#Good Writing

[a2zillustration]

Buddy we literally JUST read a scroll about hubris AND you were just inspired about something called "Don't let history repeat itself," that 10 wis stat is really coming through.

| First | | Previous | | Next |

[[ All Croissant Adventures (chronological, desktop) ]]

[[ All Croissant Adventures (app) ]]

#ahhhh that insecurity is showing again croissant :) #I do enjoy reading people talk about the patience tav has to have with Gale as he keeps backsliding #meanwhile over here it's more like 'yeah of course the ambitious guy with the prestigious background was eventually going to abandon you' #I am once again making a long form comic for the other big romance scene and I am rubbing my little goblin hands together about it #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 spoilers #act III spoilers #croissant adventures #tav #gale #gale x tav #comics #WAIT I ALSO WANTED TO SAY #/LOVE/ HOW GALE CONSISTENTLY THROWS IN “FOR BOTH OF US” AS AN AFTERTHOUGHT #GOOD WRITING #breadweave #gale dekarios

[lilyginnyblackv2]

“Miri helped with everything.” - Buddy Daddies - Episode 8 - SPOILERS!

I love that we see Kazuki following through on teaching Miri (and I would also assume Rei) how to cook and help out more. I also love how Kazuki doesn’t just say this, we actually got to see Miri help out with a variety of things:

She goes to the grocery store with him.

She cuts, folds, glues, and decorates the paper chain decorations.

We see her know and understand that when the buzz sound goes off on the oven, it means that the food is ready to come out. Kazuki probably gave her the job to let him know when it goes off so he can take it out. 

It’s so sweet to see and it just goes to show that Buddy Daddies keeps up with the consistency and small character growth things like this. When some development is made in an episode, you can expect follow through in the next one. 

On a side note though, I feel sorry for the intern that is going to have to make all of this for Kazuki’s Instagram account, lol.

#Buddy Daddies #Miri Unasaka #Kazuki Kurusu #Rei Suwa #BD spoilers #Buddy Daddies spoilers #meta post #long post #image heavy post #analysis #good writing #this is what good writing looks like!

[thewaspsnestinyourattic]

despite jon literally not being entirely human for the majority of the show, he's one of the few main characters I've seen portrayed in a way where it's like "you know what? yeah, that makes sense."

his actions aren't always the most moral or heroic, but they are the actions of a regular guy who is just trying his best. he gets scared and angry and obsessive and sometimes he does stupid shit. he's also willing to go to extreme lengths to keep the people he cares about safe.

all of the characters in the magnus archives have that human feeling about them but I feel like it shows the most in jon and martin. they love each other, and clearly they love each other deeply, but they're not willing to doom the world over it.

everyone's feelings are messy and twisted up and perfectly written. if you pulled a normal guy off of the street and made him the avatar of a fear god, he probably would have a reaction like jon's.

#the magnus archives #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #jonmartin #good writing #some real good writing

[amorphousbl0b]

Arcane does a fun thing with its narrative Darkest Hour.

Or: yet another post about how insanely smart this show is and how absolutely genius its writers are (and how jealous of them I am).

For the uninitiated, the Darkest Hour is the moment just before the climax in which the heroes are at their lowest point. When the Avengers are scattered and Loki opens the portal in NYC, when the Falcon has escaped the Death Star but lost Obi-Wan, when the Fire Nation is set to annihilate the Earth Kingdom, when Frodo fails to destroy the Ring at the Crack of Doom. The heroes must confront their flaws and change for the better for a happy ending.

Arcane’s darkest hour is, of course, in Act 3. One might place it at the very end of episode 9, and that’s certainly where the story is at its most hopeless. But I’d contend it starts as early as the end of episode 8 and carries on through the entirety of episode 9.

After all, that’s when Caitlyn and Vi have separated, lost all hope, and Cait is kidnapped by Jinx. Jinx’s mind is fully gone and throughout the episode everything falls apart around her. Silco is losing control of his chembarons and may well have lost his daughter, the thing most precious to him, and is only barely keeping his powerful façade in line. Zaun has realized how ridiculously outmatched they are in a war with Piltover and the revolutionary cause has become almost impossible. Viktor has manslaughtered his assistant and may never be cured. Jayce has manslaughtered a child and finally realizes how quickly he’s losing his morals. Mel and her mother are fully separating and she is struggling with her warlike destiny. Sevika gets the absolute snot beat out of her and limps to an empty office without a boss.

So yeah. Lot of personal Darkest Hours going on.

“But what’s the interesting thing?” I hear you ask in my ear. I don’t know why I hear you. Shut up. I’m writing. Are you even real?

Excuse me.

Arcane’s interesting twist on the Darkest Hour lies in part of the trope that I didn’t mention. That’s in the villain.

Most stories with a clear-cut villain have a plot structure something like this:

Whether things are going well for one side is inversely proportional to the other. During the Darkest Hour, when the hero is at their weakest, the villain is at their most dominant.

Wait… isn’t Silco the villain of Arcane? Not to be too blunt, but he’s having a shit time. Things are falling apart for him just as badly as for everyone else.

That's the trick. Caitlyn and Vi are suffering. Jinx is suffering. Silco is suffering. Jayce is suffering. Viktor is suffering. Zaun as a whole is suffering. There is only one party in the whole story that isn't suffering, that actually is benefitting from this horrid state of affairs...

EKKO AND HEIMERDINGER

Kidding. They're not really a part of this dance. A big part of Arcane's theming is that acting to help people without an agenda is simply more virtuous than fighting for any invariably-flawed nation that innately perpetuates the cycle of violence.

No, the side that is doing fine is the other that is conspicuously absent from my two prior lists. While the characters that make up its leadership are experiencing personal Darkest Hours, the organization itself is essentially on top of the world, having just scored a huge victory and getting set to bring the war to an end before it even begins. I mentioned how poor the situation for the Undercity looks, but not its counterpart.

Piltover.

Wasn't it so that Piltover started this whole mess? Didn't their oppression cause the revolt that orphaned Vi and Powder's parents? Isn't it their actions that drive Silco to ever greater extremes? Isn't it their normalized political backstabbing that causes Jayce to sacrifice his principles because that's the only way to get ahead? Isn't it their corrupt police force that lets Silco operate his drug empire with impunity?

Silco might look the part. He might be the most personally evil character, might be the one who causes the most misery for our main protagonists Vi and Powder.

But structurally, the shining city of Piltover, its political machine, and its Enforcers are the actual villains of Arcane.

#arcane #darkest hour #writing #silco #piltover #zaun #piltover and zaun #heroes and villains #good writing #just realized this #still noticing new things #even two full years later #i love this show #has someone said this before? #long post

[trentbent069]

I'd be far more ashamed of possessing the same bad grammar as the author of the original sharing of this... Sex-ed might have been wasted on my virgin-for-life status, but I'm highly educated when it comes to being literate and can write extremely well... There's fuck all wrong with my pen, and just everything wrong with the ironic elongation of it into my sextremely short penis that will never fuck even just one...

#virgin loser #virgin humiliation #small cock humiliation #good writing

[supremechancellorrex]

Avatar in my head and I was thinking about Maiko and Mai.

Now, Mai's character arc in Avatar, from my interpretation, is rediscovering herself and her wants and personhood that has been stripped from her as a noblewoman part of a family that submitted to the Fire Nation Imperialist structure and Ozai. We see in Book 2 set up for this. Mai in early Book 2 does not resist Azula's will aside from brief sparks of rebellion where she isn't present. "Of course not, Princess Azula" she notes formally and apathetically when Azula asks if she "minds", knowing she has no choice as Azula 'just' ponders if Mai's hostage brother is worth an Earth King like Bumi. Mai is always aware that Azula, as Princess in an authoritarian nation where the Fire Lord is God, can have her executed and her family punished. The unequal power dynamic is surprisingly consistent in the show.

Mai can't even insult Azula back in Zuko Alone as a child. She just lets Azula put an apple on her head (as Ty Lee loyally sniggers along), set it on fire, and when Zuko pushes her into the fountain to put it out, Mai, drenched, glares and says "You two are such… ugh". We know Mai can have an acid tongue, yet her fear of Azula prevents her from using it. Her most rebellious act in Book 2 is when she says "She can shoot all the lightning she wants at me. I am not getting in that wall sludge juice". Mai actually has self-respect, but she can't express it in the presence of greater threats, meanwhile Ty Lee merely says "Come on! Azula said we have to follow them", because Ty Lee follows Azula's will even when she isn't there.

Even when Mai gets with Zuko, she falls into a subservient role. When Azula interrupts Maiko's smooching, lazily dismissing Mai with "Oh Mai, Ty Lee needs help untangling her braid" Mai responds quickly "Sounds pretty serious" with only a touch of dryness and leaves, only able to muster throwing Azula a dirty look a split second after passing her. However, this little ember of rebellion will grow.

Mai has continued difficulty understanding Zuko's anger and reactiveness, or how to even function in a relationship. She initially tries to joke in a dismissive fashion, as if saying 'ugh, feelings are lame, right?', but that would only work with Azula logically. The Beach episode is a key Mai episode. She continues to be emotionally repressed, to the point Zuko, Ty Lee and Azula comment on it. However, Zuko's insecurity at her talking to Ruon-Jian to the point he physically removes him from her presence, and his accusative comments like "You like him, don't you?", also makes Mai feel a little boxed in, controlled, and that does irritated her given her history. However, at the Beach's emotional narrative climax, Mai is able to finally express herself at the rest of the group (Azula included) for the first time, telling them to "Leave her alone" and that she's "still mad". After Zuko explosively reveals the extent of his pain and confusion, we see a 'smoothing' effect on her attitude. She realises her and Zuko are dealing with pain in different ways and his way is understandable.

Mai says softly, "I know one thing I care about, I care about you". This is the one thing Mai can grasp in the confusion. This is where Mai betraying Azula becomes inevitable. We see Mai continue to be more supportive with Zuko, more actively trying to cheer him up in Nightmares and Daydreams with big smiles and jokes while Zuko remains shut down over the War meeting and is acting irritated and repressed due to his family trauma. When Zuko later leaves and joins the Avatar, Mai is hurt and angry, which shows in the Boiling Rock, saying "All I get is a letter? You could have at least looked me in the eye when you ripped out my heart". They have a tense conversation, but it's their most honest one. I actually think Mai already made up her mind in this scene to support Zuko over Azula, and she doesn't quite realise it. "Save it? You're betraying your country" she accuses, to which Zuko replies, resolute, "That's not how I see it", and in response Mai just folds her arms and turns her head away in an almost defeat.

I find it very telling she doesn't respond. It's because she realises Zuko is more passionate and resolute about his mission than she is hers. It's because she knows the Fire Nation under its current authority is not exactly great. Sometimes in life we fall into a box and we need someone to give us that little push so we can realise we can climb out of it, that the toxic space we're in isn't normal, and we don't have to tolerate it. I like to think Mai was thinking in that moment where Zuko locked her in the cell and he and she gazed into each others' eyes, what she was really thinking about was what life she actually wanted to live. She was thinking of Azula and being under her thumb, and she was thinking of all those moments with Zuko, like when they were lounging on the sofa together, smiling and joking in Nightmares & Daydreams, and she realised how ridiculous it was to be afraid of Azula killing her when the real fear should be being Azula's servant until her dying days, decades of repression and misery.

After all, what does Mai have left to fight for? Fear of Azula? Hah, what a joke. She remembers "I know one thing I care about. I care about you" and when she sees Zuko about to die she has to intervene.

"I guess you just don't know people as well as you think you do. You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you" Mai says to an increasingly-enraged Azula's speak of 'consequences', because Mai did fear Azula, but now in her love for Zuko she has found a purpose she has been lacking, her feelings and wants over Azula's will. Zuko being true to himself is contagious. Iroh's love for Zuko puts him on the right path, and in turn the love Mai has for Zuko saves her. As a consequence Ty Lee chooses Mai and their friendship over Azula's toxic, fear-based one and even later bonds with former enemies like the Kyoshi Warriors. Like Zuko says to Ozai, "an era of peace and kindness" will replace an "era of fear". In the face of fear, love and empathy win.

#avatar legend of aang #avatar last airbender #avatar mai #prince zuko #alta mai #zuko #atla maiko #maiko #princess azula #ty lee #can't wait to see them in the avatar live action #themes #good writing #character writing #romantic relationships #classism #imperialism

[celluloidbroomcloset]

Stede and Ed click with each other so immediately and easily that you might almost say it’s…like breathing?

#OFMD #our flag means death #stede bonnet #edward teach #gentlebeard #gif #this show man #this show #good writing

[seal-berry]

reading umineko and the way chapter 1 shows maria's neurodivergency being misunderstood constantly eventually escalating to the point where the adults are willing to throw the autistic 9 year old out of the saferoom is. damn

#umineko spoilers #umineko #autism #good writing #depressing as fuck but good writing

[where-dreams-dwell]

Just finished The Fall of the House of Usher and wow I have thoughts.

……….

Verna is fascinating!

My interpretation (I have read literally NO Poe so sorry if this is obvious) if that Verna is a personification/demon/something for Choices and Decisions.

When she first meets the Ushers she offers them a choice: here is a possible outcome of the decisions you’ve already made, which might well happen on its own, but would you like to *ensure* that it happens? What would you choose to give up to get what you want? I don’t think she’s *creating* this outcome (as it’s literally what Madeline said would happen while they bricked the CEO into the wall) but she’s saying she can make sure certain possible outcomes are the only ones that happen.

Death and killing might be part of her powers but at least in the case of the Ushers she’s only killing the children because the deal was none of them survive Roderick.

I think her deal with Madeline and Roderick is a mix of be careful what you wish for as you’ll get it in unexpected ways, and exposing their own hypocritical choices. The Ushers believe they are entitled to the company due to their father, that it is their legacy, that if he had only acknowledged them and planned for them to continue the company in their name they would have everything they deserve. But in order to get that legacy, they have to behave in the exact same manner their father did, and think only of themselves while not plan to leave anything for their children.

Verna even offers choices to the other people we see her interact with.

For Perry she reminds him he could choose to stop recoding people, choose not to peruse his brothers wife, choose to end the party. It’s not too late. Even at that party when she tells Morelle to ‘leave now’ it is still a choice, one Morelle doesn’t take which leads to its own consequences. And in the run up to the party we’re shown so many moments when Perry could have chosen differently and the outcome would have been different: having the party at all, inviting Morelle (he turns away and then back to offer her a ticket), Napoleon saying he’s better than this and doesn’t need to become a drug pusher, the building not having water and so choosing to use the assumed water on the roof… right up to the last moment when he chooses to give the signal for the sprinklers to go on.

And her conversation with Perry Verna almost admits it: the series of decisions which lead to him, some small ones, a big one, and then another smaller on and now here he is. Choices he wasn’t involved in have led to him being there that night. And she loves bad boys because they always make all the wrong choices.

For Camille she refuses entry to the lab multiple times and offers her the choice to turn around and go home: it won’t change her fate as she’ll die either way, but if she goes home she’ll die in her sleep instead of being torn apart. She doesn’t *need* to see everything with her own eyes, she already has the proof. But Camille chooses to revel in her sisters shame, to twist the knife, and so she dies painfully.

And Napoleon is told the cat he wants to buy isn’t for sale and to choose to go back home to his boyfriend (and likely confess his actions) but he pushes through with his money and demands that he should get what he wants. He even has a moment within his confrontation with the cat when he thinks this might be a drugged hallucination, but instead of stopping or calling his boyfriend he continues to destroy their home.

Victorine also gets choices: the file of perfect patient data is handed to her but she doesn’t have to call Verna back about the human trial. Verna asks at multiple points if this procedure is safe, if the surgeon has agreed, even if her patient data is safe in this clinic. And Victorine chooses to lie at every opportunity, chooses to sacrifice this woman’s life in the pursuit of her dream. And so she is haunted by her lies, driving her to a more gruesome death than necessary.

For Tammy Verna shows her how to make better choices from their first meeting: we only saw one other sex worker play out the fantasy scene pretending to be Tammy but their interactions with Bill were surface level. When Verna appears as Candy she plays fake-Tammy as caring about Bill, showing Real-Tammy how she could be a better partner from the get go. Verna compliments his cooking, says she’d been craving his ‘famous chicken Alfredo’, asks about his work earnestly and listens to his replies. Even later, when she is Tammys hallucination double, she keeps showing Tammy how she could choose differently: Bill would probably set your fight aside considering another sibling has died, you could call him? Bill would probably be concerned about your health, you could apologise? And after her breakdown Verna pretends to answer Bills call (which Tammy had thrown across the room) and apologises to him for how he’d been treated. The whole time Verna is telling Tammy ‘it’s not too late, you could choose to be kind, you could choose to make yourself happy’: like Camille it wont stop her inevitable death but it could have been easier. And again she didn’t have to die in this manner, she could have gone in her sleep but her chosen treatment of Bill and her own guilt over her decisions has been keeping her awake.

For Frederick, Verna even admits that she has chosen his manner of death *due* to the choices he made: he would have died in his car from a heart attack but he chose to take his wife home, chose to torture her, ‘chose to pick up the pliers’ and so here are the consequences of his decisions.

For Lenore, the only innocent in the whole family, Verna wants her to know that her *choice* to give a statement, her choice to break with her family and get her mother out, will have lasting consequences. That Lenore’s decision will have changed the world.

That Verna’s power focuses on choices is further emphasised with her knowledge of ‘what people would have been’ as I think that’s an expansion upon what different choices would have led to. Of people had chosen differently then this is what they would have become.

And in Verna’s interactions with Pym all of the moments she references are ones where choices are made: the choice to leave a man in the desert, to abandon a guide in the snow, to assault a woman in the arctic. Moments when a choice or decision was made.

So I think she is a bargainer, or demon of decisions, and while she isn’t inherently evil she has her own morality as seen when she chooses deaths which are painful or peaceful, depending on a persons actions.

And really the message of the whole show is choices and their consequences.

#the fall of the house of usher #tfothou #mike flanagan #verna #tv shows #good writing #spoilers #carla gugino

[pinkanonwrites]

archiveofourown dot org/works/54280291

I figured you'd appreciate this beachcomber/reader fic I did

Ahhhhh, thanks for sharing Mars! If anyone else wants to check it out here's a handy dandy link for you! It's really cute <3

#pink chat #good writing #marsnolias #beachcomber #beachcomber x reader #x reader #transformers #transformers x reader

[aster-spiral-30]

Minor spoilers

One week since I saw DUNE part two, and I’m still blown away.

I think of the ending, as Chani leaves the Emperor’s ship— and other spacecraft launch from Arrakis as Paul’s jihad starts.

That finale scene feels like mourning for the galaxy.

And I love how Chani was written.

#dune #dune part two #dune 2024 #dune movie #good writing #chani

[lilyginnyblackv2]

I love these small details!

In Episode 4, we see Kazuki buy Miri a lot of fancy clothes for daycare, right. So she is wearing a lot of skirts and dresses:

You can see in the bottom right image that there is another girl in the class wearing a skirt. So, it isn’t so much the skirt and dresses aspect of the outfits Miri is wearing, but the quality and expensive look of them that matters here.

That being said, on the official Kazuki Instagram account, “Kazuki” put up a poll in a Story that asked what everyone thought would be better clothes for him to purchase for his daughter to wear to daycare:

The majority voted for pants (53%), so “Kazuki” responds, saying that he’ll buy lots of pants.

From the end of Episode 5 onwards to Episode 7 (at least) we never see Miri wearing skirts or dresses to the daycare again (in the last picture - bottom row to the right, that outfit is the same one she was wearing the day before when Kazuki picked her up from daycare and it was raining). 

Instead, we see her wearing either pants, shorts + leggings, or just shorts on their own (which makes sense, since Episode 7 is taking place during the end of spring and beginning of summer). 

And while I didn’t include images here, all of Miri’s at home outfits from the end of Episode 4 - Episode 7 are either pants, leggings + shorts, or just shorts. And even in future episodes when it will still be in the summer time, it seems like Miri will be sticking with shorts, rather than dresses or skirts:

The image of the left is from Trailer #3, and is from a future episode, while the image on the right is from Episode 7. Miri is wearing the same “at home” summertime top. So it is safe to assume that she is wearing the same pink shorts with that top in the trailer image as well.

Buddy Daddies does such a great job with small detail consistencies like this, and the transmedia marketing is so on-point with connecting the content they create and put up on the official Kazuki Instagram account with the actual events that take place in the series. Just adds another layer of believability to it all, really.

#Buddy Daddies #BD #Kazuki Kurusu #Miri Unasaka #Kazuki's Instagram #transmedia marketing #detail consistency #good writing #good attention to detail #long post #image heavy post #meta post

[cherryqueenoftarts]

I may be in the minority but I think it's pretty smooth of Stoker to have casually dropped the little story about the suicide's grave like he did. It's all part of the larger tapestry of spooky details at the time so it didn't feel like An Important Detail For Later. He was telling us, though: "Pay no attention to the grave marker, readers, this spot is unconsecrated." So now Dracula hiding in that grave makes sense.

#dracula daily #dracula #writing #good writing #bram stoker #dracula bram stoker

[kosidosi]

A Talented Artist’s attempted at teaching the Writing Skill

Writing has always been automatic and natural for me, however, I believe that I can pull from my subconscious and share wisdom regardless.

The best way I can do this is by sharing how I write in general.

Have a melody to your writing

Write as if you were writing a poem. It flows better and rings to the ears. It also adds color to your writing.

Utilize Figurative Language

It helps you visualize the subject of your writing more effectively.

Use grammar, but know when to break it

Grammar’s purpose is to be a guide for writers to communicate in a structured and and efficient way, however, sometimes you are done better ignoring it to get the true essence of what you’re saying.

This is my first tutorial based on teaching others to write, but I think I needed to push myself to conceptualize what makes my own writing worthwhile.

I hope this helped, as I know I was quite vague. Again, this has been a natural thing to me, so communicating how to actually replicate my writing is difficult.

#writing #writing tips #writing guide #how to write #how to write good #how to write well #writing advice #writing blog #good writing

[supremechancellorrex]

I watched the Devil Judge recently and I really enjoyed it, especially the complex and ensnaring relationship between Kang Yohan and Kim Gaon. I think the series really demonstrates the power of creativity and themes all complimented by the stellar acting of the main cast. It was enjoyable being seduced by the narrative and the modern and dystopic world it presented, with interesting questions posed about corruption, populism, fascism, mob justice and the characters that inhabit them that are very relevant to our own world.

One of my favourite things was how instinctive the fury and retribution was. At the press of a button, so easy and convenient, people didn't think about the ethics, they just wanted to make evildoers suffer, and have the power to do it, and the more desperate they became, the more unthinkingly vicious and sadistic, the easier they were to manipulate. The show is very good at making the audience feel a part of that as well, with all the lies and half-truths the characters tell, and I felt myself taken along for the ride, baying for blood with the mob at points even knowing it was a slippery slope for society.

After all, what Kang Yohan offers is very tempting, which is why I suppose he really is the Devil Judge.

#the devil judge #kang yohan #kim gaon #good writing #fantastic characters #the show still has a few flaws but its heights are unmissable #top tier drama #dystopia #ji sung #park jinyoung

[bugoutreviewgirlie]

aw no, evil!Adrien uses makeup to cover up the fact that he's being corrupted too :( that's why he wasn't afraid of being cataclysmed: he was already dying. That's genuinely tragic.

#good writing #we love it #miraculous ladybug #ml paris special #liveblog