#the problem is that new writers don't know how to handle his character development.

[cantsayidont]

I think setting STAR TREK: DISCOVERY and STRANGE NEW WORLDS in the TOS era was a questionable idea for a variety of reasons, but one of the more troublesome is their treatment of Spock, which opens some cans of worms I don't think there would have been a good way to handle even if the writers weren't intent on making bad and reactionary creative choices in other areas.

In TOS, most of the Enterprise crew, and really the majority of the Starfleet characters we're shown, are exceedingly racist to Spock with disconcerting regularity. Of the regular cast, I think the only ones who aren't overtly nasty to Spock at least some of the time are probably Uhura and Sulu; they get frustrated with him at certain points, but generally because he's a difficult and inflexible supervisor rather than due to racial animus. A lot of the rest of the crew is openly hostile, and McCoy routinely addresses him with slurs in front of the bridge crew. Kirk tolerates and sometimes participates in this racist abuse, and the only times he seems to take it very seriously are when it threatens to become an operational problem (as in "Balance of Terror"). The main feature that comes to characterize the bond that develops between Kirk and Spock is not that Kirk is significantly more tolerant, but that he will usually (not always) at least listen to Spock's point of view, which the rest of the crew is very reluctant to do (most pointedly in "The Galileo Seven"), and can be persuaded to respect his judgment, which Spock values even though Kirk's attitude and behavior still often make him uncomfortable.

This kind of space-racism toward nonhuman Federation citizens is not necessarily a structural element of STAR TREK (unlike anti-indigenous racism, which definitely is), but it is a structural element of Spock's character. Spock spends a lot of TOS teetering on the brink of a nervous breakdown, and it's tempting (though not canonical) to read his decision to pursue Kolinhar in the beginning of STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE as a response to the stress of being on the Enterprise (fleeing to become a monk!). Even where Spock is not enduring racial slurs and constant microaggressions, you can see how that treatment, both in his youth on Vulcan and as an adult in Starfleet, has shaped his personality. Indeed, this is something I think to which fans of Spock have responded strongly over the years, because his alienation and stress are very relatable for LGBT people, people of color, Muslim and Jewish people (despite STAR TREK's canonical antisemitism and Islamophobia), and autistic people. This doesn't mean STAR TREK stories necessarily have to show Spock being tormented, which is often painful to watch, but if Spock had not been tormented in these ways, he would be a very different person than the character viewers know and love.

Making Spock a regular in DISCOVERY and later STRANGE NEW WORLDS thus presents the writers with a problem: Treating Spock the way he's treated in TOS would be uncomfortable, but avoiding it creates a tension with TOS that the newer shows obviously don't know how to resolve.

Prior to ENTERPRISE, the general presumption about the TOS era (which is stated as fact in some of the novels) is that having mixed-species crews is relatively new for Starfleet, and that the problems Spock faces stem from his colleagues never having lived and worked with an "alien" before and not knowing how to not be weird about it. (ENTERPRISE essentially transferred that idea to Archer's era, where T'Pol gets similar treatment.) In DISCO and SNW, however, we see that many Starfleet vessels have mixed crews, including officers (like Saru) who are much more obviously nonhuman than Spock is, and have for a while. So, how are we to read the events of TOS, with which DISCO and SNW still want to (uneasily) coexist? Is Kirk's Enterprise just a lot more racist than Pike's? That's possible, I guess, but how many STAR TREK fans really want to canonize the idea that Kirk and his crew are unusually intolerant by Starfleet standards? Are we to presume that SNW means to soft-retcon the hostility and constant microaggressions Spock experiences in TOS, shifting the entire onus for his twitchy alienation to his upbringing on Vulcan and to Sarek (who DISCO reiterates is a tremendous dick)? That would be sadly consistent with the disdain with which modern STAR TREK media treats Vulcan (and with the antisemitism of the modern shows), but it's a pretty bitter pill for anyone who thinks Vulcans are neat or cool, which used to be an uncontroversial majority opinion among STAR TREK viewers and writers.

The more sensible answer would have been to just dodge the issue entirely by staying further away from TOS and the period in which it takes place. There are other periods of the TREK timeline that are still largely unexplored (like the early 24th century era of the Enterprise-C), and there's always the option of moving further forward in time, as DISCOVERY eventually did. However, CBS seems very insistent on making heavy-handed appeals to nostalgia that require riding the coattails of TOS, even where that just doesn't seem like a good idea creatively.

My sense with DISCOVERY and SNW is that the producers would really like to simply redo TOS in a manner more consistent with their current vision, but that the decidedly mixed reactions to the alternate timeline JJ Abrams movies has made them gunshy about just declaring that openly. So, it seems they're instead trying to back into it with a kind of death-by-a-thousand-retcons approach, seeking to sand off both the uncomfortable aspects of TOS and stuff the producers and/or the network don't like (like Spock's gay-coding — SNW's determination to no-homo him is pronounced, albeit unpersuasive). I think I would find that vexing even if the producers' vision weren't frequently more jingoistic and racist than TOS, which it often is.

#teevee #star trek #star trek tos #star trek discovery #strange new worlds #st:tmp #star trek the motion picture #spock

[tgammsideblog]

Issues with Tgamm Season 2

In spite of Season 2 having some pretty good things, there are some aspects that weren't handled the best and kind of a mixed bag. In this post i'm going to explain some issues i have with this season, mainly involving the arcs of it.

1- The Chens needed more screen time and development.

If you have been following me for a while, you know that i have talked a few times about wishing the Chens got more development in Season 2.

In Ollie's case, he has his own arc and episodes, so he gets his time to grow as character and get to know him. The issue is that the rest of the Chens don't get this same level of development and screen time they need to learn more about them.

June Chen has some episodes in the last third of the season and some good moments in the Jinx vs and The End. However, in contrast to Ollie, she lacks episodes, making her fall rather short. Her dynamic with Scratch and Darryl it is something that could have been explored in a few more segments, so her relationship with her parents.

Ruben and Esther are a whole another issue. Ruben shows up in some episodes as background character, which is nice. But he doesn't get a lot of exploration outside of a few segments (Book Marks the Sprite, Frightmares on Main Street, Necro-comicon) Esther... we barely know anything about her. She doesn't get proper screen time.

So lets say the writers wanted to focus more on Ollie and June because they are the ¨teen characters¨. We still could have had two or three segments diving into Ruben and Esther, like how they met each other and Ruben's past, something the Bill Motz himself gave a whole description when asked about it. We had an episode like Welcome to Necro-comicon about the Chen family, so others like that would have been nice. That could have made them more interesting characters as a whole.

I don't know what went during the writing production when writing the Chens but i feel they decided to focus mainly on Ollie and then the rest of the family. I make this speculation based on how Ollie has plenty of episodes in contrast to the rest of them. Whatever it was, i'm disappointed we didn't get to learn more about them.

2- Jinx needed more segments and set up as main antagonist

This is a point that started to show up around November from last year, i think. It is something that i have to agree with.

Jinx does have the motivations and we know enough about her character. The main problem is that after Jinx! episode she doesn't show up again until Jinx vs The Human World.

This was such a weird writing decision because there is like a gap of half of a season between her second appearance and last appearance in the season. For some reason she doesn't appear in this gap and makes her return feel out of blue.

Not only that, she lacks proper build up to become threatening antagonist. In Jinx! she acts more as an annoyance than a real threat. We don't see her coming up with other plans or new tactics after that.

I think this could been easily fixed with one or two segments of her becoming more serious, having a few attempts in stealing the Chairman robes from Scratch. Another thing could have been an episode of her seeing how she can power up the sobgoblins using joy, and followed it up in Jinx vs The Human World.

This point is weirder for me than the issue i have with the Chens. It's so strange for me why she didn't have an episode in the gap between Jinx! and Jinx vs The Human World. At least having one segment about that would have helped.

---------------------------

Here are my main issues with Season 2, it isn't a lot but they are still things that bothered me when watching it. I think they are issues that could have been avoided by pacing the episodes better and giving more screen time to these characters. In all, i still enjoy season 2 for most of the part in spite of the issues i have with it.

#the ghost and molly mcgee #tgamm #tgamm season 2 #Tgamm chen family #tgamm jinx #tgamm analysis

[yellowocaballero]

I'd be interested in those writing shortcuts 👀 (don't feel pressured though)

Yeah sure! This is in reference to this and this posts.

These are all pretty 'fic style' stories, because they scaffold off pre-existing canon. It's like you're walking inside of a pre-built house and you're putting up new wallpaper and designing the rooms. Novel style is like if you're building the entire house. So these are really great for fun and if you have writer's block or have problems starting a story. They're also really good if you're practicing your dialogue, scene composition, characterization, etc - they are not good for developing skills on how to build the house, but if you're trying to work on actually making a readable story they're great methods to practice. They're also a lot easier to make good lol.

While writing these out I realized that they're almost entirely AUs. This is because I like AUs. You don't have to do AUs, you can adapt these however you want if you just like writing canon. Loser. Anyway, these are my low-effort stories:

A series of disconnected scenes that take place over a long period of time. If you have an idea in mind (or you just want to use the OG work's timeline), then you can show scenes or moments over a long period in time. For example, ages ago I wrote an AU story following the life of one character. One scene for 2008, one for 2010, one for 2012 etc.

Rewriting canon. If you have an AU idea or have a way in mind to change canon to something you think fucks harder, then you can use pre-existing episodes or season plotlines and just add your own flavor to what already exists. If you write for BNHA you aren't allowed to do this. That's the rule. How is all BNHA fic 600k AUs where one extremely minor detail is changed. God they're boring.

Alternate viewpoint/missing scene of a story you have. Like you can do this for canon too but that sounds super boring. This is actually something I do in order to help the quality of the main story - if I'm finding myself writing a super complicated character, I write another story about him from his POV to help give me a handle on him. Or write her parts of the story from her perspective. It's a writing exercise to help me figure out the character and it is also easy and fun.

"X Meets Y". Do you really like Legally Blonde? Do you think your favorite character being Elle Woods would be really funny? Stuff like that. Would it be really funny if your blorbo was Sharpay Evans? Yes it would be. Yeah I DID write a story many years ago that was "X meets Teen Beach Movie", why?

I don't know how many other people out there have extremely convoluted entire AU ideas, but if you have the whole AU in your mind then it is incredibly easy to write little stories or snippets from the AU. Like, so easy. A stand-out scene in your mind, the life of one supporting character, an alternate POV, whatever. Literally whenever I want to write something absolutely 0 effort whatsoever I go back to one of my 3 bugfuck stupid AUs and write something for them again.

This is actually something I think everybody should do, because it is basically how I learned story structure: find the trashiest, most formulaic genre you can. Watch or read something from that genre, or just collect genre conventions. Use the pre-packaged and pre-written formula to structure your own story and fill in the blanks.

(Also, these aren't very tropey or reliant on shipping/romance beats, which is nice if you want to get away from that stuff)

Nowadays, I find all of that helpful when I feel like doing something 0 effort. When I was a less experienced writer and I deadass did not know how to build a house, then these were really helpful for learning what wallpaper looks good and what arrangement of furniture creates good fung shui and what couches go best with that coffee table. They're also good passing. Seriously, these are like the most popular stories on my AO3. People eat this shit up. Why. They're so lazy.

IDK, these are what I do because they're the kinds of stories I like to write! What you find easy to write will be different. This is all a very personal list. I can see my personal thumbprint (no romance, AU central) really clearly. I'm kind of curious now: what are y'all's favorite low-effort, easy, fun stories to write?

Also as a heads up if your story doesn't have any sort of conflict in it, then it will actually very difficult to write. Trust me. Conflict makes you voom. Do it. Please. Love of god.

#i have BAMBOOZLED all of you into thinking the artemis fowl and first reverse robins story was good #BAMBOOZLED I SAY #my writing #my asks #writing advice #writing #everybody who writes BNHA go home and think about your life. #ok I want to say something like #“and the EASIEST story to write is a roleswap au” #BUT I DON'T WRITE EM CUZ THEYRE EASY #I WRITE EM CUZ THEY'RE FUCKING FUN #and sooo interesting #also easy.

[luckystarchild]

We all know One Piece is absolutely PHENOMENAL, but nothing is perfect, so as a writer, what would you say is your biggest pet peeve or least favorite part of One Piece as a story?

My biggest issues with One Piece are largely the same issues I have with my own work. And that makes it hard to discuss because I am hyper-aware that these critiques either make me a hypocrite OR make it seem like I'm comparing myself to Oda, which is egotistical AF and equally as obnoxious. Either way, I'm screwed.

That being said...

Narrative bloat vs. subtle foreshadowing. The story is long. That length can put people off of the story and make it feel super bloated. It's a huge barrier to entry. Some stuff that takes place over just a few days in-universe takes hundreds of chapters to convey to the reader. And I'm sorry to say that some of it doesn't feel necessary to the story (here's lookin' at you, Thriller Bark) and can be a bit of a drag.

Some people defend the length and say everything matters and that even small details become relevant later, but IMO, those details/foreshadowing pieces are often delivered in such minor ways that you can't remember the foreshadowing when the plot actually, finally drops. The length of the story and the subtlety of the story are at odds, and that's sometimes a shame.

(Also, Oda did NOT plan everything in advance. He just didn't. Some things are missing foreshadowing that would've been there if he'd planned ahead. He absolutely capitalized on early plot points and expanded them later in the story, but that's not the same as foreshadowing or planning ahead. Oda is a great storyteller, but he isn't a god, and I wish people would recognize he's fallible and stop with this whole deification shit.)

(Also as a person who has an unfinished work over a million words long, and who takes many chapters to show a single day/hour, and who puts in TINY foreshadowing no one can remember after so many words, this is what makes me a hypocrite. Either that or I'm very self-aware. Either way... sorry lmao.)

The other issue I have is the handling of the story's characters, and this once again relates to the length of the story and the problems that length causes.

Much as I love the Straw Hats and think their backstories are all pretty epic, it feels like the characters get their Shining Moment in the Sun when those backstories are introduced before being pushed to the backseat for hundreds of chapters/entire arcs at a time. Then they get pulled forward again for a little while (Sanji in Whole Cake, for instance) before getting shoved into the background yet again to make one-off remarks here and there. It sometimes feels like they get more development in their backstories than they do in the actual narrative, which is... not great, in my opinion.

Example: It feels like Zoro hasn't had anything meaningful to do except fight since he was introduced. He gets some moments here and there (like in the chapter where "nothing happened"), but it's not substantial, and I truly feel like I don't know Zoro all that well even after all this time with him. And that's sad.

Also, the forays into the side characters in other crews are INTERESTING, sure, but sometimes they're just distracting and pointless. Example: Ace's big flashback with Oars Jr. stands out to me as tear-jerker-porn that didn't add much to the story overall. "But that's how he learned to make straw hats!!" I hear people screaming but--I don't actually give a shit how he learned to make them. I'm sorry. I just don't. Take out that whole thing. It's not needed. I simply do not care about the Oars Jr. and Ace friendship that is only relevant for 5 minutes before both of them die. Similarly, Ace also feels like a giant symbol and not a person. I was sad FOR LUFFY when he died, but I shed zero tears over his death itself.

Long story short: There's just not enough narrative to go around to develop EVERYONE properly, and I have New Character Fatigue, and I wish we'd stop meeting new people at this point. (Where TF is Smoker, I ask you? Please, I need him back, it's been like three arcs without him...)

Overall, I just wish the narrative would tighten up for the sake of the plot and the characters. The live action version actually does a good job of this, which I appreciate a TON.

And again, I recognize these same issues could be said of my own work, so go easy on those tomatoes you're getting ready to throw, please!

#one piece

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Okay I agree with a lot of the points you make except Adrien never taking responsibility, like that's why he quit in the New York Special because he a 14-15 year old child believe he was not worthy of continuing being the holder cat miraculous after not only accidentally killing a fellow kid but because his actions resulted in massive amount of destruction in Paris and probably claimed dozens if not hundreds of lives

No, it's totally fine. I wasn't upset by this at all, even before my hiatus. I still don't agree with the claim you made, but I will try and explain it in a professional manner. I hope you can at least understand my perspective on this.

The problem I had with Adrien choosing to quit in the New York Special was less that he did it at all, but because he chose to do it in the middle of a crisis. Ladybug and Cat Noir were being hunted down by the United Heroez, there's an Akuma still on the loose, and part of Paris is in ruins, and Cat Noir decided to not even help Ladybug during all of this. He didn't say something along the lines of "After we stop this Akuma and clear things up with the Americans, I'm renouncing my Miraculous to atone for my mistakes". He just gave up on the spot and didn't even give Ladybug the dignity of saying goodbye face-to-face.

Another thing that I felt soured that scene for me was that the United Heroez were trying to force Ladybug and Cat Noir to hand over their Miraculous earlier, so Adrien renouncing his Miraculous felt like he was trying to get out of getting in trouble and go back to his normal life without taking responsibility for unintentionally contributing to things getting worse.

Even the guilt Adrien felt for nearly killing someone didn't go anywhere, as he was stirred out of it by some vague praise from Ladybug that Uncanny Valley recorded. Yeah, I can see why Adrien would be happy Ladybug still thinks highly of him, but it doesn't really resolve the whole "I almost killed someone if not for my partner's miraculous healing powers" thing that caused him to think he wasn't worthy of the Cat Miraculous in the first place. I don't think he even got to talk to Uncanny Valley or Majestia afterwards.

I guess to me, the way the writers handled Adrien temporarily quitting without even developing him as a character just felt like a way to pad out the runtime of the special, because I can see a plot like this working if more effort was placed into the guilt he would feel for accidentally taking someone's life. Hell, that could have been a really interesting season-long arc. The way it was handled just felt like Adrien was quitting because he got in trouble and wanted an easy out. I know that's not what the writers wanted to convey, but that's just how I saw things.

#immaturity of thomas astruc #iota #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug salt #adrien agreste #cat noir #chat noir #marinete dupain cheng #ladybug #aeon #uncanny valley

[doublegoblin]

Hi, happy STS~!

As I get closer to finishing my current WIP's first draft, I'm having trouble dealing with the large amount of exposition I need to do before the end. Have you ever run into this problem? How did you deal with it? What's the best way to handle exposition, in your opinion?

(from @tisiphonewolfe)

Well howdy howdy, sorry for the delay in getting back this one had me thinking for a bit.

Like probably everyone else writing a thing; I have of course ran into the issue of exposition. Especially with a world that runs on some differences to our own fundamental rules, new rules entirely, and like this whole structure there have had to be times when I just set down and go "okay this is going to need some kind of explanation."

This kind of issue is compounded by having the POV character being someone who has existed in this reality for a reeeeally long time. Like they have been around for so long, doing the same thing, talking to the same people, that they fall into that fun category of co-worker who knows exactly what needs to be done but they are unable to train anyone well because it's just became so second nature that they go "Look I know how this is done, but I don't think I can walk you through the process" or "Yeah there is a rule about that somewhere but I can't explain why we have it, just, ya know, follow it I guess." Also this said character is disenfranchised with the whole shabang and so they just kind of go through the motions. Like it's fun as a writer because I have to think, is this something they would dwell on or think about? And most of the time, the answer is a no, so the information is there but it isn't brought up in the text because it's a first person narration.

Luckily I sort of have a baked in solution to go. I have what could be considered an audience stand-in with Peter. Fresh faced, head empty, and willing to ask so many questions.

Which leads me to my advice for how to deal with exposition (even without an audience stand-in). Now this isn't a solution I came up but I can't remember where I saw the advice specifically! However, that advice is to bake in the exposition so it feel natural. Like readers are smart and will notice when the info is just kind of dumped on their laps without rhyme or reason other than "this is info you have to know!" First stop and ask yourself, is it really though? Could a reader come to this same understanding given the context clues you put through the story? What sort of ramifications would come from this info being left out? Is it even realistic for your characters to know or feel the need to share? Why does the reader need to know this?

Often we as writers want to make sure we put as much of our blorbos in the text as we can, from the biggest of wars to the tiniest of defect on a mass produced coin. Not everything needs to be fully explained though, hell, in our own lives things are rarely fully explained to us. So sometimes it is better to omit some things in lieu of the holes in logic that may appear scary and "bad" but can make a narrative feel even more alive. There have been entire chapters I have torn to shreds because the info dumping was real and I could feel it.

That brings me to this though, if this is information that is imperative to be known by the reader. Make it feel natural. Like this isn't just have a character who is lacking knowledge ask or something. It could come from a casual conversation where the two parties find a mismatch in historical events, both sides thinking their version is the true one. Or like someone brings up a random little fun fact that is related to the information tangentially. Or heck, if you need to do a massive lore dump, more developed places sometimes have museums or libraries or just somewhere where those interested could learn some history.

Now this is all easier said than done, and the solution can/will change depending on the story you are telling. And like, end of the day to, sometimes you just need to exposition all over the page and as long as it's done very sparingly a reader is likely to forgive it. But the best thing, try to weave it into the story as natural as you can, it not only adds depth to the story but also to the characters themselves.

#thanks for the ask #asked and answered #writers #story teller saturday

[isfjmel-phleg]

A major arc in Young Justice 1998 is Sins of Youth, which was a crossover in which, due to shenanigans, all the adult heroes were aged down into children or teenagers, and all the young heroes were aged into adults, and from there they all had to figure out how to solve the problem and revert to their proper ages. This allowed for some interesting character exploration in how each individual handled the age change, and there's a lot there, but I'd like to specifically look at the brief glimpse we get of an aged-up Grant Emerson, and how that compares with how his actual adulthood goes later on.

This is during Grant's second time with the Titans, during the 1999 series. For some reason, not all of his team experiences an age change, but he's one of several who do.

And it turns out that grown-up Grant, whom the team knows as a self-doubting, emotionally driven teenager who's still struggling to control his dangerous powers...well, he's a lot different now.

(Sins of Youth Secret Files #1)

He's a decisive, principled leader, intent on solving the problem at hand.

And his team is shocked, but impressed.

Grant loves being an adult. It gives him a sense of control that he's always been frustrated not to have. He has such a mastery of his biokinetic energy powers now that he can even use them to fly, something he's never done before.

He's in no hurry to revert back to being a teenager.

After all, everything goes so much better! His recklessness has become an ability to take calculated risks.

And he's able to avoid causing the extreme levels of damage and harm to others that has brought him so much guilt since the time his first explosion destroyed his school.

But of course everything returns to normal. We don't get Grant's reaction to becoming a teenager again. But I find it interesting that the writer of this story chose to depict the Titans' loose cannon as growing up to be self-controlled, thoughtful, and an excellent leader--not to mention happy! Grant's usually a mess, but this interpretation of his possible future provides a refreshingly hopeful outlook for him.

And then there's what actually happens to him:

After leaving the Titans, he joins another team. They get attacked, and most of them die. Grant is left severely scarred.

He isn't equipped to handle this well, spirals into anger and self-loathing, and starts wearing a mask constantly.

He joins a new team, gets taken under the wing of a teammate who's also kind of his sister genetically, but continues to struggle. Makes a few friends. Stands up for a new hero, keeps her from getting arrested, and develops a crush on her.

Someone who turns out to be a villain restores his face. He's happy for the first time in a long time! He joins the villain's cult, becomes more and more obnoxious as they brainwash him, gets into a fight with his late father's godson who tries to talk some sense into him, and in a fit of rage destroys first his father's letters and then his father's entire house.

The restored face doesn't last. He tries to hide the scars from the girl he likes. She takes a long look at his face...and kisses him.

He joins his team in a huge battle against...what basically amounts to zombies and gets to meet his father for the first time. As a zombie. Who says awful things to him. He escapes, only to have his heart literally ripped out by another zombie.

This makes him a Black Lantern, another murderous zombie. But he has enough of himself left to fight against this and saves his JSA teammates by creating one last explosion that destroys all the Black Lanterns in the vicinity--including himself.

His girlfriend gives the eulogy at his funeral and decides to use money taken from an assassin she turned in to donate, in memory of Grant, to the victims of his accidental Atlanta explosion, who still have medical bills.

And that's it. He dies.

Except the new continuity has brought him back to life with no explanation and done practically nothing with him. But a panel in the recently released Justice Society of America 2022 #6 briefly shows him in a new situation:

A lot of Golden Age child sidekicks have been brought back into the continuity, and Grant is here accompanied by Dan the Dyno-Mite, former sidekick to the now deceased hero TNT--both of whom have/had explosive powers relatable to Grant's.

Is this his future now? Getting handed the care or mentorship of an explosive child? That might do him some good. At the very least, it's a path that might give him opportunity to become something more like the adult he got to be during Sins of Youth--a leader, an inspirer of others. His happiest self.

#comicsposting again #GE: what I do is who I am

[grumpylia]

lotus casino ep pjo tv show thoughts

Okay, I know this is old news by now but I think I've developed my thoughts more on why in particular I didn't like the Lotus Hotel episode, and what I thought they could've done with it instead.

I think one of the main issues I have is that we're speedrunning all of this development! If, in s1, they're already on top of all the mythological traps etc, then I feel we see less tangible development as they (particularly Percy) get older and more experienced within the mythological world. I was fine with the way they handled the Medusa situation, because I felt like there was enough payoff that justified the change of the scene, but I really disliked the changes with the Lotus Hotel! To have them just walk in and be like 'Oh this must be the Lotus-Eaters' just takes away all the tension from the scene, and makes them too wary too quickly. I loved in the original scene how it did demonstrate the Twelve Year Old of it all: Annabeth is playing her architecture game, they're all excited over video games and free food and endless money and it's so much fun!

In the TV show, too, it also would've worked really well as a mechanism to raise the stakes. The show has an issue with tension: there are moments where it feels like we SHOULD be tense, but we're just casually strolling. I feel like the Lotus Casino would've been a great way to help that issue: just this gradual, burgeoning sense that something isn't quite right. We could've gone really eerie: fun melting into this really off-putting feel. It would've helped instrumentally to raise the stakes, too! Instead of Hermes just telling them 'oh, time works differently in the Lotus Hotel', we could've had this really awesome scene where—once they'd had their realisation—they burst out of the hotel, quickly moving down the street, desperate to find some sort of date, some sort of idea of how much time they've lost. The camera suddenly draws to a stop, and we see the horrified faces of the trio, and then, the date. The deadline has passed. It would've been such an easy way to build tension! But no!

I definitely see a lot of people saying that the Hermes scene was good because it built the dynamics between Annabeth, Luke, and Hermes and I don't COMPLETELY disagree with that. I thought it was a decent scene and I liked the character work that it did: I just felt that it was misplaced, and too long and too tell-y. I'm the last person to preach about show-not-tell (I am an extremely tell-y writer it's a genuine problem) but it really is an issue that's becoming more and more obvious in the show! The Hermes scene really slowed down the pacing of the entire episode and—in my opinion—dragged it down. I don't HATE the idea of having Hermes in this episode (it makes sense that he frequents a place of both gamblers and travellers), but I feel like it could've been done in a quicker, more interesting way. Maybe the Trio could've run into him after they've realised? I'm not sure the idea is still cooking but I did really like the taxi scene so I wouldn't be mad if they'd worked out a way to keep that in (although rip that one driver in the books who called Annabeth "your highness" that was funny asf).

I think what I really wanted from this episode was some more, less tell-y, character work. I would've really liked some ATLA kind of filler for the middle of the ep where they're just fucking around in the Lotus Hotel: the plot isn't necessary advanced, but we're using the time to develop different aspects of our characters in a really fun way. Sort of a chance to see behind the curtain, and to see how the trio behave in their downtime.

That being said, I did really like some aspects of this episode! I think the Grover storyline was doing a lot of heavy lifting (Aryan and his big sad eyes were breaking my heart) and I liked the exploration into the Pan stuff. I also liked Percy and Annabeth being silly little billies together I just thought it was nice. Of course, the taxi scene slayed too.

I had a lot more to say than I thought I did about this! I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks :)

#pjo tv show #pjotv #percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackson

[pollystyrene-draws]

Sarah Crossan's "Toffee"

Just wanted to write down some thoughts on a book I read today. I need to keep a reading diary for my Creative Writing module so I thought I might as well post it on here. A few light spoilers here and there, you have been warned.

20.12.2022 I've enjoyed Sarah Crossan's work for a while now, having read One and Moonshine a few years back. She writes in free verse which is really refreshing when you're used to prose. The book covers abuse, being a young carer, coming of age, dementia, and the free verse helped to blend between past and present. Dialogue never felt confusing even without tags due to the one-to-one nature of most scenes, which I enjoyed as a stylistic choice.

It was lovely to get to know the main character Allison, and the short "chapters" where she is asked about her facial burn give easy access to her character development, offering a sense of recurring structure to the book. I found it intriguing how she found comfort in becoming Marla's carer.

Whilst I am unfamiliar with the details, I believe Marla's dementia was handled with care and compassion. This book would probably be good to help people understand their loved one's condition. Some of the scenes spoke to my experiences of my own grandparents, which I thought was really nice. I liked the use of parallels between Toffee and Allison to help Marla and Allison bond and grow closer. The dancing scenes especially were lovely. I loved their friendship and gradual trust of each other. Marla was also super funny, which was great.

I liked the portrayal of Lucy. She was used to explore a number of topics, like superficial friendships, the isolation Allison has felt, plus a few ideas on the class divide. The contrast between her luxurious "white house" and Allison squatting/sleeping in a shed was very effective. Although exaggerated, it felt very familiar and spoke to the class divide present in Britain. This also made Lucy's actions around money and stealing later both more surprising / shocking, but also helped to contextualise them as out of boredom or apathy rather than desperation. Despite not seeing Lucy too much, she felt very real. The fluidity of the scenes meant Allison's time with Lucy and Marla blended together, giving an idea of the passage of time, which I liked.

Overall, the characters have entire lives away from the plot, which was great to see. Even Marla's son Dolan, with pretty unsympathetic actions shown in scenes, invited a sense of intrigue about his life outside of Allison's view. I enjoyed that characters seemed to have intricate family/friend trees that were tricky to follow in places as it made them feel more realistic. It also added to the sense of mystery surrounding Marla's past. From a writer's perspective, I thought the decision to have Allison's phone stolen was a clever way of removing her agency for a bit, enabling some needed character growth. I also liked that upon getting a new phone, it took her a while to log back in to her old life. I also thought that having Allison use multiple names enabled the reader to see multiple sides of dementia, and the difference between Marla with Allison vs Marla with Dolan helped to drive these differences home. I did feel like the abusive background Allison fled from got a little cliché in places, but it was written really well, so I don't mind. The portrayal of social services (through both visits to Allison's home, and the care worker Peggy) felt similar to what I had read before from other authors but this worked well as these services share the same common problems across multiple areas. It's effective portrayal; it complemented the story's themes well.

I feel like I missed a few points in the story (how did Marla know Toffee, for instance), but that's probably because the book was such a page turner that I read it cover to cover in about two hours. On reread, I'm sure these details will become much clearer! Even if such areas remain foggy, Toffee was a fantastic read, and a sweet, heart warming story. Crossan handled the mature themes with an effective and compassionate lens without ever talking down to the reader. I would definitely recommend.

#sarah crossan #book thoughts #childrens literature #book review #ramblings #booklr #books and reading

[1nvad3rz1m]

I only watched the movie once, so maybe my mind twisted the things that happened in it, so if I am wrong about any of these, people will probably proove me wrong anyway, which is fine, I'd appreaciate that, because getting a new/clearer perspective is always nice.

First: One of the things I liked about the original series that it didn't want me to feel sorry for the characters, (it just showed the situation and the audience could judge it themselves,) but I did anyway, however I felt like the film wanted me to feel sad for Dib and take his side? I don't like when the source material tries to spoon-feed me what to feel about the character, whether it's positive or negative.

Besides Membrane's "I am proud of you" feeling rushed, it is only me or Gaz standing up for Clembrane has something odd about it? I cannot put my finger on what it is really. It feels like to me it is supposed to be a cute moment, but similarly to the "proud of you" I think it needed more development? Maybe I am just underestimating Gaz's niceness...

And the "I only hurt you when/because I know you can handle it" or something like that leaved a bad taste in my mouth, I know it's probably supposed to be the: "Aww, cute sibling moment! Gaz knows Dib's limits! And she wouldn't let her brother seriously hurt!" but it feels it's there to make Gaz look better and have an emotional moment. The only explanation I can come up with is that Gaz doesn't recognize the severe consequences of her actions to her brother's mental health, which with the father they have I am not suprised about.

+This one is just a personal preference, but I thought Tak's ship's attitude in the comics was funnier about hating Dib and Zim than in the movie. In the movie they convince her to help in a kinda cliché way? I mean it's not bad, and it doesn't feel out of character, and I know they needed it for the plot, but it feels kinda underwhelming to me considering how the show (and a lot of the comics) goes against the clichés without feeling "just for the sake of it" and it makes logical sense, like in the issue where Dib outs Zim to the pants "he'll just betray you" and you'd think the pants join him, and later become friends/allies because that's how it is in other media, but they are like "Thank you for telling us, we defeat him and when he is out of the way, the planet is ours". They literally just used the information for their own advantage without feeling guilty about it and it's so refreshing! I wish they didn't cut out the ship going rescuing Tak, because it would have made the relatively easy co-operation make more sense. (Although maybe the ship just listens to Gaz better than to Dib) But probably time/budget issues came up.

Also it's probably gonna sound contradictory because of what I said prior, but I felt like at some point the writers tried to make us stop caring about Zim in the comics and they kinda successeeded in that for me, because I just started to find him so annoying and tiring and idiotic that I wouldn't have cared if he would have just got written out of them. Why is it so common when a villain goes down in a huge self-destructive path, they become the most boring, pathetic characters in the story? If you want them to get worse than they already are why not have them go completely apeshit? A more competent, vile douchebag, who doesn't let anyone to get in their way? Why not show their true potential? It seemed like it was something like that where it was going first, Dib getting a hero arc, Zim becoming a better bad guy, but it was dropped? (Yeah, Zim didn't like his future self, but come on...) Maybe the problem is me not appreaciating that, because this isn't illogical, people can stop caring and become aimless/self-sabotaging, but I am kinda tired of them being treated like a joke, while we're supposed to take the opposing team seriously. And they didn't really did anything with the changed dynamic? I mean beetween the two main ones, since at least they continued the Membrane family plotline...

That makes it sound like I hate the movie, but I am not. I am more mixed about it if anything. I could talk about in a similar amount what I liked about, but for this I just focused on the aspects I found negative. And for the comics: I like most of them actually, don't let me fool you with me focusing on mostly what I don't like.

Again: Disagreements or other arguments are also great. This is not meant to insult people who enjoy those aspects, these just didn't work for me.

hoo boy * rubs my hands together * under read more for length!

YES exactly. i couldnt put it into words before but yes, this is it. the series you just kind of...incidentally feel bad for the characters because theyre so pathetic and self destructive. its not something they WANT you to do, it just kind of happens naturally. the movie tries HARD to make you feel bad for dib and side with him and feel satisfied that his family was "fixed". and it did the opposite for me at least LOL

on gaz, yeah, it was funnier when she was just fucked up and horrible. she kind of sort of cares about dib, but shes also similarly affected by her fathers neglect and dibs shunning from society. she has a reason to act out and be horrible and it just made more sense character wise. in the movie it feels like thats missing, because now membrane is a better dad and dib is "growing" or something and idk! cheapens her overall.

i hadnt put much thought into it before but yeah ur right, probably just needed to move the plot along somehow unfortunately because they declawed zim and dib and usually they play off each other enough to progress plots loll. theres been a reliance on taks ship to me that i dont understand considering shes like barely present in the show but u know...sci fi stuff

for zim: yes. absolutely yes TO ME it seems like the writers now mostly related to dib which...find me an iz fan that doesnt. but they simultaneously dont have any appreciation for zim, and treat him more as only a thorn in dibs side than his only salvation in the face of a world that doesnt give a rats ass about him. zim is an obstacle to dibs happiness, or a tool to get it,and not his happiness in and of itself.

i feel this happens a lot as series are getting revivals especially when the series are decades old, opinions shift and even sometimes new writers who were previous fans may have skewed opinions because of fan content they participated in. sometimes this can be great, sometimes...eh.

and its no secret jhonen has grown so tired of iz and i truly do not blame him. and in an age of revivals and reboots...it only worsens creators attitudes towards franchises that have had their runs but companies want to milk more out of it (see craig mccracken and the ppg, for example)

i dont want people to think i hate florpus (or the comics) either because i really, truly dont! like i said, its a good movie on its own and id watch it again. my only gripes is how disconnected it is from the og material, and how that contributes to discourse amongst fans and interpreting the characters.

to me etf is like..an alternate timeline almost. it doesnt feel like a continuation, it feels like something else entirely different. im glad it brings in traffic, im glad people like it and discover the series and decades of fan love and appreciation even if they like etf more. i just have complex opinions abut it ig, and why it feels like invader zim lite instead of invader zim. invader zim as a series was so distinct from everything else and it still is, and etf just doesnt have that same spark to me!

#and this isnt directed at u anon but if u guys r going to reply to my opinions abt etf im...going to respond #im not looking to fight! im only conversing #its my blog after all and i mean this in the nicest possible way #that i feel like theres been an influx of new users from twitter that...dont know how tumblr works #if you reply i will probably reply and the only way to reply on a sideblog is to make a new post #unless u send an ask lol #so please dont take my replies at rebuttals or aggression i just like to talk about invader zim LO #lol* whoopsss

[universitypenguin]

Hiya, beautiful ❤️ thank you for dropping chapter 11 so quickly after the tenth 😅 they were very very interesting to read as it is everything you create, you wonderful amazing writer you!! So i have a question if that's okay, i'm probably wrong here cause i'm not so good with the technical terms but would i be right to think that these two chapters were kinda like fillers?! Like they dont further the plot or the story as much as they help reveal certain aspects of the characters' personalities like this new side of Lloyd, the remorseful hunted-by-his-ugly-past side. I only ask cause you are THE smartest writer on here, dear Alice, and everything you write has a structure cause you've mentioned being the Architect kind of writer so i'm just wondering where to place these two chapters on the blueprint?! 

Also, i honestly doubt the stalker is actually Aiden, this is you so there's no way in hell its that easy 😅and the second body is just throwing me off like i know there is a big ass plot twist just waiting to happen but we still have yet to earn it as readers 🤫 

In all earnestness, you are truly gifted when it comes to storytelling, babe ❤️ and we're genuinely blessed that you chose to share your gift with us 💛

When you get a question like this, it’s usually a sign that you’ve done something wrong. There’s a plot error that went awry along the way and snowballed into a larger issue. After a lot of thought I’ve realized what I’ve done. I kept too many B-Stories and the overarching story has suffered for it. 

Firstly, the hardest part of a story is Act II. This is where I'm the weakest as a writer. But what I hear, it's where everyone is the weakest. Keeping too many plot elements is why the story is suddenly looking a bit frazzled. I did my best to smooth over it, but there are definitely too many threads being braided together.

You might be right about some of the last few chapters being filler. My definition of a filler chapter is a scene that if you remove it from the story, doesn’t affect the rest of the plot. Some of the character building scenes in Chapter 10 technically meet that definition. In Chapter 11 there was a lot of information released and two new characters were introduced. 

The root of the problem is that I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, and now I’m just still chewing, trying to wrangle the plot in a manageable direction. My problem is that I decided to craft three different plots into one story. Plot #1 (the primary storyline) is the romance - Lloyd and Princess’ relationship. Plot #2 is the thriller - Princess’ stalker, and Plot #3 is the mystery - the murder case. 

Blending these three ideas into one chapter isn't easy. It makes the story hard to follow. I think a lot of my readers experienced whiplash from the content on Lloyd’s character development, to the insertion of new information about the case, and then I introduced two new characters to each subplot - one of which I didn’t even show on page. The confounding variables just kept piling on. 

My justification for it not being filler is that we created necessary development on the murder case. Also, Princess is beginning a character arc by choosing how to handle Aiden’s stalking. The piece of Act II that I liked most was Lloyd’s emotional exploration. But since that’s not the pace I started out the story with, dropping back into a slower, more character focused beat, created even more whiplash. 

I wanted to write that chapter to give him context. Lloyd does get a lot of love on Tumblr (particularly among my readers), but he’s rather unsympathetic in the books. I have such a good time writing his dialogue and keeping the side of him that’s a jerk alive, but I also want to show off the soft underbelly he’s hiding. Though, after analyzing my work, I spent far too long on this beat. Here’s the other news: I’m planning on doing more of it, because I’m already this far in and I don't want to change direction mid-stream.

Not to give away too much, but we have probably five more chapters of character backstory, growth, and unexpected twists and turns. I want to take a deep dive into Lloyd and really find out more about who the character is. Even though it doesn’t match what I’ve set up, I consider this version I’m sharing with you to be the first draft of the story. Some of those scenes probably could be cut without affecting the main plot. But at the moment, that’s just not what I want to do. I want to take the long way around and look at the scenery, rather than stick to the high speed, plot focused pace I began with. 

And you’re absolutely right about the turn into what might be considered “filler” territory. My explanation is that I’m going to be spending the first half of Act II explicitly on Lloyd’s character development. Chapters 12 - 15 are all going to be at about this pace.

As for me being an architect, I wouldn’t necessarily say that I am. I’m more of a hybrid between gardener and architect. Do I have a plan? Yes. Can that plan change at any given moment? Absolutely. My method is chaotic. It’s more like deciding that I’d like to travel from Seattle to Miami, but leaving my options for how to get there pretty open. My ideas form more in this way: 

“Well, for sure I want to travel through Salt Lake City, and I’m probably going to hit Pensacola on the way. But should I stop by Panama City, or go directly to Tallahassee? You know, that’s a long way off. Let’s see how I feel when it’s closer.” 

I have a definitive midpoint that I’m writing towards, and until I get that written, I’m not going to apply too much thought to the later chapters. Until I see the midpoint I can’t be sure how they’re going to look. We have to see what the characters react to the trials I’m going to put them through first and how much they develop. 

I hope this is clear, because you’ve asked an excellent question that really made me think over my plot choices. I really appreciate your candor. Taking the time to carefully consider these elements of story, plot, and character is how I grow as a writer. 

Please feel free to message me if you have any other questions! I love talking about this stuff.

#penguin replies #plot mistakes #sometimes you just have to keep writing #Act II is a mess #And it will continue to get messier

[light-lanterne]

Hi! For the ask game: 7, 11, 45, 50 and 72, please 💖💖💖

hello! again, sorry for taking so long to reply :( i'm very forgetful

- - - - - - - - - - - ♡ - - - - - - - - - - - ....................ask game - - - - - - - - - - - ♡ - - - - - - - - - - -

7. tell us about the plot of the first fanfic you ever wrote

uh, it was not a romantic story. it was actually about a serial killer and him struggling to hide his killings from his best friend x.x it was a very lackluster job, i must say, and i shan't even mention the fandom because it's embarrassing how awful it is x.x that said, i was ten so i suppose it was to be expected

11. what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general?

oh, um, i won't describe it because i don't want to bore everyone, but i recently learned the mechanism of action of amphotericin b :] i love reading wacky medical text and create my own little diagrams to explain how things work to myself~ (now, why was i researching a very abrasive antifungal medication that would've been used in the 80's for patients with an invasive infection that may or may not affect brain, heart, lungs and the circulatory system? don't worry about it. i totally don't have evil plans for the kids in the darkest eyes :] ) anyway, i like cementing my stories in reality so i do a lot of research. i have notebooks upon notebooks full of random research that i then use for worldbuilding.

45. name three of your favorite fanfic writers

uh, rn @smoosnoom, @wiseatom and @wheelerboi, but ask me again next week and i'll tell you three different names (i have like 20 favourite authors who take turns to infect my brain, okei? i'm not good with favourites >.<)

50. do you plan or do you write whatever comes to your mind?

a weird combination of both. i plan a lot and have defined guidelines for each chapter of each story, but when i start writing the characters often do whatever they like and i have to adjust the story around those changes (and then they do something new and i have to adjust again x.x)

72. what do you do if a scene gets too serious?

i just go with it. if the story calls for heavy topics, and i can justify the increasing seriousness of the situation in my head, then i feel i must honour that even if it wasn't the plan. obviously, i take a little while to make sure that all topics are handled adequately according to their severity (like mental health struggles), but i try not to shy away from heavy topics. for instance, in the darkest eyes, mike was only supposed to have a problem with smoking. and that can be a serious situation (my dad was an avid smoker, i've seen the effects), but i didn't plan for him to also have a problem with alcohol and his pain medication. it evolved naturally and i'm trying to make sure that i tackle it with the appropriate sensitivity. likewise, mike in the trees are growing restless is going through a lot and he develops very unhealthy coping mechanisms. more than anything, however, some of the struggles he will face are very dark within the context that he is a literal child so i'm trying to balance out those aspects with making sure that it's all justified in the universe and, in the more severe instances, that i don't describe too much when it's not necessary (for instance, i'm not going to graphically describe will's death all 47 times because there's no point in showing all that pain). just recently i was planning out stuff for my runaway au, but here is one, and mike (it's always him,,, i promise he's my favourite x.x) developed a mental struggle on his own and it makes perfect logical sense within his universe so now i must write him like that, as painful as i know it'll be :( so yeah, i try to handle these topics sensibly (which partially comes from my ability to sympathise with a lot of this stuff) but i never shy away from them.

hope this answered your curiosity~! :D

#💕 #💌 #🌷 #🕰️ #🔪 #🧸 #dark byler agenda

[girlmadeofstarlight]

I hate to say it because Sylvie is my fave, but she came off desperate and so extremely cringe this episode. I have just stopped liking Sylvie this season and it reminds me of when she annoyed me for most of season 9, but at least then, I had hope. This episode actually convinced me to finally stop watching and scrub my socials for purely CF/OC accounts.

Everyone has every right to stop watching a show when it no longer excites them. Especially when you see a show begin to make questionable choices.

Sylvie is still one of my favorite characters in the OC world. My problem is the way the writing is headed this season. I feel like AN has these ideas in her head that don't necessarily translate well on paper. For example, she is convinced that everyone likes OFI storylines, and maybe some people do, but it is so overdone this season. Even when Severide, King of OFI, is no longer on the show we still get another OFI storyline. I'm not even going to touch up on what happened to Gallo last season and how badly they handled his character development.

With Sylvie, the writing has been flip flopping these past few episodes that it is very frustrating to watch. Do I wish they kept her with Matt? Abso-freakin-lutely! Do I wish her storylines focused on her career instead of her romance? A thousand times yes.

But knowing that Jesse is no longer on the show, I was prepared for a moving on storyline but not like this. I'm still mad they didn't give her a proper wallowing period. There is nothing wrong with showing emotion and sadness and she deserved the time to honor her and Matt's love. For this new storyline, I wouldn't have liked it but I would have been okay if they gradually moved slowly into the dating territory after their first coffee date but the writing after that is giving me whiplash. The writers need to figure out what they want and stick with it. In my opinion, Sylvie shouldn't be the one to do the chasing, she should be pursued because she deserves it. She needs to say, I'm 'a freakin eleven' and I deserve nothing but the best and not settle!

And you are right, the writing and dialogue this season is very bad (I'm still cringing at Violet and the floater's interactions last episode).

This season has been very frustrating to watch because we know that the writing and storylines can and should be better.

[thequietuptown]

All of my friends are so incredibly talented. I'm just in absolute awe of the things they make and do. they're usually focused on one particular craft, which I could handle, but more and more recently they just seem to be good at everything, and I can't do anything. I just wish I had their skills. I don't think it's social media bias, either, because when we're in person everything just seems so effortless to everyone.

Hi friend,

Knowing that I share so much of my work, I fear that I may have somehow contributed to the things you're feeling, but please know that is never ever my intention. I share so much work because I think it's important to see that not everything is perfect. With that being said, I definitely know the feeling. It can be tough, especially when you only see the polished finished projects, but I can promise you, even for the most creative of your friends, nothing is effortless. We all started somewhere.

I have always considered myself first and foremost as a writer, but I've also enjoyed making music and working with my hands to create art. I'm technically okay with most of those things, but I know I am completely self-taught so there's still room for improvement. I've never had any formal training beyond high school electives.

Creativity is definitely a part of it, but these things are all skills that take time to develop, and there's that really great quote from Jake the Dog in Adventure Time, "Suckin' at something is the first step to being sorta good at something." I can't speak for everyone, but chances are that a lot of the people you're seeing as talented, have probably been cultivating those talents for years. I didn't have a lot of friends when I was a kid. I lost myself in books. The friends I did have tended to be other outcasts, who didn't mind my weird obsessions with fantasy lands, if I could get on board with anime. I placed value in my ability to write early on, but I effectively min/maxed my character sheet, focusing on creative skills rather than like... mental health and social interaction. There is always a cost, and while it's easy to romanticize the artist as the observer, we've all made sacrifices.

I agree, though, especially as we get older and people start sharing their talents more and more, that it can be intimidating. Even as one of those creative people, I see.some of the things my friends create, and I'm still awestruck and get those feelings of inadequacy, and previously that led me to hide most of my work, but not that long ago, I got this idea that the world in general could benefit a lot from seeing the whole process. I hated the idea of drawing on a tablet this time last year. I had the skills and the knowledge from being pretty great with a ballpoint pen and sharpie, but every time I tried to do something digital, I became incredibly frustrated. It made me not want to create, to not even try, but I stuck with it. I did daily sketches, and eventually brought in color, and started playing with the other options, but if you look at those pieces there are obvious imperfections, and they definitely got better overall as time went on. The important thing to remember is that even in that process, I already had a lot of tools at my disposal, but facing any sort of learning cover was absolutely devastating.

If you want to learn a new skill or develop a craft, talk to the people you find so talented. Ask them what their learning process was like, specifically what they remember struggling with and how they overcame that or how they avoid that problem now. If you are close with any of them, you can ask if you can watch them work (fair warning, not everyone is okay with that). But through it all, remember that appearing so talented generally requires you to know what you're really bad at so that you can hide those shortcomings.

We're all capable of making art. We're all capable of telling stories. Your perspective is valuable to someone else, you may just need to find what best suits you in getting that perspective across. Neil Gaiman once delivered a commencement address, now labeled "Make Good Art," which is definitely worth a read, but I challenge you to also make bad art. Make something fun and low stakes. The pressure you're putting on yourself to be talented is creating all of this inertia, and you have to start somewhere.

With love, friend.

[gaycey-sketchit]

(Gary anon) Pretty much Gary [for Blue], Barry and Gladion are the main survivors. And even then, Gladion is really the only one who was treated the best during his series. Gary had to endure OS writing and Barry was outshine by Paul. (We can only hope T-tar wasn't here for just Articuno fodder) Heh, until Gary's story with Goh is finished [and there's no surprise 3v3/6v6 with them], that remains to be N/A. I have hope but of course, there's no promises. That's up

.

(Part 2) to the writers. (All those promos before his return talking about his and Ash's relationship, calling him his "biggest" rival [even Paul was referred to as "nemesis"], apparently still battling and training, didn't join the PWC cause it's "too crowded". Please don't let that be for naught) This sub-section of the fandom has always had in-fighting; though I think after DP and ESPECIALLY XY, it's harder NOT to be dragged into something. Sometimes I have to wonder

(Part 3) if Ash was ever retired, would that cause some of the wars to cease or make them 10 times worse. (It's why I wouldn't want any Ash ship being canon. Ship elitism ruins so much freedom and civility) His thing about teamwork has me curious, but at least his earlier words and actions in previous episodes is slowly being pieced together.

(Part 4) (Plus Quillon was implied to have similar problems too, which he learned and drilled that into Gary and Goh. I reckon will see a smile out of him soon) I guess we'll see some more G-max forms soon. (Though the leaks spoiled it for me, someone made a connection about most of Ash's Fire-types being abandoned and Gengar, and THAT could be what the title means) If "think about your partners' condition" is anything to go by, that should tell what to expect from Paul.

(Part 5) (I just need to know who's facing Ash and Iris or who's facing Leon to figure out my predictions. We also might see another fully-evolved starter from said leaked matchup) The hint is that it's one we haven't seen in Journeys yet. (In other news, Rica apparently sung the English Pokemon theme in a collab this week; you can still hear the "Satoshi" in her voice even there. xD)

Yeah. I hear the Kalos rivals (minus Calem) exist in XY, and though I have no idea how they were handled there except knowing Serena and Shauna get shipped a fair bit, they were handled so poorly in the games themselves it'd be hard to do worse.

Yeah, hopefully Tyranitar will get some redemption later! Either through Project Mew stuff or us getting that Ash vs Gary battle we've been hoping for.

I guess we'll see what happens, yeah. Here's hoping.

I had a feeling the conflict had gotten worse in recent years, even if shippers have always been at each other's throats (which is the case in most fandoms) and people have argued about if Ash is a good trainer and protagonist for a long time. It really does feel like there's been a gradual increase in conflict and tension that reached its absolute worst during Journeys, though I have to wonder if the pandemic had an impact on that, what with lockdown having people online more because nobody could go anywhere and a general rise in stress.

I feel like whether or not Ash hypothetically departing from the series would make some of the wars cease or make them worse would depend on the protagonist that took his place. If the next protagonist was say, Goh... it'd be divisive, to put it mildly.

Oh yes, ship elitism my beloathed. Watching hardcore PokeShippers and AmourShippers argue over which ship has more canon validation is exhausting. (I was always fond of the former, it was baby's first OTP, but I don't want any Ash ship to become canon ever and I don't care about my ships having any canon validation whatsoever.)

Yeah, it's interesting. Love what Project Mew is doing for the development of the characters involved.

Oh, more G-max forms? Interesting.

Oh, that makes sense, yeah!

Yeah, apparently he's gotten at least a little bit better if he's calling Pokemon "partners" and thinking about their conditions.

Yeah, I've been contemplating potential matchups (and I have ones I'd like to see in mind) but I'm mostly curious to see what happens!

Yeah! Hopefully Gary gets to gigantamax his Blastoise (or Hatterene since that's an option now) at some point, I still want to see that.

Awesome! Love that. Love that she did that, that's so cool.

#Andrew answers #Gary anon

[rodrickheffeley]

tbh i think the problem w comics tony isn’t that he’s being overused, it’s that he used to be a b list character who only got written by ppl who care about him pre mcu. but after he became mainstream via mcu he got put in the hands of, like, the famous writers who don’t really understand him + make subpar stories. tsim is being written by dan slott (the war criminal who came up w parker industries/superior spiderman) so it’s a wonder that it took more than 10 issues to start declining

!!!!

#you're right #the problem is not that he's being over used #the problem is that new writers don't know how to handle his character development. #ask ann #anon