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choccos-aaart · 3 years

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Learn stuff about the story of April and friends!

>>BASE<<

[SPOILER WARNING FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE INTERESTED?!] Also this is a LONG post -Chocco

LAST UPDATE: 13.07.2021

Random Facts Story Meme By ~PhoenixTorque If you're looking for a serious meme, you're in the wrong place! This is meant for original fiction, although it might work for fanfiction as well. It can be done with as many or as few spoilers as you wish, so feel free to skip over a question if you don't want to spoil things for potential readers. So pick a story and get started!

So, what's your story called? Like hell I know! XD It’s gone through multiple changes, but right now I’ve got “Poject: Proclo.” Despite me growing used to it, I’m not very proud of it...

Did you have any early/working titles? Yes! (It’s very embarrassing, though...)

Cloronve Niathea (2016-2017) - I jumbled up a bunch of words just so I could claim a tag

The Cloronia (2018?-2019) - I thought the 2016 one was stupid

Project: Clonerion (2019-2020) - I thought the early 2019 one was stupid.

Project: Proclo (2020-2021?) - I thought the 2020 one fell into this “definitely could have a definition in English which makes no sense in this context” trap

Project: WHAT THE HELL?!

Why did you choose the final title? It’s titled “Steel House in the Prairie”!

Keeping this answer because I thought it was funny: “I didn’t! I don’t even have one that’s confirmed, yet!”

Was it easy or hard to choose a title? It’s pretty damn hard, I’ll tell you that

Who's the protagonist? Some cyborg kid named April

Why are they the protagonist, and not someone else? Well, here’s multiple things that tick off...

Audience knows just as much about the situation she finds herself in as she does

She undergoes major development, especially in relation to the other characters and in regards to the story’s main themes

She goes through situations that miraculously make her do protagonist things

ETC!!! XD

Are they a hero or everyperson? April’s an ambitiousless everyperson that just so happens to know how to fight.

What's their job? April’s only 15! And she hates being seen in the public, anyway! XD

Do they have a sidekick? Best Friend? April does make good friends with Pillia and Matro who technically do become her first best friends/sidekicks in her whole protag/hero journey

Do they have a love interest? Rivals fighting for their affection? A harem that hangs on their every word? Nope!

Is there a secondary protagonist? Who? I wouldn’t say, necessarily.

The main antagonist? Sad man Skatra XD Doc and co. seems like one at first, but it turns out that they’re also on the same side as April, too.

What do they have against the protagonist? Well, Mr Skatra’s got a goal, right? And April’s pretty much getting in the way of that goal. (Duhh!) Also, he and April are thematic opposites (Like hell I’m revealing this out to the public, tho XD) And also, April’s past has done some major damage to Skatra’s past (yeah, I know. Fiction just so happens to have coincidences like these, but c’mon. Fiction is an art.)

Are they a loner, or do they have a second-in-command? Mr Skatra works very closely with his daughter, Eyn!

Villain with good or bad publicity? Skatra’s got no publicity lol! (All seriousness, people are pretty indifferent to him. But that’s because he hasn’t achieved his goal, yet...)

Sure, but who REALLY runs the plot? Let’s face it. Skatra’s practically the reason for everything major in this story.

Who's the most important character not on this list? Why are they important? Doc/Sarlife hasn’t really been in a direct answer to any of these questions yet. They’re important because not only do they make a huge part of Skatra’s first conflicting side to begin with, but they also have their fair share of importance in the themes of the story, too.

Who's the least important character that you pay attention to? Probably Matro. He’s one of April’s friends, yeah, but the most important thing he does in the main storyline so far is just transport our characters XD

What's the most prominent canon ship? Well, I’ve nobody that’s really canon, yet. Unless Eyn’s slight crush on Pillia at the start counts. It’s not really that important. But I feel like I’ll hint it throughout the story. (Good luck on getting her, Eyn! Must hurt when you learn you’re on opposite sides, huh.)

Any other ships? Aside from Eyn’s small crush, there’s no other main characters that are canonically together.

Any noncanon crack!pairings you would read/consider writing? OH BOY. Alright, here’s a list of my bets:

April + Eyn - Everyone loves that good rivals/protag+antag pair. How can you get any better than that? They even start off thinking they’re gonna be great friends at the start (which is actually kinda sad...)

Matro + Farqua - They bicker quite a bit at the start, but they slowly regain their friendship as the story goes on. Classify them as rivals, if you want. And also, Farqua’s the one that works for Skatra, so there’s some good guy/bad guy stuff going on. BONUS: They’re red and blue with some major height difference, as well!!!

Doc + Wyra - These two consider each other pretty close and as close as they are, you’ll find Wyra teasing Doc a bit, too. That’s usually a joy to watch. They’re also your typical brawn + brains duo. Also, there’s the serious business + ball of energy there. I think this one’s sweet.

April + Pillia - Pillia’s probably April’s strongest relationship out of everyone in the story. She practically becomes April’s sidekick. Pillia’s good at turning trash into treasure, which means she can turn April into something great, too.

Matro + Doc - I’ve made sure that it looks as if they’ve been friends for ages. Matro even gets really upset after learning that Doc’s gone totally nuts. When Doc does end up joining forces with team April, Matro’s obviously got mixed feelings on the situation (considering what Doc’s done), but still wants to maintain their friendship as much as possible.

Doc + Skatra - Here are two of April’s main antagonists, so that’s a start. Also, despite being on opposing sides of the situation, Doc doesn’t necessarily see Skatra as an enemy, they see him as someone who needs help. Although trying to stop Skatra, Doc’s trying to find the best possible way out of the situation for this guy. This probably the more angstier ones, of the bunch.

Pillia + Ida - I’ve stated early in the script that these two are close friends. I haven’t had a phase yet where I’ve developed them as much as the others, but they’re the ones that are left, so I’m expecting some, soon. I’m probably gonna base some of their interaction off of Lister and Kryten from Red Dwarf, especially >>This Scene<<

Sorry, Eyn, Skatra, Ida, and Wyra, you’re all lonely as hell XD (don’t worry, I’m aroace XD)

Who is your favorite character to write? Tough one between Matro and Farqua.

Who is your least favorite character to write? Not that I’ve got a least favourite to write, but as of now, I’ve worked with Ida the least out of the main cast. (Sorry! I’ll get to you soon, I promise!!!)

Which character is the most cooperative? Ida, probably. She’s actually the most bored.

Which character is the least friendly? Doc, no matter how much they try to be.

Which character would you most want to meet in a bar? Matro seems the most fun to get drunk with! With his guitar, especially.

Which character would you least want to meet in a dark alleyway? Eyn. Especially in her Axel Duiti outfit!

How many characters are there total? I’m not counting. But, there are three main focus characters, and six other secondary characters!

How many are allied with the heroes? Out of the main characters, it starts off with three, then six, then seven.

How many are allied with the villains? Out of the main, it starts off seeming to be six, in actuality is three, then just two.

How many hate both of them? Oh... Uh... IDK I’ll write that later XD (Well, the situation’s trying to be as private as possible)

How many refuse to pick a side? Ida seems to have the most side struggles out of everyone. Farqua’s unwillingly pulled apart in all directions, too.

How large is the core cast (in 80-90% of the scenes)? Dunno excactly how to calculate much XD Let’s hope it’s a decent number.

Be honest—how many characters are actually important? Let’s hope all nine of them do something!

When does the story take place? Likely far future (probably not in this universe, though!)

Where does it take place? Lightyears away from Earth, in the Piarosar system

Would you want to live there? If it weren’t for the war, then yeah. Seems pretty cool.

Does your story end in the same place it starts? This part of the story, yes. I plan for it to be part of a bigger story.

What/whose POV is the story told from? It’s in script form! Well, mostly from April’s point of view.

If not omniscient, whose thoughts would have the most spoilers? Skatra and Doc’s!

What genre is your story? Sci-fi, action, & adventure (despite being set inside a building. Well, it’s a massive one, though...)

Where in a library would you file it? Sci-fi. Duhh.

What format are you writing it in? Script! (For a comic)

What format do you wish you could write it in? Still script! For an animated series!

Would you be for or against a movie? It’s better suited for a series. But hell yeah, that’d be cool.

Indie flick or multi-million blockbuster? An indie project. Don’t want it too big, you know...

Write a nice, long description about the story: (Done that) “April is a cyborg kid who finds a large, mysterious building when she gets lost in a prairie. She learns that the main entrance of the place is totally out of the question, so she tries finding her way in from above. Too bad that she can't get out from where she came from, and now she's forced to find another way out.

April then later discovers that inside the building is a community of robots and different races of creatures. Some even decide to help her on her little journey outside the building in the safest way possible. Unfortunately, it also turns out that some couple randos' got some sort of weird deal with April and they clearly don't like her.

Even worse, It also turns out that the building has problems of its own. Robots are disappearing from their homeplaces and so are some of the rest of the people. If this keeps up, soon nobody will be there to keep to the building and its people. And when April finds out what exactly's been going on, there lies the chance that maybe she could do a large part in preventing a major catastrophe that'll take place if nothing's done. And get this. It's not just the building that gets it. Good thing April's not that big a scumbag to not do anything about it.”

That sounds interesting, but can you cut it to under 200 words for the back cover? A sci-fi about a cyborg kid who gets stuck inside a mysterious, giant building after getting lost far outside the city. Upon her arrival in the building, it turns out that her goal isn't just to escape and make her way back home, but to also somehow prevent a huge catastrophe that awaits if she doesn't do anything. Good thing she isn't that big a scumbag.

Quick! Write a 200-character-or-less (with spaces) teaser (think ff.net)! Now give us a catchy tagline for promotional material! A cyborg kid gets stuck inside a mysterious, giant building in the middle of nowhere. Turns out that her goal isn't just to escape, but to also prevent some huge catastrophe from happening.

Is there magic? Maybe? (Really depends what characters I introduce and where they’re fro) Time travel? In a way, this happens. Psychic powers? Nop. Talking animals? No. If I count the aliens, that’s kinda insensitive lol! Pajamas? Not exactly? Different dimensions/realms? Not necessarily. More like they explore our reality. Aliens? Yes! High school? Our protag’s in year 9? Poison? Sorta Dragons? No... Cake? Not many of the main cast can actually eat XD Large guns? O.O?!!!!! Children? Yeah, that’s like almost half the main cast Ninjas? Nope XD Large cities? Not really Advanced science? Yep! Teenagers? Yep! War? In the background, but I might explore this some more in future... Faeries? Nope... Corrupt government? I guess???????? Romance? Nope! XD Witches or Wizards? Nop Spaceships? Maybeeeee Fanservice? In a sense where it means “thing that isn’t necessary for the story, but just to make fans happy”, probably when the alternate versions of the characters pay a visit Ridiculously long names? Hm....... IDK An old, wise mentor? Not in that sense... Swords? Uhh... No??? Internet? Yeah, Housewives? No I guess lol Conspiracies? ??? Overprotective parents? WEll, sorta I guess Revolutions? I don’t recall that idea coming :P Scented soap? I WISH Stuff blowing up? YEHA Monkeys? Idk? Not here?? A happy ending? YeaH?!?!??? Sorta. How much of the story have you finished? More planning than actual writing tbh

How much of the storyline have you decided on? A lot of the skeleton, now just the actual in betweens

About how long is it? Pretty long. IIt;s actually a part of a bigger thing.

How long is it in-story from beginning to end (flashbacks don't count)? LONG>

Do you ever think it will be finished? YES> DON’T DOUBT ME Anything else you'd like to add? I’m good!

#Chocco's OCs #Project: Proclo #Chocco's info dumps #Chocco does memes #Chocco's writing #Cloronve Niathea

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fandomshatewomen · 5 years

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Since Descendants is the most popular Disney Originals franchise to date, I think it’s only fine to remind everyone that all 3 movies have pitted WOCs (specifically Black girls; plus Indigenous in Audrey’s case since her actress is also part Indigenous Canadian) against the Highty Mighty White Girl Mal, and people seems to be more okay with it than they should.

Descendants 1 not being the most glaring, but it still villified Audrey for being skeptical against Mal, like it’s not just making Audrey a morally gray character oh no - the girl was in ANTAGONIST territory for DARING to question our poor misunderstood White Protag. Mal stole her boyfriend via drugging-adjacent and the guy is still Mal’s LI for the rest of the trilogy (which is Y I K E S on its own), and we don’t see her getting villified or suffer consequences for it???? Descendants 2 has a darker-skinned Black girl as the main Big Bad despite having a similar character to “first half of the first movie” Mal, and Descendants 3 straight-up made Audrey the villain, so that’s fun to see ig.

And sure, they did try to “justify” them in the end of the second and third one, because it’s Disney(TM), of course they would. But that did NOTHING to help their case because they deliberately had these characters be WOC and then, what, make them villains??? You can argue that “Oh but Evie’s actress is also a WOC!! And Jay’s Indigenous as well!! And AND Carlos is Black!!” Okay??? That........ doesn’t better Disney’s choices of making their antags not-ethnically-ambiguous Black girls??? In Uma’s case a darker-skinned Black girl????? Sure they tried to introduce another lesser-ambiguous Black girl into the protag's side in the third one but her significance is....... not much, so don’t try to tell me that Disney “cast the best actresses for the roles” when said roles are written to be like THAT. I know what’s up, and I’m TIRED of it.

Another point I want to make and I don’t think anyone talked about this yet, but despite all of Disney’s efforts to be more diverse in this franchise it’s still very much a White Girl story. Mal’s the ONLY White character in the main cast, and she’s front and center of most if not all of the conflicts, she has the most impact in each movie and the center’s just on her for far more than the rest of the cast, which is made up of all POC. Similar to SPOP - this is an issue that needs to be addressed: how a White Girl is still leading a diverse cast and have the medium masked itself as being so “equal” and “woke” but in actuality is playing The White Protag and her Band Of Color all over again. I honestly think that if they wanted to make Uma and Audrey WOCs, they should’ve cast Mal as a Black girl - a dark-skinned, non-ambiguous Black girl who is the “main character” for once. Yeah Mal started off as a “bad guy”, but they’re doing this thing where the bad guys turned good, the “bad guy” protags get redeemed and fleshed out with characters arcs and became the people we’re supposed to root for anyways, so it wouldn’t make a difference to cast her as a Black girl. Carlos’ Black, so why not Mal too??

Not the most important point, but I also found it absolutely HILARIOUS that they tried to give Mal a “prejudiced because of associated stereotypes” narrative in the first movie and the one attacking her is a Black woman (Audrey’s maternal grandma, who is Black btw). White creators just LOVE to make real issues against POC into a “what if the roles are reversed” thing don’t they??

Also it’s pretty fucked up that a significant motivator for said Black antags is a White guy. It’s not THE motivation but it is a serious one in terms of narrative. Like have we not seen enough stories where the EVIIILLLL WOC is threatening to destroy a White girl’s relationship????? We don’t need a popular aimed-at-young-people franchise to further this ideal but........ here we are.

So yeah Disney is as Fake Woke as ever, what else is new??

~Mod L

#text post #mod l #disney #descendants #descendants spoilers #racism #racialized misogyny #misogynoir #i feel like there's a lot more i can say #but this is all i have for now

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entamewitchlulu · 5 years

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Arc V Month Day 20: Favorite Antagonists

ohohoho....man is there an antag I don’t like at all in this show? Nearly every one of the main baddies are just so fun to hate, and even more fun to analyze. So lemme talk about each of the main ones just briefly

God just look at his stupid face i love him!!!

Yuuri is just. The whole package. He’s the epitome of my guilty pleasure fave type of villain: the type who’s just gleefully evil, who legitimately knows they’re the bad guy and revels in it, and also talks very politely while doing so (I have a very specific Type when it comes to villains lol). Not a very realistic villain, to be sure, but oh so fun to watch in action. He’s got the gleeful malice, the truly frightening cruelty, a wild sort of destructive fervor, and is such a manipulative tease to boot. Plus, he’s such a meme. I love him.

Beyond that though, though little to nothing is confirmed in canon, I find how he ended up the way he is very, very interesting. Knowing that he and the boys are all the exact same person brings up some great questions on the nature-nuture discussion, and if they all had the same base nature, how did Yuuri’s nurture (or lack thereof) cause him to end up being so vastly different a person from his other counterparts? Considering who was in charge of caring for him (whom we’ll def talk about later...), and Leo’s absolute hatred for Zarc, it’s obvious that some very, very awful things occurred to make Yuuri the way he is, and likely, most of his actions and personality are all very elaborate coping mechanisms -- not that he himself would ever admit to that being the case. If you asked him, I’m sure he’d tell you everything he does is absolutely his own choice because he wants to be so terrible -- which is just as true as the fact that likely, not all of his choices were his own.

Of course we can’t talk about Yuuri, or about antags in general, without talking about Zarc. I know he’s the ultimate big bad so I should probably save him for last, but I have other things I want to talk about so we’re just gonna hit up Zarc rn lol.

What I love about Zarc (and honestly, what I love about most Arc V villains) is just how human his motivations are. Like, he didn’t get possessed. He didn’t get influenced by an eldritch god, or tainted by some wild magic that made him go mad. He was just a mostly ordinary person, who, like Yuya, wanted to become someone. He wanted to meet the expectations of the crowd -- and without anyone else to be at his side to help him process his emotions, he simply continued and continued down the path, seeking more and more validation even as the lengths he had to go to to achieve that destroyed him and his dragons, until he broke.

I can’t confirm it, obviously, but I’m of the opinion that most of Zarc’s evil schtick was just a mask -- both for his opponents, and for himself. He’d been driven so far to the brink, so far away from the person he’d wanted to be, that he just let himself fall into a role so deeply that even he was fooled, when the truth was that he was terrified. He was always terrified. And that’s why Yuya’s arc accepting himself as Zarc and choosing to heal was so important, and so powerful.

Zarc wasn’t a villain just for the hell of it. He was a monster created by society. And in the end, he was more tragic than villainous.

I can’t get out of an antagonist post without talking about this smug bastard. I’ve talked about him a LOT (actually, I’ve talked about all of these guys a lot lol), but honestly? As much as I say I hate him, he’s just so deliciously evil that I can’t really, lol. As a villain, he’s everything the arc needed -- a vicious manipulator who thought he was superior to everything and beyond the machinations of anyone else, until he slowly deteriorated as he realized his flawless plans weren’t so flawless after all. He was, and probably still is, my favorite antagonist just because that illusion of control made him so frightening -- and once that illusion broke down, he became actually even more terrifying as he started to lose his self-control. The before and after was pretty intense to watch.

And here we go. When it comes to antagonists in Arc V, even if he’s not my personal fave? I don’t think you can get much better than Leo Akaba.

Like, before the final arc, I really, really didn’t think much of him. I barely cared about him. And after Synchro, I was really just kind of bored of him. Like, I didn’t imagine there was any way they could one up Roget -- Roget was literally the perfect villain. How could this boring guy who spends all his time sitting in a chair and watching things happen without actively doing anything ever be better than that? Part of me was actually feeling a little let down, because I couldn’t imagine getting anything better than Synchro.

And then That Episode went down, and it blew all of my wavering expectations out of the damn water.

As I mentioned before about the humanity of the villains in Arc V, Leo fits that theme to a T. He’s not magical. He’s not even really evil. He’s just someone who found a way to justify the absolutely terrible, horrible things that he’s doing, and that’s so real -- that’s so terrifying.

As soon as you get the truth about Ray, about the dimension split, about everything, literally the entire show falls into place. Every single bit of Leo’s character is thrown into stark clarity in just the space of an episode. He’s not just a guy sitting in a chair -- he’s a madly grieving father who doesn’t even believe the world he’s in is real, so of course he doesn’t feel bad about using and abusing fake people in a fake world in order to get his real world and his real daughter back. It’s horrifying, and yet it’s so human.

Humanity and society was really the real antagonist of Arc V, and it just manifested in different ways: in the wild actions of a child clearly abused by the system that should have taken care of him, in the grasping for political power by an out of control authority figure, in the inconsolable grief of a father, and in the breakdown of a young man who was only trying to meet the expectations of the world around him.

There’s something very poignant in that. It’s definitely one of the reasons that I’ll be coming back to Arc V again and again.

#arcvanniversary #lulu talks #long post

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concerningwolves · 6 years

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Writing Romance | The Ins, Outs and All-Arounds

Here’s a fun fact before we get started: you don’t have to like the typical romance novel to enjoy writing romance yourself. You don’t even have to be a romantic person. I see so many writers saying things like “I don’t like romance, I’m not romantic, I’ve never had a romantic relationship!! I can’t write romance!!” These things are not mutually exclusive to one another.

Can’t do it? Then stop. Walk away and find a TV show or a book series and run over to Archive of Our Own to hunt down some fanfiction, then write some of your own. This works best for the non-canon but super hinted-at ships, like Destiel or Johnlock, the kind of ships where the characters are friends, but their chemistry is so strong that everyone winds up agreeing that these canon-stated heterosexual characters are actually closeted non-straights in love with one another. In the long run this doesn’t matter too much, since you need to ship the ship yourself, but that’s the gist of it.

The only thing to do from there on in is practise, practise, practise. The groundwork has been done for you, which means all you have to do is write something that keeps true to the characters’ relationship, carries over the qualities that make people ship them in the first place, show some intimacy, and. Oh. Look! Romance! (please bear in mind this is simplified and I’m about to get into the gritty details now)

That’s all good, but how do you go about then making your own groundwork?

Consider the things that go before attraction is the answer. Whether your characters go from friends to lovers or enemies to lovers, or anything else along that spectrum, there is a list of things that must, must must be present before any kind of romance can begin. Most media misses these out and thus warps our perception of how we as writers should be showing love, adding to this idea that we just can’t write it. If you look past the bullcrap of consumer-orientated romance, you’ll notice these fundementals missing:

Respect

This is more than Him holding the door for Her and thinking about how great her hair smells. Respect is knowing who the person is, understanding them, and not trying to shape them into your opinion of how they should be. It is asking for consent, not kissing to cut off an argument, accepting set boundaries, being willing to communicate, to try, to give space and know when space would be damaging. Respect is such a broad term, encompassing everything from basic human decency to the begginning of admiration, understanding and adoration. Romance is nothing without respect.

Understanding

Your two young women in love are never going to be able to take that love further until they understand one another and what makes them tick. And when I say “what makes them tick” I am not talking about turn-ons or sex, not in this context anyway. Loving someone without ever understanding them is tantamount to being in love with the idea of someone you hero-worship, or adoring a Victorian house for its antiquity based on the facade when the inside has been completely modernized.

Understanding isn’t always knowing your significant other’s turbulent past and understanding that it has warped their moral compass and trying to fix them (Don’t use the moral saviour trope in romance building, ever). More often than not, understanding is knowing that your Significant Other(s) doesn’t like loud places and respecting them enough to just take them out of that place; it is understanding that your SO will tell you why they have this problem in their own time, if at all, and that they don’t like having questions asked.

See now that these two things are both exclusive to their own, and intrinsically linked? You can’t have one without the other, and you can’t even begin to think about inching your plot or sublot into romance territory unless they’re present. Respect and understanding are how you have two characters forming a connection of some description. Ergo, groundwork.

So what is the groundwork anyway?

Groundwork is all of the aspects listed below. It’s the things that happen after, or in tandem with, some very basic respect and understanding being established between your characters. They’re not a recipe for loving or crushing- that happens on its own, and I’ll come back to how to write that later on- but they are a recipe for writing your blooming romance into an actual relationship that people will love.

Pre-established relationship

This can be a friendship or a fued- (if you’ve ever looked at the Romeo and Juliet fandom, you’ll see a huge amount of people shipping the sworn enemies, Mercutio and Tybalt with gleeful abandon)- a previous meeting years ago, High School friends, whatever. There just has to be something there, and that something needs to be some sort of chemistry. Love is chemicals, after all, and nothing comes from nothing.

Chemistry

Thinking of Romeo and Juliet, let’s study this classic example of “love at first sight”. Whether or not it was actually love is something I can debate for hours, but it could definitely have become love of the strongest kind. And what was the clincher for this? Chemistry. They had that in bucket-loads, and given a healthy environment, they could’ve built a solid relationship. Romeo was head-over-heels with Juliet’s beauty, she stopped him short with her wit; he suggested, she responded; she was level-headed while he was headstrong. They balanced one another so perfectly. Shakespeare knew what he was writing about. People are still shipping and writing fanfiction of this play 400 years later.

Chemistry can go in another direction, too. Let’s look at Destiel, the most popular ship on Ao3. God, Dean is so frustrated with Castiel, and Cass, in turn, is so aloof until he learns some humanity. The two of them go back and forth, back and forth. Granted. I’ve just finished season seven, but the chemistry in there so far is enough to set something on fire through an exothermal reaction. It’s hatred, love and loyalty in turns. Anger, despair, betrayal. Maybe not the healthiest, but it’s still chemistry, and fans lap it up.

Feeling Things

Indifference is the death of love; things are where it starts. Slow burn and enemies to lovers are some of the top rising tropes in fiction today. That’s not to say you can have someone loving the abusive jock who used to bully them or a serial killer who took their family- there are lines, and you as a writer have got to lay them out- but when the protag brings out the best qualities in the antag without changing who they are, that’s good romance material. Any strong emotion provides a great framework for romantic attraction to someone.

Basics down, let’s look at how to write love itself

The best part of any romance plot or romantic subplot is the buildup, but only if done well. If done wrong, it turns out like an infatuation, and that’s just unhealthy- or as indifference, indifference, oh wait they’re together? Love, done correctly, is a really fun emotion to write. You can take so much liberty with narrative, and even the way you use the English language! The possibilities are huge and with all the tools available, there is no such thing as “I can’t write romance”

It’s the little things...

If you’ve ever felt anything even slightly more than friendship for anyone, you’ll know that it’s the little things that catch your focus: the smile, the small quirks, hand actions, things nobody else notices but you do. There is something so delightfully intimate about these details, and it’s fairly simple to convey these feelings through writing by including- yes- details! I reiterate: your character is going to start noticing little things about their love interest(s) that other people generally would not. There is a misconception that writing these details is the buildup to a sexual relationship, but it isn’t; it’s a simple fact of any kind of romantic involvement. If your relationship is going to be sexual as well as romantic, then maybe your character will notice sunlight on skin, glimpses of exposed neck, etc etc, but generally speaking these details are actions that would be simple to anyone else, but become endearing.

An example:

Jack smiled. It was the kind of smile that Aryn had to respond to: gaptooth, lopsided. A youthful shift in a weary face that always made Aryn’s chest tighten, just a touch. Only a touch. It couldn’t be any more than that, but, he was unable to deny the safety in the way Jack’s eyes wrinkled at the corners.

That was pretty cliche, so here’s another one that’s less so and does the same thing:

He had a way of running his thumb under his bottom lip when nervous, a tic that reminded Cooper of a bird, in some ways. Or maybe not. It was familiar anyhow, and quaint, after the fashion of the colourful characters of childhood film.

I’m assuming here that Cooper really likes birds. Not that I know who Cooper is, but the point of the exercise is that the descriptions link back to positive things, some of which are specific to the viewpoint character. With the second one, I didn’t even need to describe how Cooper was feeling- no butterflies, breathlessness or any other cliches of the romance genre that I find hard to write- just left the description open to positive interpretation.

If a character’s love interest makes them feel safe or dizzy, include words linked to these ideas in the descriptions and narrative, such as Cooper’s birds or the boyishness to Jack’s smile.

I mentioned sex. I guess I owe it to you now to explain how to put this in, too

It isn’t a part of a relationship for everyone, but for some people, the attraction within a romance is physical as well as romantic. When that happens, you’re free to unleash sensual and sensory language to get your readers excited and your characters’ chemistry really boiling. Make a list of words/phrases that relate to sensuality and sexuality and scatter them in the paragraphs leading up to a sex scene (whether you decide to write this as explicit, implied, or somewhere in between). such as:

Nessa watched Athenais’ fingers caress the curves of the chair absently, the skin of her hand a soft charcoal blue in the dim light. The night was sticky and wrapped itself around them.

This is the same technique used for demonstrating feelings of endearment and love, but taken to a new level. The words should be closer together, the description not too heavy but not backing up either. This helps with the tension and anticipation of the moment.

Some other ways to write attraction, physical or emotional, are:

viewpoint character paying unsual interest to how their love interest(s) walks/moves/talks

Intense conversation

Noticing freckles, beauty marks etc and wondering if they continue below the line of clothes

Glancing away, unable to meet eyes, trips of the tongue, blushing (but these in moderation.)

“She’s so good at singing, it’s amazing!” I don’t think she’s that good. “I do! Really-” (Heightened opinion, especially in comparison to that of other characters)

And last of all, swings and roundabouts

Your budding romance shouldn’t happen in a linear fashion. Characters need to recognise their feelings, push them away, deny them, attempt to reduce them to platonic ones; maybe one of the characters is afraid of having a relationship, while the other isn’t, but they both really want it. The rule of thumb in writing is create conflict, and that in no way ends when you write romance. Only this time, it’s a conflict of interest, of emotion, internal conflict.

The tug and pull is what makes romance fun. You can drag out the angst and build up to a lovely, healthy relationship that your readers ship and you feel fulfilled writing.

I’ve done my best to condense all I’ve learned in how to write romance, but if you’re still struggling with one aspect or another, send me an ask. I hope that this has helped: best wishes and happy writing!

#artie gives advice #romance #writing romance #writing advice #writer advice #writing help #writeblr #writer #writer blogging #writers on writing #writers of tumblr #writers on tumblr #writing love

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donnyjabronie · 6 years

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Far Cry 5 Spoiler Rant

Let me preface this by saying this is going to be very spoiler-y, as my biggest nitpick with the game is how it ends. It’s pretty much all I talk about. If you don’t wish to be spoiled, turn back now.

~~~~~

Far Cry 5 was a decent entry into the Far Cry franchise, and a fun game for being $60. Despite having less gun variety, less animal variety, heck just less variety in general in terms of the world and immersing you when compared to it’s 3 year old predecessor Far Cry 4, yet it still almost seemed more fun. The gameplay is a fun time, towers are gone thank god and instead we have more creative ways to go about capturing the lands back, and all in all it feels like it took 2 steps back and 3 steps forward; it excelled in aspects that the other games did not such as gunplay and gameplay, but fell in aspects such as the environments and variety we saw in the earlier entry.

But I’m an RPG nerd. I want a good story, even if it’s in a dumb shoot game like Far Cry.

Now, Far Cry 4 didn’t have the best story, but it definitely had the best villain in my opinion. Pagan Min was perfect at hitting the mark of sympathetic villain; he’s a ruthless dictator, but at the end of the day that’s all he really is. Not straight up evil, but certainly not good either. This, combined with the allies you had in the story, led to a solid hollow-victory ending. One problem was solved, but it made it clear that this wasn’t the end and whoever took his place would be just as bad. When a game can pull off an ending like this, it can be quite thoughtful or solid, but sometimes a game tries to give you a hollow-victory or even a failure ending and it winds up unsatisfying and unfulfilling, there needs to be a resolution and conclusion to the plot. So why does Far Cry 5′s ending suck? It doesn’t have this.

Others I’ve seen didn’t enjoy Far Cry 5′s storytelling at all, and I can’t blame them even if I found it fine enough. You basically just had 4 cutscenes overr the course of taking over the region, pretty poor pacing but whatever, they’re trying to give as much freedom as possible in this game so I guess it’s serviceable.

John was a fairly interesting character, the allies associated with his section of the game were interesting, and it was a satisfying section taking him down after what he put people through. Jacob felt rushed and I never really developed any sort of bond to the allies in the area (the deputy that you rescue in this region never is shown or speaks up to this point so I honestly didn’t even realize he was important until the game spelled it out for me). The villain’s motivation is just PTSD, and that’s that. There’s fun mind-control stuff with conditioning, but then you kill him and that’s it, it’s all good. Faith was my favorite, as her character helped to show how fucked up the main villain of the game, Joseph, is. She had a unique bossfight, her zombie army was fun, and the allies of the region were fantastic.

And then you get to Joseph and the end of the game. Immediately, despite me landing a helicopter with Jess Black sitting next to me, as it turns out actually all the allies I made over the course of the game were all suddenly mind-controlled, including Jess. How did he do this? NOBODY KNOWS! Also they kidnapped my police crew. And the only way to rescue your allies from the mind-control is by shooting them in the face and then picking them up. Also, during this you shoot the ever-loving shit out of Joseph who comes out of the encounter with a couple scratches. Let’s not bother questioning the logic in any of this.

After this boss fight, despite how he just tried to kill you and had kidnapped or mind-controlled literally all of your allies, and everyone being in agreement they’d like to see Joseph dead, and his entire thing being how persuasive he is and how he has everyone including the government (Fucking Nancy) under his thumb, you all decide to arrest him rather than kill him. Fuck it, whatever, justice yada yada yada.

And then the nukes happen.

Now there’s some theories around these nukes, the one that seems most logical is that Joseph set off these nukes to trick the US into thinking World War 3 was starting and so he could be right about the end of the world coming. How did he set these off? NOBODY KNOWS! The answer that makes the most sense is that he had them on a timer, but whatever. Who knows. So then, the game lets you try to drive to the bunker you wound up in at the start of the game in a ridiculous driving section (How are trees burned to a crisp and deer are on fire, yet all of us are perfectly fine sitting in our van? I guess the AC is just that good ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ). It gives this false sense of hope, that maybe Far Cry silliness will win out. Well, it does in a way.

You get in a crash just before the bunker, a crash in which everyone dies. Except you and Joseph, because reasons I guess. Also you, this super soldier who has literally killed Joseph’s entire army, is too hurt to get up or maintain consciousness, but Joseph, this shirtless prick who wasn’t even wearing a seatbelt, is perfectly fine and not even scratched during the crash. How? NOBODY KNOWS! Noticing a pattern about this ending? Also worth noting that just moments ago deer were on fire just from being outside, and now this shirtless man is walking around like it’s no big deal and not even breaking a sweat. Let’s just not talk about the radiation poisoning.

So then he drags you to the bunker, kills literally every ally you made through the entire game, locks you to a bed post, where you will spend (presumably) the rest of your days with Joseph. Also he was right about everything, and you are just as bad as him (despite the fact that he’s drugged hundreds of people, murdered hundreds of people, raped people, etc etc.) I’ve never encountered a game with as much of a fuck-you ending as this.

I really enjoyed the game up to the ending, I thought it was a lot of fun and the characters were all very intriguing. But that ending single-handedly soiled the entire experience for me. It retroactively made the game and all the time I spent with it horrible, because the game is all about liberating and saving this county from a crazy nutjob cult leader, but then the ending is just “actually everyone but the villain dies, the dispute between the protag and antag is never resolved, everything you did throughout the game was utterly pointless, the end.” I don’t know how they managed to fuck something up this much, but boy did they fuck it up.

#far cry 5 #i'm salty #Fuck this game #rant #half-assed review

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auideas · 7 years

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Ask the Admins 10.0

@genosha-meiuqer: This is to Admin M -- Out of curiosity, do you drive anything like a War Boy?

M: Yes. That is actually a problem I have irl. I drive far too fast. Haven’t gotten pulled over yet though! (knock on wood)

Anon asked: Describe yourself in one adjective.

Chamomile: Talkative

M: Witty

Syren: Enthusiastic

Jynn: Resilient

Vox: Amiable

Anon asked: Do you have other sister blogs or affiliate blogs about writing? Or maybe you can rec us other writing blogs? Not that auideas is not awesome, loving this blog! Just, you know, want to follow other blog. Thanks! Loving your aus btw!

Chamomile: We have @nsfw-auideas, which has been inactive for a while since I became uncomfortable running it and the other admins sort of dropped of….but for blogs that inspire me, I always love @writing-prompt-s because they give me ideas for prompts with their prompts (if that makes sense, lmao) and also from fanfiction/fanart. I get //so// much inspiration from fanfiction/fanart.

M: Yeah we have our NSFW blog, but that’s pretty much it, and I don’t really have a lot of time at the moment to look at other blogs, so this is definitely one for the other admins to answer.

Syren: I second what Chamomile mentioned, and I also get a lot of inspiration from @inell who is a writing machine in the Sterek fandom. It's insane how many stories she churns out, and they often help me mindlessly brainstorm, if that makes any sense??

Jynn: I get a lot of inspiration from @otpprompts!

Vox: @otpprompts and @writing-prompt-s are two other really great prompt blogs! ( ≧▽≦)

Anon asked: curious about the new assistant admins. mind doing information pages for them like you did for the admins?

Chamomile: Here’s all of our pages: Chamomile // M // Syren // Jynn // Vox

Anon asked: When I'm grown, a martyr I will never be. I won't cry for you. I won't suffer for the things you do. I won't cry for you, see. Even though I understand you, Kankri.

Chamomile: this is a sin

M: get outta here

Syren: *Castiel voice* I don't understand that reference.

Jynn: I had to actually go back and find this song again for Chamomile so I just have to say how dare you make me relive that.

Vox: This ask has 6een marked as triggera6le and will 6e taken d9wn by Kankri Vantas. (ง •̀_•́)ง

Anon asked: So I know that this blog is SFW, but do you mind if I use your prompts in a NSFW story?

Chamomile: That’s totally fine! Whatever you do with our prompts is totally up to you.

M: ^^^^^

Anon asked: Have you decided what theme you'll be using? I remember a while back one of the admins asked what the followers think about the current theme.

Chamomile: Oh yeah, we got this solved a long while back. If anybody has a theme that they think is really nice and that we should try out, then send it to us!

Anon asked: What is your opinion on "Shrek is Love, Shrek is Life"?

Chamomile: get out

M: leeeeeeeave

Syren: I am daily surrounded by meme trash and could probably recite it perfectly if I tried. I am only slightly ashamed.

Jynn: I'll never forget it. That being said, I never want it in my presence ever again.

Vox: You scream, I scream, we all scream for Dank Memes™

Anon asked: I finally talked to my future college roommate. Accidentally ignore her email for a week tho... Not really off to a great start?

Chamomile: I can’t tell if this is a prompt or you telling us about your day but my advice would be to get her a card that’s like “I’m sorry I ignored your email for a week” and then some candy or whatever else she likes.

M: Lol man that did not happen with my current roommate - we actually sent each other our first introductory emails at the exact same moment even though I was across the country. Thankfully, we’ve clicked very well, but I would recommend not getting on their bad side right away, or that’ll make your year not so much fun.

Syren: Dude, I am the worst person at communicating possibly ever. I have lost friends because I forget to reply to them for months, no joke. I've found the best way to make it up is to be as sincere with your apology as possible. I've learned not to make excuses. Don't sweat it!

Jynn: I'm glad you reached out to your roommate, good job! I'd go with Chamomiles card and candy idea.

Vox: -looks at the messages I have in Line that are months old- -l a u g h s- Oh honey.

Anon asked: Do you (admins and assistants) know how to make gifs? Also, how do you pronounce "gifs"? "Jifs" or "gifs".

Chamomile: I have no clue on how to make a gif, and I pronounce it like “gift” without a “t”.

M: Gifs. Hard G. I will fight you on this.

Syren: I have no clue how to make a gif, though I've been thinking about learning (barely any gifs out there for When We Rise). Hard g.

Jynn: There are tons of gif makers online, I also have an app for that. I pronounce it “Gif” with a hard G

Vox: I LOVE making gifs!! They’re super fun. Also I use both alternatively.

Anon asked: how do the admins like the new assistants? And how do the assistants like the admins?

Chamomile: I think they’re pretty great! Everybody has been really good with getting their prompts in the drafts so admin m and I can approve them. No real problems.

M: Two thumbs up from me! I can now feel more stress about my school and social life than about this darn blog...

Syren: They're all generally fabulous people and make me feel welcomed. I'm the youngest of the bunch, but that doesn't change anything. Also, I have a habit for apologizing for everything, and they always assure me that it's all good and that they've all been there.

Jynn: Chamomile, Em, and I have actually all been friends for upwards of a couple years now, and I've contributed to the blog here and there before so it hasn't been super different for me tbh.

Vox: If I could put emojis into replies, this right here would just be a string of sparkles and hearts. Everyone’s been really nice!!

Anon asked: I haven't been on this site since forever and I just got back. Nice to see more prompts that I can add to my growing list of things I want to try writing :) (Also, "Runaway" and "So Sad, So Sad" are some of my favorite songs! :D )

Chamomile: Eeeeee! Thanks for loving the blog! Also I know right, I have some pretty good music taste if I do say so myself ;)

Anon asked: Knowing that someone else uses Japanese emoticons makes me really happy. ＼＼\ (۶ÒワÒ)۶//／／ Where do you get yours from, Vox? An app, website, or other?

Vox: Yaaaaa, kaomoji are super funnnnn!! ☆⌒(*＾-°)v I have a Japanese keyboard on my phone so I automatically have a bunch of them readily available.

Anon asked: Choose five of the blog's followers that you've talked to a fair amount and say what story genre you think they would be a character in, and if they would be a protag or antag.

Chamomile: Instead of choosing just five, I went with all of them. Here’s the link

M: I willllllll do this over break - expect a post on my admin blog!

Anon asked: If life was a standardized test, you would be "Answer B" because I always turn to you when I don't know what to do.

Chamomile:....that’s actually really sweet?

M: Omfg.

Syren: This would be really cute if the thought of standardized tests didn't throw me into a panic over upcoming midterms, SATs, and ACTs

Jynn: Awwwwww!

Vox: I’m in various stages of oh god and that’s so sweet and lol my name is actually Bee so this is kind of great, are you flirting with me anon, winkwink. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Anon asked: What do you call a flirty Greek? A Socratease

Chamomile: The King of flirty Greeks is Mithridatetease (Mithridates)

M: Get out.

Syren: As long as they don't have an Oedipus complex, they can tease all they want

Jynn: More like MithriDATEs

Vox: Has war flashbacks to Greek myth lectures. Sweats nervously.

@all-made-of-stardust asked: So I love your blog, and I especially love all your Never Book quotes. I was wondering - what's your policy on using those quotes? Can I directly use the whole quote? Should I change it a bit? Should I not use it at all? There's several quotes I have been thinking about using, and I just wanted to make sure I was doing it right.

Chamomile: hey there! This is a pretty popular question, but our policy is that you can change it however you want (adding in words, changing pronouns, etc.) but don’t repost it anywhere without crediting us. Cutting our parts is also totally fine. If you write something inspired by TNB, or has a TNB quote in it, make sure to shoot us a message and we’ll make sure to add it to the follower’s works page!

@ihaveatheoryabouttimetravel asked: What exactly is the never book?

Chamomile: Hey! I’m the creator of The Never Book (TNB) and here’s the long version of how/why I created it (link), but the short version is that TNB is supposed to be a collection of writing prompts to help inspire you to write. Some of them are very dramatic, while other ones are humorous, and other ones are meant to be cliffhangers that make you want to write what happens next. The name “The Never Book” is supposed to imply that all of these quotes come from a story that has never been written, meaning that they’re free game for prompts as well as to make stories out of.

Note: I’ve entertained the idea of trying to write a piece of fiction with a ton of TNB quotes crammed into it. Might try to get around to that if anybody is interested.

Anon asked: Is it okay to Writer's Block shame a friend who has an almost complete first chapter for 57 different fanfiction pieces???

Chamomile: #me

M: Shame us all

Syren: I'm too fragile to be bombarded like this

Jynn: I'm being called out.

Vox: First of all how dare, it’s only 56. (ง •̀_•́)ง

anon asked: tbh between chamomile and m i really thought that chamomile was younger. i have been surprised but not unpleasantly so

Chamomile: I’m definitely shorter and rounder than admin m, but I’m older by like, a year and a half? Something like that?

M: I am the alpha.

anon asked: assistant admins, what’s your favorite ice cream flavor?

Syren: Blue Moon (it's an upper Midwest thing I guess)

Jynn: Chocolate

Vox: Mint chocolate chip

#admin m #admin chamomile #admin syren #admin jynn #admin vox #ask the admins #ata #faq #this has been a public broadcast #long post

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ignis-et-glacius · 7 years

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Please don’t hate me too much...

So, I just watched the first few episodes of American Horror Story: Cult and I think it's shit.

My parents are big AHS fans and I've never even watched the first season, so I won't blame ya if you don't take my opinion because I'm not even a semi-real fan (just, please don’t flood my inbox with tirades; because, again, I’m someone going into this season completely blind), but I do know of it’s humored jabs at reality.

I'm not angry about the political take, hell, I expected it; politics are hot and controversial now, so big rating potential for them. No, what pisses me off is the insufferable strawmanning.

Our antagonist is a right-wing nutjob who, in the first episode, literally dry humped his tv while yell-chanting USA! USA! when he saw Trump won; okay, easily hate-able, if not annoying, villain. But our protags are worse, they're portrayed as over sensitive liberal snowflakes (first ep, my mom made fun of a woman by saying "Get in your safe space!") who legit said "please, no cis-normative names" about a pet guinea pig, y'know, something that even left-wingers make fun of and is widely considered to not even be a thing outside of comedy acts.

Alright, I can see why they might want to criticize an extent of both sides, one minor antag duo are the type of liberals who harass a normal (lesbian, I might add) couple by preaching about how said couple "murders people of color with their white privilege" all while wearing shitty sombreros as trendy outfits because they’re some minute fraction Mexican; something that, as someone who's been on tumblr for a few years, I've seen.

And our main villain is a xenophobic dickbag who likes to sling racial insults at minorities with the intent of having them beat the fuck out of him while a friend records it out of context to start a shitstorm. But at the same time, it seems more like ham-fisted pandering to both, but mainly the right, sides.

I mean, christ, how would viewers respond if it was the other way around? What if the liberal antagonists had only minor criticizing flaws; while the right-wing protags were EVERY republican stereotype conceived. Like, they're toothless, literally inbred, gun over-toting, lynch levels of racist, everything-phobic idiots from the backwoods trailerparks of Alabama? I have a feeling Facebook would be exploding with republican, middle-class fools pitching the ultimate bitch fit and trying to form a boycott claiming the show's "Political Correctness gone mad".

All in all, it's pretty shitty and if I ever get around to watching AHS (which I might, it looks fairly decent) I’m just going to skip this entire season because the strawman pandering is so painfully cringeworthy, it wouldn’t be too far fetched to hear they got ideas from the Youtube cringe compilations (or maybe I’m just being an “over sensitive snowflake” because I’m a left-winger). Maybe it’d be better if our political climate wasn’t the way it is, and if we didn’t have protesters being run-over along with neo-nazi marches

#american horror story #ahs cult

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grosserfluss · 7 years

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30 days of suikoden challenge , day 5 ——

favorite star of destiny from suikoden iv

here we gooo the original shitty poncy noble turned antag turned redemption arc also known as my favorite character in s4 and the hands down best unit you can’t tell me otherwise drumrooolll.......... snowe vingerhut!

to be perfectly honest, snowe has one of the best narrative arcs not only in s4, but in my opinion in all of suikoden overall. it’s not only realistic and suitably solemn, but executed in a fashion that makes it believable. considering he’s just about one of the only characters in s4 who experiences any character development whatsoever ( i’m kind of tempted to say the only one...... ), it’s like the development team just put literally all their energy into making his story fantastic and then forgot about everyone else. perks: snowe is fucking amazing. cons: everything else kinda sucks character-wise. not that i’m saying the other characters are exceedingly dry and boring; there are definitely still good eggs in the cast. but none of them get character development; they pretty much stay static throughout the game. nor are they particularly dynamic in and of themselves. snowe is pretty much the only one who doesn’t feel like a trope.

he starts out the game winning trophies in the World’s Worst Best Friend contest left and right. though he’s lazlo’s best friend, it’s pretty much a given that he considers him more of a shadow than how one would really treat their friends. he’s so spoiled and self-absorbed that he never gives a thought to what lazlo thinks or wants — it’s pretty much all about himself and how lazlo can make him look good. he’s not mean to him, perse, but he clearly walks all over him and one gets the impression that he hangs out with him because he likes him, yes, but also because lazlo lets him have his way and because snowe looks good next to him. not surprisingly, he’s also an extremely shallow and immature individual, only allowed to take charge of missions and be in command because his daddy dearest has direct influence on the navy.

of course, he lets his privileges go to his head — he believes he should be in charge, that everyone should think the best of him, and is just brimming with poncy young nobleman bravado. of course all the other trainees are going to listen to him and support him, because he’s clearly qualified and they’re his friends! the game sets him up wonderfully as a character, and then comes the brilliant moment at the beginning when he drastically fucks up a simple delivery mission when their ship gets attacked by pirates.

here, we find out ( we’d gotten inklings before, but it never really showed itself until this point ) that snowe is a Coward with a capital c. the moment pirates attack, he’s paralyzed by fear and inaction. when people ask him for orders, he totally blanks. and then when lazlo takes over command, snowe is appalled that he “shows him up”. realizing that no one is listening to him ( while he fucking complains about his arm not being able to move, once again showcasing how self-centered he is ) he decides to just abandon ship in a dinghy by himself. later, the player gets satisfaction in watching the commander chew him the fuck out for abandoning ship when he was captain, and praise lazlo for actually getting shit done and fending off the pirates. this moment, of course, becomes the catalyst for all of snowe’s feelings of jealousy as the commander begins to place more trust in lazlo’s abilities ( rightfully, because snowe is a fucking weenis. )

it’s little surprise, then, that when commander glen dies and the rune of punishment transfers over to lazlo, that snowe, not knowing what happened, blames the commander’s death on his friend, resulting in lazlo’s exile. while snowe seems to express some kind of guilt over causing his friend’s exile in what had been a moment of blind panic, he also seems to selfishly realize that this is also the perfect opportunity for him to regain his former esteem with lazlo gone.

however, no one is surprised when snowe continuously proves himself incompetent over and over again. he gets ousted from the razril and ends up hopping around to a bunch of different places, trying to make a name for himself and get back some of the prestige he once had, joining up with pirates and even the kooluk empire in an attempt to make something out of himself and continue to compete with lazlo. over and over, lazlo and his army encounter him, and each time snowe expresses envy that his best friend is able to be so successful, raising up and leading a unified army, while he continues to fail. he asks “why you?” to which the player doesn’t really have an answer other than snowe’s a fucking immature jackass, but he tries so hard and fails so pathetically because of his lack of understanding that you can’t help but feel sorry for him at the same time, because he just doesn’t get it. he refuses to join you each time out of resentment and jealousy, and you can either kill him or let him go.

if you choose to let him go each time, sending him away in a sad little dinghy after sparing his life, and recruit all the other 107 stars, snowe is your 108th star. i think this is really fitting and symbolic because it’s like your reward for uniting all these people is the chance to give your best friend an opportunity to redeem himself, the one who has clearly thought little of you and sabotaged you since the beginning of the game. the suikoden games focus a lot on the theme of forgiveness — riou and jowy in s2, most notably — but s4′s forgiveness is done so well because, unlike jowy, the player probably doesn’t want to forgive snowe for what he’s done. he was so awful in the beginning, and is the reason lazlo was cast out of razril. he’s been so jealous of you the whole game. but if you choose to be sympathetic to him, you get what becomes a truly equal friendship. the game doesn’t just depict forgiveness for an otherwise sympathetic character, it asks for it from the player for a character who 100% doesn’t deserve it.

and the moment is a truly pitiful one. after you’ve gotten all 107 stars, you’re given the chance to find snowe literally floating on some driftwood in torn up rags for clothing. you’re the leader of a strong, unified army, and he’s hit rock fucking bottom, and when he stands before you and all the people he’s wronged, he knows how low he’s fallen and he’s clearly humbled. he has nothing to say other than “i’m at your mercy”, and when you choose to forgive him and let him join you, he says “i have no choice but to acknowledge how powerless i am. i knew it...i knew it all along”, indicating that he is finally mature enough to realize that everything he’s been doing was out of inferiority complex, and he realizes his mistakes. he thanks you ( for possibly the first time?? ), which shows he’s finally not taking things for granted anymore. the knights surround him in a show of acceptance, and it’s so emotional jfc my heart.

my favorite thing is that his growth comes across in lazlo’s co-op attack with him too. at the beginning of the game, your “friendship” co-op animation consists of lazlo going in and doing all the work, and then snowe coming in and delivering the showy final blow. when you get him again at the end, the co-op has changed to “true friends” and the animation is also different — the two of you are now working together, each pulling his own weight. ( it’s legit one of the best co-ops honestly the dmg output is cray ). i’ve always enjoyed this subtle indication of not only his character development, but also the development of lazlo’s friendship with him to something far more healthy and equal than it used to be.

plus, the fact that you can fish for his alternate outfits that he’s worn throughout the game and dress him up differently is fun. i always put him in his kooluk outfit cause he looks so spiffy and i feel so bad leaving him in those rags haha. he’s also an outstanding unit in my opinion, easily one of the best by end-game. he’s not versatile, but he’s a really powerful melee fighter, and i always stick a fury rune on him and have him doing upwards of 800-1000 dmg per hit, easy. for my play style ( aka. make each unit unto their own one-man army ) snowe is like. the bomb diggity.

so basically, snowe is euram barows but about 20x better. euram was clearly trying to follow the same narrative path as snowe — underdog nobleman who obviously doesn’t have much talent and is trying to sabotage the protag but realizes his mistakes in the end and learns humility. the difference is that snowe, while certainly pathetic and worthy of scorn from the player, is never reduced to farce the same way that euram is. while the player has a hard time taking euram’s bombastic personality and slapstick actions seriously, snowe's repeatedly failed attempts to make something of himself are 100% serious. thus, his endgame redemption feels much more believable than euram’s, which felt really shoehorned in. snowe also shows more inklings of development throughout the game — though he continues to be resentful and envious each time you encounter him, he slowly loses the hubris of early game and starts to visibly question himself well before you get to recruit him, setting up for the moment of his recruitment very nicely. it doesn’t feel sudden or forced at all, unlike euram where it was sort of like you hit a switch and suddenly he got a lobotomy or smth and is now redeemed.

i’ve already written way too much but basically snowe is, in my opinion, the best example of character development and personal narrative in the suikoden series. his early-game self is infuriating, but believable, and his progression through the game is organic and equally well-executed. his redemption is really a redemption — unlike jowy and sialeeds, he didn’t have good intentions for his bad actions. he straight up did awful things and was a pretty awful person. there’s no reason we or lazlo should forgive him. but the point of real forgiveness isn’t to forgive someone you already want to forgive. unlike any other suikoden game, s4 presents us with a character who didn’t have any good, ethical, grey-area reasons for doing what he did, and asks us to forgive him anyway. and when we do, he truly learns from his mistakes and becomes a better person. yells into the void i love snowe!!!

honorable mentions: kika, elenor silverberg, nalkul, ted, helmut

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