#plotting is basically a requirement on this blog

[chibitantei]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐆𝐀 𝐑𝐏 𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐓 / 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐄.

First and foremost, recall that no one is perfect, we all had witnessed some plotting once which did not went too well, be it because of us or our partner. So here have this, which may help for future plotting. It’s a lot! Yes, but perhaps give your partners some insight? Anyway BOLD what fully applies, italicize if only somewhat. Long post!

MUN NAME: Liz

AGE: 21+

CONTACT: Asks, IMs. Discord is given out to people I feel comfortable with. If you find yourself yearning for it for some reason, just ask. The worst I can say is no.

CHARACTER(S): Mainly Naoto and her Shadow. Some other unimportant guest muses but they are not important.

CURRENT FANDOM(S): SMT/Persona, primarily P4.

FANDOM(S) YOU HAVE AN AU FOR: When your muse is hotly contested in a certain aspect, it makes you hesitant to follow blogs from other fandoms, so I don’t really have any :0)

MY LANGUAGE(S): English.

THEMES I’M INTERESTED IN FOR RP:      FANTASY  / SCIENCE FICTION / HORROR / WESTERN  / ROMANCE / THRILLER / MYSTERY / DYSTOPIA / ADVENTURE / MODERN / EROTIC / CRIME / MYTHOLOGY / CLASSIC / HISTORY / RENAISSANCE / MEDIEVAL / ANCIENT / WAR / FAMILY / POLITICS / RELIGION / SCHOOL / ADULTHOOD / CHILDHOOD/ APOCALYPTIC / GODS / SPORT / MUSIC / SCIENCE / FIGHTS / ANGST / SMUT / DRAMA / ETC.

PREFERRED THREAD LENGTH:     ONE-LINER / 1 PARA / 2 PARA / 3+ PARA / NOVELLA / ALL

ASKS CAN BE SENT BY:     MUTUALS / NON-MUTUALS / PERSONALS / ANONS. (Non-RP asks from non-mutuals and personals will be answered if you want to send them in for some reason lmao.)

CAN ASKS BE CONTINUED?:    YES / NO / OCCASIONALLY  (I’ll say yes if you can) - only by Mutuals?:  YES / NO

PREFERRED THREAD TYPE:    CRACK / CASUAL / SERIOUS / DEEP AS HECK. / ALL (If you want something substantial, crack ain’t the way to go about it, chief lol.)

IS REALISM / RESEARCH IMPORTANT FOR YOU IN CERTAIN THEMES?:       YES / NO. (For Naoto’s health issues, absolutely. I may decline writing a thread focused around that or any other muse’s if I feel like it is not treated with the seriousness it should be treated with. There’s also remembering that Persona takes place in Japan and no, it is not America 2.0, god help me if I have to see you act like it is-

But other than that, I don’t strictly follow realism. Persona is not the most realistic series and Naoto has a gun, when in RL Japan, she would not be able to own one. If you’re looking for ultra realism, you have come to the wrong blog and are looking at the wrong series.)

ARE YOU ATM OPEN FOR NEW PLOTS?:      YES / NO / DEPENDS. (They are basically the only way to get continuous, non-awkward interactions with Naoto so-)

DO YOU HANDLE YOUR DRAFT / ASK - COUNT WELL?:    YES / NO / SOMEWHAT.

HOW LONG DO YOU USUALLY TAKE TO REPLY?:     24H / 1 WEEK / 2 WEEKS / 3+ WEEKS / MONTHS / YEARS. / DEPENDS ON MOOD AND INSPIRATION, AND IF I’M BUSY

I’M OKAY INTERACTING WITH:     ORIGINAL CHARACTERS / A RELATIVE OF MY CHARACTER (AN OC) / DUPLICATES / CROSSOVERS / MULTI-MUSES / SELF-INSERTS / PEOPLE WITH NO AU VERSE FOR MY FANDOM / CANON-DIVERGENT PORTRAYALS / AU-VERSIONS.

DO YOU POST MORE IC OR OOC?:     IC / OOC.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WITH FOLLOWING OTHERS?:     YES / NO / DEPENDS.  

BEST WAYS TO APPROACH YOU FOR RP/PLOTTING:

For plotting: IMs, or sending an ask I can answer privately. There’s also my Discord if you have it.

For RP: Starters, plotting or inbox things are by far the easiest. If you happen to have a meme that fits Naoto, perfect. I don’t usually send other people memes because it’s usually something Naoto would never say or it requires a degree of pre-established relationship I don’t feel comfortable jumping into without discussion. I have a special hatred for people who constantly reblog memes like “shit my roommate says at 3 AM” though. I honestly do not know what you’re expecting from me if you follow me and you’re that kind of person. Like you do realize Naoto is a killjoy right-

WHAT EXPECTATIONS DO YOU HOLD TOWARDS YOUR PLOTTING PARTNER?: Just give me some ideas. I don’t care how dumb it is. I need to know what you don’t like too, so we can avoid those topics in the future. I also ask that you don’t try to make your muse better than Naoto in certain aspects, like being a smartass detective. Unless your muse is Sherlock Holmes or another genius detective, I will punch you in the dick if you say your muse is a better detective than Naoto is.

And if you’re only following me so your muse can collect one of them ‘sad snarky muses who needs friendship’, and add Naoto to the collection, just leave dude.

WHEN YOU NOTICE THE PLOTTING IS RATHER ONE-SIDED, WHAT DO YOU DO?: I usually just mention that I think we’re done for now, then change the topic.

HOW DO YOU USUALLY PLOT WITH OTHERS, DO YOU GIVE INPUT OR LEAVE MOST WORK TOWARDS YOUR PARTNER?: I try to add my own input because leaving it up to one person is an RP 101 no go. This hobby requires communication and making sure both sides have fun, so it’s important to talk about my own side of things and work it out with my writing partner.

WHEN A PARTNER DROPS THE THREAD, DO YOU WISH TO KNOW?:      YES / NO / DEPENDS. - AND WHY?: If it was an important thread that was relevant to our plot, then yes, I’d like to know so we can both be on the same page and talk about how our characters will change after that. Other than that, nah. With how many threads I have and the fact that I don’t use thread tracker, I tend to forget what I have out in the wild unless I see it in my activity feed.

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY LEAD YOU TO DROP A THREAD?: Lack of muse, but this rarely happens. Also if I notice my character is written into a situation that feels OOC, bye lol. Sometimes I also just dislike the direction the thread is headed in. Please don’t take it personally.

WILL YOU TELL YOUR PARTNER?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS.

IS COMMUNICATION IN THE RPC IMPORTANT TO YOU?    YES / NO. - AND WHY?: I don’t expect to be super besties with all of my writing partners. Some people are just meant to be writing partners and that’s it. However, I hate it when people follow, show interest in writing with me, then all of a sudden, act like I don’t exist while still following me. If you’re not interested anymore, just softblock. It’s a waste of time for me to try and give you opportunities when you’re clearly ignoring my presence on your dashboard.

Tangent aside, if we’re just writing partners, i don’t expect much communication between us. If we plot constantly and consider each other friendly writing partners/friends, then yes, communication is important.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH ABSOLUTE HONESTY, EVEN IF IT MAY MEANS HEARING SOMETHING NEGATIVE ABOUT YOU AND/OR PORTRAYAL?: I don’t mind as long as I asked for it. If I didn’t, please don’t. Sometimes I just want to write a cringe anime girl.

DO YOU THINK YOU CAN HANDLE SUCH SITUATION IN A MATURE WAY?     YES / NO.

WHY DO YOU RP AGAIN, IS THERE A GOAL?: I initially came here to improve Naoto for my never-to-be-finished fanfic. I was planning to bail once I felt like she was ‘good’ enough, but that hasn’t happened yet, so I guess I’m here to stay for an indefinite amount of time, or until I lose steam for Naoto lol. Or I get hit with one of those moods where I question what the point of RPing Naoto is and go do some solo stuff and disappear for a week. Who knows.

WISHLIST, BE IT PLOTS OR SCENARIOS: You can find some stuff here. A lot of these require some kind of friendship stat with Naoto so they aren’t helpful in the slightest, so I’m always down for arcana swaps. I gotta have one approachable Naoto somewhere, even if people won’t be aware of her existence because canon is the only thing that matters. I never remember to write down half of the things I want to write so you can just bug me if you want to see what I like writing.

THEMES I WON’T EVER RP / EXPLORE: I feel like I’m going to forget to list a lot of things, but basically, whatever Persona covers, I can do. I absolutely will not do any fetish things.

WHAT TYPE OF STARTERS DO YOU PREFER / DISLIKE, CAN’T WORK WITH?: I don’t know if people do the ‘bumping into each other’ types of starters anymore, but there you go. It’s okay to put our muses into something unexplainable, like some haunted house. It’ll be fine and wouldn’t you know it, Naoto would have a reason to talk to them there.

WHAT TYPE OF CHARACTERS CATCH YOUR INTEREST THE MOST?: I’m just going to be lazy and say that as long as your muse is from the Megaten universe, then yeah, you’ve caught most of my interest. Then it all depends on your characterization. I don’t mind crossovers at all, but we all know why I don’t like following people outside of the Megaten fandom first.

WHAT TYPE OF CHARACTERS CATCH YOUR INTEREST THE LEAST?: Assholes who are assholes for the sake of being assholes. Like I get it, you love your asshole muse who will care about one character ever. No need to constantly shove it down my throat like it’s a revolutionary fact or act like I don’t remember this kind of thing.

WHAT ARE YOUR STRONG ASPECTS AS RP PARTNER?: I can at least promise that I write my threads and answer my asks instead of yearning for threads and reblogging memes and never doing them lol.

WHAT ARE YOUR WEAK ASPECTS AS RP PARTNER?: Anything not related to my desire to improve my writing :^)

DO YOU RP SMUT?:    YES / NO / DEPENDS.

DO YOU PREFER TO GO INTO DETAIL?:     YES / NO / DEPENDS.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH BLACK CURTAIN, FADE TO BLACK?:     YES / NO. (it’s the only way I’ll ever imply NSFW.)

WHEN DO YOU RP SMUT? MORE OUT OF FUN OR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT?: N/A, but if I did, it’d be both.

ANYTHING YOU WOULD NOT WANT TO RP THERE?: N/A, but there are a lot of kinks I don’t see fitting for Naoto. She’s vanilla.

ARE SHIPS IMPORTANT TO YOU?:   YES / NO (Assuming this is only referring to romantic ships, not exactly. I’m not a big ship whore. I prefer my ships to have genuine chemistry than shipping for the sake of shipping. Naoto is also borderline uninterested in it, too.)

WOULD YOU SAY YOUR BLOG IS SHIP-FOCUSED?: YES / NO. (See above.)

DO YOU USE READ MORE?:     YES / NO / SOMETIMES WHEN I WRITE LONG STUFF. (I never use a read more for threads, other posts like drabbles, however, yes.)

ARE YOU:     MULTI-SHIP / SINGLE-SHIP / DUAL-SHIP  —  MULTIVERSE / SINGLEVERSE.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE TO EXPLORE THE MOST IN YOUR SHIPS?: The imperfect side? Couples will get into arguments and need time to figure things out. With Naoto, there’s a lot she needs to learn, so it’s expected that not every moment will be fluffy. And she’s got problems. A lot of problems.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH PRE-ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIPS?:     YES / NO / DEPENDS. (If you want a pre-established relationship, I highly suggest that you come to me about it. Otherwise, I’ll do it the old fashioned way with first meetings and all of that. Even then, unless Naoto has a reason to talk to your muse after the initial thread, she’s not going to seek them out for a chat. So I guess your muse having a meaningful relationship with Naoto requires plotting if they don’t have the Investigation Team cheat code.)  

► SECTION ABOUT YOUR MUSE.

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY MAKE YOUR MUSE INTERESTING TOWARDS OTHERS, WHY SHOULD THEY RP WITH THIS PARTICULAR CHARACTER OF YOURS NOW, WHAT POSSIBLE PLOTS DO THEY OFFER?: She’s a detective......... that’s basically I can offer you lol. Other than that I got nothing tbh. She’s just one of those characters you NEED TO PLOT WITH LIKE I’VE SAID MULTIPLE TIMES ON HERE.

WITH WHAT TYPE OF MUSES DO YOU USUALLY STRUGGLE TO RP WITH?: I mentioned it already, but asshole muses who are just assholes for the sake of being one. It doesn’t matter if they’re a villain or not. If there is no substance to their dynamic with Naoto, I won’t continue it. Besides, once Naoto sees your muse is an asshole, she will never want to talk to them ever again.

Now this is not related to muse, but mun. If your characterization is not consistent, I will also find it difficult to write with you. For example, you can’t have your muse be an asshole and then backpedal and say they “aren’t actually” once you see that Naoto dislikes your muse. If you are upset that Naoto hates your muse, the one you cultivated to be an asshole, then just don’t make an asshole muse. If you don’t like that Naoto is :/ towards your muse, I have some news for you. She’s like that to practically everyone... Give her time... A breather... Some slack...

WHAT DO THEY DESIRE, WHAT IS THEIR GOAL?: She just wants a good crumb of respect, someone to accept her, recognize her talent instead of seeing her as a bratty kid, you know. Her main goal is to make sure she honors her family name.

WHAT CATCHES THEIR INTEREST FIRST WHEN MEETING SOMEONE NEW?: How your muse reacts, their body language, etc. Even with the nicest of characters, she’ll never seek them out unless she has a reason to, but she will be more or less willing to talk to them depending on what she sees.

WHAT DO THEY VALUE IN A PERSON?: Honesty...

WHAT THEMES DO THEY LIKE TALKING ABOUT?: I think it depends on how well she knows a muse and what direction a conversation goes. Other than that, it’s hard to say.

WHICH THEMES BORE THEM?: She doesn’t care for small talk or being lectured by a complete stranger. Fate is another thing she has no interest in, which is ironic considering her canon arcana is the Wheel of Fortune and the Personas you can get from the Fortune arcana are the Fates.

DID THEY EVER GO THROUGH SOMETHING TRAUMATIC?: I’m just going to say having dead parents, feeling guilty that you indirectly caused their deaths, looking at dead bodies since you were ten and feeling the pressure of living up to a prestigious family name does Things to you.

WHAT COULD LEAD TO AN INSTANT KILL?: You hit her brain and her heart enough times and she dies.

IS THERE SOMEONE /-THING THEY HATE?: People who belittle her and don’t take her seriously are high on the list. Same with irredeemable criminals. Other things like being teased are mild annoyances.

IS YOUR MUSE EASY TO APPROACH?: YES / NO.    - BEST WAY TO APPROACH THEM?: Just talk to her. She can be a little blunt and distant, but as long as you show politeness, she’ll do the same. Come at her with aggression and she’ll respond with it back.

For specifics, in a setting where your muse doesn’t express any intent on wanting to know her, she’s not difficult to approach. It’s when your muse wants to know her that she begins to push back and makes things difficult. Even with family, friends and S/O’s, she still has a hard time opening up. She’s mean, but she’s not going to be an asshole for no reason.

SOMETHING YOU MAY STILL WANT TO POINT OUT ABOUT YOUR MUSE?: I don’t know what else to say other than Naoto isn’t the easiest person to be friends with or have a normal conversation with. A lot of my threads with her are basically me forcing her into situations because she would probably never willingly interact with anyone outside of a ‘professional detective’ setting. This sounds mean and I have mentioned this ad nauseam, but if Naoto doesn’t know your muse in canon, plotting is the only way you can get a substantial dynamic with her, my dudes.

CONGRATS!!! You managed it, now tag your mutuals! ♥

TAGGED: I stole it from another blog TAGGING: help me interact with you because you sure as hell picked the worst muse to write with lads

#Dash Game: Files to Review #ooc: outta coffee #plotting is basically a requirement on this blog #idk what else to say #she's a cat bastard

[glimblshanks]

It's so difficult, because I genuinely do want to understand what the whole deal with Christianity is, but Christians are so apposed to any line of questioning about their belief system (in a way that no other religion is) that if you say anything they don't like they shut down and accuse you of being a sinner.

And it's like bro, I'm not trying to be insulting, I'm trying to understand why this religion is even appealing to you. How do you manage to get so many converts when you're not even willing to answer basic questions about your theology?

Everyone I've found who's actually willing to discuss Christian theology with me is an ex-Christian which is super unhelpful, because ex-Christians are people who have deconstructed Christian belief and come to the conclusion that it doesn't work for them. They're always very cynical about the whole situation. That's not what I'm looking for.

I want to talk to someone who's still into it. I want to understand what actually draws people to this religion ( I do not want to be trauma dumped at - I don't know what aspect of Christian belief confuses y'all into thinking that trauma dumping is an appropriate substitute for theological discussion, but it absolutely isn't).

Like you would really think for one of the most popular religions in the world finding answers to this stuff would be easier. Why can't you guys just talk about your beliefs?

#Christianity #religion #like I just don't understand #if the basic conceit of the religion is that God sent his only son down to Earth so that he could relate to and better understand humans #then I have a lot of questions #because a) if he's a all knowing god why does he need help understanding humans anyway? #b) if you're taking the Bible literally. Why would he then require Jesus to be celibate and die at 30? #like aren't sex and aging and relationships all parts of the human experience that god would want to know about? #and c) if you're taking the Bible metaphorically. The meaning of this story seems to be #that the divine will never truly relate to or understand you. That you are infact so different from the divine #that if an aspect of god came down from the heavens to interact with the people #your sins and the sins of your community as a whole would kill that divinity before it could live out a full human life #which is a genuinely interesting concept! like I would read a novel with that plot #but I don't understand why that's appealing from a faith perspective #is the appeal the act of forgiveness afterwards? #like the divine are so fundamentally different from us that we would kill them but they would forgive us for that difference anyway #why is difference something that must be forgiven rather than accepted? #like do you see why I'm confused by this stuff? #anyways #posting to this blog because a surprising number of Christians follow me here #maybe one of y'all can help me understand

[tofixtheshadows]

Hello, op! While I do find your reading of Kabru’s self sacrifice and how little he eats really good, im curious why you consider him the deuteragonist? He is a foil to the protagonist yes, but still a supporting character.

I think its pretty clear Marcille is the second most important character in DM, and her story has much more weight than Kabru’s.

Hello! I've mentioned this on my blog before, but I actually consider Marcille and Kabru to both be deuteragonists to Laios's protagonist. I just wasn't talking about Marcille in that post.

Technically this term is meant to be used in playwriting, and the Greek tradition at that, so I'm playing a little loosey goosey with semantics and my argument would sound different if I were writing an academic paper. But this is tumblr dot edu and I'm trying to get a point across on my little blog, and part of the idea of a deuteragonist is that they support the protagonist. "Secondary main character who has their own importance in the narrative while bolstering the protagonist" works well enough for my purposes.

I think Marcille and Kabru are both playing specific and complementary roles to Laios. Marcille is at his side, facilitating the A plot: namely, "save Falin", which requires Marcille's magic, and then Marcille's method of resurrection ropes Thistle in, so the continuation of "save Falin" necessitates confronting the Dungeon Lord and conquering the dungeon (the B plot).

Kabru only intersects with Laios, but he is tied from the beginning to the B plot- and with dragging basically everyone else into it. Actually, the fact that he brings in this extremely loaded B plot despite only having brief face time with the protagonist should be seen as significant. In a sense, Kabru represents the surface world and all its concerns.

Before I talk about that more, I want to continue with the complementary line of thinking and point out that Kabru and Marcille have very similar background motivations.

Laios wants to save his sister first and foremost, and it's only along the way that he starts to consider what he'd do with the responsibility of Dungeon Lord. Coming to the conclusion that he wants to create a home for disparate peoples to live in harmony has connective tissue to both Kabru and Marcille's desires.

Marcille is the only one in their party who starts out with a greater motivation other than saving Falin (Izutsumi is a special case, but she's ultimately along for the ride), one that she keeps hidden for a long time. Because she is a mage, and because she is driven by a very personal tragedy (my dad died; I am terrified of outliving everyone), she is looking for a miracle to bring the different races closer together.

Kabru comes from a background of personal tragedy as well, but it's also a far greater, more political tragedy than just the death of a parent. It is not a coincidence that Kabru is a brown boy from an exploited region that suffered despite and because of military intervention from a first-world power, nor that he was adopted by a white woman whose coddling/dehumanization of him represents the paternalistic oversight of these world powers.

Thus, Kabru's motivations are both personal and political: if they, the short-lived races, can finally access the secrets of the dungeons, then not only can they have agency in stopping tragedies like Utaya's, but it will also give them a greater power of self-determination.

Marcille and Kabru have both correctly identified and set themselves against a problem that is greater than saving the life of one girl, greater even than sealing this one dungeon.

Despite Marcille's hopes, there is no grand magic solution to this. Only small, slow, backbreaking, ordinary solutions, the kind you labor over in kitchens and bedrooms and throne rooms and meeting houses and hearths and negotiation tables. The kind you run a kingdom with.

There is a reason why Dungeon Meshi ends with Marcille and Kabru on either side of Laios's throne.

Okay: back to Kabru (under the cut).

I've talked about this a little before, but I'll reiterate here: I consider Kabru to be the counterweight to the back half of the story. In a very literal sense too, as he pulls the focus up from the depths to the surface not once, but twice. Dungeon Meshi builds itself on the premise that the traditional "dungeon" must function as an actual ecosystem, and the monsters in it are biological actors in that ecosystem and not merely magical obstacles independent of their environment. The first couple dozen chapters are focused on this. Like regular animals, monsters have needs and instincts and unique behaviors, and they can be killed and consumed as part of a food chain.

And then Kabru comes along and he reminds us that humans are also part of their own special ecosystem, with their own needs and instincts and unique behaviors, and that beyond the biological drive of the literal food chain there are also complex social issues influencing these behaviors (like capitalism). Tansu's visit with the governor introduced us to these ideas, but Kabru is the one who carries them.

The way he and his party break down Laios's party also serves an important function. I think most readers are so busy being shocked that Kabru is "so wrong" about our goofy boy Laios that they don't realize that he isn't actually wrong about anything (he's only missing the context of what drives Laios, which he admits to and is part of the reason why he pursues him). We've gotten only Laios's view of things so far, and Laios is pretty tunnel-visioned. The narrative, through Kabru, is telling the reader this is how our protagonist actually comes across to his community.

We like Laios because we are following his story from his inner circle. We know he's naive and struggles with people but that he has a good heart and is ultimately just a big silly guy who won't harm anybody if he can help it. But we only know that because we're seeing him with his inner circle, in his environment. Outside of the dungeon, Laios is anti-social to the point of rudeness; he misreads situations and misjudges people, he acts in ways that cause friction, and he accidentally aligns himself with people who make his whole enterprise look suspicious: a prominent half-foot community leader, a mysterious foreigner literally surrounded by spies, the disgraced daughter of a criminal who now has to shoulder the burden of her father's reputation, and an elf in a land where there are no elves. And they seem to be very good at what they're doing. Yet this whole time, Laios acts as if he doesn't care about profit or taking the kingdom, the only logical reasons why anyone on the Island would gather up such a party and throw themselves into this death pit day after day.

Yeah of course Kabru finds this suspicious and interesting. Of course people don't know what to make of Laios. This all reiterates the question that Zon the orc already raised: What will you do, Laios, if you defeat the Mad Mage? If you gain control of all of this? Can you be a leader? Laios himself doesn't know yet.

This is all necessary context for our protagonist and the journey he has to go on, and it's fittingly brought up by the most socially adept character, who is so concerned with human ecosystems and the bigger picture of the dungeon. There is a reason why Kabru, as a character, is connected to large webs of people as he moves throughout the narrative: his own party, Toshiro's party, the Canaries, the denizens of the first floor of the dungeon.

Kabru is responsible for bringing Toshiro down to Laios's party. Toshiro is not a big mover and shaker in the story itself, but his confrontation with Laios is a huge part of Laios's character arc. His detour down to the lower levels also allows Izutsumi to escape and join Laios's party later.

We also have this very important moment:

It shows the first inkling- to the audience, to Kabru, and to Laios himself- that Laios is willing to do a painful, necessary thing to protect other people, that he won't just allow them to become collateral for his sister/monsters. That he can listen, and that he can assess a situation beyond his personal feelings. Again, fittingly, big-picture-thinker Kabru is the catalyst for this.

And then, not content to leave him as merely a device for Laios's character growth, the focus slingshots back up to the surface, and we follow Kabru.

The Canaries were going to go into the dungeon soon anyway, and they were always going to stir up the crowd in order to lure Thistle to them. Unless Thistle had given up right then and managed to slip away, the story could have very easily ended here:

Falin, immobilized and surrounded by Canaries, would have certainly been killed, and there would have been no way to ever resurrect her. Thistle would have been neutralized. The dungeon would have been taken by the elves, and anyone they could get their hands on would have been imprisoned at best. And maybe the dungeon would have been managed safely ... or maybe something would have gone wrong, and more lives would have been lost. Remember: the Canaries arrived in Utaya one year before the tragedy.

This is a huge moment that changes Laios's life forever, and he doesn't even know it. Kabru single-handedly keeps the story on course by sabotaging the Canaries, and he does it not just for Laios's sake, but for everyone's sake. For his friends and companions in the dungeon and everyone else outside it. Laios is a part of his motivation, a key player in Kabru's hopes, but Kabru has his own desires, his own agenda. He's trying to change the world. In a way, he succeeds. And while the Canaries might wish it were otherwise, as an entity in the narrative they are always anchored to Kabru's character. The two forces collide because of Kabru. The unsealing of the Winged Lion and Marcille's emergency ascension to Dungeon Lord happen indirectly because of Kabru.

While I have talked so much already that I don't want to give a detailed breakdown of it, I do want to mention Kabru's unique interiority as a character. That is to say: we see the inside of Kabru's head more than anyone else. Every character in the main ensemble gets their own moments of inner monologues or fifteen minutes in the limelight, but for Kabru, it's constant. He's always thinking, talking, narrating. His POV chapters always stand out for how first-person they feel compared to most others.

Notably, the only other character I could compare that to is Marcille, specifically during the dungeon rabbit debacle and her ascension afterward, which is when she really takes center stage as a character.

I hope I've explained my reasoning without becoming too insufferable.

To cap off my thoughts with a nod to my original post, I cannot stress enough how significant it is, thematically, that Kabru's relationship with food is the inverse of Laios's. It isn't just that Laios is the main character in a story about cooking monsters and Kabru happens to be his monster-hating foil. The artistic choice to deny the reader the visual of this character ever enjoying food, and only ever putting it in his mouth in situations where it hurts him, in a manga that gives so much attention to eating and the pleasures of meals, cannot be understated.

#Dungeon Meshi #Marcille Donato #Kabru #Kabru of Utaya #Dungeon Meshi meta #Dungeon Meshi spoilers #I started answering this at 10:30 AM but took several detours #mostly I was at work. some people shitpost at work. god knows what I'm doing. #I am so fucking sorry I did not mean for it to be this long. I had to EDIT THIS DOWN #paging malewifesband I feel like this does the trick wrt: Kabru's function in the narrative #of course I have more to say about he and Laios specifically (she threatened) #musings with Dea #I think I'll go back and add image descriptions but it's been eight hours and I need dinner! #and also to play FFXIV #dungeonposting #Dea's anonymous friends

[aglaias-blog]

"Sleep well, my Queen"

Aemond Targaryen x Reader

Author's note: This is pure smut. Porn without a plot. MDNI!!!

I felt inspired by this post, found on @hamatoanne 's blog, made me want to write again. Please be gentle with me, it's been a while 😭 anyway, have fun!

TW: afab!reader, corruption kink if you squint, somnophilia, just porn basically

Summary: Aemond wakes one morning, needing you badly. But you are fast asleep. What is he to do?

“Fuck”, he cursed under his breath, as he turned on his back, hiding his face from the sun under his arm. You were still sleeping next to him on your side, your soft body naked under the covers.

The sun rays playing on his face were the first thing that woke him up. The light that was reflecting on his sapphire eye drew colourful patterns on the wall. The warmth was pleasant, the blinding light – not so much. And then came the crushing realization that it was all a dream.

It was a dream that made him wake up with his cock already leaking precum. The dream being a continuation of what happened last night, when you gave yourself to him completely, allowing him to take control. Your body writhing beneath his, no way to escape. And yet you looked so content, so in your own blissful space, so vulnerable, so pure, so open with him - submitting yourself to him, knowing that you were completely safe…

He groaned at the thought, and he couldn’t help himself as his hand travelled down, over his chest, his abdomen and down to his cock that was laying hard on his belly. His fingers wrapped around it, hard, trying to give himself some form of relief as quickly as possible. He kept yanking at it almost angrily, but it wasn’t enough – it wasn’t enough! Fuck!

 It never was enough when he tried to pleasure himself, he always ended up frustrated! It was as if he betrayed his own body, knowing that he needed you, but still trying to find release by himself.

The exasperation was clearly written on his face. His lower lip began to swell slowly as it was trapped between his teeth and he bit down on it hard, his brow furrowed in desperation and his cheeks flushed. It was clear that this wouldn’t do, it wouldn’t do, he needed more, he needed you, he needed-

He snapped around the moment he heard the moan. The moan that he was sure left your mouth. He wasn’t imagining things now, was he? He turned on his side hastily, laying one hand on your upper arm gently. Were- were you awake?

“My love?”, he tried, now slowly tracing your spine with his fingers.

No response. Just another one of those damned soft moans that he usually loved, but now he was sure they were going to drive him mad. If only you knew how badly he wanted you right now.

“Don’t do this to me…”, almost sounding pained, he threw himself back on his back, rubbing his hands over his face.

He was suffering at your hands, and you didn’t even know it! The situation was ridiculous, if he wasn’t so frustrated, he would laugh at it. Running his hand through his loose hair roughly, he tugged at the strands, his other hand buried in the sheets with his knuckles turning white.

Your soft breathing continued, but the quiet moans that kept coming from you made him wonder if you were having the same dream that he had not long ago. He remembered slowly that you two had talked about situations like this - but until now the opportunity had never presented itself, he always had to be somewhere, he always was required by somebody early in the morning, but now…If he had any doubt about taking action, the soft whine that left your body made sure to make any resolve falter. He couldn’t fight the storm that was raging inside him any longer.

“Gods”, he murmured. Turning back on his side, he brought his hand up to your shoulders and traced them gently, before moving down to let his hand slide down your sides, and over your hip. Goosebumps rose on your skin, but there was no change in your breathing pattern, no sign that you were going to wake up. And no sign that you knew what was happening. His heart was beating brutally in his chest - never had he thought that he would find this so arousing. But when his fingers finally found their way to your cunt, every thought was wiped from his mind. He bit back a moan when he realized how wet you were, your wetness already smeared between your upper thighs. It was clear now what kind of dream you were having.

His mouth found its way to your shoulder, pressing open-mouthed kisses there. He easily slid a finger inside, then two, groaning into your shoulder at the obscene wet sound. Pumping them in and out of you slowly, he quickly knew that you were more than prepared.

If he wasn’t so frustrated, he would be embarrassed about how desperately he wanted to be inside you. But his precum had already formed a wet spot on the bed linen and his mind was foggy with the need for you, for anything you could give him. Any thoughts about his dignity and virtues like patience were left for later. And so, not wasting anymore time, he lined himself up with you quickly, grabbing your hip gently. He couldn’t help the guttural moan that tore from his throat as he finally, finally, was sheathed deep inside you. Your wet, hot core enveloping him completely. He stayed still for a while, doing other wise would have surely made him cum embarrassingly quickly.

He fought the urge to rut into you savagely, trying to keep some form of dignity, trying to hold back, trying to prove to himself that he wasn’t doing any of this selfishly – but there was no denying it. You made him lose control. And the worst part was that you didn’t even know it. You weren’t even aware of the kind of effect you had on him.

Slowly, his hand found its place on your breast, tracing slow circles around your nipple, feeling it harden. He squeezed it hard, the flesh spilling over between his fingers. Then, his fingers slowly ran between your breasts, down over your soft stomach, further down, down, until he finally reached your clit.

He tried to be gentle when he pulled out slowly and pushed himself to the hilt inside of you again. But there was no use, the moment he felt your heat and wetness again, he couldn’t hold himself back. It was addicting.

So he slammed himself into you, over and over again, whimpering into you shoulder, praising you, although he knew that you weren’t even awake.

The moment he touched it, he felt you clench around him. Hard. And he couldn’t hold back his pathetic moan at the sensation. He wanted to feel it again and again, so, encouraged, he rubbed lazy circles around it, circles that quickly became more urgent, the more he felt you squeeze around him.

..................................................................

You awoke with your body spasming, not knowing what was happening. The hot, white pleasure you felt was almost akin to the one you felt in your dream – but this one felt so much more real. A desperate moan tore from your throat before you could realize why it even formed, and you felt him inside. Instinctively you knew it was him. Only he could reach that spot deep inside you, only he could make you shiver and tremble like this. You felt his warmth, his tall body behind you, moving in and out of you ruthlessly, his moans falling freely from his lips, his hot breath on your shoulder…

And then your orgasm crashed over you like a wave, unforeseen. It completely overwhelmed you, your body trembling so hard you thought he would slip out of you, your body searching for the sensation he gave you, but at the same time trying to escape it, it was too much, too much…

“Aemond!”, you gasped out, your hand blindly reaching for him behind you.

He heard your unsaid plea and held you close, grabbing your hips in a bruising grip and stilling his movements, so that he could feel you completely, holding you in place. His angel, his only salvation, spasming on his cock; the only innocent being in his life was having no part in his doing and he almost felt guilty, like you were losing more of your innocence the more time you spent with him.

“Oh, Gods”, you heard him groan through gritted teeth, only now did you realize what was truly happening. The fogginess of sleep had left you now, the confusion you had in the beginning making place for giddiness. You had fantasized about mornings like this, but now that it was happening, you couldn’t believe it. The thrill you felt went through your body like an electric shock.

He knew now that you were awake, if your reaction and the way you held his hand in a tight grip was any indication. Your moans became louder the moment he picked up his merciless pace again, touching that sensitive spot inside you over and over and over again.

“My love – fuck, you’re going – you’re going to make me cum- please”, you heard him moan behind you, as if you were the one in control. He was the one who had his arm wrapped tightly around your torso, while his other hand now had your throat in a tight grip – and yet it felt like he gave himself over to you.

Your moans turned into desperate sobs, the moment he lost control. You were so close to the edge again, your senses heightened to the max. You felt him trembling behind you, drawing one shuddering breath after the other, trying to restrain himself, trying to keep some form of control, but his thrusts grew rougher and rougher and when he felt you clench around him, he couldn’t help himself. He came inside you with a growl, his hips thrust up into you involuntarily, spilling everything inside you, while sinking his teeth into your shoulder, trying to stifle his helpless moans. He felt you clenching down on him hard, your own whimpers and moans spilling from your mouth. His jaw went slack, engrossed in the sensation, he pressed you down on his cock to feel every squeeze of your peak, not allowing you to escape his bruising thrusts.

“Gods, you feel so good, you’re being so good for me”, praises fell from his lips, as he kept you close to his body, littering little kisses on your shoulder. “So, so good for me, princess.”

His frantic breathing slowly calmed down; he was still reveling in the aftershocks of your second orgasm.

“Holy Seven”, he groaned behind you, coming down from his high. His grip on your relaxed slowly, and he began to gently stroke your side with one hand, the other caressing your chest. You relaxed in his embrace, the weight of sleep on your eyelids.

“You did so well, my love”, he murmured, “I’m so proud of you.”

You only hummed in return, your sleepiness catching up to you. But when he tried to pull out of you, your hips chased his to not let him slip out. You heard him chuckle lightly. “Alright, alright…”, he said, and if you only turned around, you’d have seen a cocky grin on his face.

He pulled you close by your hips again, his hand caressing them lazily.

“Sleep well, my Queen”, he whispered in your ear, before drifting off to sleep himself.

#aemond targaryen #aemond x reader #aemond targaryen x reader #hotd aemond #aemond fanfiction

[hayatheauthor]

Hello! 😊 Do you have any advice on word-building? I can imagine multiple scenarios in my head, but I can't seem to put them into words. 🥹

First off hi sorry I took forever to write this blog! I hope it helps you get your ideas onto paper <3

Worldbuilding is the backbone of any compelling story, especially in genres like fantasy, science fiction, and historical fiction. Crafting a believable, immersive world can captivate your readers and provide a solid foundation for your narrative. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the essential steps to create a vivid and engaging world for your story.

Understanding Worldbuilding

Worldbuilding involves creating a complete, fictional universe that serves as the setting for your story. This process includes developing geography, cultures, history, politics, and even the rules of nature and magic (if applicable). The goal is to make your world feel as real and intricate as the characters who inhabit it.

Starting with the Basics

Define the Genre and Tone

Consider the genre of your story. A high-fantasy world will have different requirements than a dystopian future or a historical setting. The tone—whether it's dark and gritty or light and whimsical—will also influence your worldbuilding decisions.

Establish the Setting

Start with the physical world. Sketch out maps, outline the geography, and decide on key locations where your story will unfold. Think about the climate, natural resources, and the flora and fauna that inhabit this world.

Develop a History

Create a backstory for your world. Major events, wars, discoveries, and cultural shifts shape the present-day setting. A rich history can add depth and realism, influencing characters’ beliefs and motivations.

Building Cultures and Societies

Craft Unique Cultures

Think about the various cultures in your world. What are their customs, traditions, and social norms? How do they dress, what languages do they speak, and what religions do they follow? Diverse and well-thought-out cultures can add layers to your narrative.

Political Systems and Power Structures

Define the political landscape. Who holds power, and how is it distributed? Are there monarchies, democracies, or tribal councils? Consider the relationships between different nations or groups and the potential for conflict.

Economics and Resources

Understand the economy of your world. What resources are abundant or scarce? How do people trade, and what currencies do they use? The distribution of resources can drive plot points and character motivations.

Crafting Magic and Technology

Magic Systems

If your world includes magic, establish clear rules and limitations. What are the sources of magic? Who can use it, and how? Consistent magic systems prevent plot holes and maintain suspension of disbelief.

Technology Levels

Consider the technological advancements in your world. Are they using medieval weapons, steampunk machinery, or advanced futuristic gadgets? The level of technology can influence daily life, warfare, and exploration.

Time and Place

Historical Context

Establish the timeline of your world. Is it set in the past, present, or future? Consider historical events that have shaped the current state of the world. How have these events influenced societal development and cultural evolution?

Daily Life and Schedules

Describe the daily routines of your characters. What does a typical day look like for different social classes or cultures? Consider work hours, leisure activities, and societal expectations. The pace of life can vary greatly depending on technological advancements and cultural norms.

Timekeeping and Calendars

Develop a system of timekeeping and calendars. Are there specific seasons, festivals, or holidays that are significant? How do people measure time—by the sun, moon, or a mechanical clock? Unique timekeeping methods can add depth and authenticity to your world.

Clothing and Fashion

Cultural Significance

Explore how clothing reflects cultural identity, status, and occupation. Different regions and social groups might have distinct styles, fabrics, and accessories. What materials are commonly used, and how are garments crafted?

Fashion Trends

Consider the evolution of fashion in your world. What are the current trends, and how do they vary across different societies? Fashion can be influenced by historical events, climate, and interactions with other cultures.

Practicality and Symbolism

Think about the practicality of clothing in your world’s environment. How does the climate affect what people wear? Additionally, consider any symbolic meanings attached to certain garments or accessories. For instance, specific colors or patterns might denote rank or allegiance.

Religion and Beliefs

Pantheon and Deities

Create a pantheon of gods or a single deity, depending on your world’s religious structure. What are their characteristics, domains, and myths? How do they interact with mortals, if at all?

Rituals and Practices

Detail the religious rituals and daily practices of your world’s inhabitants. Consider ceremonies, festivals, and rites of passage. How do these practices influence daily life and societal norms?

Religious Institutions

Define the structure and influence of religious institutions. Are there temples, churches, or shrines? What roles do priests, shamans, or other religious figures play in society? The power dynamics between religious and secular authorities can add layers to your worldbuilding.

Languages and Communication

Linguistic Diversity

Develop the languages spoken in your world. Are there multiple languages or dialects? Consider the history of these languages and how they evolved. Language can be a powerful tool to convey cultural diversity and conflict.

Writing Systems

Design writing systems and scripts used for communication. Are there ancient texts or runes with special significance? How do literacy rates vary among different social classes and regions?

Non-Verbal Communication

Explore other forms of communication, such as body language, sign language, or symbolic gestures. How do people convey messages in situations where spoken language is impractical? These non-verbal methods can add depth and realism to your interactions.

Integrating Worldbuilding into Your Story

Show, Don’t Tell

Instead of dumping information on your readers, reveal your world organically through the narrative. Use dialogue, actions, and descriptions to weave worldbuilding details seamlessly into the story.

Character Perspectives

Different characters will experience and interpret your world in unique ways. Use their perspectives to highlight various aspects of your world, making it richer and more complex.

Consistency and Continuity

Maintain consistency in your world’s rules and details. Keep track of your worldbuilding elements to avoid contradictions and ensure a cohesive narrative.

Worldbuilding Tools and Resources

Maps and Diagrams

Create visual aids like maps, family trees, and diagrams to help you keep track of your world’s layout and relationships. Tools like Inkarnate or Wonderdraft can be helpful for map-making.

Worldbuilding Bibles

Maintain a worldbuilding bible—a document where you compile all your world’s details. This can include notes on geography, history, cultures, and more. It’s a valuable reference as you write and develop your story.

Inspiration from Real World and Fiction

Draw inspiration from real-world cultures, histories, and landscapes. Similarly, reading widely in your genre can provide insights into effective worldbuilding techniques.

Final Thoughts

Worldbuilding is a rewarding yet challenging aspect of storytelling. It requires imagination, attention to detail, and a deep understanding of your narrative’s needs. By following this comprehensive guide, you can create a vibrant, believable world that will captivate your readers and enhance your storytelling.

Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks? 

Are you an author looking for writing tips and tricks to better your manuscript? Or do you want to learn about how to get a literary agent, get published and properly market your book? Consider checking out the rest of Haya’s book blog where I post writing and publishing tips for authors every Monday and Thursday! And don’t forget to head over to my TikTok and Instagram profiles @hayatheauthor to learn more about my WIP and writing journey! 

#hayatheauthor #haya's book blog #haya blogs #writing community #writing tools #writer things #writing advice #writer community #writing techniques #writing prompt #writing stuff #creative writing #ya writing advice #writing tips and tricks #writer tools #writers of tumblr #writer blog #writers block #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #writer stuff #author help #author advice #writing #author #quillology with haya #worldbuilding #world building ideas #fantasy worldbuilding

[dduane]

The Novel as Cake

    I was reading through the 'writing' tag on your blog, and came across your wonderful post about how you outline your novels using Cherryh's 'Shopping List' technique. My question is - how do you decide/come up with the 10 things in the novel? I have about 3-4 things I know must happen in my idea, and other random details about the world. But what is important enough to be one of the 10 things? And also, how do you generate your ideas for those 10 things? - Asked by Anonymous

…Okay, let’s take this from the top. (And for convenience’s sake, let’s stay in the shopping-list idiom; it’s useful enough.) (ETA: the blog entry that discusses the Shopping List outlining method is here.)

Let’s say you want to make a cake. …This cake also being your novel.

To have a solid story (in the western-novel tradition, anyway), you need at least two things: plot and theme. The plot is what happens. The theme is the why of what happens, and (to a certain extent) the book-wide spectrum of thought and emotion that underlies that; the answer to the question “But what’s the book about?”* …Think of this duality, for the moment, as the equivalent of having both liquid and solid stuff in your cake. You’ve got to have both or it won’t rise. A book with a plot but no theme has no soul.

So: you’re going to make a cake. What kind?

As an example, I’m going to ease myself out onto a limb here and equate “chocolate-chip devil’s food with chocolate buttercream frosting” with “epic-fantasy quest fiction with strong political, exoreligious, and quasiromantic components.” (A favorite for me, over time, as some folks will have noticed. I just can’t get enough of those chocolate chips…)

So how do you determine the ten things you need (or whatever number you like, but ten works for me) as major ingredients / sections?

Well, ideally from some familiarity with what has gone in other/similar cakes/works of fiction in the past: because (in genre fiction, anyway) you have at least some reader expectations to manage. If you haven’t been reading in your chosen genre, you really should be. ...Now, this doesn’t mean you have to do what other people working in the genre have done. Indeed, at all times you remain at liberty to “flip the punchcard” and do exactly the opposite of what everybody else has been doing, if that’s what suits you. But they’ve set out possible recipes for you, so (as a beginner at this work) it'd seem wise to examine those recipes and see what’s in them that might be useful for you. Once you’ve been doing this for a while, you don’t need to go looking, just as an experienced baker doesn’t need to run for the recipe book every time they want to make a cake.

Naturally you can substitute ingredients, add some or lose some, when you’re creating something new; just as you like—while always making sure you don’t throw away anything routinely required/expected in your genre. (Such as, for example, the Happily Ever After at the end of a genre romance.) But certain basics must be in place, things that make what you’re creating recognizably A Cake, as well as your own additions and embellishments.

In this case, that could be:

For a cake: flour, milk, eggs, butter, baking powder, cocoa, chocolate chips, vanilla extract, seasonings, a little bit of salt (because without that, even the sweetest cake tastes just a little insipid somehow)

For a novel: a protagonist/pairtagonist (is that a word? It is now…); an antagonist (not necessarily a character: an antagonistic or stymie-ing situation that keeps the antagonist from easily getting what they want/need will do just as well. This is where at least some of the interior drama will derive from); a change in interior or exterior conditions that sets events in motion; a “ticking clock” or similar construct that means the desired result must be achieved within a certain time or before certain conditions change or expire; various reversals or hiccups in the flow of the story that will inject a sense of realism (because when does anything ever go perfectly smoothly…?); a crisis point at which everything assembled against the protagonist rises up to be dealt with, and the protagonist rises up to meet the challenge and deal with it; and finally, a set of resolution events that (even if it doesn’t absolutely finish the story proper) brings about an end state that will leave you, and any theoretical reader, satisfied with the completion of the current story arc.

…Needless to say, this is an incredibly oversimplified take on the kind of strategizing needed when you’re creating the recipe for a novel that won’t simply collapse the minute you take it out of the oven. But starting simply is often best. The more you do this kind of work, the easier it gets.

Now: “How do you generate your ideas for those 10 things?”

There are a lot of possible answers to this, but the simplest is: Make them up out of nothing, as usual. :)

…This isn’t meant to sound like sass. You made up those first three or four things you came up with out of nothing, and now (because they’ve been there for a while, probably) they may well have started to acquire a kind of secret, temporally-based superiority in your mind—starting to feel somehow more valid than what needs to come next to fill in the gaps. This kind of creeping sense of validity-via-temporal-primacy is a commonplace when you’re in mid-process, and I invite you to ignore it.

Just insert those three or four things into your shopping list in (roughly) story-temporal order, and then spend some time thinking about what kinds of events could usefully come between / flow from them. Hints:

Events that could realistically have been caused by the ones you’ve got already, and could also realistically be seen as causal to later ones you’ve already established, are always useful. Ideally, you’re trying to establish a chain of events in which none of them look accidental, or coincidental (because readers are rightfully sensitive to plots that only work because all the characters are idiots, or keep having “lucky accidents”). What you’re working toward is an event flow that seems, when viewed in completion, inevitable: as if it couldn’t have happened any other way. You will almost certainly not achieve this easily, early on in your novel work, and maybe not at all. But it strikes me as a good thing to be striving for.

Events that badly screw things up for the main characters are also always useful. Heroes do not become heroes by having everything go their way. Their heroism is achieved and manifested by having things go to shit around them again and again and AGAIN, and nonetheless still finding their way through all that shit to do what needs to be done. The lines attributed to the Confucianist philosopher Meng-tse (sometimes translated from Japanese into English as “Mōshi”) are a touchstone in this regard:

When Heaven is about to confer a great office upon a man, it first exercises his mind with suffering and his sinews and bones with toil: it exposes him to poverty and confounds all his undertakings. Then it is seen if he is ready.

So put your protagonists through the wringer. This is the greatest service you can do them: showing who they are by showing what they're made of.

A variant on this theme: Spend a little time thinking, “What is the absolute worst thing that could happen to these characters in this story / in this world?” And when you’ve figured that out, stick it into one of those gaps as a Main Thing—ideally one between the story’s midpoint and its already-planned crisis, if you’ve got that in place—and then start thinking about how to best exploit it to show how terrific your characters can become if you kick them around a bit. (Addendum: you are allowed to have one Absolutely Terrific and Beautiful Thing happen to assist your characters in recovering from this awfulness. Because they deserve it; but also, all invented worlds [if you ask me] should have beautiful things in them—things to long for, things that make your reader wish they could live there. And that you find beautiful, and worth returning to. You are absolutely allowed to keep yourself entertained, and emotionally refreshed, while you’re creating.)

…Anyway, take your time about getting those gaps filled in. It may take a little while: laying down basic story structure is worth not rushing, if you can avoid it. Once you’ve got everything major in place, the secondary lists will follow more easily.

HTH!

*This is a hilarious oversimplification, but my job at the moment is not (as the saying goes) to explain the workings of the entire universe while standing on one foot. :)

#writing #outlining #the Shopping List #how-to #suggestions #writing process #themes

[crooked-wasteland]

Something I am working on after the live blogs. I came across a very easy to find, but under shared bit of information regarding Medrano that has really recontextualized the show for me. It still isn't a good show, but I missed a crucial component when I said the series had nothing to say. It still doesn't have much to say, but once you realize that Vivienne Medrano was raised Presbyterian, and seems to still adhere to most of those teachings, a lot of decisions make sense. The particular denomination of Christianity is one based on Trinity doctrine, and also strongly adheres to the idea that depicting god is a biblical transgression. So that explains why God and Jesus are not characters within the series and will never be.

Additionally, the Presbyterian Church is one of the few sects that has a relatively strong belief in the Calvinist ideology of Predestination. Specifically that one is born chosen by God or not, which explains pretty much everything in Hazbin. Angels are "winners" because they were born chosen while a random select of unchosen people are damned to hell. Some versions of the Presbyterian Church still hold to the belief that one's lifestyle, be you a good or evil person, is irrelevant. If you are chosen, nothing you do will remove that.

And that is why these characters being in hell doesn't matter. They didn't do anything to get there. They still adhere to Christian beliefs of what sort of people are not chosen (drug addicts, sex workers, mean people), but there is an inherent lack of nuance because the doctrine renders it unnecessary. Adam and Lute are awful and allowed to be in heaven because heaven is forever. Chosen are forever chosen regardless of Sin. It also explains why the LGBT aspect of the show is irrelevant to the plot.

This background knowledge is paramount to understanding Hazbin and Helluva (Hell is like the living world because a mixed bag of people are in Hell in the first place. Hellborn characters are not that different from humans and still exist in a realm of morality because morality isn't the reason they are in Hell).

My issue with trying to get into Hazbin's themes was because I didn't understand this was the origin of the plot. A lot of critiques and proposed rewrites miss the point entirely because Predestination in this sense is not a common belief. The world building requires a relatively intimate understanding of Presbyterian teachings in order to grasp the basic foundation of the story.

#vivziepop critical #vivienne medrano #spindlehorse critical #vivziepop criticism #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel critique #tw religious themes #presbyterian #predestination

[writers-potion]

Writing the "Mean Girl" Character

How do we write the "mean girl" without making her another shallow copy of the brainless, pink-clad, cheerleader we see in high teen dramas?

Of course, there's nothing wrong with such a character if you want them to be funny/light in the first place.

However, I can hear myself slowly losing my last two brain cells when I keep reading about such papercut characters for more than an hour - reading clearly requires more effort than watching a class B movie, so I always appreciate when authors put more effort to make the characters dynamic.

No "Mean for the Sake of Being Mean

The classic way to avoid this is to give them a sad backstory. They used to be overweight/ugly and were bullied, or their parents don't care about them enough, or they are too insecure. Obviously these plot points are quiet stale now, but the basic principle still stands - if your charcter is mean, she needs A REASON.

I love reading about a mean character's backstory then feeling, "actually, I would have felt like doing that, too."

Whatever their motivations may be, remember that bullies pick on the weak, not the successful/powerful. While the Mean Girl might feel jealous/inferior towards the protagonist, I hardly think that should be the sole reason why they picked their victim. There must be a flaw in your protagonist that happened to be something that the Mean Girl knows how to exploit, which makes them a target above others.

Give Them A Twist

There are two ways that I can think of: (1) A seemingly nice character is in fact a mean girlie, or (2) A mean character turns out to be kind and well-intended.

Personally, I love Mean Girls who are intelligent/ know what they are doing. They are purposely manipulative:"are you okay?" as if the victim has something wrong with them or providing "constructive" criticism. Or kindly inviting them to a party that she knows they wouldn't fit in.

The conflict deepens when everyone else likes the Mean Girl due to her manipulative nature, making the protagonist doubt themselves.

A Purpose beyond Providing Conflict

Think about what the mean girl aims to gain from bullying your protagonist.

Is she continuously trying to prove herself "superior" so that she can feel better inside? Is she an academic rival who just needs to be the first in everything, even is that means reverting to questionable behavior?

Overly ambitious/perfectionist characters can come off as mean when they feel like others fail to live up to their standards (which only they know about, and are usually up in the sky)

Give Them A Proper Redemption

If you plan on giving her a redemption arc, make sure that she has earned it! The worst thing you can do is make it sound like you approve of the horrible things she has done.

this transition doesn’t mean the character does a complete 180 and is suddenly all smiles and good favors. They can fall back on their old ways of thinking, but is trying to make an effort to step out of their old clothes.

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References:

https://writingquestionsanswered.tumblr.com/post/668302340882857984/how-would-you-write-a-mean-girl-character-without

https://www.writingforums.org/threads/how-to-write-the-mean-girl-character.160729/

#writer #writers #creative writing #writing #writing community #writers of tumblr #creative writers #writing inspiration #writeblr #writing tips #writers corner #writers community #poets and writers #writing advice #writing resources #writers on tumblr #writers and poets #helping writers #writing help #writing tips and tricks #how to write #writing life #let's write #resources for writers #references for writers

[nerd4music]

I think overall there’s one of two „big“ problems happening for people who have a problem with TOWL (racists and the likes aside… 🙄).

1- The misunderstanding that this was truly much more a Rick and Michonne story than a TWD one. This was not TWD S12. It was about telling the story of these 2 characters and being able to put a dot at the end (or a dot dot dot). And you’ve laid all of that out perfectly. Like yes, in TWD, Beale (& the CRM) would have been draaaaagged out. But this was much more of a Terminus approach than a Saviors one if we will…

2- TWD was never the most ..subtle show. They tended to hit the audience over the head with stuff. And I’m not sure I would go as far as calling TOWL subtle outright either (idk, didn’t think about this until right this moment lol -obviously elements of it are, sure -just as elements on TWD could be on the subtler side) but compared to TWD, it certainly is lol. And there has been a very big „media literacy“ and „basic comprehension skills“ problem happening for a minute now. And I really don’t say this to be mean or make fun of people or anything but these are just facts. Some people really struggle with getting the information when they are not being hit over the head with it, over and over and over again. After the finale I saw several posts on my tl of people wondering why this, that or the other was not addressed or how/why this, that or the other did happen… and I was utterly confused because those things they claimed were missing were very much shown? I was like, there was literally a scene dealing with all of this? And it didn’t require any reading between the lines to be honest, no subtext, it was very much the text of the scene?! So it seems like some people just didn’t get a lot of things that were happening 🫤

(BTW I don’t mean that even if someone didn’t have these specific problems with the show, they MUST love it then. Likes and dislikes etc etc. As much as I really loved the show as a whole, if I decided to put down the Richonne-colored glasses I wanted to and did watch to the show with.. I’d definitely have a few complaints lol, though still very much enjoyed the show even then)

That's definitely what happened. And to some extent, I get why, considering Rick and Michonne are 2/3 of the main show's Big Three. But when the press and promos started, and people were still talking about some Marvel-style meet-up, I was like...oh they're definitely not listening to what's being said, because it's six damn episodes, and also The Richonne story, not the Team Family jamboree. And then acting as if it's somehow 'insulting' to the rest of the characters if Rick and Michonne didn't talk about them. The man had PTSD so bad, he couldn't remember his own son's face. Why would you think it would be good time for him to pause in the middle of his wife telling him about a traumatic moment during her pregnancy to ask about anyone else? Please be fr.

I feel you on the comprehension thing, which is nothing new for this fandom. The fact that so many people legit thought Rick didn't know how to drive stick and questioned the 'realism' of it but never stopped to think that it was because he only has one damn hand. Y'all were fine with every silly ass moment that happened in the main show, that was either sheer dumb luck or handwaved away, but now we need a complete breakdown from experts on how Rick managed to fight off walkers one-handed. Now y'all want the realism, when you've been so giddy for weeks because you need one of them to die for the show to be 'interesting'.

I'm really not listening to people who need the narrative to hold their hand through everything, or need to see every piece of the plot onscreen for it to be considered 'legitimate'. (I'm officially banning the phrase 'plot armor' for the foreseeable future).

People didn't get things, because they don't take a minute to sit with the damn material anymore. From live reactions videos to live tweeting/blogging, people are just watching TV to make content and have an online moment, not for what's actually being shown. And yeah, TOWL isn't perfect, but the minor criticisms I have for it doesn't take away from the fact that it is very enjoyable and easily the best material from the TWD landscape in a long time.

(sidenote: I will say one of my favorite things from these past six weeks is everyone struggling to figure out the overall TWD timeline, lmao.)

#.answered #towl spoilers #twd: the ones who live #richonne #I am once again rambling #but I appreciate the message!

[lostplotbunniesbg3]

Welcome to the BG3 Plot Bunny Rehoming Centre!

Got a plot idea that you don't have time to write? Looking for new ideas for fics and one shots? You've come to the right place!

How It Works

I Have a Plot Bunny

Use the ask box to submit your plot bunny ideas - anonymously if you prefer! - and they will be added to the blog!

I Want to Adopt a Plot Bunny

Choose any plot bunnies that appeal to you from the blog and comment on them to let people know you're working on them, then once your fic is written reblog the original post with your fic or the link to it!

Is that it?

It really is that simple! If you have ideas you don't have the time to write you can send them here to find a home, or if you're looking for a new and fun idea to work on this can be a fun place to find which one calls to you!

More Details Below! Rules, Submission Guidelines, and Submission Format

Submission Guidelines and Rules

What is Not Allowed Here?

I draw the line at NSFW content containing minors or characters who only appear in the source material as minors. Pairings must also pass the Harkness Test - creatures must be able to communicate in a way all participants can understand clear consent, they must have enough intelligence and sentience to understand clear consent, and they must be at or over the minimum age of consent for their species. No sexual pairings are to contain characters who are blood related, with the exception of Sorn/Nym Orlith who may be in a situation with multiple other partners but as they state in game they will not interact with each other, nor will they be with only one other partner.

All Participants must be 18+ - Minors DNI with this blog! The game is rated 18+ and so is a lot of the fan content, please respect this and wait until you are old enough to safely interact with 18+ fandom creativity (for your own safety and that of the creators)

Controversial Content, Tagging, and CWs

Controversial characters, Dead Dove topics, and triggering content is permitted here on the understanding that you will appropriately tag all submissions and fics with the CWs and Tags that apply to it, so readers and writers have the choice of what they engage with.

You can find a comprehensive guide to tagging and CWs here along with a list of topics that require a tag!

As long as you have clearly marked your content, it's fine to post. Stories have all kinds of themes to them and have done since we first sat around the fires talking to each other about dreams and ideas - so let's keep it positive here too! If you don't like an idea or story, just let it pass by and move on to something you do like instead. We are all so much better when we support one another~

How Should I Submit My Plot Bunny?

You should try to give as much detail as you're able to, but we can try and help out a bit too! Try to have as many of these points as you can:

Character Names

Basic idea (a couple of sentences)

SFW or NSFW?

Are there any tropes/kinks you do want to see included?

Are there any tropes/kinks you do NOT want to see included?

Is this a one shot idea or a long fic?

Should the idea be treated seriously or like a comedy?

Do you have an idea of an outline for the story (eg, beginning, middle, and end)

Would you like the Rehoming Centre to expand on your idea? (eg, you have a rare pairing idea but can't work out how to put them together)

Do you have any other inspirations for the plot bunny to go with it in the rehoming package? (eg, a song, a piece of art, a game screenshot)

How Should I Adopt A Plot Bunny?

If you'd like to adopt a plot bunny and write something with it, scroll, search, or pick whichever bunny appeals to you! If possible, drop a comment on the post so we know you're working on it, then those looking to claim a bunny that has no home yet can look further for more. You can claim a bunny that already has a claim if you'd like to, of course! Bunnies need lots of love.

Once you've written your fic, reblog the plot bunny post so the blog, readers, and the person who submitted the post can find your work! We want to see our lovely plot bunnies hopping happily in their new homes after all~

Is that it?

I think so! If you have any questions, pop them in the comments to this post or in the ask box. I look forward to seeing all your plot bunnies and finding them some good homes soon!

#baldurs gate 3 #fanfic prompts #writing ideas #plot bunnies #bg3 fanfic prompt #bg3 fanfic idea #bg3 fanfiction #bg3 fic #baldurs gate fanfiction #baldurs gate 3 fanfiction #bg3 smut

[sinnohsiblings]

Abbadons' Gilded Gala Event!

Hello! Eve-of-Halloween here hosting my first-ever community event in celebration of reaching 200 followers! This event will have story/plot significance for sinnohsiblings! Event Dates: 8/31/23 - 10/1/23 What Is this event? Lord Abbadon is hosting a formal ball in his grand palace on the peak of Mount Coronet, and all are invited! Formal attire is required and Legendaries are highly encouraged to join and socialize with their fellow legends of other worlds. Abbadon has extended this invitation across the multiverse. Some rumors say he's playing matchmaker, others say it's an excuse to see his wife but who knows! Who can attend? ANYONE in the Pokemon Askblog community! If your character is capable of shapeshifting they are heavily encouraged to come disguised as humans. If your character is unable to transform Lord Abbadon has commissioned special rings for any non-legendary guest in attendance to grant them the ability to transform if they so desire. You are allowed to bring a plus one but if you bring children there will be a separate area to provide them with games and entertainment as the adult attendees' refreshment table will serve adult beverages such as wines. Children will not be permitted in that area. But food and non-alcoholic drinks will also be provided for all guests. What should I wear?

Anything formal by your character's standards! So long as your character feels good in what they are wearing it will be permitted. But you should dress to impress given the guests of honor. This Gala is basically an overly formal version of a meet-and-greet to get his children to socialize with other Pokemon and legends as they've become far too reclusive for his liking. Examples of outfits can be seen here with Galadriel, Zephyr and Parisa!

How do I participate?

Feel free to interact with other guests/blogs and the cast of this blog. The purpose of this event is to get people to socialize and maybe get out of their shells! Rumor has it that the god of love is a special guest attending at Lord Abbadon's request to work her magic~! So keep an eye out for her! Lady Amore will be playing Cupid and may temporarily hit you with a 3-ask infatuation spell! (This is an optional part of the event see the tags section for how to consent to this event) For those who participate at the end of the event, I will be raffling 2 legendary designs! One of the designs is the daughter of the god of love herself! Perhaps this is her token of apology for all the chaos she is bound to cause~! But beware if you are caught causing too much of a ruckus or entering the off-limits areas the Lycan legion guards of on-duty Zacian and Zamazenta will toss you off the mountain top!

What are the tags for the event? #SINSIBGALA (this is the general event tag! all posts pertaining to the event will be reblogged to @eohblogsrp)

#cursedcrush (use this tag on your post if you want a chance to be hit by Amore's 3 ask love curse! If hit you will become infatuated with the first pokemon you see for 3 asks. it will wear off after that and you will remember that it was the effect of a curse. Blogs who do not have this tag on their event posts will not be targeted.)

When the event starts I will also make a post with a map of Abbadon's palace and several backgrounds that you are free to use for the event! Thank all of you so much for your support and I look forward to more stories to come!

#sinsibgala #cursedcrush #community event #event #askblog event #pokemon askblog event

[vounoura]

ok as promised. I had one of these years ago but it was unfortunately lost in a blog purge, but it's actually really important information ESO goes out of its way to hide at every turn, so dear new players:

despite what the game tells you, you should NOT start with any DLC zone, or at least not any DLC zone that was released before Murkmire. As far as I'm aware (and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), every story DLC after that is fairly self-contained to its own series of chapters, but everything before that was part of a linear plot that spanned multiple years.

Furthermore, ESOs design has for some backwards reason made it so that you are not required to play through base game MSQ first and also skips the initial Coldharbour sequence, both of which are literally the entire setup for the game's plot and why your character is the way they are. This makes things incredibly confusing and everyone I know hates it with a passion.

Therefore, to clear things up a bit:

In all circumstances, you need to do the base game intro, which can be started from the Hooded Figure found in your alliance's starting city (Vukhel Guard -> AD, Daggerfall -> DC, Davon's Watch -> EP). This will have you go through the original tutorial meant for the base game, and will set up the main plot and explain why your character is the way that they are.

iirc, this should immediately plant you in your alliance's initial starting zone, which is where you'll find the start of your alliance's MSQ which will take you through 5 zones. You need to do one from start to finish to start the end Coldharbour sequence. In addition, you need to also do the Harborage quests which is also necessary to enter Coldharbour.

Coldharbour is the end zone for MSQ content, and is the base game's conclusion. You also need to do this entire zone from start to finish, trust me it's good.

It's not necessary but recommended that you play through the Ebonheart Pact MSQ, either as your first or through Cadwell's Silver / Gold (which basically allow you to play through the other Alliance's MSQs as if you started them). You do not need to, but there is a character introduced in EP who will become critically important later and she will recognize if you've met before, and knowing her beforehand helps. If you're wondering, that character is Naryu Virian.

iirc Imperial City is canonically right after Coldharbour, but as it's a DLC centred in Cyrodiil (a strict PvP zone) I never actually did it. If you're okay with missing some things you can skip it - I did, and was perfectly fine.

Orsinium needs to be done first after Coldharbour or Imperial City. It's plot directly sets up the Daedric War storyline, which is the main plot that runs for a while after base game MSQ. Do not play anything else until you've finished Orsinium.

Thieves Guild is for the most part inconsequential and can be played any time or skipped if you want. You cannot skip Dark Brotherhood - you need to play through enough of it to see the Sweet Roll Killer series of quests involving Naryu Virian and Razum-Dar, because this will directly foreshadow the plot going forward.

Morrowind comes after DBH. You need to do BOTH the MSQ AND the Balmora sidequests, which involve Naryu Virian and a character named Veya Releth. Balmora is CRITICALLY important for Summerset, you CANNOT skip it.

Clockwork City follows Morrowind, you need to do its MSQ. CwC sets up Summerset's plot, and leads directly into it.

Summerset is the Daedric War plot's conclusion, and you need to do its MSQ. If you have not done everything I have just told you IN THIS ORDER, you will be missing context. You will not know who the main villain is and why them being there is critically tragic. You will not know the threads that lead to this point. You will not know Summerset was the conclusion to literal years worth of storyline.

You need to play through everything in this order. Do not deviate. Every DLC after this (Murkmire to, as of the time of writing, Necrom) is as far as I'm aware it's own self-contained thing, but this isn't.

TOO LONG, DIDN'T READ: base game tutorial -> alliance MSQ/Harborage -> Coldharbour -> Imperial City if you want -> Orsinium -> Dark Brotherhood + The Sweet Roll Killer sidequests -> Morrowind + Balmora sidequests -> Clockwork City -> Summerset

DO NOT DEVIATE FROM THIS ORDER FOR ANY REASON!

#saint.txt #THE RETURN OF THE KING or whatever #anyways I hope this helps people I don't know why the game is designed this way either

[cagedcats]

Still thinking of the hypothetical Redux Iterum game in my head

These are what I wanted-

Turnbased RPG as a homage to the Warriors fangame retelling the first, second and third arc.

Custom sprites tho, with custom fighting animation and sprites all the shebang

Capability to join any of the four Clans (or not)

Thunderclan is basic Clan and you’ll always be mentored by the Leader- being mentored by the Leaders in the other Clans opens door to new skills/specialty of that Clan.

- RiverClan - Swimming / WindClan -Tunneling / ShadowClan - …?? Warden? City Runner? Couldn’t figure ShadowClan out

But there would be option in the other three to be mentored by the Deputy maybe, which would just be basic Warriors stuff rather then added things to learn.

Also possibility to be a Seer or Matriarch apprentice 👏 which Seer wouldn’t be a select to be that but rather prove your worth.

Outsider to Clan type story. Or not, could be option to not join the Clan (probably the last story to be added tbh).

Having a “Greypaw,” “Ravenpaw” and a “Sandpaw” / “Dustpaw” in each Clan. At least one of each, though there could be a double. such as two Ravens and a Grey and Sand/Dust, or two Greys and a Raven and so forth, you get the idea.

Each Clan would have its own little issue that would connect it to the higher plot, and choices the player makes would determine the fates of some cats around them.

- this goes for suffixes even for the other apprentices. Doing certain quests with them can determine them receiving certain suffixes or even possibly ranks / which small aside these cats do have “true” names which would just be the name they have if you’re not a part of that Clan.

- So for example ThunderClan player could get Pansypaw to the Pansywhisker name, but if you’re in WindClan/RiverClan/ShadowClan, she always is Pansystorm. Pansystorm is her “true” name.

Which quests! You can do tasks for you Clanmates which can open up information, help them out and in general boost your skills, or reputation in the Clan. Or do the aforementioned.

And also special missions which you can take from listening to stories. Where you get to play as someone else in a mythos (One of the Three, Petalfall, etc.). As added bonus, but maybe you could receive rewards from completing these quests (major stat boost or special items?). You can always “pause” these missions tho and return to main game.

And you can do quests for other Clan cats. It won’t change much in their Clan, but like I said, information.

-

Somehow lock appearance to prefix options, which would be the most nitty gritty for me. Also for animals/weather/trees try to work on requirements to earn the -step/-flight/-fin/-fall suffix.

👏 Suffix requirement markers for Skills / Personality 👏 and the appearance portion of it just going off appearance. To earn the Skill / Personality suffix mark though your character’s skill would have to pass a threshold probably.

- So instead of having the highest skill in Fighting, your Fighting Skill would have to pass something like… idk 50? Or something? Not sure about numbers. If it doesn’t pass 50 then Suffix would refer to Personality and then to Appearance.

- inspired by recent ask on the Iterum blog, the threshold for certain skills are probably higher in certain Clans

- which going further appearances itself would have stats!!! 🫠 for the -face suffix! Imagine that. And it could be different depending on the Clan, oh god.

- -step/-flight/-fall/-fin would be be gained from a culmination of Skill / Personality / Appearance stats. And those skills would have to be somehow locked to that specific prefix.

And also locking the Clan specific suffixes to those specific Clans (-Dawn/-dusk and -leaf/-light-/-feather/-stone).

Locking -flower suffix, and locking Seers from receiving it along with -claw, -whisker, and -fang.

Maybe highlighting prefixes that are preferred in each Clan. Such as you pick RiverClan, and the preferred names being Green, so-so names Yellow and names they wouldn’t choose in a million years being Red. Still possible to pick, but you’d stick out with that name.

You can get injured in the game so name changes are possible. Which you can pick whether you’d want this, and if you do then you get the option of name-change-prefix for the suffix correlated with whatever damage your cat has received.

-

Just random things I’d like as well

“Notebook” for notes. This can be used for Clans and locations in that territory. Dens, ranks, or even other Cats. The drawing for the dens and ranks would change depending on the Clan you’re in. (Drawings would be a sketchy style).

Mini-games? Such as swimming mechanics, tunneling, whatever is going on in ShadowClan. But also for the Seers to keep it interesting and for Matriarchs and Wardens (maybe).

- tho a lot of Seers and Matriarchs could be memorizing tbh? Point and Click for Seers? Family tree crafting for Matriarch (baby mama minigame????)? Something! Something to add some spice rather than sit and have character moments.

As for being blessed and assessments… I think they’d go off of current stat distribution among Skills and Personality.

- and for being blessed, I’d imagine whoever the Player is blessed by, it would lead to a chance of 4 unique possible dreams for each. So 12 dream possibilities (maybe dreams depend on relationships). And with a chance of just having no dream at all.

There would probably only be 1 Arc. Probably ends when the cat becomes a Warrior/Seer/Matriarch. But Y’know anything would be possible.

Determining whether you can have kits, or sire them in character creator. Or neither (spay/neuter). Along with that pronoun options (maybe with custom pronouns too? Not sure how Sims did it).

Small idea I had was for coat patterns to be “purchased” similar to Untold Tales. Like pointed pattern, or breed specific coat textures

Beyond that, if there is another Arc maybe possibility of having an apprentice. Which would go off of reputation, and maybe relationship with the apprentice before so. Tho to mentor maybe the player could speak to the Leader or “purchase” the possibility. Just so players aren’t blindsided by sudden apprentice.

-

Beyond that I can’t think of anything else I’d want for my hypothetical game. Without going into plot detail, since this is just mechanics. Leaders are the only ones I really remember. Loststar (my Shadow girl), Lilystar (Thunder) Lionstar (River), and Molestar (Wind) would be the leaders, and the main mentors typically.

Tho I do recall the former ThunderClan would’ve been the demo cat Hollypaw (named Hollystar), and that the deputy was Leopard- something. As ThunderClan would’ve been the first I’d focus on cause it’s the main guy Clan Y’know.

If I have any more thoughts I’ll either add to this or reblog it. But for now take this horrible horrible ramble.

#caged rambles #for the record I wouldn’t be capable of doing it #BUT GOD THE THOUGHTS #like I so desperately want for a hypothetical rpg for the game #but I do not have the skill and I have the issue of starting something and not finishing so bad

[pokeask-star-sending]

Star Sending Event Info

Welcome to the Pokeask community’s first Star Sending Event. Basically, this is a Holiday Exchange (AKA, Secret Santa) with a little twist: It’s in-character! Write up a wishlist for your characters and in exchange receive another blog’s character’s wishlist - one which you either draw or write your character completing their gift as best they can.

This is not a full fledged event with a location your characters must attend, interact with others, etc. You only need to do three things: Write your character's wishlist, fill the sign-up form, and do your piece for who you get!

Continue reading for info on how to participate!

Important Links

Intro P.1 | Intro P.2 | Info Tag | Wishlist Template | Contact Info SIGNUP FORM TO PARTICIPATE

Continue reading for rules and other necessary info!

BASIC INFO

These are limited to Pokemon OC blogs or ask blogs!

One entry per PERSON.

The form to apply is found above, just make sure you read the full document first.

Do not expect to send or receive more than one gift (But you can choose to provide more than one should you be inspired)!

As part of your entry, you can submit multiple Wishlists for your characters, with one list each. This gives your Sender multiple options to choose from. More lists does not guarantee more gifts to receive. 

Senders may do as much or as little as they like with their submission, as long as it meets the minimum requirements for the post.

Feel free to reply to your Sender’s submission as well, and use it to kickstart an interaction!

You MUST keep your Recipient a secret.

Do not share with anybody that is also participating in the event. 

This event focuses around character interactions.

Politely, I ask you don’t join with the sole intent of getting free art or writing pieces. While I ask for effort in submissions, the main goal is to spark little interactions between the characters from different blogs!

TIMELINE

Assume all dates are done under the Eastern Standard Time Zone. We do not have exact times because our team is doing this within our availability and have life priorities outside of the event.

Our application period starts from now, and runs until the 3rd of November. 

Wishlists will be distributed on the 4th or the 5th, depending on availability and any extra organisation needed. 

You may start working on your submission as soon as you receive your Wishlist!

We will be checking in on submission progress on two separate WIP dates; the 25th of November and the 15th of December. This will be to make sure you’re on track with your submission.

 A verbal update is sufficient for the first Checkup, but we expect something more substantial by the second Checkup. 

If no update is received a backup entrant will be assigned to your Recipient. We will have one final Checkup on the 10th of January for unsubmitted posts.

As part of the above, PLEASE keep a line of communication open with us! We will be understanding if you find you cannot complete your gift and there is no judgement towards you should that occur. We want the event to be as fun as possible!

WISHLIST INFO

Wishlist Template | Example 1 | Example 2 | Example 3 | Example 4

Wishlist Due Date: November 3rd

Five Wishlist items per character, max.

As part of submitting your Wishlist, you MUST make sure to include some kind of visual reference for the characters that you are submitting lists for.

Wishlists may be posted publicly, and posting them is even encouraged! Tag them under #pokestarsending2023. 

Wishlists are allowed to be farfetched, abstract, or even impossible to complete in-canon if it is in-character for your OCs to request such a thing.

If you’re unsure what this qualifies as, check the list examples or confirm with a mod!

In the case something your character would ask for is something you as the blog owner does not want to be completed for plot or story reasons, please leave a note written OOC stating so!

Lists can be written in-character, out-of-character, by a different character on the blog, or just a simple bullet pointed list.

As everything is completed in-character, do not expect the Sender to complete any wishes in a proper manner if it doesn’t seem fit for them! 

SUBMISSION INFO

The period for posting for submissions will start on the 24th of December and ends on the 31st of January.

We ask that you send your submission to be checked over with us to make sure it meets all requirements. Once approved, you may post!

If you require more character info about your Recipient, you may ask us to ask for you while keeping you anonymous!

Remember: It is your character that is completing what is requested on the Wishlist. 

Your character does not need to be able to fully complete a gift item from your Recipient’s list, if it isn’t realistic for them (i.e. their Wishlist asks for Technology and your character is a Wild Pokemon, which may be unrealistic or abstract). HOWEVER, there should still be effort put forth by your character in providing the gift.

Try to keep the tone positive and heartwarming, unless you receive permission from the character owners for your submission to take on a different tone.

Post by @-ing your Recipient, and include the tag #pokestarsending2023! We will be reblogging all submissions.

If you are unavailable to post your piece during the submission period, please let us know! We can post it for you on our blog.

Writing minimum: 600 of words minimum.

600 words is the minimum we ask of a writing submission to make sure enough is put into describing the gift and/or gift giving process. If you find yourself struggling to meet the minimum, please reach out to us with your WIP so we can can help review it with you.

In the case you plan to write the Recipient as part of your submission, we will inform you if the person receiving would prefer you not to write their character in your submission. 

Instead, try focusing on other details: How would your character prepare the gift? What process do they take in doing so? To what lengths do they go? Also, make sure you describe the gift itself and how it’s delivered to its Recipient.

Art Minimum: Either a coloured full-body, or a half-body with a background (at least three props).

Must include the character of the Wishlist. Including your own character is encouraged.

Comic Minimum: Clean sketch, 3 panels.

Must include character of the Wishlist. Including your own character is encouraged.

The minimum requirements may change if we feel they need to be adjusted. We will announce any changes, and by the submissions drawing period, we will have finalised them.

Final Notes.

Questions and constructive feedback are always welcome and never stupid! We are happy to clarify anything. Be it through the messaging system, or ask. You can also contact us on discord for any further communication; please see the contact page on the Star Sending blog for more info!

If you are stumped in any way of participating, you are free to ask for help or feedback from the team!

To make sure you have read everything, I have included a little passcode requirement in the form. What was your first pokemon game? (Non-mainline games are valid)

Make sure to reference examples and templates to aid in your submission!

Thank you for your consideration in participating! I am just one person with some friends, hoping to run something nice for this community, and I sincerely hope I can do my best for you. Every effort to make this as great as can be is hugely and humbly cherished.

#info #pokestarsending #pokestarsending2023

[ellisgirl]

Jude Jazza & Ellis Twilight — Villains Want to Embarrass Little Robin Story Event

Chapter 1

I do not own any contents of Ikemen Villains. This story being uploaded in this blog belongs solely to CYBIRD. Please support them by downloading their games and buying their stories. Both English and Japanese are not my mother tongue languages, please keep in mind that there will be mistakes and added words for my own preferences. I translate for my personal entertainment and for my own practice only.

Victor: "Kate...... Will you be Her Majesty the Queen?"

Kate: "......It's a mission. Please tell me your story."

Victor: "Oh, how fast you're talking about! To your remarkable growth as a Fairy Tale Master I... I... I...Nngh——!”

Victor: "Aside from the feeling, that's right, it's a mission.”

Victor: "The American ambassador is coming. According to prior information, he was plotting an assassination."

Kate: "It's really important, isn't it... so I'm her double?"

Victor: "Yes. Jude and Ellis are going to be your bodyguards."

Kate: "Why those two...?!”

(Putting aside Ellis, Mr. Jude seems to be reluctant, I can hear him saying, "It's my time to read.")

Victor: "They used to being on the wrong side of a knife, and even if the ambassador carries out the assassination, the two of them will make it looks good!"

(.....It sure looks like they're going to do a good job of fighting it off....)

Kate: "What in the world do I have to do as Her Majesty?"

Victor: "We will be presented with gifts, and we will dine with them at a dinner party.

Victor: “Basically, you just have to accept the gifts gratefully.”

Victor: “Since the ministers on our side are also with us, it’s okay to basically leave difficult matters to them.”

Kate: "The point is, I just have to dress up as Her Majesty the Queen and sit down... Is that what you mean?”

Victor: "That's right! Her Majesty is someone who prefers tranquility, so I don't mind if you don’t say a word."

Victor: “I'll have them both follow up nicely, since you probably don't feel comfortable with your voice in the first place."

Victor: “It pains me to ask you to be the argument, but......I can only ask you because you know what's going on."

Victor: “I'd like to see you do it.”

(This is also proof that he is trusted me as a Fairy Tale Master. Besides, Her Majesty's life is at stake)

Kate: "Yes, I'll do my best."

(Mr. Jude is a sadist who enjoys torturing people.)

(I’m in debt to him, but I don't know what will be required at the end, so I can't do it coarsely.)

(Ellis is very kind and will do anything to make people happy, but......)

("anything" is too much, so you have to be careful not to be too spoiled.)

(Anyway, in order to finish this mission peacefully and safely, I will fulfill my duty as Her Majesty's substitute, that’s all)

Kate: "Victor, could you tell me about some of His Majesty's gestures? Habits and other characteristics?"

Victor: “…..”

Victor: "Of course, it's fine. I'll tell you everything I know."

…

After taking acting lessons from Victor, I was stuck in the library.

The royal family, the faces and names of ministers, the history of Britain and the United States. I gained some knowledge I wish I could, but...

…

(In the end, the more I studied, the more despair I felt just by facing the reality that I was full of things I didn't know...)

She wears a crown, a veil that covers to the bottom, shoes that disguise her height, and a luxurious dress,

I already overwhelmed by a sense of defeat,

Jude: "You fell asleep in the library, you mediocre."

Ellis: "I'm glad you didn't catch a cold."

Kate: “……!”

Mr. Jude and Ellis, who were on either side of me, smiled as if they had seen through my thoughts.

Kate: “I was wondering who might have been covered me with a blanket without my knowing it....... Was it the two of you?”

Ellis: "Yeah, Miss Kate, you looked cold.”

Kate: "Thank you, Ellis."

Ellis: “Jude was pushing Miss Kate, who was about to slip off your desk, back onto the desk.... by his knees."

Jude: "Because you got in the way."

Kate: "To kick a sleeping lady in the foot…..”

Jude: "Girls who are calling themselves Sleeping Beauty in the library make me laugh."

Jude: “You must have worked this little brain of yours in a mediocre's way, right? Great, great"

Ellis: “Yeah. It's so great that you're studying to impersonate Her Majesty."

The former is completely ironic, the latter is pure praise.

What kind of expression should I make, my facial muscles are confused.

(and... anyway)

Kate: "I look forward to working with you for the next two days."

Jude: “A decoy is someone who is willing to die in place of someone else.”

Jude: "...Even if you die, as long as I can get rid of the assassin, that's fine, so it's an easy win."

Ellis: “Don't worry, I'll take good care of you."

Ellis: "I don't know much about politics or diplomacy, but I'm good at reading the signs that knives and bullets are coming."

Ellis: "I'll do my best to support you so that you don't suffer.”

Kate: "Wow... I'll do my best, too."

If Mr. Jude is a spice that makes your tongue ache with pain, Ellis is a sweet sugar that has been boiled down to a sludge.

When I'm sandwiched between two extreme people, I don't have time to calm down.

(I wonder why Ellis works for Mr. Jude.)

(Mr. Jude isn't the type to attract people, but he keeps Ellis nearby.)

I remember hearing somewhere that the two of them are together because they have a contract.

(What kind of contract......?)

Jude: “A mediocre as queen is going to be ousted soon.”

Kate: “Even Mr. Jude, with that attitude and way of speaking, would you be able to act as Her Majesty’s bodyguard?”

Ellis: “Jude is more proper in these public appearances than you'd think."

Jude: "I don't know about you, but this guy is dangerous."

Kate: "What's wrong with Ellis.....?”

Ellis: "Well, what is it?"

Jude: "You'll know in the meantime."

(Are you saying that Ellis can't be a better escort than you? .....I have a feeling it's the other way around.)

Ellis: ".....Hey, Jude, Miss Kate."

Jude: “Aah?”

Kate: "What is it?"

Ellis: "I have one suggestion—“

Ellis: "If you can complete the mission without revealing your true identity, we'll ask each other for one favour. What do you think?"

(When the mission is complete, will you listen to my request?)

Jude: "What a shitty proposal."

Ellis: "I've been thinking about how Kate can enjoy the mission."

Ellis: "How about......?”

(Ellis, .....I'm so glad you thought of that.)

From this morning, I realised that my feelings were actually sinking due to the weight of the crown.

(.....Ellis really looks after people well.)

Kate: "Thank you very much, Ellis. Let's do that!"

Ellis: "Fufu, Deal."

(......Huh? But we ask for each other’s “requests”..... I mean...)

(By listening to Mr. Jude and Ellis’s requests...)

Jude: "......Well, good luck. I'll be thinking about what I'm going to "ask" you to do while I watch your abomination."

Ellis: "I will also think of a “request” that will make you happy..."

…

With a conflicting smile, my facial muscles were confused again.

———

Chamberlain: “U.S. Ambassador Abel Edmond has arrived.”

The chamberlain declares loudly, and the door of the audience room opens slowly.

(......It's finally time.)

Mr. Jude and Ellis are waiting behind.

"Why does Her Majesty send men from nowhere to wait on us instead of her guards?" I could hear the ministers whispering as we entered the hall.

(Once Mr. Jude glared at me, the nagging stopped suddenly.)

(When Ellis smiled, the awkward gazes also decreased.)

(As long as the two of them are with you, there's no danger to your life...It's okay.)

Straighten your back, straighten your posture, and adjust your habitation as Victor taught you.

(I will focus on acting like Her Majesty in the eyes of the ambassador who is about to come.)

Abel: “I am extremely humbled by the honor of having an audience with you, Her Majesty the Queen!”

The ambassador who appeared was a man with sparkling white teeth. A smile as bright as the sun.

(Wow... You're more frank than I thought.)

In response to his salute, I nodded quietly so as not to lose my dignity.

Ellis: “You look good."

Jude: "It's a noisy face even if you keep silent."

(Please don't make me laugh!)

With the background music of the whispered impressions expressed simply by the two men standing behind me, Mr. Abel enthusiastically introduced the offerings.

(Even through the veil, they look dazzling.......)

Once again, I am overwhelmed by the treasure that makes me feel the majesty of Her Majesty the Queen.

Abel: "And this is one of the rarest and most colorful birds in the world. It's even more beautiful with its wings spread."

When Mr. Abel pulled out a large parrot-like bird from the cage,

Abel: “Come on, let’s take a look!?”

The parrot suddenly lifted its head and flew away from Abel's hand.

(They're coming this way!?)

Jude & Ellis: “——!”

Masterlist

Chapter 1 >> Chapter 2 >> Premium End >> Epilogue

#ikemen villains #ikevil #ikemen series #ellis twilight #jude jazza #ikevil ellis #ikevil jude #ikemen villains story event #ikemen games #ikevil translations

[dduane]

I was reading through the 'writing' tag on your blog, and came across your wonderful post about how you outline your novels using Cherryh's 'Shopping List' technique. My question is - how do you decide/come up with the 10 things in the novel? I have about 3-4 things I know must happen in my idea, and other random details about the world. But what is important enough to be one of the 10 things? And also, how do you generate your ideas for those 10 things?

...Okay, let's take this from the top. (And for convenience's sake, let's stay in the shopping-list idiom; it's useful enough.) (ETA: the blog entry containing the description of the Shopping List outlining method is here.)

Let's say you want to make a cake. ...This cake also being your novel.

To have a solid story (in the western-novel tradition, anyway), you need at least two things: plot and theme. The plot is what happens. The theme is the why of what happens, and (to a certain extent) the spectrum of thought and emotion that underlies that; the answer to the question “But what’s the book about?”* ...Think of this duality, for the moment, as the equivalent of having both liquid and solid stuff in your cake. You’ve got to have both or it won’t rise. A book with a plot but no theme has no soul.

So: you’re going to make a cake. What kind?

As an example, I’m going to ease myself out onto a limb here and equate “chocolate-chip devil’s food with chocolate buttercream frosting” with “epic-fantasy quest fiction with strong political, exoreligious, and quasiromantic components.” (A favorite for me, over time, as some folks will have noticed. I just can’t get enough of those chocolate chips...)

So how do you determine the ten things you need (or whatever number you like, but ten works for me) as major ingredients / sections?

Well, ideally from some familiarity with what has gone in other/similar cakes/works of fiction in the past. If you haven’t been reading in your chosen genre, you should be. This doesn’t mean you have to do what other people working in the genre have done. (Indeed, at all times you remain at liberty to “flip the punchcard” and do exactly the opposite of what everybody else has been doing, if that’s what suits you.) But they’ve set out possible recipes for you, so (as a beginner at this work) examine those recipes and see what’s in them that might be useful for you. Once you’ve been doing this for a while, you don’t need to go looking, just as an experienced baker doesn’t need to run for the recipe book every time they want to make a cake.

Naturally you can substitute ingredients, add some or lose some, when you’re creating something new; just as you like—while always making sure you don’t throw away anything routinely required/expected in your genre. (Such as the Happily Ever After at the end of a genre romance.) But certain basics must be in place, things that make what you’re creating recognizably A Cake, as well as your own additions and embellishments.

In this case, that could be:

For a cake: flour, milk, eggs, butter, baking powder, cocoa, chocolate chips, vanilla extract, seasonings, a little bit of salt (because without that, even the sweetest cake tastes just a little insipid somehow)

For a novel: a protagonist/pairtagonist (is that a word? It is now...), an antagonist (not necessarily a character: an antagonistic or stymie-ing situation that keeps the antagonist from easily getting what they want/need will do just as well. This is where at least some of the interior drama will derive from), a change in interior conditions that sets events in motion, a “ticking clock” or similar construct that means the desired result must be achieved within a certain time or before certain conditions change or expire, various reversals or hiccups in the flow of the story that will inject a sense of realism (because when does anything ever go perfectly smoothly...?), a crisis point at which everything assembled against the protagonist rises up to be dealt with, and the protagonist rises up to meet the challenge and deal with it; and finally a set of resolution events that (even if it doesn’t absolutely finish the story proper) brings about an end state that will leave you, and any theoretical reader, satisfied with the completion of the current story arc.

...Needless to say, this is an incredibly oversimplified take on the kind of strategizing needed when you’re creating the recipe for a novel that won’t simply collapse the minute you take it out of the oven. But starting simple is often best. The more you do this kind of work, the easier it gets.

Now: “How do you generate your ideas for those 10 things?”

There are a lot of possible answers to this, but the simplest is: Make them up out of nothing, as usual. :)

...This isn’t meant to sound like sass. You made up those first three or four things you came up with out of nothing, and now (because they’ve been there for a while, probably) they may well have started to acquire a kind of secret, temporally-based superiority in your mind—starting to feel somehow more valid than what needs to come next to fill in the gaps. This kind of creeping sense of validity-via-temporal-primacy is a commonplace when you’re in mid-process, and I invite you to ignore it.

Just insert those three or four things into your shopping list in (roughly) story-temporal order, and then spend some time thinking about what kinds of events could usefully come between / flow from them. Hints:

Events that could realistically have been caused by the ones you’ve got already, and could also realistically be seen as causal to later ones you’ve already established, are always useful. Ideally, you’re trying to establish a chain of events in which none of them look accidental, or coincidental (because readers are rightfully sensitive to plots that only work because all the characters are idiots, or keep having “lucky accidents”). What you’re working toward is an event flow that seems, when viewed in completion, inevitable: as it if couldn’t have happened any other way. You will almost certainly not achieve this easily, early on in your novel work, and maybe not at all. But it’s what you should be striving for.

Events that badly screw things up for the main characters are also always useful. Heroes do not become heroes by having everything go their way. Their heroism is achieved and manifested by having things go to shit around them again and again and AGAIN, and nonetheless still finding their way through all that shit to do what needs to be done. The lines attributed to the Confucianist philosopher Meng-tse (sometimes written as “Moshi” in Japanese) are a touchstone in this regard:

When Heaven is about to confer a great office upon a man, it first exercises his mind with suffering and his sinews and bones with toil: it exposes him to poverty and confounds all his undertakings. Then it is seen if he is ready.

So put your protagonists through the wringer. This is the greatest service you can do them.

A variant on this theme: Spend a little time thinking, “What is the absolute worst thing that could happen to these characters in this story / in this world?” And when you’ve figured that out, stick it into one of those gaps as a Main Thing—ideally one between the story’s midpoint and its already-planned crisis, if you’ve got that in place—and then start thinking about how to best exploit it to show how terrific your characters can become if you kick them around a bit. (Addendum: you are allowed to have one Absolutely Terrific and Beautiful Thing happen to assist your characters in recovering from this awfulness. Because they deserve it; but also, all invented worlds [if you ask me] should have beautiful things in them—things to long for, things that make your reader wish they could live there. And that you find beautiful, and worth returning to. You are absolutely allowed to keep yourself entertained, and emotionally refreshed, while you’re creating.)

...Anyway, take your time about getting those gaps filled in. It may take a little while: laying down basic story structure is worth not rushing, if you can avoid it. Once you’ve got them all in place, the secondary lists will follow more easily.

HTH!

*This is a hilarious oversimplification, but my job at the moment is not (as the saying goes) to explain the workings of the entire universe while standing on one foot. :)

#writing #writing advice #the shopping list paradigm #or: Shopping for the Story Cake