#certain things and absorbing them into your own style helps a lot <3

[aarlert]

i love your fics sm. any tips for ppl learning to write? whats your process like?

ah!!! me??? shucks! thank you so much! i never feel like i am qualified at all to give tips or advice but because you so kindly asked, here are some things that i think guided me to a place i am happy with:

1. write things that you really want to write. not because you think other people want it or because you crave that sweet external validation—which, look. i do. we all do. all the time. it's nothing to be ashamed about. but if you're just starting out writing, try to get excited about it. have fun with it. seriously, the ride will be so much more enjoyable. write that ship, that trope, that AU, that brainworm that won't leave you alone. seize it. write it because goddamn it no one else will

2. read! read some good words and you will absorb good things. pay attention to what you like: phrasing, imagery, etc. borrow them and make them your own.

3. don't underestimate the value of solid grammar and punctuation. i know it's a pain in the ass, i KNOW, but trust me. making your writing look good, at least on a surface level, helps a lot. your writing is a special thing. polish it! it deserves it!

4. if you are comfortable with it, get your fic beta'd. we don't often notice our own mistakes. and showing your raw work to someone else can feel terrifying, believe me, i want to eat my fist every time. but a second pair of eyes is so valuable. ask a trusted friend—another writer, if you know one. someone who can lend you their expertise but also applaud you for your accomplishments.

5. here is a book i love: "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, 2nd Edition" by Renni Browne and Dave King. i read it a few years ago and still think about the things i learned in it. every point in this book is a point of advice i'd give to anyone else

i hope any of this is useful!! none of this is like, revolutionary advice, but they will give you a good foundation. i also tried to share things that won't dictate you stylistically, because that can differ so much from person to person.

as for my process, OH BOY. do i even have much of a process.... i'll do my best to describe what i do. i'll also have some more points about what drives my own personal writing style, things that i don't necessarily think other people Should do, but serve as the backbone of how i write. under the read more!!! (why is this so long)

it's only in recent years that i've begun writing with any kind of consistency, so i'm kind of figuring out my process Right Now haha. the process varies depending on the length of the fic and the complexity of the idea. but here are the main points:

1. brainstorming: usually i open a google doc and feverishly jot down an idea when i have it. sometimes it's just a few lines. for bigger ideas, i'll outline the whole fic, which is mostly bulletpoints that vary in detail from "they go to this place and talk about their feelings" to full blown detailed written scenes that i can copy/paste wholesale into the fic draft lol. my ideas often spawn from a line of dialogue, an emotion, vague imagery. this is why none of my fics are plot heavy, i am simply incapable

2. drafting the fic: aka The Writing aka the longest and hardest part lol. sometimes it goes so smoothly the words come out of me like a waterfall. other times it's like juicing a rock. i usually write strictly in chronological order, otherwise i never finish. i'm terrible at going back to do the things i skipped because they were hard. in some places i will leave [brackets] to return to certain moments, like if i need to look up a word or figure out the blocking for a fight scene. it's important to maintain the writing flow if i'm in it, so those particular moments i might skip and come back. otherwise i am but a sculptor hacking away at the marble, hoping to find the story underneath

3. editing: tbh i rigorously self-edit as i write which... might be a bad thing but i can't help it. this is editing as in grammar, punctuation, sentence structure. i fuck around with sentence structure so much—flow is really important to me. just, how the words and sentences sound. i know that sounds like, obvious, but i just want the cadence of every paragraph to sound good. varying up sentence lengths, making sure words sound good together, etc. sometimes at this point i will also feel "hmm need more relationship building here" and add more scenes/dialogue

4. send it out for beta: aka the part where i hide under a rock and try not to delete everything i wrote out of fear. it's never as bad as i expect but i'm like this every time. more editing happens, because of course.

5. post the fic: the best part! except then i have to think of a title and summary! fuck!!!!! it's extremely rare that i have these prepared ahead of time. screw me. my titles come from all over the dang place, poetry, songs, etc. i'm trying to write more original titles, and when i do i usually keep them concise, like 1-3 words

so that's like. literally my process which is probably not at all interesting and maybe not what you were hoping to learn about, so some more things that are like, particular to How i write or at least what i think about when i'm writing:

less is more, when it comes to like 99% of things. if i can describe something in 1 word instead of 5 i will do it (unless it is more in-character to be more verbose)

i always write in very close 3rd person POV, so i'm always thinking really hard about how this character is thinking, what they can physically see/hear/feel etc (for example, a character is never thinking about the color of their own eyes. so i wouldn't say like 'cyno blinked his red eyes' if it's in cyno's POV. idk these are the things i think about. it just feels more immersive this way)

make the dialogue feel as natural as possible, while still maintaining control over it as like, a piece of fiction. i often read dialogue again while skipping the narration between lines, just to make sure it still flows naturally. obviously it's not gonna sound 1 to 1 like real life conversation, but at the very least i want readers to feel like they can hear the character's voices

convey emotions through tone, dialogue, and physical cues rather than trying to say it plainly in the narration (i don't do this 100% of the time, but it's a general rule of thumb)

describe the imagery that really matters—what's setting the scene and giving the desired mood? focus on those details instead of cramming the prose with as much description as possible

sometimes you don't need a metaphor. you can just describe the thing itself, and that hits just as hard

what does each character want in a given scene? what's motivating them? does it feel right to give them that thing now, or later?

that is probably too many commas, use a period for god's sake

again, these are just things that motivate my own writing, they're not necessarily things that i think everyone should take to heart. but if it is interesting/helpful for you, then by all means! run away with them! use them, change them, do with them as you see fit. the important thing is the writing. i believe in you! you can do it!!!

this...... is so long what da hell. my bad. i don't even know how this happened. but as you can see i do love talking about writing even though i feel like an imposter all the time. if you have any other questions i am happy to answer them!!! thank you!!!

#answered #anonymous #writing #THIS IS SO LONG........ SORRY

[frenchiefitzhere]

Both of your series give me art zoomies, but I was wondering if you could enlighten someone who plans to start their own va stuff (eventually 😓). What does your recording/editing process look like?

Big caveat: I'm not an expert. Entirely self-taught. All trial and error and YT tutorials. But I'm happy to share what I've learned 🌻 1. Set-up: a. Microphone: Rode NT-1 with a Focusrite Scarlett audio interface b. Software: Garageband (for most things) + Audacity (for fixing things) c. "Studio": I have the microphone on a floor stand in my walk-in closet. I also recently added a sound blanket as a curtain on the outside of my closet. I found it does make a difference which way I point the mic: away from the window that opens to the street.

A fancy microphone matters far less than the recording environment, I have found. It's important to check for things like appliances, fans, vents, etc. that might make extra sound. I'm pretty picky about getting a clean, crisp recording. (For example, if a car passes on the road as I'm recording a line, I do it again.) The reason the closet is a good place to record is because the fabric absorbs the sound. 2. Recording a. I record each character on her own track in GarageBand, and whenever I can, I will record as much content for the same character as I can (i.e. over multiple episodes).

b. It's much easier in the editing process to record A-A-A, B-B-B, C-C-C style for lines rather than A-B-C, A-B-C. In other words, if I mess up a line or think I might want a different take, I just immediately redo it as many times as I have to (rather than recording the whole script in one go, getting to the end, and starting over). c. It's helpful to have a nonverbal signal that shows up as a spike on the recording. (I learned that from Erik's little Audacity tutorial video.) So, if I know I have a section that I want to mark for some reason (ex. I know I messed up, I was doing foley, etc.), I just snap my fingers. d. Foley: If I have to make my own sound effects, I usually do not record them simultaneously as I act. It's much easier to make changes later if they're separate. It's not easy to 'extract' sounds. 3. Editing a. First, I export each track/character from GarageBand to Audacity and run the Noise Reduction and Declick plugins. Then I save those and bring them back into GarageBand. This step gets rid of most of the background noise. b. Then, I start lining everything up and clipping the recordings into regions. I usually make an extra track I call "Discard" so I can line up my back-up options for certain lines. (Usually, I'm just deleting the things I don't want but..sometimes I can't decide so I line one up in the Discard track in the same position/timestamp.) c. I usually add the sound effects and soundscapes at the same time. It's a bit more tedious to line everything up all at once, but much prefer it over going back and adding sound effects later, after I finish the voices. If you just have a few effects, it's doable to add them afterwards, but...timing matters for everything.

I get most of my sound effects and soundscapes from Freesound.org and sometimes I get them from Pixabay. Pixabay is also good for finding royalty-free music. Every once in a while, there's a specific sound I need that I can't find for free. For those, I get a license from Pond5 (which I like because it has a subscription like most stock libraries, but you can also buy what you need à la carte). d. Because I'm used to accessing MIDI for my musical projects, I've also found that that's a fun way to make special effects, especially when I need m a g i c. I just sift through the MIDI library in GarageBand (or use some plug-in instruments) until I find the sound I want, and I can change it up by playing different combinations on the MIDI keyboard. e. I spend a lot of time (probably too much) making micro-adjustments to the Automation. For example, I like the soundscape to fade in at the beginning and out at the end. And I make corrections--mainly Volume and Gain--for the main vocal tracks. That's also my way of keeping the SFX tracks down to just one or two: I can change the volume of each individual section. I'm not sure how helpful it is, but if you're curious, here's a screenshot of the next Ruby audio. (This is an unusually high number of tracks, even for a Ruby project.)

4. Finishing

I do not consider myself a 'video editor'. I like designing the thumbnails, but I wanted something where it would be super easy to make an interesting still image and just stick a sound file with it. Canva is good for that, and it's what I always use now. The only time I broke down and used iMovie to edit was for the Ruby vs. Carol puppet show, and I still finished that up in Canva. These are just the basics, but there are some other tips and tricks when it comes to different effects and stuff. (Musical projects are a completely different method. In a lot of ways, they're easier because ✨tempo✨. I still use GarageBand, and my recording set-up is the same, but how I record and edit is much different.) Note: You do NOT need to have all of this equipment right away to get started. A decent microphone does make a difference, but other than that, everything else is extra.

#frenchie answering asks #echo 🌻 #audio editing #audio roleplay #frenchie makes audio rp #keep the art zoomies going pls #I love the art zoomies

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

(Note: All of these asks are before episode 206 (Season 2 finale) so some may be dated.) 1. [spoilers for the most recent lore Olympus epsiode] if I wasn’t already a LO hater this episode would have been the final nail in the coffin. WHY is kronos, the ancient extremely powerful titan that rules over TIME ITSELF (and most likely the final boss), drooling over oh-so-beautiful Mary Sue Persephone like a dime a dozen perv? It’s such blatant fanfic writing and it makes him so much less intimidating as a villain. seriously what the fuck. literal wattpad moment.

2. having your favorite god show up in lo is the worst feeling in the world 

3. I truly love your thoughts on lore Olympus, I wish RS, instead of making a love/romance story, that she would have made a story based on the actual myths themselves yet make it her own “style”. Greek myths were there to teach lessons. For example, Zeus was loved by the people of Greece but was described as a asshole and cheater never getting a fair punishment for his actions. This was a way to teach the people about unfair power dynamics. RS could have made a story about this, she could have has us hate the characters at first but then, have them grow on us as we go through certain myths, having the characters grow throughout the story. Sorry- I’m rambling but that’s my take on it…

4. Eris from Billy and Mandy has superior charisma and powers change my mind

5. Honestly I’m pretty sure I saw that this is LOs last season so I’d thought I’d read up on it, because even if somethings bad I can usually still read it normally without being invested, but reading Persephones parts are unbearable. It’s so cringy and weird to me. I didn’t really notice that much but then you throw in other characters like Zeus and the most recent goddess shown and they’re so much better. I was really into Zeus’ story but it ended way too short. Maybe it’s just because I’m more into reading stories that have a established bad character and then the story goes on to explain what happened to make them bad, but it’s so much more interesting to me to see Zeus grow up unaware of who he was, raised by by nymphs of all things and try to piece together how he got were he is. The fact he was raised by nymphs but they’re treated as lesser than In the future is so interesting to me. I want more of his story because even if we know how the current Zeus is, the progression of his more meek kind character raised by women nymphs into self absorbed king who doesn’t treat women as people is way more interesting. Idk it just helped me realize how plain and boring Persephone’s story is in comparison when it shouldn’t be.

6. minthe in lore olympus >>>>>>>> hades and persephone in lore olympus

7. I actually really liked Persephone in the beginning of Lore Olympus. She, along with the slightly cool art style, were the reason I even read as far as I did. I thought she was a cool character with a fun personality in the beginning.

I never particularly liked Hades, but I thought he had potential. I thought he was an interesting character and was excited to see him develop.

I never ended up getting that far in, because I often put stuff down and don’t come back because I have a bad memory. But then I read some more about it, and was happy with my decision to stop. I am really disappointed with how the story went. I really liked the characters and their potential in the beginning.

8. I didn’t realize how much the quality of the comic has dropped until I decided to reread the first couple of episodes. Some character’s personalities have completely changed (for the worse..), the writing quality/dialogue is very bad in comparison, and the art quality has dropped tremendously. Not to mention the plot has completely changed. It’s a shame WT forced RS to make LO so long, I think a lot of the issues it has right now wouldn’t be present if the comic was much shorter. 

9. Idk if you still answer anons or anything but it is so funny to me that LO fans (particularly the ones who fastpass) are starting to turn on the comic. I've seen a lot of fans saying they haven't been happy with where the story is going/pacing/things like that. They're especially upset that webtoons is now charging 7 coins vs 5 coins for fastpass. Idk it's just funny to me. These are people who would like fight to the death any time someone dared to criticize Smythe and now they're like wait this actually isn't that good. Oh how the turn tables. 

10. I just started LO again and remembered how engaging it was at the beginning and how each character was unique in a sense. Now it is just a shell of what it was used to and feels like second rate fabrication. Honestly even Zeus became the character that make the most sense and he’s supposed to be the problematic one… He’s honestly the only one criticizing Persephone at this moment and I need that fresh perspective 

#anti lore olympus #anti lo #lore olympus critical #lo critical

[thread-theocracy]

hngh tora do you have any tips on drawing mammon's stupid hair I hate him sm

--🐰

Hello Bunny Anon! I will bestow upon you my sick and twisted visions :D! Mammon's hair is particularly challenging due to its layering but I hope my tips help you in the process!

In my philosophy, I believe that you can draw anything through shapes and simplification!

Hair is always based on the roots it grows out of and flows outwards depending on how it's styled. Here, Mammon's hair is mostly swept and flowing leftward (with some layers poking out). After defining the basic shapes and simplifying his bangs, I slowly added in details, focusing on the roots. I think with his hair, in particular, line variation helps a lot to show its fluffiness!

I also recommend looking at other styles in the canon! Q Hashimoto's older works and the SSR card artist simplify his hair a bit and it's easier to look past all of the detailed linework!

Additionally, above is a video illustrating how I draw his hair!

My Personal Workflow: Sideburns -> Bangs -> Contour/Silhouette -> Details/Fluffs!

I always find it easy to draw the beginning and end of a piece of the hair and then fill in the middle! Additionally, I think focusing on the basic shape + contour first helps me easily define what I exactly want in a drawing and look past all the intense details.

Here's the still image of the final piece! I hope this helped you at least a little bit!

I cannot express this enough, but it's totally okay to make mistakes and deviate from canon! It's all about enjoying yourself! Hope you have fun drawing this cute guy :]!

#ask #🐰 anon #anon #mammon #my art #obey me mammon #om mammon #obm #long post #:smirk emoji: i hope this helped you guys out!! #im not sure if im any good at explaining any technical part of the art process!! but if anything I think compiling how other artists draw #certain things and absorbing them into your own style helps a lot <3 #I literally have a gigantic inspo board to absorb from >:] #i walk into my evil little lab and put up my evil little digital corkboard of artists on my hit(love)list #esp with hair it’s gotten easier for me over time after absorbing so many powers :]c I am evil hehe

[aobakukkii]

✬Bokuto Relationship Headcanons✬

Bokuto x Gender Neutral Reader

(+small male reader bonus part at the end because the guys deserve it)

✬

Just really fluffy stuff for you and best boy

✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬

- Having someone like Bokuto as your partner will be an incredibly rewarding experience, if you are willing to adapt to his antics. He actively seeks out fun, excitement and chances to grow and expects you to be his personal portable power bank on his journey. For him, one must always try to become the most ideal version of oneself and this also involves moving someone out of their comfort zone because boy does not like feeling restrained. He picks up cues on how to handle people extremely well and makes sure that both of you feel happy and secure on your path. Most of the time Bokuto radiates positive energy and hype, so his s/o really does not have to worry and just put faith into his skills.

- Bokuto likes to express his feelings through physical affection. He is awfully touchy with people he is close with and his s/o gets to feel it double. Bokuto is build for the greatest of cuddles and hugs and he just finds it so easy and convenient to hold his s/o close or touch any given part of their body throughout the day to say “I love you and I deeply care about you”, although his s/o could always ask him to say it out loud and he would shower them with sweet-nothings and compliments.

In return, he wants his s/o to accept his affection, return it in their way and finally their attention. He’s not per se the most jealous person (only to a certain extent) and completely understand that sometimes people need their alone time, but he’s self-absorbed to a degree that he wants and needs to be the center of your love and attention at least a little bit everyday. Otherwise he can become really whiny. To stop him just do something (in his eyes) really cute and everything is forgiven.

- One word that Bokuto does not know of is shame. He wants to show off and attention and this has an impact on how he displays PDA when you don’t stop him. He prides himself a lot on having the best s/o ever and sadly won’t accept nothing as an option because he can’t help himself. He is fine with keeping it on a low level like holding hands, leaning onto each other or throwing his arm around your shoulder, but if you let him go as he pleases him he may just make you sit on his lap or pick you up and spin you around once you guys meet.

- Contrary to what some might think, Bokuto does appreciates relaxed dates to recharge. The most common quality time with him is chilling at one of your places after work/university/school and just play video games or binge shows. However daily responsibilities won’t stop him from dragging you out at night for some “late-night adventures” like getting some food and/or taking a walk and talking about random stuff while appreciating the privacy and beauty of the dark so hopefully you’re into that as well.

He regularly checks for new or popular spots in and around town for you guys to visit on your days off. A popular restaurant, local sightseeing spots, an interesting exhibition, any amusement park (probably his favorite date spot) or some escape room, he wants to see them all. He also really loves to travel to near and far with you and take cheesy, but cute, couple selfies. However his schedule sadly limits his abilities to do so often besides local stuff and short trips.

- When you guys are apart, especially for a longer period of time, he quite literally trashes your phone with the amount of notifications and videos he sends you throughout the day. He begs you to install Snapchat (if you don’t already have it) and vlogs you his training, things you might find interesting and bad jokes in hopes of making you smile. Speaking of bad jokes, expect a lot of memes for another cheap laugh. If you’re somewhat responsible you should not produce content at a similar rate (you both need to get something done after all), but as long as you reply ever so often you make his day.

- In a relationship with Bokuto, you will receive a lot of support but also have to give a lot of support. He feels like it’s his responsibility to bring you back up and make you feel special and that’s exactly what he needs in return. He is without a doubt resilient and some kisses, hugs and compliments can get him back on track most of the time, but he couldn’t handle if the person he trusts the most does not have his back or rejects him when he needs them.

Nevertheless, his style of love involves a lot of spoiling his s/o rotten and if he gets spoiled in return, you should be well prepared for possible hardships.

- Have I mentioned that he is perfect if you take care of him? He won’t have a problem with including you in his friend-circle (his teammates and you have a lot of passive contact through his vlogs anyway) or inserting himself into yours. He’s ready to indulge in interests you might have as long as he can spend some time with you. It’s pretty easy to get him hooked onto something as long as you love it.

- It’s really important for him that try to cheer him on during his games and that you are active enough to play at least a bit of volleyball with him (not like you could keep up with him otherwise). He’s a patient teacher, but you will probably learn the most about being a setter for countless demonstrations of his straights. If you already play volleyball at any level really, he’s even more satisfied. The experience of playing with you is one of the biggest confidence boosts he can get for his games and he's determined to use the techniques he showed you to win! Another big boost is to wear his merch or even better his spare training clothes (or option 3: both) when you attend the games in person. Show others that you're his #1 fan!

✬

Fanboy BONUS~

Warning: Suggestive, but nothing graphic

- If you guys speak English (don’t worry, he passed his English exams), expect him to use surprisingly creative yet lame bro pick-up lines. You just know that he practices those with Kuroo.

- Remember the show off part? With a boyfriend he adds an “own the haters” attitude on top of it. When gushing about you, he can’t stop saying how HIS BOYFRIEND is the most fantastic thing in existence.  He’s maybe a bit overbearing sometimes, but his motivation is just so pure that barely anyone minds.

- He’s a top, deal with it. You can learn it the easy or the hard way, but he will assert it in your relationship in any way he wants.

#bokuto x reader #bokuto x male reader #haikyuu x reader #bokuto imagines #haikyuu x male reader #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu headcanon #haikyuu x you #bokuto x you #haikyuu #koutarou bokuto #himbo #haikyuu x y/n #bokuto #haikyuu fluff #fluff

[itsjustmyfantasyroom]

Unlikely Lovers Chapter 9

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Thank you again for all the comments and likes for this series. @beccabarba​ and I adore Nick so much, and there is so much love he misses out on.

Warnings: Based on a scene in Mayan’s. Talks of SVU style case. female receiving. Nick being all cute and soft. Slight swearing.

WC: 1807

Enjoy x

When you transferred to SVU, you had been warned that some cases would get under your skin. This was nothing new, over in Cold Case you’d often been caught up in a fight for justice, often for victims many years gone. You’d been able to see wrong-doers who thought they’d got away with it, punished families finally given some peace. Even when you’d been back in uniform, you’d been known for both your tenacity and your compassion.

SVU was a whole new ball game though. To see victims struggling to prove a crime had even been committed in the first place, the pain of being disbelieved and gaslighted, the brutality of the defence counsel questions, the haunted look in some of the victim’s eyes as they attended a line up or looked through a photo array. The everyday cruelty you found yourself dealing with. And the child victims were even worse. Liv had told you, so had Fin, that it never really got better, no matter how many years you worked with these cases, but you found ways to deal with it. Usually by putting the perps away. Sometimes just by offering comfort and self-respect to the victims. You know Nick still found it hard, and he’d even said he didn’t think he wanted to work SVU for his whole career, because he never wanted to grow numb to these crimes, or get used to it. You’d had long talks with him about it, into the night, and he told you how worried he was as a father, knowing how cruel the world could be. You knew he worried especially about Zara, and he would grow angry when you talked about the gendered nature of much of the danger in the world.

So, when a case came in that involved a girl of Zara’s age, you were glad that Amanda and Fin took it. Soon, however, it became clear that the girl’s case was just the tip of the iceberg, and you were drawn into a lot of investigation, doing a lot of desk-based research and due diligence, while Amanda and Fin were interviewing suspects and witnesses. Nick was tied up in a court case, on Barba’s witness list as the detective who had heard a victim’s disclosure at Mercy hospital, but expecting a hard time from the defence. Defence attorneys loved to pick apart his record, his undercover indiscretion and his previous issues with anger. You’d asked him if he wanted you in court to watch, but he’d said he’d rather not. So, while Nick was distracted with prep with Barba – never his favourite activity – and feeling stressed about the trial, you were increasingly drawn into the case, helping Fin and Amanda.

Of course, the trial was only a few days. But you were still working on the case when Nick was all done – without too much pain – and ready to relax with you in the evenings again. It was way past dinner time when he came into the squad room with a takeout bag in his hand and put it down in front of you, right on top of the papers you were reading.

“Nick? What’s this?” You looked up at him, slightly irritated to be interrupted.

“It’s Lo Mein, egg rolls and Chinese broccoli. For two,” he said, simply, raising his eyebrows as if he was daring you to argue. “I know you’ve not eaten today.”

“Not true,” you protested, thinking back through the day.

“A dounut for breakfast and a power bar from the vending machine don’t count.” He shook his head in mock disapproval, unmoved by your frown. “Look, I get it. You can work all night if it’s what you need. But you’ve got to take breaks, baby, got to rest. And if you can’t look after yourself, I’ll do it for you.”

The tension in you softened and you gave him a tired smile. “You know, they say cops shouldn’t date each other, but you get it. It’s one of the things that makes this work so well, Nick. You don’t find it weird that I want to keep working.”

“No. But I’m going to make sure you’re fed.” He grinned. “Come on, let’s eat. Then you can decide if it’s time to take a break and come back to mine with me.”

“I think I’m too tired for what you’re thinking of…” you gave him a knowing look.

“I’m thinking of holding you in my arms and making sure you sleep.” He reached out a hand and stroked your head, giving you a little wink. “Now, do you want an egg roll? Before they go cold?”

You did go home with Nick that night, getting a few hours’ sleep before your phone rang at dawn, Amanda telling you they’d got a new lead. The development only led to more intense work: Cold Case had prepared you well for combing through records and documents, and Fin and Amanda really valued your attention to detail. All the time, you thought about the little girl who had started this case, who looked so much like Zara. The next night you slept in the break room, and the following night you crawled back to your own place for a few hours, apologising to Nick by text, promising to see him soon. You missed him, but you were preoccupied.

By the following day, Barba was certain there was enough evidence for an indictment and you were just tying up loose ends. But you wanted to be sure, since the perp was part of a criminal circle, that there was no one out there to carry on hurting more kids. You took some case files home, to read through and spot any discrepancies. You invited Nick to come back to yours, since you were missing him, and you’d managed to take your mind off the case for long enough to cook dinner with him – a tomato and pasta dish that was one of your specialities – and then Nick had gone to take a shower.

While he was in the shower, a sudden thought came to you about the timeline of one of the crimes, and you picked up one of the files to have another read through. Mindlessly, you went to slouch on your bed, legs bent up and file perched on them, eyes already on the details of the document. The smell of Nick’s eucalyptus and mint shower gel teased around the edges of your senses, but you were absorbed in the detail of your reading again.

You were suddenly aware of the bathroom door opening and closing, and Nick wandering slowly into the bedroom, dressed in just a towel. He stopped just inside the door, giving you a long look, heavy with intent.

“Nick?” you demanded, raising an eyebrow as he came closer. “Good shower?”

He ignored your question. Looking him up and down, his skin still damp from the shower, a white towel wrapped low around his hips, you felt the stirrings of arousal low in your body. “Whatcha reading?” he asked, knowing the answer perfectly well.

“I was just checking something,” you said, shrugging.

“The case is nearly done, right?” he asked.

“Yes,” you admitted.

“So, you have time to take a real break.”

“Yes,” you said softly. He was looking at you evenly. He took another step closer and reached for the file you were still holding, pulling it out of your hands and off your lap. You let him, watching as he closed it and put it on the bedside table.

“I think it’s my job to make sure you do,” he said in a low tone, turning back to you.

His eyes were intense on you. He took a step closer to the bed, his right hand going to lean on your pillow that you were leaning against and as he went to get onto the bed, Nick placed his hand on the inside of your right knee and pushed your legs wide apart, moving to settle between them. You took a deep breath to try and control the overwhelming arousal that was pulsing through you. You melted into the bed, sliding down slightly as Nick hovered above you and he licked his top lip before his lips crashed on yours, his tongue darting into your mouth, your hand on his pecs squeezing them slightly, as Nick rolled his towel covered hips into your covered core.

Mid kiss, you felt one of Nick’s hands slide up the side of your thigh, up your sleep shorts leg and run along the edge of your panties. You gasped into his mouth when you felt his fingers brush up along the edge of your lower lips. You broke the kiss, your jaw going slack and you moaned loud, pushing your hips into his fingers. Nick’s face didn’t soften, his brows still frowned, but his eyes soft and loving. Nick’s fingers plunged into you, two at first, thrusting them in and out of you, before he added a third, a welcome stretch, and you shivered when his thumb met your sensitive pearl.

Your hands came up to grab onto his shoulders, your nails leaving half-moon indents on his beautiful tanned skin, and he slightly hissed from the sting,

“Nick-I…” you groaned, “I’m-“

Nick narrowed his eyes at you and thrusted his fingers into you harder and deeper, curling them up to hit your sweet spot and rubbing circles with his thumb. Your eyes fluttered shut as incoherent words left you and your body was covered in goosebumps, when you were pushed over the edge, wave after wave of hot arousal flooding all your senses. Your eyes fluttered open a little bit later, after you mostly settled your heavy breathing, meeting Nick’s face biting his bottom lip and a playful eyebrow raised. He didn’t take his eyes off yours as he pulled his fingers out of you after he sat back on his haunches.

You sat up quickly and grabbed his wrist, wrapping your fingers around it, you reached over with your other hand pulling on the towel and it fell off from around his waist, his extremely hard, weeping cock standing to attention. You reached down with your free hand wrapping your hand around him, moving it up and down, and you brought his fingers to your lips, pushing them into your mouth, licking them clean while you jerked him off.

Nick’s head fell back, groans spilling from his mouth. You pulled his fingers out of your mouth with a pop, kissing the tips of them and then reaching down with that hand to cup Nick’s balls,

“Fuck, Y/N…”

Nick opened his eyes, and his hands came up to rest on your cheeks,

“You are so good to me Nick, always looking after me. Now let me look after you.”

Tags: @wanniiieeee @lovebishoplosamiguelgalindo @randofando-spoonie  @alwaysachorusgirl  @amorestevens  @harryssxnflwr @teamsladsandgents @thatesqcrush @storiesofsvu @skittle479 @bisexual-dreamer02 @glimmerglittergirl @witches-unruly-heart @berniesilvas @ben-c-group-therapy @elektriknachosss

#nick amaro #nick amaro x reader #nick amaro x you #nick amaro smut #detective nicolas amaro #nicolas amaro #nick amaro x #nick amaro and reader #law and order svu #SVU fanfiction #SVU FANDOM #svu fan #svu x reader

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #134: Kiyohime (Lancer)

Our first summer is nearing its end, but we’re not finished quite yet. Today we’re building Kiyohime once more! Stalk a certain someone, and set ablaze anyone who’d dare come between you two!

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: Watch out WATCH OUT! RKO OUTTA NOWHERE!

Race and Background

Like the other summer servants we’re not changing too much here. Kiyohime’s still a Dragonborn, though her exact color is up to you. If you’d prefer a flavor match, go red or gold. If you want an aesthetic match, go white. Regardless, you get +2 Strength and +1 Wisdom (thanks, Tasha), a Breath Weapon that deals damage based on your color, and Resistance to that damage as well. (Fire for red and gold, cold for white.) You can use this once per short rest, and its saving throw is 8 + your proficiency + your constitution modifier.

You’re also still an Urban Bounty Hunter. Your actual background is rather vague in-game, and this gives you perks for stalking people, giving you proficiency with Insight and Stealth. 

Ability Scores

Kiyohime’s a bit of a paradox thanks to how DND groups things in their stats. On one hand, being a good stalker requires good perception, a.k.a., good Wisdom. On the other, she’s got a madness enhancement. Fortunately she’s a lancer now, so there’s less reason to dump that stat. Second is Strength. Your naginata technique could use some work, but you’re enthusiastic, and that’s what counts. After that is Dexterity, because you’re quick on your feet. Your Constitution isn’t amazing, but you’re normally a glass cannon anyway. Your Intelligence isn’t amazing but it’s summer so it’s not like anyone’s going to notice. Finally, dump Charisma. It turns out constantly being on fire makes you unpopular in the middle of a heat wave, who knew?

Class Levels

1. Ranger 1: We’ll get your swimsuit on soon, but first: stalking! First level rangers learn a Favored Enemy, giving you advantage on survival and intelligence checks against them, plus an extra language. Grab Human to better track down your master, and Aasimar to keep tabs on another member of the My Room Trio. I know you have a truce going, but it’s best to play it safe. You’re also Canny, doubling your proficiency with Survival checks for all occasions, not just your favored prey.

Speaking of, you get proficiency with Strength and Dex saves, as well as Athletics, Survival and Perception, all going towards our final goal of becoming the ultimate stalker.

2. Monk 1: Your stalking expertise makes you so observant that you don’t even need armor to protect yourself. Your Unarmored Defense gives you an AC based on your dexterity and wisdom. 14 still isn’t amazing, but we’ll work on it. You also get Martial Arts, making your monk attacks (unarmed attacks and all weapons monks are proficient with) deal at least 1d4 damage, and growing as you level in the class. You can also use dexterity instead of strength when attacking, but you’re a stronk (strong monk), so we won’t be doing that. Also, when you make a monk attack as an action, you can make an unarmed attack as a bonus action. Give it your all, and I’m sure Anchin will notice you!

3. Ranger 2: Second level rangers learn a fighting style, and Dueling will help you deal solid damage with your spear while leaving your hand open for spells, dealing +2 damage with one-handed weapons. Oh, right, you also get Spells this level, they use your Wisdom to cast.

Absorb Elements will help you add a little fire to your attacks right away if you went the white dragon route, and Hunter’s Mark deals extra damage once per turn on your target, and also helps you stalk them no matter who they are, giving advantage on perception and survival checks to find them.

4. Ranger 3: If we want to get serious about this stalking business, we’ve got to turn to the conclave literally named after it. As a Gloom Stalker, you are a Dread Ambusher, adding your wisdom to your initiative. You also start each combat with an extra 10�� of movement your first turn. Also for one turn only, you can make an extra weapon attack, if it hits you deal an extra 1d8 damage.

That’s not all! Your Umbral Sight helps your dumb dragonborn eyes see in the dark, with 60 feet of darkvision. You’re also invisible to other creatures with darkvision when in darkness. That room is cramped at night, it’s hard to find a hiding space.

Like any good ranger, you get Primeval Awareness, burning a spell slot to sense aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead within 1 mile of you. It’s not super in canon, but keeping tags on the competition isn’t a bad idea.

Finally, spells: Searing Smite is a longer burn, for when you really want your opponent to suffer. You also get Disguise Self as a conclave spell.

5. Ranger 4: Use this Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Wisdom for stronger spells and better ambushes.

6. Ranger 5: Fifth level rangers get an Extra Attack each attack action, meaning you can now hit someone four times on your first turn: 2 from your normal attacks, 1 from dread ambusher, and 1 from martial arts. Nobody can say you’re not putting in effort.

You also learn second level spells this level! Locate Object is the closest thing to magical tracking we’re getting, but it’s fine. It’s not like Anchin would ever get rid of that bracelet you gave him, right? You also learn Rope Trick, allowing you to literally pop out of thin air when master shows up.

7. Monk 2: Your tracking’s solid, but we’re not that fast. Thankfully, the second level of monk fixes that with Unarmored Movement, giving you extra speed as you level up, as long as you don’t wear armor. You also get Ki Points equal to your monk level, which you can use to attack twice, dash, disengage, or dodge as a bonus action. They recharge each short rest.

8. Monk 3: You’re supposed to be Kiyohime, but we’ve been disturbingly short on fire so far. Let’s fix that. As a Four Elements monk, you become a Disciple of the Elements, giving you two elemental disciplines that you can spend ki points to activate. Elemental Attunement is free, using your action to perform small elemental effects like sensory effects, lighting candles, warming objects, and shaping elements. If you’re creative you can have fun with it, it’s basically prestidigitation. You also learn Sweeping Cinder Strike, spending 2 ki points to cast Burning Hands using your wisdom.

You can also Deflect Missiles as a reaction, reducing the pain arrows can cause you, and even letting you throw them back if you block all of it. Finally, your Ki-Fueled Attacks let you attack as a bonus action if you spend ki as your main action.

9. Monk 4: I’m allergic to odd numbers, so we’re using this ASI to become a Piercer. Your dexterity rounds out, and once per turn you can re-roll a die of piercing damage. You also deal an extra die of damage when making critical hits with piercing weapons. Turns out, you should use the pointy end. What will they think of next?

10. Monk 5: This extra attack doesn’t stack, but you do learn how to make Stunning Strikes, spending a ki point after attacking a foe to force them to make a constitution save or get stunned for a round. At least it’s not a complete dud.

11. Monk 6: Sixth level monks get Ki Empowered Strikes, making their unarmed attacks magical against resistances. You also learn a new elemental discipline: Clench of the North Wind lets you trap someone in a giant bell by casting Hold Person on them.

12. Ranger 6: Sixth level rangers get one more set of Favored Enemies: Grung finishes off the bedroom trio, but that still leaves you with another humanoid of your choice. You also become Roving, giving you an extra 5 feet of movement speed, as well as a climbing and swimming speed. Now there’s nowhere to run.

13. Monk 7: Evasion seems pretty common in these builds, huh? You probably know the drill by now: dex saves deal half damage on failures, 0 on successes. You also get Stillness of Mind, letting you end an effect that’s frightening or charming you as an action. You only have eyes for Master, after all.

14. Monk 8: Use this ASI to make your Strength even higher for better stabbings.

15. Monk 9: With your Unarmored Movement Improvement, you can now run up walls and over water. Okay, now there’s nowhere to run.

16. Monk 10: Our final level of monk gives you a Purity of Body that makes you immune to disease and poison. Your internal body temperature’s probably pretty high. Plus, you’re saving yourself for master, no germs allowed. 

17. Ranger 7: Back in gloom stalker, your Iron Mind gives you proficiency in Wisdom saves. If someone tried to control your mind, that might stop you from killing protecting Anchin, how horrible!

You also learn Pass Without Trace, for advanced stalking techniques.

18. Ranger 8: Use your last ASI to max out your Wisdom for the best survival and perception checks. You’re also Fleet of Foot, letting you ignore nonmagical difficult terrain and plants, as well as giving you advantage on saves against magical plants. Crawling through tight spaces is no problem for you, you practically own the vents in Chaldea.

19. Ranger 9: Ninth level rangers get third level spells. Elemental Weapon lets you add a bit of firepower to your spear and make it magical, while Fear is just your general effect on people.

20. Ranger 10: Our final level makes you Tireless, giving you temporary hp as an action six times per long rest. You also remove levels of exhaustion on short rests now.

You can also Hide in Plain Sight, creating camouflage over a minute that adds +10 to your stealth checks as long as you don’t move from your position. Being a true stalker requires patience, and an intimate knowledge of your prey’s habits. Also, a lot of mud, surprisingly. Covering yourself is easy. Covering the rest of the hallway so you’re disguised? That’s the hard part.

Pros:

With doubled proficiency, a maxed out wisdom stat, and advantage, you make for a pretty good stalker. Track down the love of your life, and don’t take no for an answer!

Finding them is only half the game- the other half is mobility. You’ve got 55 feet of movement speed (65 on the first turn), and you can climb, swim, or just walk on water to reach your goals. Most people can’t outspeed you, and almost nothing can get out of your reach.

Speaking of first turns, you can make five attacks in that first turn of combat. Combine that with something like Elemental Weapon and your already prodigious spear skills and you can deal some serious damage before they even know what hit them.

Cons:

For a melee fighter your HP isn’t amazing, especially with your AC that only reaches 17 by the end of the build. Stay light on your feet, you’ll need it.

Semi-related, but a lot of your spells require concentration, meaning you can’t have them all up at once and you might waste a slot if you get sucker punched after casting.

Monks like bonus actions, Rangers like bonus actions, but you certainly don’t like bonus actions. Basically, you have way too much stuff to keep up with that all use your bonus actions to do so. It’s rare that “too many options” is a bad thing, but here we are.

#Fate and Phantasms #FGO #Kiyohime #D&D 5e #DND #Monk #Ranger

[junosartsthetic]

Rohan Headcanons

Here’s eight pages of Rohan shit I wrote late at night. I should stop doing that. But alas, I won’t.

Okey

HeS a lil shit

That’s canon

But

He’s also kinda 🥺🥺

Heavens door also is 🥺🥺

if Rohan isn’t in the mood to give affection heavens door will gladly hug you for hOUrs

like

It’ll just nestle up against your chest and sorta,,,, fall asleep almost?

N ur like Rohan it’s asleep on my tits

N he’s like,,,, god I wish that were me…. I mean,,,, uhh,,, fuckin sucks 4 you guess you’ll just suffer

he likes drawing you

lol sketches on napkins n such

He just likes lookin at ur face

🥺🥺🥺🥺

He also has a pen somewhere lost in his hair

He keeps it there just in case his other ones get lost

Somehow

Even tho he’s got so fuCKin many

Also he lovEs learning things!

He’ll pick up a book about anything and read it just because

He’ll try to impress u with weird n random facts

Most of the time it doesn’t work

he likes when you mess with his hair

On the outside he’s like

DOnt fuckin touCh me but on the inside he’s like,,,, oooo head scritches r niceeeee

He believes he has an exceptional sense of style and doesn’t take criticism

He wears silk pajamas

But only sometimes

99% of the time he sleeps in his clothes because he passes out from exhaustion mid-drawing

Rohan also likes writing

Just lil things

Poems n such

He’s rather sentimental about certain things

He likes to go to libraries even though he’s got a bunch of books at home because he believes it allows him to better absorb the information he needs

He hates off brand things

It’s a maJor pet peeve

“What the hell is this?”

“What do you mean? They’re pop tarts?”

“THESE ARE NATURALLY FLAVORED FROSTED BROWN SUGAR CINNAMON TOASTER PASTRIES GREAT VALUE BRAND™️!”

“Yeah, pop tarts.”

“JAHDHWHXUWUDUWHDGWG”

He likes to wear slippers

Bunny slippers

They’re cute

He got heavens door a lil pair of them

Gotta match, ya know?

He picks at his eyelashes when he’s nervous

You gotta tell him to stop or else he’s gonna have to wear falsies

That makes him quit for a little while at least

He once accidentally stabbed himself with a pen but refused to go to Josuke for help

He’s still got a scar from it

his house has a basement but he’s never gone down to it

Too scary

He just says he has no use for it

Lies!

He’s a scaredy-cat

He can play quite a few instruments

He can also sing

He sings in the shower

It’s not half bad but his song choices tend to be awful

“STOP FUCKING SINGING ‘I KISSED A GIRL’ IN THE SHOWER OVER AND OVER! ITS SEVEN IN THE MORNING AND IM SICK OF IT!”

He’s got an embarrassing tattoo somewhere

Probably something stupid like a butterfly on his calf

He pretends it doesn’t exist

He used to read random people’s memories with heavens door when bored or uninspired but after a mortifying memory he read he stopped doing that

He once had a coo-coo clock but smashed it because it was getting on his nerves

he hates the sound of gum chewing

It’s the worst™️ to him

he sometimes forgets to shower

Nasty

But when he does shower it is extra™️

He takes reaaaaally long showers

And sings, as established

what the fuck does he even do in there?

Idfk

It’s a secret

He orders takeout because he can’t fucking cook

He’s trash at it

He tries

But he just can’t do it

he tends to make faces when he draws

It’s hilarious

He once drank 17 five hour energies to see what would happen

He doesn’t remember what happened

He awoke 2 days later in the hospital

he enjoys playing scrabble but only because everyone who plays against him ends up crying in anger when they lose

He owns a bunch of record players for the aesthetic™️

Doesn’t use them like ever

Owns like 3 records that he will play once in a blue moon

Everything he does is for the aesthetic™️ tbh

He likes to be held

But only under certain circumstances 

Do nOT touch when he is in the middle of drawing something intense

He will turn around and sMAck you with his pen (on purpose or accident? Idk)

He’s clingy

He’s needy

He’s whiny

He’s like a puppy

But with the ego of a cat

He’ll be actively spooning you but assures you he is nOt having the time of his life

Eventually he admits he likes hugs n human contact

But at first it’s like trying to give a cat a bath

Yikes™️

Speaking of baths… bath time!

He likes baths

They’re nice

Bubble baths

They help him think 

And he likes to mess with the bubbles

He likes the smell of candles too

You normally buy him candles in special occasions 

He loves them

Most of the time

Occasionally he will despise the scent but keep the candle around anyway because he feels bad throwing away a gift

Well, a gift from his s/o

Anyone else he’ll tOss that sucker into the trash

The gift— not the gift giver

Maybe

If it’s Josuke— he’s in the dumpster 

Uhhhh

Slightly nsfw but uhh,,,

Boob stress balls?

Nice

It’s a win-win situation tbh

soft, moldable, attached to someone he loves

Amazing

You’ve gotten used to it tbh

Whatever calms him down

Also he likes when you kiss his forehead before going to bed

He’ll be staying up to finish something and you’ll kiss him good night and leave your chapstick on his forehead and he just—

Makes him feel loved

He won’t admit it though

you usually initiate the affection

Sometimes he’ll hold your hand or something in public

In private he’ll be more outgoing but deny it means anything

“What, no I didn’t mean to touch your ass it was an accident”

“You’re still touching my ass”

“It’s still an accident”

you two also get in realllly stupid arguments 

“Did you open this door?”

“What?”

“Did you open it?”

“Why would I open the basement door?”

“Did you?”

“No!”

“Liar!”

“Why would I lie about that?”

he’s a blanket hog

Also loves his pillows

He wears a lil sleep mask to bed

It’s cute

he unironically has a hydro flask

It keeps his water cold

He finds the jingling of the ice in it annoying though

I think he wouldn’t enjoy digital art because he can’t feel the paper and the ink and it’s not as personal

he likes eating ramen

Even though it’s terrible for him

If you look closely there are little stains on his papers

It’s ramen broth

But it’s convenient and he can’t cook for shit so it’s what he eats

He acts all refined but he’s not if you look closely

He’s got a reallly messy closet I bet

He tries to keep organized but it’s difficult!

He likes drawing birds

Idk why

Birb

He’s got a framed picture of you on his desk

He looks at it when he’s feeling stressed

It usually calms him down and gets him ready to work

you’ve nude modeled for him a couple times

Half the time he’s not even sketching

You don’t care though

Seeing his suave facade and expression be replaced with red cheeks and stifling coughs is cute

By the end you just give him a kiss and then it leads to—

The nsfw is for later

anyway

He’s tried to get you to draw

But anything you draw he criticizes so harshly that you’ve sworn off showing him your drawings 

You know he’s doing it to help you

But it still hurts

you’ll sometimes help shading things in his manga

It’s the only thing he trusts you to do

But only on minor panels

And in small patches

But you still get credit as a background artist so you’re happy

You paint his nails a lot

He doesn’t mind

his favorite color is a dark green like his hair, though he also enjoys gold to match his stand

#this also hasn't been looked over #so uhhh good luck reading it #jjba #jojos #rohan kishibe #rohan #rohan x reader #rohan kishibe x reader #jjba part 4 #jojos bizarre adventure diamond is unbreakable #jjba diu #jjba x reader

[goatsandgangsters]

do you have any writing tips pls 🥺🥺

Ohhh big question! I’m flattered that you want my writing thoughts, anon!

So. Are we talking about tips on getting through writer’s block/sitting down and actually writing? The mechanics of writing itself, the individual sentences and word choices? Developing a plot? Characters or dialogue? Drafting and revising? If there’s a specific part of the process that’s angsting you, let me know, I’m happy to say more on that. For now I’ll try and touch on as much as broadly as I can.

Writing is a process, a craft, a practice. A joy and a trial. The act of hitting some keys with your fingers but also making something out of nothing. Which is to say—it comes with practice, it can be frustrating, it can be rewarding, and however you’re feeling about writing, you’re not the only one.

Inspiration/actually sitting down to write:

I find that writing is like exercise. Yes, in the sense that it takes practice to build up those muscles, but MORE IMPORTANTLY writing, like exercise, makes me groan and go “but that’s haaaaard I don’t wanna doooooo it, what if I just siiiit here insteaaaad.” And then I grudgingly get started. And I start to get into the rhythm. And then “oh goddammit. This DOES feel good.” I’ve still never experienced a runner’s high, but I have experienced “no I don’t wanna write. well I guess I’ll write. oh hey I’m writing. oH HEY!! I’M WRITING!!!” Sometimes you just need to push yourself through to start.

That said, sometimes you don’t need to push yourself to start. Sometimes it’s better to let something sit. It’s okay to pivot to another project if you’ve stalled out on one. I saw a post once that called this “crop rotation” and I think that’s true. Sometimes the challenge is getting started, but even when you can’t get started, the time away can be valuable, because it allows you to return with fresh ideas and fresh ideas.

I love using Fighter’s Block for when I can’t get started. It curbs my perfectionist tendency to write the same first sentence over and over again by forcing me to write consistently and quickly without refreshing tumblr between every sentence. Once I’ve got a paragraph, I’ve got enough of a rhythm going to keep writing on my own. You can use it for longer stretches of time, but I find a couple rounds of 200 word count goals is enough to get me through the inertia of getting started.

Read a lot:

Reading makes you a better writer. You will absorb aspects of the craft in the process—sentence structure, rhythm, plot beats.

Then think about what you read. Think about what works. Think about what doesn’t. Notice sentences that you love—not by meaning but by sound. Think about how the story is told, how the plot elements come together, how the themes operate, how the narrative is structured. Did the flashbacks works or were they superfluous? Did you love the metaphors and descriptive language, or did it feel vague and unhelpful? What parts grabbed you, what parts didn’t?

Being able to identify what does and doesn’t work in someone else’s writing will help you apply it to your own. It will also help you craft your own voice and style.

Use writing tips as a challenge, not a rule:

We’ve all seen those “writing rules” like don’t use adverbs, don’t say feels or thinks, don’t say said. Never listen to writing “rules”; instead, see them as a writing “challenge.” You don’t need to jettison every single adverb or permanently strike certain words from your writing. Sometimes, an adverb is the best word. And sometimes it isn’t.

These tips are useful, but not as hard-and-fast rules that must be obeyed every time under every circumstance. Instead, use them as tools to challenge you to think about your writing in new ways, to see if there’s a better way to say something (and maybe there is and maybe there isn’t), and to bring a freshness to the process.

I actually do really like to challenge myself to minimize feels and thinks. “He feels sick to his stomach” will pretty much always be less powerful than “His stomach lurches.” But sometimes feels and thinks work better, either because I need quick exposition or because it specifically emphasizes a thought or a feeling as perception. Again, it’s not about rules. It’s about challenging your habits to breathe new life into your writing. 

Revising tools:

if you’re a tactile person and you own a printer (which I am but I don’t), I like to print out a draft and sit on the floor with a pen and a highlighter and highlight anything that sounds clunky or that doesn’t quite fit. Then I massage those specific sentences, looking for other ways to say them, and narrow in on those parts rather than trying to edit everything overall.

The hemingway app method (as long as you know you’re allowed to disagree with it) can be good to catch certain things. Sometimes I use it and think “yeah that sentences IS too long and awkward, I should rephrase it” and sometimes I think “nah, that sentence is long but it’s controlled and it works.” Sometimes it’s useful in pointing out that I used the word just way too many times; sometimes I’ll keep my adverbs thanks.

Retyping the entire thing in another word document is another revising trick. So is reading the entire think out loud to yourself (your actual ear will catch awkward rhythms or typos that your inner voice glossed over).

(Note: I don’t do all of these all the time. I revise with whichever method I happen to be feeling at the moment)

Character interactions:

Overly expository character interactions are probably my #1 writing pet peeve. People don’t say what they mean. They don’t calmly and carefully and eloquently articulate exactly what they feel. If your characters are conversing in well-practiced monologues where they’re able to objectively analyze and express their exact feelings, it’s not believable. It’s also not fun for the reader, because Explanations of Emotions are being used as a stand-in for actual emotions.

Example: You don’t have a breakdown because you’re stressed about losing your job and you had a fight with your sister and you’re also the protagonist who has to save the entire world. You have a breakdown because you can’t find your fucking pen. It was here a moment ago, you know it was, you put it THERE because that’s where you PUT things but now it’s gone and the pen is gone and you can’t even find the fucking pen so how are you going to save the world and everything is going to SHIT because you can’t FIND your goddamn pEN.

Your character is probably not even an expert on their own feelings, let alone able to objectively explain them to someone else. There are things we can’t make ourselves say out loud. We deflect. We put all the big feelings into small things. We squeeze someone’s hand and say come on, let’s make dinner because you can’t say everything is going to be okay I promise you and I love you so much and one day you’ll see that it’ll all work out.

What are your characters saying with their body? What are they saying with what’s left unsaid? And when are they saying something Else that’s really about Them? (“You did what you had to do,” character A assures character B, because character A’s own guilt weighs on them. They’ll never say this out loud. They don’t even need to specifically think “just like my own guilt, which weighs on me.” We know it by what they say, about other people and about other things, because these are the times when you’re really talking about yourself)

Also, the size of the emotion displayed does not translate into the size of the emotional impact on the reader. A big sweeping declaration of I love you shouldn’t be used as a stand-in for real chemistry or a moment of love that is specific to those characters. An absolute sobbing breakdown isn’t inherently more tragic for its size. You don’t need torture porn to evoke angst. Emotions are a lot more subtle than that. Using a caricature of emotion in the extreme often cheapens the emotion for the reader, rather than enhancing it. 

Other assorted tips:

Write notes! Sit up at 3 AM and write down a snippet of dialogue in a note on your phone! Jot down the plot idea for later! Note the phrase you heard someone say that sounds like it would be a good title.

If you can’t figure out how to end your story or your section or your chapter, it might be because it’s already over and the story has finished telling itself. If the beginning doesn’t feel right, if it feels slow and clunky, it might be because your starting place is too early. If the character interaction feels wrong or the scene isn’t going right or you can’t make that line of dialogue work, the problem is probably about 5 or 10 lines up where you took a wrong turn.

An em dash—like the one I used here—separates out a part of the sentence that couldn’t be a sentence on its own. Semicolons join two independent sentences together; this is an example.

The dialogue tag is part of the sentence. Correct: “I love dogs,” he said. or “I love dogs.” Incorrect: “I love dogs.” he said. or “I love dogs,” He said.

That’s everything that comes to mind immediately. If there’s another part of the process that you want me to focus on, let me know! I’m happy to go more in-depth on specifics! 

#writing #me??? you want tips from MMmee??? #a n o n 💖 #writeblr #anon tag

[fanfuckingfic]

You Move Like Real People Do

(Choreographer!Jimin x Ecologist!Namjoon x Singer!Reader)

Summary: Sometimes loving someone is just too easy. It just sinks into you so deeply or floats you away so high either way it shouldn't be hard to hold on to.

Wordcount: 2.6k

Warnings: (Sappy fluff, polyamory, lots of talk about bog bodies, excessive amounts of admiration, the songs are literally Hozier’s and you should listen to them if you haven’t, oh my god this is so self indulgent)

A/N: I haven't written in like 3 years and I've never tried bullet fic style so please be nice :( also I love Hozier so much oh my god I literally just built a whole universe in my brain around his music + bangtan and I think Movement fits Jimin so well and LRPD is a sick song and Joon is a just weird nerd but anyway please enjoy and lemme know what you think! 

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Namjoon is an ecologist and Jimin is a choreographer and Y/n is a famous indie-rock blues singer/songwriter (literally just fucking Hozier because I love that man with every bit of my heart).

You and Joon are early risers and spend mornings sipping coffee and reading together on the couch while you wait for Jimin to get ready for the classes he teaches alongside being a choreographer so they can kiss him good morning and wish him a good day when he leaves.

You’re sure to put extra honey in his green tea to-go cup, and he kisses you both quickly on the cheek before scurrying out the door.

They both kind of fiddle around with their day cause Joon is a professor at the local university and only has classes twice a week and finished grading that last assignment yesterday.

So now he's watering his plants and terrariums in the greenhouse porch you all have and your sitting there fiddling with your guitar, messing around with some chords sometimes writing them down sometimes not.

Casually you ask Joon which student had the best paper.

“One student went out of their way to be a kiss ass if that counts.”

You ask how he means with a chuckle.

“Well you know how I've been writing a thesis about bog bodies and what-not?”

“Yes of course, love, you only remind me of the phenomenon every chance you have.” You look up at him with mock disdain. 

His eyebrows furrow, “I thought you liked talking about the bog bodies” He pouts and you honestly can't even try to deny it.

“I do, I think it's kind of beautiful- not like dead people that's shitty- but when you describe how the swamps and bogs preserve them and how they’re found.” You take in a deep breath mulling over your words for moment.

“You make things like that sound so beautiful, Joonie. Even if I don't get half the big sciencey words you say. It sorta sounds like people falling in love with something they shouldn't but doing it anyway.” You smile to yourself thinking of him talking to (mostly at) you.

Namjoon still gets flustered easily by your and Jimin's creative ways of declaring your love.

He hears Jimin's tinkling laugh in your music and his own words in your songs, sometimes he feels like he doesn't love you both back enough but you both are quick remind him that he doesn't show love through notes and twirls

He shows them through flowers he picks and the way he's always willing to interrupt himself to explain something when he sees confusion in either of your eyes, because he knows you want to but wont stop his train of thought, you both want to understand what he's babbling on about because you love him.

(And he looks so fuckin hot when he goes on his passionate rants about certain bacteria being the back bone for an entire ecosystem how could you not?)

He blushes and clears his throat.

You always find the beauty in everything, can turn just about anything into a love story, a poem.

He loves that about you and Jimin you're both so able to make the world more beautiful with your bodies and minds. You both love that he adds so much sustenance to that beauty. 

“You're right, bog bodies deserve love, just like any real person does. But a student wrote their paper on them and used me as a source in their reference page.” He huffs, still amused by the students' tenacity. 

“Any real person, huh? You gave them an A didn't you?” You absorb his words before deadpanning.

Namjoon doesn't answer and instead bends down to kiss your lips then your forehead before he goes back to being very interested in how his Venus fly trap is doing.

Some days when your writer's block is extra bad and you've been struggling to come up with lyrics that mean anything or chords to go with them, Jimin asks if you want to come with him to the studio.

He's just experimenting with some new choreography so it's just you two. 

He notices when you get into these slumps you can't quite reach your way out of and staying in the house all cooped up trying to get inspired by the same things you see everyday isn't going to help. 

It's a classical piece a dance company hired him to choreograph, wordless dancing was always his forte.

Feeling the music move through him and around him, throw him to and fro. He likes to feel like a tool of expression- like an instrument to be played. 

You watch him work and think and move, over and over again, something just slightly different each time just slightly closer to what he wants. 

He's breathless by the time he comes to sit next you against the back wall he saw you staring the whole time and loves how he can still make you and Joon speechless and swooning even after all the years together. 

“Sometimes I forget you're real, you know, when you dance.” You murmur head on your knees still in a daze after watching him.

Jimin quirks an eyebrow and smirks.

“The hell does that mean?” He simpers, knowing you're probably about to say something that will completely floor him and make him fall for you even harder. 

“You just stop looking real I guess, you look like if I reached out to touch you, you would still just be barley out of reach, like driving towards a rainbow or a mirage, ya know?” 

He quirks his head, not really understanding what you mean but trying to.

“You're just so good at using your body to show a concept you almost kind of become one. I don't know, mostly, I just feel like I'd chase you forever if you really were unreachable like that, I don't think I'd mind.” You shrug and reach for his hand to fiddle with. 

He exhales in surprise. He was absolutely right. Floored.

“Would you dance with me? Running after me doesn't sound as pretty as us dancing together forever.” He asks twisting you fingers with his.

“I don't think I'd have a choice not wanting to dance with you would be like not wanting to breathe.”

He sighs dramatically. “Babe! How am I supposed to be okay after you say shit like that? Huh?” He laughs and shoves your shoulder playfully.

You laugh and fall over pulling him with you. 

Namjoon comes by later with drinks from the cafe he knows Jimin loves and finds you both slow dancing in the middle of the empty studio.

You both pull him in between you and continue to sway back and forth. It's sweet and romantic and your drinks go cold before any of you are ready to let go of each other.

Your latest album was amazing and you're about to go on tour and you're nervous to be away from your guys for so long cause last time you went on tour you weren’t as famous and such didn't go to different countries to perform. 

You're gonna miss them terribly and they miss you twice as bad and they definitely bawl their eyes out when your tour bus is out of sight.

They tried really hard to keep up the smiles for you cause you deserve the success and the recognition without guilt or reservations but wow the house is so quiet without your absent-minded humming and strumming and no knew pieces of paper with potential lyrics scattered around the countertops. 

You all keep in touch of course- face-timing at least once a day with both or either of them and you ask them not to watch any recorded performances cause you don't want them to spoil it for when you come back and do your final home concert. 

Your reason being: you left two songs off the album you wanted to perform on tour.

So now it's your last concert before you get to sleep in the same bed as your loves again, they arrive early but you're still too busy with sound check and your drummer having boyfriend problems to get more than a hug and kiss to each of them. 

They don't mind though they know how concerts are for you. You love them- you get to give your fans a bit of your soul and they all give a bit right back. 

They meander through the crowd towards the front not too close though. Your manager tried to get them to stay backstage but they both wanted to get the full experience since they did as promised and had steered clear of any footage of the concert. 

When you walk out everyone lights up and the energy in the whole concert hall shifts.

You smile so bright and they're close enough they can see the surprise on your face when you look down into the crowd and see them. Your eyes soften and get a little misty but ever the professional you trudge on. 

Song after song you work the crowd into the comfort of your melodies and words have people screaming, crying and eating out of the palm of your hand so easily. 

You get to the end of your set, Namjoon and Jimin know- you'd asked them for help when planning the show. They knew which songs you were gonna sing and when but it didn't occur to them it seemed just a bit short until now when you're clearly your throat and asking for the house lights to be brought up just a bit. 

“The next two songs are love songs, I would sing about political injustice and grieving a metaphorical loss all day if I could-” the crowd hoots a few times with their chuckles and Namjoon and Jimin feel surprised grins growing on their faces.

“but I'm just too in love to not write a song or two.”

You strum a tune he’s only slightly familiar with, its something he’s heard you tweak for the past year or so.

“The lyrics of this one are a bit odd and terribly specific to a certain person so bare with me.” 

The auditorium murmurs a laugh again knowing your lyrics more often than not are. 

“I had a thought, dear, however scary

About that night, The bugs and the dirt

Why were you digging?

What did you bury, before those hands pulled me from the earth?

I will not ask you where you came from

I will not ask you, neither should you

Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips

We should just kiss like real people do”

The piano sounds and the haunting harmony from your back up singers makes Namjoon’s heart race. 

He knows what you're singing about, Jimin knows too he might not get it as well as Namjoon does right now- some of the things Joon talks about are just slightly too icky for him- but he does know that if he could dance about Joon’s brain he would. 

He smiles when Namjoon's hand squeezes his, his eyes unable to look away from you and the little story being told between you two right now. 

“I knew that look dear, eyes always seeking 

Was there in someone, that dug long ago

So I will not ask you, why you were creeping

In some sad way I already know

I will not ask you where you came from

I will not ask you and neither would you

Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips

We should just kiss like real people do”

Noli timere Namjoon hears the words being dragged and stretched in your vocals and his heart clenches.

“I could not ask you where you came from

I could not ask you, neither could you

Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips

We could just kiss like real people do”

Your voice tapers off and the strums slow as you open your eyes and hold his gaze meaningfully. 

Namjoon is left feeling like he's floating.

You wrote a song about something he cares about, you wrote him a song about one of his favorite things even if it is a very creepy weird thing.

You took all the thoughts he poured into your ears and made it something people could love just a little bit easier. He almost thought he couldn't love you more than he already did.

“This next one might be a bit less niche but if you've ever seen your lover dance you would know exactly what its about.” 

The heavy dip of bass vibrates their feet and a resounding clap comes to fill the air as the surprise and tears come his eyes. 

“I still watch you when you're groovin'

As if through water from the bottom of a pool

You're movin' without movin'

And when you move, I'm moved”

Jimin’s hand comes to his mouth and you smile mischievously into your mic.

“You are a call to motion

There, all of you a verb in perfect view

Like Jonah on the ocean

When you move, I'm moved

When you move I'm put to mind of all that I wanna be

When you move I could never define all that you are to me”

You look directly at him making sure he knows this is his song. 

“So move me, baby

Shake like the bough of a willow tree

You do it naturally

Move me, baby

You are the rite of movement

Its reasonin' made lucid and cool

I know it's no improvement

When you move, I move”

Jimin laughs wetly at your joke. You’re wrong- he thinks- your body is absolutely and improvement of any situation. 

“You're less Polunin leapin'

Or Fred Astaire in sequence

Honey, you, you're Atlas in his sleepin'

And when you move, I'm moved

When you move I can recall somethin' that's gone from me

When you move, Honey, I'm put in awe of somethin' so flawed and free

So move me, baby

Shake like the bough of a willow tree

You do it naturally, move me, baby

So move me, baby, Like you've nothin' left to prove

And nothin' to lose, move me, baby

Ooh, ooh, ooh

Oh baby, oh baby

Move like grey skies

Move like a bird of paradise

Move like an odd sight come out at night”

The sudden crash of the band coming together to put music to your declaration makes goosebumps rise on Jimin's skin, Namjoon looks between you both and his heart melts softly in his chest. Just the admiration between you both enough to make him fall all over again.

“Move me, baby

Shake like the bough of a willow tree

You do it naturally, move me, baby

So move me, baby

Like you've nothin' left to lose

And nothin' to prove, move me, baby

So move me, baby

Shake like the bough of a willow tree

You do it naturally, move me, baby”

The calls and hums of you and your back up singers echo quietly before applause assaults their ears, the cheering nothing short of deafening. 

You bow and wave backing away from the mic for a few moments- taking in the last show you'll be doing for a while- before walking off stage.

Namjoon knows he should be pulling Jimin with him towards backstage so they can smother you with love properly but hey can't move Jimin has tears streaming down his face and Namjoon is too awestruck about you remembering him going on about the last words of a poet who had written about the bog bodies and how you always just cared so much about him and Jimin.

Eventually they do move through the leaving crowd towards security, the guards already aware of their faces escort them.

They knock on the green room door with your name next to it. 

It swings open so quickly they flinch back and the woman barreling into their arms throws them back at least a foot. 

“I missed you so much” you all but sob into their chests. Clinging tightly to their shirts.

They share a look over your head all too endeared with your clinginess having missed it terribly for the past months.

“We missed you too angel.” Jimin sighs into your hair, much closer to your head than Namjoon. 

Namjoon hums in agreement then sniffles making you both turn your faces up to look at him, Namjoon crying was a really rare thing well maybe in comparison with you and Jimin who will cry at an emotionally manipulative commercial without hesitation. 

You're both slightly shocked to see tear tracks on his adorably reddened face and him struggling to control his breathing.

“Ooh Joonie.” You coo then pull them both into the green room and start wiping at his cheeks. He sniffles again and it's absolutely precious.

“Y-you sang about b-bog bodies!” He sobs hauling you off your feet pushing the air out of your lungs. 

Jimin laughs and sniffs wiping at his now wet face too. 

“You guys liked them? They weren’t corny?” You wheeze as he sets you back down between them.

“Are you kidding?! You referenced Sergei Polunin, that's so corny, babe.” Jimin pets your cheek and kisses it tenderly. “Of course we loved them.”

“I'm gonna put my song in my thesis, its gonna open a whole flood gate for the romanticism of them.'' Namjoon says, mostly to himself, still shaky with tears.

Jimin pulls you both in for another hug and in a similar state to Namjoon says, “I’m gonna choreograph both of our songs. I’m dropping all my projects for it- right now.”

You laugh and shake your head before pulling back to take them both in again still not over how long it’d been since you got hold them. 

“You wanna go somewhere? Get a welcome home drink or meal or candle or something?” Jimin asks, putting your hair back into place as best he can. 

“That diner with the shakes on 5th is probably still open-” Namjoon starts but you shake your head.

“Can we just go home? I missed you so much.” They both nod with the softest smiles and each grip a hand.

Your tour bus dropped off most of your stuff at home earlier that day so Namjoon just takes your backpack and Jimin pulls your guitar over his shoulder. But not before asking with a smirk-

“Did you say Fred Astaire in sequins?”

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Thank you for reading <3 Please like and reblog if you enjoyed reading this! It’ll lets me know if I should write more or not

#Jimin x reader #namjoon x reader #minjoon x reader #jimin x namjoon #bts x reader #polyminjoon x reader #rm x reader #reader insert #bts #kim namjoon #park jimin #bts fluff #bts fluff fic #bts comfort #bts fic #bangtan fic #bangtan seonyandan #bts fanfic #bts fanfiction #minimoni #bts poly #bts polyamory #bts aus #ahhhhhhh #the ending is so shitty #omg i hope someone likes this #i know its obnoxiously specific #and im annoying and put so many inside jokes in this i apologize #should i tag the #bog bodies

[artificialqueens]

I'm Not Into Sometimes, Chapter 2 (Rosnali) - SnowBun

A/N: Very proud of this chapter <3 finally feel myself getting back to the writing style I enjoy the most. I hope you like reading this is as much as I like writing it. much love everyone xx

Summary: When Denali goes viral for posting a dance video, she doesn’t expect it to lead her to becoming a choreographer for Rosé, an up and coming singer destined for fame. Denali thinks that this might be her first (and only) shot at achieving her dream. If only her dream wasn’t wrapped up in a flurry of pink hair, charm and a supposedly professional relationship.

—

Release comes in the sound of blades scraping against ice. It is the feeling of her core tightening as she pushes off the ground and becomes the world turning on its axis. She is this moment of weightlessness and control.

Then her head begins to fog with visions of spinning rose-colored tops across a dark wooden floor, so endlessly mesmerizing. Her mind fills with questions of intrigue and challenge, the first time she’s ever seen duality so up close. Oh, to be so breathlessly enamored by beauty and talent.

It’s the loss of focus that weighs her down, causing her to land shakily on her right foot. She extends her left leg for balance and slides not-so-gracefully on the ice. She hears Olivia cheer in the sidelines, all bright white smile and wonder. It brings her back to the rink and away from the studio.

She skates over, pressing her forehead to the fence. “It’s not so bad.” She thinks. The rest of the world is slowly but surely getting hooked on Rosé, and she lives up to every expectation and more. She thinks it’s perfectly normal to feel a little charmed by her.

Even if she was a bitch at first.

“What’s wrong?”

Then again, she can’t quite answer Olivia’s question. She isn’t a fan from half way across the world. She’s the damn choreographer. She’s in New York, seeing her old friends and grasping onto her dream.

Said dream just had to come in the form of pink hair and clear brown eyes.

She shakes her head and smiles. “Nothing’s wrong, Liv.”

—

At first, she thinks she’s just so tired that she’s seeing things. When she blinks, she realizes that her eyes aren’t lying and that Rosé really is right there, sitting on the dance studio floor at 6:30 in the morning. She’s staring at intently at her phone, with an expression that can only be described as upset fury. She becomes too absorbed in typing to even notice Denali come in.

“Hey.”

She looks up and her face softens into a small smile. There it goes again, that weird feeling of nakedness that comes with being looked at by those eyes. The combination of this and the lack of sleep is disconcerting, but she manages to smile back anyway.

“Hey.” Rosé procures a coffee cup from behind her and reaches up to pass it. “I got you coffee.”

It takes her a minute to process, way too taken aback by the gesture. She’s always prided herself on being difficult to phase, but when a woman who is basically her employer that she barely knows hands her coffee, it’s hard not to act surprised.

Nonetheless, she accepts it gratefully, muttering a ‘thanks’ as she sits down on the floor beside her.

For a while, she stills as Rosé continues to type with such force that Denali’s scared that she might end up cracking the screen somehow. She wonders in silence, but she’d be lying if she says she’s not tempted to cross the arbitrary line and ask if something is wrong.

“Sorry.” Rosé’s voice suddenly rings clear, but the world around them still feels quiet, tranquil almost. “Just a lot of stuff that needs to get done before the video shoot.”

“Mmm,” Denali says, as she sips her coffee. “It’s fine, I don’t mind.”

Even if the phone has been tucked into the pocket of her bag, Rosé opts for stretching out her legs in front of her and yawning instead of getting up. She turns her head to look at the choreographer whose gaze is directed at the cup in her hand.

“So,” She draws out the word lazily, cocking her head to the side. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“What do you think of Phenomenon?”

It’s a difficult question to answer. If she says something bad, she’s kicked off this project. If she says something good, she’s just kissing ass. She knows that the only right answer to this question is her own opinion, but when her mother told her that honesty is the best policy, she’s not sure this is the situation that she had in mind.

“Honestly?” Rosé nods. “I think it’s great. The lyrics are good, the production is amazing, your vocals are fantastic. Plus it’s your own brand of witty and self-assured. Not sure what’s not to like there.”

She isn’t sure if this was the answer Rosé expected from her. All she hears is a sigh and they sink once again into that comfortable silence while Denali finishes her coffee. She doesn’t really know much, or anything really, about the woman beside her, but in the stillness of the morning, she feels comfortable.

“Right,” Rosé’s voice is soft and she hates herself for the ache that starts to bloom in her chest. “What��s not to like?”

She tries to ignore it, that stupid idea that this true vulnerability and not just small talk between colleagues; but she sees those eyes staring into the empty space, watches the beams of sunlight give her a blush halo. The ache spreads through her body and she bites her tongue to stop from begging to know what she could possibly not like.

Denali stands up and throws away her cup in a bin in the corner of the room. “Anyway,” She reaches out a hand to help her up. “We should get to work.”

Rosé smirks up at her and she thinks that the ache is threatening to cause an implosion. “Oh, so she’s all work and no play, huh?” She says, grabbing at her hand.

Then they’re face to face and Denali can feel the tug, that back and forth that comes with the competition that is flirting. She laughs a little, tries her best to play it cool. “I have to work hard if I want to play hard, don’t I?”

She walks away with a pair of eyes on her back and an ache that won’t go away.

—

“Are you going to spill all the tea now or what?”

Her eyebrows raise behind the glass of vodka cranberry that she’s holding. Of course, Mik wants to get straight to the gossip. She’d be surprised with any other conversation starter to their Friday night, almost a week since she’d arrived in New York. The bar Mik chose is a little too crowded for her taste, filled with other women who have been eyeing her. She notices but she ignores it in favor of the woman in front of her.

“What happened to ‘how have you been, Denali?’ or ‘how’s New York, Denali?’”

“Okay whatever,” Mik rolls her eyes. “How are you?”

“Tired.” She answers in a heartbeat.

“And would that have anything to do with a certain singer whose name rhymes with… shit, I can’t think of anything.”

She purses her lips together. If she’s honest, working with Rosé is probably the least tiring thing on her agenda. The ice skating in the early evenings as a bid to tire herself to sleep hasn’t been working. All its led to is sleepless nights staring at the ceiling until she sees the first vestiges of day creep through the windows, signaling another turn on the earth’s axis.

In the studio with Rosé, she can at the very least find some peace. The understanding that they are both good at what they do and the comfort of knowing that each day with her is a chance to know her more drives her to get out of bed and into the studio.

“A part of it, yeah.” It’s the tiniest bit of truth and Mik doesn’t look one bit sated by it. “What else am I supposed to tell you?”

“Oh, come on,” It’s that signature Mik whine that finally gets a laugh out of her. “You have to tell me something, anything!”

“You’re an MUA that works with runway models. You know enough famous people as it is.”

“That doesn’t make me any less curious about them.”

She bites her tongue when she hears those words. It’s not like she’s any different. Every morning with Rosé is an established routine with coffee and curiosity on both ends. The existing respect for each other’s craft makes them both wonder about the person underneath.

So, they start to ask questions. How’s New York? Where’d you get the coffee? How’s your morning? What’s the name of that guy on TV who used to host Fear Factor and is a shithead now?

Like clockwork, the questions morph into flirting. It’s standard, innocent, verging on comfortable even. Rosé is always the first to break into a blush, true to her name. At times, Denali thinks that she may have gone too far, but then she sees those eyes again, all amusement and interest. Each interaction is a chance for the ache to spread somewhere new along with the growing assurance that there’s nothing to dislike.

“I don’t know, okay?” She finally lets out. “We work great together and we get along, but it’s not like, ‘ooo, you’re my new bestie’ or anything like that.”

“Hmm,” Mik lets out a him, popping the straw out of her mouth. “That’s interesting.”

“Why is that interesting?”

“Let’s just say my sources tell me she doesn’t get along with everyone.”

Her eyebrows scrunch together at that. Sure, she understands that Rosé isn’t exactly everyone’s glass of wine, especially with the cold seriousness that she handles her music, but she respects that about her.

What’s not to like?

“Well, I don’t think she’s a bitch, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Or maybe you want to be her bitch…”

“Oh, fuck you!” She throws a tissue at Mik’s face as the model cackles in delight. Her phone suddenly chimes, a message from an unknown number popping up on the screen.

?: hey, I got your number from Tamisha

“Who is it?”

Damn her and her expressive features. She keeps quiet, brain going at breakneck speed to think of all the reasons why she’s texting on a Friday night when she probably has at least a hundred different parties to go to and a thousand different women trying to catch her eye.

Denali: really hope this is rose and not the guy standing outside Tamisha’s office who keeps asking me out

“It’s just Rosé.” She watches Mik’s mouth turn into an O-shape and she throws another tissue. “No, no, not what you’re thinking, sweetie.”

At least she doesn’t think so. Harmless flirting is one thing, but getting her number from her manager? They keep stepping closer and closer to the line and she thinks she sees the chalk start to smudge.

?: sorry to disappoint, it’s just rosé

Denali: too bad. what’s up?

“She’s texting you on a fucking Friday night.” Mik sounds absolutely dumbfounded. “Sounds a lot more than professional to me.”

She knows that Mik is right. They don’t even have practice tomorrow, so she can’t justify it as a possible cancellation. She’s about to come out with some boldfaced lie when her phone vibrates on the table.

Rose: just thought you should have my number. ps: my name is not rose

Olivia arrives and she slams her phone right down on the table.

“I’m buying us a round of shots.

—

She hates this. She loves this. Saturday morning is now the distant tip-tap of heels against the floor, click in the brain, a switch to her soul. Wake up, wake up, wake up. This is not home, it’s not her hotel room. It’s just a cold floor where she has some peace.

Then she hears that voice, every note of the song a gentle wave rushing in to carry her away from her body. Her eyes are glued shut, but it doesn’t matter when she’s already left her body behind on the shore. The voice grows louder, closer, and the waves start to grow. Her body is too far away now and she’s not sure if her eyes will ever open again.

Wake the fuck up.

“Denali?”

A poke to the ribs sends her rushing back into her own body. An involuntary groan escapes her lips and she hears a laugh from above her. She scrunches her eyes shut, terrified that any form of light might cost her the ability to see.

“What the hell?”

Her voice sounds like a croak to her ears and she manages to roll over onto her back. With a moment of preparation, she cracks open an eye. She’s greeted by the sight of Rosé kneeling over her barely functioning body, clearly trying her best not to laugh. Again, she groans and Rosé can no longer help herself.

“Why are you here?”

Honestly, she’s not sure about the answer to that one. There are bits and pieces of memories from last night printed on the back of her eyelids, but it’s all too fuzzy for her to try to piece together immediately. She remembers the sound of Olivia’s laughter mingling with Mik’s voice as they watched her throw back a seventh shot. The memory causes pain to start creeping into her head and she makes a promise to herself to never drink again.

There’s the sound of shuffling and when she looks up, Rosé isn’t kneeling above her anymore. She assumes that she’s sick and tired of her hungover ass, a perfectly valid response in her opinion. Then she hears humming beside her and sighs, glad that validity has no place in this situation. She closes her eyes again, losing herself to the light behind her eyes to ease the throbbing at her temples.

“Isn’t it a Saturday?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you here?”

“I asked you first.”

Her hands fly up to her face. Rosé is laughing again and the pain starts to spread throughout every part of her head. If only it would subside, maybe she’d finally have the energy to actually be embarrassed about waking up on the floor of her workplace.

“Went drinking.”

“Ah, and how’s that going for you?” There’s a smile in her voice. Fuck it, she thinks as she jumps straight over the line of professionalism with a flip of her middle finger. Oh well, it’s not as if this whole situation has pretty much created a void where the line should be.

“Your turn.”

Rosé goes quiet. She focuses on the sound of their breathing. Inhale, exhale. The expansion of her sides with every controlled gulp of air. She hears a plane overhead, letting the escape of air follow it far away from city streets.

“Just wanted to get away for a while.”

She turns her head, sees pale pink rose petals sprawled out on the dark floor. In the gentle light of a Saturday morning, her eyes break her promise to herself, drinking in the sight of weary beauty. She thinks she’s just hungover, but she believes she’s never seen anyone quite so pretty before.

“Well,” She looks back up at the ceiling, stark white staring back at her. “Same here.”

—

By 10:00 PM, she’s burying herself in sheets. She’s never been much of a fan of stillness, but she thinks the last week might be changing her mind.

A few hours earlier, she’d replied to Mik and Olivia’s texts, asking her if she was okay. She cursed and reassured them in the same breath. When they’d asked her where she’d ended up, she had said, “passed out on the floor.”

Half a truth is good enough, right?

If she had told them everything, she’d have to tell them that she laid in the studio for half an hour with Rosé’s humming the only thing cutting through the pounding in her head. She would have to tell them that she’d stumbled as she got up, letting warm hands guide her as she learned to stand. She’d have to tell them of the exchange of tender smiles, so different from the tug of war of flirtation that she’s accustomed to.

Her phone lights up. She expects Mik or Olivia, even Kahmora. No, she only sees that name and she giggles to herself like a damn teenager, a quiet admission that she’s allowed something to change.

Rose: pls tell me you didn’t go drinking again

Denali: I actually like having more than one brain cell, thanks

Rose: great, don’t want to have to pick you up off the floor again

Denali: won’t you ever let me live it down rose?

Rose: only if you start spelling my name right

Denali: the accent’s too much of an effort

Rose: then use my real name

Denali: ???

Rose: call me rosie

A smile graces her lips and she shoots off one last message. She places her phone on the nightstand and buries herself in the blankets, drifting into her first good sleep in a long time.

Denali: alright, night rosie

—

Monday morning suddenly frees up when Rosé says she has to move their session to the evening to make room for interviews. She fills up the rest of her morning by replying to emails about skating gigs for when she eventually returns home. She has lunch with Mik and Olivia and when they inevitably begin to pry, she stays mum on what she can only now describe as her complicated friendship with Rosé. She returns to the hotel and lets herself sleep, turning the feeling of being well-rested into a brand-new addiction.

When she arrives at the studio at 7, there’s no one there. While it isn’t like Rosé to be late, she doesn’t text. She assumes that she’s coming from yet another one of many interviews that she kindly referred to as, “shitheads trying to get way too personal.”

She settles for freestyling to loosen up while she waits. When the music starts, she feels herself break. Every moment is grounded in her own brand of ferocity and well, sex. There’s comfort in her own body, in the knowing that it is a temple of worship to herself. A signal from her brain to move, a single fluid motion, all indulgent offerings to the pleasure only she will ever feel. She throws herself into the fire and the sensation of pleasure starts to build.

The door opens, but she doesn’t, can’t stop. She feels like she’s hovering over the floor, on the brink of climax. The song peaks and she almost gasps, dropping to her knees and letting her back hit the floor. She takes a deep breath, relishes the feeling of being alive.

“Sorry.” She’s apologizing, but she’s not sure for what.

“I…” For once, Rosé is at a loss for words. Her quick wit has been thrown out the window and is probably being dragged around under the wheels of a taxi. She laughs breathily as she gets to her feet.

When their eyes meet, the air turns heavy with unspoken words and desire. She tries to look away, but she can’t. Brown gazes meet and for the first time, she permits herself the thought of what it would be like to kiss her. Maybe, just maybe, that wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“Uhm, okay! Let’s get started?” Rosé bursts out and she thinks that she might have won this round.

If the singer seems more distracted than usual, she doesn’t say anything about it.

—

The water in the shower is still cold when she receives a text that evening.

Rosie: no need to meet me for the rest of the week. We need four dancers for the video, auditions on wed

The water suddenly seems warm and for the first time in her life, she thinks she’s finally learning what it’s like to lose.

—

#rpdr fanfiction #rosé #denali foxx #rosnali #lesbian au #choreographer au #snowbun #s13 #im not into sometimes

[uzair12blog]

13 Ways to Focus When Studying

No matter how old you are, studying may be a daunting undertaking. From middle school children to adults in college, all confront points when they need to sit down for some power-learning.

But learning wouldn't be learning if it wasn't challenging. People experience a variety of difficulties while studying for exams, presentations, and projects. It can be difficult to concentrate when studying at times.

Fortunately, many people's study problems may be diagnosed and remedied, making study time more enjoyable rather than dreaded. The key is recognising those issues and actively striving to resolve them so that you can study properly.

Common Study Problems:-

Studying successfully entails so many variables that there are numerous ways in which it can go wrong. These are some of the most typical issues people experience when attempting to study:

1. Concentration problems

2. Distractions

3. Insufficient motivation

4. Procrastination

5. Dislike for the topic

6. Problems with time management

7. Boredom

8. Stress and pressure

Each study's offender can be dealt with in a variety of ways. Finding methods that are tailored to an individual's specific challenges and learning style is sometimes all that is required.

13 Tips for Focusing When Studying:-

You can start exploring for remedies once you've discovered the reasons you're having problems learning. It's possible that you'll have to attempt a few different approaches before you're able to study more effectively. You'll be acing tests in no time if you're persistent and use the appropriate combination of study tactics.

To get you started, here are 13 study tips:

1. Find the right environment:-

Everything in your environment has an impact on how you study. Background noise, lighting, temperature, phone alerts, and other factors can cause you to lose attention while studying.

You should study in a place where you feel at ease, relaxed, and concentrated. Depending on your own tastes, this could entail locking yourself in a room or heading to the library.

2. Plan your study session:-

Don't jump right in if there's a lot to learn. Calculate how much study time you have available and how you can fit everything into that time frame. Set time restrictions for each study topic so you know you'll be able to see them all.

3. Eliminate technology distractions:-

Nowadays, a lot of studying is done on a computer. That puts social media within easy reach, and it's a great way to pass the time when you're bored or trapped. Now you're wasting valuable study time by scrolling through your friend's wedding photos instead of studying.

Make a rule for yourself that you will not use social media during study time, and stick to it.

4. Take regular breaks:-

Rather than exhausting yourself by studying for long periods of time, take breaks at regular intervals. Maybe every 45 minutes, you do a few laps around the hallway or finish a tiny cleaning project you've been putting off.

Taking regular breaks from studying can allow your brain to rest and digest other thoughts that may be pressing on your mind. It will be easier to study at a steady pace and properly absorb knowledge.

5. Exercise regularly to improve concentration:-

Regular exercise increases your memory and learning abilities. People who exercised for at least 30 minutes most days of the week, or 150 minutes per week, had better memory capacities than those who did not, according to the Harvard Health Blog in 2018.

Aerobic exercise expands the hippocampus, the area of the brain that handles memory and learning.

6. Choose one thing:-

When you've got a lot of study creatures to tame, focus on one at a time. Allow yourself to focus solely on this one study goal until it is completed and you are satisfied. After that, you should move on to another issue.

Multitasking or moving between topics may appear to be the quickest method to get through your studies, but focusing on just one item at a time will allow you to absorb and recall the material more effectively.

7. Get enough sleep:-

Sleep, like exercise, is essential for proper brain function. People who don't get enough sleep have trouble controlling their focus, attention, and memory while studying.

Lack of sleep can also alter your mood, which might have an impact on how well you study. Get at least eight hours of sleep each night, and avoid any distractions that can wake you up, so your brain can get the deep slumber it

need.

8. Create a routine:-

Humans are creatures of habit, and studying is no exception. If you're having problems getting started, construct a ritual in which you study after completing a specific task, such as eating dinner.

Alternatively, if you have a favourite study spot, going there will immediately activate study mode in your brain.

Perhaps there are some snacks that you prefer while studying and can be saved solely for that purpose. Routines make you look forward to learning and make it easier to complete the tasks.

9. Figure out what motivates you:-

Assume you're studying the most uninteresting subject in the planet. What motive does your brain have to recall the worthless details if you don't care about the information? Find a source of inspiration. There has to be a connection between this topic and your life.

Does it have an impact on you? Those you care about? Is there a little sub-topic that interests you?

You can reframe your thinking about the rest of the material if you can find a method to be interested in at least part of the topic. You'll be more driven to learn about a topic if you can see how it connects to you.

10. Find the right learning style:-

It's possible that the issue is that you've never been taught a learning and study approach that fits your personality. Your study method should reflect whether you're a visual, aural, or kinesthetic learner.

In an inappropriate learning style, you will never acquire information in the same way that you will in one that is tailored to your needs. Seek for a tutor or a friend who can assist you in experimenting with various study methods.

11. Be patient and believe in yourself:-

Expect to not be able to master all of the content in a single study session. In the learning process, be patient and remember that haste does not equal expertise. Simultaneously, have faith in your ability to absorb the knowledge.

Don't give up if your studies are taking too long. Get the aid you need, but have faith in your ability to learn what you need to know.

12. If it’s a distraction, don’t listen to music:-

Listening to music while studying is a popular practise. It creates a relaxing atmosphere and keeps your mind busy while you work. However, music can keep some people's brains overly occupied. It could actually be a study distraction, especially if you're listening to lyrics or guitar riffs.

Perhaps a simple change in music style will assist your distraction, or you may need to get rid of it entirely. Some folks simply require silence in order to concentrate. If you usually study with music, try it without it. That could be what's keeping you from concentrating fully.

13. Perform physical activity if you’re a kinesthetic learner:-

Some folks are wired to be on the move all of the time. These folks are frequently kinesthetic learners, which means they must move in order to absorb information properly.

You can come up with inventive ways to "fidget" while learning. Perhaps learning would be easier if you sat on a yoga ball and gently bounced. Some people find that moving their hands, such as with a fidget spinner or a stress ball, helps them to feel more grounded.

Could It Be a Deeper Issue?

If you're having trouble studying, it's most likely because of how you're going about it.

If you're still having problems studying after trying the above techniques, you should consult a professional who can examine you for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or another learning disability.

Adults can develop certain learning disorders, even if they have never had difficulty learning or studying before.

If you have a learning or attention issue, you can get more individualised treatment to match your requirements and help you succeed in school.

[hellyeahheroes]

Building America Chavez in D&D 5e

Sorry I’ve been mostly quiet, but certain recent events made me wish to take a break from posting. I do feel bad I didn’t do more for a Pride Month, however so I thought of doing something that will let me combine both trying to lift my spirits up (especially since I haven’t done one of those in a while) and doing little fun thing for LGBTQ followers - letting them play a game that is known as a good escapist fantasy as one of our favorite characters. We’re building America Chavez today.

First of all, let’s define Goals for this build. First of all, we need to kick and punch hard and be able to take a hit as well and be super fast. Second, we need to kick so hard to open portals to other dimensions. Finally, we need to be able to fly and shine bright light.

Regarding Ability Scores America is one of those characters who should have 20 in everything, but we cannot really do that so I’m gonna prioritize what we need for the build. As always I’m taking basic template from Tulok the Barbarian so we’ll be unig Standard Point Array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10 and 8). If you want to roll or use point-buy, go ahead and use these as guidelines, just remember you’ll need 13 inWisdom and Dexterity for multiclassing.

Strength: 14, You can throw tanks at the moon

Dexterity: 13, we need it for multiclassing purpose. Also, I doubt any medium or heavy armor goes with short shorts, America’s outfits are light armor at best.

Constitution: 15, you can take hits from the likes of She-Hulk, Vision and Thanos

Intelligence: 10, you don’t need it but America did go to college to expand her knowledge of cosmic stuff.

Wisdom: 12, living on your own since being a child means picking up some survival skills.

Charisma: 8, low but we will bumb it with rracial ability scores.

Speaking of Race, America is from another planet, descendant of a race created by two celestial beings, who can fly and shine her star marks. and if that doesn’t speak Protector Aasimar, I do not know what does. You gain +2 to Charisma and +1 to Wisdom, resistance to necrotic and radiant damage and know Common and Celestial languages. Your Darkvision lets you see  60 feet in dim light as in normal light and in darkness as in dim light, but without abilitty to discern colors. Once per long rest you can heal a person (or yourself) for number of hit points equal your level. Finally, you get a Light Cantrip, which lets you make one object no larger in any dimension than 10 feet and make it shine bright light in a 20 feet radius and dim light in next 20 feet. Use it for your own stars.

Background: You are from another planet in another dimension so Far Traveller is closest to that. You gain proficiency in any language of your choice, pick something campaign relevant. You get proficiency in Insight and Perception and a single musical instrument or gaming set of your choice. You have an All Eyes On You feature, which makes you a center of attention and opens you doors of curious nobles and scholars.

Class Features:

Level 1: We will kick things off as a Ranger.  You gain proficiency in Dexterity and Strength saving throws, light and medium armor, simple and martial weapons, shields and two skills, choose Athletics and Investigation. 

We will be using Ranger options from Class Variants Unearthed Arcana, which is free. Deft Explorer lets you pick one of 3 options - Tireless lets you a number of times equal your Wisdom modifier per long rest gain 1d10+ Your Wisdom modifier temporary hit points as an action. If you are suffering from Exhaustion and take a short rest, you lose a level of it.

Favored Fore lets you cast Hunter’s Mark on a target without expending a spell slot a number of times equal your Wisdom modifier and don’t need concentration to maintain it. Hunter’s Mark let’s you pick one target and for its duration (up to an hour) you deal 1d6 extra damage whenever you hit it with an attack and gain advanate on Survival and Perception checks to find it. And if the target drops to zero hit points before spell ends you can move it to another as a bonus action. So if you are chasing after Loki again, this will come in handy.

Level 2: 2nd Level Ranger gets to pick a Fighting Style. Unarmed Fighting lets your unarmed attacks deal 1d6+your Strength modifier damage, 1d8 if you hit with two hands at once (or do a dropkick, I guess) and when you start a grapple and whenever you hit a grappled creature you can deal it extra 1d4 bludgeoning of damage. As with Tulok, we pick this one a lot because a lot of superheroes just use fists. If you feel YOUR America should be swinging a waraxe, go for it and pick something else.

On this level Rangers get spellcasting. you know a number of spells and cannot know spells of higher level than you have spell slots for, whenever you cast a spell you spend spell slot of appriopriate level or higher. If a spell requires a saving throw it is against difficulty of 8 + Your Proficiency Modifier + Your Wisdom modifier and the latter two you also sum up to add to a Spell Attack roll if a spell requires one. You start with two spells.

Cure Wounds lets you touch a creature or yourself and heal for 1d8+ Your Wisdom modifier of hit points.

Zephyr Strike lasts for a 1 minute on concentration and for this time you don’t provoke opportunitty attacks and when you deal your first attack you get to make it with an advantage and your speed increases by 30 feet for this turn.

Level 3: Once you reach this level Protector Aasimar gains Radiant Soul, letting you once per long rest radiate with positive energy, even spouting mings made of light from your back. If your DM allows you can probably gain the benefits without that visual add-on. This form lasts for one minute and gives you flying speed equal your regular speed and once on each of your turns you can deal extra radiant damage equal your level to a creature you hit with an attack or a spell.

3rd Level Ranger gets to choose a Ranger Conclave. Horizon Walker specializes in dimensional travel and interdimensional threats. You can as an action sense location of a nearest interdimensional portal once per short or long rest. You also become a Planar Warrior, which means you can use your bonus action to select one creature you can see within 30 feet of you. During this turn when you attack that creature you not only deal extra 1d8 damage but also all damage from that attack gets converted to force damage. Force is the least protected against type of damage in the game, there is literally a single creature immune to it and zero creatures with resistance to it in entire Monster Manual.

At this level Ranger also gains Primeval Awareness, letting you spend a spell slot to be able to sense all aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead within one mile from you for duration of 1 minute per spell slot’s level, but does not tell you their exact location or number. It is horribly situational, costs your valuable resource and is basically a shittier version of Divine Sense, an abilitty Paladin gets on first level. It’s actually a core Ranger abilitty and it does have a replacement in Unearthed Arcana.... buuut that replacement gives you a bunch of extra spells that aren’t really America’s style. At least I am far more likely to beleive she is able to pick subtle hints of presence of various creatures due to her years of experience fighting everything the Multiverse threw at her, than I am that she can detect and talk to animals and plants or be able to see through an animal’s eyes. If you want to sacrifice some thematic coherence for more powerful build, be my guest.

Hunter’s Mark is now added to your spells’ known as a bonus from Favored Foe and Horizon Walker gives you another additional spell - Protection From Evil and Good, letting you make  aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead  have disadvantage on attacks against yourself or another creature. The target of the spell cannot be charmed, frightened or posessed by these creatures  and if that already happend before you cast the spell, it rolls saving throws to shake it off with an advantage. A lot of lovecraftian horrors try to eat your teammate and future god for his future god powers, this will help against that.

Our regular spell for this level will be Absorb Elements. You can cast it as a reaction whenever you take acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage and it grants you resistance to that and next time you hit a target on your next turn, it takes extra 1d6 of that type of damage. This second feature is less impressive at higher levels where a lot of creatures dealing that type of damage are resitant or outright immune to it. Every dragon is immune to the damage dealt by its breath for example. EXCEPT that as a Palanar Warrior you convert that to force damage. Their offense just makes you hit harder.

4th Level: Sticking with Ranger for an Abilitty Score Improvement or a Feat. Resilent lets you add 1 to your Constitution and makes you proficient with Constitution saving throw. a large number of your spells is depending on Concentration so this is a good way to keep going even after you take a hit.

5th Level: Ranger gains an extra attack, letting you attack twice in a single attack action. Remember, those attacks are all affected by your Planar Warrior power.

You also gain access to 2nd level spells 

Lesser Restoration, letting you cure one disease or a  blinded, deafened, paralyzed, or poisoned condition from one creature. America heals fast.

Horizon Walker gives us Misty Step, which lets you teleport 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see.

6th Level: You can pick second Deft Explorer feature. I will go with Roving to increase your speed by 5 feet and give you climbing and swimming speed equal to your walking speed. America is fast and with that you can move to your foes no matter where they are.

7th Level: Horizon Walker gives you Etheral Step. You can now once per short or long rest cast, as a bonus action, Etherealnesss on yourself without expending a spell slot but it only lasts one turn. It lets you step into Ethereal Plane where you can move without being affected by enemies or walls or magic effects on material plane. You can use this to move aout of the harm’s way or (more likely) behind enemy lines to punch that one guy who keeps hiding behind the tank.

You also get one more spell but I’m not feeling these 2nd level spells so we will pick Longstrider, which increases your movement speed by 10 feet for 1 hour, no concentration required. This means you can now walk, climb, swim or fly up to 45 feet per turn. And you cannot tell me America isn’t super fast, considering in her debut book she did this

8th Level: We will now jump to Cleric. America has multitude of things she could worship, be it Demiurge or Spirits Beracca and Sanar who created your home planet or even your moms and their messianic-like sacrifice. Or not, Clerics don’t need to worship a diety, they can draw the power from just believing this strongly in something the universe registers it as faith. Lou Wilson on The Unsleeping City plays a Cleric who is a doctor that draws power from caring about his patients so much, you don’t need to limit yourself just because you may dislike certain parts of character history.

Whatever your reasons, you get to pick a Divine Domain. Since America can travel between dimensions, she basically is a Planeswalker. Meaning she can jump to Magic: the Gathering setting Amonketh from one of Planeshift supplements and grab the Strength Domain. You gain proficiency in one extra skill, pick Survival, and heavy armor.

You also get Cleric spellcasting, which works as Ranger’s except you know all your Cleric spells and you prepare which spells you have ready each day. You also get cantrips, which you can cast as many times as you want. Your number of spell slots is determined by multiclassing table -  check out a level equal your Cleric level + half your Ranger level rounded down to consult how many spell slots you have for use.

You get 3 Cantrips, two spells and two extra spells and an extra cantrip from Strength domain so we have some work to do.

Guidance and Resistance each lets you add a d4 to a single ability check or a saving throw respectively. This shit is life saving. No, I did not spend my last game lamenting guidance is not on Bard Spell list after my bard failed an important skill check by 1, why are you asking?

Thunderclap lets you clap your hands so hard every creature 5 feet from you needs to make a Constitution saving throw or be dealt 1d6 thunder damage. It is a staple for powerhouses, Hulk basically patented it.

Bless lets you pick up to 3 creatures, including yourself. For the duration they add 1d4 to attack rolls and saving throws

Detect Magic lets you sense or see influence of magic within 30 feet from you unless it’s hiding behind a thick enough barrier. Again, America been around, she can recognize a lot of tricks.

Divine Favor lets you add 1d4 of Radiant damage to your attacks. America’s punches are that strong.

Shield of Faith meanwhile grants you +2 bonus to your AC. Again, short shorts can barelly pass for light armor, less alone medium or heavy so you need all help you can get.

9th Level: 2nd Level Cleric gets to use their Channel Divinity.once per short or long rest

The standard use is Turn Undead, which forces all undead who see you to make a Wisdom saving throw or be turned for 1 minute or until they take damage, making them unable to do anything but spend their turn dashing away from you. You may say it is not in character but America travelled across the Multiverse a lot. Do you know what you can find in Marvel Multiverse a lot? Zombies. Especially Marvel Zombies. And even then, regular zombies in D&D are also know as “PAIN IN THE BUTT TO FIGHT WITH” so whichever kind of undead is bothering you, this will help.

Strength Domain grants you another use of this, Feat of Strength. You can choose to spend your use of Channel Divinity to add +10 to an attack roll, abilitty check or saving throw using Strength.

Finally, Unearthed Arcana lets you spend your use of this feature to regain a 1st level spell slot. It’s situational, but could be useful in a pinch.

Our spell for the level will be Sanctuary - cast it on one creature of your choice to make enemies have to roll a Wisdom saving throw whenever they want to target it with an attack or a harmful spell or have to choose another target. You can play this one as goading enemies to fight her to distract them from civilians or your mroe squishy teammates like Billy or Loki. Warning, don’t waste it on either Kate or Quentin Quire, they are likely to just go and shoot someone and the spell ends if target attacks someone, casts a harmful spell or causes damage from an already active spell. So no, Quentin, you cannot cast Spirit Guardians and then have America Sanctuary you, stop asking and read an errata already!

10th Level: 3rd Level Cleric gets 2 2nd Level spell slots

Aid lasts for an hour and lets you increase hit point maximum and current hit points of up to 3 party members by fve, always useful as a form of a battle plan to keep everyone safe.

Warding Bond lets you for an hour create a bond between you and another creature for 1 hour with no concentration. As long as the target is within 60 feet of you it gets +1 to AC and resistance to all damage but whenever it takes damage, you take as much damage and if you get further than 60 feet away from one another or you drop to 0 hit points, the spell ends. So cast this on Kate, Monica or Billy who are squishy but know to stay in the back. Don’t cast it on Ramone, Eddie, Adam, Teddy, Carol, T’Challa, Noh-Varr, Gwen, David, Eli or Galactus who are likely to be with you in the front line. And don’t cast it on Quentin, he is squishy and should stay in the back but he cannot be trusted, this kid has no self-perservation instinc whatsoever. Same goes for Loki, who is supposed to be smarter but still keeps poking everything around for one scheme or another.

Strength Domain gives us Enchance Abilitty, which grants you an advantage on abilitty chekcs of chosen Ability score and some minor bonuses if you pick Strength, Dexterity or Constitution. As I’ve said, America is good at everything as if she was an anime character, this will help you emulate that.

Protection from Poison for an hour, no concentration, gives the target advantage on saving throws against being poisoned and resistance to poison damage and when cast removes one poison already affecting the target.

11th Level: 4th Level Cleric gets an Abilitty Score Improvement, invest in your Strength. Spoiler, this will be where all your remaining Abilitty Score improvements will go.

You get one more cantrip and one more spell

Virtue grants the target 1d4+your spellcasting abilitty modifier of temporary hit points for one round

Branding Smite, which was added in Unearthed Arcana, lets you deal extra 2d6 Radiant damage and if the target was invisible it now becomes visible and cannot becopme invisible for the duration of the spell as it shines bright light in 5-feet radius. America punching someone out of their invisiblity so hard they now glitter? Sounds about right.

12th Level: 5th Level Cleric can destroy all undead of challenge rating 1/2 or less who failed saving throw against turn undead. 

You get even more spells, gaining access to third level ones.

Remove Curse lets you remove effects of a curse from a person or break attunment to cursed item. Use it on yourself to simply shrug off the enemy curses

Tongues lets you understand any language and be understood by all other creatures for an hour. You ever noticed how all realities America goes to seem to speak English? This may be why.

Protection From Energy lets you get resistance to  acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder. for the duration, on concentration of course.

Haste also lasts on concentration. it doubles your speed, grants +2 to AC, an advantage on Dexterity saving throws and an extra attaction you can use to take Dash, Disengage, Hide or use object action or make a single extra attack. Once it ends you cannot take actions for a turn, 

13th Level: 6th Level Cleric can use Channel Divinity twice per short or long rest, gains a new use from Strength domain, letting you as a reaction grant +10 to another creature’s attack roll, ability check or saving throw using Strength. Sometimes you jsut want to cheer up on your girlfriend to punch someone harder, you know?

You also get to pick one more spell - magic Circle lets you ward an area of 10 feet radius and 20 feet height from celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, or undead, whichever you choose. You can either protect creatures inside from that type of enemies or trap them inside the circle. Either way the selected creature type cannot willingly cross the border of the circle, had disadvantage against targets on the other side cannot charm, frighter or possess and if it tries to circumvent this by using teleportation of any sort it needs to first succeed a Charisma saving throw.

14th Level: 7th Level Cleric gets 4th level spells

Freedom of Movement lets you for one hour, no concentration required, make yourself unaffected by difficult terrain and magic cannot in any way reduce your speed, restrain or paralyze you, you can spend 5 feet from your movement to escape nonmagical restraints and being underwater doesn’t impose any penalty on your movement.

Dominate Beast isn’t really in character so I will focus on second bonus spell Strength Domain gives you - Stoneskin grants you resistance to nonmagical Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing damage

Stoneskin is not an excuse to wear this awful outfit from Vengenace, tho.

15th Level: 8th Level Cleric gains Divine Strike, letting you once on each of your turns add extra 1d8 of that damage type. You also get to pick another Abilitty Score improvement and your Destroy Undead abilitty upgrades to undeads of CR 1 or less.

Your spell for this level will be Banishment, forcing a Charisma Saving throw on the target and sending it to another dimension if it fails. If the target is native to this plane, it is send to a harmless dimension and comes back once spell ends. But if it is not, it is send to its home plane and if you maintain concentration for one minute, it does not return. As with Magic Circle this is less something we hase SEEN America do but sounds like something she should be able to do. Open a portal under something and let it fall.

16th Level: 9th Level Cleric gets one spell of 4th level and one of 5th level.

Greater Restoration lets you remove from atarget a single level of exhaustion, one curse, one reduction of an abilitty score or hit point maximum, one effect that charmed or petrified the target. Use this on yourself to shrug off everything. Except perficication, kinda hard to use this while petrified.

Strength Domain gives you two extra spells, but Insect Plague isn’t very in character. Destructive Wave, however, lets you strike the ground, making every creature of your choice within 30-feet range take 5d6 thunder and 5d6 radiant or necrotic damage and be knocked prone, half damage on a succesful Constitution saving throw. You stomp the ground that hard.

Death Ward lasts for 8 hours with no concentration, first time a target would be dropped to zero hit points, they’re dropped to 1 hit points instead. If an effect would kill target instantly without dealing damage (say POWER WORD: KILL) it is negated. Either way the spell ends after a single activation. Sounds useful considering one of people on America’s shit list is COSMIC TITAN CHAMPION OF DEATH 

17th Level: 10th Level Cleric gains Divine Intervention, which lets you call upon the power of whoever you picked as your patron diety. You describe what you want to happen and roll a percentage dice - if your result is lower than your Cleric level, diety intervenes in a way choosen by the DM. If you succed on this, you cannot use this feature for a week, if you fail you cannto do it until after a long rest.

You get one new Cantrip and one new 5th Level Spell

Word of Radiance forces all creatures of your choice to suceed a Constitution saving throw or take 4d6 radiant damage. You shine so bright you literally hurt your enemies.

Legend Lore lets you gain knowledge about a legendary object, person or location, up to mysterious secrets. Again, America has been travelling through the Multiverse, she likely has seen everything and recalls things that seem to be happenning again.Information may be a bit cyrptic, tho.

18th Level: 11th Level Cleric’s Destroy Undead improves to undeads of CR 2 or lower. You also get an access to 6th Level Spell - otherwordly Form was added to Cleric Spell List in Unearthed Arcana. It lets you for the duration (up to 1 minute on concentration) grant yourself flying speed of 40 feet, use of your Wisdom in place of Strength for attack rolls, an additional attack that doesn’t stack with your extra attack and immunity to either fire and poison damage and poisoned condition or radiant and necrotic damage and charmed comdition. This will help if you out of your Radiant Soul and need to fly again, but it is sadly not as good on this particular build because we already have an extra attack and rely more on Strength than Wisdom. But Clerics don’t get Fly.

19th Level: Speaking of Strength, 12th Level fo Cleric and our Final Abilitty Score Improvement lets us finally cap it.

20th Level: Our captsone is 13th Level of Cleric for a 7th Level spell - Plane Shift lets you become your party’s ticked to the Multiverse, letting you transport yourself and up to 8 willing creatures to another plane of existence or to banish an unwilling creature to a random location on a plane you choose if you hit it with a meele spell attack you make as a part of this spell and it fails Charisma Saving throw.

Overview: So this is my take on America Chavez - Protector Aasimar Horizon Walker Ranger 7/Strength Domain Cleric 13. Now let us see how valiable this build is:

Pros: First of all, you are really tough, with around 165 hit points, a number of spells you can set up to buff yourself  and/or others you will be very hard to hurt. Second, you have a large number of ways to hurt your enemies and even combine them to deal some impressive damage. Finally, you have a ton of mobility options, letting you chase all most important targets all across the battlefield.

Cons: A lot of your spells require concentration and we didn’t cap this one, so it is mediocre. A lot of your offensive options compete for bonus action and your buffs require some prep time and forward thinking to set up or wasting your time during the combat. A number of offensive spells relies on your Wisdom modifier, which is weak.

However, you are pretty good at what you do best - punching and taking on yourself major threats. You are a reliable tank who can outlast her enemies in combat. Punch people and protect your friends, jsut remember you cannot do it all alone and your teammates are much more squishy - protect them and they’ll have your back

Alternatives:

There is a number of ways in which you could upgrade this build but sacrifice some of loyalty to America’s potrayal.

* Ranger 6/Cleric 14 lets you increase your Divine Strike Damage to 2d8, meaning you can deal 4d8 damage when combined with Planar Warrior.

* Ranger 12/Cleric 8 lets you increase your Planat Warrior Damage and gains extra attack from Horizon Walker’s 11th level feature, making you much more offensive but also with more hp.

* Change stats to STR 12 DEX 13 CON 14 INT 10 WIS 15  CHA 8. Pick Druidic Warrior as your fighting style, grab a club or a staff and pick shillelagh as your cantrip, letting you use your Wisdom for attacks made with said club or staff, then go Ranger 8/Cleric 12 or vice-versa, using your Abilitty Score Improvements to round up first Wisdom and then Constitution. This take on America will have much better offense AND defense but it strays so much from her as a character (no plane shift, no punching with your hands, less actual Strength and more trickery) it didn’t feel right. Sometimes you need to sacrifice power to stay loyal to the character. Then again, this build would sure be true to a certain aspect of America we know and love.

- Admin

#America #Ms. America #America Chavez #Ms. America Chavez #Marvel #Dungeons & Dragons

[the-final-sif]

interview about writing processes

Hey Lady Sif,

thank you for taking time for us and agreeing to answer our interview questions.

Since this was of short notice we decided to change the deadline to June 19.

We hope the time frame suits you.

Here are our questions:

Can you shortly describe us your writing history? How did you start off? How did you come across fanfiction?

Do you have a writing philosophy that helps you overcome challenges in writing?

Could you describe your writing environment? (workplace, prefered writing tools, fandom discourse, discourse with friends)

What inspires you to write and post in and for a fandom? What triggers your headcanons? Does your educational background influence your writing?

In how far does your fandom experience influence your writing?

In how far do you work with others to create fan content? And what ideas do you integrate in your writing?

Are there certain steps you take/decisions you make when/before responding to a post/prompt?

When and why did you decide to host writing events like your fake fics event? What was the purpose and how did you approach the title prompts?

How would you describe the difference between writing alone and writing spontaneously with others (first in creating fan theories and headcanons and second in creating fanfiction)?

Do you think knowing that others read and can comment on your texts subconsciously influences your writing?

What motivated you to create a story where your readers can decide for an ending (name)?

Is there anything else you consider important in your writing process that you would like to tell us?

Thanks again for your time and effort, we are very much looking forward to your answers!

If you’re interested we’ll keep you updated on our findings.

Kind regards, Dana and Helena

----

Can you shortly describe us your writing history? How did you start off? How did you come across fanfiction?

I started writing when I was very young! I was a huge reader, and even before I was writing stuff down I was a storyteller. It’s a really important part of my family & how we communicate with each others and others.

My first experience with fanfiction was when I was,, 7 or 8? That sounds about right. I hand wrote a fanfiction called “ShoppingCats” which something between warrior cats and Cats vs Dogs, but also made primarily of my OCs (+ a handful of warriors characters I liked). I still have most of it, it’s sitting in my desk drawer in it’s original binder, since my mother saved it.

I came across fandom spaces / online fanfiction in 2012 with fanfiction.net, and published my first fanfiction in 2013 (under Rosae-Sif on fanfiction.net). I’ve taken breaks as my interests changed & life got chaotic, but I’ve always enjoyed retelling stories that I hear and changing them to suit me more / explore new themes, so I’ve stuck with it after all this time.

Do you have a writing philosophy that helps you overcome challenges in writing?

Yes! I write for myself above all else. It’s fun to write stuff for other people sometimes, and I like getting feedback and what not, but I never let that be the focus of my writing. I always try to write what I want to be reading, so when I go back and reread what I’ve written, more often than not I find I’ve produced something that makes me happy, and that helps keep me going when a lot of other things couldn’t.

Could you describe your writing environment? (workplace, prefered writing tools, fandom discourse, discourse with friends)

Uhhh, I don’t really have any one set thing. I mostly write on my laptop, sometimes I use a notebook + pen. I have 5$ fountain pen that I got that I really love when I have writer’s block.

I think the most consistent “workplace” for me is actually discord/my friends. Almost all of my AUs/fics/ideas start as me storytelling (either typing things out or out loud) to someone else. That’s where the spark comes from, and then that slowly is refined through several iterations until I have something I like. 

I really like taking long walks with headphones & nobody else around. That’s when a lot of the very early forms of my favorite ideas come to me. It’s a key part of my writing process the few times I get stuck on stuff too. I just go walk till I figure it out.

I don’t really get involved in discourse much. I like debating people, but I try to stay away from destructive stuff and just have my own fun corner where I create things. I’m in fandom for fun, and I refuse to let me experience be tainted by people who try to turn it into Discourse Central.

What inspires you to write and post in and for a fandom? What triggers your headcanons? Does your educational background influence your writing?

As I mentioned before, I write and post primarily for myself! I have a lot of ideas in my head all the time, and things I want to see, so I create those things and then put them here. It’s fun when other people interact with me + add onto my ideas + create things in response!

My headcanons are usually just kinda,,,, coming out of my brain. I think it’s just how I am. I have a question or a thought and I start looking into it and before I know it, a whole new thing has come out of it.

I think my family actually influenced a lot of my writing style more than anything else. I mean, I was homeschooled for a long time, and my parents were very encouraging of whatever weird projects I was creating (my dad once even let me cut down and drag actual brambles into the basement to create a warriors style fort). I was allowed to dress however I wanted (during high school I worn nothing but PJ pants b/c they were most comfy for me, and also I had/have several capes that I would rotate through), I was allowed to dye my hair (still do! it’s current a side shave in red + purple + blue!), and I was encouraged to just,,, be weird and happy. I think that shows in how I write. I pursue the ideas I want to go after, I indulge myself, I commit to thinks and I focus more on what I want to write rather than what I feel I should write.

That being said, a lot of science nerding that comes out in my writing is def from my educational background. I’ve got a bachelors and stuff. I did take some writing classes, but to be honest, I think my fanfiction experience influenced those a lot more than they influenced my fanfiction (years and years of writing constantly and quickly paid off in college where I would BS papers the night before and get top marks on it).

In how far does your fandom experience influence your writing?

Hmm, I don’t think it does that much? I mean, for the BNHA fandom in particular, I think that seeing all the cool content + ideas other people create really keeps my brain chugging along and creating new things, and god, having seen people make fanart and fanfiction for my stories has been one of the best feelings I’ve ever experienced, but I don’t think that’s really changed how I’m writing.

At my core, I’m still doing the same thing my 8 year old self was doing with her pencil and that binder full of paper. I take the strange thoughts out of my head, and I follow them onto the paper until I create something that makes me happy.

I’ve had some negative experiences of course. I mean, everyone does. They’ve all been fairly minor, mostly just people trying to tell me I’m wrong about stuff that’s either in an AU that’s already not supposed to be canon, or stuff I’m right about. Most of the time it’s just annoying. Sometimes it’s concerning. I ignore or delete the annoying stuff, I don’t want to give it any of my time or attention. 

The concerning stuff I try to reply to. It’s been rare, but sometimes I get comments on certain fics trying to tell me what’s being depicted in my fic isn’t abusive when it absolutely is. I try to correct that and link to resources when I do get that. I usually don’t get a reply, but a few times I’ve had people realize that what they thought was normal was actually abusive behavior. I’m happy that I’m able to help people come to that realization.

In how far do you work with others to create fan content? And what ideas do you integrate in your writing?

Hmmm, I’ll be honest, I’m not quite sure how to answer this one. I don’t exactly work with others when creating my fan content? All of my writing (save one RP collab homestuck fic from ages ago) is done by me exclusively, and most my ideas are also mostly from my own brain. Although I will say one exception to that is @windschildfanfictionwriter​ whose an amazing bnha writer I chat with fairly frequently when I need help figuring something out.

It’s less of “working” with people, and more discussing things/ideas, and being excited about stuff. Sometimes literally all I need is someone to be my rubber duck while I talk about an idea for 2-3 hours to get it solidified. People in my discord server often help me by betaing (editing/reviewing) my wips. My adhd means I often make weird mistakes, and they’re wonderful at helping me catch that.

As for ideas I pull into my writing, it’s hard to pick out specific ones. I think I kinda create + absorb + integrate lots of stuff at once. A lot of the times my ideas don’t come from things other authors write, but instead come from things other authors didn’t write. When I see an thought/idea/thread in a story that isn’t followed up on, or isn’t handled how I think it should be handled, that often inspires me to either use a similar base concept or similar thought but in the way I wish it had been done.

Are there certain steps you take/decisions you make when/before responding to a post/prompt?

Not really? I tend to just go with whatever comes to me or what I already had prepared. I’m rather impulsive, so unless it’s a delicate subject matter, I roll with whatever’s going on.

I do always make myself take a step back before responding to stuff that annoys me/any sort of anon hate. I have to remind myself it’s not worth the effort and I should focus on positive/fun stuff. I’ll admit though, I have a very combative nature that can get the better of me sometimes. I’ve gotten better at that though! Hooray for proper adhd medication to help prevent destructive stimulus seeking behavior and therapy! Although I do still like to debate stuff for fun, I just don’t let myself get hostile about it.

When and why did you decide to host writing events like your fake fics event? What was the purpose and how did you approach the title prompts?

Oh, I just saw the post and thought it looked fun so I reblogged it. Stuff like that is mostly an impulse more than anything else.

I just kinda went with the flow for the titles. God, I got so many of those, I still have a lot of them sitting in my inbox, most of which I probably won’t ever post. For the ones I did do though, I picked ones that sounded like fic titles I would actually use, and then asked myself what sort of story I would use that title for. Then I just kinda wrote whatever came to me.

How would you describe the difference between writing alone and writing spontaneously with others (first in creating fan theories and headcanons and second in creating fanfiction)?

Hmmm. This one is also a bit hard. It’s rare I truly “write alone”, most of my stories start as a form of oral storytelling and then are adapted to “proper” writing. Most of my theories/headcanons start the same way.

You’ll notice a lot of my posts start with “Also” “Okay” or “I’ve been thinking” or “You know”. When I’m writing my headcanon/theory posts, it’s all written very conversationally because I’m still following my family’s storytelling in a way. It’s a public post, but I’m not just making statements to a void. I’m still talking to people, addressing them, leading them through stuff. It’s just how I communicate on a very fundamental leave.

I’m still writing for myself, I’m creating for myself, but I’m doing it with others. I’m telling a story constantly, and sometimes I’m telling that story to myself, but I’m still telling it to someone.

I think you can read that in my fics, with the perspective I tend to use. I use limited third person POV, but when I’m writing, I try to write it how the character I’m writing from the POV of would tell their own story. I’m not just describing what’s happening, I’m letting this character tell their story through their own voice, to others, to me. It’s a core part of my writing, and that makes it hard to say that it was ever really written alone.

Do you think knowing that others read and can comment on your texts subconsciously influences your writing?

I mean, it’d be impossible for it not to. But I don’t think it influences me that much. I’m still writing for myself most of the time, and I hold onto my bullshit tightly. I don’t change my writing based on what I think other people want to see from me.

That being said, it’s still something I think about. It’s more of a conscious choice, but specifically regarding my stories that have abuse in them, I try to connect in elements of realism and common underrepresented traits/habits of abuse (which I do try to check via research when I can) and ensure that they are then called out as what they are. I’ve gotten a number of comments/asks/discord messages from people telling me that my works helped them realize they were in a crappy situation / understand what they were going through, and that’s something that’s important for me.

I think The Green Eyed Monster is an example of that, where I explore platonic stalking/obsession/pressuring. It’s something I don’t see taken seriously often enough, so I wanted to frame it in a serious but realistic light and make it clear that what was happening was wrong and harmful. I wanted to explore this concept, but I purposefully did it in a way that I hoped would help others who might’ve dealt with it on some level understand it for what it was, and I think it really shows. In the comments of that fic, there’s a lot of very personal responses/stories from people who went through similar experiences. I think that’s important, so it’s something I try to do when I can.

The other thing is I do 100% put references/lines in certain stories with an evil grin on my face knowing that a certain handful of my commenters are going to rip their hair out over it, either because they have no idea what I mean by it, or they know exactly what I mean by it. But hey, I’m a hurt/comfort writer at heart, so you can hardly blame me.

What motivated you to create a story where your readers can decide for an ending (name)?

Oh, uh, “Seven Year Old Katsuki Has The Ability To Kill A Grown Man And No Concept Of Legality”.

I actually can’t remember the exact inspiration for this one? I think I saw uhhh, Markiplier, playing a text adventure game, and I got curious about creating something similar.

I considered using a platform meant for text based games, but true to my family’s long history of needlessly complicating things and creating things where they aren’t meant to be created out of some mix of spite and creative hubris, I decided I wanted to make it on A03 instead. I looked up a style formatting guide, and went to work.

That whole project took like 1-2 months, around school work and everything else. It was created entirely using links that sent you to the next page. That’s it. That’s the only ‘code’ functionality I had to work with. So I made a whole paper map of the routes, separating them out into “steps” and then created unique text blocks for each step based on prior choices. I used a secret point system for one of the main routes, and ended up with 97 unique steps, and 155 different text blocks/variations.

Fun project. A03 was having some trouble/going down right after I released it, and to this day, certain members of the discord server still blame me for that as I was forcing the website into bullshit it was not meant to contain.

Is there anything else you consider important in your writing process that you would like to tell us?

Nothing I can think of off the top of my head. Other than maybe I have an African Gray named Cecil, and sometimes when I’m not ready to share an idea with humans, I’ll talk it out with him first. He’s an excellent listener sometimes, and by that I mean he’s usually ignoring me or I’m giving him scratches and he’s not paying my rambling any mind.

Though sometimes I get lucky and when I finish up a point and ask for his opinion, he’ll just look at me for a moment and say “I love you.” He does it because I’ll always cave and give him treats since I’m weak for him, but it still makes me smile.

#sif speaks #sif answers #my writing #long post #if there's anything else #just let me know! #submission

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #13: Robin Hood

Welcome back to Fate and Phantasms, where we’re bringing ever servant to life in D&D! Today we’re building the faceless archer Robin Hood. We have three goals for this build:

Faceless May King: You need to be able to sneak around.

Sabotage A: You need access to poison and traps to cripple the enemy before the fight even begins.

Yew Bow: You gotta be able to do a weirdly high amount of damage in a single shot.

As usual, a spreadsheet for this build can be found here, with an explanation below the cut.

Background and Race

Technically you could be any race you want, since you just have to be like Robin Hood to qualify for the throne, but we’re going with Variant Human since the one in-game is clearly human and we need the feat. As a human, you get +1 to Dexterity and Wisdom, proficiency with the Poisoner’s Kit, and the feat Crossbow Master, which lets you ignore a crossbow’s loading attribute, ignore disadvantage caused by aiming at someone in melee range, and lets you attack with a hand crossbow as a bonus action if you attacked with a one handed melee weapon this turn. “But Grace,” you say, “the poisoner’s kit is a tool, not a skill! The variant human doesn’t cover that!” And to that I say: what are you, a cop? Clearly not; you’re Robin Hood!

You background is Criminal, giving you proficiency in Deception and Stealth, and access to a criminal network i.e. the Merry Men. You could also go with the noble background if you want to play up the whole “Sir Robin of Locksley” thing, but the criminal skills and bonus are better for the build overall, so that’s what we’re going with here.

Stats

We’re using the standard array, roll if you want to, but keep stats up for multi-classing. Regardless, put your highest score into Dexterity. You excel in archery and stealth, and both of those are dex based. Next, Intelligence to help you keep all those traps straight. Mechanically this is wisdom’s job, but dnd doesn’t always make sense. Third is Wisdom to actually build traps. Fourth is Charisma, you have a certain roguish charm about you, enough to get a summer skin, anyway. Next is Constitution, and dump Strength. You need all that sneaking a poison because you’re not good in a straight fight, so don’t get caught in those.

Class Levels

1. Rogue 1: As a rogue, you gain proficiency in Sleight of Hand, Insight, Acrobatics, Perception, and Dex and Int Saves. You also gain Expertise, doubling your proficiency bonus in two skills (pick Deception and Sleight of Hand), Sneak Attack to add more damage to attacks you make with advantage or when your friends are next to them, and Thieves’ Cant, a secret language that takes 4x as long to get the message across. 

2. Rogue 2: You get a Cunning Action, letting you use your bonus action to hide, disengage, or dash.

3. Rogue 3: At third level you get your subclass, Scout from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. This gives you the Skirmisher and Survivalist feats. The former lets you react to move half your speed if an enemy ends the turn within 5′ of you without proccing an attack of opportunity, and the latter gives you proficiency and expertise in the Nature and Survival skills. You hide out in a forest all day, so this works out swimmingly.

4. Rogue 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to beef up your Dexterity for better archery skills.

5. Rogue 5: You gain an Uncanny Dodge, letting you react to attackers you see to take half damage. 

6. Rogue 6: You get Expertise in another two skills, pick Acrobatics for quick getaways and Perception to avoid fights in the first place.

7. Rogue 7: You now have Evasion, now Dexterity saves to determine damage from effects like fireballs cause half damage on a fail and no damage at all on a success, because you’re so good at hiding even explosions can’t find you.

8. Rogue 8: Use your next Ability Score Improvement to max out Dexterity so you can split your own arrows.

9. Rogue 9: You gain Superior Mobility, adding 10′ to your movement so you can stay one step ahead of the sheriff. 

10. Ranger 1: For this build we’re using the Revised Ranger Unearthed Arcana, there’s a link to it in the spreadsheet. As a bonus for multiclassing into ranger, you get a skill from the ranger skill list; grab Animal Handling, you’re every version of Robin Hood rolled into one, so Little John might be a bear and you need to be prepared for that. As a revised ranger, you gain a Favored Enemy, which gives plus two to damage rolls against said enemy, as well as advantage on tracking and recalling information about them, and even a language that they use. Pick humanoids, since they’re the closest choice to “the rich”. You also gain Natural Explorer, letting you ignore difficult terrain, have advantage on initiative rolls, and advantage on attacks against creatures that have not acted this combat. There’s also several traveling perks, but most games don’t care overmuch about traveling anyway, so they’re glossed over here to keep this level from getting even longer than it already is.

11. Ranger 2: Second level rangers get spells as well as a Fighting Style grab Archery for plus two to ranged attack rolls. For spells, grab Snare to set magical traps and Fog Cloud to act as a smoke bomb when you need to make an escape.

12. Ranger 3: At third level you become a Hunter, giving you a Hunter’s Prey option. Grab Horde Breaker to deal an extra attack to a creature within 5′ of your original target. You also get Primeval Awareness, letting you communicate simple ideas to animals, learn how they’re feeling, if it is being affected by magic, and how you can persuade it to not attack you. You can also spend a minute of concentration to sense if you’re favored enemies are within 5 miles of you, giving you their number and general direction from you. Since you technically count as a humanoid, the answer is probably going to be at least one, right in front of you. Also, grab Absorb Elements as your spell this turn to further reduce damage coming your way and empower your own attacks.

13. Ranger 4: Use your Ability Score Improvement to power up your Wisdom to make your spells stronger.

14. Ranger 5: You gain an Extra Attack, letting you attack twice per turn, or three times if you also use Horde Breaker. You can only use Sneak Attack once per turn though, so pick your target carefully.

You also gain a 2nd level spell this turn; grab Pass Without Trace to make you and your party extra sneaky.

15. Ranger 6: You gain a Greater Favored Enemy, giving you another option to pick as a favored enemy (grab Elementals for easier Spirit Root farming), another language, and plus 4 to all damage against both Greater and normal Favored Enemies. You also have advantage on saving throws caused by a greater favored enemy.

16. Ranger 7: You can pick a Defensive Tactic, grab Multiattack Defense to give yourself +4 AC on second and subsequent attacks from the same enemy each turn. It’s not very Robin Hood-esque, but the other options aren’t particularly useful for you, so might as well.

You also get Silence, making sneaking a breeze and also letting you cancel out spellcasters who need to speak to cast.

17. Ranger 8: You gain Fleet of Foot, letting you dash as a bonus action (which you already could do), and more importantly your last Ability Score Improvement which will once again be put into Wisdom.

18. Ranger 9: You gain a third level spell, Conjure Animals, letting you bring the wrath of your Merry Men down on your foes, or at the very least cause a lot of chaos that you can exploit.

19. Ranger 10: You gain Hide in Plain Sight, giving other creatures a -10 penalty to finding you while you are hiding, so long as you don’t move. You stop being in hiding the second you make a sneak attack, but this makes it easier to pick your moment to strike.

20. Ranger 11: You gain a Multiattack option, pick Volley to let you use an action to make a ranged attack on any number of creatures within 10′ of a point you can see. You make a separate attack roll for each target, and you have to choose between a volley and a normal multiattack.

You also gain your last spell, Faceless May King, a.k.a. Nondetection. This spell makes it impossible to track you or one creature you cast it on with magic.

Pros: You’re good at sneak attacks and sneaking in general, especially when you’re in the wild. You’re faster than most PCs and can sense enemy ambushes before they happen, making you a great scout. You can also use this sense to set up traps and ambush the enemy right back. At later levels you can abuse the action economy with your animal friends, and if anyone tries to abuse it back you just hit them with a volley.

Cons: Your biggest strengths come from pre-battle prep: traps, poison, and sneaking around might not be highly supported by every DM (The poisoner’s kit doesn’t even have any official mechanical use). You also need to pick your targets carefully; you have a lot of attacks each round, but only one sneak attack, as well as several reaction skills. Finally, you don’t do a whole lot of damage on your own; you need your sneak attack to hit anything hard, or allies that can use your traps and poison more effectively.

#fgo #fate grand order #dnd #Robin Hood #Fate and Phantasms

[danielmouradjensen]

Canterbury Tales - in a historical/social context

In this essay the reader will be enlighten with an extremely short introduction to Canterbury Tales and the skillful poet behind this unique master piece, written in Middle English. Due to the size and focus of the paper, the Pardoner’s Tale, the Parson’s Tale and the wife of Bath’s Tale, including the prologues, will be selected among the 24 stories in Canterbury Tales. It will therefore be these three tales, which will be placed in a historical and social context. The main question in the essay is, “Which historical events are worth mentioning when discussing, the three specific tales, in Canterbury Tales?”

In Canterbury Tales (1387 - 1400.), the readers are introduced with a variety of personalities, like the Pardoner, the Parson, the Clerk, the Knight and the Wife of Bath. These mentioned characters are all pilgrims heading towards Canterbury. The tales are not written in Latin or French, which were languages preferred at that time but in Middle English. The Canterbury Tales were meant for a specific group of people and not the whole population in England1. Reading aloud was regarded as a social event in the time Chaucer.

It is also presumed that Geoffrey Chaucer did not write to achieve the benefits of fame. Canterbury Tales were of course handwritten on various manuscripts because it was much later, more specific, in the year 14762, that William Caxton introduced the first printing press in England. When the tales, which are quite amusing, were written, it was in a time or period of war, sickness and despair. It is from within the tales that the reader learns more about the society in the late Middle Ages. It is worth mentioning, that Chaucer had an advantage among his peers, in that he was a member of the court of King Richard II of England (1367-1400).

Furthermore, it is quite important to take notice that Chaucer the Poet uses a light satirical tone when introducing the many characters, in the different tales. Geoffrey Chaucer, as the genius he was, created a persona who is himself, in order to be part of the tales. In Canterbury Tales, the author and the narrator merge - another unique feature in the tales.

The Pardoner’s tale, the Parson’s tales and the Wife of Bath

As promised, the three tales will be placed in a historical (social) context: the role of the Church in England, the Great Western Schism, the Lollards, and the Hundred Year’s War as well as the Black Death. The Peasants’ Revolt, in 1381, will unfortunately not be discussed in this essay. This historical event would be interesting in connection with especially the Knight’s Tale.

The Pardoner’s tale

But, sirs, one thing that slipped my memory when I spoke my tale: I've relics, pardons in My pouch, in England none could finer be, The pope's own hand entrusted them to me. If anyone devoutly has resolved To make a gift and by me be absolved, Come forth at once and meekly on your knees Receive my pardon. Or, if you so please, Take for yourself a pardon as you go--One fresh and new at every town--just so You offer to me, all the while we ride, Some pence and nobles that are bonafide. (l. 919 – 930, Canterbury Tales, “the Pardoner’s Tale”)3

Is the Pardoner a charlatan or a true holy man? Geoffrey Chaucer describes this character as a man more interested in selling relics and enjoy life’s pleasures than helping others of the goodness of his heart. As an example from “The Pardoner's Portrait”: “He'd make more money in one day alone Than would the parson two months come and gone. So he made apes, with all the tricks he'd do, Of parson and of congregation too.” (l. 703 – 706, Canterbury Tales, “General Prologue”)4. However, in line 708 Chaucer writes: “In church he was a fine ecclesiastic”. The theme in the Pardoner´s tale is that the root to all evil is money. And money is what the pardoner likes. A greedy man who speaks about greed. Again, it becomes evident that Chaucer does not find the Pardoner worthy of his position as a man of the Church. Because of irony, the reader has to read between the lines.

In the late Middle Ages many historical events occurred, among them was the Western Schism (1378-1417), which resulted in a slit of the Roman Catholic Church. During a very long period, rivalries for the papacy led to a deep political crisis within the Church. Even after the truce with France, in 1389, England continued, very firmly, to support Rome, not Avignon, and would not offer any real solutions to end the Schism5. In the tales, it is also from Rome where the church authority derives from.

It is here, it is very interesting to talk about the role or status of the Church in England, during the lifetime of Chaucer. Was the Church in England strong or weak? At the time of Chaucer, the church was weak due to the Western Schism, mentioned above, the Black Death (1346–1353) and greedy/selfish churchmen6.

In England, the Black Death, which almost killed half of the population and the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453), led to an increase of self-serving churchmen – like the Pardoner in Canterbury Tales. The people of England were in pain and needed help and guidance, which meant a great opportunity for greedy and self-absorbed men of the church to exploit it. To further elaborate on the Hundred Years' War, which Geoffrey Chaucer himself participated in, even more death and suffering befell the people of England. France was also hurting and bleeding. The long war did not only bring serious social and economic changes in the English and French societies but also affected the writing of Geoffrey Chaucer.

The Black Death had a huge impact on the English society as a whole, not only were people dying but the way they died was horrific. There is a line/phrase saying: “there were hardly enough living to care for the sick and bury the dead”7. The plague affected the economy, politics and religion. It also had an impact on culture and arts. What is quite interesting is that the plague as well as the Hundred Years' War actually empowered the people.

Geoffrey Chaucer knew because of his place in the higher classes, the realities of the church and the abuses of the clergy. This gave Chaucer the opportunity to use humorous irony in the tales. Making fun of the mischiefs of the clergy was not something new at that time8. In addition to this, Chaucer was acquainted with John Wyclif, theologian and reformer, which contributed to a harsher stand towards the clergy in England.

No institution in fourteenth-century England was so often the object of satire as the Church. The great organization, with its wealth, its power, and its conservative traditions, might have been expected to offer a safeguard against social decay; but the Church itself was a fruitful breeding-ground for the very things, which were disorganizing feudal society. (A Chaucer handbook, p. 35)9

Going in depth with the Pardoner’s Tale, Death has a vital role, and might be viewed as the plague, which, stated above, ravaged England. Death, or the personification of Death, was something that Chaucer’s audience could identify with. The Pardoner’s Tale is the only tale set during the Black Plague.

The Parson’s Tale

There was a good man of religion, too, A PARSON of a certain township who Was poor, but rich in holy thought and work. He also was a learned man, a clerk; The Christian gospel he would truly preach, Devoutly his parishioners to teach. Benign he was, in diligence a wonder, And patient in adversity, as under Such he'd proven many times. And loath He was to get his tithes by threatening oath; For he would rather give, without a doubt, To all the poor parishioners about From his own substance and the offerings. (l. 477 – 489, Canterbury Tales, “General Prologue”)10

In the Parson’s Tale, the reader is now introduced to a different character than the Pardoner. It is the last and longest tale in Canterbury Tales. The funny thing is that, the tale is not even a tale:

It is a penitential manual,  a  curious  choice  because  nearly  all such  vehicles  of religious  in­struction were prepared  by the clergy or by mystics.  It is largely derivative, using  material common  to  so  many  treatises  that  only  a few  of the  actual sources can be established with some certainty. (Sermon and Penitential in The Parson’s Tale and their Effect on Style, p. 125)11

The Parson tells the others that he does not want to amuse them and therefore he chooses instead a sermon. From the Prologue: “You won't get any fable told by me; For Saint Paul, as he writes to Timothy, Reproves those who abandon truthfulness for fable-telling and such wretchedness.” (l. 31 - 34, Canterbury Tales, “The Parson's Tale PROLOGUE”)12

He could definitely be viewed as a more positive face of the church, according to Chaucer, than the persona, which the Pardoner represented. It is also worth noticing that, from the descriptions in the Prologue, the Parson, the Knight and the Ploughman represent the three traditional spheres of medieval society13.

It could also be worth placing “the Parson’s Tale” in context with the Lollards. As mentioned before, Chaucer was in contact with John Wyclif, who was convinced that the Bible and God had the highest authority and that the clergy should not own property. He also translated the Bible into Middle English14, which made it a lot easier for those who did not understand Latin. The Lollards followed John Wyclif and in the beginning, his supporters were from Oxford University and the royal court but the “movement” became increasingly popular outside “the inner circle”. The Lollards were critical towards the Church, which of course made them quite unpopular with the established clergy. The monastic leaders were not keen to follow or abide the views of John Wyclif and his followers. During the Black Death, Wyclif saw many flaws and weaknesses in the Church. It was believed that Rome was the enemy, and that the devote Christian only needed the local pastor and congregation15. The Lollards also saw sacraments as fake, which meant the reformers wanted to change the core in the Catholic Church. Wyclif died naturally even though the Church wanted him executed for heresy.  

There could also be links between Parson’s tale and the ideas of the Lollards. According to Frances McCormack,16 there could be some similarities with the vocabulary in the tale and that of the Lollards. As also stated in the beginning that Chaucer did not write to a large group of people, he had a specific audience (like the royal court) and among these members were those who, in one way or another, supported the ideas of the Lollards.

The Wife of Bath’s Tale

She was a worthy woman all her life: At church door with five men she'd been a wife,             Not counting all the company of her youth.(No need to treat that now, but it's the truth.) She'd journeyed to Jerusalem three times; Strange rivers she had crossed in foreign climes; She'd been to Rome and also to Boulogne, To Galicia for Saint James and to Cologne, And she knew much of wandering by the way. She had the lover's gap teeth, I must say. With ease upon an ambling horse she sat, Well wimpled, while upon her head her hat Was broad as any buckler to be found. (l. 459– 471, Canterbury Tales, “General Prologue”)17

Another very interesting character and pilgrim in Canterbury Tales is the Wife of Bath who sounds more like a modern woman and a feminist from the late 20th century than a woman from the late Middle Ages. This eccentric character, actually named Alison (line 804, The Wife of Bath's Tale PROLOGUE), is not afraid to speak her mind about former husbands, marriage and her sex-life. She does not sound like what a typical pilgrim should be and act. As an example, in the following quote, the reader learns what men’s “instruments” are actually used for:

That learned men I not provoke to oath, I mean to say that they were made for both--That is, both for relief and for our ease To procreate, so God we not displease. Why else should men into their ledgers set That every man yield to his wife her debt? And how can he pay this emolument Unless he use his simple instrument? That's why upon all creatures these are set, To urinate and also to beget. (l. 125 - 134, Canterbury Tales, “The Wife of Bath's Tale PROLOGUE”)18

She is one of the few women among the pilgrims, but she is not afraid to speak her mind and rebel against the patriarchal powers19. The Pardoner tries to interrupt her by flatter, but it does not work and she continuous:

The Pardoner spoke up immediately. "Now dame, by God and by Saint John," said he, "As a noble preacher on the case you'll pass. I almost wed a wife, but then, alas, Why buy it with my flesh, a price so dear? I'd rather not get married, not this year." "Abide," she said, "my tale is not begun! No, you'll be drinking from another tun, Before I'm through, that tastes much worse than ale. (l. 163 - 171, Canterbury Tales, “The Wife of Bath's Tale)20

In “Feminist Readings in Middle English Literature”, a very important point is made: “Recognition of the cultural meanings that are spoken through female voices can be a starting place for the exploration of forms of power and power relations in the Middle Ages.”21 The Wife of Bath (still looking for husband number six), is also a woman who has been on several pilgrimages. Furthermore, she is a woman who travels alone. In her tale, the readers learn about the knight, who rapes a fair maiden and as a punishment/challenge must answer what it is women what most of all. The queen who offers the knight a second chance is none other than Guinevere, the wife of King Arthur. What is important to point out, is that stories of King Arthur were quite popular at the time of Chaucer. Alison speaks of magic and magical creatures, which at that time, the established Church viewed as pagan beliefs. The tale begins with:

In the old days of King Arthur, today Still praised by Britons in a special way, This land was filled with fairies all about. The elf-queen with her jolly little rout In many a green field often danced. (l. 857 - 861, Canterbury Tales, “The Wife of Bath's Tale)22

When exploring the Wife of Bath’s tale in a historical context, it is also interesting to look at the Beguines in the mid and late Middle Ages. The Beguines were women who devoted their lives to God. In a time where there were more women than men, this specific life of a Beguine provided a safe haven for women without husbands.

The conclusion of the essay

When the Geoffrey Chaucer created the 24 spectacular tales, which were not only amusing and ironic/satirical, it was in a period of war, illness and despair. It is from within the tales and prologues that the reader has the opportunity to study the English society in the late Middle Ages. It is also worth mentioning, that Chaucer had an advantage among his countrymen, in that he was a member of the court of King Richard II of England (1367-1400).

A crucial religious and historical event took place in the western Christian world, which without doubt affected the religious thoughts and views of many people, in the different layers of the societies, in the late Middle Ages. The Western Schism (1378-1417) resulted in a slit of the Roman Catholic Church. During a very long period, rivalries for the papacy and/or authority led to a deep political crisis within the Church.

At the time of Chaucer, the church was weak due to the Western Schism, mentioned earlier, the Black Death (1346–1353) and corrupted churchmen.

In England, the Black Plague, which almost exterminated half of the population and the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453), led to an increase of self-serving churchmen – like the greedy Pardoner in Canterbury Tales. The people of England were in pain and were in seek of help and guidance, which meant a great opportunity for greedy and self-absorbed men of the church to exploit it. As mentioned in the essay, the Black Death had a huge impact on the English society as a whole, not only were the population dying but the way they died was unbelievable. There is a line/phrase, to further illustrating the Black Plague, saying: “there were hardly enough living to care for the sick and bury the dead”. The Black Death affected the economy, politics and religion. It also changed the culture and arts (including, the writing of Chaucer).

Placing “the Parson’s Tale” in context with the Lollards, makes som sense. As mentioned before, Chaucer was in contact with John Wyclif, who was convinced that it was only God and the Bible, which had the real authority. That the clergy should not possess property, which they indeed did. The Lollards were critical towards the Church, which of course made them quite unpopular with the clergy. The monastic leaders were not keen to follow or abide the radical views of John Wyclif and his supporters. During the Black Death, Wyclif saw many flaws and weaknesses in the established Church. Geoffrey Chaucer knew, due to his status and as member of the royal court, the realities of the church and the abuses of the clergymen. This gave Chaucer the opportunity to use humorous irony in the tales. Chaucer had an idea on how the clergy should act and was frustrated with how they actually acted, as an example the Parson vs. the Pardoner.

It is also worth recalling that, from the descriptions in the Prologue, the Parson, the Knight and the Ploughman represent the three traditional spheres of medieval society. Another very interesting female character and pilgrim in Canterbury Tales is the Wife of Bath. She sounds more like a modern woman and a feminist from the late 20th century than a woman from the late Middle Ages. She might even represent some women in this specific period.

Bibliography

Blades,William. The Life and Typography of William Caxton, England's First Printer - With Evidence of his Typographical Connection with Colard Mansion, the Printer at Bruges. Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Byrne, Joseph. Encyclopedia of the Black Death. ABC-CLIO, 2012.

Creighton, James Joseph. Chaucer's Presentation of the Church in the Canterbury Tales. Master’s theses, Loyola University Chicago, 1957

Evans, Ruth and Leslie Johnson. Feminist Readings in Middle English Literature: The Wife of Bath and All Her Sect. Routledge, 2005.

French, Robert Dudley. A Chaucer handbook. New York, 1947.

Manly, John Matthews. Some New Light on Chaucer. Henry Holt, 1926.

McCormack, Frances Mary. Author of Chaucer and the Culture of Dissent: The Lollard Context and Subtext of the Parson's Tale Four. Courts Press, 2007.

Palmer, J. J. N.. England and the Great Western Schism, 1388-1399”, The English Historical Review Vol. 83, No. 328 .Jul., 1968.

Rowland, Beryl. Sermon and Penitential in The Parson’s Tale and their Effect on Style. Florilegium 9, 1987.

Black Death: The lasting impact by Professor Tom James, last accessed Monday, October 24, 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/black_impact_01.shtml

General Prologue, last accessed Sunday, October 23, 2016, english.fsu.edu/canterbury/general.html

John Wycliffe and The Lollards, last accessed Sunday, October 23, 2016, http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/special/varia/lollards/lollards.html

The Pardoner's Tale, last accessed Friday, October 21, 2016, http://english.fsu.edu/canterbury/pardoner.html

The Parson's Tale PROLOGUE, last accessed Sunday, October 23, 2016, english.fsu.edu/canterbury/parsonpro.html

The Wife of Bath's Tale, last accessed Sunday, October 23, 2016, http://english.fsu.edu/canterbury/wife.html

The Wife of Bath's Tale PROLOGUE, last accessed Sunday, October 23, 2016, http://english.fsu.edu/canterbury/wifepro.html

1 John Matthews Manly, Some New Light on Chaucer (Henry Holt, 1926), 76.

2 William Blades, The Life and Typography of William Caxton, England's First Printer - With Evidence of his Typographical Connection with Colard Mansion, the Printer at Bruges (Cambridge University Press, 2014), 62-63.

3 The Pardoner's Tale, last accessed Friday, October 21, 2016, http://english.fsu.edu/canterbury/pardoner.html

4 General Prologue, last accessed Sunday, October 23, 2016, english.fsu.edu/canterbury/general.html

5 J. J. N. Palmer, ”England and the Great Western Schism, 1388-1399”, The English Historical Review Vol. 83, No. 328 (Jul., 1968): 516

6 James Joseph Creighton, “Chaucer's Presentation of the Church in the Canterbury Tales”, (Master’s theses, Loyola University Chicago, 1957): 13

7 Black Death: The lasting impact by Professor Tom James, last accessed Monday, October 24, 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/black_impact_01.shtml

8 James Joseph Creighton, “Chaucer's Presentation of the Church in the Canterbury Tales”, 11

9 Robert Dudley French, A Chaucer handbook (New York, 1947)

10 General Prologue, last accessed Sunday, Monday 24, 2016, english.fsu.edu/canterbury/general.html

11 Beryl Rowland, “Sermon and Penitential in The Parson’s Tale and their Effect on Style”, Florilegium 9 (1987): 125

12 The Parson's Tale PROLOGUE, last accessed Sunday, October 23, 2016, english.fsu.edu/canterbury/parsonpro.html

13 Black Death: The lasting impact by Professor Tom James, last accessed Monday, October 24, 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/black_impact_01.shtml

14 John Wycliffe and The Lollards, last accessed Sunday, October 23, 2016, http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/special/varia/lollards/lollards.html

15 Joseph Byrne, Encyclopedia of the Black Death (ABC-CLIO, 2012), 214

16 Frances Mary McCormack, Author of Chaucer and the Culture of Dissent: The Lollard Context and Subtext of the Parson's Tale (Four Courts Press, 2007)

17 General Prologue, last accessed Sunday, Monday 24, 2016, english.fsu.edu/canterbury/general.html

18 The Wife of Bath's Tale PROLOGUE, last accessed Sunday, October 23, 2016, http://english.fsu.edu/canterbury/wifepro.html

19 Ruth Evans and Leslie Johnson, Feminist Readings in Middle English Literature : The Wife of Bath and All Her Sect (Routledge, 2005), 1.

20 The Wife of Bath's Tale, last accessed Sunday, October 23, 2016, http://english.fsu.edu/canterbury/wife.html

21 Ruth Evans and Leslie Johnson, Feminist Readings, 2.

22 The Wife of Bath's Tale, last accessed Sunday, October 23, 2016, http://english.fsu.edu/canterbury/wife.html

#geoffrey chaucer #history #litterature