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#Twitter will be where all the big pieces go instead of the wips I think
epersonae · 6 months
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20 questions for fic writers
Tagged by @yerbamansa, thanks!
1. How many works do you have on AO3?
169 😅 150 of which are for The Adventure Zone (I wrote a LOT of small fic for TAZ, and just a lot of TAZ fic in general)
2. What’s your total AO3 word count?
604,338, which remains absolutely wild to me. I hit the half-million mark this year.
3. What fandoms do you write for?
Currently Our Flag Means Death, but previously The Adventure Zone, and I have one Star Trek (TOS movies) fic.
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
Sea of Love (Our Flag Means Death (TV)) (6,697 words)
Phoenix Fire (The Adventure Zone (Podcast)) (2,031 words)
Commit to the Bit (Our Flag Means Death (TV)) (2,471 words)
Dinner & Conversation (The Adventure Zone (Podcast)) (826 words)
I have begun to long for you (Our Flag Means Death (TV)) (4,185 words)
Yeah, ok, some fun reunion porn for the big fandom and a collab with two pretty popular writers for the small fandom make sense for that top two in particular.
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
I try to, especially since I don't get that many, and I love getting comments so much that I just want to share my appreciation. Sometimes the spoons are low, sometimes I don't know what to say except "thanks!" and if someone just commented on several chapters I might not do that for all of them.
6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
Well, Phoenix Fire is the Worst Ending, aka the destruction of the entire universe, plus unbearably sad between the main characters, so yeah.
7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
I do have quite a bit of fluffy fic (Commit to the Bit comes to mind, there's also a Fantasy Costco Kravitz/Taako that's very sweet), but I immediately thought of for the benefit of all the broken hearts, just because it takes an incredibly bittersweet ending of the fic it's fixing and says FUCK THAT, how can everyone get a happy ending instead?
8. Do you get hate on fics?
I've never gotten any, even managed to avoid the twitter wank that WFU got when I wrote fics of it! (long ago, I did get some vagueblogging about some stuff in my TAZ fic, but nothing ever addressed directly at me)
9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?
That is where I started and why I started (my first smutty fic is pretty bad imho but it was popular, relatively speaking, because for a bit there it was the only unlocked smut for that pairing); my original rarepair was M/F bi4bi in a complicated polycule, and so there's some them+others works in there. (readers of for the benefit of all the broken hearts are nodding along like "ok this tracks") beyond that, I'm just going to say go look at my work.
10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?
Is for the benefit of all the broken hearts (and the rest of that series) a crossover??????? Like I'm legitimately staring into space thinking about the boundary line between modern AU and RPF and........ HUH.
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
DO PEOPLE DO THAT
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
Nope!
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
183 thousand words in a series: the only life you could save, with my beloved Ryn, when we were "just friends" - started as our attempt to co-write a reconciliation between Taako and Lucretia, and spun out into an entire timeline with themes spanning before the Stolen Century all the way into post-canon. Some pieces we wrote separately, much of it we wrote together. Even the last piece, which I published after Ryn died, includes a section that they wrote, about Taako trying to cope with Lucretia's death.
14. What’s your all time favorite ship?
Probably Mulder/Scully lol, tho I don't know if I've ever read any fic of them????
15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?
One of my very first TAZ fics was a Hurley/Sloane backstory fic that was going to be basically a beat-for-beat retelling of The Fast and the Furious (oh, I guess that's also sort of a crossover?), but I only ever wrote the first chapter. I would love to write it at some point, because I think it would be fun as hell.
I'd also love to finish my TAZ Amnesty fic, sweetness follows, which is friends-to-lovers post-canon Minerva/Duck.
16. What are your writing strengths?
Character voice, I think. Possibly a stupid depth of canon knowledge for whatever the canon is, and I think I have a knack for figuring out how to reincorporate those details. Honestly, it's hard for me to say "oh these are my strengths and weaknesses", or at least today I'm having trouble pinning that down.
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
Punctuation Pokemon, or rather, my sentences do get very tangly. I find endings really tricky, I've done a lot of work thinking through how to stick the landing. (This is one of the ways in which Ryn continues to live in my head, because they could always spot when I hadn't quite made it.)
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?
Alas my Spanish (high school and college) is too rusty to even try, and I don't know any other languages.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
The Adventure Zone, although I wrote quite a bit of Agatha Christie pastiche in junior high, and a lot of Anne Rice influenced original fiction in high school and college.
20. Favorite fic you’ve written?
I love a lot of my fic, it's fun to go back and look and say "oh that!", and The Reckoning Arrives is up there, of course, because I loved writing it, and it saved my life. ("she's survived the impossible before" got me out of my marriage and 2 years later got me through the hospital. "you're here, so be here" got me through what came after that.)
But it does have to be for the benefit of all the broken hearts - she lives in my head, still, and I feel incredibly proud of all the work I put into it, the technical work, the emotional work.
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Not tagging anybody, but PLEASE! if you feel like talking about your writing, do it!
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yeowninefive · 3 months
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My 2023 Art Retrospective (Part 1)
Before we continue--yes, this is just part one. I will warn you upfront--this is going to be a wall of text, and so will the next part. With my 2022 retrospective I did try to condense things down, but I wasn't anywhere near as successful for this year.
I originally didn't want to write a retrospective because in terms of general performance/productivity, I felt there wasn't much to discuss. Looking back on my 2022 retrospective, my big story there was how I made a *big* leap over 2021 in productivity, and raised my profile/art skills quite a bit, with 2022 seeing some of my most popular art, period. 2023, all things considered, seemed like it was 2022 again, like one of those videogame sequels that's mainly just more of the same. But the more I really consider the following, 2023 honestly was like if I took whatever strides I made in 2022 and strapped a rocket (assume 2022 is a car for this analogy to work). I think going into the nuances as to why I feel this way is important, and with 2023 marking my online art identity having existing for over a decade by this point, I think that milestone itself is also worth more than a cursory acknowledgement.
Like last year, I'll first start this retrospective by looking back on my my art goals outlined for 2023, when I made my retrospective by 2022's end.
Fanart: Much like 2022, I think I came close on having at least one fanart posted each month, but my OC projects (The Clock Robin Caper; and an upcoming OC project I started development on, but eventually decided to withhold for 2024) took priority, the fanart became more secondary. Regardless, the fanart output was still at least twice as much from 2022, and they included some of my most-popular pieces to date. The popularity of Not Paying for That/The House Special (the Pizza Tower/SpongeBob crossover) in particular was arguably a case of being at the right place at the right time with an appealing/funny concept--it's to date the only art I've had on tumblr pass 100 notes in less than two days. The (relative) popularity of that work (as well as the popularity of Petals to the Metal [Princess Daisy fanart] on Twitter) are probably the most encouraging works of this year, where the interest they receive does give me hope I can still make more of a name for myself as a artist(/animator) in the current landscape (or hellscape, take your pick) of online creators.
So now I'm in something of an odd pickle in terms of where my angle with fanart goes in 2024. Of course, I would like to make even more fanart of things I like or at least have a vested interest in, but I recognize that the fanart I've generally made has typically been some sort of unique concept (either being something I used to theme my OCs around, or some sort of crossover/mashup of ideas that I like). The fanart also tends to be among my more "technical" works I put added emphasis on details/development, instead of quicker/simpler items like doodles or sketches. I feel like I'd have to change my approach/production process for fanart if I wanted to get more of it out there in the upcoming new year.
Animation: This is where I'd say this was a step back, though I hope with the new circumstances/what I've learned, it does lead to bigger, more, and better things into the future. While I made three animations, it was only two original animations (with a third being a WIP of the existing two), and one of the animations didn't even feature any character animation. Nonetheless, I am admittedly pretty proud that two of them were honestly put together pretty quick (produced out of the interest of a then-viral Barbie Special Month commercial from the 1970s) and I feel they fit the aesthetic/direction of the source material moderately well.
If nothing else, I can at least say that one of the animations (Complimentary Doll) marked my return to trying to animate in CSP, which I had abandoned due to limited features (I had PRO, so I was limited in framerates); while the other (Waiting for Free Stuff) was animated in OpenToonz, which I do think I grew more comfortable to using as time went on (learning keyboard shortcuts and taking a more "modular" approach with using multiple levels for animating different parts of the animation). I fully believe I could had gotten Waiting for Free Stuff finished even earlier if I didn't use OpenToonz' raster layers for the entire animation (which was very limited to use, even with using multiple levels), instead of vectors layers.
Between being able to get an upgrade to CSP EX (Ver. 1--copies of which are still being sold in certain areas), becoming more accustomed to OpenToonz, and getting a new drawing tablet; I'm hoping to really expand my animation ventures. In particular, I'm hoping that I'm able to get back into producing animations with colors and producing more animated stuff in general--which in general, I foresee being easier with CSP instead of OpenToonz. (I still want to keep learning OpenToonz nonetheless, since it's UI/setup is still arguably more tailored for an animation workflow compared to CSP.)
Backgrounds/environments: Overall, I say this was a step up over 2022. There's still a fair amount of basic environments here and there; but I think there were much less non-environments overall. Fittingly enough, I highly credit my Clock Robin Caper project for the improvement in this area--since I was producing "film stills" representing different "scenes," I made an effort to present most of the characters in multiple different environments; using photos references for most of the settings in question and even going the "extra mile" in adding small details that most people wouldn't even notice. I'd in this regard, Frames 04-09 were my highlights in environment design this year.
The mixed media artwork I did in the spring, where I incorporated my Commodities OCs in photos I took during my trip to Canada, also helped in this regard. That was a fun project that, as I alluded to earlier, I'm honestly not quite finished with. There are other photos I took that I'm hoping to use; but they were shelved to make way for the Clock Robin Caper and the other untitled upcoming OC project. Going into 2024, I hope to try and create at least a few "pure" landscape works, akin to my earlier artwork; though of course I want to properly measure where my current art skills lay with environment design. By the same coin, I'm still open to doing remakes of my previous art (which was sadly a no-show for this year).
Comics/stories: I had nothing to offer on this front for 2022, and I said I wanted this to be my art priority for 2023. I'd argue I delivered and then some--although I think the development process certainly could had been managed better. A core element of my The Clock Robin Caper project was to develop the mystery/story across each of the frame, without much--if any--explicit dialogue said by the characters. (Though I did also regularly include descriptions to at least give some basic explanations as to what was happening and what was the importance of each character in the scene.)
I'd say without a doubt, the Clock Robin Caper is inarguably the most elaborate art project I've done, since I went through a bunch of story ideas/concepts in finalizing it (which is partially why it took so long to finish), in addition to the addition multiple OCs from others' creators that were included (deciding who to use for each frame and figuring out how to draw them--a little over half of the OCs I was drawing for the first time) and the aforementioned environments I developed for each frame. I was also able to get two other comics, with the newspaper-styled short comic "The Thought That Counts" and the longer-form, multi-page comic "The Story of Ronda" (both concerning Ronda and Aero, go figure).
I still have a bunch of story ideas that I'd like to adapt, but much like the fanart, I think I'd have to change my strategy if I wanted to get more comics/stories produced in an adequate matter. I think I still have issues with how I manage my time, which also played a role in The Clock Robin Caper being drawn out longer than it arguably needed to be. It's why I ended up shelving my aforementioned in-development art project --which I actually teased within one my 2023 artworks-- for 2024. Some of the artwork I've made for it was actually completed and has been finished for months, and in other circumstances, I probably would had published it by this point. But with this one, I'm aiming to have most of the artwork completed first, so I can publish it on a consistent/regular schedule.
Art trades/collaborations: Truth be told, this is largely a beat-for-beat replay of last year--wanted to do trades/collabs, but I was busy with my art projects. I did at least respond to at least one OC draw request, and joined in on some viral art redraw memes--which while not quite within this topic realm, was at least some self-imposed challenges I was willing to take on, and were pretty fun to do. By the same coin, there's not much if any movement towards me being open to art commissions (either for fun or for commerce).
--
By this point, I think this has gotten long enough that I'm splitting this up into two parts. Here is a link to the second part. A sincere thanks to anyone who has stuck around to read the whole thing (so far), and have a Happy New Year's Eve/New Year's Day and a wonderful 2024.
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dusksmote · 3 years
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How do you ink and color? Any tips? I love your art! 💜🖤
oh shit i got this ask months ago and forgot to answer
inking: god i hate lineart so much. the trick is to not do it 😂 unfortunately, i still find myself spending hours on lineart all the time @_@ 
the biggest thing i’ve found is making your lines varied in thickness. it adds to the interest. i also try to make my outside line thicker than my inside ones to break up the figure from the background. don’t be afraid to skips some lines and imply them with shading instead. i will color over my lines at the end to make them not as strong, but i’ve learned to still keep some lines black for extra emphasis. 
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^ here’s one of my older pieces that i’ve been considering redoing. it has very little line variation, ALL the lines are colored so there’s no solid black, and there’s very little hard contrast in shading values. overall, it looks flat and uninteresting and if i had the time i’d redraw this one.
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this is a more recent example of lineart that i think works a lot better. the characters are really well defined with a strong outline, but the inside lines aren’t harsh and distracting. you can see i recolored the lineart in kyle’s hair to be a dark red, and in some places it blends with the shadows to imply areas with more highlights. stan’s pants don’t have and lines in them, just the outside shape and pockets. 
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you can see in this wip what the lineart looks like before i do all the shading and fancy stuff. stan’s pants look totally flat and straight until i start shading.
a lot of the time though i won’t even do lineart, especially if it’s a big scenic piece. the more zoomed out less detail you can convey, and lineart takes up a lot of space. 
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^ this piece is an example where i do both, lineart and no lineart. the mirror image of kyle isn’t the focus, and i honestly didn’t feel like going in and drawing exact lines because they’d probably look fucked up anyway. i typically don’t put hard lines in backgrounds because it would take FOREVER and just be distracting.
the one thing you do have to be careful of with lineless art is contrast. hard lines are good contrast that show you what you’re looking at, and without them your image can blend together. 
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here’s part of a painting i did last august, when i was first experimenting with lineless styles (full image on my NSFW twitter). can you tell what’s going on here? i sure as fuck can’t. there’s no contrast, and it makes all the skin tones blend together in an unintelligible mush.
contrast has always been one of my biggest weaknesses as an artist, so i’ve been trying to improve over time. here’s a more recent lineless drawing:
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this one works because it had high contrast. the highlights are really bright and the shadows are really deep. you can still make out the facial features too, but there’s no ‘lineart’ layer’. everything was painted on in the same layer.
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coloring: oh my god i love coloring. it’s my favorite part of drawing and the reason why shit takes forever. a lot of the same stuff from before comes into play, like contrast. you can also portray some really interesting moods based on colors if you’re being stylistic, but also pay in mind to your environment.
i always color my background first. in fact, a lot of the time i’ll do the entire background before coloring a piece. the environment establishes your light levels and light source, and it’s typically easier for me to tweak colors on a figure than the ones in the background. in the above example with kenny, the background is a mostly solid black with a beam of light from the left. i picked kenny’s colors to fit in this environment. 
it’s also important to use references.  
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you can see in this wip i’ve got a reference image for how light from a TV looks against figures and the way their shadows are cast across the wall. it also helped me figure out what colors to use in this situation.
a lot of coloring is just trial and error to see what works. i usually start with a flat base color and add value to it. if you put all your colors on different layers it’s really easy to change them quickly. 
here’s an example:
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i got my base colors down and here i can see the skin tone is blending with the background, so i lightened it up for better contrast
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i typically shade the skin first, then clothes. you can see here i did a dull skin tone with a bright colored shadow. this adds more contrast and interest. i always try to avoid doing dull shadows where you shift toward black. black shadows are really uninteresting and they can make your piece look muddy. i’ll typically shade with an orange, red, blue, or purple.
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the final piece has a really bright highlight on it coming from behind. this just adds more visual interest and contrast. you can also see i’ve gone back into the pink shadows and added an even lighter, brighter peach value in places to show reflected light. this also gives the darker pink shadow an added outline effect, because it touches the base skin tone but looks lighter within. 
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^ this one’s a good example of light and shadow (full image on my NSFW twitter lmao). there’s not a lot of color because it’s dark out, so everything had to be conveyed in values. there’s hard light across the stomach and then a shadow over the chest, but there’s still light being reflected up into stan’s face that lets us make him out. the rest is deep shadow and unimportant, so it’s all black.
that’s the other part, color and value determine where your eye is gonna look, so consider that when drawing. 
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^ consider this piece i drew like a year ago. it has a lot of blues and reds, and originally i was going to make stan’s guitar blue. i don’t have the wips anymore, but it didn’t stand out and it didn’t look right with the image. after a lot of playing around i went with yellow because it’s bright, it breaks up the image, and it adds another color to the piece to balance it out.
the same thing happened when i was working on the cover image for What They Say About Us. 
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you can see in this really early wip that i’d blocked in the colors and butters is totally naked. for one, i was like “damn that kid is WAY too naked in this image” and he also blended in with stan and cartman. additionally, there was a lot of warm colors on the left, a lack of color on the right, and an overall lack of blue.
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first change i made was throwing a shirt on him and it made a huge improvement. the image looks much more balanced now and he’s not super distracting with his naked-ness.
other than that, coloring is just picking your base colors, blocking in shadows, adding highlight, and cleaning it up. if you wanna improve, look at photo references. look at other people’s art and examine how they use color and value. practice practice practice. have fun with it. the most fun i have coloring comes from figuring out interesting textures like the pharaoh headdress or kenny’s leather jacket. 
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i find stock photos like this and study them to see how the light works
other than that, the rest is just playing around, seeing what works, and making things up as i go!
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bettsfic · 5 years
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hey betts! can you give us any insight into your new drafting process (the one you mentioned on Twitter?) those results have me green with envy
sure! this is going to be a fairly quick run-down because i have to start planning my classes here soon.
(anon is referring to this tweet)
required reading
shitty first drafts by anne lamott, which is where i modified my process from
on fear by mary ruefle, which talks about procedure and i may have taken the wrong meaning from the essay but basically, my entire process is about mitigating the fear innate in writers’ block by having a procedure in place to counteract it
tools
google docs (or some other word processor)
google calendar (or some other calendar app; i wrote about my scheduling process here)
toggl (or some other timekeeping app)
airtable (i’ve also used trello, but i like airtable better. ps big thanks to @electricalice​ for introducing me to it! it’s a lifesaver)
pre-writing
so first you need an idea. whenever i have an idea, even if there’s 0 chance i’ll end up writing it, i add it to my airtable, plus any notes or details i come up with. i also copy and paste any text convos i have about the fic, like if i headcanon something with a friend. (i used trello for this until recently; it works just fine and is a bit easier to use. airtable also has a kanban function though, along with other formats, so it’s a bit more flexible)
airtable is a project management spreadsheet software. i’m sure there are others out there, but i started fiddling with this one and haven’t looked back. it takes a little while to figure out, and you might have to google some things you want it to do that aren’t terribly intuitive. 
my fanfic table, filtered by ideas, looks like this:
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(you may have to expand to look at it, also note that the pretty colors are a Pro feature of the app and i’m still on my trial)
the idea here is to have space to store my ideas. let’s say i hang out with a friend and we started talking about fic, and i bring up i have an idea for a endgame coda but i’m not really sure where to take it, so we start headcanoning back and forth, and now i have a few scene ideas. i made my endgame coda card already right after i saw the movie, so all i have to do is open the app and jot down the main points of my headcanoning. now when i go home and start working on it, i can easily pull up our brainstorming session.
narrative outlining
i have never been an outliner or a planner. i’ve always been a pantser. i have a premise and i run with it, and that worked for me for a long time. pantsing has a lot of benefits: your story always surprises you! you can get really immersed! it’s certainly the more whimsical writing process.
but what i found was that i would often write myself into a corner, or lose steam once i realized what should have been a 10k fic was actually going to be 80k and i didn’t like the story enough to sit with it for 80k. i also spent a long time thinking about future scenes and writing them down but losing them later, or forgetting about them.
so i started doing narrative outlines, which are just me going “and then THIS happens” repeatedly and sometimes inputting “and something causes this other thing” until eventually i have the whole story written out. the goal of the narrative outline is pacing. all you have to do is get the major beats down. it doesn’t have to be good. no one is going to see it (unless you want them to).
ideally my paragraphs will be all around the same size. those are going to become my chapters. if a paragraph is significantly shorter than another, it’s likely that i don’t have that beat fleshed out yet. i call chapters “beats” because to me, each one should have its own arc, and end at a high or low point in the story.
in my fanfic airtable, i have a table for chapters. all chapters of all multi-chap wips go here, and i can filter out ones that are complete later. 
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the beauty of the chapters table is that it can connect to your ideas/wip table and vice versa so everything is kept together. i had 7 paragraphs in my narrative outline so i made 7 rows. 
notice i also gave myself a due date. i don’t really like due dates, but i’m trying them on for now and seeing how it goes. 
i copy and paste the chapter paragraph as i go into the “summary” field. then, as scene or line ideas come to me, i toss them in the “scenes/lines” field. I was in a car for 8 hours and coming up with scenes all over the place, and i needed somewhere to put them. if i didn’t know where they went, i put them in my idea table instead, and filed them later.
you’re still idea-ing, you’re still outlining, but now it’s time to write.
gauge
i make a folder for the fic and open a doc and label it ch1. then i copy and paste the narrative outline paragraph into the doc and separate it out by scene with an asterisk between each one. 
here’s where the timesheet and calendar come in. i have a reminder on my calendar to schedule the following day, and on that schedule i put my writing time. when it’s time to write, i start the toggl clock. at the end of each week, i put in my time in my personal timesheet. 
the first chapter or 10% of anything i’m writing tends to take longer than the rest, because i need to get into the story, and choose the voice and tense and tone and things like that. so i take however long i take to make what i call a gauge. in knitting, a gauge is the thing that determines the size of the piece. if you’re knitting a sweater, you knit a little square to make sure the sweater comes out the size you need it to be.
so i write the gauge and it takes however long it takes. sometimes i rewrite it a few times, test out POVs and tenses and description and whatever else. what i like best, what seems the most sustainable, is what i choose. i wrote 3 chapters of a novel in present tense and a childish tone before i decided it needed to be first person reflective and i rewrote the whole thing. 
don’t get frustrated with yourself if your gauge doesn’t work. that’s what the gauge is for. you’ll know you’ve chosen the right voice if, by the end of your gauge, you’re really eager to keep writing. 
down draft & punch list
so now you’ve got a pretty gauge to follow, and the rest is going to be an absolute mess. the down draft is exactly what it sounds like – you get the idea down. i personally believe you need to tell the story to yourself a few times in order to get good at telling the story, or to know what the story is. you’ve told yourself the story once in outline form, and now you’re just breaking out the scenes a little bit more. 
the key to the down draft is not to self-edit. i’m not talking about going back and tweaking typos and shit, that’s fine, whatever. i mean doubting yourself structurally. like, oh shit, you forgot to mention that they took off their clothes and now they’re naked.
here’s where the punch list comes in, which is yet another table. (i’ve also used google tasks for this, because it pops up in a side window. either works!) a punch list is a to do list. instead of fixing things, you put the thing on your punch list and save it for the next draft. a down draft is all about speed and figuring out where all the pieces go. revising during the down draft only slows you down. 
the punch list is my solution to the contrived advice “you can fix it later!” to which i always say, “BUT I WON’T REMEMBER TO FIX IT LATER I HAVE TO FIX IT NOW.” as soon as you think of something to fix, put it on the table. it may seem like it’s faster to fix things as you go. it is not. i promise.
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this is all my punch list notes for all fics, which i then connect to my other tables/filter as needed. put everything in your punch list. it’s better to make a punch list item that you don’t end up implementing than forget an important revision note. if you end up putting the project down for a while, you’ll want to know what you’d intended. 
up draft
in the up draft, you clean up the down draft. here, i take each document in a new window, put it on the right half of the screen, and open a new document to put on the left. 
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then i rewrite the whole fucking thing. i pull up my punch list and fix all the things as i go, to the best of my ability. here’s where the writing gets pretty and fleshed out. but still, it doesn’t need to be perfect. you have more revisions to go. it’s important to remember during this entire process that everything can be changed. nothing is permanent. you’re not writing in stone. there’s no cost to words or documents, so you can revise as much as you want.
it’s also worth noting that the longer your project, the more sectioned out your story will be. sometimes you’ll have a chapter on a down draft and another chapter on an up draft. sometimes you might down draft out of order just to make sure you get your ideas down when they occur. whatever works for you. the idea is that you’re constantly building spaces in which to put your stuff that can be easily found and implemented. the creative process is messy, so you need to make clean spaces to put the mess in.
while you’re up-drafting, you’re still idea-ing and outlining and down-drafting and punch-listing. maybe you don’t have the answer to a problem yet, but you might later. decision fatigue in the creative process is real. this process is designed to mitigate decision fatigue. there are only ever so many decisions to make at once when you expand out your process like this one.
and sometimes, sadly, the solution to a problem never happen. that’s okay. what you write might be flawed. in fact it should be flawed. flaws are what make things beautiful. all you can do is the best you can do, and if it’s not good enough for your tastes, you can learn from your mistakes and try again. 
beta
sometimes i have a beta and sometimes i don’t, depending on how confident i am about the work. when i have a beta, this is the stage i send them my stuff. sometimes i tell them specific things i’m looking for, like just line edits, or cheerleading, or whatever else. sometimes i have questions about whether or not something is working. i tell them what date i intend to post and when i would like edits to be done by, and if they don’t get around to it, that’s okay. i can just hustle a little harder in the next revision.
dental draft
here’s where, per anne lamott, you check every tooth. i implement my remaining punch list items and beta feedback, fix pacing issues, typos, unclear sentences, etc. sometimes i do the side-by-side window thing for chapters that are particularly messy, and sometimes i just fix the existing doc. by now your story should be looking pretty good, or the best you can get it.
final read-through :) or additional revisions :(
for fic, this is the point where i hit it and hope. i copy and paste the chapter/fic into an ao3 shell with the tags and summary i’ve kept in my airtable, and do a final readthrough. i don’t do it in the original doc because seeing it in a new font and format usually makes me notice things i’d missed before. 
for ofic, here’s where you might need more feedback and more revising if your piece isn’t working yet, or if you’ve submitted it a couple dozen places and haven’t had it accepted. while this process is thorough, sometimes pieces still aren’t working for whatever reason. don’t throw anything away, though. keep it, file it, log it in your airtable, and maybe one day while you’re driving an idea will pop into your head and you’ll be able to come back to it. 
this was a really really quick run-down of an extremely long and complicated process, but it works for me! i probably wouldn’t have been able to do this even a year ago. it’s taken me a long time to cultivate this kind of discipline, and i’m still a work in progress. so if it’s too much or too structured for you, that’s fine. maybe you can take one or two things for yourself and try them out. 
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kewltie · 4 years
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YEAR END FIC REVIEW 2019
This year I wrote:
The Dumpster Fire - a bunch of random ‘verses 
to catch the golden snitch 
we're young gods 
all these delicate things 
no peace, no quiet in your eyes 
rip out those wings, darling 
the little prince 
interlude: world's okayest dad 
—to the moon and back 
as the moon bears witness (i swear to you) 
ao3 tells me that’s 95k wc if we discount random teasers/snippets i only wrote on tumblr & twitter than we’re well over 100k. 
Overall thoughts
I honestly thought I wrote less this year giving how many actual new stories I have up on ao3, but over 100k is still a pretty admirable job so far so I can’t be all that disappointed in myself. I don’t have an actual estimate wc on everything bc I post random snippets/teasers on twitter and than move the more edit and polish version on tumblr AND THAN i move it to my dumpstire fire collection if it fit. so like, i don’t know exactly how much wc i did but still moderately impressive given how profoundly lazy i can be lol /o\. 
there were a lot of things i wanted to do but i didn’t get around to it bc i held myself back from committing to various big projects due to my promise/obligation to updating social media au :S. which i guess is good bc i didn’t add on to MORE WIPs but also depressing bc im stuck in a rut bc of it. i hope to explore more projects next year!
My best story of the year
“we’re young gods” prob my psuedo mad max post-apocalyptic wasteland abo au... GOD WHAT A MOUTHFUL. outside!pov has always been one of my fav narrative piece to write esp when im building a evolving world that come with it. i love a post-apocalyptic landscape, the fight and survive theme has always been a deep fascination for me plus w/ abo which makes it even more interesting. i talk a lot about the idea of kingmaker and the person behind the seat of power/throne a lot and i wanted that deeply in a lot of my ‘verses bc stories of movers and shakers of the world are always fun bc their actions have such HUGE RAMIFICATION and i always like politics and wars a little too much lol /o\. 
My favorite story of the year
“to catch the golden snitch” bc i really like my veela!katsuki fic the most. prob bc it plays into adapting some familiar concept/theme/source (HPverse) and putting my fav spin on them with bkdk. i have always been fond of creaturefics in hp fandom so i knew i wanted to make another VEELAFIC bc why the fuck not. it also play into my fav trope of katsuki being something inhuman, dangerous, and beautiful and also SO COMPLETELY WHIPPED FOR THS HUMAN BOY ;D. 
Most fun story to write
“to the moon and back” aka DRUNK!IZUKU FIC!!!! bc HELLO DRUNK IZUKU IS THE ABSOLUTELY BEST.
Story with the single sexiest moment
“all these delicate things’ or aka the panties fic bc unf i really like see man indulge in feminine things esp when they’re someone who had such a history of violence like izuku who had suffer so much hurt in his life; AND ON HIS BODY which are riddled with scars and i think should allow yourself to be kind/softer to yourself and things like panties are so DELICATE that idk i really dig that juxtaposition??? A LOT. 
Most "holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story
“rip out those wings darling” aka mutual yandere fic i was originally given a prompt by someone but my giftee dropped out so I RAN WILD AND CAME UP WITH THIS BULLSHIT. idk i always like fucked up relationship esp when it’s mutually assured destruction kind of fucked up where they both equally crazy about each other and im all for that. fandom has a habit of making izuku being super creepy stalker but they make him violent rapist and that doesn’t sit well with me. you can make izuku creepy and stalkerish w/o playing into that kind of things :S. i hate how darkfics these days are like fall under that purview when you can have darkfic w/o necessitating sexual violence... like pls explore mindgames and emotional/mental manipulation more like man i think that’s much more interesting so i tried that with this fic. izuku doesn’t hurt others or hurt katsuki BUT HURT HIMSELF to manipulate katsuki to care for him and im like SO ABOUT THAT bc it play into his self sacrificing nature w/o me bending his characterization to make him into something recognizable and katsuki violent obsession and possession with izuku is ramped up but it isn’t sexualized but about ownership and wanting to izuku enough to to kill and idk i dig their mutual destructive habits about each other lol. 
Story that shifted my own perception of the characters
i swear to god i don’t like the villain!deku trope. im more indiff to it than anything but the trope tend to twist him into something unrecognizable to me but when i was coming up about this ‘verse i wanted izuku to be a bit jaded and betrayed by the world/society but still SO EARNEST AND HOPEFUL about it even though his goals has twisted in a way that by saving it he has to break it first. somehow trying to true to himself as he slip further and further in darkness and i just find that kind of duality fascinating????? like how do i keep in character but make him fall and see his struggles b/t both sides and i find myself liking villain!deku just a tiny, A TINY more and open so much potential. 
Hardest story to write
“as the moon bears witness” bc i did a rushed job on it and I HATE IT W/ THE FIRE OF TEN THOUSANDS SUNS. there’s so much i wanted to include but i fucked up and i hate how much I FUCKED UP ON IT. this is def the fic i regretted the most bc i knew what i wanted but i couldn’t exactly execute it correctly but instead of trying to think of a way to fix it i just let it go and i hate it and myself ever since than. UGH. 
Biggest disappointment
"AS THE MOON BEARS WITNESS” for the exact same reason as above. i want to rewrite this so SO BAD and i will. 
Biggest surprise
i didn’t have any surprise fics tbh. everything that i wrote is pretty much under my purview LOL but i found myself being more active on twitter the last half of the year and writing more threads (i.e. live writing) than moving it on tumblr. a lot of pieces i written on twitter was sudden for me and took me hostage but ya know what i go with the flow anyway bc what can i say im just a weak, weak girl w/ zero self control. 
Most unintentionally telling story
maybe “no peac, no quiet in your eyes”? I think that idea slapped me across the face bc i spent a week getting really obsessed with asoiaf fics on ao3 and man I LOVE POLITICS AND WARS?? did i mention that??? i love dynastic rules, warring kingdoms, and a love earth shattering enough to move mountains and i wanted to see that so much so that ‘verse kind of happened. 
Story I haven't written yet, but intend to
omfg SO MANY JUST SOOO SOOO MANY. i would really to get around to writing a full fledged fic of either surrogate au or sperm donor au bc i love that kind of unconventional family and romcom are like YA KNOW MY WEAKNESS. 
Goals for this year:
like every year i keep saying i want to do tododekubaku fic and maybe 2020 WILL BE MY YEAR??
finish social media ch 2 before/around my bday of this month as a gift to myself a;sjdf;alsjdf lol 
take on more projects that won’t land in the dumpstire fire collections
explore new fic avenues bc i always like trying new things and breaking in new genre/tropes bc why the fuck not
write all THE CLICHES and don’t let anyone tell me otherwise about my omega!deku loving ways
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lambourngb · 4 years
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Behind the Scenes- Last Year’s Wishes
@zuluoscarecho - ““Oh man you have been busy! I’m glad the writing Has been going well for you. I would love to hear about your process when you get a chance if you’re keen. Like whether you plotted it out, whether the whole fic came to you (more or less) or how hard you had to work to fill in the gaps to get you where you wanted to go, whether you’re a “push through” kinda writer and just sit down and do it or whether you scribble stuff down all day and then type it up at the end or whatever. Many questions I have”
Oh boy, these are great questions- my approach to writing has changed from how I started “Last Years Wishes” and how I’m finishing it. First of all, I was out of practice. The last long story I tackled and finished on my own was in 2002-2003 on ff.net  (for a moment I thought it was 2012-2013 but I just looked it up and still can’t believe it was that long ago, hahah) Then I wrote a follow up with a co-writer that ended …poorly due to stuff outside of writing with that person. I hit a very bad depressive cycle and didn’t write again until 2019 and RNM.
The idea came after I watched some true crime story in August- I think it was “Murder Comes to Town” - which is all small town population less than 10,000 gets hit with a salacious murder. I immediately thought about Michael, and first I thought he could be blamed for Max’s disappearance, but then I remembered how visible Noah was to the town, and I was off plotting. Carina said on twitter- oh lord what a loaded sentence that is - that we don’t know when Alex was at the Airstream or what he had to say- which fine, but that made me think about juggling the time a bit, letting the police show up first, then Alex go to the wild pony, THEN MAX, and yeah boom! Conflict! Alex knows Michael wants to be with someone else, but he just gave him an alibi. They are stuck! Fuck Alex’s whole life, amirite? That part of the idea came all at once.
I wrote the first draft of the scene for Tumblr - August 8th - started it before work when I like to write- kept writing once I got to work (bad employee!) posted it and as the comments and likes rolled in, I kept writing. First day was like 6,000 words.
Then I didn’t really touch it for 2 weeks. I kept adding stuff here and there, using WIP Wednesday to motivate me to share a bit. In one month though, the story was at 10,000 words by September 12. Mainly because I just wrote as it came to me, and let my brain just fuck off on Tumblr or reading other fics. I wasn’t really serious about it. Six weeks later it was 15,000 words by the end of October. This time I thought the reason I didn’t have more progress on it was because I didn’t have the practice of finishing a story- so I attempted at the very beginning of October to do Whumptober. I managed to write 2 stories - truth (to the people we love) and If You Regret (What You Know).
So two stories finished, I went back to Last Year’s Wishes and used everyone working on NaNo for November to buckled down. I wrote out a rough outline of future scenes. I made a point to write, if I could, every day something. I do try and write in a linear fashion, but if I couldn’t move forward in the story, I would go back to previous stuff to add in descriptions, put in some introspection- sometimes a whole scene needed to be inserted, then I could push forward again.
The story grew from 15,000 words on Nov 1 to 28,000 words by Dec 1. Nearly double in size. And the more I put my ass in the chair to write, the easier it became to focus. It will never be easy to focus for me- I really like scrolling on my phone, chatting with other people, etc. But I had to build a muscle in my brain from the ground up with no real belief that I would succeed because I thought depression and anti-depressants had broken my brain. But Malex kept me interested.
By the time December rolled around, I made a goal of finishing it by New Years, but then my outline kept growing. I kept thinking about the underlying plot, I kept thinking about how big the communication divide was- I couldn’t just say “they talked, they fucked HEA!”. As December came to a close, I realized I had written 32,000 words in the month of December but I was only half done with the story. So while I was disappointed I hadn’t hit my goal of being done, I was very pleased at the progress. The story was around 60,000 words by the end of the year.
January- I increased my goal of 1,000 words a day, to 2,000 words a day.  I really believed I could finish it in one sustained push. I wrote nearly 40,000 words in the month of January- bringing it to just under 99,000 words but…it still wasn’t done. My assistant quit. I got sick. Progress stuttered. But I felt like the end was in site- so I contacted  betas, two of which came through- tasyfa and Maura - and kept writing. I thought it was just 20,000 words to go, and since I just wrote 40,000 in one month, I could easily write 20,000 2-1/2 weeks, right????
February- beta comments were great, I started releasing it publically in chapters, and then the feedback started rolling in- and instead of motivating me forward, I started obsessing over the next thing people would read- I wanted it to be perfect. I started inserting new scenes, fleshing out other areas- driving my betas crazy I think- because I kept poking at it. I wrote those 20,000 words easily as the story was getting posted, but they were all in the existing frame of the plot. New stuff … that didn’t really start happening until March.
Another thing that I realized was my outline needed to be supportive but flexible. Originally (which remind me once it’s complete) but I had some different ideas for how the last few chapters were going to go, and I had to let those narratives go because it no longer felt natural to me with the narrative I had established.
Even now I have 5 scenes outlined for chapter 22, but as I started writing it this morning, I am leaning toward blending it into 4 or 3 scenes. Oh- my scene should have a standalone point to accomplish, and if that point isn’t clear or can be accomplished in another way, then it gets moved or blended. I don’t really jot things down on paper- but I have two documents- the writing doc, and the story doc. Writing doc has the outline, I always write with my outline heading just below my cursor so I can keep looking down at my goals and construct the scene from there. The story doc is where I cut and paste it into the whole thing. Sometimes as I scroll to find where I am in the doc, I will add something or edit something, before putting in the next bit at the end.
This is what chapter 18-19-20 looked like on Feb 9th in my outline : [1.. After their pathetic attempts to decorate Alex‘s leg was starting to bother him. Michael took one look at him and advised that he remove the prosthetic. Alex protested mildly about being seen that way. Michael reassured him that Isabell not only knew but didn’t care.
1a. - Isobel and Kyle arrive- she found him in the grocery store attempting to leave with the last baked ham - Mom working a double, Rosa was going to midnight mass with Arturo and Liz- 1b. Isabell and Michael have a quiet talk that Alex overhears while he changes and removes his leg for the night-. He discusses talking to Maria and reframing some of what Alex had said. 1c- walks past them to the kitchen with Kyle]
[2.  Isobel and Kyle show up  to the cabin for Christmas Eve- Isobel sleeps over. Michael offers the spare, Kyle takes the couch, Alex objects to Michael sleeping in the airstream. ]
[ 3. Alex wakes up to an alert on the day after  Christmas Day that gets an alert about someone at the cave. Finds Michael staring at Jesse and not Max.. Why did you think you were like him- that night that Noah died. What did that mean. It means he was ruthless about his agenda and so am I. I’ll do anything to protect you. Michael is silent and closed off, but follows him back to the cabin - knowledge from the ship piece ]
ONE MONTH LATER on March 10 the notes looked like this based on how the story looked: [2.  Isobel and Kyle stay in the face of the weather- Isobel sleeps over. Michael offers the spare, Kyle takes the Airstream ,Michael volunteers himself to sleep with Alex - Michael quietly explains he isn’t going to have a conversation with anyone afterward, Christmas gift exchange- Michael gives him the handprint- remnant from the console and his mother, sharing the intensity - they have sex  ]
[ 3. Alex wakes up to intense sorrow by Michael via the handprint n the day after  Christmas Day that gets an alert about someone at the cave. Finds Michael staring at Jesse and not Max.. Why did you think you were like him- that night that Noah died. What did that mean. They discuss Alex’s family and the future- do you think you would ever forgive them? I’ve been mad at Max, but if he came back today I would take him back, What about Flint and what he did ? Do you think he’s sorry? knowledge from the ship piece- soul mates, forever tied together ]
Err— I’m long winded, so did I answer your questions? Feel free to ask more!!
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smuthuttpodcast · 4 years
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I have read some great or good pieces of fan fiction that incorporate a trial of Ben Solo into their stories.
Name/Handle/Alias
BonnieSwims (Twitter & AO3)
About how long would you say you’ve been rooting for Reylo?
I've been rooting for them since mid 2016. I REALLY started reading a large amount of fan fiction after seeing The Last Jedi. I am not sure if I read stories on AO3 before The Last Jedi, if I did, I started reading in mid 2016.
What did you think of the way Rise of Skywalker handled Rey and Kylo’s relationship?
I do not think it got enough screen time. The time consuming scavenger hunt with Poe & Finn, only having Kylo & Rey cross swords...all would have been forgiven IF Ben Solo lived or, if he HAD to die, if there was more screentime of redeemed Ben Solo AND Rey told others of Ben Solo, grieved his death, took Solo name, and ended up somewhere green.
Do you think the film understood why you, and other people, felt like Rey and Kylo had something together? Did it get their chemistry?
Given the acting between Ridley & Driver, I do believe the film makers understood the chemistry between Rey & Kylo. I also believe they FAILED to see how Kylo could become Ben Solo again and deserved to live. They did not acknowledge how his connection to Rey & her influence on him made Kylo believe that Rey trusted him and wanted a better life for him. Instead they went with "let's have them fight at every chance." It is true he was enraged at the end of TLJ but that feeling was from his perceived abandonment by Rey. Plus, TROS takes place a year later. The rage would lessen somewhat I imagine or if the rage against Rey was still so high, Kylo would have been MORE terrifying and just straight up kill Rey early in the movie. They did not understand Rey also insisted Ben do this for himself not for his mother, Rey, or Han or for power. That is why he was so upset that she did not take his hand when he offered. (The TROS story did get the "i wanted to take Ben's hand" correct.) There was also the strange scene of Rey looking happily at children. Was it an attempt to foreshadow a family with Ben? That's what it seemed like they were telling the audience but then at the end of the movie, I was left with thinking maybe Rey is now going to have two lovers and create a family with Finn & Poe. 
What about the handling of Kylo’s redemption? Was it something you had to think through in your stories? 
I have read MANY pieces of fan fiction on AO3, listened to Girls with Sabers & What the Force podcasts which seemed to focus on comparing Star Wars to works of great literature & myths, how Star Wars incorporates the Hero's & Heroine's Journey, and aspects of filmmaking. Given all the marketing with #ReyandKylo , #KyloandRey, the comics emphasizing the verbal (psychological) & physical abuse of Kylo, the comics showing how Ben Solo may not be responsible for the destruction of the Jedi Academy, the comics foreshadowing how Ben could survive being thrown off a cliff, the videos of little BB Ben Solo or Rolly Ben Solo (that never aired) and other items, it really seemed like the story was leading up to Bendemption. They did have Ben Solo redeem himself. I do think they had NO IDEA how to present Ben Solo to the Resistance after Palpatine is killed by Rey & Ben. They could not figure a way to do that so they just killed him off. I have read some great or good pieces of fan fiction that incorporate a trial of Ben Solo into their stories. Many were done well with Poe, Finn, & Rey coming to the defense of Ben because he helps them end the First Order. One story has Ben banished to a deserted planet for a year or two, then at the end he rejoined society where Rey was waiting for him. One has a trial that ended with a sentence of rehabilitation/probation where Rey might be the person in charge of controlling Ben. Other fics had it where Kylo is dismantling the FO from within so the Resistance can defeat them. Others have the First Order request an armistice. Another storyline I have read decided that since Ben saved the galaxy with Rey & he is Leia’s kid, he is pretty much absolved of his crimes since he will always have to atone for and live with the guilt of killing his father. The scene with Han in TROS was a great scene & did go a long way to Ben being redeemed and forgiven for his worst crime. The stabbing of Kylo, Rey’s healing of Kylo, & his tossing his saber was a great part of the movie and a good redemption arc. So that was good. Where the story lacked was the decision that Ben Solo still did not do enough so he needs to die. That was the mistake they made. They could have redeemed Ben & had him even start atoning for his crimes in the smallest way before the credits rolled IF they had a different plot than the LONG scavenger hunt.
Regarding stories after TROS, I have mainly read ‘fix-it” stories that are WIPs. The newest stories have Ben alive where he & Rey fly back to the Resistance where Rey has to protect Ben from being killed. He may be in a holding cell and discussions begin on what to do with Ben Solo. Those stories are pulling on the heart strings of “What would Leia want us to do with her only child?” and so far are resulting in sympathy for the fate of Ben Solo. I have read others that are basically have Rey telling the resistance that he can’t die or she will too or Rey is protecting Ben.
What did you think of where Rey landed at the end? There had been a lot of excitement around Star Wars having a female protagonist. Do you think she lived up to the promise of her character?
I did not like the ending. She was alone on a desert planet at a house where Luke's relatives were burned alive. She did not get a family. Well sure, she knows she is a Palpatine but from the beginning with TFA, I always felt like she wanted people around her that she was related to or had the capacity to help her create her own family. I did not like how the costume & hair reinforced Rey as a child virgin. That is where she was at the beginning of TFA. At the end of TLJ, her hair in not in her childhood style, she is wearing more 'earthy' colors showing character growth. Then with TROS, Rey regressed BACK to her childhood hairstyle and went to virginal white to show she is a 'good girl in white" and also a virgin. So she did not grow, in fact, she regressed. Her ending does not come off as the hero in white. She appears as the pure woman untainted by desire or love solely focused on protecting the galaxy. Additionally, she must be a robot because she was serene and happy as she flew away from Ben’s death. She was elated to see her Resistance friends. She was also so happy to be alone with BB-8 on a desert planet where the Skywalker Family has faced a lot of sadness. SUCH A HAPPY ENDING WITH SO MUCH HOPE. Wow, that is a lonely job for a scavenger that just wanted a family. So, girls, don't lose sight of your purity and you can be a hero if you are willing to bear the weight of that role only on your shoulders because you will have to do this alone. So Rey did not grow as a character and she did not get a family (unless you count her stealing the Skywalker family name but still alone because the last Skywalker died.) 
There’s criticism of the movie that argues it’s akin to “fan fiction” and that is has too much fan service. As fans and fan-fiction writers, how do you react to that?
I have read many excellent stories that are fan fiction for Star Wars. The best fan fiction are stories that are planned, follow a plot structure, have a writer that RESEARCHED the characters, planets and ideas they were incorporating . TROS was not as good as the best fanfiction out there. It is very disappointing that some people and critics are excusing TROS by saying it is fan fiction. I disagree with that. If "fan service" means throw as many planets as we can into the story, add random things that are never fleshed out in the story, have a movie full of action with too many quick cuts with a lack of dialogue, and add a bunch of ships from the larger SW universe, then yes, the movie was fan service. What happened with just making a good movie? A good movie would have been acceptable. A great movie would have been wonderful. We were given a mess of movie that killed off THE LAST SKYWALKER (Ben) with no acknowledgement, reduced Hux to a very minor character when he could have been Kylo's main adversary, and Rey takes the name Skywalker with no explanation. Strangely, Terrio implied the sequel trilogy was a set of movies about the Skywalker Twins and they are now so happy to be Force Ghosts with their sabers buried on Tatooine. Does anyone believe that when Leia tells Han to “bring our son home” she means she wants to meet Ben in Force Ghost Heaven soon? One could argue that TFA was Han's film, TLJ was Luke's film , and TROS was Leia's film. That became difficult to accomplish with Carrie fisher's death. PLUS, WHY EVEN HAVE THE VILLAIN BE THE LAST SKYWALKER if that character wasn't supposed to even be a big part of the film? So confusing & disappointing, especially since JJ made Ben Solo into Kylo Ren. If he did not want Kylo/Ben to play an important role as The Last Skywalker, why didn’t he just make Hux the bad guy all along? The only conclusion I can come to is the sequel trilogy was always intended to be a tragedy like the prequel trilogy to teach kids about tragedy, disappointment, death, the importance of mortal sacrifice for your sins even if you are mentally and physically abused. (Anakin & Ben were both psychologically manipulated.) What a way to teach a moral lesson about trust, family, friendship, and hope. Kinda hard to see those messages as the credits rolled on The Rise of Skywalker.
Are you still writing any Star Wars fanfic? Tell us about it! (Don't forget your Ao3 handle!)
I am a reader only.
I will mention that I am almost convinced that all the Terrio comments about Skywalker Twins, special effects personnel saying they were never asked to make Ben a Force Ghost, the three month delay for the TROS artbook, and so little information about Ben Solo’s ‘death” is LucasFilm admitting that Ben is not dead and they will do another Rey movie or a Solo movie called "The Resurrection of Ben Solo." Who knows if Driver or Ridley will EVER do another SW movie, though. Animated movie/TV show? A miniseries for Disney+...”The Search for Solo.”
Thank you Bonnie Swims
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Fanfiction Reader Tag
Tagged by @eyeliner-vampire  ♡ ♡
Fanfiction Reader Tag!
1. When did you start reading Fanfic (How old you were or how long ago)?
When I was probably...11 ish? so like 13 years ago
2. Do you have an AO3 account?
Yeh (LadyWisteria)
3. Do you read WIP (work in progress)? Why or why not?
All the time. I’m not picky about this at all. I’m a simple person. I see fic I think I’ll like? I read. doesn’t matter if it’s finished or not. I’ll make up my own ending til it is lol. also authors need that encouragement. finishing stuff is hard
4. What time of day is your ‘fic reading time’?
Usually late at night (like 1 a.m. and later..much later) but sometimes I’ll waste an afternoon instead (2 p.m. ish til I either have to go to work or I finish the fic)
5. How much time do you spend reading fic per week?
Not remotely as much time as I used, that’s for sure. Anywhere from an hour (if I’m rereading That favorite fic) to 2-4 hours if my friend has sent me a longfic again.
6. Do you listen to podfic (fanfic recorded like an audiobook)?
I...didn’t even know this was a thing tbh, so no. Sounds very neat but also I don’t listen to audio books anymore bcus my attention span re: audio input has gotten so bad over the years I can’t focus for more than a few minutes. 
7. What’s your favorite fic genre to read?
AUs AUs AUs. and fantasy. and fantasy AUs (although good long AU fics are harder to find). I am a very simple person. I see magic mentioned, I read. I also read a lot of romance fic (proving once again that fanfic writing is often better than mainstream original writing, bcus romance is one of my least favorite YA/movie genres). I don’t read as much of them but I also love mystery and paranormal fics
8. Are there any genres that you tend to avoid?
Super angsty no happy ending type stuff. “Major Character Death” is an automatic nope lmao (unless the summary looks reaallyyy interesting or it was recc’d to me). Tragedy is definitely Not my thing
9. What tag(s) do you track?
I don’t track any fic tags (I stopped tracking tags at all since Tumblr changed it from “keeping track of new posts in said tag” to “dropping random posts from that tag into the middle of your dash, and usually the same three”)
10. How do you find new fic?
Nowadays I mostly just read what friends send me or the new stuff a very few writers I follow post, but sometimes I also come across stuff through Twitter or Tumblr and curiosity wins out
11. How do you organize your fic bookmarks?
I..don’t? Is this a thing people do?? If I wanna reread something I either search through my bookmarks by title/author or just. filter by fandom. 
12. Do you subscribe to authors or stories?
Yeh. I only keep up with a very select few of them though. altho part of that is due to several of them being people I followed on fanfic.net years and years ago and never unfollowed, even though our interests may no longer be the same. (the other part is me going “oh I’ll read that later” and then just. never doing it.)
13. What is your favorite fanfic trope?
fake dating and bed sharing are always good
everyone is gay. also Good
14. What kind of plot line are you always here for?
“everything’s the same but they’re soulmates” (oh my god they were soulmates)
mafia AU
MAGIC
I really like in-between scene fics too. the events and character interactions that happen off-screen. I like writing those
15. What can an author do to make you love them?
write about my faves frequently
cool AUs
write about minor characters
good sense of humor
16. What can an author do to make you avoid them?
not into mpreg fics
a/b/o fics make me super wary I usually pass on those, even if the summary looks mildly interesting. they’re rarely if ever done in a way that isn’t rapey and gross
don’t care for fics period that have rapey scenes but you’re supposed to find them romantic
adult/minor ships
characterization is a big deal to me so if I don’t like how they handle the characters, especially faves I probably won’t be back
17. What do kudos mean to you?
when I get one I have a few seconds of “oh someone kinda liked this thing I wrote” and then I carry on about my day >.>;;; (I do appreciate them tho)
18. What kind of commenter are you (No comment, short comment, keyboard smash)?
I don’t comment as often as I mean to or wish I did, but when I do they’re loong comments (I’ve passed the AO3 character limit at least once kshg)
I tend to quote favorite parts and then react to them, and I like to theorize and ask questions about character’s thoughts at a certain part or what author imagines happens before/after the fic
19. Have you ever stopped reading a fic? Why or why not?
Yes. Once because I stumbled into a very sexually explicit fic when that was. Not at all what I was expecting (I was also very young lol), I think there was a very few I quit because they were boring or very poorly written, but most often I “quit” a fic for the same reason I don’t do audio books anymore lmao: because my attention span is sht and my motivation and commitment are extremely fickle things. I either forget or just wander away for a bit and then forget. Often I mean to come back and finish it; it’s just a matter of how long it takes. (I also second hand embarrassed out of a fic so hardcore that it’s been a whole 9 months since I’ve touched it khdfgd)
20. Have you ever read a fic more than once? What is it about that fic that makes you want to read it again?
YES. This requires like a minimum 4 separate posts to really answer but:
Behind Bricks and The Penance of a Killer by Deathbelle
this person is my fricking favorite author ever and these are two of my fricking favorite fics ever, I must’ve reread Behind Bricks 6 or 8 times now and Penance is the BokuAka-centric companion piece to my favorite fic of all time that I always wanted 
Mending Bonds and If the Heart Breaks, Does That Mean There’s No Home? by RussianSunflower3 
Mending Bonds is soft found family fluff centering on a very minor fave of mine and If the Heart Breaks is very angsty found family fluff that also focuses on some minor characters and it always hurts my heart but the ending and the soft middle always heal it right back up (“[Hanamaki] has a heart big enough for everyone in the world, and then some.” ohhhh my godd)
Boiled Frogs by ReginaGalaxia 
this one is. a really hard read centered around emotional abuse and manipulation and hoooo boy it is a rough read especially if you’ve experienced any of that personally but it’s so well written and the character dynamics are great and in its lighter moments it’s fricking hilarious. 
(bits and pieces of) The Roost by Ugglabarn 
 bits and pieces only bcus Roost has a lot of very heavy dark content that I’d have to be in a specific mood to reread the whole thing because it hurts my heart way too much but also it’s one of the best Fukurodani-centric longfics I’ve ever read (PLUS AN AU..!!) and I love love how they write the characters and how much focus there is on the minor members and ships and in its lighter moments Roost is also really funny the most recent chapter was hilarious
Expensive Hotel by Crown_of_Winterthorne
smut. explicit smut. excellent explicit smut with loving polyamorous boyfriends and plenty of consent discussion and kissing. my entire jam right there
Class 1-A Whomst? by Ya_Boi_Hal
this is the funniest chatfic I’ve ever read in my life and the first good chatfic I ever read. absolutely hysterical. also has some really good serious content in the middle and some Aizawa dialogue that punched me right in the feels. 12/10 will read again. sometimes I just randomly say “Mineta whomst??” and cackle to myself
and back in the day it was:
The Flame of Betrayal by DataIntegrationThoughtEntity
I guess traitor! Tahu was a popular trope back when Bionicle fandom was at its peak?? and not everyone liked it apparently but I enjoyed this fic greatly every time I read it it was well written and had interesting OCs and I am actually highly tempted to go reread it again
and Asleep Beneath a Wheat Field by Feline Freak
this was a very peculiar little OC-centric one shot that was also very sad and I don’t know why it grabbed me like it did but I remember rereading it 3 or 4 times at least
21. Do you like sequels?
The fics I like don’t usually come with sequels but The Penance of a Killer is one so Yes
22. Do you like dabbles?
I guess? I haven’t read too many I don’t think but hey, more fic is more fic. Who’s gonna complain about that?
23. What do you wish more fic authors would do?
Write about minor characters more
24. What do you wish more authors would stop doing?
that thing where they latch onto one facet of a character’s personality - or worse, one that fandom made up - and write them as if that’s the only trait they have
25. Do you like one-shots or multi-chapter?
Multi-chapter. I mean both are great obviously but the majority of my faves are multi-chapter and obviously if I like a fic I’m gonna wanna spend as much time in that universe as possible
26. How long do you like chapters to be?
Usually I feel the longer the better. once in a while I’ll hit one that’s so long it’s kind of distracting but extremely rarely
27. What’s your favorite POV (point of view) to read (first, second, third)?
Third
28. What do you think of OC’s?
I didn’t use to care for them very much but as I started reading fic by more advanced writers I found several I really liked. have a very small list of OCs from recent fics I’ve read I would actually kill a man for I love them so much
29. Do you download fic?
No, but seeing as my absolute favorite Bionicle fic vanished off the face of the earth several years ago and I cannot find anything about it an y wh ere sometimes I think about saving my faves. I never got to finish reading that fic and I am absolutely devastated every time I think about it. 
30. Tell me something else about your fic reading! Anything else!
best thing is when my friend and I buddy read a fic and send each other our favorite parts
Tag!
@yaelathewordsmith and @samantha-girlscout  ♡ ♡ ♡
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sickaede · 6 years
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Art and Writing Q & A
Ok so my askbox has gotten crazy amounts of people asking me questions about my art, writing, etc. and I figured instead of replying individually (since most are anons) I would just throw up a Q & A to get everyone’s questions all at once. As an added bonus, since I am terrible with explaining things in writing I made a little time-lapse to show the art process as well. Hopefully this satisfies everyone’s questions, but if something you wanted to know was not answered here feel free to send me an ask, they are always welcome!   
The video is at the bottom of the Q/A, click read more and scroll down to see it please!
Questions about comissions, other social media, etc. Q: Do you take commissions?  A: Yes! All my comission info can be found on webiste commissions page. If you’d like to donate as well, I also have a Ko-Fi page, and offer (optional) doodle rewards for donors. Q: You don’t post on tumblr frequently anymore, are there other websites I can find your art on? A: Yes! I don’t post as frequently as I used to anywhere anymore due to my projects taking up the majority of my time, HOWEVER...there are other wesites I post on. TMVIX.NET - My website will remain the most up-to-date with all recent art, writing, videos, projects, etc. Twitter - I like to post doodles, WIPs, and updates on my twitter as much as possible.  NSFW Twitter - The good shit.  👌 🌶️ 🔥 I rarely post here, and it is a private account, but no need to ask just click the follow button and I will accept ASAP. Deviantart - Again, rarely post here it’s mostly reposts from tumblr, but it is where the majority of my original content (OC’s, and stuff of that nature) is posted. Questions about my art process. Q: What programs do you use for your art? A: Paint Tool Sai for almost everything, Photoshop CS4 for editing and transparency.
Q: What brushes do you use, and what are your brush settings? A: I pretty much only use the Brush tool, Pen tool, Marker tool, and Watercolor tool for drawing, painting, etc. Here are screenshots of their settings. (The size varies, I chage it a lot.)
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Q: What canvas size do you use when you draw? A: As much as SAI and my computer hate me for it, I typically draw on a 4,000x4,000PX canvas. Once I finish my artwork I shrink it down to 50%-75%, this helps get rid of small mistakes in the piece. Q: Do you use a tablet, if so what kind? A: Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done. I use a Wacom Intuos USB Graphics Tablet - 8.5" x 5.3" Q: What kind of pens, markers, paper, etc. do you use on traditional work? A: My art classes have beaten brand loyalty into me, so I am spoiled with the types of pens, markers, pencils, etc. I use. Graphite pencils - Ticonderoga Colored pencils - Prismacolor Markers - Prismacolor Inking pens - Faber Castell Paper - I don’t have a specific brand I draw on, but I like drawing on big paper, usually A2 or A3. Q: How long does a digital drawing usually take. A: Its dependent on how complex and how I'm feeling when I'm drawing it but on average (cutting out time I spend doing other things).
Simple drawings/doodles take me about an hour a pop or less.
Flat colored and shaded drawings with line art usually take me about 2-3 hours.
Paintings and other complex art usually takes 5-6 hours or more.
Comics can take anywhere from 3-7 hours depending on how much detail goes into them.
Q: How long does a traditional drawing usually take? A: Again, depending on complexity about 5-10 hours. Colored pencils are a difficult medium to get right and blending is very touch-and go. Markers usually take a bit less time. Don’t even get me started on graphite and painting... Q: How do you make your line art so clean? A: Erasing/cleaning as you go instead of doing it all at the end usually helps me a bit...and I keep SAI’s stabalizer on S2 most of the time, but if there is a long line I need to make I crank it up to S7. If you want to see the exact process you can watch the video at the bottom of this post.
Q: How do you do your shading? A: I do multiple types of shading, painted, cell, gradient, etc. but the most popular seems to be the painted so I will assume you mean that.
You can watch the video below to see how it's done exactly, but to explain it simply I paint with white on a layer of solid color above my coloring layer, set it to multiply, and bam. Shading.
Q: How you do highlights, lowlights, etc.? A: Those are a bit trickier, and I didn't show them in the video but I will do my best to explain.  
I like to treat lowlights like cell shading for the most part, think of them as a place where the darkest shadows would fall. Don't get carried away, lowlights are supposed to be subtle, and extenuate the depth of where those shadows fall. I use multiply for this shading layer too, and typically use a darker shade of the same color I did for the base shading.
Highlights are easier, just think of where the light falling would be the brightest on your piece. I like to do more than one set of highlights - usually two or three - but make sure if you do multiple sets to make the secondary highlights smaller and subtler than the primary ones or you will end up with a big shiny blob. I also typically use a brighter color than the one I used for shading (for example if purple is the shading color try pastel pink or orange for the highlight color) or sometimes I just use white. I switch between the 'screen' and 'overlay' blending options for them.  
Q: What fonts do you use for your art, comics, etc.? A: Honestly, I usually just write out my own text, my handwriting is terrible but it's easier than opening photoshop and hunting for a good font... When I do use fonts, I HATE the factory ones for the most part, so I use stuff from Dafont.com.
Q: How do you clean your traditional art and digitalize it?  A: I don’t do much traditional anymore, but I actually made an in-depth tutorial awhile back about it and I still use the same method. It can be found here.  
Q: What are your inspirations for your art?  A: My friends are my biggest inspiration, I am lucky enough to know a lot of talented artists that always inspire and encourage me to improve and keep drawing what I love. 
Questions about my writing process.
Q:Can you give some writing tips? (There we a lot of these.)  A: Well, i’m not sure what you mean specifically but I will do my best! Sorry this is a bit long-winded, but hopefully it will be helpful. 
The most helpful thing you can do for your writing is to read other people’s work, of course that does not mean you need to copy their writing style...however, seeing the way other people put words together is very helpful to get out of your own head. It is easy to get stuck in a sort of ‘writing loop’ and end up writing similar things over and over again in different contexts. Taking a look at other’s view on things can help get you out of that loop. 
 Make sure you change up your wording! It’s easy to end up using the same descriptive terminology over and over again without meaning to. What I like to do when I write is to just get a big chunk done without worrying about grammar, repetition, etc. Then when I finish I go back and look over it, change up the words to sound fresh and different, and fix any grammar mistakes. Don’t be afraid to look up synonyms for stuff too if you can’t think of a different word, it isn’t a crime. Getting someone else's opinion on your writing after you’ve finished is also helpful! Proof readers are the best way to help you see your work in the eyes of your readers and make it exciting and interesting to them.  
 Get in the mood of the scene you are trying to set, be descriptive in what your characters are feeling and seeing. Often times people forget that even in simply scenes there is a whole world around your character that the reader cannot see. It’s your job as the writer to describe that world, so that the reader can see it in their head as clearly as you did when you were writing it. Listening to music while I'm writing really helps me with this, for example if you are writing an action scene listen to some high energy music. Get pumped up for that fight scene!  
Build your world, even if it's not an original work. Fanfiction authors tend to forget that despite their fandom’s world being pre-built, it’s still YOUR writing! Leave hints, foreshadow, throw in some background characters to fill up your world and make it unique. Make your readers think about how the world around your characters work, what might happen next, etc. 
 Keep the rules and timeline of your world consistent and understandable. Yes, I know, it sounds boring, but it’s very helpful to make your writing sound more interesting and easy to comprehend. Is there magic in your story, how does that magic work, can everyone use it, are there different types? Apply simple rules like this to your world that apply consistently throughout your writing. Your readers will thank you for it.  
 Do your research, yes again, boring I know. It's easy to project yourself and how you view the world on your own characters, making their personalities similar or identical. Think about how someone in their circumstances would act, if they’ve been through a traumatic experience how might that affect the way things work in their head? The way they interact with others and the world around them? Make sure to diversify your cast, not everyone in the world is alike, and your characters shouldn’t be either. 
Give yourself time, formulate ideas on how your storyline will connect and where it will go. You don’t have to crank out an entire book in a day, think everything over before you go through like a whirlwind and post stuff that you may not like. However, don’t take forever either. (I tend to do this a lot...) Overthinking your story can also hurt, don’t fret over every single tiny little detail. Making a timeframe for yourself and sticking to it can be helpful to keeping yourself on track and posting chapters regularly.  
Lastly, never get discouraged. This goes for both artists and writers. Just because you aren’t entirely happy with how your art or writing looks or sounds at the moment, or you see someone doing it better than you does not mean you should give up. Use those that you look up to as inspiration to improve your own work. Keep going, keep practicing, you will get better! Keep doing what you love doing. 
Q: What has your experience been with writing?   A: I will try to keep this shorter than the last one, but here goes... 
I honestly don’t have that much experience with writing, but I've always enjoyed it. I’ve been writing about my OC’s for MUCH, MUCH longer than I've been writing fics, in fact I can’t remember a time when I didn’t make up little stories for my various characters. Pretty much every drawing you see of mine has some storyline behind it. However, my fanfiction writing was more recent, I didn’t write anything fan-related until a few years ago, and I didn’t post any of it until I put OSR up. The majority of my experience comes from original content, role playing, etc. but I am so happy to be writing fics that people enjoy and hope to continue and eventually adapt OSR into a comic.  
Q: Do you have original stories, can we read any of them?  A: Yes, and no. I do have original stories, but I have not published them anywhere and they are still very much works in progress. Eventually I would love to share them with everyone, but it won’t be for a long time. For now, I hope you can enjoy the small amount of content I post about my OCs, and I will keep everyone updated when I do decide to share my own personal stories. 
Enjoy the video, hope this helped!  ✨
youtube
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My Friend has been Falsely Accused of Tracing So I Will Defend Him
Okay I accidentally deleted the blog I posted this one because I’m a dumbass, so I’ll just repost it here even though I don’t use this blog anymore, but apparently I still have followers. Bless caches because I was able to get this back from google caches so I don’t have to retype everything. I added further evidence and refutes to claims that were not in my original post btw.
Anyways, I am making this post to help out my good friend @5ru9 aka Falco who has been recently accused of tracing/copy pasting other people’s / official art!
I’ve known Falco for over 3 years, and we’ve grown as artists together. Once in a while we give each other advice on art (thanks for the mech and armor advice and teaching me how you line and color!), but most of the time we just meme each other.
Anyways, a lot of people have pointed out that they’ve seen him livestream before, and he’s already posted some of his block outs and other wips as proof that he does not trace in his post here:
http://5ru9.tumblr.com/post/168277137427/hello-i-have-been-informed-about-a-callout-post
To further prove his claim with solid evidence, I shall present to you!
Times he’s asked for advice on his art, or I randomly decided to mention things I notice in his WIPs!
Exhibit A-1:
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A Tenkai Knight he made up! I pointed out a few things I thought were awkward about the perspective in his WIP.
Exhibit A-2:
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He started working on this way back in July and didn’t finish it until much later because he was working on several other pieces at the same time. I suggested lowering the eyebrows and drawing the eyes a bit narrower to get more of the playful expression he was aiming for. In his final piece here, you can see that Falco continued to refine the piece.
By the way! The reason he sometimes posts a lot of detailed artworks one shortly after the other is because he sometimes works on multiple pieces at once! And then finishes coloring them around the same time.
Exhibit A-3
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Falco and I spent good time trying to figure out why he felt like something was wrong with his sketch! I thought maybe it was the trapezius and I decided to red line (or blue line i guess) it so it’d be easier for him to see approximately where i thought the line should go to fix it.
Exhibit A-4:
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The gif-ing process turned white bg into blue… anyways! Falco showed me an early version of his Tenkai Knights OC that he eventually used in an April Fool’s joke to pass off as a new character in the series. He mastered the tenkai style enough that at first glance, people really did believe it was official! Like you had to get a good look to realize Shiyu was not really a real new character! Btw I had to go into my old twitter acc to find this…. (Edit: the gif wasn’t working bc it was too big so i had to make it smaller… and choppier and stuff to fit the mb max)
Well now that brings us into!!!
Exhibit B
Some of his old art!! (I’m so sorry falco i’ll be exposing your ancient art to ppl now)
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Here you can see his progress from 2014 Tenkai fan art to early 2015! It starts looking more and more like the official art, which is what he was going for.
For reference, here’s what the character Ceylan Jones/Washizaki looks like:
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I blocked out fan art by everyone except falco (which i marked) that shows up in this google search. Everything else is official art. The two fan arts by falco you see here are more recent, the angel one being from 2016 and the chicken one from 2017 (i think he also made a version with sonic instead of the chicken? lol). They’re both on his dA accounts btw! The 2017 one really looks like official art, doesn’t it? But it’s his artwork! He practiced a LOT to reach that point, and I hope the earlier arts I showed above this one are enough to convince you in his art progression! Side note: i only used images w/ceylan because 1. i’m biased because ceylan is my favorite character and 2. he drew ceylan a lot because ceylan is his favorite character Also you can see his handle change from s3iwashi to burningbraven. 5ru9 is is a pretty recent handle.
ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN IN THE TENKAI FANDOM FOR A WHILE CAN VOUCH FOR HIM!!!!!
And now for the last one,
Exhibit C
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WHAT? WHO IS THIS???
This is my favorite character from a Chinese series called AOTU World! His name is Grey, or 格瑞。I commissioned Falco to draw Grey for me, and let me tell you it would be IMPOSSIBLE for him to have copied any of this. Why? Because the donghua is 3D and the manhua’s art is very inconsistent!
Let me show you the reference pictures I gave him to work with!
They’re all in my gdrive folder here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1CqwH5KS-pHX0ZqLHQpoIZBi6W-gsU_Tz
This is all official art from the manhua, except the 3D model is from the donghua. Look at how inconsistent the references are! There’s no way he could have copy and pasted or traced this! Grey doesn’t even do this particular pose anywhere. lol. I told Falco “give him a cool sword pose”. (I’m sorry for being so vague, Falco! But it turned out great!!) The style he ended up drawing in was a mixture of all of them.
Btw!! here’s the blockout and the sketch he sent me before I sent my payment for the commission!! You can see his construction in the block out!! The arm construction and leg construction is light, but it’s there. You can also see the block out below the sketch. Notice he actually fixed the leg length from block out -> sketch?
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ARGUMENTS AGAINST SPECIFIC ACCUSATIONS
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LOOK, thte actual drawing doesn’t even match the sprites that closely. Pay attention to the collar especially. The whole frankensteining the image and then painting over it thing is just way more effort than drawing it himself. They don’t even match that well in the overlays. Like wow it’s such a crime to try and stay on model.
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WHO WOULD EVEN NEED TO TRACE A MOUTH LIKE THAT? IT’S SO EASY TO DRAW. I CAN DRAW IT PERFECTLY JUST BY LOOKING AT IT. (well i AM an animator so I also do style mimicking)
Doesn’t the fact that you have to edit the sprites to match his artwork prove that you’re just a tryhard in making up fake evidence and not a tryhard enough at art since you think it’s so impossible for people to draw characters on model?
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Yes he referenced the broom and possibly the heels from this image, but your overlays for the leg and arms are disingenuous and you know it. The leg positions are different, and the overlay doesn’t even match up. Face tracing also makes no sense. You literally stretched the mouth to try and make it fit but it still doesn’t fit. Do you really think it’s that hard to draw mouths and eyes in the DR style? DR faces are really simple to emulate. Also you fool, if you follow Falco’s artwork enough, you’d realize the way he draws bodies is actually rather consistent even as he does different styles. Especially when it comes to hands. His way of drawing hands is how I recognize his art and know right away it’s his art and not official art or a trace (also his coloring style). The heels he drew are also reminiscient of how he typically draws shoes/feet. he draws them bulkier. The other art has dainty heels. At most he referenced how backside works because he’s used to drawing sneakers.
Also come on, if all you referenced from an image was a broom because you liked the style (his is also clearly drawn by himself since you can’t overlay it on the other one. like i said he mostly used the style as a reference for how-to-broom) and you referenced pieces from many other images, are you going to list every single thing you referenced? While yeah it’d be nice to, it’s a little ridiculous to expect all 5-20 references whenever they post the image. It’s a thing where, if someone asks, you’d tell them, but it’s too much to list all of it. This isn’t a 20 page thesis.
If it’s such a crime, then holy shit sue all those people who parody other people’s comics and sue everyone who dares!!! to ever draw something remotely similar to someone else. Dang.
Art doesn’t live in a vacuum.
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Okay, this one is just plain stupid. You distorted the sprite to match it up with his, but what would be the point for him to distort it just to trace? Also if he traced, can you explain the rest of the fingers that are drawn nicely but clearly different from the sprite? Also the thumbs don’t even match up. His faces more downward while the sprite is facing more forward. Also explain the turned body in Falco’s sketch, then!! And the hair! OH WAIT YOU CAN’T EXPLAIN IT BY ANY OTHER WAY THAN HE DREW IT HIMSELF!!! BECAUSE NO SPRITES MATCH IT AND YOU CAN’T FIND ANY SPRITES TO DISTORT ENOUGH TO EVEN GET CLOSE TO MAKING FAKE EVIDENCE FOR IT.
By the way, the style he drew it in is closer to the drv3 than this sprite. while it’s pretty much the same style as the older games, drv3′s art is more refined than the older games. Falco’s art is also more refined as you can see. (wow not only did falco’s art improved from back when we first met; even professional artists improve. shocker. /s)
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Dude what the hell? The overlays don’t even match up even ifi you tried to frankenstein them. And these are really common poses at really common angles, and once again, must every single thing we reference from be listed in the description of every place we post an image? Let me just list all 30 videos and 50 images i used as reference for one of my prints. jfc.
As for the saihara animation based on the digimon opening animation? It was pretty clear to everyone that it’s some kind of parody. Many people when making parody animations don’t mention the original video either?? It’s a fun thing for fans of the franchise to recognize the reference themselves. Yes he could have said it was the digimon opening on the description, but at least he didn’t say he thought of the idea himself? And if you talk to him about the animation, he will openly tell you it’s from digimon. And the fact that you think it’s a trace despite how much the overlays do NOT work out is practically proof that you’re just doing this maliciously and hoping that saying he traces enough with shoddy evidence will make people believe you.
ALSO PEOPLE LITERALLY TRACE ANIMATIONS TO MAKE PARODIES OF, DOWN THE STYLE WHERE ALL THEY CHANGE IS THE HAIR AND OUTFIT, AND YET SOMETHING WITH DIFFERENCES EVEN DOWN TO THE STYLE LIKE THIS IS SOMETHING YOU THINK IS A TRACE? Do you need a new pair of glasses?
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I was gonna ignore this one because it was the same as a lot of the others, but you literally erased Falco’s face line so it would match the sprite, and you covered the bigger boobs Falco gave her, and totally ignored that the angle doesn’t even match properly. Like you covered parts of his sketch in your overlay just to make it look more like it matches, but if you actually fucking overlayed it correctly, even with squashing it, it won’t fit. (Also sorry to point this out Falco, but the circles on your goggle lenses are too small compared to the sprite; Maybe if you actually traced like this person claims you’re doing, they’d be perfectly like the sprite. OH BUT WAIT YOU DREW IT YOURSELF SO OF COURSE THERE’S SOME DIFFERENCES. JUST LIKE HOW EVEN THOUGH ALL YOUR OTHER WORKS ARE REALLY CLOSE TO THE STYLE AND PRETTY MUCH ON MODEL, THEY’RE NOT EXACTLY THE SAME WITH THE SPRITES! SHOCKER...!)
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HOLY FUCK. I already pointed out and gave evidence that Falco started on the Nier Automata drawing waaaaaaay before he posted the actual picture. The 2 sketches are sketches! They don’t take a super long time. I busted out 10 inktobers in 1 day. (thumbnails of my artwork below)
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Look I even even lined and colored 5 fairly detailed chibis in 1 day (i did the sketches earlier though. btw i hand drew the plaid on ray. it was annoying)
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At the moment I have 5 wips. They’ll likely all be done around the same time. I know Falco often has multiple wips as well, and sometimes he also finishes some of them close to each other. Some artists (like my friend Fish) can pump out extremely detailed paintings in less than a day. WOW some artists can draw at a fairly fast rate. WHO KNEW? (manga artists in weekly magazines pump out 15-20 pages of manga in a week)
He’s still developing a style; he’s mostly doing style mimics of series he likes in the mean time.
At the moment he’s mostly experimenting with the drv3 style, but he was practicing p5 earlier. By the way, he DESIGNED a phantom outfit for mishima. Who the heck would he copy that from? He made it up because he loved mishima and wanted to make him part of the gang in some AU fan art. Mishima doesn’t have artwork like this for him to trace, so it should be obvious it’s his own work.
And the pokemon and crash bandicoot ones are actually not that close. The pokemon one looks like a good attempt at imitating the pokemon style, but since he hasn’t practiced it enough, you can tell it’s a little off model because, well, he drew it himself and doesn’t practice the pokemon style a lot. Same with the crash one. Had it been a trace, with his level of control over his lines (which you can’t refute), it would have been much closer.
And you act like it’s a crime to imitate others’ art style. It’s really not. What is wrong with you? Do you want to slow down animation production by only letting the character designer draw everything? Or do you want animation where the art has 0 semblance of consistency because all the artists draw in vastly different styles? lol. What do you have against artists that try to stay on model?
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LOL THIS IS ONE IS SO STUPID WHERE DO I EVEN START?
Oh, I KNOW. Why don’t I do that same pose with my own hands?
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IT’S A MIDDLE FINGER, YOU IDIOT.
Just because YOU don’t know basic anatomy and can’t tell a middle finger from a pinky, doesn’t mean everyone else is as incompetent as you. He wasn’t doing the rock-on hand pose (sry idk if that pose actually has a name lol), and he’s drawn the rock-on hand pose properly before.
Closing statement
I believe I covered a lot of things and provided a lot of evidence here that Falco and his other friends did not cover in his defense against the false accusations.
I even added more counter arguments in this repost because apparently my original post wasn’t enough to convince people.
Perhaps the person calling him out meant well (no, I doubt it because they made a new side blog just to diss him because they knew if they did it on their actual blog, they’d be called out for being a jerk), but they did not do enough digging to find out if their claims were true or not (and they probably know well enough that they MADE UP THEIR EVIDENCE).
If you’re going to make a call out post, please make triple sure sure of everything before you accuse people. Talk to them first. Talk to those who know them too.
Many jobs require you to be able to draw characters exactly in the style given. Animators for example! There are multiple animators working on one series, and they all need the skill to draw consistently! Some games also have teams that need to be able to draw in the same style so they don’t have to leave everything up to one person. Comic artists often have assistants that help them draw background characters, but those background characters can’t be too different from the main style either.
As for the people who believed the call out post before, it’s perfectly understandable. I am also guilty of falling for similar posts in the past. Due to that, I decided it was best to double check before retweeting (i say retweet because i use twitter far more than tumblr these days. heck i almost never post anything on this blog) things, and if i wasn’t sure, I would just leave it be.
I hope my post was able to convince you on Falco’s innocence and all his hard work. And if you already believed him but checked out this post anyways… Thanks! ObligatoryPleaseWatchAotuWorld.
And again:
Art does NOT exist in a vacuum. All artists are influenced by each other and MANY artists, especially professionals, use a lot of references, whether it be from photographers, their own pictures, others’ artwork, life, or whatever. We all use many different resources. If you’re going to say that’s wrong, you just dismissed millions of artists in the world.
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mysticsparklewings · 5 years
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Butterfly Babe
See the sparkle & shine in a video clip over on Instagram!: www.instagram.com/p/Bx2b7Qkjue… Welp, I wanted to have this up yesterday as I said in my WIP Wednesday! but I became preoccupied with catching bugs in Animal Crossing to repay my debt to Tom Nook... But it's all finished and up now Believe it or not, this started as an excuse to do more with a set of metallic watercolors because as much as I love how they look I just feel like I don't get many opportunities to use. I stumbled upon this picture in Yesterdays-Paper 's gallery: Be My Little Baby Butterfly and thought a recreation akin to my Figures in Good Style piece could be fun and involve metallic watercolors . I don't know where it came from, but I had a pretty specific image in my mind of what I wanted the girl in the end result to look like since I started doing pose thumbnails to figure out, which is why I ended up picking this pose even though I knew it was going to testing my perspective and shading skills a little bit. Which it did, but I think it turned out okay. Funny story. I actually sketched her out traditionally and was going to ink her traditionally too, but I had drawn the skirt separately off to the side so I wouldn't disrupt the body base and between accidentally overdrawing some lines (namely the sleeve things on her arms) so that that would look weird when adding the skirt and just having one of those nights where for whatever reason my inking patience was just out the window, I ended up scanning the sketch and doing the line art of her digitally and printing it out on to the mixed media paper I wanted to use. That wasn't a problem since I had already decided I wanted to do the metallic watercolor, watercolor wings (both of which I knew would each have to be on their own separate watercolor papers/layers) and do the girl in alcohol markers for color (though I did end up adding some colored pencil on top to fix some shading bugs). The only issue with printing the line art was that most of the lines did a weird ghosting thing, which struck me as extra odd because I drew and printed some guidelines for the wings that didn't do that, so I did end up having to go back and ink most of the lines with a real pen to hide that, which is why the lines still look semi-organic compared to if they were straight digital. Well, and technically I forgot that I had considering doing the lines in a color other than black, but in the end, I think the black was probably for the best. Only thing is that I did the antennae in black and it was only after I printed it and started coloring that I thought it was a little too harsh, and doubly so considering the ones in the original postcard were a white/silver color. So I went over them with a white gelly pen just enough to pale them out but not enough to make them disappear. Which reminds me; the main part of the design for the girl/outfit that I changed from the reference would be the shoe/ankle area. In the original, it's just black tights and white/cream heels, but I pulled the idea of toe-less tights and an anklet to match her dress ruffles and the things in her hair from...I don't even know, but the idea occurred to me and I ran with it. And I do think it helps bring together certain elements of the outfit just a little more.  Plus the original shoes wouldn't have looked very interesting in this particular pose. Honestly though once I had her drawn, the girl was the easy part. The bigger challenges were mixing the exact color of the metallic paint that I wanted, the wings, and deciding on the background aside from the metallic portion. I did my best to use some white, gold, and black of the metallic paints to create this funky gray-gold color, since I do like the gray in the original but I didn't really have a good solution for it in my version, and I thought the straight gold would've been too harsh. It doesn't look like much on the scan, but I think it came out super pretty in-person. I also deliberated between several different options of decorative paper decorated like piles of old paper and stuff (that block has come in so handy for things that were never even thought of when it was purchased) for the backing piece and how I wanted to incorporate the border idea from the original; ultimately though I thought this stamp-print paper looked the best and I liked the idea of the two different washi tapes you can see for a border between the metallic and the background paper, as I've been having the same issue with that as the metallic watercolor: I have a small washi tape collection I love, but I just haven't used any of it much. You can also see in the WIP that I took three separate stabs at the wings, partly for experimentation's sake and partly to give myself more options just in case one set didn't turn out that great. Ironically enough, of the three sets, I still ended up going with the first one because it felt the most balanced between the top and bottom wing colors/patterns. Figuring out the lines before I started painting was a little tricky since I needed something waterproof but I wanted it to be subtle, and I ended up going with my "clear" Stardust gelly roll, which actually leans on the gold side, and then I went back over the lines once they were dry and it picked up a little watercolor pigment, making it slightly darker but not overbearingly so. Oh, and about those wings...I ended up Googling to try and find what kind of butterfly they were from to have a clearer reference for painting/drawing them myself, and oddly enough the best match I found was not, in fact, a butterfly but was instead a Magpie Moth. Granted, I'm not an expert on these things and I don't think I spent more than an hour looking into it, but I did seriously consider titling this something to do with my moth revelation because of how odd it struck me. It doesn't really change anything, it was just kind of weird to me. Also, both cutting out the wings and the girl were not exactly fun. The watercolor paper for the wings was so stiff that by the time I cut three sets out my hand was a little sore and the girl...Well, you can see all the little things I had to try to work around and how close I was trying to get. I think that speaks for itself in why that was more a chore than an enjoyment. And that was pretty much where I stopped two nights ago because I wanted to make sure everything was dry, it was four in the morning, and I was tired, but I snapped the WIP shot before going to be so I would have something to post in the meantime. (I had hoped to have the finished piece up on Wednesday but obviously, that didn't happen). I resumed the next day and started with figuring out placement, washi taping, and gluing everything together. This included a few logistic hiccups over how to glue like the girl and the wing and the metallic piece together so everything laid okay, but ultimately I actually didn't have to do anything special because while the watercolor paper is thick, in practice it isn't so thick that it was causing layering issues, so I was just careful about how I glued and left it alone. Then I wanted to make sure everything was dry again and hopefully that it would dry mostly flat, so I stacked it carefully between heavy books and left it for the night. Originally, I was just going to leave it at that. But I came back to it the next day and it was missing something. After a little testing, I ended up adding the outlines of some small butterflies on the stamp paper edge for ambiance and officially closed the drawing by adding my little signature to balance out the leg area. I still think maybe some tiny butterfly stickers or something on the metallic portion would make the scan look better, but in person, I just can't justify it because I don't want to overwhelm the metallic quality or crowd the center since the more empty space draws the eye there so well. There are mistakes and things I could've done differently here and there, but ultimately I'm happy with how it turned out and I'm glad I can finally post it. Now the question is to decide what my next big project like this will be...hmm... ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble |   Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram
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dominodebt · 7 years
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Blackwatch AU WIP #2
hey so I know I’ve been talking about this Blackwatch AU a lot and put up a WIP a while ago but I promise I’m still working on it so here’s a big (no I mean it this thing’s like 1k and some change) Blackwatch!Mercy WIP
as always WIPs are subject to change so don’t sweat it too much if something looks wrong or weird!
hope you guys like it! you can always check out my twitter for more writing updates if you’re into that kinda thing <3
also also sorry for being annoying but maybe check out my post about doing a  writing stream and let me know your thoughts because right now it seems like people aren’t really interested which is fine but like I just gotta know okay thanks sorry that’s my shameless plug
Being an outsider is not exactly uncharted territory for Angela Ziegler.
           Her teachers boasted endlessly about how gifted she was—how special, how elite. Systematically set aside for displaying premature levels of intellect at a young age, a rift arose between herself and her peers that never quite smoothed over. Those on the other side of the academic wall resented her bitterly, so Angela’s logical solution was to keep going up—to work harder and study longer and think faster than anyone. She took her raw genius and forcibly marshaled it into a finely tuned machine that she kept going at all hours.
           No rest. No pause. Just facts and data and answers and progress. She set her sights on perfection and never accepted a degree less than that, in anything that she did.
           The wall became a pedestal, then a tower, then another building entirely—one only she occupied.
           The lonely life of a genius, or whatever bullshit others gossiped about behind their hands. Angela never took the time to listen—never wasted a thought on them.
           So when she strides into Overwatch’s headquarters, baring Blackwatch’s symbol on her chest—a skull and a sword sewn over her heart—she has no reaction to the dozens of eyes that she feels track her movements.
            Maybe that’s why she’d fit in to the shadow company so well. She’d already existed on the fringes of society—why not just set up shop there?
           She feels Jack’s gaze on her when she enters the room, but doesn’t even spare him a look, feigning interest the week-old notes still attached to her clipboard.
           “You know,” he drawls, as she pretends to tick something off of a list that’s not there. “Blackwatch is supposed to be a secret sort of thing.”
           Angela arches an eyebrow at her clipboard, making more pointless, empty notes.
           “I’m aware, Commander,” she tells him mildly. “My hand still aches from all the security releases I had to sign.”
           She hears him sigh. Her pen scratches against the paper.
           “Do you really need to parade around—?”
           “I’m not parading anywhere,” she cuts him off, a touch of coolness to her voice. “I’m attending a meeting. At your request.”
           She flicks her gaze up to meet his unamused frown.
           “You could have worn your old Overwatch uniform,” he informs her coldly.
           Ana’s standing in the corner—an observation Angela only makes now that she’s bothered to look. It unnerves her that the sharpshooter’s presence had gone unnoticed. She used to be able know the other woman’s position inherently, like a reflex.
           She looks back to Jack, trying not to think of what else she has forgotten.
           “I could have,” she agrees, voice detached and chilled. “I could have also worn my Valkyrie suit, or my military dress, or desert fatigues—I could have borrowed McCree’s belt buckle and worn that.” She gives him a small smile that’s all teeth before dropping her gaze back to her notes.
          She realizes—off-handedly—all she’s been doing is underlining Gabe’s name with increasing force as Jack’s tone sinks deeper and deeper under her skin.
          Jack shifts his weight, crossing his arms.
          “Still warming up to things at Blackwatch?” he asks with an arched eyebrow, like he’s just pegged her mood to perfection.
           Angela lets out a smirk—abnormally sharp and maybe a little too tight. “Warming up isn’t really what I’m known for.”
           Jack stares her down. Ana is still standing with her back turned, but Angela can clearly see the way her head’s titled—the sharpshooter is hearing every word.
           A silence settles over the room—uneasy and cold. Angela can’t remember feeling this misplaced at Overwatch.
           “We should wait for Reyes—”
           “Gabe said to start without him—”
           Angela and Jack lock gazes. Ana’s shoulder blades stick out like knives across her back.
           “What do you mean, start without him?” Jack repeats with a hard look. “He’s my go-between with Blackwatch. He has all the information I need.”
           Angela’s answering glare is a cold snap—sudden, startling, and bitter in its frigidness.
           “He was kind enough to pass that information to me,” she tells him tightly, fingers going white where she holds her clipboard. It’s all coming clear now, so fucking clear—
           Jack scoffs. “He passed it to you?”
           “Yes.” Angela’s tone teeters on a knife’s edge. “He did.”
           “So what, you’re Blackwatch’s secretary now?” The Strike Commander’s words drip with disparage.
           “Jack.” Ana’s voice is quiet and sharp. She glances over her shoulder to give him a look of warning.
             “You never thought I’d go with him,” Angela accuses him, finally lowering her clipboard to look him in the eye. “You never saw me as the wild card. That’s your problem—one of your problems, actually—you think you understand people and you don’t.”
           “Angela.” Ana turns around now, voice dark with displeasure as Jack glares openly at her.
           “What are you talking—?”
           Angela cuts him off ruthlessly. “You read my file like you were reading my autobiography. Like knowing where I was born and where I went to school and what doctors gave me their stamp of approval—”
           “Angela.” Ana’s voice is a command for silence. Angela defies it without thought.
           “—would tell you everything you needed to know about me. But it didn’t, did it? There’s nothing there about my parents. It didn’t tell you that I hate having the UN looking over my shoulder every time I do something they find interesting. Not one line dedicated to my firm belief in presenting my research myself, instead of being spoken for by an Overwatch-approved representative—”
           “Angela, you are so out of line—” Jack begins.
           “But then you let Reyes go,” Angela can’t stop the words spilling out of herself now. “And you didn’t think anywhere of it, because nowhere in my file does it mention that I’m a stubborn piece of shit who’s loyal to my friends even if it means abandoning the place I considered home—even if it means being stripped of everything I worked for—”
           “That is enough Angela,” Ana again, stepping forward like she’s going to force Angela out or hold Jack back.
           “—and maybe that’s why you made Blackwatch,” the doctor hisses. “So you could keep all your mistakes in one place and make sure they can never—”
           “Angela, leave!”
           “—come back to haunt you. Maybe that’s why you hate us.” She stares him down, chest heaving. “Because every time you see this—” she slaps a hand over the Blackwatch logo like she’s pledging allegiance to a new country—one she’d kill and die for, one she’ll defend unto death “—you’re reminded of all the times you failed.”
           She turns on her heel then, storming out of the room, her black coat flaring out behind her, like some storm she’s leaving in her wake. She feels like a livewire—ultraviolet. Too bright and hot and much—
           Reyes is there, striding towards her from the tarmac—because of course he is. She needs him, and he’s there.
           Their relationship is vertigo—pushing and pulling at the same time. An endless give and take that boils down to a balancing act between pillar and pendulum.
           Anger roars in her ears, so loudly she almost doesn’t hear him when he finally reaches her side.
           “Angela, what the fuck did you do Ana’s been lighting my phone up since I got off the plane—”
           “Good news.” Reyes breaks off with a rush of air as Angela slams the clipboard into his chest for him to take, striding past him—eyes too bright, heart beating wildly beneath her Blackwatch sigil. “The gates of hell just opened, and you’re my plus one.”
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flauntpage · 7 years
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Solving Philadelphia’s Sports Talk Radio Problem
If you’re under the age of 50 and above the age of 15, it’s obvious that Philadelphia has a sports talk radio problem. This city is big enough for two separate stations to fill nearly 24-hours of original content every single day, so why do listeners have to restrain themselves from putting a boot through their radio after listening for an average of two minutes?
The answer isn’t an easy one, but I’d like to propose a potential four-step solution that I think will help improve sports talk radio in Philadelphia.
Step 1: Fill a room sky high in both the 97.5 Fanatic and 94 WIP studios with wheels of mozzarella, arms of salami, slabs of mortadella, Rocky Blu-rays, back issues of Playboy from 1984 and knock-off Chinese made Eagles jerseys.
Hang a sign from the door marked “Free.”
Step 2: Wait until room is filled. When at capacity, crack open door and throw in smoke bomb.
Step 3: Amidst confusion, send in army of interns with large burlap sacks. Stuff hosts into said sacks with notices of termination. Tag each host with tracking device to collect valuable data on the mating habits of the morbidly obese. Hire a forklift if interns alone cannot successfully remove hosts from their respective stations. Be prepared to widen doorways throughout each building. Unceremoniously dump fired, confused hosts in alleyway. Congratulate self on job well done.
Step 4: Hire new hosts.
Sure, it may seem harsh, but the unoriginality of the medium is so deeply entrenched in both stations that they need to be completely uprooted. They have such an incestuous relationship that it’s not a matter of “if” a fired host will find another job at the rival station, but only a matter of “when.” Rob Ellis. Anthony Gargano. Jon Marks. Tony Bruno. Mike Missanelli. All failed or otherwise flamed out at their respective stations…all found homes at the rival station.
Did Rob Ellis, the human equivalent of a deep coma, need TWO chances at TWO sports talk stations to put listeners to sleep? Did he really need a daily morning television show? I assure you his failures were NOT due to people being unable to see his weak-chinned face.
If someone’s tired schtick wasn’t getting ratings at WIP, it will CERTAINLY do better at The Fanatic! Anthony Gargano’s “cuz” act had worn out its welcome… uh, everywhere, so of course The Fanatic jumped at the opportunity to hire him to anchor its flagship morning show! At least they gave him a unique slant this time around with Brian Baldinger and human dynamo Maureen Crowley Williams. WHAT FRESH-FACED TALENT! The most interesting thing about Baldinger is his gnarled finger. Has anyone cared what he’s had to say in the past, oh, let’s make it a conservative 25 years? No. No they haven’t. But they’ll reinvent the morning show they will, one recycled bit after another. LET’S GO TO THE MEATLOCKER AND TALK TO FREDDIE MITCHELL FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME, WHAT A CRAZY MEATBALL! OH MAMA MIA.
(Just a side note for a moment, can each station please have a moratorium on booking Freddie Mitchell? He played four seasons, very poorly I might add, and he hasn’t stepped foot on a football field since 2004. Do we need to hear him complain about Donovan McNabb again? We do not. You were garbage, Freddie. It wasn’t McNabb’s fault that you washed out of the NFL. I do not need to hear another unsubstantiated story about how everyone on the team hated McNabb…which was probably true, but god damnit I don’t need to hear you tell it AD NAUSEAM.)
Wing Bowl was fun like 20 years ago, right? Tits, wings, huge slobs eating themselves into an early grave as greasy Angelo Cataldi cackles in the background and their soon-to-be widows beg them to stop, disappointed Wingette fathers…it’s a Philadelphia tradition! So what does The Fanatic do? Creates Fantasy Fest, an annual event that gives 35 mouthbreathers from Kensington the excuse to begin drinking at noon and ogle the one unlucky stripper from Delilah’s who is NOT getting paid enough to be there.
This caller to The Fanatic last weekend perfectly encapsulated the Fantasy Fest experience:
Caller: "Hey I just left Fantasy Fest."
Host: "Wasn't that the best party ever?!"
Caller: "I'm not going to lie, no." ::hangs up:
Perfect
— CogginToboggan (@CogginToboggan) August 26, 2017
I didn’t make that up. That was a real call. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed anything more that has been aired on The Fanatic.
The one host in the past decade who attempted to do anything different was Josh Innes, and he was ran out of town in his husky boy jeans faster than Pete Rose running to an alleged underage sex party.
Innes dared to step away from the tried and true Philadelphia sports talk formula of cliched topics and “hilarious” daily polls. You know the ones…. “Call in, we’re taking your top Philly guys who ever played linebacker for the Eagles…Jeremiah Trotter is up there for me, I tell ya. Call in, 610-632….”
For every one host or producer willing to try something different, there are 25 Jason Myrtetuses in the background rehashing and pushing the same old garbage. “How about a fake caller? He could call in when things are slow, really rile Mike up! Just make him black, don’t worry about it, we’ll call him Dwayne. He’ll be outrageous and say really stereotypical things that I think a black person would actually say if I knew any in real life. THINK OF THE RATINGS!”
In the words of the immortal Digital Underground, “It’s just the same old song.”
Here’s what one of the stations could actually do if they want to break the cycle: You know the person on your staff who is behind the scenes that has pitched an idea for a show that seems “out there” or “too different” from what you’re used to hearing on-air? Promote them to on-air. My god, do us all a favor. I beg of you.
Take a chance, get a different opinion on-air for a change. Do you really need to hear Mike Missanelli or Angelo Cataldi breathing heavily into a microphone every day and taking the contrarian view on EVERY SINGLE TOPIC because it “creates content?” Get a new voice on your airwaves, get someone who is going to take a chance, who will do something we haven’t heard a million times already, and who won’t publish terrible polls on Twitter. Spare us, please.
Or, better yet, listeners should just stop listening. Go ahead and put that foot through your radio and don’t replace it. Read the Coggin Toboggan and Crossing Broad instead. Fuck it. There are a ton of writers here now. Everyone here can mash their hands onto their keyboards and come up with semi-coherent sentences, I guarantee you that. WHAT AN ENDORSEMENT!
All angry emails and letter bombs from WIP and Fanatic hosts/producers should be addressed to Kyle Scott at Crossing Broad. He’s the one who allows this nonsense to be published on his site. [Editor’s note: Shaggy defense.]
Like what you saw? Did you only dry-heave once or twice reading this piece of garbage? Then follow me on Twitter @Coggintoboggan.
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shadowdianne · 7 years
Note
The question for writers, 1-50 ;)
 Uhhh, you mean like all of them? xd This is going to be long…
Thank you for the ask anon. I hope you don’t get bored…
01: When did you first start writing?
I don’t have a clear memory of the moment I really started to write down my stories but I remember pretending to write when I couldn’t be more than six a story about a group of smugglers that were discovered by a group of children and therefore put in jail. (I read the whole series of the Famous Five and The three investigators about that age so I was quite influenced xd) However, my first story was when I was around nine in where I wrote a story about a girl that chatted with several greek deities… I don’t really remember how the story ended though xd
02: What was your favorite book growing up?
My favourite book is the divine comedy and has been for a really long time. I also loved (when I was a tween)  The Phantom Tollbooth and several others… I think I would need a really long list to put them all together!
03: Are you an avid reader?
Yup! I love to read, reading is, as writing, something that is a part of who I am. 
04: Have you ever thrown a book across the room?
Never xd I had the idea with my math’s textbook though because I sucked at them but a book I enjoyed reading? Never.
05: Did you take writing courses in school/college?
I did several courses back in school/high school and I’ve attended several short courses over my years at college, yes.
06: Have you read any writing-advice books?
Not entire books but I’ve always read about the worldbuilding of a world in order to make them more authentic, kind of phrases and character building. However, I tend to have the problem that I find that some of the books are very strong on the kind of rules they are trying to apply to one’s writing work and so even though I try to learn as much as possible I tend to not follow them as much as I should.
07: Have you ever been part of a critique group?
Nope. Not because I didn’t want but because the occasion never presented itself. 
08: What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten?
Uhm… I had a teacher when I was in my last year of high school that learnt that I wrote short stories in english xd He asked me to give one to him and I gave him one called Synopados in where I explored the idea of a girl looking at her emotions through a mirror as she fell in love with a girl. I still have the note he wrote me about how I had courage for writing that stories in a city like the one that is my childhood town. He told me I should keep writing, no matter what. I had already started to write fanfics but sparsely and almost everything in spanish so I’m deeply humbled and grateful by what he did.
09: What’s the worst piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten?
One in where I was asked to end my writing because it wasn’t good enough, never would be and it was a joke how I tried to be something when I couldn’t put one letter after the other.
10: What’s your biggest writer pet-peeve?
I can’t stand first POV(?) I mean, I’ve written some stories with that pov and I’ve read them as well but I always link that to roleplaying and not stories so in my head it doesn’t sound quite right.
11: What’s your favorite book cover?
There are too many lol But I think that one of the recent ones I like is Perdido street station from China Miéville
12: Who is your favorite author?
I don’t have one that surpases the others I’m afraid. However, one of the authors I deeply respect is Rowling so I will go with her and PD.James.
13: What’s your favorite writing quote?
If a story is in you it has got to come out. I believe it was said by Faulkner but I could be wrong.
14: What’s your favorite writing blog? c;
Hahaha, too many to count :P
15: What would you say has inspired you the most?
Reading. Without reading I wouldn’t want to create because I wouldn’t have the ideas of so many worlds and characters already in my head. There may be people who think otherwise but for me reading is a very big part of writing.
16: How do you feel about movies based on books?
That they tend to be an absolute disaster but not because of the general idea of “They didn’t put this scene in that moment.” but because they try to create a visual of abstract ideas sometimes the authors make the reader see by description that don’t necessarily need to be linked to a visual scene. The way that’s often presented make some ideas look cheaper than they are. There are some movies that got that beautifully though.
17: Would you like your books to be turned into TV shows, movies, video games, or none?
Mine? -looks down- I… would first need to believe that they could be turned into something xd However, I think I would like to see some of my ideas transformed into a game.
18: How do you feel about love triangles?
That they are boring and done again and again and again. I really don’t like them as well as most of the romantic tropes done so many times it’s impossible to escape them. 
19: Do you prefer writing on a computer or longhand?
My handwriting is awful so I only tend to write the general idea of my stories instead of the full-fleshed thing because, otherwise, it would be a nightmare to understand it all.
20: What’s your favorite writing program?
I really don’t have one to be honest.
21: Do you outline?
For short stories I always have a general idea on my head of what I want to write. It’s on long stories in where I outline full plot points, dialogue ideas and characters.
22: Do you start with characters or plot?
Plot, always plot. I prefer to know where I’m going to put my characters in because then I know how to move them through that space.
23: What’s your favorite & least favorite part of making characters?
My favourite is their inner voices, how all of them has different ideas and how I can write that into the story is amazing. From movement to how they talk. The least one is their names when I’m making them from scratch and if I’m writing with already created characters the style of clothing I want to describe them in. xd
24: What’s your favorite & least favorite part of plotting?
My favourite would be almost everything that involves worldbuilding, searching information and creating. The least would be the “filler” scenes in where nothing happens but helps to create a more realistic pace for a story. 
25: What advice would you give to young writers?
I’m still young! I’m still a novice! I don’t really know what I would say to them lol. Perhaps… write? Feedback will be sparse, bad words will stand out more than good ones and it’s okay to feel bad for that but writing and understanding how a story is created will help you greatly.
26: Which do you enjoy reading the most: physical, ebook, or both?
I have an ebook and I use it a lot but I prefer the physical copy of the book.
27: Which is your favorite genre to write?
Fantasy, Sci-Fi… and that taking into account all subgenres like cyberpunk, steampunk… I adore the new-weird but I don’t see myself writing that yet. It requires a level of expertise I don’t have.
28: Which do you find hardest: the beginning, the middle, or the end?
The end, but it’s also the part I enjoy the most.
29: Which do you find easiest: writing or editing?
-Groans- I prefer writing. Editing is a pain in the ass.
30: Have you ever written fan-fiction?
-snorts- Yuuup.
31: Have you ever been published?
Nope, I haven’t. I wish someday will be able to be good enough to even think about it tho’
32: How do you feel about friends and close relatives reading your work?
My relatives don’t so….. My girlfriend does it from time to time tho. It’s strange to see her read my stories but funny at the same time. Same goes with the friends that I manage to trick them into reading me.
33: Are you interested in having your work published?
As I said… yes. But I don’t know if I will ever be good enough.
34: Describe your writing space.
Almost everywhere. However I tend to prefer writing in my bed, with my pc propped up on my knees and a cup of tea next to me. Everything very instragram-ish.
35: What’s your favorite time of day for writing?
Night. I’m a night person.
36: Do you listen to music when you write?
Yup, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to focus.
37: What’s your oldest WIP?
Wow xd I think… The recognizable stranger is one of my oldest for this fandom.
38: What’s your current WIP?
Too many to count…
39: What’s the weirdest story idea you’ve ever had?
That I could write? nah, just kidding. (No really) I think it was the one about the mirror and the girl I said before. I’ve had weirded ones but I don’t really remember them as being impossible to tackle.
40: Which is your favorite original character, and why?
Samantha Somnos xd In fact, this character was written for a roleplaying community at twitter a few years back. Her avatar was Emily Blunt and she was this cold woman, effective on her job and lethal. She had a very convoluted relationship with a man on her youth… I loved writing for that character, not only her background but her history which I wrote alongside with my girlfriend. I adored how, at the end, she is just a bad person, one that doesn’t want to change but it’s that what leads the reader. I wish I could keep on writing her.
41: What do you do when characters don’t follow the outline?
I murder them… nah. I keep myself flexible. Some things need to be written down but others not so whenever that happens I redirect the situation using what the characters are giving me.
42: Do you enjoy making your characters suffer?
Not in a gore-way but I like making them suffer pain or loss. I like how creative I can get with that because I can work them inside and out and see how they can react to several things.
43: Have you ever killed a main character?
-nods- Several times.
44: What’s the weirdest character concept you’ve ever come up with?
An old woman whose imagination has kept her trapped into an ink cage from where she is able to see stories that are dreamt in the minds of those who seek sleep. She collects those stories in the form of ever growing chains around her wrists.
45: What’s your favorite character name?
I don’t really have one although I tend to prefer to choose names who have a hidden meaning for me, like a private joke.
46: Describe your perfect writing space.
As previously said I don’t have a preferred writing space since I write in almost everywhere so… perhaps a place in where I never felt cold?
47: If you could steal one character from another author and make then yours, who would it be and why?
By stealing them I would transform them in something different since I’m not the author that created them. However, since I write fanfiction as well as my own work I’m used to write characters that aren’t mine by default so… I would love to explore Katsa from Graceling. Or Alana from the Saga series.
48: If you could write the next book of any series, which one would it be, and what would you make the book about?
I’d probably transform it into a fantasy-driven book so… I will leave the series I would destroy as “not chosen” haha
49: If you could write a collaboration with another author, who would it be and what would you write about?
Currently I’m in love with China Miéville’s work so I will choose him. And taking into account what he write we would write a new-weird genre book lol-
50: If you could live in any fictional world, which would it be?
Perhaps Philip Pullman’s  Dark Material’s world.
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