech Support and Security for Jung Corp and it'd honestly be pretty chill if it wasn't for this one obnoxiously handsome dude whose life mission it seems to be to bother Yoongi until he breaks.

My Thoughts— I love this book. Yoongi is such an angry little bean and Hoseok literally just wants to make him happy — the Maknae Line are little shits but what’s new there? This whole book is amazing. I wish I could find a good Vmin/Vhope/Minjoon/Sugakookie book like this. *cries*

Our Burned Bridges

Author — tendershipping (nothing about her ships are tender! *sobs*)

Pairing — Vminkook (she’s the Vmin queen)

Rating — Mature (no smut but brutal themes so tread carefully)

Description —Agent Jeon Jeongguk is given a cover story and assigned to guard amnesiac Kim Taehyung. (Taehyung has nightmares most nights after he wakes, at first. He screams and cries names Jeongguk doesn’t recognize, always one in particular—Jimin.)

My Thoughts— I’m, I’m so EMOTIONAL!!! I read it and was a literal mess halfway through and IT JUST GOT MORE DARK and *chokes* Vmin we’re MARRIED and enter Jimin who seems so bitter and mean and sarcastic but he’s really just broken and angry about things and — go read this. It has a happy ending to so win win.

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I have been so active tonight shit. Idk why. You know what. I’ma wait till tomorrow to upload this.

Is it tomorrow? It’s tomorrow. Have fun with this wonderful list of my FAVORITE FANFICS (only the Songbird and The Sea is my favorite lol)

#bts fanfic rec #bts yoonseok #bts yoonmin #bts jikook #fanfic recommendation #the songbird and the sea

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