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khaleesiofalicante · 15 days

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Ah, here we are!

This is your mandatory post about my new fic and next fic ‘L’appel Du Vide’ (LDV) - also known as the mavid rwrb au. As usual, I thought I’d share some info about the fic so you guys know what you’re getting yourselves into. So, here you go.

Is this fic based on the Red, White, and Royal Blue movie or book?

I’d say both. But it’s primarily based on the book because I like the book better and there is more material for me to work with.

2. Do I need to watch the movie/read the book to read LDV?

Not at all. If you’ve not read/watched rwrb, you don’t have to. It won’t affect your reading experience, I promise.

3. Does the fic have the same plot as rwrb?

Yes and no. This fic is an adaptation because I have to change the story to fit my characters. For example, Max is not going to have a bi-crisis like Alex did and David’s backstory is different because god knows Albert ain’t no Arthur Fox! So, the characterization and flow are quite different. But since it’s based on rwrb, many of the ‘key scenes’ are there - but they’re just adjusted and changed to fit my characters.

4. How many chapters and whose POV is it from?

Similar to the books, the fic will be from a single POV - Max’s. But I will include a David chappy because we haven’t gotten his POV in so long and I’m mad about it. There are 20 chapters in total - this might change slightly if I decided to experiment with the outline.

5. Is it true this fic has smut? 👀

Apparently so 👀 Look. It’s in the outline. I intend to write it. But this is my first time writing smut and some of you know I struggle with it and am self-conscious about it. I also find it weird to write sex scenes about people I know (I KNOW MAVID OKAY?). But this is a writing challenge and one I’m willing to explore. So, let’s see how it goes. Max and David’s relationship begins as a sexual one as it does in the rwrb book. So, there will definitely be sex scenes for sure. I just don’t know how smutty or explicit it will be. Y’all know I hate saying erection! And trust me, there will be many erections in this story.

6. What’s the posting schedule?

Ah. This is the tricky part. I’ve decided to do a weekly posting schedule for this fic. In other words, one chapter per week. I’m going to be a bit busy in April and May. So, I know I won’t be able to commit to two chapters a week. I might try to whenever I can. But I’m setting one chapter a week as the target.

Are you excited to write it?

Very much so! The last few fics I’ve written (TLND, IALS, FMF, LBAF) have been very heavy - both in plot, themes and writing. Even the posting schedule was so intense. While there are definitely heavy themes in LVD, I see this fic as more of a rom-com. So, I think it’d be fun to write! And I love writing Max pov when he isn’t suffering hehe. I really want this fic to be a fun one!

A gentle reminder that this is not a malec fic, so please do not ask me for their povs or scenes or try to make this fic about them. I’ve seen that happen with my other mavid fics and so I hope it won’t be the case for this one.

Finally, a quick shoutout to @gospi and @ladyoflilies who have been bullying me and supporting me behind the scenes to write this fic and have been excited as as I am.

The first chapter will drop tomorrow (it’s already written and was written months ago!). Until then, here are some (theme) songs for you to listen to. See you tomorrow!

#ldv #mavid rwrb au #my fics

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sixhours · 14 days

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Twenty questions for fanfic writers

Ermagerd I love talking fanfic, thanks @numinousmysteries!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

379,370

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The X-Files and The Last of Us so far!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

All X-Files fics:

A Boy and His Fox

Morning Sickness

Waking Hours

Remnants

We Aren't Meant to Sleep Alone

5. Do you respond to comments?

Most of the time, even if it's just a simple "Thank you!"

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

My Umbra Reverie series, by far. 😬 No regrets!

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

A Boy and His Fox or One Day at a Time. Two different fandoms, both baby fics. I originally envisioned One Day at a Time as a TLOU variation on A Boy and His Fox--a bunch of drabbles strung together--but it turned into a more cohesive story over time.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Sure! If it serves the story, I'll write smut. I'm not big on writing porn without plot because I don't think smut is my strong suit. When I do write smut, it's pretty vanilla, nothing too kinky.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven't, but I'm currently outlining a TLOU period fic that's based on Anne of Green Gables. Not quite a crossover, but boy it's fun to think about. 😆

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope, I'd be too afraid of letting my co-authors down. 😂

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Mulder and Scully are my OTP. ❤️

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

As of right now I don't have any. I tend to start fics with a lot of preparation, outlining, and research, and I usually wait until they're mostly finished to publish them. I also tend to work on one fic at a time and focus until it's mostly done.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I strive to make my characters as true to the source material and as believable as possible. I want the reader to be able to hear the character's voice in their head as they read, or be able to imagine them in a scene like it were on screen.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Editing while I write. 🙃 It's why I'm so slooooooow.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I don't speak any other languages and I'm uncomfortable leaning solely on translation software, but I'm not opposed to trying if it serves the story. My headcanon for TLOU is my Joel stays pretty true to the HBO series in that he's Latino, but he doesn't speak Spanish in regular conversation (I imagine he can, but he doesn't). (Trust that I noticed Tommy's "Adios, big brother" in episode 6, but then apparently Joel says that in the game, so...? I've thought about this too much.)

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The X-Files, when I was 14. Those fics are still in .txt files somewhere on my computer. Someday I'll dig them out and have a good laugh.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Total recency bias, but The Ghosts of Babylon is my favorite right now. Mostly because I love the Reader character and it was my first foray into writing for a fandom other than The X-Files and I think I pulled it off. 🥹

🏷️ No pressure tags! Tell me about your fics! @frannyzooey, @wannab-urs, @bumblepony, @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin, @march-flowerr, @wildemaven and anyone else who wants to give this a whirl.

#fanfic #writing #fandom shenanigans

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marchdancer · 8 months

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OK so after @tired-reader-writerand @importantdestinydefendor have posted your crest for your Arslan fanfiction. I was super hyped and got my started coat of arms out again for my Oc Kayra to finally finish it. I almost completely reworked it but I'm very happy with the result.

Once as information in front away. The coat of arms does not consist of white borders. Unfortunately, since I don't have any digital drawing tools like a tablet or a pen or an app (shame on me), I tried to work on shapes and outlines. Unfortunately, I couldn't color all the outlines in white with this program and the result looked… well, not really nice. That's why the outlines are shown in black here…but you can imagine everything in white on a red background.

So the coat of arms is easily recognizable based on Shapur's coat of arms. I thought I'd go with the canon variant here, where family crests are similar.

So now to the symbolism I used in the coat of arms. I can already anticipate that not all symbols here have their origin in Arabic/Persian. I'll go into more detail on that later. I'm trying not to spoil too much here because I'm not that far into the story or haven't written it yet. However, here is some background information on Ka

The first thing you see at the top of the coat of arms is a dahlia. The dahlia is a popular flower and has a special meaning: in the language of flowers, we can use it to express "forever yours". The symbolism of this summer flower also stands for strength or as a sign of charity and gratitude. But it also stands for renewal and birth.

I found the symbolism here very appropriate as Kayra has gone through a "remake" and healing process throughout the story. This process marks her strength, for which she herself is very grateful. At this point in the process, Kayra's feelings for Shapur have fluctuated, and for a time she even hated him.

This is where the symbolism "forever yours" comes into play. Because after Kayra was reborn in a way, she realized that Shapur was too deep in her heart to simply forget him or not love him at all.

This flower is also equated with the sun in some cultures, which is very fitting because Kayra is also often compared to the sun due to her red hair and her charity. Personally, I realized back then that I always liked comparing Tahamyne to the moon. Maybe I created Kayra as a counterpoint to hers… who knows. The flower grows in many regions, but here it is meant to represent the region of Japan.

This is for the following reason and here comes again @tired-reader-writer in the game. Because Kayra has to leave Pars with the age of 21 and did not return until nine years later.

Originally I had planned to have them travel further east…so probably towards Serica and beyond. But since I'm not familiar with the culture, I changed my mind at the time and wanted to let them travel more north. But somehow I got stuck at a certain point and a lot of things didn't make sense. After me with @tired-reader-writer

I'm going back to my original plan. However, I quickly realized that Kayra was very restless at this point in her journey and would not have stayed in one place for long. I then exchanged views with a friend and she then said why not tell a story like in the novel eat, pray, love. Here, the main character travels through different countries to find himself again and that is why the dahlia is also associated with the country Japan. As a point for Kayra's journey……and that leads us straight to the branches below this flower.

These are sage leaves which represent healing and thus Kayra's ability to heal with her magic and her knowledge of the healing arts and medicinal herbs. She acquired this ability on her first stop on her journey, in a country which will be based on our Nepal (at least according to the plan).

The fox in the middle of the coat of arms stands for Kayra herself. Like the wolf for Isfan, the fox can be equated with Kayra. Not only does the color red play a role here (in relation to Kayra's hair color and the fox's fur), but also adaptability and skill. As a power animal, the fox stands for your own life! Foxes are the symbol of growth and inspiration, but also cleverness, cunning and magic. As a soul animal, the fox shows that it is time to act. Especially the area of magic inspired me in this animal. The fox is also equated with magic in almost every culture. But the aspect of action also stands out here, as Kayra prefers to tackle things directly rather than spend hours discussing them (diplomacy isn't exactly her forte either, maybe that's why she gets along so well with Kubard?.

But the fox also stands for cunning, cunning and deceit. This doesn't mean that Kayra is treacherous, but Narsus already has a hard time playing chess against her. She is also very adaptable and really excellent at hiding and disguise (who do you think Elam got the wig from when he was spying in Ecbatana as a girl).

Another aspect….have you ever heard a fox laugh? No? Should you do it… that's what Kayra's laughter sounds like. At first everyone is surprised, but this laughter is so contagious that you have to laugh along with it.

So finally we have the gladioli at the bottom of the coat of arms. These flowers are very old and were given to victorious gladiators as gifts in ancient times. The name comes from the Latin term "gladius", which stands for a Roman short sword. This flower originally comes from Africa and the Arab countries. Thus, the flower symbolizes strength, victory and pride. This meaning dates back to Roman times where gladiators literally fought for death or gladioli, for the victor of the fight was showered with gladioli. Also, the bulb of the flower is believed by some cultures to possess magical powers. But also the meaning "You pierce my heart" - (Due to its sword-like leaves) the flower was associated with infatuation. The flower can also symbolize love at first sight, sincerity, and remembrance. Which in this context stands for the connection between Shapur and Kayra as lovers.

But this flower can also be seen as a symbol for the family. Blooming in a variety of colors, the gladiolus represents the diversity and uniqueness of each member of the family, yet all are bound by a common bond. The flower also represents sincerity, honesty and integrity, values that are important in building strong and lasting family relationships.

The gladiolus is a powerful reminder of the strength, courage and diversity that exists in families. Since family is incredibly important to Kayra and she lost her parents early, this flower has a very special connection to her. She has found a new family in Shapur and Isfan who loves her more than anything and wants to protect her. However, she also sees in Arslan and the group a family that is not connected by blood but has continued to strengthen their cohesion through their strengths and abilities.

I personally think that the gladiolus reflects Kayra very well.

So I don't think I've ever written such a long post but I'm just so super happy with the end result. We'll see how it looks tomorrow.

#the heroic legend of arslan #arslan senki #shapur #Kayra #OC #AU #Heroin of the slaves #coat of arms #own design

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sticks-and-souls · 8 months

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8, 22? :)

Thank you so much for sending this ask, I've always wanted to do one of these!!

8. What projects are you currently working on?

Long fics! (mostly) Which ultimately means I’m doing a lot of writing and not a lot of posting. I’ve never posted long fics before and I’m discovering that—because I’m trying to aim for certain places in a story—I need to have a strong foundation in my opening chapters. So I’m reworking them and revising them (hopefully not to death) every time I build another chapter. My two main long fics are:

a) Foxiyo political intrigue! I fell into Foxiyo on tumblr by accident (the way most of us have) and was so in love with them and came up with all these fluffy scenes between them that made me want to try my hand at a multi-chapter fic. Except I had no plot.

e.g. Me: They’re hiding in a supply closet and overhear critical info! The ambiance! Such atmosphere!

Also me: What info, Souls??? How did they get there? How can you describe people plotting against them if you don’t have any plot???

…And in the process of finding any plot, I ended up coming up with a LOT of plot. But I really really like it so far and I’m really proud of the world building that I’ve done on the Coruscant political scene and imagining how Riyo and Fox each exist in that world and how they need support (and find it in each other). I’m hoping to start posting this fall/winter.

b) Maul redemption arc via Force Quest(TM) with Ahsoka. I have no chapters written but an entire outline composed of many staple fleshed out scenes, overall plot/character arcs, and main themes. This started as a casual musing of “what would cause Maul to turn to the Light?” that has ended up tackling the big questions about what makes people do evil acts--and when does that cross the line into them becoming evil people, whether people deserve forgiveness, is the world inherently uncaring, covered with loads of my own interpretations of the Light and Dark sides of the Force.

In the meantime, I miss actually posting, so I have a thranto short-fic of loosely related one-shots tied together (the thranto brain rot is so real) that I’m trying to fit in to my writing time, and also the vibes for Battle Scars just refuse to let up and I have a 3rd chapter idea that’s starting to take shape.

I have two other WIP ideas with enough of the plot/narrative sketched out that I haven’t let them go yet, but based on how long it takes for me to write content for the projects above that I really care about, I’m not sure I’ll ever get to them. (but if anybody goes rabid over them posted here I’ll consider them more closely). They are:

a) Codywan Pride and Prejudice AU. It would be a parody vibe and I would be trying to practice writing humor but I watched P&P this summer and I think my idea of execution is solid.

b) Rexsoka Modern-day Road Trip AU. I actually really love this one and if I come back to Rexsoka, I would love to do this. Anakin wants to do the Great American Road Trip for his bachelor party; themes include coming of age, you can never go home but maybe that’s not as bad as it sounds, and found family.

22. Do you know how your fic will end before you start writing?

If you define writing as “opening a file and starting to create a chapter that will eventually make it to AO3”, then, for the most part, yes (Battle Scars being the glaring exception). The details of that ending are vague, but if I were to give a summary of the entire work, I can tell you the sentence that describes the ending before I decide to start writing. In fact, it’s usually the realization that I have enough plot/character points for a full story that incentivizes me to finally start writing “Chapter One”.

That said, at least 75% of my “writing time” is a Notes file with my story ideas and completely informal scene sketches. Even for my two “probably never write this” ideas above, I have Notes files several pages long outlining the plot points, random scene details, story ambiance, and even some dialogue for key scenes that I didn’t want to forget. And I seriously will probably never find time to write them.

Thanks again for asking and I would honestly love to ask these same questions back to you!

#foxiyo #sw the clone wars #my writing #ask meme

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wc-wild-rewrite · 2 months

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whats the history of the clans? did thunderstar, shadowstar, etc still found them?

Great question, my friend. The full history of all of them in one post would be a lot, so, for now, lets just cover Thunderclan

The Mythology

As most cultures do, Thunderclan has various myths and oral stories passed down through generations telling how the clans came to be. Thunderclan, specifically, is said to have been formed initially as Lionclan.

Now, a bit of actual real world history here, New Forest National Park- the southern english place that the forest territories are based off of- were originally the homeland of early Anglo-Saxon tribal groups, but it was then proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conquerer in 1079, first recorded being called Nova Foresta in 1086. It only actually became a site of scientific interest in 1971, becoming a National Park in 2005.

All that to say, it's been around for a long damn time. And the cats know of this, they don't have a concept of human years, but they say Lionclan was around 'before Starclan', meaning Lionclan predates their current concept of modern cat ancestors.

In their mythos, Lionclan was a proud, strong clan of massive, mane-bearing cats that hunted in groups and had a singular leader, with a roar capable of being heard by every other clan, no matter where they were. They hunted large prey, like deer and boar, on their own, something that a modern cat thunderclan cat can only take down with the help of an entire patrol.

It's an understatement to say Thunderclan is still a proud clan, and they take much, much pride in occasionally still looking like the Lions that they came from. Lionheart, Sunstar, Cricketsun, and Lionblaze are the best examples of this.

According to their stories, however, Lionclan eventually grew smaller in size, as twolegs moved in more heavily than before, and the large prey they hunted became more and more scarce, being hunted by twolegs instead. This is what they consider to be the beginning of 'Thunderclan' and the Modern Cats.

(Dawn Of The Clans as an arc did not happen. I refuse to acknowledge it as a canonical part of this story, so im making up my own.)

They called the founder of Thunderclan 'Thunderstar' not because it was his name, but because of the lightning-shaped scar across his face, a mark of his survival against a massive beast. He was said to be cat-sized but distinctly Lion in appearance, and led his clan well, despite a series of tragedies that led to his early leadership.

When he died sacrificing his life for his clan, they created the Thunderclan Sigil- the cat outline with the lightning bolt- in honor of him. He still exists in Starclan, as his clan remembers him fondly. It is rumored that Sunstar was the last descendant of Thunderstar, though of course nobody can confirm that.

The True History

Now, we get to the truth of the matter. Lionclan, very simply, did not exist. The most truth to it is likely a group of zoo or perhaps circus lions escaped a long time ago, and oral tale of the nearby housecats became fantastical after so long.

The Prophecy Begins is set somewhere around 2009, i'd say. The clans were founded probably at the turn of the century, in 1900 or just before. Long enough that it seems ancient to clan cats, but not nearly old compared to literally any human civilization.

Thunderstar was not a 'small lion', but instead a Maine Coon. The Clans were not, in fact, descended from big cats at all, but instead the result of kittypets escaping their owners and becoming feral.

In fact, Thunderstar was not his name whatsoever. His scar was true, though, he did have a lightning-shaped scar across his face, but it was caused by a fox, not some mysterious beast. His true name has been lost to time, but he was not, at any point, called the suffix '-star', as the use of 'star' to designate the leader didn't happen until about 2 leaders later.

He was Thunder's Rule, King of Thunderclan. A King who's bloodline continued ruling until his grandson stepped down and put in the deputy and -star concepts.

It is true that Sunstar is a very distant descendant of him, but his bloodline survived, through Featherwhisker. The medicine cat who got away with breaking code, by having a daughter. Willowpelt and her lineage are the last line of Thunderstar, though i haven't decided wether that gets lost to time or Jayfeather manages to figure it out during his ghost walks. Either way, as of Arc 7, the most recent Thunderkin are Greykit, Bristlekit, and Stemkit.

Thunderstar is still very much alive and well in Starclan, though he keeps to the edges of the territory because he's still salty he lost his bloodline's "right" to the leadership of thunderclan. If he could contact his relatives, he'd be hounding them to get the title back. And it might even work, but the rest of the leaders since his reign stop him from trying.

Unfortunately, his kits and grandson have been forgotten and faded out of starclan, as the 'rulers to star' distinction was never made in their mythos.

In terms of how well he ruled... well, his clan thrived, that was for sure. Unfortunately that was because of the sneaky, tricking ways he fought his wars, and the fact he might have commited a regicide or two to keep 'unhelpful' people out of his way. But Thunderclan doesn't remember that part, they only care about the fact he 'led his clan to success', no matter how much bloodshed was caused by it.

#warrior cats #wc #wc rewrite #warrior cats rewrite #warrior cat rewrite #thunderclan #thunder's rule #all of this is up to change if i feel like it

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secondsonaym · 1 year

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How do you develop the story? Do you like come up with it on the go or have everything pre-planned

Oh, I've talked about this before but it was forever ago, so I don't mind explaining again!

Buckle in, cause this is a bit of a long one.

So, when doing my planning, I literally just have a word document where I put everything out on bullet points, and when I've drawn/written/posted the relevant part, I highlight it so I can keep my place in the story.

However, the detail to which I bullet things out can vary severely. Sometimes I just do the broad strokes, and sometimes I do have dialogue I want to include, so I make sure to plot that out as well.

For example, here's the segment where Star was talking to the bishops in the Lingering:

As you can see, none of their actual discussions were detailed, I just had a vague idea that the bishops were to talk with, her, taunt her, and get her thinking on stuff.

Meanwhile, for an earlier point, specifically Fox's little monologue, I had the dialogue bulleted down to each line, because the idea I had for it was so strong, I wanted to be sure I had the dialogue and pacing right

Many of the more Vague points, are where I let what people ask sort of shape what happens. I see what the mood is, what people are talking about, and see how I can spin that to my end goal.

And sometimes, even I do stuff on the blog so fast/for so long that I OUTPACE my outline, such as the entire stretch with Narinder and the twins, Aym and Baal:

Those parts are NOWHERE in my outline, and I did not actually plan ahead for them. It just felt right, to shift things a little bit for the moment.

You see, I have Almost Everything In My Head disease. In that I have the big picture in my brain, and can break it down into steps if given enough time to crack at it, but it's hard for me to elaborate if asked on cue. Outlining stuff like this tends to help, but my own process is very very messy still.

As for HOW I come up with plot points and the like, well

I try desperately not to just Forget ideas and characters. If I've shown them to have some relevance, I want them to have SOME level of involvement. So every now and then, when I open up my outline, I think "okay, who's on the board right now. who can do stuff. who would WANT to do stuff, and would it make sense for them to do this stuff now. what can happen based on the stuff they do. what would they do if other stuff happened" and so on.

I do actually go back and look through the usurper au tag to reread posts so I can make sure I'm not forgetting a detail or contradicting myself later down the line, and let me tell you, it's rough.

ALSO, a lot of my motivation for story writing is in music. I listen to stuff almost constantly, because I hate silence, and using the music, I come up with aspects of characters I didn't consider earlier, such as Narinder's growing empathy and something I've got tucked in my pocket for Stolas that'll come up when the next arc starts--and this only developed when I started making his playlist. I just noticed common themes in the songs I was choosing for him and was like, "oh shit, I can actually do something with this"

So like, I guess the clearest answer I can give to this question is that... Sometimes I have a vague idea, sometimes I have stuff planned ahead of time? Like, the end of this arc, I had everything I wanted to happen outlined as early as the group heading to Anura to find out it's a rotting mess. At that point, I knew what was going to happen, when, and I knew the bishops were going to make their return.

And then sometimes I'm just like "okay we'll sit around here and fuck about answering asks for a bit until something interesting is brought up"

So uuuuuhhhhhhhh (shrugs)??????? i hope that answers things well enough????????

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karizard-ao3 · 1 year

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Where did the idea for Anamnesis come from?

Nobody asked, BUT I'LL TELL YOU. Way back at the beginning of my fic writing journey, at the height of the Megan Fox/ Machine Gun Kelly "You smell like weed" "I am weed" shit, I saw someone say they wanted to see a one shot based on it. And I was like, "Oh, that's nice. I hope someone writes it." And then, thirty seconds later I was like, "Oh, wait, that gave me an idea for a scene. I can be the one to write this." So I did, and I sent them the link, and I'm really forgetful about names so I can't remember who they are (I'm sorry if you're reading this), and a few people commented that they would like to see more.

I also wanted to see more, but I was in the middle of writing Clueless Teens and I didn't have enough ideas to make a fic of it yet anyway, so I put it on the back burner and let it brew.

I knew I wanted it to be a bit sloppy. I wanted there to be drama and I wanted the drama to be dumb. But, I also wanted to try to branch out a little bit and try my hand at something that didn't come naturally to me- writing a story that was meant to hurt.

That still wasn't enough to build a plot from. Clueless Teens was coming together easily because I had the Attack on School Castes bonus pages from the AOT manga volumes to use as the skeleton for the fic. With Anamnesis, I was already out of my element and I had nothing to lean back on as I constructed a rough outline (which wasn't much of an outline. Mine usually consist of the end and then a list of things I want to happen in between in no particular order). And, I still needed a real external conflict beyond normal young adult relationship drama. So I bounced ideas off my brother and realized, "Wouldn't an alternate universe alternate universe be kind of silly? Like, an au where they keep meeting versions of themselves from alternate universes? And that finally gave me something to work with, because how are they meeting other versions of themselves? Why? Who are the people involved and what do they want? How does this impact their daily lives and their relationships?

So that helped a lot, but I still didn't know how to end it and I didn't know a lot of what would be happening in between. But finding those answers was like pulling teeth, so, I just started writing and hoped that the act of writing would pull it together. And, it did. It was hard and it was frustrating and I had to delete many, many portions and start over, but once I got the world built and the character's dynamics and personal demons figured out, I was able to chip through all the stone and find the shape of the fic underneath.

So that's how I came up with Anamnesis. I decided I wanted to try something, and then fought tooth and nail to finish it, because this thing did not want to write itself like my other fics have. It was painful. I had to dig into my own issues to help me write theirs. I like to use my fics as an escape from that stuff, and with this one I had to face it head on. I'm beginning to think the results might have been worth it, but I wanted to give up again and again. I only just barely staggered to the finish line.

TL;DR: I wanted to see if I could write angst and ended up slapping together a bunch of different concepts until I had a finished product.

#Anamnesis #creative writing #fanfic #eremika fanfic #writing process #this feels silly. I'm not a professional #but I guess that's fine. People might be curious

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321spongebolt · 15 days

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With today being the 10th anniversary of "Rio 2", here's my OC, Rio. He is my first OC to serve as the titular character. I made him sometime in early 2011 (one of my favorite years in my life, in fact), before the first "Rio" movie was released in 2011. Now, as far as his character design, I had to use 2D outlines of Blu, since Rio is supposed to be depicted as Blu's dad, making his son the next King Rio of Rio De Janeiro. I also had to look up clip art for the Brazilian crown for my character's headwear, which he later passes down to his son after Blu and Jewel's wedding and coronation ceremony.

In order to tell the difference between my character and Blu, I decided not to give Rio brown eyes. Instead, his eyes would be green. But it's possible Blu got his brown eyes from his mother, Queen Rio, depending on how she should be designed. Down below is my character's bio.

NAME

Rio

FRANCHISE

(Do I even have to say it?)

BIO

Rio is a blue spix macaw who happens to be the king of Rio. His son, Blu was born as the last of his kind. Even after losing his son, he hand-picked Jewel to live with him until they find his lost son. And after his son came back, he was able to help his son and Jewel get married.

PERSONALITY

Rio is eccentric, but well-meaning. Rio loves to sing and dance to popular licensed music, and is in fact a popular web sensation. He also has a tendency to break the fourth wall every now and then.

INSPIRATIONS

Complimenting how "Rio" and "Rio 2" used "I Like to Move It Move It", which was previously used in the "Madagascar" films by DreamWorks Animation (which ironically they would later be involved in developing "Rio 2" as part of their limited contract with 20th Century Fox), "I Like to Move It Move It" is Rio's theme song like it is for King Julien from the "Madagascar" movies.

For Rio's fourth wall abilities, I based them off of how Kuzco pauses his movies and occasionally draws on the screen with a red dry erase marker. Only, Rio doesn't draw, as instead he has a remote on him. But like Kuzco, Rio will narrate his stories off-screen and on-screen, and will poke fun at some of the characters.

Of course, this was all before I even saw the first film on opening night in 3D. As from the beginning, I depicted him as just Blu's father. Eventually, I evolved him into the character I currently have now.

OTHER APPEARANCES

Next to his own movies, I thought about giving him an appearance in "Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-it Ralph 2", as at the time, Disney was in talks to purchase 20th Century Fox, which they eventually did in early 2019. Because of this, I've made a few other OCs from different Disney/Pixar films, which I can talk about if you're interested.

But in the meantime, you can click here to learn more about my OC.

Rio/King Rio © 321SPONGEBOLT (Me) for "Rio"

#Rio #rio movie #rio 2011 #Rio 2 #blue sky studios rio #Rio (Rio OC)#Rio (Rio)#my oc #self insert #my art

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thecraftyfoxthewriterscorner · 1 year

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On Consistency and Beginnings

Some more thoughts on self-editing.

Hey Story Crafters,

I’ve touched on consistency in character as a self-editing tip in an earlier post, but it’s important to make sure all aspects of your story are consistent when you’re editing.

Regardless of where you fall on the plotter or pantser spectrum (if you identify the type of writer you are at all), there’s a good chance you end up discovering new, unexpected pieces of your story during the writing process. (This is part of what makes the writing process fun for me, as a writer. 😊)

The consequence of discovery-while-writing is that, usually, the last half of your story doesn’t match the first half. For example, there could be character development or a plot twist that happens partway through the story that isn’t set up (or foreshadowed) properly at the beginning, because you hadn’t thought of that character development or plot twist when you first started writing.

Inconsistencies like these are ones you’ll be able to pick out, once you’ve gotten some emotional and mental distance from your story. Editing can feel a lot like writing—rewarding and enjoyable at times, and incredibly frustrating at others. Since you were able to finish writing your story in the first place, approach self-editing with trust in the knowledge that no one knows your story better than you. This should help you work through the more frustrating moments of editing.

When you read through your story with fresh eyes—as a reader—I encourage you to make notes on your manuscript. Leave comments where you think “something” might be missing or could be improved (this could be detail-wise or storytelling-wise). You might find those details or storytelling elements are explored later in the story, and simply need to be established in earlier chapters; or they might need to be added to throughout the story to give it more depth.

One part of your story that will likely need to be reworked the most is the beginning. This is true even if you wrote based on an outline. The act of writing is different from planning out a story, because there are factors like voice and writing style to consider—factors that you usually can’t plan for, and don’t discover until you start writing. So the beginning of your story might sound and/or feel different from its ending.

It's important to polish the beginning of your story, because a good opening is what hooks a reader into buying and reading your story. For a resource, I recommend Paula Munier’s The Writer’s Guide to Beginnings: How to Craft Story Openings that Sell. She breaks down and analyzes what makes up an effective story opening, and gives several examples. She also goes into how an effective opening resonates through the rest of the story—in other words, how to plant seeds for subplots in the opening chapters that grow over the course of the story.

It's also important to consider reader expectation when finetuning the opening of your story. For example, a romance story will have a very different beginning from a mystery. And the expectations set at the beginning should remain consistent to the end (i.e., the expectations need to be executed and followed through).

Below are a few examples of opening paragraph(s) from books I’ve read recently:

Caption: Book covers for Near the Bone by Christina Henry, Shady Hollow: A Murder Mystery by Juneau Black, and A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas.

Near the Bone by Christina Henry

(**Warning: Somewhat graphic description of an animal carcass. Skip to after the block quote if needed.)

There was a dead fox in her path.

At first Mattie only saw it as a streak of scarlet across the fresh snowfall. Her initial thought was that some predator had gotten a rabbit from the traps she’d come to check.

Then she saw the orange fur matted with blood, and the place where something sharp had torn through the fox’s middle. Viscera were strewn over the snow, the scent fresh and strong despite the cold air.

There weren’t many creatures that would eat a fox—a bear would, of course, a bear would eat anything. Maybe a mountain lion, sometimes an eagle, but almost no creature would take the trouble of killing an animal and then not bother to eat it at all. None, as a matter of fact, except people, but there were no people at the top of the mountain except for Mattie and William.

Right off the bat, there’s a clear sign of danger: there’s something in the woods that’s killing for sport. Maggie (the protagonist) provides the setting—the top of the mountain—and that she and William are the only humans on the mountain.

The reader expectation is clearly “horror,” here. Not only because of the somewhat graphic description of the dead fox, but also because there is a “hunter vs. hunted” relationship that’s being established. There’s an expectation that the humans might go from “hunter” to “hunted.”

Shady Hollow: A Murder Mystery by Juneau Black

Up in the far north, away from everything you know and dream about, lies a small village called Shady Hollow. There are many settlements in the woods, far from the cities and the bustling world. Shady Hollow is only one such community, where woodland creatures of all types and temperaments, from the tiny mouse to the mighty moose, live together in a successful and mostly peaceful society.

This is the first paragraph of the prologue for this story. Shady Hollow is a cozy mystery, and the “coziness” factor is established in the prologue by focusing on the setting of Shady Hollow. Community is the focus of this story.

While this opening doesn’t necessarily set up the expectation for a mystery, it does set the expectation that how the events of the story affect the community of Shady Hollow is what’s important, more so than an individual character. (There is, of course, a protagonist that serves as the focus point for the story.) Also, based on the prologue, the reader can expect the pacing and narrative to be relatively slow and steady, not the frantic rush of a fast-paced thriller.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

The forest had become a labyrinth of snow and ice.

I’d been monitoring the parameters of the thicket for an hour, and my vantage point in the crook of a tree branch had turned useless. The gusting wind blew thick flurries to sweep away my tracks, but buried along with them any signs of potential quarry.

Hunger had brought me farther from home than I usually risked, but winter was the hard time. The animals had pulled in, going deeper into the woods than I could follow, leaving me to pick off stragglers one by one, praying they’d last until spring.

They hadn’t.

There’s a sense of grim determination and desperation established in this opening. The protagonist is clearly a skilled hunter, fueled by the need to survive. This opening sets up the expectation that the protagonist will do whatever she believes is necessary to survive (in other words, she’s scrappy and resourceful).

Munier goes through the openings of several books in various genres as examples. You can do an exercise following her examples, or one similar to what I did above. You can choose books you’ve recently read, but I recommend evaluating the openings of books similar to your current work-in-progress, especially recently published books. This will let you see what openings are currently popular and effective with readers in your genre, and find inspiration for your own opening pages.

If you’re planning to pursue a traditional publishing path, polishing your opening is critical for getting an agent’s attention. If you’re self-publishing, the opening is just as important, because it’s one of the deciding factors readers use to decide whether or not to buy your book. Once you’ve polished the beginning of your story, it’s important to make sure the details and story elements added to the beginning are consistent with the story, all the way to the end.

Self-editing can get frustrating when you’re trying to make sure all the story elements and details are consistent from beginning to end, and then polish the language until it shines. I believe the journey ultimately helps you have a deeper understanding and appreciation for your story, and your writing ability.

But if you get too frustrated or if you’re uncertain at any point of the self-editing process, or if you’ve done all you can but still feel you need additional help, don’t hesitate to seek out professional editing help! I offer developmental, line, and copyediting services to independent and querying authors of fantasy, dark fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Learn more about my services, or get in touch!

Send me an email!

Best,

Leah

Substack Post: https://thecraftyfoxwriterscorner.substack.com/p/on-consistency-and-beginnings

Interested in learning more about me, and the kind of energy I’ll bring to a writer-editor relationship? If you're a writer, consider subscribing to my free Substack newsletter (you can check out the archives, too). You'll get a free writing resource on relationship mapping, and a special offer when you subscribe!

#Writers #Editing #Self-Editing #Editing Tips #Editing Advice #Beginnings #Consistency #On Consistency and Beginnings

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one-real-imonkey · 2 years

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Reconditioned clones HCs:

When the Kaminoans recon clones, they wipe them clean. Take their names, their personalised, and leave the skills and the mouldable soldier to work with.

And these reconned clones go back to new battalions as shinies again. As far as anyone should know they’re just new shinies fresh off Kamino.

But they know. They know they were someone before. They know they had names, they had friends and batchmates and people who loved them, but it’s all blank. It’s all empty space.

And other clones know, even though they’re not supposed to. They pick things up, start to work out early on that somethings different with some of the shinies they get. They see the little things that ring though, the nightmares and the too ingrained reactions that didn’t come from Kamino. And once they know reconned clones become easy to identify when they come through.

They get memories in nightmares, that sensation that something is terribly wrong over really normal things.

Sometimes the colour on their armour makes them want to cry and they know it’s wrong but they can’t remember what it’s supposed to be.

They flinch from things but they don’t know why it causes that reaction.

They pick up a blaster and drop it because something in their minds screams no.

Not all of them can just move forwards. Not all of them can just pick up a new name, forge a new personality, make new friends with new vode.

Some of them can’t take on new names. Nothing sounds right. They know that it’s not their name but they don’t know what their name is. Often that leads to them letting their vode chose one that they’ll all use, one they don’t mind, but their vode introduce them to people because they can’t bring themselves to say it, to actually use this new name themselves. They just can’t because they know, they know it’s not their name.

And just like with the names, their vode find solutions. They find ways to work with their vode who the Kaminons wiped clean. The longer the war goes on the less recons happen, officially they don’t at all, but the clones know the signs. The longer the war goes on the better they get at helping their vode settle in when everything feels wrong and they can’t quite place why.

The vode are furious. Because who you are, for some clones, that’s all they have. Names are precious, important. Personalities and the little things that make them individual and unique, they mean everything. And the sense of bitter loathing that comes every time they meet a new vod who’s had that taken from them by force, it’s powerful.

Their vode might not be able to remember who they were before, which battalion, which name, but their new battalions will be dammed before they turn their backs on their own.

#star wars #my corrie guard au #clone reconditioning #clone reconditioning headcanons #expanded corrie guard au #clone trooper dogma #commander fox #because I have an outline for a story for fox based on this #or rather this was inspired by ideas for that story #I can also see Dogma going through this though #star wars headcanons #clone wars #evil kaminoans

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metellastella · 3 years

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In Honor of Deltarune Chapter 2, Lemme tell you about exactly HOW world-breaking Chara really was, and IS.

Here's the thing about Chara. It is implied that they are THE PLAYER's insatiable thirst for new video game worlds (or, they have latched onto it). As in, they accompany the player to the next world they go to.

Direct quote:

"HP. ATK. DEF. GOLD. EXP. LV. Every time a number increases, that feeling . . . That's me. Chara. Now, we have reached the absolute. There is nothing left for us here. Let us erase this pointless world, and move on to the next." i.e.: Let US move on to the next.

Every time THE PLAYER conquers and sets aside a new game . . . they have effectively DESTROYED it. Because they do not "exist" unless they are played and interacted with. Also, they only exist up until the end of the game anyway (most of the time)

And- I say usually- no matter how many times THE PLAYER plays a game- they will eventually tire of it. Also, if they play 500 games in their lifetime . . . it is unlikely they will re-play that many consistently. Plus, add on random internet "mini" games.

Now, that's only considering ONE player.

But since Chara is a multi-dimensional being, because they are aware of other worlds . . . it's not much of a stretch to say that the millions of people who are carrying around Chara "with" them count . . . as Chara.

Bill Cipher, from Gravity Falls, to my knowledge, despite his reality-warping godly demon powers, makes no such 4th wall shattering and domineering claim.

Let's assume for sanity's sake, that this current dimension you're sitting in and reading this screen on is the primary reality. There ARE no dimensions higher than this. All others are contained within human imagination. Bill Cipher was Created by a Creator.

All the 'lower' dimensions we can muck around in as basically gods. (gods or demigods either incarnate as weaklings, or come about some other way, in many mythologies, but then grow steadily stronger to realize their godhood. Ya know, Hercules. Krishna. In Hinduism. That sort of thing.) We can travel between dimensions on a whim by flipping a switch. With enough Determination, we can ALWAYS reach the end. Now, sometimes collaboration does expand these universes a little bit- through comics and fanfiction. But even these created 'higher spheres' nearer to this primary dimension, author 'omniscience' is taken as a given. Actually there is some debate about that, given the real-world phenomenon of novel writers in some cases having no clue where characters are taking them . . . they just sit down to write with a kernel of an idea. That's how I operate, for instance. In that case, they somehow have had their 'future sight' that should be default as a god, blocked. People who outline plots and know where they're going with a story beforehand, and then create characters to fill in the gaps, they're the type of 'gods' that could tell their characters future events, if they wanted to. Anyway. Back to video games specifically, and their fandoms. There is only so much CONTENT and it can always be recorded and shared. So there is still a limting factor. Here's the weird thing about Undertale. You are there as a 'god.' Just as usual. That's nothing special. You're just there to muck around. But. The whole toe-curling horror aspect UT was demonstrating, for specific characters NPCs who realize this sobering fact . . . such as Asgore and Sans, they are driven to despair, mental instability, and in two cases, suicide, by the fact.

If Homestuck is considered a "game" that is destroyed once you reach the end? It is rolled into all of this as well. Homestuck is a game. What evidence to I have of this, since it's a 'written story'? It has many playable elements and 90% of its lore and plot is based on deconstructing game conventions and sticking them back together in weird angled positions with crazy glue. Therefore. If the player reads Homestuck after playing Undertale, (i.e., someone who is newer to internet culture, and entered it after Undertale came out, which was far after Homestuck) Chara has CANONICALLY destroyed the Homestuck Universe. (or, if you re-read Homestuck after playing Undertale)

YOU. The PLAYER make or break all fictional characters. They live and die by your interest in them, or, for games, your direction, and no other character has explicitly taken YOUR control over the game, as Chara has. In Homestuck, it never gives you something to "do" and then takes the decision away from you, as Undertale does.

Chara, except for someone who has 100% control of that little dopamine rush that comes with leveling up (read: no one), is out there, gleefully wringing out, growing bored of, and then destroying hundreds of thousands of worlds. Chara is the first of zeir kind. And possibly the last. Or at least, anything that comes afterwards will be but a pale imitation. Toby Fox is truly LEGENDARY, in this way. I'm not sure even he fully understand what he's done here. Let me try to explain this. Our education system is currenlty ripping itself to pieces over back-breaking student loans and the realization that we don't actually need all these professors because of the easy availability of information on the internet (Demonstrated, in a roundabout way, in one or two deft lines of dialog in the movie A Beauriful Mind). Now, let's say colleges and universities do survive this shift in society, going foward. It's probable that at the very least technical colleges and vocational schools will. Any others, including high schools, will be replaced by students shrugging and just taking a G.E.D. certification, because why should they spend time at a high school if they hate it, or if they want to learn at their own individualized pace? No reason to do that at all. If the stuffy old guard of the outdated higher education system ever starts treating stories told by video games as literature, as they ABSOLUTELY SHOULD, because they're merely a different medium, not some weird separate thing . . . Toby Fox, having overturned the "trope" of the RPG "genre", wrecking and dismantling it so thouroughly that it has unsettled millions of people who ever again play an RPG where they slaughter any monsters for 'points.' He should be immortalized. Just like any other author in history who has churned out a landmark piece of literature. It's merely his fair due. Perfectly logical, right? He is the Ubermench game-changer. Literally. I hope Sans appreciates the pun. Chara is the vehicle through which this overturning of the trope happens. Chara stares directly at the player, deconstructs a longstanding staple in the 'literary genre,' and gives a body and voice to the psychologically addictive quality of video games.

One estimate says there are more than 60,000 video games in existence. And millions of copies of each one.

Chara, as we've established canonically, has access to ALL that are played after a runthrough of Undertale. (or at the very least, genocide Undertale) In Hinduism, it is Shiva that is the god of destruction. To quote Oppenheimer, Chara has become Death, Destroyer of Worlds. Checkmate.

Q. E. D.

Endgame.

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tea-mew96 · 2 years

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💬

💬 I don’t think it’s really that obscure, but I’m also struggling to come up with anything else right now: the production/ behind the scenes of Beast Machines.

For example, we have Hasbro being the genius to tell Bob Skir and Marty Isenberg to not watch old episodes so that it could have a fresh take, and the a boss of Mainframe at the time, Dan DiDio, wanted a fresh take because he thought that Beast Wars was too continuity heavy. Only for Hasbro to suggest that the writers use things like the Hate Plague and Vector Sigma, and Beast Machines ended up being just as continuity heavy as its predecessor, if not more.

Oh yeah, and show’s story about the Maximals arriving back to Cybertron only to find Megatron conquered it? That wasn’t Skir’s or Isenberg’s idea, that was an outline Marv Wolfman gave to Mainframe and the duo was tasked by Fox Kids to make a show based on that outline. Don’t worry, Skir is a good guy and had Wolfman hired to write a couple episodes.

It seemed like Beast Machines was a mess behind the scenes. Not only does knowing about the show’s production explain why the show ended up being the way it was, but I believe that after reading all the info, Beast Machines could’ve been way worse. Definitely recommend looking up interviews or videos about the voice actors or writers discussing their work on the show, it’s fascinating.

Ask prompt here.

#asks #robotclownindulgence #transformers #beast machines #beast wars #tea.txt #ask game

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jokertrap-ran · 3 years

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(光与夜之恋 Light and Night) Event! 轻云寻隐录: Sariel’s BDAY 2021 Event! Qingyun’s Hidden Records (Chapter 2)

“You're a stupid bird, so you can't be considered the same as the other humans.”

*Light and Night Master-list | Sariel’s Personal Master-list *Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *Image used with permission from 蓝咕咕 ☆ *Join my Light & Night Discord (＾▽＾)~ ♪ *Event story tag will be #For Light and Memories

Time passed in a flash, accompanied by the leisurely tune that resonated through the cabin. The train stopped at a station named “Shaqing Town”.

Exiting the station, we were greeted by the bustling sounds of people all around. It was almost as if we’d just returned to the Human World.

This blue-tiled white-walled old town was surrounded all around by waters and mountains alike. The cobblestone steps led straight into the heart of the ancient forest while the rows upon rows of small shops set up alongside the road made the place look very lively.

MC: This is Qingyun Swamp? It looks no different from an old town.

Sariel: It is an ordinary town.

Sariel looked at the old town before him, a faint flicker of nostalgia wavering within the depths of his eyes.

Sariel: Just one that happens to be in the middle of Qingyun Swamp and the Human World.

Sariel: In the World of Spirits, some choose to befriend humans; but at the same time, there are also countless of them who chose not to, as well as some who outright hate humans.

Sariel: The people of the Spirit Tribe who live here in Shaqing are those who are close and co-exist with humans. And further in would be Lin Isle, where everyone is part of the Spirit Tribe.

MC: Which means… you're in the "human-friendly" faction, right?

Sariel shot me a look but didn’t say anything about my assumption.

MC: You don’t exactly have the best temperament, often overwhelmingly harsh and give me a cold shoulder or two every once in a while, but…

I ticked the points off my fingers one-by-one as I counted, and Sariel’s face grew increasingly darker as I went on.

MC: But you’ve always helped me work on my designs and are ever the good teacher.

MC: I don’t think I’d have such wholesome progression in my life if I hadn’t met you.

MC: So, I don’t think you’d be going so far as to help me if you truly hated humans.

Sariel had unwittingly curled his lips into a faint arc, chuckling lightly.

Sariel: Only because you're a stupid bird.

Sariel: So you can't be considered the same as the other humans.

MC: ……

My glum look seemingly perked him right up; so much that there was even amusement dancing in his orbs.

Sariel: Come on. We're still far from our destination.

Walking through the bustling crowd of tourists, I was completely unable to tell spirits from humans just based on outlooks alone.

I then recalled Sariel’s small snow-white fox ears, unable to stop myself from trying to imagine just what the rest of the spirits could look like.

MC: If only the rest of the Spirit Tribe could show their ears and tail too…

I gave a light sigh, but that was still enough to catch Sariel's attention, nevertheless.

Sariel: Not possible.

MC: Why?

Sariel: ...There's no "why" about this.

Sariel seemed reluctant to elaborate more on the matter, so I dropped the topic with a smidge of regret.

MC: Oh… I guess it’s not worth hoping for anything then… If only you could show me those fox ears of yours again...

I was speaking nothing but nonsense as my gaze travelled to a shop selling sugar painting by the street. The owner skillfully manoeuvred a spoon, deftly creating an image of a fox in a few strokes.

Sariel: Never knew you were a fan of pillars.

Suddenly, a big hand came before my forehead, making me stumble a couple of steps backwards.

I turned my attention back to the front, only to see a stone pillar standing less than 20cm away from me.

Sariel: Eyes front when you walk.

MC: I do! Normally! And I have you here now.

Sariel: Hmm?

MC: You'll pull me back whenever it's dangerous, right?

Sariel: ……

Sariel: I really should have let you run face-first into it. Suffer a little, leave a lasting impression.

MC: Alright, I get it.

MC: I just saw something really cool earlier… Right! Wait for me!

I’d already made quick work of the distance, darting to the sugar painting shop without waiting for his reply.

MC: ……

Owner: Hello, young miss. I'll draw another one right up for ya.

MC: Sure!

MC: Oh! Could you make the fox’s ears a little bigger? And make its fur look flowier! The majestic and grand kind!

Owner: Well… That’s a little hard for me to do, miss. Why don’t you do it yourself and I’ll just charge you for the maltose?

He waved for me to go stand beside him, scooping a spoonful of the ambrosial syrup and motioning for me to take it.

I was a little nervous but eager to try my hand at it. I mimicked the way he’d held the spoon earlier, carefully crafting the outline of the fox I had in mind.

MC: First, the body… then the tail, big and fluffy…

MC: How do I draw fur!? Yikes! Too much maltose!

I was faced with a pool of syrup that quickly hardened and took shape, I found myself at a loss at the odd misshapen blob it had become, inwardly lamenting,

Instantly, I felt my spoon-wielding hand gently encased by warmth. Puffs of warm breaths crawled up my neck from behind, and I could even feel light wisps of hair brushing against my ears in a ticklish manner.

I turned around to see Sariel’s side profile.

He was so close; so very close that I could almost make out the sound of his heartbeat.

Ba-thump, ba-thump.

Yet at the same time, it too sounded like my own. It threw my mind into disarray and my once steady breathing into nothing short of a mess.

Sariel: Why's your hand shaking?

MC: Err, what did you come over…?

Sariel: You are my student. I'm here to supervise you so that you don't embarrass me.

Sariel: Focus.

It was as if he could work magic, for the rebellious spoon became swift and elegant under his guiding hand as he fixed up my prior mess.

Soon, an impressive fox formed before my eyes.

MC: You really salvaged it!

I couldn't hide my surprise, turning around and showing it to him. The amber-coloured fox appeared translucent under the sun's rays, breathing life into the work of art.

MC: Look, this should be the King of Foxes, don't you think?

Sariel: So? Only kids would like something like this.

MC: You drew it too!

MC: Say, don't you think this fox looks a little like…

Sariel: No. Hurry up.

Seeing Sariel rear back up, ready to leave, I quickly caught hold of his sleeve.

MC: Are you not going to have a taste of it, at least? I'll finish it myself then.

However, he instantly changed his mind, snatching up the piece of sugary art just as quickly.

Sariel: Wishful thinking. I drew half of it.

MC: But you don't even eat things like this!

Sariel: Says who?

To prove his point, he bit off one of the ears, chewed twice, and took his own sweet time licking off the crumbs of sugar stuck to the sides of his mouth with an absolutely straight face.

Not wanting to lose, I dashed up to chomp off the other ear, crunching it hard as I chewed.

And this was how we ended up looking at each other while chewing. The image of us sharing the same sugary treat suddenly appeared before my eyes, making me acutely aware of the missing portions of the sugary artwork.

There were still remnants of unmelted maltose at the back of my throat; all so very sweet.

❖☆————— ⊹ For Light & Memories⊹ —————★❖

Previous Part: (Chapter 1) | Next Part: (Chapter 3)

#光与夜之恋 #Light and Night #Otome #Translations #Tencent #齐司礼 #Sariel #For Light and Memories #轻云寻隐录 #Qingyuns Hidden Records #Sariel BDAY 2021

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tinyhistory · 4 years

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Hey! I feel like there's so many nuances, subtle messaging, and symbolism in Once Around the Sun. It's what makes it so gorgeous and intelligent. I don't have a specific question, guess I just was curious/ would love to hear your heart on what some of those things meant to you (white rose, sun nymphs, Azula's distorted perspective, etc), if you felt there was anything readers didn't catch, what you were excited or proud to weave in? I can't wait to reread already bc I'm sure I'll catch more :)

Thank you so much! I love putting little details in my fics, and often add nods to my other fanfics — so if you look closely enough, you start finding tiny in-jokes and references.

There’s a few things in Once Around the Sun that nobody’s commented on, but I’ll pick just a couple for the sake of brevity.

Firstly — lanterns! These are always used to foreshadow events. Just before the assassination attempt at the midsummer celebration, the lanterns are described in vivid detail and Katara sees Zuko outlined very clearly by them — something significant is about to happen to him. The lanterns are also red and blue — Zuko and Katara’s fates are about to entangle. In the same chapter, just before the prison is stormed and Azula’s mock trial is held, the lanterns near her cell are described as flickering wildly (a description deliberately similar to lightning).

In Chapter 7, when Zuko finally decides to take a gamble, heed Katara’s advice, and change course, the lanterns behind her are described as burning high and bright. In Chapter 8, when they chat quietly and comfortably with each other, the lanterns burn long and low. So the lanterns often reflect certain moods or upcoming changes in pace or character dynamics.

In Chapter 13, there’s the lantern festival where they write the names of the dead, and Azula writes four names (she writes Lu Ten, Ozai, Ursa — as she wasn’t sure if Ursa still lived — and herself, as she believes that the true Azula had spiritually died in her childhood). This festival is really about death — it’s about remembering those who couldn’t be saved, and saying farewell. I did space this one a few chapters before the major event because I didn’t want it to be too obvious. Later on, in Chapter 20, when Katara is thinking about Azula’s sacrifice, she specifically recalls that lantern festival.

When Katara really starts falling for Zuko in later chapters, her regret at “missed moments” is expressed through her memories of the midsummer festival and the dance they never had — throughout the chapters she thrice recalls that moment, and each time the lanterns are mentioned. She also realises Zuko perhaps reciprocates her love when he mentions the fox-sleeve lantern.

Finally, the dragon boat festival! The earlier lantern festival (foreshadowing Azula’s fate) had lanterns being released into the air and going heavenward (much like burning ash), but this festival (foreshadowing Zuko and Katara’s fates) involves the lanterns (fire) meeting the river (water).

Other little things would be the gesture of holding up a flower and blotting out the moon (Zuko does this once at the beginning; Katara does it once at the end, bookending the story), and origami (Aang offhandedly mentions, in Chapter 2, that Zuko can fold leaves into shapes — in Chapter 18, Zuko folds leaves into shapes for a funeral custom). Also with the origami theme — readers from my other fandom might recognise the origami rose that Katara makes...

Finally, just to touch on some of the other things you mentioned:

The sun nymphs.

This was a kind of Fire Nation version of the Will-o’-the-wisp, a common myth that exists in various forms around the world. It’s often portrayed as a little creature who holds a lantern aloft, luring lost travellers into marshlands and bogs. It’s generally accepted that all these myths were based around the naturally-occurring flames that sometimes happen in peaty soil. I really wanted a scene that had Zuko sharing some of his culture with Katara in an intimate and natural setting (away from the formality of the palace), so I thought pretty hard about the features of the city and nearby environment. The Will-o’-the-wisp legend presented itself as a good opportunity, so I conjured up the marshlands and gave the myth a Fire Nation twist. It was important to me that Katara began slowly seeing the beauty and playfulness of fire and Fire Nation culture — the sun nymph scene was the first of many moments where Zuko invited Katara into the stories and myths of his country.

The white roses.

I considered a few options before choosing the white rose. As it’s pointed out later in the fic, it means “secrecy and silence” which is applicable to both Azula (whose theme becomes the roses) and Ursa (who gifted the rose to her — the rose that saved Zuko). According to many mythologies, the white rose was the first of all roses, and is therefore often called ‘the mother rose’. It also later became associated with peace, loyalty, and honour. The association with peace also meant it was often connected to death — it became a common sight at funerals for those wishing a peaceful afterlife for their departed. Lastly, the white rose was reminiscent of the moon — circular and white — and the moon was also a common theme for Azula, who connected it with Katara/waterbending and therefore had a very uneasy relationship with it. She often felt that the moon was “watching” her and felt too vulnerable beneath its gaze. She sought to hide from the moon and called it a “hateful eye”, while throughout the fic Zuko gazed often upon the moon and used the stars to help him navigate his journeys. As Azula and Katara slowly developed trust in each other though, Azula finally told Katara her story and let herself become vulnerable — under the light of the moon.

Let me know if all of this was already obvious! I had a lot of fun weaving in various themes and symbolism. The downside is, it takes me a looooong time to write things because I’m so intent on the little details.

#once around the sun #zutara #answered asks

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knickknacksandallthat · 3 years

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Fanfic Tagging Game ;)

@jayjfox at it again! Tagging me in this SUPER fun one! Loved it!! Thanks for tagging me! (I loved reading your answers too- can't wait to read about CrimePodcaster!Andrew and Vigilante!Neil 🤩)

Author name: Niknak22

Fandoms you write for: All for the game

Most popular one-shot: Deadly Affections This was my very first fanfic I wrote, right after reading the books! I was super nervous posting it, but everyone in the fandom was so lovely and welcoming 🥰. It's all about Neil being his authentic, badass self in front of the Foxes, and learning that they can handle his darkness.