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chifuyusun · 11 days

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Negai no Astro Chapter One: Thoughts

I am late, in 3 days we will have chapter two, life has been too busy but I planned to share my thoughts on every chapter as the manga goes, so i will write them down here anyway

I have not read chapter 2 leaks nor do i plan to so these are all based on whatever info we got from chapter 1

Overall, Wakui never fails to intrigue me with his concepts. A lot of people online who enjoy hating on his works just because they didn’t like Tokyo Revengers and wanted to board the hate train kept calling it tr 2.0, but to me, it is a unique concept, the only thing it shares with tr is its art style (obviously, both are drawn by Wakui, he was not going to magically change his art just because it is a new work, besides, his art is precious and comforting to see, why would we want it to change?) + the concept of gangs and brotherhood which are prevalent in Tokyo Revengers. Other than that, this story is set out to be different. I love space, supernatural elements, family stories, angst and drama, and this story seems to blend all together. With a family of adopted siblings and a biological son, it makes me wonder, do any of the adopted ones harbor any hatred in their hearts for Hibaru? Who is close to whom? Who hates whom? There seems to be a lot of tension, like royal family children fighting for the throne, they would fight for succeeding their father.

Starting with Shio, could he be the main antagonist of the story? The panels seemed to focus on him whenever they were mentioning the succession. It seemed he had his eye on it, considering he is the first adopted son, he most likely expected he would be the next leader. In the second panel, his rage is apparent when Hibaru announced that Terasu was chosen. Perhaps he would try to “dethrone” the two, to speak in kingdom terms. Also, Kou did tell them to stay out of Shio’s way, it seems to me each siblings will have their own squad, and it will be a family feud. I am expecting lots of battle, and knowing Wakui, angst and bloodshed.

Hibaru my beloved! I am so attached to him already. Wholesome mc with a brave heart, count me in! Like Takemichi, he is dedicated to his goal, and to looking after his loved ones, as it was his will to save Terasu that gave him strength (+ the memory of his Father guiding him) I can’t say much about him, but he seems to be a golden retriever type of boy, with a pure soul and a strong will, and he most likely does not want the family to fight, as he does his best to avoid that. (but he also does not take sh*t from anyone, as he almost attacked Kou and had the cutest little angry face) Hibaru was always shown to be excited when his father brought new siblings home, and I do not think he dislikes any of them. But anyway, I will support my son’s rights and wrongs.

And these two seem to be the gossipers of the family who attend to talk sh*t about everyone else lol. The pretty boy with the colored hair gives me Hanma vibes, he seems to be quite chill, just wanting to see how it all goes down (or not, just an impression based on his vibe, but either way, I love his energy.) as for blondie with the scar, he caught my attention the most out of all the siblings, aside being beautiful design wise and looking like Kokonui, his sarcastic personality and just overall aura definitely interested me. He also never opened his eyes once during the whole chapter, and his scar goes through his eyes, could he be blind? I need to know more about him and his backstory, how he got this scar..and can he see..perhaps, his new power could make him see? (If he is blind)

What made me love Tokyo Revengers so much was not its plot (yes, Wakui cooked, he is a good author, Tenjiku arc’s plot was phenomenal and one of the most memorable in all works of fiction Ive read), but what engraved tr into my heart, making it something so dear to me, a story I’m way too attached to, is the bond between its characters, and the relationships between them, whether i saw it in a platonic or romantic sense, and all the various sibling relations, how Shinichiro changed the course of destiny itself for his brother, how Mitsuya raised two little sisters on his own and protected them, how Naoto loved his sister so much he meddled in time for her, how Yuzuha put her own safety on the line and endured endless abuse for her brother, etc. Wakui writes all types of relationships so beautifully it moved me to tears so many times, and that is why the sibling bond between Terasu and Hibaru is so dear to me.

Like?? Absolutely precious. Their love for each other is already so evident only from one chapter. Cant wait to see more of them and hopefully it stays pure and untainted…(Wakui im looking at you.)

However..I can't help but think of this. Terasu's parents were defeated (k*lled) by Hibaru's dad, and Wakui never adds details for no reason. Everything in tr was carefully planned since day one even if it was rushed at the end, so, could this turn into a "Judas" sort of situation, where Terasu is faced with a difficult choice to make? Could he betray Hibaru? They are so dear to me, I would hope not, but also...angst...

Random thought: Code Geass is my all time favorite anime, and this part reminded me of the very first episode of Code Geass, where CC speaks to Lelouch, giving him the power of Geass, which brings me to..her

Again, i have not seen leaks, idk if it is revealed who she is in chapter two, but we have not seen her yet in chapter one..is she part of the family, or could she be similar to CC in a way, related to the "astro" power? I am keen to know more about her

Another random thought: I am obsessed with her and I don't even know her name yet, but she is gorgeous. All the girls Wakui drew in tr are stunning but she just..stands out, her design is unique to all ladies Wakui drew before, she reminds me of a femme Manjiro mixed with Koko, and Betty Boop

Lastly, the whole adopted siblings, each with a unique super power, is reminding me of The Umbrella Academy, and I'm sat. I'm a sucker for such stories lol, I am excited to learn more about what each power does and what each sibling got, especially that which looks like a third eye. Since astro grants the heart's desire and what they wish for, I am curious to see what each of them wants the most, and to learn more about their character. Can't wait for my new journey with Negai no Astro, it is a promising start! (Won't ever leave TR behind though)

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dross-the-fish · 9 months

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Someone recommended Lore Olympus to me. I’ve only heard about it from 2 sources, them and you. They gave the positive. I’d like to hear the negative. What’s your beef with it?

It's a long list, I have a lot of beef.

A friend recommended it to me and I gave some of it a read. I was put off by the art style, particularly since the protagonist is supposedly plus sized but aside from being curvy with big tits in some panels I would never have guessed this was meant to be anything other than a conventionally attractive character.

I really don't like the depiction of Persephone, she comes off as being creepily young and naive and the narrative tries to play that up like it's charming. The vibe I get off of her is "sexy baby who needs a father figure to guide and protect her" until she randomly has to do something badass and then she gets all red-eyed and starts kicking ass and it feels like it comes totally out of left field.

Her relationship with Hades is so incredibly tedious, they have zero chemistry and he's so much older than her and more obviously experienced with everything that it's legitimately exhausting to imagine myself in his shoes being a grown man with a full time career teaching some barely out of high-school kid how navigate the world, giving her a job at my corporation, and essentially have her be dependent on me while I'm struggling with my own toxic failing relationship. What is the appeal of Persephone as a love interest here? That she's nice? That's really all there is to her for the most part, that she's "nice" and "cute" which isn't really enough to make someone attractive as a potential partner.

I can understand maybe wanting to help some kid get on her feet after spending her life in a Mormon cult but nothing about that kid would ever read as "Wife material" at least not to me or any other adult over 25.

The dynamic between Hades and Persephone is just weird. She's an incredibly sheltered 19 year old who's never had ANY life experience or social interaction outside of a small circle approved by her mother and he's ancient but physically equivalent to being in his 40's and a ceo or something who's already in a relationship with a female character who was clearly written just to make Persephone look better by comparison.

While we're on it let's talk about Hade's first partner. An unlikable piece of crap named Minthe who has some clear mental traumas and insecurities that the plot never handles because asking the writer to to give these characters depth or dimension is like asking a chimp to write a symphony and that just ain't happening. Yeah, Minthe who is a nymph and part of the lower class, also employed by Hades and completely financially dependent on him. She is abusive and manipulative and any time we might feel like we can sympathize with her because Hades is practically cheating on her the writers make sure to make her do something that depicts her as being as unlikable as possible. Can't have Persephone willingly be a homewrecker or competitive that might make her INTERESTING! We can't have her be interesting! It makes her less "Cute" and "wuvable" *barf*

There's also a couple of instances of SA and they aren't handled well at all. It's mostly played for drama and only comes up if we need the characters to be sad.

Then there's the art

oh boy the art....

Look I know my own art is pretty rough and not the most consistent but LO is just too much for me.

Sometimes Persephone's face is drawn in a way that makes her look almost like a little girl and she's frequently in skimpy clothing or in suggestive poses, even when nothing in the story calls for that. If you're going to make her look provocative maybe don't make her face so punchable and insipid looking.

You can write this off as my personal bias. I loathe characters who are designed to look as "uwu baby" as possible. Unless it's specifically for a joke or something...

This is a bit of a nit pick but I have no idea how tall she or Hades are supposed to be.

In this panel She can barely see over the counter here for some reason and she's frequently drawn as being roughly around elbow height with him,

Just to illustrate how ridiculous of a height difference that is for two adults to have that's close to the height disparity between Edward Hyde and Adam Frankenstein. Unless Hades is between 7-8 feet tall there is no reason to draw your 19 year old character that much shorter than him.

Idk I didn't read all of it so I don't know if it gets better or if the characters improve but I found it to be a shallow experience that clearly I'm not the target audience for. Check it out and see what you think for yourself but there's my beef with it.

#lo critical

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wondereads · 7 months

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Personal Review

The Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker

Summary

All her life, Zilan and her two cousins have been preparing for the exams that would grant them government positions. Zilan, who strives to become a royal alchemist, uses her abilities to raise the dead to fund their studies. She hates the rich clients she works for, who fear death so much they eat gold infused with the power of immortality to stop their aging. However, when comparing making gold for the rich to a life of powerlessness, she will put aside her morals for her future.

Plot 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The plot of this book is one of the best I've read in YA fantasy. While it starts with an exam and starts becoming more focused on rebellion, a not unheard of story in this genre, the way it is executed is simply amazing. The magic system and world, which really feels like historical China, pull you in, and there were so many good plot twists. While there might be some you're able to predict, there were plenty that completely knocked me off my feet. Then the material is a lot more mature and gory than one would expect from YA; it's visceral, and the consequences feel real.

The magic system of this book was perfect for this kind of story. There are rules and limitations introduced from the beginning that play a huge role in allowing those amazing plot twists to be executed. Also, I just find the inner workings of alchemy incredibly intriguing. The worldbuilding concerning the social situation of China during this alternate period also works really well for the plot. The decision to have the elixir of immortality imbued in gold was a great choice to both emphasize its wasteful, greedy nature and to exacerbate the wealth gap in a way that feels eerily similar to modern times.

Characters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Zilan is an amazing main character. It's quite common for YA books to have these hyper competent characters that are the best in their field. It's fun, but it can feel unrealistic and as if they don't really face many challenges. Zilan is incredibly skilled, and she can do things no one else can, but she has a lot to learn. Her time in the palace definitely shows that, and there are a lot of moments where she is too impulsive or simply doesn't know how to go about something. Her competency feels real with plenty of scenes exemplifying how hard she's worked, but she also learns throughout the book.

Zilan's relationship with her cousins, Yufei and Wenshu, so close they're more like siblings, was particularly interesting. One thing I really liked about this book was that although there is a romance subplot, most of the interpersonal conflict came from Zilan and her family. Their relationship is incredibly complex; they're obviously very close, but there are so many odd circumstances surrounding their lives that it can be hard to tell where they stand with each other, which is used for some very compelling conflict.

The aforementioned romance was pretty good in my opinion. I'd like to see it developed more, but I get the feeling that the kind of incomplete vibe I get from Zilan and Hong is on purpose. They're both at very vulnerable points in their lives, and they find comfort in each other, but they both have a lot of issues, and I really want to see how their relationship works in the second book. Finally, one of my favorite characters was the villain, Empress We Zetian. She is unapologetically evil, and she's truly terrifying. She didn't feel one-dimensional, but she was also totally irredeemable and a villain that really felt like a threat. She outsmarts Zilan on multiple occasions, and she really brought the more dark tone of the story into the spotlight.

Writing Style 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The writing of this book was incredibly intense. It seems to prioritize modern readability over exactly matching the historical setting, but it rarely took me out of the story. This book honestly feels closer to NA than YA because of how dark and gory it was. As I mentioned previously, consequences in this book are horrifying and constant, taking a much more extreme turn than most YA books. There were moments where this book felt like it was verging on horror. For example, there is a scene where the empress and prince are eating gold in which they, while unchanged physically, become these voracious monsters, and it sent shivers down my spine.

I would say my one critique of this book would be that there are certain things that feel a little rushed. Trying not to spoil too much, that would be Zilan and Hong's situation, which sort of felt like it came out of nowhere, and when Zilan starts to take a more rebellious stand against the empress. However, it didn't detract from the enjoyability that much.

Overall 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

This book was absolutely stunning. The characters were amazing, the plot constantly took me by surprise, and the writing is a great blend of readable modern language and the intense style that usually accompanies fantasy. Zilan is an amazing main character; she’s competent without being perfect, she’s ruthless and driven without being completely heartless. Her cousins, Yufei and Wenshu, are particularly interesting, especially concerning their relationship with Zilan and how complicated it is. The love interest is a good balance to Zilan, though I hope to see their relationship develop more. Empress Zetian is a chilling and horrifying villain who is truly a terrifying opponent. The plot was constantly twisting and turning, keeping me on my toes, and while I found some moments a little too fast paced and would consider this more NA than YA, the overall quality of the story definitely makes me want to keep this at a full 10/10.

About the Author

Kylie Lee Baker: Japanese-Chinese-Irish-American, plays the cello, also wrote The Keeper of Night

About the Reviewer

My name is Wonderose, and I post a reading update every week with the occasional review and themed recommendation. I take suggestions, and you can check out my pinned post for more about me :)

#books #review #the scarlet alchemist #kylie lee baker #fantasy #ya #historical fiction #alchemy #alternate history #chinese history #we zetian #rebellion #tang dynasty #immortality #wealth inequality #fake relationship

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solarianvoidthearoace · 3 months

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Okay, okay, so–

My novel requires a re-write of the 24 chapters I already have done-ish (which aren’t even covering all the plot I have planned)

The final 6-10 chapters (not yet written, just loads of notes) are supposed to be a complete genre-swap

And I have been really into RPG-Maker type games recently

I was thinking… what I have planned as the final arc of my novel would make a fine story to be put into an RPG-Maker style basic RPG

I’m hoping RPG Maker MZ goes on sale sometime soon (maybe when Steam has its next huge sale in general)

Story summarised without spoiling too much:

Player Character (PC) & Player’s Partner (PP) are a happy couple

Evil Mother (EM) kidnaps PP

PP’s Best Friend (BF) accuses PC

PP sends a covert message to forget about them

PC and BF get into fights with each other

PC and BF stake out EM’s house

It looks like EM is brainwashing PP

PC wants to involve police

BF want to break PP out themself

Observation looks like PP is barely hanging on

PC and BF team up

Over-dramatised breakout and subsequent escaping the city

BF concedes that maybe PC is right for PP after all

The three live happily ever after

In the novel writing-notes this includes a non-amorous/ aromantic polycule and obviously none of the characters is straight (I’m a tumblr user after all)

But I figure with the drama, the fighting, the “quest” to rescue PP and everything, it would maybe make a nice little RPG and the way the story is planned for the novel, PP would be bigender (which in a game would mean the player gets to choose whether their Love Interest used “he/him” or “she/her”) and overall it’s just very queer, which could all translate into simple variations being all up to the player (like Player Character’s pronouns, Love Interest’s pronouns, type of relationship, etc.)

And I figure the sprite of the PP would get a drastic change as EM is forcing them to adapt to what she demands rather than allowing PP to be themself

Initially PP looks more androgynous (hence up to the player which pronouns are used) and after the abduction, PP would have hair cut short and forced to conform to the gender binary – I just realised, this is basically a “forced detransition” storyline, because in my OG version PP is she/he nonbinary. oof. yikes.

I’m a writer, not a game-maker or artist, though

I haven’t looked into what a basic RPG Maker game takes but would a storyline like this be of interest for anyone?

I know a few people I could ask to help with GIs and character sprites;

And I think I can figure the rest out, depending on RPG Maker’s UI

As I said, I hope RPG Maker MZ goes on sale sometime soon and that I can figure it out pretty intuitively

I know my storyboard, as a writer I tend to focus on dialogue (aka script), and I already made some notes

I want high customisation at the beginning, like, as a feature, that there are default names but the player can also choose to name the PC and PP, like how the player can pick the characters’ pronouns, because I assume that’d create some more emotional attachement

Default names I intend so far are Aleks and Emory (not related to the novel draft I pull this whole plotline from)

The first few minutes are going to be a “week” of PC interacting with PP and their shared home to also further attachment/ make the player care about the love interest; as well as adding some context on the relationship, giving the player time to figure out controls, etc.

That “first week” is supposed to include some simple choices about interacting with the love interest, emphasising the affection between PC and PP (like “cuddle on the couch”, “share food”, “join for shower”)

And I want to utilise a color filter/ overlay because the ‘secondary perspective’ relevant character is colorblind, which would be signified through that color overlay (also to make POV changes easily recognisable)

#rpg maker #my writing #about my ocs #about my novel #about my writing #Léo wishes they had video editing skills #personal whining

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purlturtle · 26 days

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Romance Tropes Bracket, Sweet Sixteen

In this round, we have:

Blue: Bodyguard vs. Workplace, and Second Chances vs. Nanny/Governess

Yellow: Mistaken Identity vs. Only One Bed, and Kissing Lessons vs. Forced Proximity

Red: Grumpy/Sunshine vs. Just To Get It Out Of Our System, and Holiday Romance vs. Soulmates

Green: Marriage of Convenience vs. Friends to Lovers, and Sworn Off Love vs. Supernatural

Find out tomorrow who's getting ahead! Tell me who your favorites are!

Under the Readmore I'll tell you why all of these won out against their opponents, and I'll link a few fics in which I've used these tropes!

Blue

Bodyguard was up against Love Triangle - and that was an easy choice. I don't GET love triangles; my first impulse will always be "porque no los dos? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" and most stories don't deliver that. It just doesn't grip me if someone feels themself drawn to two and "has to make a decision". (Am I poly? Probably. Am I happily married? Definitely. Anything else is between me and my wife. :D) (Have I been thinking for some time about a Bering and Wells Bodyguard fic? Most certainly.)

Workplace was up against High School: not quite that easy, especially since I wrote a High School fic myself! In the end it won out because (a) a lot more of my stories qualify as workplace stories and (b) there is just a lot more variation that's possible with a workplace story vs. a high school story. People can have so many different jobs, after all, which can inform the story!

Second Chances defeated Made A Promise (90s style) very easily - first of all, promises don't really hold my interest, especially when they are treated as set in stone for all eternity no matter how much the circumstances and/or persons involved might have changed. Second, and much more importantly: second chances are The Best. Let's face it, we all mess up, and sometimes incredibly badly. And you can do so much with that, narratively! It can move the plot, it can show the characters' character, it makes them change and grow, it is a fantastic source of conflict AND resolution! Top Tier, honestly (and a lot of my stories are that; most obviously the Strata/Commutata duology)

Nanny/Governess beat out Sibling's Best Friend only narrowly, because "employer/employee who's charged to care for employer's kids" is dynamic I just like ever so slightly better than "someone who's been hanging around our house since forever and teased me when I was a kid and ganged up on me with my sibling and now I ~like~ them". Just, nah. Both of them are pretty low on the list, though.

Yellow

Mistaken Identity *easily* vanquished Age Gap; I've never really been a fan of the latter. I like my protagonists to be in a similar place in their lives (which is also, by the way, why "Person A's first queer relationship, but Person B has been out for decades" doesn't grip me at all; at least not if the story focuses *entirely* on Person B helping Person A navigate this situation). I'd *MUCH* rather read Mistaken Identity Shenanigans!

There could only ever be one winner in the Only One Bed vs. Love Potion/Aphrodisiac fight: the latter is fun for a smut fic, but we're talking romance here, and I'd rather that does not start with overruling someone's agency. Although I have to confess I did write that 😅 (47K words of it, even! With not even all that much smut in it!) But nothing beats "there's only one bed" as a trope to get two characters physically, intimately close to each other!

Kissing Lessons won over Amnesia, even though I wrote a Tumblr fragment about the latter! But the thing is: that is fan fic about two characters we already know, so it hits hard; amnesia as a trope usually means that Person A starts out amnesiac or is only introduced with very broad strokes, and that just doesn't grip me. Whereas Kissing Lessons is something that I have done myself, so... *grins*

Forced Proximity also easily defeated Secretly A Celeb/Royal - one of my absolute faves, and thoroughly explored in my Road Trip Series linked above (Strata/Commutata). In all seriousness, though: Only One Bed is Forced Proximity too, just one specific instance of it, so that's a bit unfair - especially since the Green sector has yet another one (Snowed In)! But yeah, faced with this, what's a celeb or, sheesh, a *royal* (insert dripping snark here)...

This is getting so long that I'm gonna put the other two sectors in a reblog 😅

#romance tropes bracket #tell me your picks!#sweet sixteen #part one

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chatonnoir · 1 year

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are you excited for s6 tho

Not interested in seeing plot lines - that by all accounts should have had payoff and resolved this season - be artificially extended for the painfully obvious purpose of maintaining viewer interest (aka $$$) in seasons 6 onwards because the writers are too insecure in their own creation to have faith in people just being invested in the characters and world and wanting to see them go on new personal journeys and instead are relying on rinsing and repeating and dragging out the same old drama that has become their crutch. Not interested in watching Adrienette tragically speedrun becoming the worst relationship of the lovesquare and a joke of a romance and a mountain of wasted potential while Adrienette fangirls insist that its soooo sweet and well done and not at all asinine writing because they're happy they got their self-insert wish-fulfillment Harry Styles x Reader fanfic plotline. Said Adrienette fangirls will repeatedly say "OBVIOUSLY its was ALWAYS going to play out like this if you ACTUALLY paid attention, ur just mad it wasn't ur ship 💅😌" any time someone complains even a little about it but for those of us that did actually pay attention to the themes and progression, knowing that season 5 was always said to be the series finale and the end of the hawkmoth plot and the end of astruc's original story for Miraculous Ladybug before the series was slated for more seasons, and knowing there are even people who said they were planning to stop watching after season 5 because they only want to see the original storyline through to its end, season 5 as it is now would be a baffling joke of a series finale. It's not fit to be a series finale at all. This season is rushed and disjointed and baffling in how it abandons the themes that were just being emphasized in season 4 and frankly it should be obvious to anyone with half a functioning braincell who watches this season through to its end that this season was not actually oBvIoUsLy ALwAyS intended to be written like this and that things were changed and rewritten for the very purpose of not letting many of its established plot threads payoff and satisfyingly resolve because they need to maintain the forced drama and suspense to maintain their viewerbase. I'm not interested in watching characters and relationships and a story I loved be butchered and watch the same issues that should've resolved already continue to be issues that no characters learn from all for the purpose of keeping this show as a cashcow for another 8 years.

#i would say i'm still invested in the fancontent but there's been a repeated issue of me really liking someone's art/fics #only for that to be ruined for me by them casually deciding to say some of the dumbest shit i've heard in my life #like deciding to vaguepost ladynoir stans directly in the ladynoir tag or jealously whining that artists get more attention than them #and the fandom is full of appalling double standards and people self-inserting too much through marinette to the point that they don't #notice them and to the point that I regularly don't feel like I'm actually reading about Buguinette 🤷‍♀️

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three--rings · 2 years

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Final Kinnporsche Review

So in trying to figure out how to approach writing an actual Kinnporsche review, I ended up having to make a list of positives and negatives because I couldn’t figure out how else to approach it. I’m also keeping this as non-spoilery as possible.

It’s not a show I can praise wholeheartedly without also tempering it with some criticism. It’s not a show I recommend without caveats. It is, however, a show I really have enjoyed watching and which I love in many respects. I’m going to pretty immediately watch it again, and I watched most episodes twice while it was airing. Plus I’m planning to read the novel on which it was based.

So obviously, I like it.

But let’s run through my pros and cons. Gonna start with the cons and then linger on the pros. These are all, of course, my opinion and I know some people don’t have the same experience of this show as me which is totally valid. It really depends where your threshold/attitude is towards certain things in your media and everyone is different.

Negatives:

I spoke about this in my initial post about the show, but early on and occasionally throughout, the show has some cringey and embarrassment-based humor. Especially in episode 2, which is basically ENTIRELY that. There are a number of scenes in this show I have watched mostly through my hands because I can’t handle second hand embarrassment.

The setting/premise of the show is not very believable. The mafia family with a skyscraper full of young, hot bodyguards and James Bond style tech requires a good amount of suspension of disbelief to buy into. In general the plot and action scenes require you watch with a lot of suspension of disbelief. This isn’t realistic drama TV, it’s fanfic level mafia AU that runs entirely on Rule of Cool.

The way the plot is handled/shot/edited/written is uneven and has some very sloppy moments. Some episodes are perfect and tight and others are a hot mess IMO. There’s a lot of them cutting and you going “wait, what? what happened, where are we, did I miss something?” Most of the time, the scene you find yourself in is fun and sometimes delightful and therefore you don’t actually care how you got to it. But it still...rankles, and shows the inexperience of much of the team behind the show.

I can’t speak very well to how this compares to other BL dramas or Thai dramas, but there’s a good amount of cheesy fan service that shows off the bodies of the actors. I’m not talking about specifically sex scenes or romance scenes, but everyone having their shirts unbuttoned practically to their waists, removing clothes for little reason, etc. You get used to it as like...background levels of fan services and certainly the eye candy is very nice but...it could turn some people off (and others on I’m sure).

This is almost a World Without Women, as tends to be a problem with BL content. This really feels like a world where women somehow don’t exist and most men are just queer by default. There are a couple of mother figures, literal and figurative, but they are rarely on screen. It would feel a little less weird if, like, IDK any of the men of the family had a female significant other who wasn’t dead.

There are elements of dubious consent in both the kinnporsche and vegaspete (and actually almost kimchay) ships. There’s one scene of basically sexual assault that IMO is well-handled in the aftermath, but it IS between two people who go on to be in a relationship/fall in love. There’s also a lot of violence, on-screen torture, and one ship where one of them tortures the other and keeps him as a prisoner before falling for him. So...there are elements you could say are problematic and/or toxic. If you are sensitive to these things/themes you should stay away. BUT I do think the way all of them is handled is SUPER INTERESTING and appealing to me personally. I love some redemption narratives and complicated characters and relationships.

Which brings me to the Positives.

One of my general complaints about a lot of BL dramas is that they involve young characters in high school or university. Kinnporsche is lovely in that regard because the characters/actors are mid-late 20s and the plot is way more interesting that just school drama.

The acting level of this show is EXCELLENT pretty much across the board. Every once in a while a side character has bad line delivery or a particular scene twigs my bad acting nerve, but overall I’m INCREDIBLY IMPRESSED with the cast. Especially since this is the first job for some of them. (I have a Real Problem with bad acting that ties into my embarrassment squick so this is a concern with small productions.)

But really Mile, Apo, Bible, Build...they all fucking killed it and conveyed such a range of content. But especially the super emotional scenes were so fucking good. (I’m especially impressed with Apo and Bible...damn.)

The filming is very aesthetic, pleasant, and fun to watch. Despite the obvious low budget which occasionally shows in things like the rare CGI, the cinematography is impressive. The show loves to show it off, too, with the colored lighting and camera angles, but it never feels too much and makes it a LOT more visually interesting than pretty much any other BL I’ve seen images of. (And a lot of regular TV, especially romance-focused shows.)

I started talking above about the complicated characters, and this is where the show SHINES. The characters feel complex and realistic, and have believable development across the series, which of course the acting level shows off. But also the relationships have ARCS, really huge amounts of development.

Kinnporsche especially, since that’s the focus of the show. It’s really a sorta enemies to lovers situation and there’s a lot of stops along the way, although they really sort themselves out by a little over halfway through the show.

Vegaspete is the secondary ship and it doesn’t get started until close to the end of the season but they do SO MUCH with a few episodes. I wish it had had a little more time, but I get why it happened that way. This is even MORE of enemies to lovers with one of them being a main antagonist to boot. I was expecting to HATE this ship and they...ended up being possibly my faves.

The third ship is Kim/Chay and it’s a really side story kind of thing. It doesn’t really get the development of the others but it has cute moments and is more of hints for the future/possibly S2.

But all the pairs have SUPER good chemistry. Like, wow, okay. That intimacy coaching worked I guess.

Speaking of which, let’s talk Sex Scenes. This is going to sound a certain way, but my very favorite thing about this show is the sex scenes. Because I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen better sex on screen. Most sex scenes on film are cringey and awkward or uncomfortable looking. But Kinnporsche manages to make them hot, sexy, beautiful, and also to have a lot of relevance to the characters and the relationships. The sex scenes are meaningful and tell a story. They have significance in the overall story. The emotions on the characters faces is just as important as their bodies or even more so. These sex scenes feel ACTUALLY INTIMATE and that’s VERY RARE.

And they are super explicit. The extended version of the show is 21+ and yeah...this is definitely adults only content. But mostly because they don’t shy away from the realities of what is happening. Like, yeah, you know what sex act is occurring and it’s not all penetration. I’m going to stop talking about the sex now because I’m probably going to do a post all about that. I have a lot of feelings about it, as someone very concerned with the portrayal of sex and sex positivity. But finally the last thing I’ll say is that if you’ve ever wanted to see good fanfic sex scenes on screen, this is the closest thing I’ve ever seen.

The show is very queer. As I mentioned above, pretty much everyone in the show is casually queer as if that’s just the default. Now that’s sorta because it’s in weird BL land, but also...something about the representation feels like there have been queer hands on it. Now, I can’t obviously speak to the sexual or gender identities of anyone involved with the show. I’m not pointing to anyone in particular with this. But the way that there’s no homophobia onscreen, the way everyone just accepts “you love who you love”, the way there’s no gay panic, the way there’s a variation of the way gender is presented, with men of a wide range of feminine traits on display, the gnc characters... it’s a thing.

I was originally VERY on guard about the representation in this show, especially when it came to stereotypes, but then the show just sorta kept not doing the stereotypical thing and exceeding my expectations.

Finally, the show is fun. The tone bounces all over the damn place enough to give you emotional whiplash, but it’s almost always a fun ride if you just relax and shrug and go along with it. The entire ensemble will win your heart and make you fond of them and ultimately you just have to root for this crazy, bizarre, unique little show that could.

Where to watch: As far as I know, right now the only way to watch the show legally is with iQiyi VIP. There may be some episodes up on YouTube but I think they are only the edited versions? You want the extended ones, trust me.

However if you cannot access it through official channels for some reason, a quick search will find it elsewhere. (I include this because usually I get a crapton of comments about how to watch a series. So please...search engine folks.)

#kinnporsche #threerings watches kinnporsche #long post #threerings' recs #kinnporsche meta #threerings recs TV shows

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popcultureconfessions · 18 days

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Wow, you're probably the only blog that posts opinions on Zendaya where it's not licked top to bottom. Respect. I hope you're not getting threats sent to you because of this. Her fans are very inadequate.

I agree with the other opinions. Zendaya has room to grow and there is room to improve in her acting skills.

Where others can just play with their eyes and convey the full range of emotions, she works hard with her face. And more often than not, it's a couple of basic expressions - the smirk, the angry hamster, and the disgruntled child. Honestly, her acting hasn't changed much since Disney. Thank goodness that at least the excessive conveyance of emotion is a thing of the past. Then again though, you can obviously see where Zendaya's problems are coming from in general.

She made a name for herself through fashion and style. Further cemented her name in the rumor mill by participating in a high-profile spider project where her role for all 3 movies can be folded into 30 minutes, lol. And of course the PR relationship with the lead actor playing the spider. How unexpected(not)And that's how she moved on.

A euphoria that can only appeal to a younger audience at the expense of epatage. And while season 1 wasn't bad, the plot sagged already in season 2. Back in the day, we had Skins. That's what really looked real. So I wasn't really into Euphoria. Not to mention Zendaya's character is the least interesting among fans. And I'm still laughing from the fact that she was singled out in season 2 for 1 episode, which was namechecked for an Emmy and won. And everyone pretends it's okay. Even though any other actress would be condemned for it.

Then there was part 1 of Dune, where she again has 5 minutes of screen time, but she's always ahead of everyone in the promos.

In general I can understand why she gets cast in high-profile projects. She's a household name, she's doing the carpet and the articles. She has a multi-million dollar audience on Instagram, which has become important these days for movie companies, which is sad.

She has a very powerful PR team. And she herself obviously puts a lot of effort into earning the title of great actress. But the truth is, she's a long way from her colleagues who are more talented. And the only difference is they have fewer followers.

Challengers in general is something strange to me. I don't know why she decided that a tennis drama with polymoria is what will get her viewership. Not to mention she still has 3 of her typical emotions in there. And if she's still a teenager in the story, she's not a 30+ woman with a child and a marriage.

I don't know if the movie will fail or not. After all, there are no special competitors at the box office, so it will probably make the box office.

And of course the critics will praise her performance. Which they're already doing now, predicting her Oscar nominations, lol. I don't think any of them will risk writing the truth. For they will be immediately condemned and called racist. In this day and age, you either have to say only good things about Zendaya or nothing at all. Which is sad. This way the girl will never make it to the top and will sit with a plastic crown on her head.

Thank you. I haven't received any threats yet, and I hope it stays that way! This is so well said, wow. I honestly have nothing to add on, to be honest, I'm sorry.

#ask #answered #2024 #pop culture #zendaya #celebrity

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iguessyouregonnamissthepantyraid · 8 months

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I recently reread you REVENGERS show story and I just wanted to praise you about how incredibly well written and entertaining it is.

The asgardian funeral scene with "Æ og du" playing? GOLD. Literally made me tear up while reading it for like 7th time.

Loki using his magic to heal Thor's eye and just them TALKING?? On GOD that shit was beautiful! I LIVE for those two and their chaotic but loving sibling dynamic.

Eris being a buddy of Groot and Rocket? Fantastic! Gives her character so much rich history and makes her overall feel more connected and well-grounded in that universe. It's the little details man

And now to a personal highlight of the story to me:

The interactions between Loki and Bruce/Hulk.

Just the way Loki is weary of the Hulk, as is Banner of Loki, yet they still are low-key fascinated by each other. Like when Loki did a double take when Hulk told him he knows he's hiding something. Or when Banner was trying to make peace with Loki in the hallway and offered to be friends. They even somewhat care about each other's wellbeing to the point where Loki tries not to hurt Hulk when he... hulked-out and even APOLOGIZES to him for using the tesseract on him, or Bruce's first fear after waking up is that he may have killed Loki. They have such an interesting dynamic. Are they reluctant teammates? Are they starting to honestly care about each other? Who the hell knows! All I know is I'm rooting for Loki to find a friend that actually likes him for who he is. And if that friend happens to be Banner/Hulk, then that gets extra pluspoints from me. Can you imagine Tony's reaction to that tho?

AHHHH so okay first of all, thank you for this message, it made my morning. and it's beautifully timed because coincidentally, i ALSO just reread the entire revengers series! i've been trying to wrangle the remaining plot points into some kind of order where everything makes sense and flows in a satisfying way (like, i know almost everything that i want to happen, just not how and when to make it happen) but i think i'm finally making some headway!

re: the thor and loki talk, the very first moment of quiet in the plot came along and i was like AH YES finally time to address the fact that thor's best friends are all dead! but i liked making it not about heartache and grief so much as it was about remembrance, you know? i feel like asgardians have an interesting relationship with grief since, like, valhalla is supposedly a real actual place. it's just neat. and also obviously i needed an excuse for thor and loki to have a..... sort of genuine heart-to-heart. emotionally stunted brothers style, anyway

and maaan oh man i'm SO glad you like bruce and loki's interactions! because they've become some of my favorite scenes to write! loki was terrified of the hulk in ragnarok only to be like "hello bruce 😌" when he sees him next, which was fucking hilarious to me and absolutely required that i expand on these two. and for bruce it's like... you know when the brother of one of your closest friends is also the guy who was responsible for a literal mass casualty event in new york? the same guy that you then pounded into a tile floor like a pit bull with a stuffed animal? but he's, like, a god, so he survived and then he did some time in prison and now he's sort of on your guys' side and also living on a spaceship with you? yeah? you know that feeling? we've all been there, right?

here's the real question: was bruce's worry about whether he killed loki as the hulk about not wanting to kill anyone as the hulk, or was it because he's starting to genuinely care about loki's wellbeing? who knows! bruce certainly doesn't! regardless, they WILL be close friends by the end of spending nearly two years on a spaceship together. you really can't not, and they have so much in common! do you think loki might be able to relate to being something destructive and monstrous and terrifying? and hating that part of yourself and wanting to get rid of it? ugh god i have one line in particular that i've been sitting on and DYING to use between the two of them (fun fact: this line is the one that prompted a friend over DMs to say "sam i am chasing you with a knife" so. do with that what you will) and i swear it's coming.... eventually 👀

oh and tony WILL be completely and utterly gobsmacked by it lmao, they finally land on earth after two years and they're in the middle of introducing the Loki Problem™ to american (or norwegian?) authorities, and tony's there because it's avengers related so of course he's there, and loki says some offhand thing under his breath that makes bruce just fucking lose it, like, choking trying not to laugh in the middle of this very important diplomatic meeting and tony's like. oh sure, the mass murderer is funny now. he tells jokes. cool. cool cool cool hey, just wondering, did i enter an alternate reality just now? am i finally losing it? bruce? had any weird interactions with a mind stone lately? buddy? the fuck?

anyway. yeah. i'm itching to write more of this, and trust me, i have been :)

#exceleo #sam answers stuff #revengers: the show #the mcu writing train is finally picking up some speed again!#which is good because those three commissioned fics are due in like three months!#but yeah i'm bouncing between them and the revengers and the opposite set of people get snapped fic #feels good to be back 😌 💅

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xion92 · 2 years

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TMMN: Masaya/Ichigo relationship analysis, episode 1

Saw the first episode! Now I’ll make an analysis, with all the scenes I liked the most. Surely there will be other blogs who’ll speak about the full episode, but I’ll write about Ichigo and Masaya’s relationship, which is the part of the series I care the most.

Here Ichigo is 15 and apparently she has just begun the high school. Does that mean she’ll go... more ahead with her boyfriend than in the old series, where they were younger? We’ll have to wait and see. xD

This version of the story shows us something that neither the manga nor the first anime had shown us: how Ichigo falls in love with Masaya. And it also gives her a different reason to fall in love with him. In the first two versions, she falls in love with him for the same reasons as all the other girls in school, that is, he's handsome, smart, charming, athletic, good at school, etc. Here, on the other hand, Ichigo didn't know anything about him (because she just started school), when she sees him doing kendo it's the very first time and she falls in love with him even though she doesn't even know his name. A real love at first sight. I really like this change: she sees him and she likes him, she doesn't even need a real motivation. It’s a real “soul mates” style. She falls in love with him because it has to be like this. This is in the beginning, obviously. More ahead, when she’ll know him better, she’ll have strong and rational motivations to be in love with him as well.

And here we have a great change from the old anime: Masaya shows so many emotions! Starting from the opening, where he blushes, how cute he is!

Here, on his first appearance, he immediately shows that he is uncomfortable and embarrassed to have so many girls behind him, while in the old anime he was mostly indifferent to them.

In this scene Ichigo immediately notices that, when he is alone, he behaves in a different way than when he is among other people, as she will later say: she sees him sad. And there is already a hint of the true nature of the character and she begins to understand his true personality under the facade. This is different from the first series: there, she only notices later that he always seems sad, but here she pays attention and she notices it immediately. And we notice it too: in the first series, he never really seemed sad. But look at him here, poor thing!

Here Masaya is very excited, I've never seen him like this in the old anime! He is really happy to go to that museum, it’s a real passion for him.

In the museum scene, we see another change, on Ichigo's part: in the old anime she didn't care about endangered species at first, and when Masaya spoke to her it was clear that she answered by saying what she thought he wanted to hear. Here, however, she’s honest with him, admitting that she doesn't know anything about the subject, but however she shows a genuine interest. Masaya here does not talk to Ichigo about the subject of the exhibition by making a kind of monologue, as sometimes happened in the old series, but he answers a question she asked him and in which she is interested.

And already from the first episode we begin to see his dark side (the shadow on his eyes). We can see that he is really angry with man in this adaptation.

And then they have this discussion that I talked about in another analysis. Great to see them argue and disagree about something! And Masaya then changes his mind and recognizes the validity of Ichigo’s point. Great interaction between them!

And then, THE scene of the episode: their first kiss, albeit accidental. Just like in the manga, although in the manga it happened because she tripped, here instead she is bumped by the people who are running away. Guys, what a chemistry they have!

And look at how embarrassed he is!

When the monster appears, Masaya and Ichigo are together as in the manga, notice how scared he is too and how protective he immediately is with her. For plot reasons, he is unfortunately knocked out.

I also really liked that here, Ichigo falls from the tree not because she is struggling to get away from Ryou, but because she wants to go to Masaya to defend him.

I’ve already read about some fans that, even if in the past they didn’t like Masaya’s character, now in this series they like him so much, because he feels so much more genuine than before! I loved him even in the first series, for different reasons, but I love him even more now that I can see a different side of his character. This is definitely a great new beginning for this couple whom I love so much! I can’t wait to see the other episodes to follow their relationship’s development.

#tokyo mew mew new #masaya aoyama #ichigo momomiya #ichisaya analysis

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nanowrimo · 2 years

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World-building Tip: Consider the Culture

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. Campfire Technology, a 2022 Camp NaNoWriMo sponsor, creates writing software to help storytellers write better stories faster. Get 30% off lifetime purchases with Campfire’s coupon for Camp NaNoWriMo writers! In this post, writer Adam Bassett shares a helpful tip for creating the world of your story:

The most important part of writing is, obviously, the writing. However, it can be difficult to put words on the page if you’re not prepared before tackling that hefty 50,000 word goal you’re setting for yourself. There are a few things you can do to make life easier while writing—but first I’d like to tell you a bit about one of my favorite paintings. I promise, it will make sense.

The Arnolfini Portrait

Jan van Eyck was ahead of his time. It’s hard to fully express how incredible and impactful his oil paintings were. His Arnolfini Portrait (1434), sometimes called the Arnolfini Wedding, has been a bit of an enigma for art historians. There’s very little information about the people pictured here, so it’s unclear what their relationship was. Some guess that they are shown here greeting a spectator, while others believe it might be a wedding ceremony (hence the alternate title). Some believe the woman here might be pregnant, but we know that it was quite normal for women to be holding bulky gowns like this during the 15th century—so it’s hard to be sure.

Beds, mirrors, even the oranges in this room were really expensive at the time, and if you had any you were likely to want to show it off. These objects also hold a lot of other meanings. The red sheets on the bed represent fertility, and the mirror is adorned with scenes from the Passion of Christ.

Despite the mysteries here, we can discern a few things about the Arnolfini Portrait: it is littered with symbols of wealth, status, religion, and love. It is a product of 15th century economics and fashion, with just enough mystery on its canvas to keep us talking about it.

Preparing Your Characters and World-building

I think we can apply a lot of what Jan van Eyck did with this piece to our writing. I tend to see a lot of people talking about world-building in respect to the magic or physical setting, and about characters regarding how they operate in the plot. All of that is absolutely important, but I would argue we’re forgetting all too often to consider the culture.

The Arnolfini Portrait is so interesting in large part because it depicts things whose meanings are embedded in 15th century Europe, many of which have multiple interpretations. If you can take some of this time before NaNoWriMo begins to look into your settings culture(s) and where your main cast fits into that culture—or how they are ostracized from it—you can imbue everything around them with meaning when it comes time to finally write. Their sword might not just be a deadly weapon, but what if it’s also an heirloom to show off, or if they have to hide it because swords are taboo? Perhaps they have an interesting way to style their cloak, or you could have a one-off remark about oranges as your main character travels through a market. All these small details can be planned if you take the time to better understand the cultures present. It helps your setting feel lived-in, your characters more real.

So how do you apply these details? Well, the easiest place to do that is in Campfire’s Manuscript Module, where you can check your character, plot, and world-building notes without ever having to leave your text editor. It’s free to try, and easy to access on any browser or via our desktop application! Check out Campfire for free at www.campfirewriting.com and start preparing for NaNo. Good luck!

Adam Bassett is a UX/UI designer, writer, game designer, and freelance illustrator based in Tennessee. You can find more discussions on writing and worldbuilding at Campfire’s YouTube channel Around the Campfire, or read his interviews with folks like Ed Greenwood and Lillie Lainoff on Campfire Learn. If you’re looking to organize your writing notes better, try out Campfire Write for free!

#nanowrimo #camp nanowrimo #writing #worldbuilding #writing advice #by nano sponsor #campfire #adam bassett

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sofiasjornal · 2 months

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House of Earth and Blood Review 🌙 (very late!)

First of all, let me just say that there were a few things that immediately prompted me to give this book a high rating, other than absolutely loving Sarah’s writing style. First, I hugely prefer a book written in the third person, I just connected to it differently. Also multiple POVS, huge fan! Lastly, more focus on the fantasy side of the novel, less romance! Since the book checked all the above, the rating is what it is 😂

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I can actually say that I enjoyed this book almost as much as I enjoyed Throne of Glass (almost!). I loved the modern setting mixed with all the creatures that made me fall in love with the fantasy genre. It almost made me feel like it could really happen in our day to day, it was quite interesting.

I love the variety in the characters, there are so many of them and so many plot lines going on at the same time that you can’t really take your eyes off the page for a second! I actually don’t know who my favorite character is, and that’s maybe why it took me this long to write this review. I keep coming back to Bryce but I’m totally biased, I know that my connection with Bryce comes from the similarities between her and Aelin (that sass!) and it’s very difficult to separate the two, at least for me. Feyre, in that regard, is so much different and I loved her in a whole different way for that! There’s some difference between Bryce and Aelin. Our queen is, obviously, more ruthless, a little meaner. And their journey through their trauma is incredibly different. But still… so other than Bryce, I guess Lehabah would be the one. She was so funny and endearing, you really just wanted to put her in a little pocket and that last sacrifice just broke my heart! She was finally free and died for her friends 😭Ruhn was also a very interesting character and his relationship with his brothers reminded me a bit of the bat boys! I wished he got to see more of him in this first book, since most of the time was through his meetings with Bryce, with the Autumn King (we hate that guy and we want him dead ☠️!), or with his brothers. I would’ve liked a glimpse of him as the commander of the Fae division, how he handled his other duties, and the trauma he has from his father.

Also, I have to say. I liked Hunt very much ok? There really isn’t one character that I didn’t like, even the ones that I hate (Autumn King always!). And his relationship with Bryce is very compelling and keeps you coming back to the pages. But this is why I love a multi pov third person book, there are a lot more characters to know and connect with and I just found Ruhn more interesting. Maybe because I felt him a little more lost than Hunt. Again, it’s just my take.

All in all this book was an incredible ride! Eight hundred pages of emotion, constant revelations, and new plot lines! I loved every single page!

#books #sarah j maas #crescent city #bookblr #house of earth and blood #book review

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caffeinatedowlbear · 4 months

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Hi! I'm a big fan of your work! I really love lost and found (so far, I'm 75% done with the first book, so you still have ample time to hurt me with later plots lol) and I especially love your writing style. It feels so human and beautifully contrasts with Jack's most in human moments, which end up standing out and being some of my favorite moments.

I would love to be able to pick around in your brain real quick.

First: What do you read? Since most writers are inspired by what they read and get alot of the foundations of their writing style from it aswell, I was wondering what built those foundations for you. Childhood books? Maybe you read something that sparked your interest in writing?

Second: Could we maybe get a peek into your writing process at some point? How you plan or dont plan chapters? How far ahead do you plan? Do you set any particular goals?

Thank you for any answers you give me and also for inspiring me to take my own writing a little more seriously than I did before! You've really inspired me, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. :)

Hi! Thank you for the ask, and for your patience. This year so far has been a bit chaotic, and I wanted to set aside the time to answer properly. :)

First of all, I'm so glad you've been enjoying Lost and Found! This fic, as well as Rhack in general, have been a huge part of my life for the past few years, and I've been blown away by the reception of what started out as a very personal and niche project. 💛

Now, for the questions.

1. Reading and inspirations / style foundations

I've got an interesting relationship with reading, in that I've read a tremendous amount as a child/teenager, but some time during the past decade (I'm in my 30s), my brain has developed a bit of a block for reading fiction (I blame a combination of neurodivergencies). Every now and then, I'll get stuck in a book or a fic, but these days, I mostly experience stories in other forms than prose, with my favorite options being long-form tv (i.e. netflix series and such) and games (both story-oriented ones that tell you the story as you play or have your choices shape the story (like Stray, Tales, DBH), and open-world ones that combine plot quests and environmental storytelling (like Fallout and Witcher 3)).

Although I have a bit of internalized shame about not reading much prose these days ('you can't be a good writer if you don't read', etc.), I also maintain that Writing and Storytelling are two distinct skill sets. And while reading is obviously important to develop the Writing skill, Storytelling can be learned from so many places! If anything, I strongly believe that every writer can benefit from experiencing stories in every medium available to them, be it movie and tv, video and tabletop games, concept albums, etc.. Heck, the core plot of L&F grew out of a Borderlands-inspired D&D campaign, so...

That said, I do have favorite writers: Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Chuck Wendig, Andrzej Sapkowski, Becky Chambers. I may be bold enough to claim that all of their influences can be found in my work, be it in writing style or in the way I approach storytelling.

I also would like to credit a writer who went by Rhetor in a fandom that must not be named, whose fic Counting to Five Thousand upended my entire understanding of fanfic some 15 years ago, showing me that fic can be used to tell beautiful and powerful stories. Your mentioning that my work inspired you to take your own writing more seriously reminded me of them. I remember what it's like to be inspired by a writer in a fandom, and I'm honored to have provided some of that for you. 💛

2. Writing process / planning / goals

I normally think of myself as a pantser (or, to use the fancy term 'discovery writer'), but for long works, especially ones published as they're being written, there has to be at least some degree of planning involved. By the time I start writing, I usually know the general shape of the plot, i.e. what are the characters trying to do, how they're going to try and achieve it, whether they will succeed or fail, and some of the stuff that might happen along the way. I should point out, though, that I always let the characters drive the plot, as opposed to wielding my authority to decide 'this should happen next'. Which means that sometimes, when I get to a certain point in the story, things unfold differently from what I'd been expecting.

For the above reason, I've also found it counter-productive to have too-clear plans of future chapters. Almost every time I'd do that, I'd find myself trying to railroad the characters into doing/saying what I had envisaged, instead of what was organic at the time. Almost invariably, the resulting scenes were stilted and disjointed, and I'd have to scrap them and try again.

I think the best analogy for my approach to planning as a writer is planning for a long walk or a road trip. You can map out the route, aim to hit certain waypoints, get a general idea of how long it will take... but you don't know the details of every bit of the journey until you're actually traveling. The only way to really know the road is to travel it - and for me, the only way to know the story is to write it.

That's on the story/chapter scale, anyway. When it comes to individual scenes, it's a bit like scrying into a crystal ball. I get a glimpse of what the scene is going to look like, or a few lines of dialogue, and use those as a hook to pull myself into the scene. And then the same rule as before applies: the details become clear once I'm writing it down or talking through it with my story accomplices. (I always do need to get it out of my head, though. There are people on here who say they can daydream their entire fics: that's not me. I need to get the story out, otherwise I'll just keep circling the initial 'preview' of the scene and not get any further. )

There are, of course, rare and precious times when plotting and pantsing align just so, and I end up with something that feels organic while cleaving to a structure. My favorite example of that is the L&F chapter The Man Who Isn't Jack, in which AI Jack's existential journey follows his journey through different parts of Opportunity while also tentatively mapping to the five stages of grief as he grapples with human Jack's legacy and his own status as AI programmed to act human. Not gonna lie, I'm damn proud of that one.

...Now you see why I needed to set the time aside to answer. Once again, thank you for reading, and for asking, and feel free to ask more, because I could talk about this stuff forever. And last but not least: I wish you the very best of luck with your own writing! 💛

#ask the owlbear

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wondereads · 7 months

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September Reading Wrap-Up

Reviews and thoughts under the cut

The Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker (10/10)

This book was absolutely stunning. The characters were amazing, the plot constantly took me by surprise, and the writing is a great blend of readable modern language and the intense style that usually accompanies fantasy. The only critique I have is that I would consider this book more NA than YA considering how dark and viscerally gory it gets. Zilan is an amazing main character; she’s competent without being perfect, she’s ruthless and driven without being completely heartless. Her cousins, Yufei and Wenshu, are particularly interesting, especially concerning their relationship with Zilan and how complicated it is. The love interest is a good balance to Zilan, though I hope to see their relationship develop more. Empress Zetian is a chilling and horrifying villain who is truly a terrifying opponent. The plot was constantly twisting and turning, keeping me on my toes, and while I found some moments a little too fast paced, the overall quality of the story definitely makes me want to keep this at a full 10/10.

Read my full review here

I Was Reincarnated as the Villainess in an Otome Game but the Boys Love Me Anyway Volumes 1-4 by Sou Inaida (7/10)

I usually don't count manga/manhwa I read since I tend to breeze through them pretty quickly. However, I read and then reread these volumes in the span of like two days, so I figured I'd include them. As someone who's read a lot in this genre, this really caught my attention. These are purely self-indulgent reads. The plot isn't really there, it's mostly just (highly suspect) romance. I do like the main character; she's a lot more serious and focused than a lot of these sorts of protagonists, who tend to lean more towards schemingly evil or happy-go-lucky. She is still, of course, incredibly dense when it comes to love. I do have a favorite love interest (of which there is no shortage). While the romance is obviously the focus of the story, there actually seems to be some pretty interesting worldbuilding/plot things going on in the background, and I'm really interested to see where it leads. I think these books are for a very specific audience, but I thoroughly enjoyed them. (Also the title is misleading, the girls love her too lol)

Islands of Legends by Lisa McMann (7/10)

I really enjoy this series; I think the magic is a lot of fun and I really like the characters and how complex their relationships are, especially for middle grade. However, I had two major issues while reading this book. First was that the plot points in these books are starting to push the believability when it comes to a bunch of fourteen year olds running two separate countries. Especially when it’s established that there are adults with significantly more experience than them just kind of…hanging around. Second, these books are starting to fall into a pattern of deal with issue from last book, discover new island, new island presents a new problem, repeat. The ending looks like it’s shaking things up, but this one wasn’t as good as the last one.

Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang (8/10)

My favorite thing about this book was Sciona. She is so horrendously unlikable, and it makes her character arc all the more satisfying. It’s rare to find main characters who are actually bad people, especially women, and Sciona is a bad person. She’s selfish, she’s bigoted, and she’s callous; I certainly don’t like her, but I love her writing. The plot is interesting but has definitely been done before, and the magic system is unique but sort of convoluted. The worldbuilding isn’t fleshed out enough for the kind of ending Wang tried to do, though I do like the ending especially in terms of Sciona’s ending situation. This was a good book, but Babel by R. F. Kuang does the same thing but much better.

#books #wrap up #september reading #the scarlet alchemist #kylie lee baker #i’m the villainess but the capture targets are too abnormal #sou inaida #island of legends #the unwanteds #lisa mcmann #blood over bright haven #m l wang

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unchartedperils · 7 months

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SPOILERS FOR MK1 AHEAD. DO NOT READ IF YOU DONT WANT TO SEE YET.

First Tournament was really good. Don’t have too much if any complaints, though I wish Shao put up more of a fight against Raiden. And I felt so bad for defeating Li Mei 🥺😭.

The Johnny-Kenshi friendship was really cool and I almost cried when Johnny gave Kenshi Sento.

YES BARAKA AND REPTILE GET TO KICK ASS AND TAKE NAMES! Unlike Reiko who stays as Shao’s jobber but that’s his job lmfao so I can’t be mad 😆 (don’t get me started with his “demonstration”).

The reveal of the Deadly Alliance, I LOST MY SHIT. Though I can’t say I like Quan Chi’s new voice or personality that much. At best he seems more like a Saturday morning cartoon villain in the background that Shang’s equal if not more dangerous accomplice.

Speaking of Quan Chi though, I REALLY LOST MY SHIT in Ashrah’s chapter. I had already known that her lore was unchanged at all other than she too had served under Quan Chi, but I still was in amazement at her chapter (wish Havik played a role but he’s up for later) and I hope she can free Sareena from Quan Chi in a possible Mythologies style DLC.

Next up: ERMAC. I CALLED IT, I CALLED IT, I CALLED IT. From the moment he was revealed and mostly bashed by the fanbase, there was a reason for his radical new look: HE WAS JERROD’S BODY and ultimately Quan Chi resurrected him with both his and other souls from the Living Forest! This had been building up since MK9 in numerous endings but it’s now been realized! So badass and touching (more on this in a min)

Then just like Deadly Alliance: THE DRAGON ARMY RESURRECTED BY THEM (not a fan of them writing Onaga out so far but there’s still hope for him)!

Onto Li Mei’s chapter: Obviously as a few of you know, my newest MK oneshot is a AU of her chapter and I have so much to say: Li Mei is just so awesome and I sympathize so much with her for being framed/kicked out of the Umgadi after Jerrod’s death. But her being Sun Do’s first cop is just as interesting and of course with Liu’s help does she kick ass and take names! Oh yea and TAKE THAT TANYA! I just knew you’d betray them just like the older timelines. But at least her and Empress Sindel’s relationship is restored. Btw I have another possible plot bunny for Li Mei but I’ll keep it a surprise.

Sindel: tears were shed when her and Jerrod reunited. And more at her death in his arms 😭😭😭.

Mileena: SO MUCH CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND IT WARMED MY HEART! Even with her condition, she’s now a noble and strong warrior! Liu really did redeem her and gave her all she wanted in his New Era. 🥺🥹

And that’s all I can think of for up to the Dragon Army chapter. It’s around this time unfortunately as soon as Liu mentions “timeline” the MK11 part of the story was gonna come back. Per usual the quality dips quite a bit, but if nothing else we got the Armageddon tribute with Liu’s “Forces of Light” against Titan Shang’s “Forces of Darkness” and NRS literally did trial and error on various NPC designs 😆 (Black Dragon Sonya alone had me dying).

But the battle itself was really cool despite the wackiness and now EVERYONE’s ARCADE ENDING IS CANON IN SOME WAY SHAPE OR FORM! And bonus points to if you select someone other than Liu, he initially seems to lose to the Titan DA like in OG DA (except obviously not dying) before the selected character comes to his aid.

Great ending and I’ll leave off at that another 3D era character might attempt to leave where both the OG DA and Titan DA left off…

#mortal kombat #mortalkombat1 #mk1 spoilers #dontreadunlessyoudontcareoryouvealreadyseenandorplayedmk1story

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