Question what do you think of infinite from Sonic forces (don't skip any detail I would like to hear this)
WOAH HELLO!! OK OK OK OK you're in for a ride because I am kinda crazy about this guy.
Right off the bat I wanna say that imo he's not a bad character. Like not in a sense of potential or whatever, I did like him in general.
To try to keep myself on track there will be 3 topics I'll give my opinions on: powers, backstory, character.
POWERS
First of all I don't think that he is a pushover. If we are talking about measuring strength of a character based on their bossfight pretty much all sonic characters up until 06 have bad bossfights that can be finished in seconds so it's not a good measuring point. In terms of lore there are many many many theories to be had, I prefer to look at his encounters from a story standpoint (we don't talk about dying to a flamethrower in 0.5 seconds accident). I think it's safe to assume that Infinite was a capable fighter (hence the title), him being beaten by Shadow doesn't really tell us anything, Shadow is arguably the most powerful character in sonic series so losing to him is to be expected. Infinite was just a very skilled mercenary, what was he supposed to do against teleporting, regenerating, super fast living plasma cannon?!?
Anyways if we are talking about real encounters (after him getting ruby powers) there are many ways to interpret it (other than just saying that it's bad). Here's my understanding of the events. Sonic gets captured at the start of the game because Infinite just overwhelmed him with quality and numbers. After this the whole war happens (no one talks about Infinite conquering 99.9% of the world), Sonic escapes and encounters Infinite in mystic jungle, this time around we can see that Infinite doesn't have illusions of past villains helping him so it's safe to assume that his powers are actually pretty finite (he can't uphold too many illusions all over the world at once, first time he had them helping because he wasn't using them elsewhere), he still beats Sonic and leaves.
Next time we see him in Metropolis, here we see avatar pretty much matching him with his own bullshit (I have a magical rock that neutralises your magical rock) which is fine by me and Infinite still comes out on top thanks to energy blasts and presumed better fighting skills. Escape to null space can be blamed on phantom ruby prototype again. As to why Infinite didn't use it before I assume Eggman and Infinite invented this ability not that long ago.
For the last encounter, Infinite doesn't have to distribute his illusions all over the world so he uses them in battle, but still has a hard time because numbers advantage is no longer on his side + he probably struggles to control so many entities at once so the quality is diminished drastically. He decides that using an all out attack is a better tactic, but yet again kindergarten logic applies so the sun doesn't explode (rock to rock shenanigans). Despite the sun doing nothing I think it drained Infinite's resources drastically + he was using only the backup power. So in the end avatar and Sonic finally beat weakened Infinite only for him to be transported somewhere and never seen again.
In my opinion we can clearly see that Jackal wasn't defeated by power of friendship or avatar or whatever else people tend to say as some sort of parrots. Infinite was defeated only by his own hubris and his own kind of magic. I think he did alright all things considered. He was pretty powerful and I'm fine with the way things played out. The only thing lacking here is good presentation, people just don't take the plot seriously so it all crumbles, but I don't think that it's fair to say that someone is not powerful because you don't take the stakes of the story seriously. Still can't believe that people call a guy with power to create rockets and lasers out of thin air and change gravity at will "all talk". The only reason our characters are alive is thanks to phantom ruby prototypes and Infinite's weird fondness of main cast (if you are complaining about sega not outright killing sonic or other main characters, Infinite is not the one you should blame + I have some ideas as to why he does that described later).
BACKSTORY
Infinite's initial motivation is fiiiine. As we can see in his prequel comic his main desire is to ruin, he even says that "he is tired of this world" at the end of it. So it's safe to assume that our Jackal doesn't like how things are going and wants to overthrow the current world order. As to why he is that way it's up for debate (more about it later). That desire is what drives him towards Eggman.
After unspecified amount of time "episode Shadow" happens. Shadow presumably kills the whole Jackal squad except Infinite whom he deems unworthy of killing and throughoutly insults him instead (super mean! Shadow wtf!). Infinite in attempt to somehow amend his self image after losing everything he had (all thanks to his ambition and Shadow btw), decides to abandon his old self as if it was a different person (sad to look at) and double down on alliance with Eggman because it's all he has left - professor's promise of greatness, something to cling onto. So that's how we get to forces. Some might say that Infinite doesn't really enact revenge on Shadow in any way, but there're still things to consider: 1. He actively avoids his old identity, so you can say that he avoids Shadow and feelings tied to him in the same way (doesn't necessarily mean that he doesn't feel them) 2. Eggman could have done some mental gymnastics with the Jackal. It's pretty easy considering that Shadow is a self proclaimed guardian of this world (he made a promise and all of that) + he works for GUN. So what better way to enact revenge than to ruin all the things your enemy stands for? Bonus points for this objective coinciding with his initial motivation.
Those options are something I thought of, I think they create a rather straight forward narrative + nobody said that those are the only ones.
Anyways I hate how people yet again somehow diled his story down to "Shadow beat him called him ugly and now hes bad". As if killing his whole squad is nothing, like Infinite's character can be interpreted in many ways, but even if you think that he is a cold hearted killing machine - how can he live as a captain and a sole survivor of the squad, it's the end of his mercenary life if captain is the only one standing that means he fucked up real bad it's the ultimate failure, there's no recovering your career after that.
CHARACTER
I saved this one for last because It's almost purely my headcanons and subjective opinions. Anyways as I mentioned above Infinite is not fond of current civilization for some reason. My take is that:
1. He hates united federation for some reason. I think it would be funny if jackal squad were some sort of child soldiers GUN experimented on. Desert is already torn apart by bandits Eggman and feds fighting all over the place, no one will notice random street orphans missing (a lil metal gear revengeance brainrot for ya). But they deserted and became a more evil versions of desert raiders from Archie becoming a nuisance for every party involved: collecting bounties, raiding Eggman's bases and GUN convoys - earning reputation and fame. But jackals' hate for their previous captors is not forgotten and it's also mutual as UF probably wants them dead as soon as possible because they are a living proof of their dark deeds.
2. I think Infinite has problems coping with all the things he was deprived of. His first instinct is hate "how dare they live normal happy lives while I'm fighting for my life every day!" And because all he knows is conflict he thinks that living by jungle rules is the only right way and everyone else is living a lie (that's how I interpret his lyrics). So his desire to ruin the civilisation stems from his idea that jungle rules shall return, and UF citizens should suffer the same way he does. (Spreading misery is fun amiright)
Also I don't think that jackal squad was a family or a friend group, more like a congregation of equaly fucked up individuals who kinda trust each other with tasks, as soon as they deem you a burden they will abandon you. Also imagine the pressure captain of such group would endure. Infinite is not ok. He is partially driven by pride, but also by peer pressure of his fellow child soldiers, being cruel = being strong. As a leader he must be the strongest. That's why his sadism might not be inherent to his character. Also I do think that he was bullied in his unregulated child environment, heterochromia and girly tendencies make him a prime target (CMON PEOPLE dude has the longest hair in the whole franchise and presumably lived in highly militarized environment, there will be problems). I guess he just powered through (it's hard to bully you when you are the strongest).
Anyways coming back to episode Shadow I think Infinite was so scared of not being in control, being pretty much bullied by some stranger. So he did what he always does - search for more power.
Interesting side note here is that Infinite doesn't really have ambition, he doesn't create himself a castle or even a throne (and he is someone with power to create things from thin air, for example it took Zetis 1-2 days to throw together those in idw, he doesn't do it despite having the whole year). He just wants power to not be pushed around and push around others (I IMPLORE you to understand, he is not a nice person, but it doesn't mean that people should just give up on him, my boy needs help).
Also I think episode Shadow warped his brain really hard, like he tries so hard to re-enact his own trauma onto others many many times despite clearly seeing it not working except the first time with avatar. Like we can clearly see that it's all he thinks about, how not deeming someone worthy of killing is the most painful thing he can inflict on them, far more painful than just outright killing the guy. This hinders his critical thinking really hard and it's sad to look at.
Anyways that's pretty much all of my thoughts on this guy (says the guy who thinks about him every day for past 1.5 years, I can mumble on and on, but it will never end if I do), hope you enjoyed!
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What are your predictions on which team will go against with which team in 3rd DRB? (while assuming we would get some new info during the first round of battle) ( ˊ̱˂˃ˋ̱ )
Jesus, idk. Let me see.
Based on how the last DRB was conducted, while every team is given a compelling reason to win in the drama tracks leading up to the DRB so that their victory will have a satisfying narrative payoff, it seems like one team may have a stronger narrative focus overall. We saw that last time with Fling Posse having higher stakes than the rest of the cast, with one of the characters' lives being threatened. (Naturally, while Ramuda living or dying didn't have anything to do with the DRB itself, dropping information that continually increased the tension in the several-year leadup prior to voting almost certainly influenced many fans to vote a certain way, especially those without prior strong feelings towards any particular team.) Similarly, the previous winning team in the second DRB (Matenrou) was given a less DRB-centric focus in their narrative, probably in an effort to reduce the chances of two successive MTR victories in a row and the backlash that would invariably cause from non-MTR fans. Neither Doppo nor Hifumi's character development had any sort of emotional tie to the DRB, and Jakurai's was loosely connected at best, with his emotional stake in the DRB being dependent on him giving it his best effort, not winning outright or even beating Hitoya.
So with that in mind, I assume FP will take more of a narrative back seat and will probably be paired up against a weaker-performing team to give that team's sales a beast, and that team will likely be BAT or DH. I say weaker-performing in terms of sales, which is largely dependent on these two being newer teams. I think DH generally sells better (overall, not necessarily in DRB results) than BAT by stint of Sasara's popularity, so I see FP vs BAT being the most likely. In terms of the in-series reasoning behind this, because there always needs to be some beef, I'm going to assume it has to do with Ramuda working for Chuuouku and his involvement in ruining Kuukou and Ichirou's friendship in TDD. But to be frank, everyone in 1gumi has at least a somewhat valid reason to have beef with Ramuda, so this isn't set in stone.
In terms of who will likely take narrative preference, I think MTC makes the most sense in terms of its strong sales in Japan (esp. because many of its fans are adult women with salaries, as opposed to the stronger teen demographics in other division fan groups) and lead-up to a high-stake plotline. With the hinting of a future Nemu and Samatoki showdown, Juuto's beef with many of the current and ex-Chuuouku leaders, and Riou's plans to break his major out of prison, they seem like the most currently plot heavy of the bunch outside of FP. So I think we'll likely get a strong focus on them and, to help ensure a chance at a victory, pair them up against a lesser-performing team. This could either be BAT or DH, as I mentioned above, but DH makes the most sense (and also frees up BAT for FP) as there's a natural source of tension between Sasara and Samatoki. Likewise, both BB and MTR are unlikely to be chosen due to already featuring in prior line-ups.
This leaves BB and MTR against one another, which I also see as a very likely option considering they were pitted against one another in the Grasshopper arc post-first DRB which came out before DH and BAT officially joined Hypmic. I have a suspicion that MTR vs BB was originally planned (note that, in this same arc, FP and MTC were pitted together, and this gives the justification for why Juuto and Riou are wanting to/willing to fight Gentarou and Dice) and quietly left on the cutting room floor when the last two teams were added. With this set-up already in place, there's nothing stopping the writing team from using it now. Also, with BB's high sales in the last DRB, this is another way to curtail another MTR victory, although I think this is less of a priority for KR than a repeat FP victory as it'd inspire less fan backlash.
This is all speculation, so don't quote me if it turns out to be horribly wrong.
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Why it Fucks: City of Mist's Themebooks
lateral character progression rules!
For those who don't know:
City of Mist is a 2017 Powered by the Apocalypse game from Son of Oak Games. Described as "set in a modern city where legends are real people. Heroes, tricksters, and monsters are reborn inside ordinary people, regular Joes and Janes, who gain supernatural powers connected to their legendary alter-egos."
The game focuses on telling stories that merge the fantastical with the grounded. Okay, if not grounded "lower altitude". It's the structure that you'd find any on detective/police/superhero procedural on TV. A detective game, even if those detectives are also embodiments of legends like Red Riding Hood or the Goddess Artemis.
One of the delightful things about it, and the reason behind this post. Is its use of what it calls themebooks. Every character at any given time is host to 4 themebooks. These can be powers tied to the myth you represent (Mythos) or some part of your mundane life (Logos). A Thor based character could have a "Relic" mythos for his hammer, and a "Defining Relationship" Logos with his old dad he cares for. They provide benefits to rolls when needed, have unique weaknesses and so on. Most importantly they have a mystery (for the mythos) and identity (for the logos) that tell us why we care or give little hooks. These themes get discarded and picked up throughout the game as you use them. Letting characters change without worrying about balancing difficulty.
As an example, let's look at one of the characters from the quick start, Salamander, tied to the myth of, well, the Salamander
One of his 4 playbooks is based on his job as a city water worker. We can see it has the identity "I need my job to survive" this tells us why it's important to him. I won't go in to much of the rest about power tags and such, instead looking back up to Attention and Crack.
Attention is like an XP track for that aspect of your character. There are a couple ways of gaining it like invoking your weakness tag for a penalty for example. You evolve it, expanding out the power/importance of the theme.
Whenever you take an action that goes against or would cause conflict with one of your themes it takes on a crack. Maybe Salamander has to leave his shift to go fight some bad guys, angering his boss. When the crack track is full, Salamander will lose that theme and trade it for another. Broadly, the themebook creation rules are written very generously. You can come in with a loose concept and they'll help you solidify it into something usable
Why It Fucks:
SO. What we have here are characters with 4 individual aspects that serve as side plots, mysteries or recurring beats that each have two directions they can go to (focus or conflict) that are, for the most part, entirely player directed as to which way they're going. Some MCs might twist arms for hard choices but at the right table that's just good drama baby.
This is a game that frequently references television procedurals or detective stories as big touch stones. What they've done here is empower not only the MC but the players to thread together their episodic adventures in a way that can also reflect consequence without making that player less "powerful" in game terms. Facilitating really dramatic change.
City of Mist is a game I'm quite fond of, it has it's issues but design like this is why I want to start writing these posts. Whatever I think about the game, this single little bit is SO! juicy to me.
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Just had an idea earlier that spiralled into a stream of consciousness huge story plot and I thought the svsss peeps would appreciate: might edit for clarity later I'm up late.
So
System uses masks ala majoras mask. When sy dies is forced into sjs body turned mask. Sqh recalls same when he arrived. With mask seam visible unless covered by makeup and his body being physically brought into pidw feels a lot more vulnerable. Possession tests still fail, given sj is technically possessing sy not the other way round. Can remove mask at will but doesn't unless really feeling rotten or system mandated, or with sqh (who feels REALLY weird doing it when someone else is nearby). Sy struggled a lot around yqy especially, the one person picking up the vibes.
When sy dies in sower central sqh manages to steal both the og mask and the new sy mask when he brings system to perform song of healing (severely creeped out by it) and replace with the false body they both made to cover their tracks generally (breaks into huan hua? Just gets there before lbh? Sy crashes on a roof and it hides the switch?).
Sqh takes 2 years to get the combined mask to the seed body and an extra 3 for it to bind to the empty body and provide enough energy to awaken the masks dormant soul (sy). Trying to steal his soul to the mausoleum fails, sqh gets killed!
Sy immediately does the same for him, and knowing what to do sqh is revived in mere months. Both hiding the og masks pose as rogue cultivator scholars, forming bestiaries and travelling to the places both have only dreamed of without worrying about plot (they're worrying about plot).
With lqg given the extra time manages to beat lbh on the sixth year and return Sqq's false body, only for it to turn to dust without spiritual energy to keep it stable (the bodies having been made with burial/destruction in mind and not long term). Furious, cq launches full scale attack on lbh, who responds with equal ferocity for same reason (also mbj is feral and long past mad with cq). This drags sy/sqh back, system forcing them to try and save the tatters of the plot.
Sy manages to self sacrifice yet again by performing song of healing, purifying lbh of xm influence while also ""purifying"" - removing - both masks from his seed body (grand reveal). In the ensuing chaos sqh reveals himself trying to get to sy, and mbj drags him off.
He manages to call for yqy to save sy to save the world, but... there is a sj mask too.
Yqy is forced to choose in front of a crowd of everyone important (who almost all have very strong opinions), with a time limit of a rapidly decaying plant body. He puts sy on at the last moment, but steals the sj mask to try and resurrect himself.
Sy manages to descalate the war by revealing the truth of the false body and lbh, freed from xm, is able to not immediately try and kidnap him. Sy hauls him off to the bamboo house to heal and his army is sent to the base of cq. Lqg gets closure and the realisation his sis is dating shl. Sqh is already back in the North clutching his og mask. Yqy is slowly slipping into desperation until sqh and sy regroup and provide a possible answer - there are still seed bodies.
With the vow (lqg enforced) that the 'new' pl won't lose their positions, sqh and sy bring yqy to the seed garden, where they spend several panicked hours searching for unrotted bodies. Sj gets the one intact adult one, and sqh (with mbj agreement) finds an unripe seed for, possibly, a bby og sqh down the line (its removed for stasis until they're ready, or if they decide to adopt him out. Sqh thought it was only fair for the soul to get a proper childhood).
A year later, sj returns, and yqy digs him out of the dirt himself. Sy and sj come to an agreement on sharing qj (to the disciples excitement) and talk lbh down (more time to spend at lbh Palace!) HEA.
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Now that I think about it--given how Eclipse, and later Sun, showed that it was possible to hop between Sun and Moon's mindscapes, especially when the two are asleep, I'm wondering if the mindscape Blood Moon was hanging out in when their two halves officially met was actually Moon's and that, once again, Eclipse was lying in regards to the actual timeline of events.
In one of the extremely early VR episodes, Moon mentions being able to feel his homicide code mending itself... and I'm wondering if what he was actually feeling was Blood Moon shifting around, or possibly even getting settled as per Eclipse's desires. Because I'm fairly sure that Blood Moon was under Eclipse's thumb for longer than just a "few days." This thought mainly comes from the fact that when Blood Moon first wakes up in their own, weak animatronic body, the Daycare is the renovated one. And that only got renovated right around the time Lunar was activated. So for Blood Moon to wake up there means that he would have had to "jump ship," as it were, right around that time.
Or... it's also possible that one of those earlier theories was correct, and he actually left Sun/Moon at the same time Eclipse possessed Monty--as in, they tagged along, and then they just stuck around when Eclipse left. Monty did wake up beating someone to death, and apparently this is something he regularly does, so Blood Moon probably wouldn't have minded hanging out there. And Monty has mentioned hearing voices before, so he might not have noticed the extra tag-along. And since it was Monty in charge of renovating the daycare, it would have been very easy for Blood Moon to slip out again and claim that animatronic we originally met them in--which may very well have been something that which belonged to the theater (as Moon theorized) and then accidentally got left behind in the construction process.
And, honestly, given that Eclipse intentionally created Blood Moon to distract Moon, it is far more likely that his original plan was either some sort of generic revenge scheme on Moon or the "remake the world" plan (depending on when exactly Moon made the star), rather than him only deciding on those after realizing he could use the star to track Blood Moon. Because, even though Eclipse is terrible at long-term planning, it really does seem like a waste of potential to use the star just for tracking purposes when there are so many other methods he could have used if finding Blood Moon was his only goal.
Not to mention the fact that, based on his reactions, I don't think he even really wanted to "find" Blood Moon so much as "pinpoint his location so I can make sure I stay far away from this terrifying being/be able to create some sort of weapon or trap to destroy him if he does happen to come near me." Which is honestly probably what he was making the tazers for anyways, since it's not like any of Sun and Moon's so-called "friends" (aside from Monty) bothered to show up at any point besides Roxanne that one time (and I'm still a little disappointed that plot point about Eclipse assembling a "team" didn't really go anywhere) and then Chica and Funtime Foxy breaking in after October was already over and Sun and Moon were specifically not home.
...Anyways, the point is that there may be more than one contributing factor as to why Moon is so emotionally stable now, though I do think Lunar is contributing a lot of help to that.
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This is a genuine question as I haven't watched Ex-Aid or 01, but in what way is Yuya Takahashi writing women that they're somehow notably badly written in his shows despite him giving us a decent chunk of our female riders? Geats is my first brush with his work and I feel like they're alright here. I really can't stand certain brands of misogyny and I want to know what I'd be getting into if I watched his other work.
Hmmm thinking about it it has been a LOT less present in Geats than his other works. Perhaps he's been put through the Inoue Re-educator...
I feel his brand of misogyny is similar to what you'll usually see in Rider but like to an even further extent. Major female characters frequently find themselves without any of their own agency without the aid and guidance - or, often, the command - of a man and are very often turned away from very obvious plot beats that would capstone their story (which would have been special one-episode things so it's not even like Bandai's need to sell toys to boys would likely get in the way of it).
He also tends to just never let them transform (I think you can like count on one hand how many times Poppy actually used her belt after her evil arc), or flesh them out in the same way as male characters (it took until the post-series V-Cins for Valkyrie to get even the slightest hint of a backstory), or even just write them in a way that's natural? Like, just, he seems to have this thing of not recognising women as people who have just as much autonomy and complexities as men, and constantly they get shoehorned into having no personality or very one-note tropes? Not like Kamen Rider has a track record of perfectly-written women or anything, but even looking at adjacent examples like Ghost's Akari, or Saber's Mei, or Build's Sawa and Misora; there's absolutely criticisms you can have of their treatment and how they don't get to transform but they're all very well-realised characters with their own personalities and ambitions and have their own journeys and interesting character dynamics in the show and their place in the themes and... and I just look at someone like Izu or Yaiba and I despair? Or maybe that's just a Takahashi problem in general actually, I don't think he ever figured out a second character trait for guys like Tycoon or Snipe
I'm trying to describe things in more general terms here but I think taking basically any of his female characters under a microscope is much more telling because they all have their own specific issues. For me and a fair few others Izu's treatment in 01 (from being a subservient robot secretary who wants for nothing more than to be Aruto's subservient robot secretary, has no more character development or even really character interactions beyond that, gets fridged for easy character drama, and then in the finale Aruto just builds a new Humagear from scratch with the intent of molding it into Izu) was the breaking point that made us realise he has a pattern of how he treats women in these shows. Na-Go scared me at first because, wow, he sure is characterising a woman purely by how she wants to fall in love with a man... and actually some of that is starting to come back now with how Weird her supporter feels. But she has certainly been a marked improvement over her predecessors so maybe the guy's learned something
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book club with gav! book 2: reputation
reputation by sarah vaughan
i picked this one up from the bookstore because i recognized the author, having watched and..... decently enjoyed the netflix limited series 'anatomy of a scandal' which was adapted out of another of her books. i didn't want to just read anatomy of a scandal because i'd watched the series, and i wanted to enjoy a New Story. i liked the look of it, it seemed to be dealing with some elements that i find really compelling - courtroom drama, political drama, social and journalism media, etc. reputation on the whole is something i'm a little obsessed with. thought all that sounded cool.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: gang it is not good. this is not a good book. the writing style was in DESPERATE need of an editor, with details that seemed irrelevant peppered all over, overstuffed bloated sentences that confused what was being described and why, etc. it also had a habit of utilizing a narrative trick that i think can be very fun if it's used effectively and sparingly. (i've used it myself actually, and i try to apply the same approach - use it sparingly, and make sure that it works enough to justify it.) it's this sort of like- there's probably an actual literary term for this, but it's like. retrospective narrative commentary on what's happening, 'i.e. i wouldn't know until later how bad of an idea that was, it was naive of me to trust him, at the time i believed him, this would come back to bite me when, etc'. this book used this so fucking often that it didn't just foreshadow future events including twists, it just. flat out told you what they were all going to be, leaving you able to predict beat for beat what was going on like 75% of the time. the povs were ineffectively deployed, and half of them didn't need to exist. the timeline jumping was fun for me but i can see that it would be hard to track if you weren't specifically watching it like i was. i didn't like the characters. any of them. the protagonist was infuriating and not in a fun way. and the overall promised thing that was the most compelling about the dust jacket - the way it stated the protagonist "is a liar" played out in the most boring way possible. the most interesting information came at the very, very end in the last, extremely short portion of the book that was effectively an epilogue, and it wasn't set up well.
now. in order to contextualize my thoughts about this book it is necessary to like..... go into a plot synopsis. it’s an EXTENDED plot synopsis. so that and my thoughts will be below the cut. general cw for this book that it's a murder mystery, so there's that, and this discussion of it will include brief and nondescriptive references to a mentioned suicide (we don't even know the character, he's related to a very small side character), revenge porn and nonconsensual nude pictures that are nonconsensually distributed, and some discussion of sexual assault/predatory relationships.
plot summary!
so the plot of the book can be summarized this way: protagonist, emma webster, is a member of british parliament. she's a labour mp. she's an advocate for women's rights and feminist issues specifically, and has a current agenda about an anti-revenge porn bill. because of her advocacy, she sees a LOT of online harassment and threats of a truly vile nature, and some twitter threads and social media posts are included in the book. i love this sort of thing (the media threads), but i wish they'd done more with it. she is divorced and has a 14 year old daughter. her ex-husband is remarried to a former friend of hers from when she was a teacher. she is working with a specific journalist on this revenge porn bill. she lives part time in a home in her constituency, and part time in a home she shares with two other female mps close to parliament in london. events go down as follows, though i'm not 100% clear on the timeline, because this book had 45 plots.
- protagonist is getting threats, she thinks her daughter is unaware of them, is mostly brushing them off while also being super intensely freaked out about them
- daughter is having trouble at school: she's being bullied by an ex-friend who among other things has an instagram making fun of her
- protagonist has a particularly angry and frightening interaction with a scary man from her constituency who's mostly mad he thinks she doesn't care about veterans issues because she doesn't talk about or campaign on them
- threats she's receiving amp up, she starts to get texts direct to her mobile
- she is freaking out constantly about her security and whether she’s safe at home. thinks every man she sees is going to throw acid in her face, which is both reasonable as a fear (genuine heightened threat to female politicians) and unreasonable as a fear (white women who consume too much true crime and think every single person in the universe is personally trying to serial kill them specifically complex).
- she fucks the journalist and then immediately is like hm i should not have fucked that journalist, immediately ends the relationship and basically ghosts him, they don't even work together professionally after that.
- the morning after she fucks the journalist she finds out daughter has taken secret nudie pics of her ex friend in order to teach that ex friend a lesson about...... being a bully and also too proud of her body? i guess???? and sent it to the boy her ex friend likes. the police are involved. it could be a child porn charge bc both girls are 14. the boy is 16.
- this is gonna be really fucking bad for the protag and for daughter if it gets out to the news, especially given protag is campaigning against revenge porn and uh... well... this is similar enough it's gonna be hugely bad.
- protagonist is obsessed and anxious to pieces about the possibility of this leaking
- the daughter isn't actually charged, she just sort of gets suspended from school and then sent to another unit in the school for problem studentsTM. literally this is all of the consequences the daughter sees for her behaviour. that’s the whole thing.
- threatening texts are persisting, protagonist thinks Angry Man Constituent is stalking her, bc he is, we see this in... his pov for some fucking reason
- journalist lets protagonist know that he's been tipped off about a story involving the daughter that they can't print for legal reasons but if she works with them, they can spin it well
- protagonist flips shit
- she then concludes journalist is also stalking her. his paper posts pictures of her taking the trash out and is like She Seems Stressed! she takes this as an indication that he personally and specifically is stalking her and hates her and wants to take her down and ruin her daughter’s life, thinks there is a coded message in the article about her daughter.
- journalist turns up dead (he's badly hurt in her home, dies in hospital)
- protagonist goes on trial for his death
- she initially tells the cops and her friends and Everyone that she came home and found him at the bottom of the stairs. turns out this was a lie. she pushed him. trial is basically on whether it was murder or self defense.
- trial occurs, she is acquitted, important detail we learn is that the journalist got a message from a FB account he thought was her inviting him to the house. big part of the trial was that he was just There when she got home and she thought he was there to like. attack her or smth.
- things we learn after the trial in the last like, 40-ish pages of the book:
- the angry man constituent comes to the trial and yells at her when she's acquitted that his son (a vet) has died by suicide, and is then arrested and given a non-contact order
- the threatening texts were not coming from him, they were coming from her daughter's ex-friend now-bully's mom? i guess?
- her daughter is the one who sent the message inviting the journalist to the house in her mom's name. she wanted to talk to him, convince him not to run the story because she figured it was on her to handle the situation for some reason.
- journalist got "x-rated" photos from a former university lecture section tutor of protagonist from when she was like 19 and in a sexual relationship with him (a pretty predatory one it seems) that will destroy the former tutor now-professor and political pundit's reputation (which would be a good thing, he sucks). this will also be devastating for protagonist (bad, yikes, bro, no). he wants to offer to protagonist that if she will work with them on that story, which will also prop up the point they're making together about her anti revenge porn bill, he will bury the thing with the daughter entirely.
- this is what he was coming to talk to her about that day, and this is why she pushed him down the stairs. because she did. it's made clear in the last bit that she very much did Panic And Murder Him.
- the reason the daughter didn't get there in time to be there first, why the protagonist got there first and this all happened, and there was so much confusion over who invited him there and why and all that, is that her train was delayed bc of. the constituent's son's suicide. whoof.
- the step-mom knows what the daughter did.
- none of this....... ever comes out i guess? it all kind of fizzles. that's it that's the book.
oKAY. now for: my thoughts.
fuck this book sucked so bad.
it was so distracted. it could not decide what it wanted the plot to be, or what it wanted the twists to be, or what they wanted to focus on, and it made all of its contents so much more muddled because of that. i was so thrown by the angry man constituent because literally the only relevance he actually ended up having to the story was as a direct case representation of the way the protagonist was being harassed and stalked and that his son's suicide was what delayed the daughter from getting there before the protagonist got home and found the journalist there. WE GOT HIM AS A POV CHARACTER. WHY? WHY DID WE NEED THAT???? all the stuff with the daughter was so unclear too? everyone here is an unreliable narrator which is fine but the way that they were unreliable was so like....... confused and muddled and nonspecific. did the daughter and the protagonist drop the ex-bff when protag got elected and ice her out? did ex-bff stop talking to the daughter for no reason and then get mean to her For No Reason? i have genuinely, honestly, really no fucking idea. and it's all like this. two characters will have wildly different perceptions of an event or a string of events, and there is NO clarity on which of them is right. which like, i'm struggling to articulate my issue with this, because that's a narrative choice you can make, but i think it does a disservice when we just... all of them are like this? they're all the same amount of unreliable, which makes it completely impossible to tell who actually IS unreliable, and there's just no way to know what actually fucking happened in this fucking book. i like an unreliable narrator. i don't like not knowing what the hell happened in a book like. On The Whole. there's no follow-through. there's no contextualization. there's no way to anchor any of it to reality. it made me nuts.
the protagonist was self-centred, sanctimonious, boring, and non-committal. there was nothing likable about her, either as a person or as a protagonist. she took so little action in her own life, and there was like... the lying that i was promised in the dust jacket didn't pan out in any kind of interesting way. she lied about finding the journalist at the bottom of the stairs when really she pushed him, but this is revealed so fast it barely matters, and the rest of the book has two small instances of what seems to be her misremembering minor interactions with other characters and saying something didn't happen when it did, and then being Seen As A Liar because she. lied about the initial finding the journalist. and then i guess not disclosing the things with the pics of her and her ex-tutor but... it just. didn't pan out in a way that was at all interesting. everyone else also sucked but it was never clear how much? the daughter's step-mom was like everyone thinks of me as the Other Woman and it's not fair 😠 and the journalist was doing some shitty journalism things though nowhere near as much as protagonist thought and the daughter did some shitty things too and never had any kind of sympathetic impression to me.
there was what i referred to often as like, milquetoast girlboss feminism all over this book. it was STEEPED in it. the whole thing was like, a thesis on how dangerous it is to be a female politician, which, yes! this is SO true! but it had nothing to say about that reality except that it exists, and there was also like... idk it felt very like, this is a perspective and landscaped shaped by White Girl True Crime in a lot of ways? she was obsessed with her own risk and this was never examined in any way. a lot of it was legitimate and real and a lot of it wasn't. she thinks every single person she interacts with is out to get her- specifically every man, which okay, i can get that. but also like... it caused her to lash out at everyone she knows, freak her daughter out, be unreasonable and cruel to her roommates. she had a simultaneous need to think she was two seconds from being murdered at all times and also to act to everyone around her like everything was fine, while also expecting them to take every concern she had immediately seriously at defcon 1. this was never unpacked. she wore a well behaved women rarely make history shirt in the second paragraph, talked about The Trolls all the time, and the book quoted harry potter in the daughter's section. it made weird and uncomfortable choices with race, when it engaged with race at all. just. overall hm.
here is an example of the way that race is dealt with here, in a section where the protagonist is about to be cross-examined by the crown prosecutor.
lot going on HERE huh! and it is all completely unexamined. yikes!
and then there’s this - the only other time when a character is identified as a person of colour. it’s a very uncomfortable thread where the like. it girl, most popular kid in school who the protagonist's daughter's friend abandoned her to suck up to is the only other identified character of colour in this book aside from this prosecutor and the daughter is repeatedly - REPEATEDLY - referred to as, and i’m directly quoting here, “an english rose.” she’s just so pale and thin you see. that’s why she’s so bullied, you see. because she’s so so so white. and so so so sooooooo thin. qualities well known to cause bullying in high school students- anyways. here’s the description of the most popular girl in school. who the daughter’s friends abandoned her for.
once again! YIKES! LOT going ON here! let’s unpack some of it shall we! (putting aside some of the... cringeworthy attempts at a grownass woman trying to emulate the slang of current day 14 year olds. i know it’s been eleven years since i was 14 but “bae-girl” is Nothing and im embarrassed for her just reading it. a lot of her Teen Talk has sounded good and natural but this is NOT it and her texting slang was atrocious.)
anyways. so. idk how it plays off to have your protagonist’s redheaded extremely pale skinned “english rose” daughter set up to be the target of social ostracism and bullying because her friends all chose trying to get close to the school’s super popular It Girl, who is described Like That. i think Not Good! not that there are never school hierarchies that fall down these lines but way these descriptions are presented and the language around them plus the whole “you an author are making up the social landscape here and are making some questionable choices villainizing a “confident, mean, hard” brown girl in contrast to the sensitive and delicate extremely pale white girl”” thing is like……. there are choices being made and i don’t like them.
and then there’s the ex best friend herself. who the daughter took the creepshot of and sent it to the boy the exbff likes. who is described like this (content warning for some SURPRISE! fatphobia as well!)
Flora hated her for this. She hated her for being so comfortable with her body. Despite her rounded tummy and the fat bulging over her bra, she liked herself enough to parade around the changing room, her double-Ds shoved up, her head tilted to one side.
i would like to remind the court at this time that this is the same ex-bff who is apparently basing a large part of her bullying campaign on how So So So THIN this girl is. because you know. the fat girl bullying the thin girl for how thin she is - another famously common high school social dynamic. you know how fat girls rule the school and thin girls are just so- sorry i can’t even stick the landing on that sarcastically lmao. again. not that things never shake out this way but 1. this is an author making choices and doing zero critical engagement with them, 2. this is playing into some bad shit and i hate it.
there are so many other things i could get into here. i have so many examples of sentences that were written so, so badly. i have so many specific moments that sucked ass. but i would keep going forever if i didn’t stop, i just want to leave on one last note: it’s not that the protagonist was a shitty person. it’s not that bad things happened and no one saw proper consequences. it’s that like- it’s that none of it was intentional. she sucked and i don’t think she was supposed to, at least not that much. i was promised a protagonist who was a liar. that was not what i got. i got ONE lie and two instances where she seemed to either mildly misrepresent or misremember a specific conversation she had. i got Poor Protagonist, She Told One Little Panic Lie And Now EVERYONE Thinks She’s A LIAR! Poor Baby! i got milquetoast girlboss white girl feminism that was completely uncritically presented. i got ‘everyone is out to get me all the time’ and this was given as a perfectly reasonable thing to believe and act on not ‘the real danger she faces has warped her worldview and she either needs some serious help or to find another career, as it is causing her excessive amounts of distress and she is lashing out at everyone in her life without consideration for their feelings or experiences or fears. ugh.
anyways. forthcoming are the two (2) shining lights from this book aka moments that were so fucking ludicrous they made me laugh hysterically. but that’s a separate post that i’ll make in a moment.
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okay i’ve listened to 5sos5 a handful of times now so i think i have a general vibe check in my head so! i thought i’d do a track-by-track bc that’s what the Cool Kids™ are doing and i am but another lemming rushing towards the cliff that is the trends of the 5sos side of tumblr. also this got so fucking long so if you read the whole thing you get as many gold stars as you want lol
Easy For You To Say: this is the song that stayed stuck in my head after I listened to the whole album. It’s incredibly catchy and has heaps of good lyrics! Admittedly I don’t really follow the entire narrative but I think that’s more of a me thing than a reflection of the lyrical content. (and i do get most of it! there’s just a few threads i have yet to tie together.) i love the play on words that is “a piece of peace of mind”. sonically it has me bopping my head to the beat basically the whole way through! I think it’s in a good location in terms of the album as a whole
COMPLETE MESS: definitely a single for a reason! it’s one you can shout-sing along to which is always a plus i like the rushing sound leading into the chorus/other different moments, and lyrics-wise i love that it can be read as platonic or romantic love :)) that’s how you know they’re catering to me. also! michael’s part! the way it changes the tonality/meaning and the way you can hear him smiling as he’s singing!! and of course the fact that all of them sing on it!!! we love to see it! my main con is that it’s pretty repetitive lyrically but still i won’t hold it against them. this song makes me want to write a fic that would fit the title “you make me (a) complete (mess)” so badly but alas i have yet to come up with a plot to match its energy
Bad Omens: i LOVE the way this song plays with leaving the “else” off the phrase “you love somebody else” it’s soooo narratively interesting and i would love to see an angsty unhappy ending songfic that utilizes this concept (if anyone wants to write it *eyes emoji*) i like the way it loops very nicely (it fades in and out in the same way which is satisfying) (and possibly a metaphor for the futility of the relationship? but maybe i’m reading into things too much lol) the line “I should have known right there and then you were a runaway” feels like a very 80s lyric (and not just bc it reminds me of runaway by bon jovi lol) i will say i am not as in love with it as everyone else seems to be (idk why it’s the big hit out of the non-singles?) but it’s not bc it’s bad, it’s just probably not going to have me obsess over it
Take My Hand (Joshua Tree Version): if any song deserves to be called vibey it’s this one. i think the musicality and the lyrics really work well together in this song, especially for the verses. there’s an almost melancholy feeling to it and now that i’ve listened to it several times it’s started to resonate with me more and more. like a lot of the songs on the album i’m not sure how often i’ll go out of my way to listen to it, but that’s more bc this album isn’t necessarily in my go-to genre than a measure of the song's individual worth. i feel conflicted about the extension to the song, bc on the one hand behind the scenes-type stuff! the voice note vibes make me soft! But idk if it actually adds anything to the song on its own,, like if i didn’t love the band i don’t think it’d really do too much for me. also what is he saying the background! it doesn’t sound like all the same lyrics! let me hear it!!! omg i forgot to mention the “few more souls on the bus now” line it’s just *chef’s kiss* no notes nearly made me cry when i heard that bit live ngl
Me Myself & I: another banger of a single (that is a bit too repetitive for its own good) it’s catchy it’s fun to sing along to and i honestly don’t have much else to say about it lol
CAROUSEL: the first time i listened to this all I could hear for the first,, minute? at least? was a taylor swift 1989 lost track and i have yet to totally shake that off lol. (see what i did there?) driving metaphors!!!! there is a tiny part of me that’s reminded of u2’s city of blinding lights during the chorus (which is a compliment btw) but that’s just bc i’ve listened to that song way to many times lol. it’s a good song, but i honestly have very few opinions about it other than why is it capitalized?? is it tied to the other capitalized songs somehow??? 5sos tell me what your thought process is!!!
Older: skip! sorry y’all it’s just not my vibe i rarely like piano ballads as it is and i just think that it has several places where they *could* have done something cool and then didn’t. i will say seeing the performance of it in the tofu live show did melt my frosty heart but not enough for me to add this one to my liked songs.
HAZE: idk why it’s titled what it is but it’s a bop! I love the way the vocals swap off; it’s done quite cleverly imo and i think it shows the different strengths of each of their lyrical styles well (if i’m right that the vocals match some of the writing credits) it’s vibey it makes me want to stick my arms and pretend i’m cruising :)) also thematically it’s a little like a dog waiting impatiently by the door bc their person is out and about which i love
You Don’t Go To Parties: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this song!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the cashton vocals!!!! the bass!!!! the car metaphor!!!! also the repetition of the number five anyone?? clearly they’re 555sos fans /j also they’re totally referencing the maine in the second verse right guys? guys? but in all seriousness i love how visual the storytelling is! the lyric “racehorse trippin' on the dirt that you got on me” is very !!! especially bc the beat for the verses almost “trips” over itself (although maybe that’s just me reading into things lol) also i am very happy that my opposite vibe-check wish/comment that i made way back when they first dropped the titled kinda came true bc it’s def more of a banger than people were predicting :)) we love to see it. i am ignoring the fact that the title is capitalized incorrectly but telepathically i’m telling them to put their song titles through that capitalization checker next album
BLENDER: !!!!!!!! banger of my heart!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is def my favorite of the singles it’s just *such* a bop i will never listen to this song without remembering bouncing around in the very tiny cabin i was quarantined in at the time this song dropped and honestly i don’t hate it! this song makes me smile every time i hear it i love the line “ricocheting off the bed” even though i’m honestly not sure i’m interpreting it right i love the bassline i love how danceable it is!! i don’t have anything coherent to say lol it’s a bop idk what more you could ask for
Caramel: i don’t have the vocabulary to talk about the instrumentals in this song but it’s a vibe! it’s a song that demands you move your shoulders and i’m lowkey here for it. the harmonies are tasty the chorus is catchy the bridge is mmmmmmmmmmmmmm i’m fascinated by the choices made in the outro but in a positive way? altho i could take or leave the acoustic bit tbh. in a less positive note, we all agree that the only reason it’s named caramel is bc there aren’t a lot of songs named that and they wanted a certain number of one word titles, right? bc unless there’s some deep meaning i’m missing there’s no reason for that to be the title (that being said i’d love to for there to be a secret meaning please tell me 5sos i want the secret caramel knowledge) the other negative of this song is that it’s inevitably going to start a debate over the right way to say caramel (which isn’t the way they say it in the song fyi)
Best Friends: when i first started listening to the album i took a moment to accept the fact that this song could be a love song and that i’d be okay with it and then it was a friendship song and i got to breath a sigh of relief lol. the chorus is wonderful to shout with your bff (this has been tested 😊) it captures this younger feeling compared to the other songs on the album and i vibe with it! the line “life is like a poem written on a bathroom wall” is *such* a good lyric and conjures up such specific images! it’s a banger it’s a song to bounce along to i could see it in a jukebox musical as like the happy triumphant near-the-end song
Bleach: talk about a mood shift! (i think this is the song that reminded me of maisie peters? i’m pretty sure) i love the swapping of the vocals, it does something different in this song than in the previous songs which is fascinating to me! i love the line “everything i was spinning down the drain” it’s just. yeah. it’s a good quiet song for the album; it fits in well and is a good breath in if that makes sense
Red Line: a train song!!! i can’t wait to listen to this on my next train ride y’all don’t even know. it’s got vibes and a cool concept. that being said it’s not a huge standout song on the album, but not through any particular fault of its own; i don’t think it’s going to be one i listen to a ton (other than on public transport lol) i do like how the standard version closes out with the train door sound, it’s fun!
Moodswings: i love how the song makes me sway in play (you could say that i’m almost swinging) (get it? it’s a play on-[gunshot]) i would love to see an apocalyptic take on this song tbh (“through bloodshot eyes the sky is fallin’” anyone?) i think it’d make a deliciously angsty songfic! also love the self-destructive and codependent nature of the lyrics i just think that they portray it well!
Flatline: a bop! it’s a great “first love” love song it’s catchy it’s got some slightly strange lyrical undertones in the pre-chorus that i would love for someone smarter than me to analyze bc otherwise i’m going to coming up with a truly unhinged explanation (and that is a threat) i can def see why it’s a bonus song but still good!
Emotions: i want a proper rock cover of this song so fucking bad please i would pay real people money for it i think i deserve it!! michael’s voice is, of course, *chef’s kiss* i do wish the lyrics weren’t so,, broad? if that makes sense? i think the bridge threw me off lyrically the first time i listened to it bc i was like ‘yeah i get this feeling’ and then the bridge was just. not relatable lol but that’s a me thing (and now part of me’s like ‘are there some sarcastic undertones?’ bc i’m here for it if they are) but yeah i don’t really know how i feel about this song yet i think if i get my hard rock cover then it could be my next favorite song but until then it’s just a sort of vibe ig
Bloodhound: swapping vocals to change the narrative!!!! we love to see it!!!! very tasty bassline the beginning of the chorus makes me giggle a little it’s a funky beat i’d love for it to get a cheesy halloween themed music video the bridge makes me wish i could step dance (is that the right phrasing?) everyone who’s said michael singing “he took an L” is perfect is so correct i am mind melding with you
TEARS!: this songggggggggggggggggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you may call me predictable for saying this is one of my favorites but come on. how i could not love this song??? once again the cashton vocals coming in clutch i mean this really is a song for the rhythm section in all the ways! the line “i’ll feel better if i let myself sink deeper” is really going straight for my jugular and i am 100% here for it. it’s such a good exploration of these kinds of depressive states and i just!! hrghhhhhhh also their voices on the last “alive” in each chorus????? SO fuckin tasty i want to eat that one note. the bridge reminds me strongly of something but i can’t think of what it is :(( also ashton’s voice on “fifty rounds of uppercuts i’m bleeding”???? i am going to throw myself into a pit. i understand why they made it a bonus song from a stylistic standpoint but also why. it deserves to be on the main tracklist. it’s got a great mixture of the style of superbloom but make it 5sos and i love that for it! my only complaint is the title like. wtf guys. like yes that is what it sounds like when it’s said in the song but that doesn’t make it title material! but that’s okay i forgive them since it’s such a banger <3
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Unused AMT Fic Plot Concepts
Sooo I was chatting with a reader the other day about some of the very early ideas I didn't use for A Monster's Threads back while I was writing it.
While I definitely had a decisive sketch of its general layout, especially regarding the (mostly) canon timeline --Ever Crisis, First Soldier, and Before Crisis taken out of the equation --there were a lot of crazy and out there ideas I had that I sort of wish I'd included. So I'm placing a few here if you're curious.
...some of them were really stupid. In hindsight, I probably should have just included a few more Gast chapters, along with an extended look at the Wutai War. But oh well. The fic's basically a giant soap opera with a focus on friendship so whoops. It's already melodramatic (and LONG) enough.
The fic originally was not going to open up with Sephiroth's birth, but instead a bunch of elders in Cosmo Canyon discussing strange omens brewing across the planet. It was to culminate in the discovery of a huge blood moon that evening, basically as a cheesy way to evoke a sense of dread and foreboding before the birth of our main man. What does it have to do with anything? No clue. I was being ambitious and artsy lmao
Sephiroth was originally going to have selective mutism during the early chapters, only speaking out loud for the first time when Gast leaves him. I actually might have kept this. But it would have been difficult because of the heavy degree of descriptions.
Babyroth also would have worn a shock collar until his Wutai deployment, mostly as a way for Hojo to keep him in line.
Aerith wasn't going to be featured. But due to the immense amount of fanworks featuring her and Seph together as kids, I caved.
Sephiroth and Hojo were still on speaking terms by the time he was deployed to Wutai. Hojo gave him a scarf and claimed it was something his mother had made for him. Sephiroth wears it throughout the majority of Part 2 only to discover upon his return that it had a tracking chip sown inside so Hojo could keep tabs on him--ANOTHER collar. And Sephiroth beats the hell out of Hojo then and there. Changed it because by Chapter 23 Sephiroth was clearly done with Hojo's shit.
Sephiroth acquiring the Masamune would have been different, with him obtaining it in the penultimate battle towards the middle of Part 2. Ever Crisis will probably actually show us how he got it anyway so shrug.
There was going to be a filler chapter of teen Genesis, Angeal, and Seph getting drunk off their asses and going on a little joyride after finding a case of some high grade alcohol in a pile of debris. Would have mostly just been stupid shenanigans.
Sephiroth's failed one night stand was originally going to be with Scarlet.
Sephiroth and Genesis were originally going to have physically consummated their rocky relationship before Genesis' departure.
Zack and Seph would have had a chapter of them "training" in Angeal's absence.
Following Angeal's death, Zack and Sephiroth would have gotten into a full fledged physical fight that ended up knocking Angeal's recovered corpse off the table. This was...kinda gruesome. And too much. Hence, Zack gets a good punch in and that's all.
Jenova was originally going to speak directly to Sephiroth in full sentences.
Sephiroth was originally going to jump to his death the same way he does in The Last Order. But other, more talented writers had already done something like this in the past, so I went with the traditional route.
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Hello there! I just found your work on AO3 and oh my god, I love Hess and Dan so much! Their dynamics! The subtle manipulations that you wrote for Hess is amazing! And the other thing that really made me attracted to their story is the pacing. Is it alright if I ask how you pace the chapters of your story? Do you maybe have a chapter structure or rough scenes in mind before you start writing? Story pacing is something I struggle with and I could use some advise and opinions 😭
(I'm so sorry @themonotonysyndrome - I couldn't resist. My brain saw 'Hello there', and defaulted! 😅)
Hello!
Yay! I'm so pleased you like Hess 'n Dan! ❤️❤️ Hess is a very difficult character to like, so I'm very happy indeed that you enjoyed him and his manipulating ways! (You've reminded me how much I've missed writing him - I really should finish off that last P2P oneshot!)
Oh gosh, I know the feeling! Pacing is always a pain for me too, so you have my sympathies! I can only tell you what I do. It may work for you, it may not (I know my chapters tend to be a bit lengthier than the norm, so I could be speaking about pacing here with an authority I don't have! 😅).
So, what works for me is this:
Generally, I know where the plot is going for a fic. I know several key points I have to hit along the way, both in terms of plot, but also character development. So I tend to aim for these 'pulse points' in each narrative. (I suppose 'Acts' might be a better term, although that sounds like me being pretentious!)
When I know which pulse point I'm aiming for, I work out roughly how long I think it will take me to get there. (E.g. Three chapters.) As you've probably guessed, this doesn't always work for me! (Hence my copious author's notes going 'One more chapter! One more!') However, I'll normally split a chapter up into sections. This is usually three or four scenes, and I'll make little notes for each one.
For example, my notes for chapter 1 of Path to Paradise were - quite literally - this:
Meet Hess (Dan asleep; woken up; meets the neighbours with tea; 'Oh no, he's hot')
Life on the beat (a demon is in trouble; Dan's secret identity! Bit of an explanation - what was he up to Before?)
Getting to know each other - start playful; end with a little bit of 'let's not talk about it'
Hess you gorgeous sinister bastard (soft start, early morning; a 'first' kiss, that's Dan's undoing - this is it: this is the start of everything unravelling; say hello to the Beast
Dan's WTF moment (Hess's brand)
As you can see - not exactly genius notes! 🤣 But it helped me keep a clear idea of what I wanted from the chapter, and mostly kept me from derailing too far.
Sometimes I did derail though, and that's ok! From time to time, Hess or Dan veered sharply off track because they had more to say for themselves, and honestly you do have to go with what works (even if it means a detour).
Which is my very long and rambling way of saying: for pacing, it works for me to have a plan. I don't always stick to it, but I try to know what I'm aiming for. However, if sometimes you need to take a little longer to get to your writing destination, then that's fine too. The characters will let you know where they want to go!
I hope that helps! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
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kingdom staff finally heard my plea and they made ten cute this week :)
egg-shaped, as she should be, thanks ❤️
also a couple of additional lines between her and shin where he talks abt how they’ve only made up ground because of her…
cute for him to acknowledge it out loud like this!
also cute is shin & kyou kai’s campfires of dreams sequence…
the perfect little resolution to their conflict from ten plot, both in shin’s goofy apology and kyou kai insisting on bullying him a little bit about it, and then her comparing his relationship with ten to hers with shou just to confirm we’re all on the same page. and the conversation moving seamlessly into their shared goal/ending w kyou kai’s bit abt making general before shin… they are so sweet
tou and roku omi also have their adjacent scene where tou explains his Mentorship Scheme (his ou ki impression is so fun to hear out loud…) and the significance of this battle for shin and ou hon (and the manga had a panel of mou ten that i’m a little disappointed we didn’t get to see..) in terms of making a name for themselves by defeating someone else who has recently made a name for himself. which is the core & whole point of the arc, but I do think when shin is describing the situation (in extremely similar terms to tou in the other scene, which is just innately cute, he’s so on the right track!!) his phrasing does unintentionally cast light on a very funny aspect of the plan…
With all possible love in my heart, I don’t think it’s fair to say that this guy almost toppled kankoku pass lol. Like it’s an extremely valuable aspect of his character to me that he Is Legitimately Very Talented (and tou has good reason to believe this, I love that the arc opens with him immediately knowing that it’s hou mei he’s losing against) and that he *is* an opponent worth beating, but I just think it’s cute that he’s made such a name for himself off a campaign where all he did was get his siege towers burnt down and used against him, *and* that this newfound fame is the specific reason why he’s about to get curb-stomped by a bunch of teenagers. proud of my baby ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Oh, and also the best frame from this week is of course this one of shin and kyou kai in combat
woosh!!!
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🎶 for all your Raph muses tbe music meme give me all the songs bich you can delete the post but that ain’t gonna stop meeeeeeeeeeed
| Send me "🎶🎶🎶" and I will share with you 1-3 music tracks that I associate my muse(s) with!
*Considering I have playlists for them all I just had to pick three songs XD Keep in mind a lot of these choices are solely based on events in rp on the blog at least stuff that has enough development for me to comment on in terms of songs. Or goes into my protryal of Raphael over all.
We didn't start the fire
Is this love that i'm feeling
Beat It
*When it comes to all my 80's playlists I try so hard to keep the songs in that time frame but I have broken that over time XD but mainly it is still a good 80's mix. Anyway when picking his songs I tried to stick to his time frame. Can't say i'll be as dedicated on the others pft. Anyway time for my pop tart boy.
We didn't start the fire: I picked because it seems like a song reference he would make when it comes to how often him and his brothers wind up roped into situations he doesn't fully believe are their problem to deal with. But end up being their problem anyway. Like don't get him wrong when he feels it is their issue Raph's attitude is different like in the first season when it came to Splinter.
Is this love that im feeling: yes course this gonna be about Casey. Raphael just thought he had no real interest in romance why would he after all? He is a mutant turtle? maybe if there was a female mutant turtle? But even then he had doubts. The only time he kind of liked a girl was when he was hit with a love potion after all. He didn't seem to like girls so he wondered if he liked well men instead? based off his own comments he thought were just jokes. Then in came Casey Jones. Who he fell for pretty quick sure at first he found them nuts but he was attacking his brothers. And it didn't stop him from fighting Casey again later. But didn't keep Raph once they had a more friendship going on to wonder what was there. Turns out it was love its why he changed his tune to like Casey clearly. I also just like it for when he and Casey date. Sure loving someone is enough to date them but dating is how you see if you continue to love them. And that what Raph figured out. Also I like to think this is a song Raph would sign towards Casey uwu
Beat it: I find it funny and clear proof others don't watch the 87's series. Cause they have this weird outlook of Raph not lighting ti fight or being a fighter. And I agree he isn't looking to pick a fight but he is fucking petty and will start a fight. Raph is a very "I didn't start it but i'll finish" it type of fighter in this series. So a good song about throwing down to fight seems fitting for Raph's rude behavior.
*Normally I put 03/07 together but I feel some songs will fit better for some themes in 07 story plots.
1. Hercules
2. Brother
3. I'll be good
+4. Bonus song My best friends Ex
Hercules: Generally I love this song because it really works to dip into Raph's need to protect. It's not just in a physical way either Raph despite calling himself a lone wolf is someone who really just looks out and cares for others. He comes off selfish and uncaring but then you see how he is quick to put others before himself. Down plays anything going on with him but will put more worry into it for others. He loves to have space but is quick to try and reach out to someone else if he feels they need it. His stubborn ass is what makes him so loyal he has so much faith in others. He really will shield others from harm when they can't themself.
Brother: I love this song for TMNT in generally because a brotherhood is just such a strong theming for the series. BUT I'm directing this to his brothers. Raph's heart is one of four, his brothers are his whole world. Anything happens to one of them? and best look out he will die if it meat protecting his brother or getting revenge for them. Raph can seem harsh and distract but in the moments that matter most? he is the one by his brothers sides first. When need be he will step up into leader role so to make sure the rest are safe if Leo isn't around like when Leo left to see the Ancient one and they got attacked by Karai. One thing you don't get between is Raph and his brothers even when Raph distances himself them he knows they have him and he knows they know he has them. Why they count on him and will call out for him when needed especially Donnie.
I'll be good: It's not secret that Raph is his own worst critic. It's why I feel Splinter never got on Raph's case as much as he dose Leo during Leo's emo arc. Splinter will step in if Raph's going to far and offer advice but he knows no amount of scolding is anywhere as bad or deep hitting as what. It's hard for Raph to understand where his anger comes from. He wants to protect his family and it scares him to see how big the world is out there if they stayed in a much smaller area easier to maintain it be easier to protect them. Raphael just feels like he can't do right he fears being the one to hurt his brothers why he has nightmares of him being the shredder. He regrets any fight he has with Leo, the times he went to far with Mikey hell he got regrets with Donnie too. He wants to be good he wants to be more positive like Mikey can be but he just can't he feels something wrong he feels if he could cut into himself deep enough maybe just maybe he can find what it is and take it out.
My best friends ex: I couldn't give up the last three for this song but didn't wanna leave it out XD. Raph and Von's friendship in 03 verse is just so damn good to me I love it I love them being besties so much. It's funny cause I feel you wouldn't see these two being so close. But I think Von just not caring to fall for the image Raph sets up allowed her to get close to Raph. Maybe cause of her background who knows. Just in my mind if Von ever dated anyone outside Donnie they knew/or knew about Raph that friend thats hates them funnier if Raph don't know them he hates them uwu.
Danger to myself
Wannabe
Killing me
Danger to myself: For sure where Raph was at just after Leo had taken off. There was just a lot going on. Raphael hated that they were told they couldn't basically go on with their lives with Leo gone. Raph lost a good source of his distractions because of that and struggled with things going on with himself. Slowly he started to make things worse shut out his family, and pushing away those who he needed most. Donnie someone who always makes him feel a bit more grounded. But Raph lost his footing. Casey someone who always made him feel loved and needed. But Raph didn't love himself or feel he was needed. Night Watcher was so easy for him to hide anyway into. If he was the Night Watcher he didn't need to be anything more.
wannabe: Why this song? how do a spice girl song fit Raph. I feel like each of the adults have had moments where they are watch both Summer and Ariel on their own. Raph's soft for the two on their own as is. When they are together? He might as well be a floor mat for them. Just image them in a classic moment of the girls finding a way to rope Raph into thier antic and feel one is singing along to songs well messing around. Raph can act like he dont wanna be part of thier sleep over antics but I feel Casey walked in and found Raph singing along to the Spice girls with his daughters. XD basically it more a song that just makes me think of Raph in a parental route.
Killing me: May seem a bit misleading on how Im gonna be using this song but this is more meant for when Casey is going though his mid life crisis. You think Summer felt her dad just left? Oh trust Raphael felt the same way. But where Summer can speak on that and express how she feels Raphael will not. No different from how with his own family Raph seeing Casey going through what he was he in part knew that Casey needed to be allowed to. Raph had to go through his own stupid shit for a time. He saw Leo have to as well and even Donnie. But it wasn't easy, Raph had to keep things in home well in order. Had to make sure Summer was taken care of. Seeing Casey not in the right state. In truth I feel Raph reached out to April A LOT during this time. If he could swing it with disguises he of course takes Summer to practice himself. Raph didn't really have a support when he fell apart (he pushed them away that why) so he wanna try and give Casey the room to fall apart too and show Raph is there to help pull him back together like Casey has for him. But even Raph dose feel Casey's absence and it's killing him uwu
Lost
Sharks
Fine
Lost: Some of my favorite scenes dealing with Raph are when they see Splinter get thrown down into the sewers. And in his fit of rage Mikey hugs him to snap him out of it. And again during the space arc when one the angry planet Raph once more snaps and Leo hugs him. What snapped him out of it? Love uwu. Raphael is someone seen as uncaring he is quick to say he don't like ti deal with certain emotions. He is meant to be big bad tough Raphael. Yet, he is full of pain and a feeling of being just lost. Where he should be aware he is loved and needed sometimes he needs that assurance because Raph sees the worst in himself. Raph is hurting deep down and it come out in his anger and he wishes he knew better how to handle it to even understand why it's there so sometimes a bit of affection paid his way helps. Raph isn't bad a kid hes just very unheard. It shows that he can be heard by some and it should make Raph look weak that he dose need that at times. But to him dose. He just lost in the storm always in his mind. Sometimes he just needs to grab on to someone a moment.
Sharks: It's funny how often you can mirror Raph with some of the villains. You got of course his often foil in 2012 Fish face, the more obvious Slash before he was redeemed even being shown like a worse case for what Raph could become. And of course, there is the fact he and Leo are like a new generation of Yoshi and Saki. Often I feel why Splinter is how he can when it comes to Raph's anger and complaints on Raph likes to think he is better because hes good so he should be better he wouldn't sink to their levels. But he has he can even Slash alone showed what would happen if Raph let his anger consume him too much the beast he could become if he didn't have his brothers around? Raph would become so much worse. If he didn't have family he loves and looks out for than what would he have to keep him grounded?
Fine: Raph is the stereotypical character who talks shit about love and romance. Act like he so above his brothers who more open to showing they would like to fall in love. Raph very much that person who just can't understand someone loving him because of his own self hate. And he sort of projects that on the him and his brothers Who would love them. And yet? He wants it he wants to be stupid over someone, he and try and deny how he felt for hockey playing idiots all he wants but he don't want that he wants to also turn and say he's an idiot and he feels those things too. Cause deep down Raph is just a sappy romantic. He wanna just embrace those things too given the chance. So why not go ahead and show he might have intrest in his best friend just a bit uwu
Can't take me down
chills
I like it heavey
Can't take me Down: This is just a feel good song for Raph in general he is very much got this I can't be stopped mind set (boy do I look forward to him getting humbled or shown other wise that he isn't strong enough >:3) This is very much a how I carry myself kind of song. Despite how clearly everyone around him seems to look at him and see him needing some help professional level even or any time someone remarks on him going a bit too far? Raph will either defend it with a look of 'what do you mean?" or blow it off. He goes in loud with out a second thought. You can't take him down and much as they all hoped he thinks that's what will get people to love him uwu
Chills: I just like this for our rasey for mm with your take on MM casey uwu Since we always tend to give Casey the theming of ice. But it also just fits because Raph never been in love before not really something he thought of only to make fun of Leo over. The. Comes Casey someone who gives him litteralt chills uwu
l like it heavey: someone thar is a mutant? Yeah, this start of the song dots alone as is. But Raph himself? Someone who dose have a bit a different taste in well everything from his more violent tendencies to his love for wrestling even to point if hiw he wants to present considering he uses protine powders to help muscle growth. Even his sens of style? Some like it pretty, but Raph likes it heavey. Slightly to play into the sing above this jsut plays into why Raph himself don't think he goes to far or maybe even need help (he dose u_u) he just himself and wants someone who gets that who he is.
1. Hot n' cold
2. Chateu
3. The phoenix
Hot n' Cold: I'm sorry but not sorry hot n' cold os just Raoh generally over all. He can really just shift through his moods swings fast enough to give someone whiplash. Raoh has his moments where he can be sweet and caring and those moments should really speak the loudest to others. But other times? He's a oranry bitch. And he's pretty up front about it.
Chateu: since Raphs known casey the longest in this verse, i feel these two have had a lot of time to be all fuck this place mind set over time. Between Raphs family drama and Casey own. Raph has had Casey in his corner from day one. This is just a very nice song for Casey and Raph in general I feel ;3; they need each other, they make eachnothers hearts bear. Course, there's a reason it took them time to get together, but they been able to give up on some things thiwr hangs up and such cause they got the other ;3;
The phoenix: in truth this song I played on repeat often well playing the game it self xD It just fits!!! Anyway in universe I would say it's because Raphael is pretty goal set in the game. He feel long as they stay together as brothers they will get Splinter back because well he needs to or he will get hopless himself. So he talks uo loving the fights and such and enjoys when they get to certien maps in the game. Honestly the most break in this is when they are looking for Casey he gose from. But he picks himself back up after every loss or miss chance to get thier Dad back. Raphael isn't someone to get knocked down too easily like his fiery rage this turtle will rise back up like. Phoenix
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Kid Cudi - Entergalactic ALBUM REVIEW
Aside from his amazing career, the biggest thing I took away from Kid Cudi’s A Man Named Scott documentary was that he said that he is done making sad music. Over his very long career, Kid Cudi has been known for making some of the best depressing music of all time that has impacted generations of people who have gone through periods of depression, anxiety, and loneliness with music that talked about his own mental struggles, helping break down the stigmas of toxic masculinity of the time and normalizing mental health conversations that were not being had at the time he started. His last album, 2020′s Man On The Moon III: The Chosen showed Cudi zoning in on those same topics but from a more hopeless lens that made it seem like his most positive album compared to Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven and Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’. Musically, he rapped significantly more on that album and started to show how he has been influenced by the younger generation of rappers he helped shape. Before MOTM3 was announced, Kid Cudi had hinted at an album that also served as a soundtrack to an animated Netflix series of the same name, which is this new album, Entergalactic which is inspired by his song Enter Galactic (Love Connection) from his first album. After listening to the album and watching the Netflix special, the inspiration from the song is very clear as the song is a love song and the new album and series are quite romantic. The show is about Cudi’s character falling in love with his neighbor in a building he just moved into while also aspiring to become a successful artist. Though the plot may be very simple and predictable, it’s a sweet love story with incredible animation and an impressive cast that is perfectly complimented by its love song-filled soundtrack. Because this is Wyatt vs. Music and not Wyatt vs. TV, this review is strictly about the album but because the album is meant to compliment the show, there is going to be overlap. The content of the music is not surprising given the plot and Kid Cudi has also made many amazing love songs before. I like how it starts with New Mode and how Kid Cudi is finally ready to be more positive and hopeful in his music and he doubles down on that with the album’s following track, Do What I Want which is an enjoyable song about being free to move how he wants and have fun with his friends. The next 4 songs are all about falling in love, whether it’s singing about the feeling of love at first sight (Angel) or about wanting to commit to a relationship with a love interest (Willing To Trust). Ty Dolla $ign, who also stars in the show sounds amazing on Willing To Trust and also sounds good on Can’t Shake Her. He’s always been a feature killer and he sounds best over this kind of production. While there is little variety on this album in terms of content, it doesn’t totally kill the album considering the entire album is made to go along with a show that is about one story. However, there still are some more upbeat songs that are less romantic, including the more rap-heavy Can’t Believe It with 2 Chainz and the festival-ready Burrow with Don Toliver, Steve Aoki, and Dot Da Genius which could’ve sounded comfortable on Man On The Moon III. Can’t Believe It especially sounds great in the tracklist as it breaks up the pace of the album nicely so the listener doesn’t get too tired of the sound, which wasn’t a problem for me but I also like a little variety. That song also has one of the more interesting beats as the thing that holds the replay value of this album back is the variety in production. I think the production is good and that it works great for the soundtrack aspect but it simply could’ve been stronger. I think Kid Cudi sounds great, whether he is rapping, singing, or humming. I liked Entergalactic on first listen but watching the show on Netflix made me really like the album a lot more as it really brings you into a visually-appealing world that brings out real emotions in animated characters which isn’t easy to do. After this album and most recent tour that Kid Cudi has been on, he has said that he wants to stop making albums, which is disappointing but understandable. If this is his last album which I am almost 100% sure it won’t be, it’s far from his best work but it is a strong way to go out because it was such an ambitious way to package an album and animated series together but both are very good so it doesn’t feel as sad.
Fav Tracks: Do What I Want, Angel, Willing To Trust, Can’t Believe It, Livin My Truth, She’s Lookin For Me
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Oh no. I’ve just got thought of the most perfect AU for Wind in the Willows and now it’s stuck in my head
The Hobbit AU
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How can I write quickly?
I (hi, I’m @unforth) have been asked frequently over the years how I write a lot quickly. I’m a pretty fast writer - for example, I wrote the 5600 words of my May Trope Mayhem fill from yesterday in under 2.5 hours.
First, a little of my personal history for context. I’ve always written, starting from when I was able to string letters into (very poorly spelled) words and (horrible un-grammatical) sentences. When I started trying my hand at serious, professional-level fiction writing, I joined a community called novel_in_90, which was founded by the author Elizabeth Bear. The purpose of novel_in_90 was “to be NaNoWriMo but more realistic.” Instead of 50,000 words in 31 days, it was 67,500 words in 90 days, or 750 words a day. I participated in multiple rounds of novel_in_90 starting in mid-2005, and in 2007 I completed my first (godawful) novel. When I started, even writing a couple hundred words of day took me forever, but it got easier with time.
During those same years, I also got a job that required I do professional writing on a deadline: I was a grant writer, and I only got paid when the grants won. That often meant working fast under high pressure, culminating in the weekend I wrote and edited an entire 40 pages grant that was due on Monday. I think, if I hadn’t had a solid foundation of “regular daily plodding writing,” I’d not have been able to marathon when the moment came...and it came because I had to, not because I wanted to. However, I learned a valuable lesson: I could. Subsequently, I found that, when I had the time and space and was rested enough to use my brain, I could bust out a huge amount. Like, I wrote an entire 150,000 word novel in 17 days.
My personal record is about 200,000 words in one month (it was the month I wrote that novel; I wasn’t tracking when I did that so I don’t know exactly), 25,000 words in a day, and I’ve topped out around 3,000 words an hour. I do know people who can do more...but not many.
Not everyone will be able to do this. Flat out, I MUST preface the rest of this post by saying that. Some people will find that writing fast fits their brain, and for others, it just won’t, and that’s okay. Fast doesn’t equal better, and it isn’t inherently “good” to write fast. Furthermore, even for those who can write fast, not everyone will find the same strategies helpful. I can share what works for me. Try out one item, some items, or all of these - if writing faster is something you want to be able to do, which it certainly never has to be. Use what works for you, and discard the rest.
Sit in your chair, put your fingers on your keyboard or touch screen, and write. You can’t write 1,000 words in half an hour until you write one word, however long that one word takes. I know saying this is obvious, but I’ve been asked “how can I write fast” by people who struggle to write at all...fast can’t be your priority until you’ve got a foundation of just writing. (Honestly...fast should never be your priority, but it might be helpful to you regardless, which can make it worth learning.)
Start small. Set an achievable goal, and make yourself meet that goal (daily, weekly, whatever) come hell or high water, no matter how long it takes you. Keep the goal small at first; you’re not trying to torture yourself, you’re trying to build a skill. If you set the goal high enough that you consistently fail, you’re not teaching yourself anything. And, if you find the goal IS too high...lower it. There’s no shame in working within your limits. Think of it like starting a new work out regimen: you wouldn’t try to run a 10k at a record time if you can’t run a mile slow. Treat your fingers and your brain the same way you’d treat your legs and joints. Give them time to grow, learn, and improve before you try to push yourself.
Trying to write daily is worthwhile if you want to work on your writing speed, because you’ll be forced to try to fit it in as you’re able - that might be ten minutes in your morning, or an hour in your evening, and it might vary from day to day, but making it daily means you have to fit it in somewhere.
Building skills takes time and isn’t easy. For some people, it will come easier than for others, and even when you’re fast, going from “I can write words fast” to “I can write damn good words fast” takes practice and dedication and accepting constructive criticism - speed alone will never be worth more than writing well.
Having a community can help. Ya’ll will check in on each other, cheer each other on, remind each other that missing a day or a goal isn’t the end of the world, and keep each other’s spirits up. If you don’t know other writerly folks online, I recommend Weekend Writing Marathon ( @weekendwritingmarathon ) as a good place to start (I used to be a mod there). Once you’re trying to work up to larger word counts in a day, remember that even writing fast will take minutes or hours. You can’t write 2,500 words in an hour if you don’t set an hour aside. Make sure you’re giving yourself the room and time you need to succeed.
You will probably never be able to do high, rapid word counts every day, every week, every month. The best runners in the world don’t run marathons every day. Set realistic long term goals.
Work on projects where you have a clear idea of where you’re going. I’m not saying “pantsers” can’t write fast, because of course they can, but if you want to write fast, and well, and coherently, to create a first draft that’s in pretty good shape, you’ll do better if you have a good sense of what you’re trying to accomplish with your story. That doesn’t mean you need to do all your world building up front, or have a complete outline (I never have either). All you really need is what happens next. I tend to plan projects - and write them - one full scene at a time, with only a vague idea what’s going to come after. (I’m personally a “plantser,” and the strategies in this post will likely be most effective to other plantsers.)
Visualize ahead of time what you’d like to write...but don’t get too attached to what you visualize. When I go to bed, I plan the next scene I’m going to compose, often to the least detail. I then forget all of it overnight, at least all the specifics, and I’m left with a general sense and shape of what’s to come. You’ll never be able to replicate the “perfect” dialog you pre-conceive, so give up on trying to. Instead, play through the scene and think about the emotional beats you want to hit and plot points you want to forward. If you keep that in mind, you’ll be able to get the words out faster than if you’re agonizing over every word or regretting the “oh-so-great” idea that you’ve since forgotten.
Practice different work styles. If writing every day doesn’t work for you, try instead saying, “this is my writing day each week,” and aim for a lot that specific day, and write little or nothing other days. Try writing at different times of day and on different days, fitting it into your schedule. If you’re beating yourself up for not writing when you “should,” it’ll be that much harder to succeed, so instead, as I said for point 2 - set a reasonable goal that fits your life and working style, fitting it around your other responsibilities, and push yourself within that framework, instead of trying to shoehorn into a style that you “think you should” use to succeed.
Track your word counts, and take notes on how much you did and what project you were working on. If you’re also experimenting with different times of day and different days, make sure you note that too. I personally use a simple Excel sheet (well, Google Sheets, now) - column one is the date, column 2 is “starting word count,” column 3 is “ending word count,” column 4 is “=column 3 - column 2”, column 5 is notes. Pay attention to when you succeed at writing faster, and when you don’t, and consider what factors might have played into your success...and then try to replicate those factors next time you’re doing a sprint. Control as many variables as you can while you’re “training.”
If you find social media distracting, trying getting a web browser extension that prevents you from connecting to websites for a set period of time.
If you find you tend to dither before starting, I find it helpful to run through everything that I might do to procrastinate (check my social media! grab a snack! make some tea! set up my playlist! check my social media again! finish making the tea! check my social media for what I swear will be the last time!), and when I’m done, it’s like, well, I’ve done all those things, I’ve got no choice left, time to write, no excuses left.
If you find you struggle with picking up a WIP, try leaving off in the middle of a sentence at the end of a session, one where you know exactly how it ends - or, leave off mid-paragraph, or when you are positive you know what happens next (and I mean literally next, as in the very next sentence.) It’s much easier to “pick back up” when your first words are super clear. (Do not do this if you think there’s any chance you’ll forget or end up in a situation where you won’t return to your WIP for months!)
If you find you struggle to maintain continuity across multiple writing sessions, try rereading what you wrote the previous day before you proceed. Resist the urge to edit it!
Avoid stopping when you get stuck, even to do research. Don’t know a fact? Add a comment to your manuscript flagging the relevant text, “LOOK THIS UP LATER.” Can’t think of a word? Put in something you can use the “find” function on easily (I personally use “XX” since there are no words that have a double x in them) and so you can come back later, search for your chosen placeholder, and fill in the blanks. Not sure how a scene ends but know the next scene? Jump ahead.
That said, if you really don’t know what happens next, you don’t do yourself any favors by pressing on. As I’ve said previously, speed alone should never be your writing object. It’s better to slow down, consider your plot, figure out where you’re going, and then write, than to just plow ahead - or at least, that’s better if you want a manuscript you’ll actually be able to use for something at a later point. If you’re truly just practicing, you can also say “screw it, who needs coherence?” and keep going. I’d personally never have finished my first novel if I’d spent a lot of time worrying about making the pieces fit together and yeah, it’s a mess, but it’s a mess I wrote instead of a mess I got stuck on and never completed.
Don’t move the finish line. If you’ve set the goal of 500 words a day, don’t beat yourself up if you get 550 because you think you think you could have done more. If you say you’ll write five days a week, don’t get mad because you DID have time the sixth day but chose to use it on something else. If you make yourself feel like shit when you succeed, what’ll happen when you fail? And when you’re comfortable and really think you’re ready, change the goal - reassess every month, say, and up your goals. While working for speed, trying upping your word count goal without changing the amount of time you allot for working.
Your need to adhere to the above suggestions will change over time. Once, I always had an outline; now I often don’t need one. Once, I wouldn’t let myself stop even to use a thesaurus; now, I find I can look up words without breaking my flow or significantly slowing myself down. This is not an “all or nothing” prospect, nor is it a “do things the same way forever once you’ve found one (1) thing that works” prospect - you’ll experiment, and find strategies that work for you, and then at some point, your needs will change, and you’ll experiment more, and find new strategies that work for you, on and on, as your skills grow.
To reiterate: writing fast should never be your objective in and of itself! Greater writing speed will come with practice and as a general side effect of improving your craft. Simply being able to write fast is useless; being able to write fast and well will enable you to get more of your ideas out there, so if that’s something you’d like to accomplish, focus on building your general skills and training yourself to be able to use those skills rapidly and in tandem with each other to produce decent writing, in a first draft, at a decent speed.
Once you try, you may find none of this works for you! That’s okay. That’s good! You tried, which means you learned something about yourself and your own writing style, and that too will help you to improve. Keep experimenting, keep learning, and find what does work for you - and accept that no two writers will ever be the same, and one of those differences will be writing speed. Some writers will never write fast, and that’s doesn’t make them any less awesome or valid. And some writers will always write fast, and that doesn’t make them inherently awesome or valid. Only with a suite of skills that suit your individual life, personality, work style, writing capabilities, goals, etc., will you succeed as a writer (for various, personalized definitions of the word “success”); speed is only one of those potential skills, and not one that’s particularly important in my opinion...yet I still get asked about it fairly often, so here we are, these are my suggestions
Go forth, and write some words! <3
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DIABOLIK LOVERS Do-S Kyuuketsu VERSUS Ⅱ Vol.6 Yuma VS Azusa [TRACK 1]
Original title: 隠れ部屋の秘密
Source: Diabolik Lovers VERSUS II Vol. 6 Yuma VS Azusa [CD not owned by me]
Audio: Here
Seiyuu: Tatsuhisa Suzuki & Kishio Daisuke
Translator’s note: The final VERSUS II CD I have yet to translate so once I complete this one, that’s another project I can write on my achievements list! I generally really like the plot of these CDs. It’s very fascinating to see the boys act in a somewhat different way because of the Lunar Eclipse. uwu Yuma & Azusa usually have a really cute sibling dynamic going on as well, so I’m excited to see how this will play out.
Track 1 ll Track 2 ll Track 3 ll Track 4 ll Track 5 ll Track 6
→ LIKE MY TRANSLATIONS? SUPPORT ME ON KO-FI!
Track 1: Secret of the Hidden Chamber
*Thud thud*
Yuma: ーー Geez. Ruki sure loves to work people to the bone. Puttin’ me in charge of cleanin’ this whole damn basement.
Yuma walks over to you.
Yuma: Oi! How are things goin’ on yer end?
You frown.
Yuma: Aahn!? It’s too heavy for ya to move!? God...What a pain. Don’t be givin’ me more work when you’re the one who offered to help. Come on, move.
*Rustle*
Yuma: Heave-hoh...! Fuck, it’s heavy...! What the heck is in here!?
*THUD*
Yuma: ーー Haah. This should do the trick right? Honestly, it’s stuffy in here so let’s get this stupid cleanin’ over with and return to our rooms already.
You ask him about the basement.
Yuma: Aah? This room. I don’t know the details.
You nod.
Yuma: From the looks of it, it hasn’t been used in quite some time. I guess the previous owner of this manor left it unattended.
You tilt your head to the side.
Yuma: Yeah, exactly. This place was given to us by Karlheinz-sama, but apparently someone was livin’ here before we moved in.
You seem curious.
Yuma: Who, you ask? Beats me. I honestly don’t know a thing ‘bout that man. I’m sure I could just ask, but I don’t really give a damn. Once you become a Vampire, ya stop carin’ ‘bout random strangers.
*Rustle*
Yuma: ...Unlike you.
*Smack*
Yuma: That hurt? Oh please, don’t make a fuss ‘bout a lil’ forehead flick. ...Come on, stop standin’ ‘round and let’s get this over with.
*Rustle*
Yuma: I wanna leave this borin’ place as quickly aーー Huh? The fuck’s this?
You walk over.
Yuma: It had been hidden in the shadows up till now but...A door? Smells kinda fishy. Ahー As to be expected, it’s pretty rusted.
You seem surprised he seems interested in the door.
Yuma: Ah? Well yeah, I don’t care ‘bout other people, but this kinda stuff triggers a man’s adventurous heart (1), no? ...There might just be a mountain of treasures waiting at the other side! Hehehe...
Yuma approaches the door and forces the lock open.
*THUD*
Yuma: Hehe...Piece of cake. Oi, ya wanna take a peek inside as well? ...Whoever finds a treasure chest first gets to keep it to themselves, that’s a rule.
You raise a brow.
Yuma: I’m basically givin’ ya a chance to get first dips on it.
You decline.
Yuma: Heeh? Not interested, huh? Are ya one of those peeps indifferent to wordly gains? No way, right?
*Smooch*
Yuma: Hehe...Ya love pleasure after all.
You protest.
Yuma: Hehe~ My bad~ But teasin’ ya is just so much fun, ya see?
He opens the door.
*Creaaaak*
Yuma: Uwaah...As to be expected, it’s pitch-black inside. ーーWait, no...
ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー
Translation notes
(1) ロマン or ‘roman’ is sort of a difficult term to translate. It is often used in the set phrase 男のロマン or ‘otoko no roman’, referring to rather stereotypical ‘masculine’ things which will probably excite most men.
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