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lazyjellyfish300 · 2 months

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Traitor💔

Miguel O'Hara x Spider-Woman Reader

Synopsis: A blurb detailing your heartbreak from Miguel inspired by some breakup songs. Word count 1.5k ish. Meant to be a one shot. (JK, I MADE AN EPILOGUE)

A/N: had this idea after @prettyinpink350 commented that The Woman He Didn't Choose part 1 reminded them of All Too Well-10 minute version by Taylor Swift. I imagine getting your heart broken by him would SUCK. The man has such a tragic backstory, it would take a long long time to get him to be comfortable with getting hurt again and vulnerable, possibly hurting whoever he's dating or seeing in the process if their expectations don't align. I think that ATSV and the comic version of him are different however, it's possible some of the personality traits would stay consistent and so as a result he might struggle with infidelity. I think he's had his fair share of experiences.

BUT I do still write sweet, fluffy soft Miguel, though. Because I do believe he has a soft side that exists and it's unfair imo to write him off as completely incapable of being a good partner because I believe he can. I imagine it'll be a tough road but he would eventually get there. He's a complex man and I love him anyway. 🫶🏽 Working on DD part 9 and the woman he didn't choose I promise, I've been dead lately in terms of motivation.

TW: MINORS DNI, ANGST, CHEATING (I DON'T CONDONE THIS), HEARTBREAK, BREAKUP, MIGUEL IS MORE COLD IN THIS, SMUT ( IT'S BRIEF, P IN V, DEGRADATION, SPANKING), age gap(reader is 26, Miguel is like 34-35), no happy ending

The songs that inspired this(all rights to rightful owners, some of the lyrics were tweaked slightly):

----

It was her. It was always going to be her.

🎶I was just the villain built to come between you two.

I'm just the other point of view. 🎶

It's the movie where the guy gets the girl in the end. She's the one that got away but then comes back into his life, lighting up his world, making him realize his new girlfriend would never come close.

That all too familiar shift in the way he acted when she moved back into the city. When you noticed how he started looking at you with a gaze that was clearly being stolen by someone else. You decided to ask him about it and he dismissed you with a shake of his head, calling you paranoid.

🎶Brown guilty eyes and little white lies

Yeah, I played dumb but I always knew🎶

Now he brings her around, almost as though to shut you down on purpose. Showing her off like a brand new trophy.

If any of the sweet nothings he told you were true, there's simply no damn way that he could have fallen in love again so quickly...

🎶Ain't it funny....🎶

----

But months later

🎶You call me up again just to break me like a promise.🎶

The 1 am call you know you shouldn't answer but you do anyway.

"She's not here.......Please, I need you."

And there you go, jumping in the shower for a quick rinse and brushing your teeth, speeding towards his apartment like a dumb ass.

------

"Fuck......FUCK! God baby...so fucking tight.....I missed this pussy, fuck...."

A shower of sharp spanks land on your ass, one after another, after another as Miguel thrusts his cock into you from behind.

"Yes.....harder, baby.....HARDER!"

"Yeah?....You would fucking like that, wouldn't you....Needy little slut....mmmm you like it when I fuck you like this, huh? Can't get enough can you? "Had to come crawling back for more of this cock?"

Every word stings harder than the slaps he's giving you but it's a sick, twisted, erotic feeling. You actually love it. The fact that he's still craving your pussy even though he's supposedly with his dream woman. The fact that you're still on his mind as soon as she leaves.

The fact that you're in his bed right now, not her. Even if only just for tonight.

"Fuck....yes.....baby.....can't get enough of you....mmmmm fuck I missed you so much....."

"Say that again."

"Missed you so much Miggy...."

"¿Cuánto?..." (how much)

"So fucking much....I crave you all the time....."

Miguel lets out a loud groan and you practically scream as he pounds you without mercy into his mattress he shared with the other woman.

Shortly after, you're laying all fucked out, panting as you close your eyes, decelerating from the heavenly orgasm he pulled out of you, only for it to shrivel up when you feel your clothes land in a pile next to your head.

"She'll be back any minute....you gotta hurry."

"What?" You sit up, confused.

Miguel's too busy taking a shower, trying to rid himself of your scent. The damning evidence of someone else in his bed while she was gone.

You immediately regret ever coming over.

You're about to rip him a new one but your spider senses tingle. You can feel her ascending the staircase. You throw on your leggings and hoodie and swing away into the night without saying goodbye.

-----

You let him have it on the phone later.

"I wish you thought through all of this before you strung me along and made me fall in love with you..."

Miguel stands outside his apartment, he had to sneak down to take your call as soon as he was sure she was asleep. He tenses his jaw. He feels guilty but there's not much he can do about it now.

"She's older...more mature. I need to be with someone who's able to understand and live with my responsibilities. I shouldn't have given us a chance, but I did because I needed to move on from her.... I can't help that I've known her since we were kids. She gets me."

🎶So casually cruel in the name of being honest. 🎶

"Oh and I don't? I don't Miguel? So all those times I stayed up with you, crying, holding you and promising you I wasn't going anywhere, those didn't happen? Or the fact that I saw you lose it completely multiple times and still called you the next day? The fact that I was willing to let go all the times you let me down because I knew it wasn't your fault and the fate of the multiverse comes before everything else? I literally loved you at your worst, but that didn't matter?"

Silence.

"Look, I just think that maybe if we had been closer in age, we would've been fine."

🎶And that sentence made you want to die. 🎶

"That's not fucking fair, Miguel! I'm 26, not a baby! And we spoke CANDIDLY about this when we got together. I NEVER had, not even a HINT that this would be a problem for you, and now you drop it on me right as you tear my heart out?! And it's not even something I can change!"

You pause, more sobs erupting deep from within your soul.

"I'm sorry, that the stars didn't align and the timing wasn't perfect and my dad didn't fuck my mom around the same time as yours so I could've been born at a better time. I'm sorry that I tried so fucking hard to be the chill girlfriend who lets you do whatever even though I'm not. I'm sorry that I kept my fucking mouth shut when I knew damn well you were talking to her when we were together just so I could keep you around. I'm sorry that I'm not her..."

The line is painfully silent.

🎶The idea you had of me, who was she?🎶

"So who's this version of me in your head you envisioned, huh Miguel? The perfect me that would've made you stay. Do I even know her? She's me, but she's not. She's not needy like I am. She's perfect. Has the perfect body, perfect hair, doesn't ever look bad for you. She's intelligent and has all the maturity you claim I don't. She reflects back on you perfectly every little thing you just LOVE about yourself because let's face it, that's the only person you really ever gave a fuck about."

Loud beeps assault your eardrum and you scoff in disbelief. He hung up, and who knows how long you were just talking to a wall. You hurtle your phone at the ground, letting the screen crack as your knees buckle beneath you and hide your face in your hands in despair.

🎶When she's sleeping in the bed we made, don't you dare forget about the way you betrayed me.

Cause I know that you'll never feel sorry, for the way I hurt, yeah. 🎶

----

Trying to forget him as the weeks passed by ,albeit agonizingly slow. You find yourself weeping in the HQ bathroom, some girl asking you what happened:

🎶You. That's what happened, you. 🎶

A few weeks later, a package with all of your clothes arrived at the post office for you so he didn't have to see you face to face. It even contained all of the pictures you took together and the letters you wrote him. He didn't keep a single one.

You sat in the parking lot for a few minutes as you clutched the Disneyland tickets to your heart, sobbing. The cruel, cruel irony of remembering how you were in the happiest place on earth with him, the place that planted those dreams of happily ever after in that little girl's head, only for her to be crying over a man that stomped it into the ground years later.

Remembering how you walked back, arm in arm to your hotel room together as you leaned into his chest, giggling when you finally got him to admit the park wasn't as dreadful as he thought it would be, despite the ridiculous price tag. He only wanted to make you happy.

🎶I remember it all too well. 🎶

Your lip trembles when you find the Mickey Ears you bought for him lying in the box. "Miguel" cross-stitched in curly gold writing on the back.

Your red scarf from that first week together hung in the corner of his closet until your scent wore off. He would eventually have the gall to offer it to her one December night when she was shivering, saying that it was his mother's.

----

Your tears make your vision blurry as you drive down the dark, rain soaked streets of Nueva York.

You know his street is coming.

When you do finally pass it, you use all your strength to keep your gaze straight ahead, the faded letters on his street sign disappear rapidly behind you as you take a deep breath, and head on home.

----

Epilogue

#miguel o'hara #miguel atsv #spotify #miguel ohara #miguel x reader #miguel o'hara x reader #atsv miguel #miguel o'hara smut #across the spiderverse #miguel o hara angst #miguel o'hara angst #miguel o'hara imagine #miguel o hara x y/n #miguel o'hara x fem!reader #miguel ohara x fem!reader #Spotify

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angelltheninth · 1 year

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Can I get some more dominate Julian smut? Preferably with ropes and bondage included 👀

Yes! Absolutely, dominant Julian is the best Julian imo.

Pairing: Julian Devorak x Fem!Reader

Tags: nsfw, smut, brat taming, restraints, dirty talk, tie restraints, gag, marking, dom!Julian Devorak

A/N: Maybe it's just me but I'm seeing a lot of asks lately about bondage. Were you all this M before this or did I unlock something in you?

He likes tying up and to be tied up, give him a collar and a leash and he's all set

Very much a brat tamer, if you give him attitude and he has something to push back against with you it makes for a very fun time for him

Doesn't want to bruise your wrists or ankles so if he ties you up he uses softer material that you can safely tug on

"Keep squirming and I'll have to pin you down entirely. You need to let me line up darling." His cock has been teasing and poking at you for a while now, you get the sense that he's been doing that on purpose just to get you struggling harder despite what he's saying

"I'm trying to make you feel good. I though you wanted it. Am I wrong?" You shake your head, trying to will your body to hold still long enough for him to thrust his cock inside, "See, you can be good when you want to. All you needed was my cock to motivate you."

He doesn't wait for you to tell him to move, he doesn't have to, your cunt clenching around him tells him everything he needs to know

His thumb pushes against your lips, prying them open and rubbing the pad against your tongue, "Don't suck, keep your mouth open." But you want to suck, you want to close your mouth around him, "Can't you understand simple words, I told you no." He pulls his thumb out roughly and presses it against your clit, "You're making me repeat myself, why are you so difficult sometimes? Do you enjoy making me mad?"

Your cunt clenches around him, leaking more arousal onto his cock and balls as they slap against you, words of affirmation leaving you in a sharp hiss

"Ah, so I was right. It's better for you when I'm a little bit mad." You try to reply to him but every word is cut off with a deep, sharp thrust, "If you're not gonna talk properly you really atta shut up." He pulls out, leaving you feeling sore, empty and aching from the emptiness

He watches your pussy clench around nothing for a few moments, "You're so cute."

You watch him with teary eyes as he leaves the bed, leaving you alone and begging for him to come back, to not leave you right on the cusp of an orgasm

"I just need this." He shows you a silk tie, making you wonder where else he's gonna tie you up

As he kneels back between your legs he cups your cheek, watching you melt one moment and your eyes shoot open the next as your mouth is being gagged, "Good?" He gives it a little tug to make sure you're not choking on it, you nod at him, making small noises against the fabric, "Good." He presses a small kiss on the corner of your lips

You moan, whimper and do your best to beg him to get back inside, "Needy, needy." He chuckles at you, pressing his palm against your lower stomach as he slides back in

The palm of his hand presses against your clit when he begins thrusting, faster each time until your hips shake from the impact

It's so easy for him to fuck you like this, "You're so helpless like this. All you can do is take my cock, it's all you're allowed to do."

Your eyes start to blur from the tears and pleasure combined, "Come for me beautiful. Fuck." You can't control yourself anymore as your climax hits you when Julian's cock begins to throb inside you, pulsing and hot

He keeps fucking you through it as his own orgasm begins, splashing, painting your inner walls with white, hot cum, his eyes closing and fluttering as he groans out through it

Your vision goes completely white and for a few moments there's nothing except for Julian's warmth above and inside of you

"Good girl, good girl, good fucking girl! You feel so good baby, keep taking it!" He frowns and somehow goes even harder, prolonging your orgasms

He collapses with his head on your chest as his cock gives a few more little spurts, dripping onto the already wet sheets

You're both tired from your climaxes, Julian slowly pulls out and makes his way down your body, his tongue running over the puffy folds, whispering words of love to you

You squirm away from his mouth, too sensitive to enjoy it, "I get it, don't worry. I'm just cleaning you up a little, it's the least I can do after making such a mess of you."

A sigh leaves you, slightly muffled by the tie as you let him lick you up, kiss your, bite at your thighs until you've calmed down from your high

The evidence of both your climaxes is still all over his chin and torso when he leans against your leg and looks up at you, "You're incredible darling. I love you." He kisses the words against your leg, slowly making his way upwards to untie your mouth and do the same to your mouth

#the arcana #the arcana x reader #julian devorak #julian devorak x reader #julian devorak x apprentice #julian x reader #julian devorak smut #the arcana smut

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thegirlwhofellfromthestars · 2 months

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some thoughts about aspcts of hal and kara's relationship with regards to their relationships with their parents specifically and how that'd effect their interactions

disclaimer: this is largely me unintelligbly rambling and based off personal interpretation and stuff i remember, as well as me incorporating some headcanon in how i portray kara's family in particular (though i'll definitely alert people when we go into headcanon territory). also tw for discussions/mentions of child abuse.

...i feel like it's safe to say that hal has a really, really strained relationship with his family. we see during the parallax run his perceptions of his family versus the reality - a sort of thing about neglect and abuse and cracking under the weight of expectations while also feeling unimaginably trapped in your own childhood trauma. and a big part of his character arc is trying to grow and heal from it, but sometimes things just fall the fuck apart. while that has been retconned (and imo that's... an issue in and of itself), it's definitely the version i tend to go with because i feel like it means a lot and contributes a lot of understanding to the context of hal jordan, the character.

kara's relationship with her family is a bit weirder in that it's very much inconsistent across continuities. her original, pre-crisis parents were clearly very good, loving parents to the point they allowed their daughter to remain with her foster family because they didn't want to pressure her into choosing. later continuities tend to portray her family as outright abusive, while others tend to have her mother be the more strict one and her dad be the more overtly loving, laid-back one.

as for where my personal headcanon falls: i tend to have it be in the middle. while i think her parents' relationship with her isn't exactly perfect - in particular, that there's some stuff they're just going to struggle with for a long time, possibly forever, when it comes to kara's being autistic and how that might clash with kryptonian culture - and they'll make fuck-ups, it's not really a pattern of abusive behavior and they are truly well-meaning and care about her. i think between the two of them allura is probably the one who struggled on some level with really understanding some of the neurodivergent traits kara had and trying to resolve them rather than understand them, but not from a place of malice, and it wasn't extreme enough to the point that they couldn't try to talk it out.

"lucia," you're probably saying, "where the fuck does the brotp ever's interactions come into play?!"

WELL.

i think that sort of contributes to hal's simultaneous caution and understanding of kara's grief. while i think he's only really started to grapple with his own projections and downplaying of his own childhood trauma, kara's relationship with her parents had comparably less baggage than his but also the sheer weight and drasticness of what's happened is so awful. her parents, no matter how imperfect they were, are dead, and she loved them, and the fact that they're dead fucking sucks. in some ways, hal sort of feels like he's similar to kara's parents in the whole "trying to unlearn the stuff from your own upbringing and background that you took for granted".

so much of parallax's motivations are tied up in personal grief and that his concerns and fears and anger and upset were dismissed when honestly his desire to do something about it came from an understandable place. hal's already working on repairing his fuck-ups, and he sees this kid and thinks, "i really, really don't want her to go through the same things i did when i felt like her. maybe there are things she was taught about herself as a person that are wrong. i don't know, i wasn't there, but this is a kid who needs a place where she knows that it's okay to not be okay."

i think hal really knows how to communicate with kara better than he thinks he does - he probably second-guesses himself about it, with trying so hard to better himself as a person after what he did and wondering if it all means that much. but i think having an adult in the situation who'd try to reach out to her quietly - especially one whose experiences aren't wholly different than hers - leaves a tremendous positive impact on her.

this is all to say i need to draw or write a scene where she's sort of cranky and hal quietly grabs her a juice box of apple juice and she accidentally says, "thanks, dad" in response but it is played for all the gut-wrenching "OH G-D, WHY" factors it has.

#lucia.txt #i WOULD have drawn something for them or doodled something #but my hand is cramped up and sore after spending the entirety of yesterday drawing arknights fanart #you're all fucking welcome. have me yelling into the void #hal jordan #kara zor-el #hal & kara

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cyanocoraxx · 3 months

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Hello! You have cool snakes and know a lot about them too, could I have some of your advice? I've recently been really into snakes, and seen tiktoks of how happy their owners are with them, it makes me really jealous and wishful for a snake companion of my own.

Except I know NOTHING about them, their care, needs or expenses. My experience with pets is a typical low to average maintenance dog, that's it. Never handled reptiles in my life. BUT SNAKES ARE SO ENTICING, and supremely cute too

I was wondering if you have any advice for a complete beginner on what kind of snake to get that's easy and as I said, for beginners (if it even works that way, I don't know a lot about snakes). If you have any resources and such.

Or even like, a checklist to see if I'm even eligible to own a snake (it could be hard idk). Want to know if it is even within my capabilities, the lifestyle needed and stuff like that.

Could you also give tips on their body language? I remember you mentioning in one of your posts that body language is important, and I wouldn't want to mess up. I want the potential cutie to like me after all.

Thank you anyway for your time! Appreciate it <3

so sorry for the late response i wanted to sit down and give a proper thought out guide and just haven't had time <3

checklist for eligibility:

you will need: a terrarium/vivarium, a heating device (heat mat, ceramic emitter or heat bulb), a thermostat (to control the heating device), a water bowl, a hide, substrate, and enrichment (sticks, leaves, decoration etc). make sure you have all of this on hand before you bring your pet home

you'll need to be comfortable or at least willing to feed your snake frozen prey, which means being able to consistently provide mice or rats (most common). most reptile stores will stock frozen!

depending on the species you want you'll need space for a vivarium. if you want a snake that can grow to be 4ft for example you'll need a space to put a 4ft viv.

you'll need to have time to regularly spot-clean their enclosure, which means binning their waste and removing shed skin. a full clean out once a month if not bioactive.

best "starter" snakes (imo):

rosy boa (2-3ft long, 25 years+)

royal python (3-6ft long, 20-30 years+)

corn snake (4-6ft long, 15-20 years+)

rosy boa - these little noodles don't get enough credit! they stay very small, they're very docile, and easy to care for. due to them being so small they only need small prey items which won't take up a lot of space in your freezer. they're very good eaters. downside is they're less common than royals and corns so depending on where you are you may struggle to find one near you. they can also be more food-motivated than royals and when they have food on their mind they can be a little more bitey - but with their tiny size, i promise you can't even feel it (from experience)

royal/ball python - a very common snake that can be found in most reptile shops. they're well known for being extremely docile and easy to handle as well as being super duper cute. they live longer than corns and rosys. downside to royals is they can be "fussy eaters" which can make new owners nervous - they're known for going off their food for months. they will also need larger prey items as they grow, so if you're not keen on keeping larger mice/rats in your freezer this is a downside. they're also more sensitive to improper temperature and humidity than corns.

corn snake - very common so can be bought easily! they also tend to be some of the cheapest snakes, especially if you want to get a "normal/wild type" morph. due to them having a large range in the wild they can tolerate a wider range of temperatures and humidity levels. corns are much more active than royals and rosys, so if you want a snake you can watch do its thing then a corn is a good shout. with this being said, they can be more "squirmy" when being handled compared to royals and rosys as they kind of struggle to stay still.

however, you're not limited to a choice of just three species. as long as you research your snake thoroughly and make sure you have everything you need, you can keep whichever you prefer. my first snake was a brazilian rainbow boa which is a more "intermediate" species and "not suitable for beginners" but he's been great. with their more extreme humidity requirements, i just made sure to keep a hygrometer on hand (to measure humidity) and provided plenty of moss, a large water bowl, and regular mist spraying. never had an issue <3

basic body language:

it's important to note that when a snake is preparing to shed its skin it will be vulnerable. its eyes will cloud over and its skin will feel irritated. we call this being "in blue" because the snake takes on a milky blue colour. during this time your snake might become defensive and this is normal. you should leave a snake in blue alone.

signs of a calm snake: short tongue flicks, loose and relaxed body, moving slowly, fluidly moving towards stimuli, curiosity, regular breathing. a calm snake may sit in an "S" position but it will not be coiling up or fixating on you.

signs of stress in snakes include: long and slow tongue flicks, tail rattling, tail wagging, hissing, striking, open mouth breathing, regurgitation, body flattening, gliding (moving very quickly away), coiling with the head raised (preparing to strike)

this is a very obvious example of a defensive corn snake: their body is coiled into an "S" shape, the head is raised. it takes this position so that it can 1. have a clear view of you 2. to strike upwards/forwards at you if it feels threatened 3. to look bigger to frighten you off. this is a snake who doesn't want to be touched at ALL

let me know if you need anything else <3

#asks #snakes

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tau1tvec · 9 months

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you seem to totally prefer sims 3 everytime someone asks, though you still play sims 4 and somehow trough your posts you seem so passionate about it just as the sims 3 or sometimes even more

wanted to hear about your opinione and though on how you relate to both of the games since you're one of the simblr i like the most and i feel like make the most out of sims in general 🫶

Well personally, I like to make the most of any game I play these days, with how much they cost. 😭

Though with The Sims, obviously I’ve got my preferences, but a lot of why The Sims 4 still pulls me in comes down simply to how it’s still getting new content, constantly, EA is doing this on purpose to keep up engagement, and I hate to say it totally works!

I’m also emotionally attached to my sims in it, which I’m sure a lot of others can relate to, and not with just The Sims, but a lot of other games as well.

The community is also just much more lively and bustling, since The Sims 4 somehow still hasn’t been retired after all these years, there’s more people to interact with and new people coming in, so admittedly that motivates me to keep opening it, bc gaming is a social hobby to me, perhaps it’s a peer pressure thing.

Now these reasons still don’t excuse the fact that I’m constantly struggling to enjoy my time in it more than I’d like, especially with immersion which I’ve realized over the years really makes or breaks a gaming experience for me, even though my expectation for it isn’t even that high… a lot of what’s wrong with The Sims 4 goes through the Sims 3 and Sims 2 side of my brain, and knows it isn’t right or could be better, so immediately it bums me out and I retreat to something else.

There’s hardly ever a time I’m not completely immersed in The Sims 3. When I’m playing it I spend a lot less time aggravating over my sims doing things they shouldn’t, and a lot more time actually focusing on goals, skills, and keeping their needs up without struggling to manage time so I can take in the full size and scope of the world around them, it feels very Skyrim to me, very RPG like in how it plays and how it’s paced, perhaps it’s also the open world that helps. So I feel more fulfilled as a player when I’m done, and I actually get excited about going back in next time whenever that’ll be, where as with The Sims 4… idk, it’s just so hands on all the time, everything requires so much work, that I feel like I’m constantly in Buy/Build or CAS, and it’s just so limited in scope. I’ll have an idea of what I want to do in it, and then find out it can’t be done, but then do it in The Sims 3 no problem. Could be that I’ve been playing it longer, and that it’s just everything in it has become habit, I already know it like the back of my hand kinda thing, but I think it’s also bc The Sims 4 just puts too much in one or two things, but not enough in others, which then in turn ruins the fun of the other one or two things ( ie build tools being amazing, but worlds being so tiny and lacking that same level of customization ), so it makes sense that things like rendering in blender has popularized, it opens up the possibilities the game falls shorts of.

The Sims 4 isn’t totally abysmal imo, it has its upsides, and I’d be a hypocrite if I said I was a total hater, bc I don’t hate it, rather, I love it and want it to be better, that’s why I criticize it so much… but perhaps it’s past that point of getting better, but I’m invested so… might as well make lemonade out of lemons? 😆

#asks #anon

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esmorothfallen · 1 year

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KNOWING YOUR PARTNER WELL CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER. REPOST.

name: color!!

pronouns: she/her

preference of communication: if you have it and you're comfortable adding me, i much prefer talking on discord!! tumblr ims are kind of clunky and hard to deal with imo.

name of muse: simon laurent!

rp experience / how long: i have about twelve years of roleplay experience. i started on roblox when i was around eight, and gradually worked my way up from there. as for tumblr roleplay experience specifically, i don't remember, but probably 5+ years.

best experience: the period when the infinity train rpc was active was my best period for tumblr roleplay, i think. it was a small rpc, but that also made it more chill, and i really enjoyed it. i miss my infinity train rpc mutuals a lot, but i know how it goes. switching to other fandoms, getting too busy, getting burned out on tumblr roleplay. all of that happened to me too.

rp pet peeves / deal breakers: pretty much just what's listed in my rules for deal breakers. for pet peeves, i am a bit of a stickler for grammar, lol. not that big of a deal in the long run, though.

fluff, angst, or smut: okay well first of all i don't do smut at all. i'm majorly uncomfortable with nsfw content in general. with that out of the way though!! my best genre is definitely angst. it doesn't have to be pure angst, mind you. but tooth-rotting fluff is very hard to write for me. albeit i am currently writing a muse that's hard to do that with anyway, so y'know. kind of comes with the territory!! i will do slice of life threads, i've gotten better at those than i used to be, but there's always gonna be some level of angst involved even if it's not the main focus.

plot or memes: i'm down for either, actually! i'm not the best at coming up with ideas, admittedly, so i do struggle a bit with plotting sometimes. but i'm trying!! and i've been doing a little better at it than i was, to the point that i'd actually like to do a little plotting with all of my roleplay partners if we can. at least enough that i have a concrete idea of what kinds of interactions you're interested in. memes as first interactions are fine too, though! just so long as you're comfy with me deciding based on my own discretion what verse to use and other things like that.

long or short replies: on your end or mine? lol. i'll always write at least a paragraph (unless i'm specifically posting a one-line starter), but most times my minimum is 3-4. that said, sometimes i go crazy and write much more, from 11-20 paragraphs. so i'm kind of all over the place there. as for your end, i don't mind how long your reply or starter is, as long as you give me enough to work with! i'm not a stickler for matching length. i also don't force myself to match length exactly if i can't think of anything else to add. i'll never give you a drastically shorter reply, but i won't stress over it if it's a paragraph or two short of yours.

best time to write: ridiculously late o'clock, for some darn reason!!! my writing motivation is ALWAYS the highest right before i go to bed and it drives me absolutely crazy because i don't have time to get anything done. but if i don't finish it and try to go back to it the next day, my motivation is much lower, and i end up staring at it for so long that i start overthinking it and want to rewrite the whole thing. head in hands. i'm such a coherent roleplayer.

are you like your muse: LOL i hope not!!! not this one, anyway. i used to write noelle holiday from deltarune, and i think that's the closest i've ever gotten to really seeing myself in a muse. there's a lot about noelle that i relate to. but simon? no, not really. i just have a thing for complex villains with tragic backstories.

tagged by: @countlessrealities! thank you for the tag! tagging: @dreamsofalife, @cauterisen, @rathalascendant, @rxtroskull! and anyone else who wants to do it.

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impalementation · 3 years

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if you're interested, i'd love to hear your thoughts on That scene in empty places, bc the way that i've seen most people talk about it doesn't always feel very nuanced and like... i get being frustrated and i for sure think some extremely unfair things to/about buffy were said, but i don't think it's as cut and dry as buffy being totally blameless (even though i love her) and everyone else (particularly the main scoobies, who don't have her responsibilities but have fought alongside her and earned the right to disagree w her imo) being terrible. Like it may have gone too far?? But idk, I have trouble articulating why, but I think there's more nuance to the situation than people want to say, so I'm curious about your thoughts

Anonymous asked:

whats your take on empty places and the scoobs kicking buffy out of her house?

Anonymous asked:

Why did Buffy allowed Dawn to kick her out in Empty Places?

Wow, so many questions about “Empty Places”! Sorry, as ever, that these took me a while to get to.

I actually agree, I think there’s more nuance there than it’s given credit for. I talked about that a bit in this post a while back. I wouldn’t say that the character build-up to that scene is as well-executed as it could have been, but it hardly comes out of nowhere, and it’s not some random thing. Or, as I’ve seen people suggest, simply there to make Spike look good and push him and Buffy together. I’m sure their romantic arc was a factor in the storytelling, but to call that the only motivation seems to me a vast oversimplification and dismissal of ideas that were built over the course of the season.

Season seven is, as I’ve discussed before, about how the Slayer system is broken. It’s a system that isolates Buffy and puts all of the decision-making in her hands. Meaning that it’s a system that is neither good for her, nor good for anyone around her, no matter how strong and brave Buffy is. All season long, we see Buffy struggle with both the limits of her power, and the demands of her authority. She wants to be able to save every girl, and fight every ubervamp, but she simply can’t be everywhere and stronger than everything. She wants to be a caring friend, but when she’s the one who has to make decisions about whether people should live or die, she can’t always be. When she’s the one who has to make all the hard choices, that means the blame always falls on her shoulders. When she fucks up, there’s nothing for her to fall back on. The fact that Buffy is forced to be this kind of sole authority means that the people around her are right to feel that they aren’t being listened to, or fully considered. Because often they aren’t. They see the people around them getting maimed and killed and suddenly realize that maybe it isn’t right that all their eggs should be in Buffy’s basket. But at the same time, they’re wrong, because they’re the ones who put their eggs there. They’re the ones who kept looking the other way as Buffy made hard choice after hard choice on their behalf. They’re as complicit in (and victimized by) the broken system as Buffy is.

Keep in mind the season’s perception themes. Everyone gets mad at Buffy, and Buffy gets mad at herself, because they’re all too close to the situation to see that the problem isn’t really Buffy, it’s what being the Slayer has forced Buffy to be. The dynamic it’s forced between her and the people around her. Notice how in the very next episode, Faith finds herself dealing with the exact same problems that Buffy was. The same hard decisions, and the same ambient resentments. It’s actually very important that Faith has to be a leader for a bit, in order to show this--the fact that the problem is being the Slayer, not Buffy. I’d even argue that it’s the much more thematically relevant motivation for the scene than getting Buffy and Spike alone.

As far as thematic motivations go, I also think it’s crucial that Buffy is thrown out of her house. That is some powerful symbolism for a season that leans so hard into the symbolism of Buffy’s house in general, and it’s disappointing to see people ignore it in their eagerness to be mad at everyone. The house is a lot of things—the familiar, the stable, the normative, the safe—but most importantly it’s also Buffy’s self. Notice how Spike and Faith, both Buffy’s shadow at different times, hang out in Buffy’s basement: the realm of the id and subconscious. Notice how as the house breaks down, Buffy gets injured as well.

So for Buffy to be thrown out of her house, it’s the climax of the season’s isolation themes not just in terms of story, but also metaphor. She has literally been cast out of herself. She’s been banished from her identity and role. But at the same time, once she’s on the outside of that myopic, claustrophobic system, she is able to connect with her shadow (Spike) and see the situation with new eyes. The reason that Spike is the one who can talk Buffy back is that firstly, unlike the Scoobies, his later seasons arc is all about learning to not ask Buffy for things that aren’t appropriate--romantic reciprocation, moral structure. Secondly, he was once the tool and symbol of her isolation, the icon of her shame and guilt and belief that she needed to isolate herself. For her to make peace with Spike is about her rejecting that isolation and shame, and transforming it.

Of course, I can talk about symbolism all I want and it doesn’t necessarily matter if the writers didn’t make it believable on the object level too—the level of character and plot and all of that. It’s a regular problem on Buffy, the writing caring more about symbolism than sense. While I think that most of the characters have adequate motivation for the scene—really, it’s been building from the beginning; remember the confrontation between Buffy and Xander as early as “Selfless”? or Buffy fighting with Giles and Wood two episodes earlier? or the way she argued with everyone in “Get It Done”? or the Potentials doubting her from basically their first episodes?—the one character that seems truly undeveloped is Dawn. She got that warning from the First in “Conversations With Dead People”, but the season doesn’t follow up on it well enough to draw a clear line between that seed of doubt and her attitude in “Empty Places.” Given that Dawn is Buffy’s “humanity” or “youth” or what have you, it’s symbolically significant that she would be the final one to cast Buffy out. But that seems like a clear case of the story not earning its metaphor, unfortunately.

To answer the third ask: as far as why Buffy let Dawn kick her out, on a character level I think she was pretty defeated by that point. But symbolically, I think the part about Buffy’s human self rejecting her is important for that. Buffy has a tenuous relationship to her belief in her humanity at the best of times, so it’s pretty easy for me to believe that she would feel lost and numbed enough by being rejected by that part of herself, that she wouldn’t fight it.

(Controversial opinion, but I actually kind of like that “Empty Places” isn’t due to the First sowing obvious discord. I’ve seen lots of people suggest that that would have been the stronger and more believable choice, and I get the instinct. But if the point of the season is to show that the villain is the Slayer system, then it makes more sense for that to be the thing that drives the conflict, and not an external force influencing them. There might have been a way to use the First that was compatible with that, but it wouldn’t have worked if the problem was just The First. Imo, of course.)

All of which is to say, that if you see the season as being about faulty perception, broken systems, and the dangers of isolation, then “Empty Places” actually makes perfect sense as a climax of the season. The problem really comes down to whether you think it was earned enough (which in some cases I think it was, and in others it wasn’t), or generally handled well, and whether you think those ideas are interesting in the first place.

#s7 #askbox still closed for now but i'm working my way through the backlog!

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ihatebnha · 3 years

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catie reading made me cry so bad because I relate to like EVERY single thing u said there, I’m in awe of u all the time bc you’re able to do SO much through everything, like that’s…that’s insane. there’s so much on your plate but you’re still answering asks and doing all these things for us, even tho we don’t owe u a PENNY like you’re so caring!! And thoughtful!!! I’m literally so grateful for every little thing u do,,,like your drive and ambition always motivates ME and I’m so so happy and proud of u always, I hope u know that I’m genuinely rooting for u and hoping everything goes smoothly for u 💚💚💚

I just wanna say thank you for your god tier content, and for literally being the sweetest and most wholesome person alive, and always always always interacting and responding in the best ways, I’m struggling so bad myself just like you and coming onto your blog whenever I have time feels like dipping my head above the surface to breathe after days, and just seeing your interactions makes my days because you’re fuckin HILARIOUS and so lovely, I’m always busting my ass laughing and I love love love 1) the way I feel so comfy and at “home” when u respond? Its like we’re besties already, u give off the most precious and comforting energy and I crï and 2) the way you’re just,,you? like you just seem like the best person ever IMO, v v genuine and so many layers? each one amazing? like an ONION. You’re so creative and big brained.

anywho I’m so sorry for the ramble but honestly that anon can just go step on lava that was so fuckinf uncalled for and disgusting and I just had to pop on and say something, usually I have horrible anxiety asking but it legit made me see red bc I relate to and appreciate you a LOT. You don’t deserve any of this doubt/hate, and you’re not obligated to do these either!!! you literally do much for FREE it’s insane and inspiring tbh, if you need to take time then please take as much off as you need, if you come back we’ll always be here because your health always comes first!! you’re amazing and I love u, I really hope things get better for you soon bb💚💚💚

Honestly, anon... i wish i had the words to properly and truly express my thanks for this message because there's so much i want to say to you and not enough ways or time for me to do it.

like how does one really "thank" someone for a message like this? like i practically.... want to explode just trying bc 1. theres no way you're talking about ME here, right? and 2. HOW CAN SOMEONE BE SO NICE???

like apparently im all these amazing things to you but literally there person here who is CARING, and THOUGHTFUL, and is GIVING ME MOTIVATION, and, and, and, is everything you said i am but tenfold.... is YOU. and im not lying.

so..... thank you, thank you, thank you SO much for all of this. really. i know im definitely skipping over some bits just going straight into that, but i really can't say it enough times or really process anything beyond... just trying to express the joy and delight i feel knowing that i'm also able to make you happy.

anyway. nothing i can say in response to you wouldve done this message any justice, or accurately captured how much i just want to hug you and never let go... but i really hope you know that i love and am proud (so, so much) of you, too!

may things get better for the both of us. you deserve the world, anon... truly. 🤍

#im really like ... nervous ... BC I HOPE THIS RESPONSE IS OKAY #i mean i know it is but i just want you to know how sbfhjkhasklsdhlakjsd grateful i am and how much i love u #i wanted to respond to every single sentence and im sad i couldnt bc then we'd both be here all night #anyone who sends a message like this deserves eternal peace #the government could call me and be like... u know that one anon? they just murdered someone what should we do #and id scoff and be like... uh DUH???? release them wtf?#like and im not joking lmfaoooo #not that u would murder someone....#(buf i u did i got your back. for life)#but anyway #thank u anon #we ARE besties btw #it breaks my heart that ur hurting too but i know you got this!!!#if u ever need a friend i am here #but good things will come to you. ill make sure they do #also sorry i responded late #i say that a lot but its really bc i have to process messages like this #it takes me awhile #caitie chats #fave #ask #anon

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sun-daisies · 3 years

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Happy WIP Wednesday! Heads up, I'll be on vacation next week so I won't be sending one next week! But for this week, let's talk about things shelved and abandoned. If you've got a WIP you've put away, tell me about it. What's got you stuck on it? Where do you want the story to go but can't make it go? Is there a way to work around it? Basically, rant at me about a stuck wip. If you're not one to shelve anything, tell me about one of your WIPs that isn't going as well as you'd hoped. 💙💙💙

WIP Wednesday (on Saturday)

Holly posting WIP Wednesday on any day that doesn't start with Wednes-? It's more likely than you think 🥴

Hi Kit! Thanks for always sending these in, even though I'm always less-than-punctual. I have 452325325723 WIPS that have been stopped and continued, or abandoned, or just slow-going. As per usual, let's talk about Control for WIP Wednesday because what else do I do?

Control is a complete season 1 au. I hyperfocused on it for a solid 4 months (ish) before having to stop and haven't updated since March. It is now August almost September. It was absolutely the perfect storm for me - Control is already a little overwhelming because it's such a massive project, at the time I was working 3 jobs (it's now 2, but one of the jobs has since decided to schedule me full-time now that I have more availability, which just sort of puts me back at square one), AND I hit the most boring part of season 1 imo which is the Yes Men episode which has been the biggest pain in the ass to trudge through. The Lorelei episode just sucks noah fence. Plus in March shit hit the fan and my mental health was the lowest it had ever been. I've been slowly climbing back up since then and am in a much better place now but I still have days where I plummet right back down. Paired with that I get messages and comments constantly about when it will update again or checking in to see why I haven't updated and it almost becomes like that thing where when you were a kid you'd happily clean your room until your mom told you to do it and then suddenly you were stubborn or just lost all interest. I've had spurts where I open the doc and write a solid page or two and then get too tired and lose all energy and motivation and just go to bed instead.

Writing in general has been really hard for me because I have absolutely zero attention span lately. I burnt myself out of basically everything and have been struggling to rest enough to enjoy things again. It'll come back eventually, I'm sure I'll find that spark again but for now the thought of actually writing is like the absolute last thing I want to do :/ Because Control is completely written in my head! All my WIPS are written over and over and over in my brain, it's the actual writing part that I get stuck on.

Anyway, that's the rant. Enjoy your vacation Kit!

#wip wednesday #wip ask #control fic

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pynkhues · 4 years

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Since you're a writer, I'm hoping you can shed some light on this. IMO the writers were chasing viewers in S2 and trying not to get canceled. Personally, I hate when writers toy with their audience, it means they don't have a clear picture of their characters and narrative. How do you feel about writers making it up as they go?

Ah, this post got really long, anon! Since you asked me as a writer, I’m answering as one (I hope you don’t mind! I also hope this doesnt come out as too Creative Writing 101 for people either. This is just lessons I’ve learned and use in my own practice, so I’m applying them here.)

(Also I have drawn horrible diagrams on my very pink notebook paper - I am so sorry, haha)

So first thing’s first - no. I don’t think the writers were chasing viewers (at least not beyond the way any writer is wanting an audience), and I don’t think they were making it up as they go really, but I can understand why you would think that way!

It won’t be a surprise to anyone that I love this show a lot, but coming from it as both a writer and editor - this show does have narrative problems, and the biggest ones, particularly in s2, are in execution, escalation and pacing.

I think heading into the season they had certain character arcs they wanted to follow which married well with the story they wanted to tell. In particular, I actually think the writers have a very strong handle on the girls (I will say that I’ve had a few asks telling me Beth’s characterisation is all over the place, which I’m curious about, just because I personally find her very consistent, and when I’ve asked for clarification, I’ve never gotten any reply, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

I mean, look at their s2 arcs on paper, right?

Ruby tries to negotiate Stan’s lowered opinion of her after the reveal of what she’s done, then has to negotiate him telling her to turn Beth and Annie in. She manages the situation painfully but pulls them through and they’re close again as Ruby navigates the increasingly lower depths of their crime life. When Stan acts to save Beth for Ruby and is arrested, it only escalates – the case on him driving Ruby to extremes to try and save him, including robbing a Quick Cash and using counterfeit money to bribe a lawyer. On top of that, she’s being targeted by an FBI agent who’s after her best friend who she gives up and then saves and then who tries to sacrifice herself for them. Ruby finishes the season the most morally compromised she’s ever been.

Annie gets back together with her ex only to find out that he’s gotten his not-quite-separated-wife pregnant. She splits up with him, but is heartbroken and it’s only amplified by the fact that they’ve been given a job by their Crime Boss to murder a man who tried to rape her but who’s grandmother she has a relationship with. Her sister can’t kill him, and Annie doesn’t get the chance as MP beats her to it. Upon disposing of the body though she endures a whole lot of pain as a result of both her ex’s new family and knowing she’s robbed a woman of her own. Annie goes on a guilt tour – tells her son, helps Marion, helps Nancy only to eventually find an absolver of her guilt in Noah, who builds her up and tells her she’s more than what life has given her. She lets herself have it for a while, before realising he’s FBI and there to trap her, and Annie tries to use him only to realise she can’t, and she finishes the season in a lot more hurt than she started it.

Beth struggles with guilt after getting Dean shot, gets the job to kill Boomer from Rio, can’t do it, gets support and encouragement from him (in various states of animosity), but in the end doesn’t have to find out if she can do it because MP does it instead. She’s rewarded by Rio in a way she probably never has been by anyone, her husband further subjugates her, so she has sex with Rio, starts to entertain a future with him, but he undermines her, so she seizes control from him. They work together. Dean forces her to break up with him due to jealousy, she struggles, goes back, but Rio’s stung, so unhelpful, and they play a little cat and mouse before he bails then kidnaps her and she shoots him.

With the exception of that very last sentence, I think all of those are narratively really strong pathways to have explored. Like I said above though, the issue is in execution, escalation and pacing.

But to talk about those things, I think I probably need to talk about story.

SO!

Stories have a shape.

Kurt Vonnegut talks extensively about this, and while he’ll talk about a few different types of story shapes, they really all boil down to this bad boy here:

Look at this guy.

What a beautiful thing.

He’s a story.

It doesn’t matter if you’re reading Dr Seuss or Charles Dickens, when you read a story – when you strip away its words and its characters and its settings – this is what it looks like.

Or, well.

Not quite.

Really, it’s this guy:

But we’ll talk about him in a sec.

Right now, let’s talk about that first little inch:

The Beginning

The fact that stories have a beginning is not a surprise to anyone. Stories need them. In some ways, they’re the most important part of your story. After all, the job of the beginning is to set up the world your protagonist is about to leave behind. That is essential in grounding a reader / viewer – orienting them to the world that they’re in, and getting them invested in the story you’re about to tell, if not the protagonist.

Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Game of Thrones are all excellent example of this (and frequently used in teaching) because in each of these cases it’s literal. Frodo leaves Bag End, Harry leave Privet Drive, Luke leaves Tatooine, the Starks leave Winterfell. There is a literal departure from the world before the crux of the story, and that departure is what signifies the start of the ‘hero journey’ aka the main part of your narrative.

Of course, it’s not always literal – in fact, it’s usually not. Usually that world is symbolic – it’s the single, uncertain world before the Bingley’s buy the house next door in Pride and Prejudice or the dry domestic sphere of Breaking Bad before Walt decides to make meth. It’s a marked shift, whether that’s internal or external.

In Good Girls, it’s internal.

The beginning is actually pretty perfect. The world it sets up that we’re about to (try to) depart is one of struggle and invisibility.

Beth’s in a loveless marriage promptly discovering that her husband is not only cheating but about to leave them destitute, Ruby’s getting ignored by the healthcare system and can’t afford to pay for her daughter’s wellbeing, and Annie is in a dead end job about to lose custody of her child.

Writing-wise – as a beginning, I honestly think 1.01 is close to perfect.

It sets up who these characters are, their personal conflicts, and the story world they share together, and the worlds they have on their own i.e. Ruby at the hospital and the diner, Annie at Fine and Frugal, Beth with Dean and Boland Motors.

Then:

BOOM

Inciting Incident.

The inciting incident is also often called The Point of No Return.

When I’m teaching, I personally like to call it the “You’re a wizard!” moment.

It’s when something happens that means everything set up in the beginning will be changed forever. It’s Romeo meeting Juliet, it’s Katniss volunteering for Prim, it’s Frodo deciding to take the ring to Mordor, it’s Jaimie pushing a child out a window, it’s Beth – deciding to take her little sister’s joke seriously and rob a grocery store.

(Again, I like to use Harry Potter because it’s literal – there is no return for Harry after hearing Hagrid tell him he’s a wizard. Everything is changed forever).

Inciting incidents are probably the most singularly important narrative moment, because they’re what everything else tumbles out of. Pretty much everything that happens in the story should be a direct or indirect result of the inciting incident. The inciting incident is ultimately the key of the story and what should unlock the overall arc.

When it comes to a series – whether that be a TV series, movie series or book series, each individual instalment (see: season of a show) should have its own inciting incident which – preferably – builds off the one established in the first instalment.

The Hunger Games does this really well. Katniss and Peeta being brought back into the games in Catching Fire is both an imitation inciting incident which allows the author to explore the story world further in an exciting way, and also an inciting incident that’s directly borne out of the first book / film – aka Katniss pissed enough people off during the first games that they’re going to try and kill her for real this time, which in turn gives us the opportunity to explore Katniss’ trauma, the ramifications of her actions in the first book on the broader story world, and to generate a new, compelling chapter based off of both.

Good Girls has a terrific inciting incident in s1 – which is Beth realising she’s about to lose everything.

That is our narrative point of no return.

And it works on a lot of levels – it establishes Beth as the driving engine of the story, fuelled by the chorus motivations of Annie and Ruby, rounding off both their collective and individual stakes, it sets us up for a strong narrative spine and solid characterisations.

Good Girls actually also has a terrific inciting incident in s2, which operates strongly on its own while also building firmly off the character arcs of s1.

The s2 inciting incident is Rio showing up on that park bench with Marcus, a gun and an order.

The story pivots here – giving Rio a lot of narrative thrust (get your minds out of the gutter kids), and making him a sort of secondary story engine. The core engine is still Beth, but her life is different now. She’s been traumatised and she’s exhausted, but Rio revealing his son to the girls (and tying their motivations up together in a neat little package) while forcing her to act, re-establishes her as the person who’s decisions are going to be the driving force of the narrative.

Ruby and Annie are, of course, story engines in their own right too, but they fall into line behind Beth usually, and their narrative push is actually usually away from the story throughline, but we’ll talk about that in a sec.

Rising Tension / The Middle

Okay, this is where things get a little tricky.

Do you remember this guy?

When we talk about stories, rising tension / the middle is the big guy. It’s the bulk of your narrative. It’s Where Things Happen. It’s where all the ugly stuff set up in your beginning and exploded by your inciting incident just - - grows a life of it’s own.

Or - -

Well.

Maybe not.

Forget about this guy.

Rising tension is this:

Rising tension is a series of ‘mini climaxes’ on the way to the main climax that raises the stakes, lets you know characters better, and pushes your characters onwards to the main climax.

Each of these little climaxes should be followed by a ‘narrative rest’. (that’s the dip after each spike)

Which - - I don’t know, might sound weird? I know when I started writing I was like ?? but it’s true! The closer you get to a big narrative climax, the more important rests are! Rests are – I personally think – one of the most important components of storytelling, because they re-ground an audience, remind them of what’s at stake, before thrusting everyone back into danger.

Again, Harry Potter is a gift in this sense because this is all really clearly paced out. Think about the first instalment – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s / Sorcerer’s Stone.

Harry and Ron save Hermione and Ron from the troll!!!

Then they become friends and enjoy school and quidditch.

Harry loses control of his broom during a quidditch game!!!!

He’s okay and then it’s Christmas and Harry gets the invisibility cloak and feels connected to his parents for perhaps the first time in his life.

Harry, Hermione and Ron go through the trapdoor to get the philosopher’s stone!!!

And - - okay, you get the point.

Each mini climax ups the stakes, but we feel those stakes upped because of the time we spend with characters during the ‘narrative rest’. For instance, while Harry and Ron saving Hermione from the troll might have sparked an interest in her, it’s the narrative rest scenes between that and her setting Snape on fire during the quidditch game that makes us invest in her as a character.

This is where things get a bit hairy with Good Girls. Good Girls does a tremendous job of giving us both great climaxes and wonderful moments of narrative rest. The issue, for me at least, is that it’s not always the best at balancing them. When I talk about escalation and pacing, this is a big part of what I mean.

Remember how I said this was the shape of a story?

Well, I think Good Girls s2 looked more like this:

We had a lot of solid movement in the first half of the season that sort of flattened out into a lower stakes, more meandering middle (which gave us 2.08 through 2.12). Which - -

Look.

The story changed gear, and it didn’t work.

Think of it this way:

2.01 – mostly character-based fallout from s1 + inciting incident of Rio handing them the gun

2.02 – almost entirely rising tension culminating with the girls bribing Boomer and Beth lying to Rio

2.03 – which thrusts us straight back into rising tension with the girls trying to kill Boomer and ‘succeeding’ via Mary Pat

2.04 – which gives us a very satisfying narrative rest as we explore Rio and Beth’s relationship outside of an overall narrative thrust – he gives her a key, she shies away from him, only to fall entirely back into him culminating in sex which itself brings about a new climax (no pun intended!) in the scene with Beth, Rio and Dean at the dealership. It’s also a strong character episode in closing certain plot threads – ending Annie and Greg’s relationship + ending Ruby lying to Stan about what they’re doing – while establishing major new threads – i.e. really colliding Turner and Mary Pat.

2.05 – and after the rest, we’re back to almost entirely satisfying rising tension! Building off of the threat of finding Boomer’s body and the new tensions that Rio and Beth’s intimacy brings.

2.06 – a mix episode! Very much building to the strong climax of Beth seizing power, but also an episode that plays around with character, has a lot of strong ‘rest’ moments i.e. the girls sorting pills and talking which gives us a lot of information as to state of minds, etc.

2.07 – again, very strong mixed episode which is focused on one single, extreme climax – Jane being missing, but building a very character-centric episode around it. Also introduces Noah though? Which is a mistake. He should have been introduced - I think, in 2.05, but that feels like a whole other post.

2.08 – narratively speaking the same as 2.07 in the sense of a single climax (the girls failing to get the money back / the Beth-Ruby confrontation), but has the added bonus of flashbacks.

2.09 – we have a slight narrative thrust with the robbery of the Quick Cash but it proves very quickly to be low stakes. This is an alllll emotional stakes episode, which means narrative tension is slowing.

2.10 – again, a character-focused, narrative rest episode devoted to Beth struggling with getting square. A few small climaxes – Annie and Ruby in Canada and Turner at the dealership being the big ones, but both quickly prove toothless. The heft / strength of the episode again is in character moments, not narrative thrust. Again - slowing it down.

2.11 – oh, what do we have here? Another character-focused, narrative rest episode? I love this episode – it’s one of my favourites of the show, but it’s intensely character focused. Very much centred in waving away the smoke around both Noah and Rio for Annie and Beth respectively. No dramatic climaxes. Slowing the story down even further.

2.12 – another narrative rest episode. A lot of slow exposition of Mary Pat and Jeff, which is good to know, but I’d argue placed badly in the season. This season’s already been slowing down despite the narrative timeline tightening, but this episode only further pushes on the brakes for Dean’s new job, Beth and Dean’s divorce, Beth and Rio’s break up. Two very small climaxes - the lawyer telling Ruby he knows about the money and the Boomer reveal but - in the context of the season - actually pretty low stakes. Again. Slowing down the narrative.

2.13 – A BIG CLIMAX EPISODE WHAT IS GOING ON???

What I’m saying in this is that the pacing in the back half of the season was, to me at least, fundamentally off. They hadn’t steered a strong enough narrative spine to take us through the season, and got heavily invested in character moments and not-entirely-thought-out-fallout in the back half of the season – it didn’t understand it’s own narrative thrust well enough to get us through. It also established a certain pacing with us in the first half of the season and shifted gears halfway through.

You can’t have your first three or six episodes be high-stakes-high-action, and then make the back end of your season same-stakes-low-action and top it all off with an explosive, poorly built-up finale in the way that they did.

There wasn’t enough thrust to push us through to the scene in Rio’s loft – neither narratively or in a character sense, and as a result, those last few episodes fall apart. Even beyond that though, the season escalated quickly then - - didn’t really know what to do with those escalations? It plateaued, which is indicative of bad pacing across the season.

I actually do think it’d be a relatively easy fix? I’d bring the Noah arc forwards and actually fiddle with the Beth and Rio break ups - get one even closer the tinale and make it more painful. Make it a climax in itself.

But anyway, haha:

The Resolution

All stories have a resolution too of course.

The resolution can be 30 seconds or 30 minutes – it’s a time to tie up loose ends and to reassure your audience that the journey they’ve been on is worthwhile.

(After all – you’ll notice the story diagram is not symmetrical – we never finish where we began).

I’m not going to talk too much about resolutions because at the end of the day – resolutions should fall fairly naturally out of your beginning, your inciting incident, your rising tension. It should tumble out like the double wedding at the end of Pride and Prejudice, but I will say that the s2 resolution was...err, not good. In no small part because it didn’t fall out of what we’d been told all season. They’d established a certain throughline and then taken it back, and that was nagl to be honest.

On the plus side though - it wasn’t a finale, so I have my fingers crossed they can fix it!

But yes, back to your ask, anon.

No, I don’t think that the writers were pandering. I think they went in with a sketched outline and that they probably got lost in the back end of the season and weren’t quite sure how to drum up the final act, which meant that final act didn’t work.

Ah, this post got so long! I hope it wasn’t boring or too self-indulgent or silly, and that you got something out of it! I am, of course, always happy to answer writing questions, and I hope you liked reading my story ramblings ;-)

#writing posts #gg season 2 #welcome to my ama

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asking-jude · 4 years

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I'm just a bit of a mess,. i think i have adhd. I've done lots of research n stuff n everything, and I mean EVERYTHING fits, the rsd, the executive dysfunction, hyperfixations, etc. but i can't really go anywhere or get checked, bc in my place it's really really hard to get a psychiatrist or a therapist, and when I told my parents they said I'm just too scared or that I'm faking it. and it just feels so frustrating bc i constantly hate me "faking" but it's the best explanation imo 1/? -💛🌿

(ask continued) ...i feel so fake bc no one thinks I actually have problems, bc I'm "too smart" or just too "hypochondriac" but i know that this all makes sense, it's all me, and it explains why I feel so differently from my peers, but i also dont want to disrespect the adhd community bc I'm self diagnosing/not official. i used to be hyper focused on school before, and get amazing grades, but now I'm honestly burnt out, and i have no motivation, I'm constantly demotivated

and i always feel burnt out and im forgetful and I'm careless and im stupid, but it must be that I'm "just not trying hard enough bc we know you're smart, you're just too distracted with social media and you're faking being r*tarded for attention or to get extensions and stuff" and i feel like such utter trash but it's true, isnt it? i don't even know anymore.

Hello, I am so, so sorry that people are invalidating your feelings and experiences. It must be incredibly difficult to have to deal with negative opinions and lack of support on top of everything else you are going through. I want to tell you that, despite what others are saying, your struggles are very real and valid. You are not a mess; you are just misunderstood and hurting. Rather than seeing it as something being wrong with you, you should try to see it as your brain being wired differently. I am not qualified to confirm your self-diagnosis, but I can suggest some ways to go about lessening your ADHD symptoms. First and foremost, it is so important that you get proper sleep, eat a nutritious diet, and exercise sufficiently. These things can greatly impact mental health. Moreover, individuals with ADHD often find it helpful to stay manage their symptoms by keeping a planner with to-do lists and schedules. Break your day down into small chunks of time. This can help declutter your mind by getting any tasks or ideas you have onto paper. In addition to decluttering your mind, it is also important to declutter your physical space. This will help calm the mind and increase productivity/wellbeing. Practicing self-care is also of utmost importance. Attend to your physical/mental needs and be sure to incorporate activities that make you happy into your daily routine. Here are some more extensive tips on how to cope with ADHD: https://www.additudemag.com/dealing-with-adhd-80-coping-strategies/ https://www.additudemag.com/slideshows/13-adhd-coping-skills-for-organization-time-management/ https://psychcentral.com/blog/12-best-tips-for-coping-with-adhd/ https://www.nami.org/About-Mental-Illness/Mental-Health-Conditions/ADHD/Support You mentioned that it is difficult to find professional help in your area, so I highly suggest you try out online therapy. Some popular virtual counseling services are TalkSpace and BetterHelp. These provide regular, individualized support for people who do not readily have access to in-person services. I also recommend you read the following article to figure out which type of therapy is right for you and how to access it: https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/therapy/how-do-i-find-a-therapist-near-me/ I've also attached some links on finding ADHD/mental health support groups, both online or near you: https://chadd.org/affiliate-locator/ https://www.meetup.com/topics/adhd/ https://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/adhd-online-community https://add.org/adhd-support-groups/ https://addcoach4u.com/us-adhd-support-groups-list/ It sounds like this is really taking a toll on you. If these feelings become especially overwhelming, you should reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Line at 1-800-273-8255 or the Crisis Text by texting HOME to 741741 (in the U.S.). These are 24/7 services for individuals who need someone to listen and support them through whatever they need, whether that be difficult times or suicidal thoughts. Once again, I am so sorry that you are going through this. You are so strong for persevering in spite of these unfortunate circumstances. Believe in yourself and keep fighting. Things will get better, I promise. Stay strong, and I wish you all the best. Much love, Siriveena

Asking Jude needs YOUR help! Donate pocket change here and save our safe space.

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luvdsc · 3 years

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Hihi Cat! I've come to deliver some good news! (This is pretty long huhu ToT)

MY ERB HAS BEEN APPROVED AND I CAN PROCEED TO RECRUIT PARTICIPANTS!! Ahh it's been such a blessing to be able to proceed immediately! I've actually hit my target amount of participants in less than a day (IT'S CRAZY) but I'm gonna collect more responses cuz the more the better! (Would you wanna check the questionnaire out? I can PM you the link!! :3)

Also also I PASSED THAT FINALS! The one I took a day after my vaccination (1st dose) ToT GAHH I'm so happy I won't even ask for more, it's enough :3

I've been writing my thesis during this sem break but it's progressing pretty slowly cuz I've been so drained from last semester and the vaccine itself. Huhu but I've written a brief rundown for my proposal so there's a rough idea there, just needa rly assemble it into a clear narrative. And yes I agree! Psychology studies are a beautiful fusion of science & human essence imo, and its fascinating learning more abt ourselves and how we as the human species progress in life ya know? 😌

I got my second dose exactly a week ago and got the same side effects - headache, arm soreness, hunger, fatigue; I felt like a fusion of psyduck & snorlax HAHAHAHA 😂 - it wasn't anything serious so yay I'm fully vaccinated! (in a few weeks time keke I'll be)

HAHAHAHA my vaccination appointments were pretty eventful. The nurses and volunteers were all so warm and friendly! I'm the type of person who feels whatever's being injected into me, it's not the pain that I wanna distract myself from (it wasn't pain tbh) but that sluggish discomfort I get from the needle ejaculation >//< sooo as they showed me the vile and syringe before injecting me, I prepped my Yangyang photocard in my hand. During my second dose, the nurse thought I had some fancy way of taking a video when in actual fact I was just looking at my Yangyang photocard hehe UwU she asked me whether I wanted to see the needle going in (smtg I can't look at tbh) and I was like HELL NAH ToT

And also some recap from the previous ask!

There's no need to apologise for the delayed response okie!! UwU my sem break is ending this week, but I've spent my time completing my academic research trainee tasks (transcribing audio clips), I've also created the content & design for my uni's newsletter, did some thesis writing, and I took a course on financial planning on Coursera to prep myself for the adulting life ToT

And idm sharing my back up / failed topics! I didn't have a lot of cards in my hands, but here are some of em!

1) time perspective and meaning in life 2) anticipatory nostalgia 3) not a topic but a variable! fragility of happiness / happiness aversion

what ideas did you settle on for yr art pieces? If you dm sharing, I'd love to hear abt it! 💖💖💖

Tbh I can't think of a fav ice cream flavor hmm 🤔 i rly didn't think it'd be so hard thinking of a fav ice cream flavor but the first that comes to mind is green tea! I like them milky flavored ice cream😍 though my fav from this ice cream place I go to is thai milk tea, it's so fragrant and milky!! 🥺💖 I just got myself a tub of milk & biscoff gelato keke UwU what's yr fav ice cream flavor? :3

For my course structure:

We have 2 long sems (Jan - Apr, & Aug - Dec, 16 weeks) & a short sem (May - July, 9 weeks)! Our sem breaks are only around a month then it's back to sleepless nights ToT AND YES those weeks were the most stressful weeks ever 🥺😭 I'm glad I'm graduating soon for that reason 😂(though idk what awaits in the working world ToT that is another fear I have :/)

Thank you for being part of this journey and being open to listening to my lil adventures! 🥺🙆🏻‍♀️💖😭 esp w the amount of responses and ppl helping me, I feel a lil more motivated to work and excel in this pregnancy (thesis, I call it pregnancy cuz it's around 9 months too HEHE) Since the pandemic, it's been pretty hard separating studies & hobbies :/ I've learnt it the hard way from my period cramps last sem (mine's the severe type where you can faint ToT), and it was also on my last paper for finals !! Very traumatizing ._. but I'll continue to manage myself better! :3

Huhu Cat since you're working now, I also wanna ask abt yr experience in job seeking! Cuz unemployment is a real deal here esp. w everything that's going on :') I don't have working experience either (only had 1 through internship) and it literally feels like I'm going into the unknown ToT I've been running over some case studies and assessments just to better prep myself for this. Do you have any advice as someone who's already working? UwU

Take care and stay lovely as always!! 💖💖💖

hi, sweetpea !!!! 🌸 omg major congratulations for getting your ERB approved, honey bee !!!!! 🥳🥳🥳 that’s absolutely amazing, and I’m uber proud of you 🥺💗💗 also, it’s wonderful that you hit the required number of participants so quickly !!!!! (And I would love to participate if the questionnaire is still open 🤧)

AND HECK YEAAA CONGRATS ON PASSING THE FINAL TOO 🤩🤩🤩🤩 big congrats to you all around, miss smarty pants 💓💓💓

Oh gosh, I hope you got to rest during your semester break too ): you’re working so hard, please remember to take care of yourself !! 💕 your mental health is more important 🤍 have you finalized your proposal now? And omg yes exactly !!! It’s so interesting to see the thought process behind an action and how it can be manipulated or influenced by various stimulants or there’s also the argument between nature versus nurture too and how that affects psychology and it’s just all so cool to learn about 🤩

Omg you had so many symptoms, I’m so sorry to hear that 😭 I only had a sore arm, but that’s what happens when I get any shot 🤧 I hope you’re feeling better now 💘💘

I’m really glad to hear that the nurses and volunteers were kind and friendly !! it’s always comforting to have nice people as doctors, especially when you’re trusting them to stick a needle in you bshdjdjdkd omg yangyang to the rescue !!!! 💞💞 we’re not allowed to record record any medical appointments, like I think the nurse thought the person in front of me in line was recording when they were getting their vaccine and said they weren’t allowed to do that 😅 and aaaaa I always have to look when they inject me, I don’t like being taken by surprise 🤧

oh my gosh you were so productive over your semester break !!!! :o and oooo you do content & design for your school’s newsletter? Do you do stuff like graphic designing and write articles? 💓 and how was the financial planning course !! Did you learn a lot? Did you like the studies? :’)

aaaaa those topics sound so cool ??? 🤩🤩 I would definitely be down to read about those omg 💛

for my 3D design class, I decided to do lightbulbs and flowers as my overarching theme for my art pieces !! I included a couple pictures below under the cut at the bottom 💓 the first one is a soft sculpture made out of newspaper, and there’s a pencil next to it for size reference, the second one is made of wires that I shaped myself, and the third one is made of foam boards that I cut and assembled myself as well 💕 and I included a picture of my final painting project! it’s a triptych and I believe the size was like 18 x 24 for each one? If you click on the picture, it should be better quality!

omg I love green tea ice cream too !!!!! 🍵🍦 I like going to somi somi for their matcha and milk swirl ice cream with red bean taiyaki 💚 I only had thai milk tea ice cream once, but it was phenomenal 🤩 I wish they sold it near me too !! milk and biscoff :o I’ve never tried that flavor! I’ll have to see if it’s sold around here :’) green tea is my favorite, but I also really like everything but the... from Ben and Jerry’s !! 💛 also alcoholic ice cream.... like there’s this one kind where it was a breakfast esque type with vanilla, corn flakes, and bourbon, and it was delicious 😋

omg what 😭😭 you’re basically going to school year round with no break bahsjdjdjdkd when I was in uni, i had a month off for winter break (usually something like dec 9 - jan 9) and then mid june to mid September off, so around three months of summer vacation? Your school schedule sounds absolutely brutal 💀💀

and omg of course !!! Thank you for letting me be a part of the journey 🥺💗 bdjdjddj pregnancy omg that’s such an interesting way of seeing it :o sending you all my love and support for a successful delivery of your thesis baby 🥰🥰 oh yeah, it’s definitely been a struggle to separate everything, especially when the lines between home and workspace blur with online school or working from home. And oh my god ???? Are you okay ?? Did you go see a doctor or take any medication? I hope you’re feeling better now !! Please take care of yourself 😭

ah, I got my job through my internship, so I’m not sure how helpful I will be 😅 but during the process of interviewing for internships, there were several rounds for each company that range from a group interview, a one on one interview, video interview where they give you random questions that you have to answer on the spot (some of mine were discuss the stock market, give a sales pitch on something you’re interested in, etc), a test, etc. I think it’s different depending on the job you’re going for, but that’s what I had to do in the business field! It’s important to study and prep for all of this!! It’s like taking an verbal exam for one of your classes. And also make sure to study the company’s website and familiarize yourself with what they do/sell.

My one piece of overall advice would be about interviews! Interviews are important in which the person interviewing you is seeing if you’ll be a good fit with the company, not in terms of skill, but personality. They already know you’re qualified and have good skills - that’s how you got the interview. With the interview, they’re essentially trying to see how personable you are and if you will work well with their team. Some people are so intent on proving their skills that they kinda just rattle off all their achievements and whatnot, and it’s like... the interviewer already knows this, it’s all on the resume they reviewed when they decided to give the interview offer. Be friendly, open, maybe make a little small talk at the beginning (“hey, how are you? any weekend plans / how was your weekend?” This is what I did for all my business interviews, and I got an offer back from every one 🤧💗), make appropriate jokes / be a little funny, just show that you’d be a fun person to have in the office whom people will want on their team, but that you will also be dedicated to the job and work hard 💘

And thank you so much, honey bee!!! 💞 I hope you’re doing well and having a good week , and please take care as well 🌷🌷

#asks #jaeismytamtation

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