#*I* don't personally have the skill and so tend to err on the side of safety

[ante--meridiem]

I think advice like this is generally good and am aware that me complaining about it will probably be the "why doesn't your post account for my personal circumstances specifically, internet stranger?!" thing people love to make fun of, but nonetheless I can't help but feel bitter because "repeated positive low stakes interaction" for me has almost always fizzled out before it could deepen because the effort is just not worth the reward for either of us and pretty much all my significant friendships have been formed by (a) being approached by someone with enough confidence and extroversion to make "treating a stranger like a best friend" actually work or (b) instant familiarity because we're bonding over a shared interest and our enthusiasm over the topic is more important than how well we know each other or (c) quick recognition of each other as similar personality types and agreement to cut the bullshit and communicate in a way best suited to our type. And the tone of this type of advice always makes me feel like it's saying "the way you do friendship is wrong and you're wrong for thinking it could work, grow up". Which is uncharitable of me, I know op of that post is just trying to be helpful and has been helpful to many people reblogging the post! Still feel bitter about it though.

#I feel like I've made some variation of this post before #probably because there's a strictly increasing function from 'number of times I see posts like that on my dash' #to 'number of response posts like this I make' #vagueblogging #uncharitable #inventing friends for people in their twenties #and I'm not denying that sometimes just assuming familiarity *does* come off as creepy/off-putting/uncomfortable #last week a guy came up to talk to me and insisted on walking home with me and then invited himself into my apartment and it took me ages #to figure out how to firmly but semi-politely kick him out when he was resistant to any suggestion he leave #despite me responding to him as flatly and monosyllabically as possible pretty much the whole time #so y'know don't do *that* please #so there probably is a fair bit of skill involved in 'how to approach strangers with the kind of familiarity #that makes them want to be your friend and not the kind that crosses all unspoken boundaries' #*I* don't personally have the skill and so tend to err on the side of safety #but I'm grateful to people who do! their existence is why I have any friends at all right now!

[mckinleyrp]

CONGRATS HUMANIST, i mean NICK DUVAL. you better start warming up your voice, you've made it in the club. if you're ready to start belting out some notes, you better send your account in within 48 HOURS. don't forget to give a look at our CHECKLIST before you start singing. good luck getting around campus, i wouldn't be surprised if a slushie comes your way. ( clover, they/them, 22, est )

wait, is that NICHOLAS 'NICK' DUVAL? they kinda look a lot like JEREMY SHADA, don’t they? i heard the TWENTY year old is known as the HUMANIST around mckinley. it seems like they auditioned to be in NO GLEE CLUB which is so lame? people at campus have said they’re +BENEVOLENT, but don’t be fooled since they’re also -RESERVED. rumor has it, you can find them at BASEBALL, CHEERIOS, DRAMA, FIGHT CLUB when they aren’t belting show tunes. their entire vibe revolves around A GUITAR, NOTEBOOK, AND MULTIPLE PAIRS OF DANCE SHOES - OUT OF SIGHT IN YOUR CLOSET BUT NEVER OUT OF YOUR MIND, MISSING FOR SOMETHING - OR SOMEONE - NO LONGER THERE, SHARING AN AFFECTION AMONGST FRIENDS but no one pays attention to that here in ohio.

LIST ABOUT 3+ HEADCANONS ABOUT YOUR CHOSEN CHARACTER!

TRIGGER FOR PARENTAL DEATH - for as long as nick can remember, he loved performing. in his younger years, he was a frequent participant in community theatre and talent shows as part of a band with either his older siblings or a group of friends. there was nothing like the adrenaline rush following a successful show, the camaraderie with cast and crew mates or friendly competition amongst other people showing off their talents, or the electricity in the air that came from connection with an audience. then the summer before nick's freshman year of high school, his dad suddenly passed away and seemed to take his love of performing with him. to this day, nick hasn't uttered a note in public nor has he touched an instrument and he usually serves as a crew member in the drama club.

so, how did nick end up at an arts college considering his unofficial and seemingly permanent retirement from performing? easy. the first factor came in the form of his scholarships, one for academics and the others from the various sports he participated in whilst in high school. the second factor comes from a desire for stability. one day nick will be ready for adventures and to see what the wider world has to offer, but right now, it is an incredible comfort to know that his family is nearby and ready to provide aid while he steps into proper adult life. plus, who says that one needs to attend a more traditional college in order to gain useful skills and a fulfilling education?

nick is pansexual! only thing that matters to him is positive vibes and fun times with his current romantic interest! however, he is also known to err on the side of caution when it comes to dating due to his familiarity with heartache in the form of either break ups or by death coming along and parting couples way on down the road. so he tends to stick with occasional one night stands or friends with benefits types of situations nowadays.

the duval family is comfortably wealthy thanks to their old money roots. nick has never been the sort of person to flaunt these riches, but will never pass up an opportunity to send funds in support of a good cause or to treat his friends with delicious meals or gifts. he doesn't view as charity and would never force it on someone. nick is simply a guy who is happy to help however he can and utilize his resources for worthy reasons.

#wmacaccepted #tw parent death #nick duval

[emkini]

Not the same thing as your trail riding AU but, if the girls (and other characters) could, what equestrian sport/activity would they do?

WELL, what equestrian sport you excel at tends to depend on personality. For instance I don't compete at all because I just don't have the mettle for it, but from my experience in the horse world the energetic types tend to go for showjumping, the more disciplined types will go for hunter jumpers or dressage, and so on and so forth. Also for rodeo the personality requirement is basically to be batshit insane sdfghfd

SO, with this in mind:

- Rapunzel has a lot of reckless energy, and loves freedom and thrill. She's not necessarily competitive, but is willing to do very dangerous things for the sake of fun. I can see her really excelling at cross-country, because it's a discipline that comes with a lot of variety. It also provides a great physical and mental challenge, and I can see Rapunzel really enjoying that.

- Cassandra is more disciplined, but is highly competitive. She loves a challenge and enjoys showing off her skills, but also tends to err on the side of caution where possible. I can honestly see her excelling at just about any discipline, but I imagine she'd especially enjoy eventing as it combines multiple disciplines and is often considered the ultimate test of riding skill and versatility.

And bonus round, when it comes to rodeo events: Rapunzel would be a barrel racer-

and Cassandra would do tie-down roping-

I do not take criticism at this time. (also Rapunzel tries bronc riding because of course she does and breaks multiple bones, which Cassandra thoroughly chews her out for)

#ask #anon #my apologies this got very long sdfgf #equestrian au #?

[stbot]

Hi again!! I would absolutely love tips for foreshadowing and a craft and process post would be amazing if you have time/energy for that at some point, I love learning how writers I admire plot their stories! Pls though you are the babe/bro/darling/preferred endearment here, but I am so very glad that my comment brought you joy!!

Welcome back babe! (It feels like a babe kind of day, hope that's okay.) I realized in trying to answer this that I'm probably the worst person to give writing advice or whatever because my process is basically "I get kicked in the face by an opening sentence and then just write." And by the time I've finished writing the opening scene, I have an idea about what the ending is going to look like. I've written a lot of original fiction and fanfiction (that's all gathering dust on my hard drive,) and a lot of the story develops intuitively while I'm writing it.

Which is... not really helpful for anyone else.

But I've been writing for a long time and have definitely developed patterns and habits, and once I started really analyzing and thinking about those, I realized:

I approach every story like it's a high-stakes heist.

I just love a good heist story, and I think the formula translates well across genres.

Like, if your Main Character has to break into a vault, what kind of unbeatable security and challenges are they going to have to get through to reach it? What weirdly specific and ingenious skills are needed to bypass those security measures? What crazy backstories can you give the characters to justify them having these weirdly specific skillsets? Answer those questions and then boom - before you know it, you've reverse engineered yourself the skeleton for a bank heist. Now comes the fun part of fleshing it out and building it up (and adding an illogical amount of lasers; every good heist has lasers.)

Because, honestly, all you need is the ending and then a few key moments to reverse engineer the whole story. It's like "If they end up at Z, then they obviously have to get to W first. And in order to get to W, they need to pass through Q, which means at some point they would've gone by K." etc etc And that format, that sort of reverse engineering can be applied to any genre to build tension or add callbacks or foreshadow or whatever the writer's heart decides.

Personally, I like to not overthink the space between moments too much, because a lot of the fun in writing for me is being surprised by the way something unfolds. (Like, I already know the ending so I want to keep some element of surprise for myself so I don't get bored.)

And once you know the ending, seeding in moments of foreshadowing is easy, because you know what you're building to and hinting at. So those moments can be as subtle or as obvious as you want. Like, I tend to err on the more subtle (maybe even too subtle?) side, just because I love when I'm surprised by an eleventh hour betrayal and then get to reread and find all those clues I missed that seem so obvious in hindsight. That's so fun for me! But some people prefer louder telegraphing, and knowing the little kid is actually a ghost and watching the adults slowly figure it out is fun too! It's all personal preference and style at that point (as long as you keep in mind that foreshadowing and misdirection are great and fun and fine to do, but lying to the reader is not. Everything should have a point and a payoff; if there's a cat stuck in a tree at the start of your story, make sure it gets down by the end.)

Ultimately, everyone is gonna have their own personalized process for writing, and this is kind of a glimpse into mine, but it's always fun to see how other people do things. I've certainly folded advice from other people into my process (Terry Pratchett's "The first draft is just you telling yourself the story" literally changed my entire mindset about writing and the process got so much more fun because of it.) I think the most important thing about writing is just really loving what you're writing, be it characters or plot or worldbuilding. If you love it, that'll come through and the reader will connect with that.

And I really love heists, so treating everything like some variation on a heist flick helps me see the shape of the whole story and keeps me engaged enough to actually write and enjoy writing it.

tldr: Writing is like a road trip: as long as you know where you're starting from and where you need to end up, you can figure out a route to hit all the fun tourist traps along the way.

#hey nonny nonny #fun fact: the scene in daemon au where yelena steals the data #was originally much much longer #because i really do love me a heist story and i couldn't resist going all-in on that scene #thank you anon this was a fun way to wake my brain up! #now i'm gonna go write a little #before heading off to watch the greatest event in american sports: the puppy bowl