ladycapuccinoo

[ladycapuccinoo]

Thinking about how from vol 5 onwards, in he xuan’s entry in the name guide, it says that the feelings of friendship he held for shi qingxuan was real. And how he tried to pull him away from danger and focus his revenge only on shi wudu.

I wonder how much… regret he has….

Did he start his mission purely to get close to shi wudu and enact revenge? Did shi qingxuan’s openness and joy and constant friendship wear him down? Did he start to find himself… happy?

And now that’s gone. His revenge, the thing that tied his spirit to this world, is complete. But he’s still here, his purpose gone. And he’s alone.

#beefleaf #tgcf #he xuan #heaven official's blessing

[ladycapuccinoo]

I just think beefleaf kissing and making up would be the biggest fuck you to everyone that's ever hurt them

#tgcf #heaven official's blessing #he xuan #beefleaf #shi qingxuan

[ladycapuccinoo]

About beauty and paper fish

#tgcf fanart #heaven’s official blessing #beefleaf #he xuan #shi qingxuan #tgcf

[ladycapuccinoo]

#tian guan ci fu #heaven official's blessing #shi qingxuan #beefleaf #tgcf #mxtx

[ladycapuccinoo]

#tgcf #tian guan ci fu #heaven official's blessing #he xuan #ming yi #beefleaf

[ladycapuccinoo]

You’re in the wind, I’m in the water.

#mxtx fanart #danmei #tgcf fanart #tgcf #tian guan ci fu #beefleaf #shi qingxuan #he xuan

[ladycapuccinoo]

I'm in the wind.. you're in the water..

#beefleaf #tgcf #heaven official's blessing #wind master #black water #TGCF spoilers #tian guan ci fu #shi qingxuan #he xuan

[ladycapuccinoo]

ouuuaaghh beefleaf

#tgcf spoilers #beefleaf #shi qingxuan #tgcf #he xuan

[ladycapuccinoo]

I think Laurent is such an appealing character because he is so emblematic of those people who are broken but still want to be worthy of love. 

Laurent, to me, is a variation on a type of person I’m familiar with. The clever, gifted, introverted child who struggles socially, weighed down by a big brain and oddly adult preoccupations. The one who becomes fractured through trauma, ends up hiding behind a pointed, cold, even cruel, demeanour as self-protection. I bet most of us know that person (some of us might even be that person). It’s not a good persona to have felt forced to adopt. But beautiful, barbed-tongued Laurent makes it seem more palatable than it is.

Truth is, he’s in a bad place before Damen. Laurent is that person who holds everyone at arms length, mistrustful of being hurt and abandoned, but somehow still forges ahead on a path towards some goal they’re determined to win as it gives them purpose, even when they can’t even really envision a future for themselves (where will they be in ten years time? Who will they be? They have no answer). The one who finds romantic relationships so agonising, they often choose to absent themselves from them, because they come hand in hand with unbearable vulnerability, and who don’t know how to feel sexual desire without the past intruding, and without feeling like they’re giving something up or losing somehow, who suspect they might be permanently ruined.

Laurent’s mind is like a steel trap, and it makes it easy to look down on others (not something others find particularly likeable). Is the type who can separate out the deep moral integrity that forms the bedrock of who they are, from the more flimsy, politer, social kind of morality which they tossed out the window in the name of survival (hard to make friends when you do that). The kind of person who is haunted by shame and filled with secret self-loathing, who uses humour to cope, and feels stuck in a state of arrested development even though they had to grow up too fast. The sort who can lose their temper so badly they cross lines no-one else can, but will die for the people they love. Who can seem flippant and facetious yet exhausting in their intensity.

And then good, honourable, warm-hearted Damen comes along and sees him.

This Normal Boy (who is really an Exceptional Boy), clothed in the body of his enemy. This towering stereotype of attractive athleticism, this strong warrior prince, well-loved, well-liked, who should be stupid and selfish, a repellent, violent aggressor, but is instead an intellectual equal, honourable and caring and kind. Who makes sex an act of love, of giving and taking in equal measure, makes it slow and tender and meaningful and pleasurable, adjusting exactly to how Laurent likes it, makes it no longer something to fear. 

Damen who guides Laurent back to his own heart, is the light to his dark, and softens those lethal edges. Who laughs with him, matching bon mot for bon mot. Who loves Laurent, for all his faults, who sees him at his very, very worst, all that ugly, vicious darkness laid bare, and still gives him his heart, and will never abandon him. Who heals him.

The books are the ultimate broken person’s fantasy, honestly. That if we see a glimmer of ourselves in Laurent, then maybe a Damen is out there who could show us how it could be.

#Captive Prince #Laurent of Vere #damen of akielos #damianos of akielos #damen x laurent #beautiful meta

[ladycapuccinoo]

Pride and Prejudice (2005)

Midnight Mass (2021)

Only Murders in the Building (2021-)

#pride and prejudice #midnight mass #only murders in the building

[ladycapuccinoo]

Hi Mike! Curious to know if you have any suggestions of Poe stories we should read before Usher comes out (aside from the obvious, of course)?

Oh boy, let's see... The Tell Tale Heart The Raven The Cask of Amontillado The Murders in the Rue Morgue The Masque of the Red Death The Black Cat Tamerlane The Premature Burial Lenore Morella The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket William Wilson The City in the Sea The Pit and the Pendulum Spirits of the Dead ... this series is pretty wild ;)

#the fall of the house of usher #poe's writing

[ladycapuccinoo]

the funniest thing about reading tgcf was that as soon as HX and SQX were introduced literally everything else became background noise………………like yeah hualian are the main couple and the story revolves around them etc etc but these two characters……the fate switching, wretched beginnings/wretched ends, im sorry ming-xiong - you called the wrong name, please i want to die - dream on 👍 and the way I was delighted with the whole beheading business. the betrayal. THE REGRET. fucking delicious food… bone apple teeth

#that's it precisely #they made me fully realize how much im a sucker for pain and good tragedies when it comes to fiction #damn #beefleaf

[ladycapuccinoo]

Idk if you feel like expanding on it but i read your book review on the recent tgcf book and how you liked the ‘do it yourself’ scene. Do you have any thoughts on that? I think it can and does mean so many things id love to get into black waters head

black water arc and everything about it is probably my favorite part of tgcf except possibly the entirety of book 4 (though I really do love the whole thing, or I wouldn't have read it four times) so sure I can try to marshal my thoughts to something more coherent than "HNHGHGHGHHGHHGHHFHGHH"

okay so first thing is that we know ghosts are, most often, a result of some unfinished business/something from life that a person is hanging onto hard enough that they don't let go with death. hua cheng's reason is explicitly his devotion to xie lian; he xuan's is to get revenge for his family's deaths (and, to a lesser extent, his own). the idea is that once that unfinished business is resolved, ghosts are free to move on.

but he xuan doesn't. ostensibly his purpose is fulfilled. he's killed shi wudu, he's avenged his family. and yet he's still sticking around. available to have a favor called in by hua cheng. and he knows shi qingxuan is there (probably dropped him off there), and brings the (repaired!!!) wind master fan, and then when things are looking really bad and shi qingxuan is begging him for help...

it's just such a move that's so very in line with what I can imagine happening when they were friends. not moving to save shi qingxuan but giving shi qingxuan the tools to do it yourself. granting them back not full divinity (he xuan doesn't have the power to do that) but power nonetheless. after the last time we saw them, with shi qingxuan asking to die and he xuan saying dream on, this is the next time we see them interact, and it's so very different and also so very sideways and indirect. I think that's what drives me insane about it, and probably also what drives shi qingxuan insane about it. what does it mean? good question. it's not forgiveness, and it's not like he xuan sticks around to talk after revealing his identity. but there it is, just the same.

the thing that drives me probably the most insane about he xuan and shi qingxuan is how unfinished their story is. he xuan is just kind of...lurking around, not gone but not quite present. shi qingxuan seems to be resigned to their new life (and indeed, at least trying to thrive in it) but is aware that he xuan is Out There Somewhere and at least circling in their vicinity, which has to be a weird piece of knowledge. they're not done and it haunts me.

#he xuan #shi qingxuan #beefleaf

[ladycapuccinoo]

BEEFLEAF 🫶🫶🫶

#heaven official's blessing #tian guan ci fu #shi qingxuan #he xuan #beefleaf #I love them pls help

[ladycapuccinoo]

#beefleaf #heaven official's blessing #he xuan #shi qingxuan

[ladycapuccinoo]

beefleaf modern au...they haunt me

#beefleaf #in a ideal world they're lovers and it's all fine #tgcf fanart

[ladycapuccinoo]

How To Plot Romance (in fanfic)

Today I realized I've been plotting my romance writing all wrong. Oops! Lucky for you, I think I figured out how to solve this problem. *Gestures to the camera* come along with me and let's figure out how to write romance plots together!

When I'm sketching out a story idea, I generally use some simplified version of Dan Harmon's story circle (ok so this link is not an endorsement of Dan Harmon as a person, but I have found this plotting device helpful), which is itself a simplified version of Joseph Campbell's The Hero's Journey. The double-simplified version looks something like this:

You (character in a zone of comfort)

Need (want something)

Go (venture outside the comfort zone)

Search/Adapt (adapt to the new situation)

Find (finally get what they wanted)

Take/Sacrifice (but sacrifice/pay a price)

Return (go back to the comfort zone)

Change (different than they were before)

The problem I keep running into is that I never know what goes where, especially as the number of characters and side plots increases. It's also a little hard for my brain to translate this tool that came out of adventure epics to what I need for a romance/rom-com plot. Usually I look at this list, get overwhelmed, and zoom way too far out, filling in these answers based on what I, the all-knowing author, think they should be. The end result looks a lot like (we're using Dramione as our example, but any characters will do):

You: Hermione Granger

Need: To find love.

Go: To a place where you can find love.

Search/Adapt: For/To love!

Find: LURVE

Take/Sacrifice: The love????? But sad now????

Return: With love!

Change: Loved 😍

And. Uh. That's not a plot?

Where I went wrong is that people in the story don't know they're in a story (unless they do, in which case you should probably sleep with one eye open because your characters know what you've done to them). Your characters are unreliable. They only see what's in front of them. By zooming all the way out to LURVE, I erased everything that's fun to read that gets us to our HEA (or, if you're devious, non-HEA).

So, it stands to reason you should fill out this story circle (story bulleted list?) from the perspective of your character, not you. (This is probably very basic science and congratulations if you got there way before me. You don't need this post. You should be writing this post.)

But even more important in a romance? That need, the thing your main character wants, is kind of a red herring. The character thinks this is their primary need/goal to get them out of whatever slump they start out in, but you, the author, know that what they actually need is to fall in love with the Love Interest.

Then, during the Search/Adapt phase, when your main character is looking for that thing they need or trying to achieve their primary goal or whatever, they start to learn more about the Love Interest. Their perspective shifts, and they realize they were wrong before. The Love Interest is what they actually need. This is probably where most of your story will happen. During this step, there's only one bed, the characters are fake dating, they get trapped in an elevator, etc.

Sadly, just when we think the main character has come to their senses, they are offered the exact thing they *thought* they needed the whole time. Bonus point if the thing they thought they wanted is in direct conflict with accepting the affections of the Love Interest.

During Take/Sacrifice, the main character has to choose. Are they going to pick love or the thing they thought they wanted at the beginning of the tale? In a multi-chap, you might let your character choose the original need/goal (or struggle for a while with the choice). In a one-shot, you might not have enough space for this and the character chooses love.

Next, in the Return, if it isn't the consequences of the character's own actions. A character who chose their need/goal over love during Take/Sacrifice needs to make amends to the Love Interest. The character who chose love has to deal with not getting the thing they needed at the beginning of the story. Depending on your fic's vibes, you might invent a magical solution for the character to get everything they want here. Alternately, maybe the character suffers and loses everything. This seems like a lot to cram into the end of your tale, and it is, so try not to drag it out too long. Your reader has gone on a long journey with your characters and they don't want to read fifteen chapters of sadness before the end (or maybe they do?). If they aren't already, the characters want to be together at this point, they might just need a little shove to get there.

In the final step, take a moment to show us how the character and their life have changed as a result of going on this journey. They are now in a new comfort zone / status quo and are ready for further adventures, should you so choose.

To clarify how these steps work for a romance plot, I changed the labels and made you a little graphic. Please ignore that I don't make graphics and a 12 year old on Canva could have done better.

The formula looks like this now:

You: Hermione Granger is in her comfort zone. Note: in fanfiction, you don't have to do as much character development with an established character who is behaving as expected. Use this time instead to highlight the limitations of their comfort zone. You can also use this space to set up their romantic foil, especially if that character is behaving in an unexpected way. For example, if Hermione is being very driven and high-achieving, the reader doesn't need a lot of context for her behavior; they already know this version of her from canon. But if her would-be paramour Draco Malfoy is acting kind and considerate, the reader is going to want more information since in canon his behavior is usually presented as rude/entitled/etc. Don't spoil the surprise of why he's different, just show us the ways he's not what we expect. (Reveal his secret in Step 4 - Learn).

Need: Hermione has The Wrong Goal (pass legislation, solve a mystery, avoid sleeping in the room with only one bed). This might be a very noble goal, but it's at odds with Hermione's true, secret, hidden goal of being in love with Draco Malfoy. Why? Because she doesn't know that being in love with Draco is where she's headed yet.

Go: To the place that Hermione's Wrong Goal requires. Pass legislation? Lobby all the Sacred 28s sitting on the Wizengamot! Solve a mystery? Go undercover to find out who did What in Which Room with What Object. Avoid sleeping in the hotel room with only one bed? Go to the concierge and ask for a new room. What's important is that wherever Hermione goes, she's forced to be near Draco Malfoy, the object of her true, secret, hidden, goal (to fall in LURVE).

Learn: This is where Hermione and Draco are forced to work together to solve the problem of the finding/achieving the Wrong Goal. Through this process, Hermione realizes Draco's exactly what she didn't know she was always looking for, etc. Unfortunately, her original goal is still at odds with being in LURVE with him. Cue tension. Example: They're at the concierge desk begging for a new room; he's offering all the money in his vaults, she's trying to appeal to the hotel staff's sense of human decency. She admires his tenacity. He realizes she's witty and a little bit underhanded. He likes this. She has a fleeting curiosity about how the tenacity would manifest in bed. Oh no.

Find: In this step, Hermione is confronted with an opportunity to obtain her original Wrong Goal. Example: Well what do you know? The bribe and the appeals worked. The concierge has found one other room in the hotel. Dramione are no longer forced to sleep in the room with only one bed.

Choose: Unfortunately, lurving Draco is still at odds with Hermione's original goal, so she must choose between him and what she originally thought she wanted. She might have a lot of introspection here, where she considers the merits of different choices. Maybe she even talks it out with him or someone else. If this is a one-shot with a happy ending, she has grown and developed sufficiently by now to make the right choice and choose Draco. She sacrifices the original goal for him. If this is a multi-chapter fic, she chooses the wrong original goal over him and loses him as a result. Example: They both go back to the room with only one bed. He's going to collect his things and go to the new room. They hesitate. Is it really necessary for him to move rooms? Draco has so many items, and some of her stuff is mixed in with his stuff. He looks at her with eyes full of newfound respect. "What do you think, Granger?" Hermione sacrifices her original goal, calls the concierge back, and lets them know that they won't be needing the new room after all, but "Please enjoy whatever ungodly massive tip Mr. Malfoy left you. I know I sure will."

Reap: Now it's time to reap the consequences of the choice Hermione made in Step 6. In a one-shot, maybe Hermione's all done. She heads back to her old comfort zone with her new relationship. Depending on the tone of this story, maybe there's some way that she gets to have her original goal and her relationship. However, in a multi-chapter fic, this is where Hermione has to do some work to make amends for choosing wrong (that is, for not choosing Draco). If it's a multi-chap with a happy ending, she succeeds, Draco forgives her, and they smooch. Example: They're back in the room. There it is - just the one bed. All those slightly naughty things they thought during Step 4? Oh yeah. They're going to try them all out. Fade to black, etc.

Change: Some final scene showing how things are different now that Hermione has what she really needed (the D). Example: They wake up the next morning way past check out and have to extend their stay. Bummer!

A fully worked example:

You: Hermione Granger is bored at her job at the Ministry of Magic. She unexpectedly bumps into her former archenemy, a now polite and reserved Potions Professor Draco Malfoy. She learns that Minerva McGonagall, the current Hogwarts Headmistress, is retiring.

Need: Hermione needs to prove to Minerva, Hermione's longtime mentor, that she's the right person to hire over the other candidate, who just happens to be polite and reserved Professor Malfoy, even though Hermione has never taught students a day in her life.

Go: To avoid her obvious bias, Minerva sets up a series of practical trials to determine which candidate will win the job. Hermione and Professor Malfoy enter the obstacle course.

Learn: When the practical trials start turning dangerous, Hermione and Professor Malfoy must work together to stay alive. Unfortunately, working side by side shows them they have more in common than they thought.

Find: Hermione is presented with an opportunity to sink Professor Malfoy's ship: she learns that he never finished his Potions Mastery. If she reveals this information to Minerva and betrays Draco in the process, the job of Head of Hogwarts will be hers, and the dangerous practical trials/threat to her life will be over. But what about the romantic "something" budding between Hermione and Draco? Well, that's just an acceptable loss. Hermione's career trajectory is on the line!

Choose: Is this a one-shot? Then Hermione chooses "right" at the last minute and decides to sacrifice the job for love and keeps the information to herself. Is this a multi-chapter fic? Then Hermione chooses "wrong" and decides to sacrifice love for the job. She tells Minerva. Draco is devastated.

Reap: If this is a one-shot, Hermione returns from the trials holding hands with her new boyfriend. While they were in the trials, Minerva figured out a way for them to both get the job somehow! If this is a multi-chapter fic, Hermione returns from the trials alone, with her brand new job and a hefty side of guilt. Realizing her error too late, she works to make amends to Draco.

Change: A year later, the Co-Heads of Hogwarts Hermione Granger-Malfoy and Draco Malfoy-Granger celebrate the one-year anniversary of the trials and their relationship by burning Minerva's horrible obstacle course to the ground.

I've written all this out in list format because, well, you saw the circle I made you, but the circle has the benefit of helping you visualize that where your character is in Step 8 (Change) becomes the new Step 1 (You, character in zone of comfort). If you are writing multiple scenes, you can apply this plot exercise to each scene, even if these little micro plots are very small (e.g., Hermione forgets her quill and has to ask Draco to borrow his). Hermione obviously won't have big revelations about how she doesn't really need a quill and is actually in love with Draco each and every scene, but you can still play around with your characters pursuing one goal only to realize their true aspirations mid-way through a scene using the story circle framework. Plotting this way will help you make sure everything you write leads to some sort of change in your character. And that's character development baybee!

When you're ready to level up your story circle skills, remember that in a romance you probably have at least one other main character whose needs you'll have to service. Your new job is make a story circle for the love interest! Note the ways that the two characters' needs/goals align and the ways that they are in opposition. When the characters' story circles are in opposition, you get tension, when they're in alignment, you get softness! Just make sure that whatever is keeping your blorbos apart is actually forcing them together. Meaning, if they have opposing Wrong Goals (Step 2 - Need), make sure that they still have to work together or be near each other somehow (Steps 3 & 4 - Go & Learn) to be able Find (Step 5) what they thought they were looking for. Also make sure that their true, secret, hidden goal is the same (at least for a happy ending fic): they want to end up in love with each other. The characters may come to this realization at different times, and that may guide whether they choose the Wrong Goal or Love during Choose (Step 6) and who has to make amends during Reap (Step 7).

Finally, if you're an alpha or beta reader, try making these circles/lists for the fics you're reading. It should clarify what's going on in each scene and help you identify what's missing from a story.

Happy writing!

#writing