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rearranged-fanfic · 4 months

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Chapter-By-Chapter Part 1; The Prologue - Unfinished Painting

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*Spoilers Below*

This fic starts off incredibly melancholy. let's properly set the tone, shall we?

"When death strikes, it’s sometimes a long, slow cut. And sometimes, it’s swift as the blink of an eye. It does so efficiently, without remorse, and without discernment. We all die, in the end."

This is the opening paragraph, the reader's first impression of the story and of our protagonist. We cut to Reader-chan (our Reader Avatar) in the hospital directly after her mother's death. There's a sense of shock and upset, but ultimately, resignation.

We know from the story that her mom had been sick for a while.

"It wasn’t sudden, nor was it unexpected. Mom had been sick for a very, very long time."

"Mom’s death had been a slow cut, festering over months and months until it was long overdue."

This is something she's been preparing for quite some time now. But there's still the undercurrent that she's not dealing well. You'll notice that she has no support structure; there are no others in the hospital with her.

Reader-chan is very much alone. She has few friends, and most of her family is distant or has since passed on.

"I was nineteen when I was made an orphan."

"After Dad had died unexpectedly from COVID complications..."

"And then [the younger sister] become an adult. And she’d left me behind without a backwards glance."

I know you're thinking, 'Author-san', why would you give us such a depressing start? This is so sad'. And, primarily, it's to ease the transition when Reader-chan transmigrates to the JJK world. If she'd have had a family who loved her and supported her, would she have wanted to stay in her new world - which, in this story, is portrayed in an incredibly dark way? For me? I'd say not. I'd claw and scrape and scream to get back to my family, hot fictional men be damned.

When isekai stories have protagonists that just go 'this is my life now', it really tanks my immersion. Especially when they're supposed to be serious dramas. Comedies are a little less glaring, because there's a suspension of disbelief that allows me to excuse more. But dramas? Oh boy, if you have family in your old world, you'd miss them too.

So, her losses before the start of the main story justify her lack of desire to return home - because it is something she struggles with in the first few chapters. Not only that, but it also reinforces her mental strength. She lost her dad and mom within a few years of each other and her sister is globe-trotting, so what could I possibly throw at her that's comparatively worse?

A character that has less to lose or less to return to is easier to manipulate emotionally for the author. There are less hangups, less connections to keep in mind, and less loose ends to tie up when the isekai inevitably ends.

Not only that, but the grief she experiences gives readers an immediate point of connection with her. Most everybody can identify with the loss of a loved one. Whether it's a parent, grandparent, or sibling that has passed away or simply lost touch, that sort of mental anguish resonates with humanity on an intrinsic level. We, as the readers, see her pain and understand it.

And we want to see her pick herself back up and move on from this.

We go from the hospital to her apartment, where she unpacks the last of her mother's belongings.

Reader-chan reveals that she'd been taking care of her mother before her death, for some unknown amount of time. And, in doing so, had let her own life fall by the wayside.

"I’d been able to see my ribs at one point, and my collar bones had become pronounced in the v-necks of my shirts."

"I’d neglected other things, too."

"An easel and canvas lay covered in the corner of the room, doing little more than collecting dust. [...] My book collection was little more than decoration at this point, too."

"I’d just lost my job. [...] I’d gotten fired for taking care of her."

"I wasn’t exactly qualified to do anything else, since I’d dropped out of college [to take care of her mother]."

Things like her health, career, future goals, hobbies, and interests were all discarded. Reader-chan, in dedicating her life to her mom, had completely derailed it.

This is the characterization we get of Reader-chan: she's toxically altruistic. Reader-chan is an incredibly kind person. She's hard-working, fiercely loyal, and selfless. This is to set up not only her desire to save those around her, but her own personal conflict within the story itself.

She can easily be viewed as a doormat, letting others take advantage of her. She bends under pressure, gives pieces of herself with terrifyingly little asked in return, and is unconcerned about her own wellbeing. Which is... very much not okay.

Despite this, we see that she's surprisingly resilient when faced with seemingly-insurmountable odds.

"And I resolved that I was going to go back into the store and talk to my boss"

"I could’ve started doing murals for the businesses in town again. [...] I could’ve paint windows for offices or the brickwork facades downtown, or done commissions for smaller pieces [to pay for her expenses]."

Reader-chan almost immediately starts to make plans to get back up onto her own two feet. Which shows that she's mature for her age, and able to deal appropriately with setbacks as they come. She's also not prone to getting overwhelmed and giving up.

Cut away again, and we find her in the parking lot of her old job, intent on talking to her boss to get it back. And she's trying in vain to get a hold of her distant sister.

She leaves a voicemail, to no avail. And for the first time, we see her truly angry...

"Snapping in anger, gripped the phone so hard that the fragile class façade threatened to break. Part of me hoped it would, that spiderweb cracks overtook it and the screen shattered in my grasp. So I’d lose her number and never have to call her again. Then I’d never have to see her again, either."

... and her immediate regret.

"I’d never see her again, just like Dad. Just like Mom."

"Was that what I really wanted? … Maybe not."

Because, despite the fact that her sister left her behind, she still very much loves her. And, if she cuts her sister loose, she really will be all alone.

I included a strained sibling relationship because, initially, I wanted there to be something that Reader-chan would be conflicted about. Should she rekindle her relationship with her sister - forgive, forget, and move on? Or should she hold a grudge in her heart, even if it leaves her miserable?

When she gets isekai'd, the conflict becomes: should she put forth the effort return home to her sister, knowing that their relationship is only hanging by a thread, or resign herself to her fate in her new universe?

We catch a glimpse of fandom. We know that Reader-chan enjoys a myriad of media, but that it's fallen by the wayside in recent months.

"Only a few manga volumes had been touched, when I’d take them to the hospital to read with Mom; she’d liked looking at the pictures."

"On the rearview mirror, little chibis of my favorite anime characters hang and jingle together."

I made eye contact with tiny Tsunade from Naruto [...] the blindfolded gaze of Gojo [...] next to Levi Ackerman.

So we know that she has a keen interest in manga, specifically, judging from her collection and from the characters she keeps in her car.

After getting off the phone, frustrated and angry with her sister, she attempts to calm herself down by reading through her curated stories page. Which leads to this:

"And I saw a headline titled 'JJK: Fan-Favorite Character Killed in Battle', with a picture of Sukuna next to it."

"Out of curiosity, I clicked on the article and scrolled down, looking for the manga panels in question."

"Because it wasn’t Sukuna dead. Gojo Satoru had been bisected, cut clean through, and left in a pool of his own blood."

Reader-chan reacts like this:

"“Th-that’s not possible, right?” I inhaled through my nose. Out through my mouth. Trying to calm myself."

"I stared at [the tiny Gojo keychain] for a bit, and yanked his chain off the mirror, tossing him into the back seat where I couldn’t look at him anymore. Then I pressed my face into the backs of my hands and screamed at the top of my lungs."

"Because the universe was so fucking funny that it had to play some sort of cosmic joke on me. Because Gege killing off that character just had to happen now!"

Up until now, we've seen her handle everything with a surprising amount of grace. We can tell that she's deeply upset by the loss of her mother, sure, but she's putting on quite the brave face. Or maybe she's simply too shocked to be anguished. yeah... definitely the second option.

"I watched the doctors rush around like I was a thousand miles away, observed from outside of my body as they tried in vain to bring [her mother] back from beyond the threshold."

"I went about my motions like I was piloting myself remotely."

"Even as I unpacked her stuff, I didn’t cry. I was just… empty, I guess. Too tired, or maybe too shocked."

"I still didn’t cry. Not when my whole world was collapsing around me."

But the moment she reads about Gojo's death, it acts as the metaphorical straw. And she's the camel.

"Unable to help myself, I laughed. I laughed so hard that my shoulders shook. And I laughed so hard that the laughs turned to sobs, and then to wails."

"I cried."

"It was ugly, and violent, and so stupid. [...] I cried for what felt like hours."

Initially, I was kind of wary of putting this chapter out into the world because of this moment. Because, yeah, her mom died, but she's going to cry over an anime character? That's the criticism I honestly expected.

"I was an idiot, losing it over some fake guy when I couldn’t even shed a tear for the woman who’d raised me. And though I tried to stop, the waterworks kept coming and coming and coming."

But it makes sense in my mind, because we humans displace our emotions all the time. We get irrationally angry or sad at things and take our emotions out on them. Have a bad day at work? Get mad and kill something on a videogame. Upset? Watch a sad movie and cry about it.

I do this with 'The Fox and The Hound' all the time! I'll put it on and just weep until my eyes and head hurt. And, man, does it feel good! Like, on the days when my emotions are going haywire, like when I'm on my period, I just want to vent.

Gojo's death isn't what makes her sad enough to finally cry, but it gives her the perfect outlet for her emotions. It's a way for her to finally experience the emotional devastation of losing her mom without touching on the raw wound itself. It's a catharsis that she so desperately needs.

Crying really does help her. Sometimes, all you need is a good breakdown to realign your axis.

"And, little by little, I came back to myself."

"In the aftermath, there was a bit of clarity, of peace. The buildup and the release of pressure. [...] Weight lifted off my shoulders and I felt a levity that I hadn’t in months. [...] I felt like I could breathe again. Like my lungs were expanding properly and my heart was beating in my chest instead of my throat."

"Turns out that crying is good for you; who’d have guessed?"

After she cries, she picks herself back up and resolves to push forward. Starting with getting her job back, then ending with possibly rekindling a relationship with her sister.

This is one of my favorite parts of this little chapter because it perfectly encapsulates the whole vibe of 'post-nut clarity'... but for sobbing like a crazy person, obviously. Like, we all have that moment after we cry where everything just sorta clicks into place.

Reader-chan, for a solid moment, is standing tall. And she's putting her own emotions and needs first.

She calls her sister, getting out of her car. And while she's leaving a voicemail, she finally meets her fate.

"But I never got to finish my ultimatum. The screeching of tires cut me off as I whirled around just in time to see the grill of a large truck barreling toward me. And then there was the sickening crunch of bones breaking and somebody screaming."

This is where the isekai truly begins. Because when she dies, she winds up in a black void. And this void is where the next chapter opens.

We have a callback to our first paragraph.

"When death strikes, it’s sometimes a long, slow cut. And sometimes, it’s swift as the blink of an eye. It does so efficiently, without remorse, and without discernment. We all die, in the end."

Keen observers may also notice that prior to being run down, the story is in past tense. Everything past getting struck is in present tense. This is to reinforce the idea that Reader's old universe and life are permanently 'was', while her new world and life permanently 'are'. A little bit of author psychology for you guys.

There's also one of my favorite side stories ever in this: 'The Saga of The Shopping Cart'!

"I scowled when one person pushed their empty cart into another parking spot instead of the cart return. Idiot."

"A gust of wind blew the loose shopping cart in front of me, and I let it cross before making my way towards the building."

"Because that shopping cart had blown onto the road, in front of a vehicle going way too fast. [...] And in a bid to avoid hitting it, the driver had cranked their wheel. And hit me instead."

I love this introduction chapter, because I feel like it gives us a solid foundation for Reader-chan. We immediately know what her motivations are, how she reacts in the worst situations, and whether or not we'll personally identify with her during the series. It also sets the tone really well, in my opinion: dark and sad with a shining glimmer of hope on the horizon.

The title, 'Unfinished Painting', is a reference to both her neglected work in her apartment and to her life being cut short before she can be fully realized.

"Every morning, I gave [the easel with her painting] a nasty side eye, wondering when I’d just get rid of the stupid thing. Maybe it’d be good to start fresh on a new piece."

"I [..] crossed over to where my easel had remained untouched [...] The painting on the canvas was half-finished, a work-in-progress that’d never quite made “progress”. It was an ambitious landscape painting: colorful sunrise breaking over the Colorado Rocky Mountains, with clouds encircling the highest peaks and rays caressing the jagged edges of the cliff faces. It’d been detailed, almost obsessively so, and vivid."

"I traced the edges of the painting fondly. It was supposed to be my best work yet. And it had been. For a time."

The parallels become even clearer when digging into the color symbolism of red paint.

"[..] in a fit of rage, I’d thrown an entire tube of red paint at [the painting]. Crimson splatters dot the scenic mountains like blood spray."

"All the hopes and dreams inside my head smear across the pavement like paint spatters on a canvas. Just a red, red stain."

But, there's also the implication that death isn't the end. That she can take this and make it better.

"The painting wasn’t necessarily ruined; I could still restore it if I worked hard."

"Maybe it’d be good to start fresh on a new piece. If I ever found inspiration to draw or paint, anyway."

When we consider that 'The painting' is acting as a parallel for her life, it essentially changes this to mean 'My life isn't necessarily ruined; I could still restore it if I worked hard.' And 'Maybe it'd be good to start anew. If I ever found the inspiration to live, anyway.'

Which all points to the idea that a fresh start is, perhaps, a good thing?

All-in-all, I'm super happy with how this turned out. Of course, that could just be my own personal bias, since I wrote it. Who can say?

#REARRANGEDfanfic #fanfiction #fanfic #read on ao3 #read on wattpad #isekai #self insert #chapter by chapter #behind the scenes #writing community #author speaks #self commentary #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen fanfic #gojo x reader #gojo x you #gojo x oc

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ewebie · 17 days

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Safety First: Ch 18 - R is for Reddit

And then you said to yourself, E is super busy... moving continents... driving across country... getting ready for Con... There's an eclipse, it might be the rapture, we're probably safe. Right?

And then I laughed.

Safety First: R is for Reddit

AITA Am I the asshole for not caring about my partner’s body count?

#ewebie's fic #my fic #mystrade #Safety First #KKBB #R is for Reddit #chapter by chapter #Ch 18

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shadowwingtronix · 3 months

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Chapter by Chapter> Star Trek: The Vulcan Academy Murders chapters 3 & 4

BW Media Spotlight's Chapter by Chapter breaks out two short chapters for this part of Star Trek: The Vulcan Academy Murders chapters 3 & 4

Chapter By Chapter (usually) features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as a read-along book club. Yes, two chapters this week…

View On WordPress

#book review #Chapter By Chapter #Doctor Daniel Corrigan #James T Kirk #Jean Lorrah #Leonard McCoy #Sarek #Sorel #Star Trek #Vulcan Academy Murders

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j-graysonlibrary · 7 months

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Finished book one of V’shons at a whopping 183k words. W. H. E. W. Only 5-ish more to go but I will be taking a break to prepare for and write my nanowrimo novel in November.

#I have at least the next two or three years to get this done if I want to speed run the writing and editing #but we’ll see #taking it day by day #chapter by chapter

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the-ethereal-lorestar · 2 years

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Starting A New Writing Project!

I decided to start another writing project WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

It’s called:

A Missing Unknown

It’s a coming-of-age/supernatural story about a girl who feels empty inside and her journey on expanding her small, little world.

My mind set my other story to be “professional”: A story that I need to write in it’s entirety and edit the living crap out of it after to either self-publish or officially publish.

This project is going to be on a chapter by chapter basis, which means I’m going to do some bare bone plotting, then I’m going to write a chapter and edit the crap out of that, and publish it on a writing website.

I would publish the chapters on Quotev (my childhood writing website), Wattpad (a writing website I grew to love with how it formats writing), Tapas, and here. I might look for other places to post my writing, but ultimately, these places are what I know they will be at.

I’m thinking maybe this would help my deep need to finish something, because the thought of having to take years to write and publish a book is overwhelming for me, and feels like an impossible goal. This story is meant to practice writing with setting small goals I can achieve and maybe dabble in different writing processes.

If you want to know more about the deeper meaning behind this project, continue reading. It includes working with mental issues.

I feel like it’s important for me to make this story set-up because I lost my freedom to write what I want to; my ability to lose my inner critic and just write. It’s challenging for me to shut it off, and I think it causes me to have writer’s block.

In high school, I didn’t have this problem. I filled up two spiral notebooks of flash fiction or scenes then, my mind went to a dark, dark place. My mind convinced me that God didn’t want me to write anymore, and I would be listening to the devil if I do. I’m not all that religious even back then, and I knew that this thought was ridiculous, but all I know is that after this episode, I struggled to write. I couldn’t write in notebooks anymore, because I overthought too much. I felt like acid ate away at my brain whenever I thought too much on any topic including writing.

I thought since I struggle with writing this much maybe, if I just worry about the chapter and polish it to publish it, these small accomplishments would help me not just in my writing, but in general, and to build myself up again. So it’s a mindfulness thing for me.

If you made it this far, thanks for taking the time to read this :) I never got to figure out what the frick I went through back then, but I’m trying to work around it. Wish me luck, I need it.

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chiro-asuta-vulpes · 2 years

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Story Chapters Planning? (Sneak Peek)

Prisma's Wish🌱

CHAPTER 1: "Nanny Bot and Her Lil' Angels (DONE)

CHAPTER 2: "Busyness Vs. Family Bond"

CHAPTER 3: "A New Start"

CHAPTER 3.1: "Unforeseen Fate"

CHAPTER 4: "The Virus" (VIOLA)

Chapter 4.1: "The Promise"

Chapter 5: "Decommissioned and Dismantled"

Chapter 5.1: "The Last Wish"

Chapter 6: "Extraction and Re-Purposed" (THE FLOWER SISTERS WERE BORN)

CHAPTER 1 (LINK): 👇🤍🔏

#oc story planning #my oc story #ocs #oc tag #writing ideas #story planning #chapter by chapter #oc story #background and origin story #Prisma Illumina

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the-trophy-shelf · 2 years

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The prologue to Alloy of Law introduces us to our protagonist, Wax, who's busy hunting a serial killer with his partner Lessie out in the Roughs. He's got a mysterious letter with him that's summoning him back to the big city, but he doesn't want to talk about it - of course. Having read Mistborn Era 1, I was already familiar with the world and it's rules, but it was nice to get a reintroduction to the magic and the technology, which have evolved since the end of Hero of Ages. Scadrial (the world the story takes place on) has guns and trains and a little bit of electricity now, so the vibe of the world is much more Victorian/industrial revolution-ry rather than the Renaissance vibes from Era 1. Makes sense, societies aren't stagnant things after all.

So far the story feels a bit Western-y crossed with a detective story, of course transposed into a fantastical fantasy setting, which is always fun. We get our inciting incident when Wax, having tracked down the killer, underestimates h and ends up accidentally shooting his partner, Lessie. I do wish we'd spent a bit more time with her before she was killed because it does feel a bit cheap to introduce her only to kill her - presumably so Wax has a reason to return to the big city where the story no doubt is to take place, but that's my only criticism so far. Looking forward to chapter 1.

#fantasy books #book shelf #booklbr #cosmere #mistborn #mistborn era 2 #wax and wayne #read through #first time through era 2 #brandon sanderson #chapter by chapter #read along #spoilers #mistborn spoilers #cosmere spoilers #mistborn era 2 read through #alloy of law

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atissi · 3 months

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i don't really like when people say dungeon meshi is accidentally good autistic representation, because while i understand not wanting to make conclusions without explicit confirmation from the author, there's always the weird assumption that non-western authors somehow don't know about things like neurodivergency/queerness/etc. (on top of the assumptions that east asian authors are somehow more naive or oblivious to "western" social issues).

given that dungeon meshi started being published in 2014, it's not really a "work belonging to its times"—it's as contemporary as any other media we discuss on this site, which means it should be fair to assume it engages with contemporary topics (and at the very least, you shouldn't say that the representation is accidental with so much confidence)

but anyways, the chapter "perfect communication" in ryoko kui's "terrarium in a drawer" is some of the most straightforward autistic representation I've seen, and from now on I'm going to assume that laios's character writing is absolutely intentional in that regard:

#beepbeep.txt #dungeon meshi #ryoko kui #this is me trying to explain h/ollow knight lore #also yayyyy reading new things. chapter 18 'spring' is basically UFUT if you squint (sorry for the jumpscare if you know UFUT)#but the last two pages were such a surprising gut punch....it's hard not to see it as a metaphor for both the experience of raising childre #and of taking care of your parents in old age....aughh....

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ewebie · 5 months

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Safety First: Ch 9 - I is for Industry Standards

Since I have been distracted by all the small and shiny plot bunnies instead of the WIPs I promised myself I would finish during Nano... We all get some more Safety First - the shorts that have emerged from the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang universe. Who doesn't love the murder husbands?! Thanks to Mousie for a quick and dirty beta.

Safety First: I is for Industry Standards

Lestrade frowned at the state of the flat. He might be a mess himself, but he had an excuse: he had work, a job that had required some extra… finesse. The artfulness aside – and on front and back of his clothes and maybe even in his hair – at least his mess was contained. It looked as though a small hurricane had swept through their home.

#ewebie's fic #my fic #mystrade #KKBB #Safety First #Ch 9 #chapter by chapter #I is for Industry

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shadowwingtronix · 2 days

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Chapter By Chapter> Star Trek: The Vulcan Academy Murders chapter 21

BW Media Spotlight's Chapter By Chapter> Star Trek: The Vulcan Academy Murders chapter 21