#that’s character development baybee

[miketownsends]

I LIVED BITCH

#george kirby touched my shoulder and i DIDN’T pass out! #that’s character development baybee #megan's personal life #seattle mariners #in order: #george kirby #logan gilbert #cody bolton #luke raley #luis urías #andres muñoz #josh rojas #bryan woo #luis castillo #dylan moore #got a couple others too i’ll reblog this lmao

[mistystarshine]

Which would ya'll be more interested in, an Adamsapple one-shot or five times a couple did PDA in front of Alastor + one time he got to make everyone uncomfortable?

#Hazbin Hotel #Option one would be character development and angst #Two is pure comedy baybee

[mindfulwrath]

Axel leaves a message, and receives a message.

#cardiogenesis fic #kingdom hearts fanfiction #akuroku #that's character development baybee

[ask-whitepearl-and-steven]

Would you mind sharing your planning process of the comic? I'm starting to brainstorm a fiction idea and right now the ideas are very messy and I wanted to know if you could show how you plan what happens on a season and on an episode, maybe with an example of a season episode you already published, so I can learn how to organize myself?

I really, REALLY appreciate you coming to ask me for help with this. It's awesome to hear that you respect my writing enough to seek me out as an authority on such things, or at least enough to ask for advice.

But I'm gonna be real with you - what you're asking for is not a quick slapdash reply that I can whip up in my free time. What you're asking for is an hour long video essay (with examples) on the level of an educational creative writing online course.

And I--I don't know if I have it in me to do that right now. Not with everything else I'm trying to do. (Sorry.)

BUT.

What I can give you instead is a basic rundown, and maybe some recommendations for where to this stuff.

To be absolutely brief: For me, the best way to visualize how I plan would be to make a flowchart.

Keep in mind that....... I don't ever actually.......MAKE. A flowchart.

Mostly, I am just using this as a visual representation of how my ideas flow from and to each other in a coherent way. The reality is that this skill is something you have to develop until it becomes second nature.

As an example, let's take the episode(s) where I introduced Seaglass.

This little arc was planned in season 3, but really started to come into play in Season 4.

To make it happen, I started with the obvious main idea: SEAGLASS.

I then broke it down into multiple smaller ideas:

If you notice, the main plot of this doesn't even start when the Seaglass exposition does. Steven makes Seaglass back in season 3, but doesn't know about it. But these ideas are still important to acknowledge as being a part of the main plot.

I then fill in MORE space between these larger ideas.

This whole set of steps is just a logical progression of me playing 'how do we get there'. I make up plot points and say 'what happens to get from A to B?'

And keep in mind - this may seem kinda obvious. That's because... it should be! But that's how the planning happens.

Realistically, it's just a bunch of asking myself questions. The same exact questions I refuse to answer in asks.

"What happens next? What would happen if....?" "Why doesn't Steven know about ....?"

"How would Steven find Seaglass if he doesn't know she exists?"

Well she's small and green, kinda like Peridot. So he goes looking for Peridot and mistakes Seaglass for her.

BAM! You've got yourself a plot point. That's a plan, baybee!

And then just kinda rinse and repeat.

And eventually, you want to make sure that you have some sort of connection back to the main plot point. In this case, it's the realization that Steven CREATED LIFE.

Again, I want to stress - I don't actually........plan.... by writing this down.

I do this process in my head. Often, multiple times per chapter, writing and editing to make it make more and more sense. The important part is about asking yourself questions. The same questions your readers should be asking.

"Why is this character doing this?" "Why is this event happening NOW?" "How will A find out when they realize what B has done?" "What is the BEST time for B to find out...? What is the WORST time?"

All of this takes imagination. It isn't about organization. It's moreso about learning to tetris plot events into their most snug spaces. It's about thinking of events as a staircase, which eventually leads to a larger staircase of plot arcs.

And as a final note, I will say that someday, when I'm less busy, I may make a video about plot. But it will take more time and effort, and for now, please just watch videos by other creators! I'm sure they're just as good at it as I am.

#chekhov answers #plot

[doppel-dean-er]

it will always be funny to me how Jon/The Archivist progressed from "god I fucking hate martin. i hate him so much he's literally the worst and is not qualified at all for this job. I don't care of this is a violation, I genuinely want to make this job as horrible for him as possible just so he quits because I fucking hate him. I got him out of the institute and finally felt happiness for the first time in 30 years. I kind of hope he dies. I really hope he dies. I might kill him myself" in season one, to "I think martin should stay behind when we go fight evil monsters. because he'll slow us down. definitely because he'll slow us down and not because I care about him" in season three, to "omg hiiiii darling hi baybee hi love of my life light of my life my wittol toenail clippings :333 you're adorable and you're the best thing that's ever happened to me, I love you and will kill myself to protect you. and the human race or whatever :3333" in season five. character development at it's finest

#This is dramatized but still true #jon would never say the last bit but he's thought it #he's sappy in his thoughts 10x the way he's sappy in his words #it's 2:30 in the morning im not coherent at all but this is true to me #the magnus archives #tma spoilers #jonmartin #martin blackwood #jarchivist #jmart

[obsidianstrawberrymilk]

Incomplete list of changes I would make to mha if god gave me the ability to do so

So

Shinso is Midoriya’s main rival/foil among his classmates and actually gets a proper arc, Shigiraki can continue to be his villain rival

No Bakugo, he’s not plot relevant at all after the first episode. We will vaguely refer back to him in the final season with a shot of him staring at one of Deku’s battles from like a store or something but that’s it I want him gone

Female Shouto Todoroki

Also less in the whole Todoroki family arc about how sad Endeavour is that his family hates him for abusing them for their whole lives and more about the Todosibs complicated relationships with each other and Rei

No villains for the entire first season its just focused on UA, the competitive environment and how Izuku adapts to that and also his blossoming friendships

No Toga Ochako foil, there’s no reason for them to be foils sans ‘girl’. Idk develop that one gas villain (Mustard?) or whatever and have him be Ochako’s foil

Give Toga a proper character about self identity or whatever instead of just that love bullshit, idk she can foil someone else, I like villain hero foils but Ochako Toga was not it for me

The first villain the UA kids would fight is Stain. This isn’t just bc the Stain arc is one of my personal favorites, but I think it would be a cool transition between a mainly school focused 1st and partially 2nd season that would mainly worldbuild and get us into hero society and graducally exposing the flaws in that society. Given the LoV are basically just a bunch of people who are the result of the cracks in hero society I think it would be a nice seguway

Also Iida Tensi should actually be a corrupt hero.

Stain Iida parallels!!

Aizawa is actually forced to realize he’s a shitty teacher and has to undergo a character arc to be nicer to the people around him and realize that trauma does not make people stronger, it didn’t for him and it won’t for his students

Midnight is given development as a mentor and hero beyond boob jokes and dying

Also, like... if you want to make Mineta a character people don’t want to see die the second he’s on screen just have him gradually grow out of being so perverted?? Like a joke here or there is okay I guess but as the series goes on he should also get development lmao

Significantly more of 1A and 1B should be from hero families. Nepotism baybee.

More focus on some of the topics in heroism set up earlier in the series, like how heroes are paid based on who gets credit for taking down a villain and things like public image and charisma and how that allows for more corruption to fester

Either develop Aoyama more and make us care about him or make someone else (ie Ochako, refer back to my ‘why Ochako should have been the UA traitor post) the traitor who we actually care about

Keep Izuku analyzing quirks jesus fuck let him think instead of just be a plot device

More worldbuilding in general tbh

Let at least some of 1A ultimately become vigilantes after realizing the system is corrupt and made to benefit the people in power and heroes in this world are just functionally superpowered cops and that’s not the right type of system to see as morally infallible- *I am shot and killed by Horikoshi*

There’s more but I’m tired, please add at your wish

#mha #my hero academia #bnha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia critical #my hero academia criticism #mha critical #mha criticism #bnha critical #bnha criticism #izuku midoriya #ochako uraraka #himiko toga #stain #iida tenya #iida tensi #shouto todoroki #todoroki family #shota aizawa #hitoshi shinsou #midnight mha #nemuri kayama #mineta minoru #anti bakugo katsuki #anti bakugo #bakugo katsuki #aoyama yuuga

[shortpplfedup]

If you came to Young Royals for a ship, I suggest perhaps you walk on by. But if you came here for a story bayBEE are you in the right place. My favourite misfits, loners and outcasts are back with a vengeance in season 2 and wreaking the kind of havoc you can only get from people whose frontal lobes haven't finished developing. There's poor decision making! Ill-advised sexual escapades! Crushing anxiety! Threats and intimidation! Offers of procurement! Snitching! On-the-nose literature assignments! Unexpected coming out! Literal horse-trading! 18th century fashion! Romantic lesbian poetry! FIRE! At one point somebody pulls a gun! It's a rollercoaster ride of a season and I for one had a fabulous time riding it. My favourite bits:

Felice

Having decided to be a bad bitch for a living, Felice spends the entire season just doing that. Not one single solitary fuck was given by our girl in 6 entire episodes, as she snatched wigs and came for people's entire careers left and right. She started the season by telling her mother to kick rocks whilst getting a sickening sew-in, admitted to both sluttery and petty theft in the midst of selling a priceless racehorse, called both of her besties on their shitty behaviour towards her, and was the best looking, vibesiest person at that unbaked costume party (and for that matter in every scene she was in). She remains my absolute favourite character in this entire show.

Nils

Nils spent the entire season trying desperately and unsuccessfully to interest Wille in his high -mileage-but-at-least-it's-rich peen, to the point of offering to procure sexual partners on his behalf for what I assume would be some kind of Eyes-Wide-Shut action at a ski chalet somewhere? Idk, he got real weird real fast this season.

Marcus

A perfect cinnamon roll who did everything right including telling Simon to get over his victim complex.

Sara

Listen, say what you will but I HOWLED with laughter when she humped August's leg and then went 'yeah ok, I get it now, let's bone'. Poor fucked-up Sara, striving for a social status she hasn't a chance of achieving, or in the infinitesimal chance that she achieves it, maintaining. On the one hand I felt bad for her that it all collapsed around her, but on the other hand the moment she literally got into bed with August there was only one way this was going to go. Speaking of...

August

What a sweaty, cringey, desperate, pathetic mess of a human being. I enjoyed Wille taking away everything that mattered to him brick by brick while he cowered in fear that the men in grey suits were coming to put him down like Old Yeller at any moment. I REALLY enjoyed Wille menacing him with a loaded shotgun while Simon just watched in silence. August falling immediately for the first person who was nice to him, August getting an attitude the second Kristina put him in the line of succession, August convincing Alexander to take the fall for the video, August, August, August...what would this show be without the most pathetic villain alive?

Simon and Wille

Man this was Edvin Ryding's season, he put on a fucking CLINIC. 'I got a haircut' you awkward GOD. Wille was wound so tight this season I wondered when he would finally snap and of course he held it for when it would really count. Omar sold me on Simon's abject misery and righteous anger, but Edvin...Edvin was something otherworldly this season. I almost couldn't breathe watching him go THROUGH it.

All in all, Young Royals absolutely delivered on Season 2 and they had better announce Season 3 ASAP!

#young royals

[blackfeatherdragon]

I don't have solid designs for the rest of the main group in the pmd/ygo au yet but:

-Yugi is a tiny little Shinx whose grandpa was an independent explorer.

-His grandpa was the one who found the Relic Fragment and gave it to him.

-The Fragment is haunted/fills in for the puzzle, but the spirit of the Fragment doesn't 'wake up' until after Yugi manages to get the Fragment back at Beach Cave after it was stolen (Power of friendship, baybee-)

-The spirit of the Relic Fragment (Atem) was a shiny Luxio in life.

-Much like in canon, he doesn't remember his past and starts off as a shadow gaming gremlin before the character development kicks in.

-The spirit of the Ring is just straight up TKB, with no Zorc influence.

-Like his host, he wound up with severe amnesia and can only remember his name, that he was human, and that he was a thief of some kind (but not what he was stealing)

-Was a human in life, but apparently being a spirit did not make him immune to being turned into a Pokemon. He appears as a Hisuian Zoroark when talking to Ryou.

-Unlike his host, TKB cannot use the Dimensional Scream under any circumstances and has to let Ryou do it.

#yugioh #ygo #pmd #pmd ygo au #ryou bakura #yugi mutou #atem #thief king bakura

[melrosing]

its so silly to me that people were sad about the death of jimmy lawnmower (got jaime) that man was so annoying and just there to look like an average highschool german teacher, not do anything and be sad and pathetic. “our nooour his character development :((( “ WHAT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT???

it’s art baybee. establishing that Jaime has a traumatic relationship with tyrannical monarchs using wildfire and then concluding one of the last seasons w Cersei using it and it’s like ‘speak now king!!!’ and yeah no he’s just like. hmm :\

now your first thought may be that that’s just shit writing. I’m still trying to work past this first thought but I’m sure I just haven’t been listening to the right podcasters

#ask #jaime lannister

[crookedkryptonitebeliever]

Jokes aside, i felt rlly bad for the reader in bff yandere bc there was such an overtone of helplessness almost like there was an inner hope to keep fighting but the outer spirit knew it was pointless, idk maybe just my intuition picked up on a vibe and im not saying u projected onto the reader but if you did and that is how ur feeling regarding ur leg then i hope you get better soon as quickly and w the least amount of pain possible. Language barrier as well has some gnarly leg, particularly foot injuries that were decribed so horrifically and detailed, hope that wasnt ur own pain speaking. im sorry for being weird and sending this its just that usually when i read abt reader being hurt before its was just like w.e but when i read ur work it rubbed me some type of way?? Idk you dont even need to answer this bc it might not even b that serious but just wanted to say it! Thank u for all ur yans, theyre literally my fictional comfort characs lol. Idk if u got my other ask or if youll even get this one but its 🐰 anon! Take care

Thanks for this ask bunny emoji anon, i love these deep analysises

ur right, all my works are projectiontopia baybee thAts the secret spice. No good works would come out without a real life tragedy happening to me, its character development and copium time

When i disappear it means life going good or so bad that i have no time to process, needing to dodge hit after hit, when i come back i come back with a wound and a limp whining to strangers to the internet through whimsical and silly characters, thas whrer the distilled angsts come from <3

but responses from readers do make my day, it fun and does give me that daily necessary dose of copium, i may not answer it right away cause i need time 2 be as funny n creative as i can get, and sometimes my best may be not up to speed with my usual standards <3

tanks 4 reading <33 c u in the next updates

#yandere oc #yandere x reader #yandere #bunny emoji anon

[magpies4nights]

huh (Dev log # I'M ON 4?!!?!?!)

Hi guys! It’s me, @magpies4days on a different blog! That’s really the only promise I kept. Whoops. That’s why I don’t do promises. Anyways, since the last time I updated y'all, I passed all my finals and everything that was important. Yep, I passed my finals, which seems miraculous, because I accidentally studied the wrong study guide for my history exam and didn't really sleep enough the night before, and I got a 90 on it, which I'll be honest, that was the lowest grade I've ever gotten on a test in that class, but it's still an A so I won't cry about it. I turned in a really shitty essay too for one of my classes, but it seems that my professor didn’t actually read it because she gave me a 100 (ain’t gonna complain about that). I also procrastinated so hard on my graphic design final that I did it in like 3 hours and finished it 2 minutes before it was late. I still turned it in 5 minutes late because my computer decided it was funny to start acting up. Oh well, I passed that class, even for honor's standards. Normally I would be happy getting a B because I'd get a C and still celebrate but unfortunately I slayed too hard that my GPA was the minimum requirement for the Honor's organization to notice me. That's the Thinker in my Myers Briggs type showing baybee (JK JK I'm an INFP (unfortunately.)). Anyways, I’m on my winter break, and as much as I love getting breaks, god I forgot how much I hate summer and winter breaks. Summer breaks make me depressed because I have nothing to do, and winter breaks make me depressed because it’s literally the worst season of the year (cold weather (I have cold urticaria), dry air, less sun, the position of the sun is weird, and d3 barely does anything).

Anyways, onto the actual dev stuff. I probably should’ve figured this out the moment I started my idea, but I found out that to export my game to Mac, I’d have to have a developer id and pay for it. Which now I understand why most indie devs never upload to Mac. Oh well. (Fun fact: Mac actually has a feature called BootCamp which lets you portion your hard drive to allow you to have a Windows driver (Be wise on your portioning though because it’s permanent). I found this out when I was 16 and trying to download Pizza Tower demos. Totally not saying that so you could play it on your “Mac,” *wink wink*).

I had to switch my dialog stuff from a script I found on the internet, to an add-on that most Godot devs use ( Dialogic). I know. I am awful. However, there is a reason to this, and it’s entirely because I am an idiot. I have experimented with how Godot exports JSONs, and as it turns out, the images nor the audio would load! The text would, but it’s just not the same, especially when the dialog box is supposed to change with the character speaking. While it could be something in my code that is causing this to happen, or I'm forgetting to export something else while checking off all the boxes, it still gives me a headache and I decided it was for the best to switch. I may not be able to code for now, but there may be a day when I can. Hopefully. I had to change the layout of the dialog stuff because Dialogic kinda makes it like a visual novel kinda thing. I decided to torture myself and make everyone have different heights. Don't worry, everyone has relatively normal heights. Except for mayyybe Sleepy Weepy. They're like 6'2 (which may mean there's some cutoff for their sprites).

Aaaaanyways, enough about me suffering about dialog again. I’ve been working on the beginning and ending cutscene so that I can first torture everyone with 5 minutes of dialog in the beginning and then at the end music with text that may give people a hard time reading the lyrics. The animation isn’t done, but the text kinda is??? I’ll have to revise it like I have the past 56 times because my future self is hard to please, and I think everyone is out of character except Xandra.

Yeahhh, that’s about it so far. I made new music while I was being harassed with finals. Take a gander, but with your ears. Or don't, forcing you is unethical.

Top 10 Sleepy Weepy of all time!!!!! (This is doesn't even make it in the honorable mentions)

#gasa4 #fan game #fan made music #gasa4sc #gasa4 snackcore #gasa4 sleepy weepy #Scaperat

[tintagel-or-cockleshells]

7, 16, and 20 for the meta writer asks!

First off, please know my initial response to this was HNRGH. I love meta-talk, baybee.

7. What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?

I use a lot of lists in my writing, particularly when characters are thinking things through. This is because I personally do this while thinking. Josefin helped point this out to me - we were editing a chapter I'd written for our project and she pointed out there were three lists in eight pages. Whoops.

I also think a hallmark of mine is writing around the point. I need to go from A to B, I'm reminded of C as I write A so it goes A - long digression to C - back to B.

Recently I've also caught myself finishing a story with enforced outsider perspectives - articles about the final event, blurbs of a book written after they get back together - so I want to stick to in-the-moment storytelling for my next one.

16. Tried anything new with your writing lately? (style, POV, genre, fandom?)

I'm trying to write longer form. Typically my fics are like 5 pages a chapter, longer if it's a oneshot, but my latest one is hovering at 50 pages and we've just started chapter 4 (potentially - i want to chop it up after the writing to see how it fits best).

I've also gone a little more serious with it! Comedy is fun to write, but I've not felt up to writing a caper in a little while (wedding planning as we hurtle towards the last few months of prep is STEPPING UP) so it's kind of a relief to write this story and go 'y'know, gold vs clear plinths for aisle florals is not as big of a deal as (plot of story)'.

(I really hate the clear plinths. Not the vibe.)

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

In Ghosted one of the things I was really proud of was how Alex went through his own personal five stages. If the classic ones are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, he first denied it was even possible for him to come back; got furious (mainly wirh Zahra) when he thought she'd lied, bargained with Henry's prone body, got depressed about it, and then accepted both seeing his family and that he was definitely going to become alive again.

I've always been morbid and really fascinated by death so please expect more gloomy goodness.

In Red, White and Royal Ballet I had lots of fun with the ballet references. Alex's fear of the character parts, which get pulled out of a hat but you're not there for their feats of dancing - look at the clog dance from La Fille mal gardée and you'll see technical skill but none of the showstopping jumps he wants to do as the leading men.

Ballet is also a very -ist institution. Alex doesn't 'look the part' of the prince. You know who 100% does? Henry, and there's symbolism in how he rejected a place with his grandmother after seeing how it hurt Bea - an abdication of sorts.

There's also the fact that Alex performs quite a lot in tragic ballets before Henry comes along! Giselle, La Bayadère, Mayerling are all cryfests with a lot of death. It's why it's important there's no deaths at the end!

Thank you for the asks very much, I had a lovely time answering :)

#ask game #pls

[dragynkeep]

Ruby, Rhaenyra, & Sakura for the character meme

meme, not accepting.

ruby rose.

sexuality headcanon. asexual biromantic.

otps. harvest moon, pyrruby, ladybug, nuts & dolts.

brotps. weiss, sun, nora, ren.

notps. rose garden, lancaster, white rose.

first headcanon that pops into my head. ruby's echolalia really plays up when she's in high stress situations, but also when she's really "in the zone" like when working on crescent rose.

favorite line from this character. i'm willing to do whatever i can to help because u trust you. but why couldn't you trust me?

one way in which I relate to this character. struggling with a self imposed battle because i think it's the right thing to do.

thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character. the voice picked for her. please god just let her vocal cords develop rwby i can't handle anymore of her helium vibe.

cinnamon roll or problematic fave? problematic beloathed.

rhaenyra targaryen.

sexuality headcanon. bisexual.

otps. daemyra, laenyra, rhaewin, rhaegon, rhaemond.

brotps. helaena, ser arryk, leanor.

notps. tv rhaenicent.

first headcanon that pops into my head. she's partially deaf / hoh, after a riding incident with syrax when she was a teen. daemon or one of her sons always rests at her deaf side — the left — so she feels more confident.

favorite line from this character. they denied you, princess rhaenys. the queen who never was. but they bent their knee to me.

one way in which I relate to this character. society being a bitch baybee.

thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character. my baby girl could do nothing embarrassing.

cinnamon roll or problematic fave? problematic beloved.

sakura haruno.

sexuality headcanon. bisexual.

otps. kakasaku, narasaku, inosaku.

brotps. kiba, sai, hinata, lee.

notps. sasusaku.

first headcanon that pops into my head. her hair was a much darker pink, almost bordering on red when she was first born & as she grew up, it lightened into the pink we see in canon.

favorite line from this character. the beauty of the cherry blossoms color the world! & the will of the girls brings victory!

one way in which I relate to this character. being an obstinate little fucker that will never give up as long as there's a chance lol.

thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character. whatever it was that sp decided to do to her in taking away a lot of her pivotal character moments to make her even more obsessed with sasuke. cringe.

cinnamon roll or problematic fave? a secret third thing.

#rwby #hotd #naruto #ruby rose #rhaenyra targaryen #sakura haruno #ais.txt #answered #q

[greenlikethesea]

If you don't mind, I have a couple of questions for you:

💝what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

🤍what's one fic of yours you think people didn't "get"?

🕯️was there a fic that was really hard on you to write, or took you to a place you didn't think it would take you?

💝what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

What Makes The Man for sure! I sort of banged that one out as a gift to @sparklyslug because she was having a day and did not expect it to get as much traction or praise as it did. I think there are universal themes there, insecurity and wanting to be accepted as you are, so that's probably why. It's also gotten people to check out other stuff I've written and co-written, so I'm grateful for that!

🤍what's one fic of yours you think people didn't "get"?

I say this every time some question like this comes along, but there's a phrase that fits is required reading in the Fair Ithilien Verse. Like, you have to read that fic before you read the fluffy good stuff, because I think a lot of people really miss that it's a look inside two seemingly unrequited situations -- one actually unrequited where the aggrieved party can't move on, and one that actually is reciprocated but the aggrieved party has made his peace with it. It's also a really important look at a lot of Eddie's character growth, his development as a gay man in Fair Ithilien, and is a fic ABOUT queerness just as much as it's about these two characters. I think @sparklyslug and I did some incredible work with that fic!

🕯️was there a fic that was really hard on you to write, or took you to a place you didn't think it would take you?

now that it's published and out there in the world -- writing the coffee scene between Jonathan and Irma in the third part of it doesn't have to be a thing was probably the trickiest bit of solo writing I've ever done. with Jonathan and Irma, there is always a conversation going on below the conversation they're actually having, because they're two people who have difficulty with direct communication. Irma finds Isabela's home to be empty and hollow, but finds Argyle and Jonathan's home to be the opposite. He is enough as he is. And Jonathan is telling her that she's allowed to be vulnerable by giving her the out, a time where things do not count!

the hardest bit of co-writing I've ever done was the first part of headfirst into shallow pools, which I'm thrilled we pulled off that level of synchronicity. there's a LOT going on in that part, interpersonal tension but also sexual tension, the first signs of Steve's cookie cutter life unraveling, and that part needed to be tightly wound and taut, so that the next chapter could be easy-breezy and intimate in comparison, a space with no secrets. i really think we nailed it, as the emotional contrast between those two chapters is so stark, and even though i had a hand in writing it, i still feel SO anxious reading the first part of that. even though I know what's going to happen!!!! that's effective writing, baybee!!

#asks #thanks for your patience!

[anonymousbeefriendfanfics]

Um. Hi. I am actually alive! Ahahaha....

Sorry about the impromptu hiatus, friends. I'm like 85% sure I have some variety of ADHD and basically, if I'm not Very Invested In The Thing, I have significant amounts of difficulty doing The Thing at all. And, well... unsurprisingly, my hyperfixation on the arcana/fictif has faded into the abyss at about the same time as the stories themselves have. I still have both apps on my phone, though I'm not sure why. I suppose I'm afraid I'll lose them somehow, if I delete them, though I know there will be no further updates. Buuuuuut I digress!

So. For once in my life I don't have a main fandom I'm utterly obsessed with! And yet, I have suddenly found myself wanting to write again... so I suppose I have a few options, and I may as well let you all in on the fun, too!

It's poll time, baybee!

Option 1 - Open up my options for requests and take them for any fandom/character I feel confident enough to write for, likely sticking to headcannon list thingies instead of full fics. I'll still do Fictif/Arcana stuff too, don't worry! It'll actually be towards the top of my list, because it's my most recent obsession. Full disclosure: I've been on a little bit of a visual novel kick lately, so you can expect a lot of those in my content list, hehe~

Option 2 - Stick to what you all are here for, reread the routes and fics and such and try to get back to writing almost exclusively for Fictif/Arcana, and try to get out all of those requests I've promised... This will probably be the slowest option tbh, because I think I need to switch something up to get back into writing like I was, but I would be willing to do this if that's what you guys prefer! I'll probably still slip in the occasional thing from other fandoms, because whatever gets me writing, you know? But I'll focus primarily on this fandom.

Option 3 - Shift my focus from fandom content and move into OC content. You'll still get occasional fandom things when I have the inspiration, don't worry! I have one OC/reader insert that I use everywhere, because of various reasons, but the poor thing is horrifically undeveloped, and recently I've been working to fix that and expand on her life and background characters. I've never introduced her to you all, mostly because I just... didn't think you would be interested, and because I was afraid that bringing her into the spotlight would let you all see through the paper-thin veil of her character into the awful void behind it. But she actually feels like a character now, largely thanks to one of my best friends, who has pushed me to develop her further and helped compensate for the areas I'm lacking. You know who you are and you have my eternal gratitude.

Option 4 - Yes. Do all of that. I'll bring in other fandoms to try and spice things up, but try to keep a decent bit of focus on reviving the poor Fictif/Arcana fandoms, while also introducing you to my OC and working on her. You might get the occasional x character fic about her, but I'll try to keep primarily focusing on the x reader/insert ones.

Option 5 - Yes, but make a separate account to do the OC stuff on. I know OCs aren't everyone's cup of tea, and you might not want to deal with that, so I could always do a separate account. I do keep things pretty well organized here, though, so I highly doubt it would be terribly intrusive while you're trying to find my non-oc work.

#am not dead actually #returning from the grave as much as Felix over here #oops #poll time #btw if anyone wants a poll submitted to you because you can't do them yet shoot me a message #hi Moss. I know you're gonna be the first person here. Love ya kiddo

[dorky-zuko]

Plz share your thoughts on the Mass Effect Endings (Both from a Watsonian perspective of "which ending choice is the best" and from a Doylist perspective of "were any of those endings a good way to end the trilogy?")

Look, you asked for it.

When the third game first came out and I reached the ending, I immediately shot the glowy kid because I thought he sucked, and then when nothing happened I decided to blow up the Reapers. Apologies to my new friends The Geth and the lovely EDI, but I’m hittin’ destroy every time lol. My dad, Captain Admiral Keith David Anderson, told me to do it. 

After the DLC update however, now when you shoot starkid he gets real pissy and throws a tantrum, locking you into what is simultaneously the worst and best ending. The refuse ending is interesting to me because it really is the developers saying, okay, you didn’t like our endings, huh? Well here’s one where everyone dies instead, happy now??? And like, yeah! Even though everyone dies and the content is significantly, significantly truncated, at least it’s a real ending? At least it makes sense? 

All three crucible endings are terrible because, let’s face it, the crucible suxs. From your Doylist perspective, it was dead on arrival, a dud the moment it was introduced into the plot on Mars. Really, all the crucible endings are bad because the whole set-up for ME3 is bad. It turns Mass Effect into a story about building a magic machine to make all your problems go away. No matter how the crucible ended up working it was never going to be narratively satisfying, because it’s just an enormous machine that beats the Reapers for you.

When you spend 2/3rds of your story writing your characters into a box, it’s bad form to start act three by handing them a box cutter.

So if the crucible sucking is the one of the one, two punch that is ME3’s terrible ending, the second punch is surely that we’re going into this game with the goal of explaining the Reapers. This gets even worse when you consider what they add in Leviathan, but even without that, making the Reapers a force with whom Shepard can discuss both the nature of life and the Reaper’s plan in relation to it at the end of the game is just pathetic. Both for Shepard AND for the Reapers. 

When Sovergin says “You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it,” that’s all I need from the Reapers. When he says “rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh, you touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance,” THAT’S ALL I NEED FROM THE REAPERS. When he says “there is a realm of existence so far beyond your own you cannot even imagine it”

That’s it, baybee. That’s the whole thing. 

I don’t need the Reapers to be any more scrutable to me than an 8 year old child is to the ants that live in his ant farm. They work all day, living their little ant lives, toiling in obscurity, oblivious to the fact that the giant beyond the glass is even alive in the same way that they are. Oblivious to the fact that they are utterly at his mercy. And then one day he turns 9, and decides he’s too old to have an ant farm any more, so his parents come in with the pesticide, and then later they tell him the ants went to a farm upstate. The ants live and die, they build a civilization only to watch it fall, and the whole time they are utterly unaware of the factors that motivate the beings that control every part of their entire universe.

That’s the Reapers. Eternal and unknowable. Alive in a way organic beings can barely understand, motivated by forces that defy our every way of thinking.

Except of course, it’s not. The Reapers were built by the space squids who still, miraculously, live at 2181 Despoina Drive. They have incredibly simple motivations that can be explained in a single conversation. They want to pull a John Conner and stop the Terminator future, so every once in a while they come kill all organics before synthetics can do it first, even though if you’re not a loser you already made peace between the Geth and Quarians so their entire point is entirely refuted before the starkid has even started explaining it to you. Glowboy says "synthetics will always end up destroying organics," and Shepard is like, "my ship’s AI is alive, and I can't get her to stop boning my pilot. The only 'destroying' of organics she's wants to do is pulverizing Jeff's brittle-bone-disease pelvis!" Everything the starkid says about organics and synthetics being incompatible instantly rings hollow the moment he says it, and that's the entire basis for what the Reapers have been doing for like a hundred million years. It’s just so weak.

And then this weak ass kid who has given you no reason to believe he has any idea what he’s talking about gives you three options, none of which makes any sense. Grab these exposed wires and you’ll turn into a big blue reaper? Jump into this hole to give everyone in the galaxy magic green cyber eyes? Shoot this machine until it blows up nice and red hot, which is somehow the intended way to turn it on???

Why would I, or my Shepard, want to do any of these three things? All I want to do is shoot the starchild. He’s literally in charge of the Reapers, the bad guys who have been killing everybody for three games now. He seems chill with whichever crucible ending you pick, only becoming upset if you pick the refusal ending. Which is good, I hate him and I want him to be upset.

Look, if you wanted me to say which color ending is best, like I said at the start, it’s red. Illusive Man wanted to do blue, and he’s a chump, so I’m not picking blue. And I don’t really believe in green, it sounds too much like made-up space magic, and I’m not a hippy. I like EDI and the Geth, I really do, but the Reapies gotta go, my dudes. I’m sorry to all the robots out there, y’all we’re the real ones.

So yeah, the endings all suck individually and they also all suck collectively. Mass Effect 3 succeeds in a lot of ways, it has the best set pieces of the trilogy (2 has the best characters and 1 has the best narrative) and it has lots and lots of amazing payoff for narrative beats that have been set up throughout all three of the games. But the Reapers aren’t one of them. Best to just play Citadel DLC and end things after the party, pretend the writers decided to keep the ending ambiguous. That Shepard, they always keep you guessing. How are they gonna get outta this one? I guess we’ll never know.

#mass effect #ending discourse #what is it 2013 in here? #dorky zuko post #Remember the indoctrination theory? #shit was WILD