#scribblesandknots

[swaps55]

Okay, but if I ask *nicely* will you yell about how Shadowfax can't do lead changes? :D

MY TIME HAS COME.

Ok. So. When horses are moving at a canter or a gallop, they have ‘leads.’ As in, one front foot and one hind foot is always ‘leading’ the opposite foot. Generally, when they are tracking to the right, they will lead with their right foot, and when tracking left, they’ll lead with their left foot. Turning is smoother when the lead foot matches the direction you’re turning.

Horses can change leads while moving at speed. It works a lot like a skip, only they have to skip the front and the hind end. Changing leads is something horses do naturally, but they can also learn to do it on cue. The trick is getting them to change both the front and the hind in the same stride. If they don’t – and what usually happens is they change the front end but take another step or two to change the hind – their movement gets really choppy because their front and hind ends are on different leads. This can cause you problems when jumping a course, for instance, when you sometimes have to change directions quickly.

Here's a video that demonstrates it:

SO. Imagine my horse-obsessed ass sitting the theater at the midnight showing of The Two Towers, eyes peeled for Shadowfax, because the Lord of Horses was going to be in front of my eyeballs AT LAST, and if Asfaloth in Fellowship of the Ring was not the Lord of Horses, then holy fuck I can’t wait to see who IS.

...

Before I continue, let’s talk about the Flight to the Ford.

This is one of my favorite sequences in film, and it’s largely because Asfaloth is such a badass. Watch this horse’s feet throughout this sequence. This horse is carrying two fully costumed riders (I can’t remember if they had Kiran – Elijah Wood’s stunt double – actually in the saddle for those scenes, but even if they didn’t, they had something bumping along up there) while moving at high speeds, turning, and jumping.

WATCH THIS HORSE’S FEET.

The way this horse moves, the way he changes leads is incredible to watch.

(Side note: the horse’s name is Florian, and his stunt rider, Jane Abbot, adored him and was devastated that she couldn’t afford to buy him when filming ended. Viggo Mortenson bought him for her, and when I looked, she still had him at age 29.)   

[gently takes your face in my hands] WATCH THAT VIDEO AGAIN.

I believe without question that Florian was indeed Asfaloth, Glorfindel/Arwen’s steed.

Hang on, I’m gonna go watch it again.

…

Ok. I’m better now. I’m fine. I’m not totally overwhelmed by how much I love Asfaloth and how quickly I would sell my soul to sit on that horse’s back.

Now let’s talk about Shadowfax.  

One of the Mearas. Lord of Horses. Who should definitely be able to do a really elegant lead change, because of the whole Lord of Horses thing.

As Shadowfax is running down the hill towards Gandalf, he’s on his left lead. Since he’s about to bend right towards Gandalf, he switches to his right.

In the front.

It takes him another step and a half or so to get the hind end to follow suit.

Is that totally normal for a horse, especially one with no rider? Sure.

BUT THIS IS SHADOWFAX, LORD OF FUCKING HORSES.

ASFALOTH IS OUT THERE DODGING RINGWRAITHS WITH TWO PEOPLE ON HIS BACK AND SWITCHING LEADS ON THE FLY LIKE IT AIN’T NO THANG AND THIS ‘LORD OF HORSES’ CAN’T EVEN HANDLE A HILL.

This was your BIG INTRO, man. There was inspirational music. The rapt attention of Aragorn, Legolas, and fucking Gandalf, and he flubbed the lead change.

SHADOWFAX: LORD OF LAZY LEAD CHANGES.

It’s been over 20 years and I am still not over it. Asfaloth was better, fight me.

#swaps replies #scribblesandknots #lotr #lord of the rings #shadowfax #the two towers #flight to the ford #asfaloth #urrone has had to listen to me go off about this in person several times for over 20 years now #she was the first to hear me yell about this ahahaha

[kiwigoalie]

@swaps55 I am @scribblesandknots most dearest gremlin friend, and while they're working on MasterCraft with your Opus series, I have been proposing alternative titles to help them organize the series. May I present subtitles for Cantata, Concerto, Fugue, and whatever comes next for ME2 and 3:

#scribblesandknots #gremlin friend #opus #this series has made me cry and this is how I'm coping

[scribblesandknotsshop]

Throwback to these bookmarks I made a few years back - not only are they some of my favorite tatting I’ve done, these were also some of my favorite staged pictures I’ve ever taken for a crafting project! I can also do this lace pattern as a choker, which is what the last picture shows. 

(I don’t have these listed on Etsy anymore, but if you want one, just message me - I’d be happy to make them again and set up the listing.)

The pattern for these is from Robin Perfetti’s bookmarks collection, but unfortunately her Etsy shop has not been up for a few years, so the collection is currently unavailable. You can still find her free patterns on her blog: http://tattingbythebay.blogspot.com/.

#tatting #tatting lace #scribbles' knots #scribblesandknots for sale #cottagecore #handmade lace #idk why I love pastel lace so much when I'm lazy goth irl

[our-stars-graveside]

hi @scribblesandknots i just want to let you know i’m 1000% going to answer your ask but have been swamped with life so that a brief reblogging reprieve here has been all i’ve been able to manage

but ohooo i’m so excited for you to watch leverage & i promise i’ll answer!!

[swaps55]

One thing I love every time you talk about Sam is how deeply you understand him as a character. I have two related questions: 1) what strategies or tips have you used on purpose to get to know him better, over all the time you've been writing him? 2) what's the most surprising unintentional way you've learned big things about him?

Thank you!!! Part of it is that Sam lives rent free in my head at all times. There is no chance I could have more than one Shepard. Sam is it. He's a full time job.

How do I get to know him better?

I ask why, all the time. At the outset, when I was first giving him shape, the key question I set out to answer was, "Why does this guy save the galaxy, as opposed to someone, anyone else?" It was not an easy question to answer, and I am more or less still answering it. The other big question that set the stage for a lot of things was, "how does someone without the inherent trauma of Mindoir or the Earthborn background become the Butcher of Torfan?"

Whenever he does something, or reacts to something, or has a particular opinion, I try to ask why. I don't write from his POV, so I really have to stop and think about his motivations, his desires, the things that make him tick. And I think about them all the time. Sometimes the answers are obvious, otherwise they take longer to percolate up. I've learned to be patient.

Using a readmore because I did a lot of rambling.

One of the things that took me a little longer to unknot was why Sam gets so defensive in Cantata when Kaidan asks why he put himself through the N program with the glucose side effect. It was a pretty valid and question, but Sam comes back at him later asking why Kaidan doubts him at every turn, including whether he's good enough for the N program. But Kaidan didn't question that. Why did Sam interpret it that way?

I didn't have the answer when I wrote the chapter, and it always bugged me until I came across another instance where the same thing happens and it finally hit me. Sam interprets worry as doubt. If you express worry, in his head that translates to, "I don't think you can do this." So any time someone worries about him, he gets weirdly pissy. It's not until Kaidan flat out yells, "because I worry about you," to his face, that it clicks Kaidan isn't criticizing him.

I also learned huge things about him kind of unexpectedly at the orchard. I'd always operated under the impression that his fixation on the N program was largely due to the expectations of his mother, but that chapter showed me it really wasn't. His endless quest for approval is definitely because of her, but he went for N7 because he feels he owes his father a debt.

The N7 chapter of Cantata, Facing Giants, was a huge revelation overall, because that's where it felt like all the formative influences on him really crystalized. That chapter showed him in context with his mother and father, and how much they both influenced him so heavily in different ways, and it fell together in ways that were beyond my wildest expectations. I didn't set out to make that chapter a thesis on what made Sam Shepard Sam Shepard, but that's what it became.

But the most surprising, unintentional way I've learned something big about him is probably that time I got a random snippet of dialogue in my head out of the blue that handed me the answer to a question I'd been asking for probably 3 years: Why did Sam want the marines so badly? His mother wasn't a marine, and she's the one he was desperate to please. But his desire to be a soldier came around long before his father disappeared. So...why a solider? I didn't have an answer and it was making me crazy until this exchange between Daniel and kid!Sam popped in my head out of nowhere, in the shower:

"My job is to protect you. Arcturus is safer than being on a ship.” “Who’s gonna protect mom?”

....and there was my answer.

One of the really fun ways to think about Sam is in terms of what I know about him vs. his own self awareness. A lot of the questions that take longer to answer tend to be the ones where he lacks self-awareness of what drives him, like that particular question. If you asked him why he wanted to be a marine so badly he wouldn't be able to tell you. But now I know!!! Wheeeeeee!

#swaps replies #scribblesandknots #'shoot it again sam' shepard #opus!verse

[swaps55]

How much of what you write in Opus about their armor is stuff from canon versus your own creation? How do you go about figuring out the tech in satisfying ways? I'd never realized how much I love the ins and outs of sci fi armor until Opus, but I'm watching The Expanse for the first time and Bobbie's armor is giving me similar vibes, and I guess I just wanna talk about sci fi armor and how it's secretly *so* emotional. XD

Canon is the jumping off point, and from there it's a mix of my own headcanons, brainstorming with Real Life Romance Option, and in the case of armor, @sinvraal's armor bible, which pretty much lives in an open tab on my browser (along with the wiki page on codex entries and a great galaxy map showing relay connections). I also use this wonderful comic as a reference.

The codex entries, especially from ME1, give you so much great stuff to work with, for biotics, weapons, armor, space combat, etc. etc. There are a lot of holes and places to color in and outside the lines, but the framework is a gold mine.

Armor in particular is SUCH a fun playground, not only because it's great sci fi and serves as one of the building blocks for the world of Mass Effect, but it gives you so many opportunities for characterization. How a character customizes their armor, the HUD preferences, the wear and tear, habits around its maintenance and upkeep, etc. etc. can tell you SO MUCH about them.

And in addition to making a character a total badass, armor can be astonishingly intimate. One the scenes I am most proud of is the armor scene in Cantata where Kaidan and Sam do their suit checks. I don't know if I've ever written a scene with more UST. One of my greatest moments as a writer was @urrone telling me that in a scene where there was no skin to skin contact at all, "I don't know if it's possibly to have sex with your armor on, but if it is, those two just did." XD

I LOVE attempting the harder science stuff in Opus and could talk about it all day, but yeah, armor is the shit and I love writing about it. Also, The Expanse is incredible and I would sell my soul to Bobbie Draper for a penny. Sam, btw, takes some influence from Amos Burton. My Admiral Hackett takes a lot of influence from Chrisjen Avasarala. He just swears a lot less, lol.

#swaps replies #scribblesandknots #mass effect meta #opus!verse #how writing is written

[swaps55]

I hear it is your birthday!! Happy birthday, I hope it's been a great one!

Thank you, it's been an excellent day! I have been rocking some really cool earrings that might have been an early birthday gift to myself. ;)

#swaps replies #scribblesandknots #swaps has a birthday #look swaps has a face #nerd dog 3000

[swaps55]

For the trademark ask game:

"This Canon tidbit is entirely recognizable, but you're never gonna guess the heartwrenching spin I put on it to make it exciting all over again"

(is this your trademark or just one of my favorite traits of your writing? Whomst can say!)

Ahhhhhhh, thank you!!!!

I love, love, love turning canon into a pretzel by taking a thing you know and bending it into new shapes.

In a shocking turn of events, this is probably my favorite example (though there are a number of them in Fugue I am very proud of).

From Cantata, "The Things We've Done."

~

Kaidan and Shepard settle into the driver compartment. Once they’re strapped in, Shepard radios Lieutenant Ziegler to greenlight the drop, expression still made of stone.

“You all right?” Kaidan asks.

The gravity well cants as Shepard dips into it, gaze trained on the windshield even though there’s nothing to see.

“I hate targets like this,” he says eventually. “Bad memories.”

With the words missing, presumed captured, still printed next to his father’s name in the record logs, Kaidan can only imagine what kind of memories those are.

“If Dantius there, we’ll find her,” Kaidan says. “If she’s got captives, we’ll rescue them. We’ve got your back.”

The hiss of hydraulics accompanies the opening of the cargo bay door. Below them yawns a hazy, sulfur-strewn landscape.

“Yeah,” Shepard says. “When we’re done, there’ll be one less target to worry about.”

A few minutes later, they’re in freefall over Sharjila.

#swaps replies #scribblesandknots #mememe #meme replies

[swaps55]

I'd been putting off reading Fugue until it was closer to all posted (for my own mental safety), but I have this week off from work and feel like subjecting myself to pain for fun, so...I've just finished chapter two. I am Not Ready. Every time the countdown shows up in the little headers I want to fling myself on the floor. Thank you for this pain. 😂

Well, the good news is, the last full chapter will likely go up in two weeks, and after that, all that's left is an epilogue. So if you're reading it now, the end is in sight. <3

That second chapter is so important, because they get their chance to be happy, even if it's brief, but knowing what lies ahead of them, it hurts so much. Anyone who reads this story deserves some cookies. I think it's such an important story to tell, and I maintain that at its core, Fugue is about hope, but boy. It's a rough ride.

I really hope you enjoy it. <3 <3 <3 <3

#swaps replies #scribblesandknots #opus!verse

[swaps55]

The way you talk about writing (and also reading your writing) very much make me want to write more - I just wanted to say thank you for that.

What an incredible compliment!! Thank you so much!!!!

#swaps replies #scribblesandknots #how writing is written

[swaps55]

Hi! I am just getting into bookbinding and hoping to bind some fanfiction, and Opus is one of my absolute favorites - I wanted to ask if you were okay with me making myself a physical copy of it? It would probably be a while off because I'm still learning, but I wanted to make sure you were cool with it first.

I was just talking about bookbinding yesterday!

Of COURSE! I would be honored that you think highly enough of it to want to make your own physical copy! If you do, I hope you'll send me a picture so I can screech. <3

(just know that if you catch a typo, no you didn't XD)

#swaps replies #scribblesandknots #opus!verse

[swaps55]

✅ and/or ⏳ for the fic writer meme! :)

Thank you!

✅ What's something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don't mean to?

Answered here!

⌛ How long does it take you to write a fic, or a chapter?

Varies wildly. When everything is clicking on a chapter, I can kick out 6-10k in a week (and then have to stare at a wall for a week or so). And then there's The Things We've Done, which took about a year and a half to figure out. XD

#swaps replies #scribblesandknots #how writing is written #mememe #meme replies

[scribblesandknotsshop]

Fall yarn earrings!! Fall colors make me happy.

#scribblesandknots for sale #scribbles' knots #etsy

[scribblesandknotsshop]

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1083467837/pumpkin-earrings-cottagecore-micro

#scribbles' knots #scribblesandknots for sale #witchcore #goblincore #micro crochet #mini crochet #etsy #shop small

[scribblesandknotsshop]

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1006166891/succulent-earrings-micro-crochet

#scribbles' knots #scribblesandknots for sale #crochet #micro crochet #goblincore #cottagecore #etsy #shop small

[scribblesandknotsshop]

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1008172744/black-beaded-lace-statement-earrings

#scribblesandknots for sale #scribbles' knots #tatting lace #tatted lace #tatting #lace earrings #goth #statement earrings