#em talks insert characters

[miscelunaaa]

hey em !

i am still new to writing reader insert fics. i like to keep descriptions as neutral as possible. the only thing i describe are the clothes, which are not of a particular shape (because every body shape is beautiful and no one should feel ashamed). can you give me tips on how to write while making sure the readers see them in the fic?

First off, I want to preface everything I’m about to say with this: I’m just one person with a lot of opinions mostly fueled by caffeine and hot air. I’m not an expert, I just care a lot and think about this probably too much. I’m a fat white woman with a lot of feelings, and I’m still learning a lot about how to create inclusive environments. This is a process that will never end, and that’s important to recognize from the start. There’s always more to educate oneself on.

With that in mind, here are my thoughts.

I think the first thing to realize is that not everyone is going to be able to see themselves in any given fic. This could be for any number of reasons, from a character not meshing with their own personality to something like not enjoying the relationship depicted, etc. When we write reader insert characters, I want to caution against creating characters that have no depth of personality. Your OCs or Y/Ns or Readers, whatever you want to call them, should still be characters. They have their own thoughts and emotions, they have a history in the world you create, and you’re rendering that into a second person narrative. With that in mind, there’s an extent to which some characters will just not vibe with an actual reader’s personality or life story. That happens! It just is what it is.

For this same reason, it’s going to be really hard to please everyone when we write any physical description, simply because everyone is different beyond just body size, skin color, etc. For example, I often talk about an OC’s soft textured flesh, but I don’t often talk about an OC having soft skin. This is because I’ve got a medical condition called psoriasis and I don’t have super soft skin a lot of the time because of it. Sometimes when I’m reading a fic, I’ll be put off by a description of smooth or soft skin because, well, that’s not how my own lived experience has been. That’s not the writer’s fault!! I’m not saying that we should stop describing skin at all. I AM saying that there’s an extent to which we will never be able to please anyone when we try to make accommodations.

That said, there are obvious things we should accommodate when we write what we call “Neutral Reader Insert Characters.” The big ones are skin color, hair texture, and body size. Frankly, these are all pretty easy. To start, I just don’t mention hair at all if I can avoid it. Nothing about styles or anything, nothing about color or softness, etc. Just leave it out 🤷🏻‍♀️ it’s not a big deal to do that. When it comes to skin color, I think the most obvious one is talking about what happens to a characters when they’re embarrassed. Making the switch to saying a character’s face heats, rather than flushes red, is a really easy change. It’s small details like that that make a huge difference. Staying away from descriptions of a character being rosy or pale also matter. There are so many other ways to describe heated or high emotions; embracing that can make you more creative, effective, and inclusive with your depictions. It's a worthwhile thing to work on.

Body size is kind of my baby, so it’s the one I’ve got a little more to say about. Remaining vague about outfits, like you’ve mentioned, is a good place to start! Avoiding comparisons of size to other characters is also important, as with the anon who wrote in earlier about being insert characters being tiny. Perhaps most important is keeping in mind that there are physical limitations to what can happen larger or taller bodies. A fat person is not likely to be tossed around or picked up in smut scenes or otherwise, and a tall person is not going to necessarily look up into the eyes of another character. A larger person is not going to be able to borrow clothes from another character unless they’re also large. Namjoon or Jin could wear extra large tees that they’ll swim in, but if I put the shirt on, it’s going to be tight across my belly and probably look really fucking weird, and I’m a size 18 or so for most dresses. There are people bigger than me in the world, just as there are people who are smaller. Even the idea of having lacy underthings can take someone out of a fic, tbh, because they are simply not an option for so many bodies.

Now, this is going to be annoying of me, but confronting these issues is more of a matter of mindset, I think. You have to allow yourself to set the scene in a different way, without relying on detailed descriptions of what’s happening to the Reader with regards to their appearance. Focusing on how they’re feeling in what they’re wearing for example, or what emotions they’re experiencing as they go through the world you’ve built, the emotions they feel about the people they’re interacting with, etc. Deemphasizing the physical and moving into the emotional … like idk that’s really the best advice I’ve got. In all honesty, I think it forces us to write better characters, and that’s absolutely not a bad thing.

All of that said, it helps to read a lot of fics and PAY ATTENTION while reading. You’ll start picking up on exclusive language if you’re willing to keep an eye out for it. Now, this isn’t license to start going and picking on people for not writing inclusively. Far from it! Don’t do that!! Not when you’re trying to learn how to be a better writer, and really, like you don’t need to be the person to bring someone else down. Talking to someone about being inclusive is something that should happen before posting. It happens with beta-reading, it happens with drafting a story, it happens with self-education before a writer even puts fingers to a keyboard. It’s a process, and it takes practice.

As I said at the beginning, this process is unlikely to ever be finished. I think frequently about the disabled folks that read fics, and wonder how I might start to accommodate them as well, for example. The reality is that not everyone will be able to sink into a fic, and that’s just how it is. That’s why we should encourage more people to write when they feel the urge, so that some part of their life may be represented to others, so that we can all learn from each other. I think that’s very valuable. I really want to, but I will never be able to accommodate the great expanse of human experience when I write reader insert fics. And maybe that’s hyperbolic or foolhardy to say, but I think that’s why writing from one’s experience is so important. Sharing a part of yourself like that is a gift, and fics are a perfect medium for that. They don’t ask to be considered high art or something worthy of deep analysis, even if they’d hold up to it. They just ask for a bit of your time.

Now, okay, I’ve written a lot and there’s still so much more I could talk about. I’ve said nothing about what issues there are with the depiction of the members of BTS and the actual world building at play when we write, both of which can also pull readers out of fics. I’m going to link a few things that’ll hopefully help with this, below but I’ve got a few lingering thoughts I want to mention before I wrap this up:

Do your due diligence when it comes to your setting. A member is not going to refer to himself as Min Yoongi if he’s in the United States. It’s going to be Yoongi Min. Fraternities don’t exist outside of the US, and city transit looks radically different in different parts of the world as well. Things like that can really show whether or not you actually did any basic research about what you’re writing and they make a difference. Really, that’s all what that comes down to; we have to actually make sure we educate ourselves and keep an open mind so that we’re always learning.

Maybe that’s optimistic of me, or naive; I’d rather be ready to learn and sit with shit as needed than be stuck and stagnant. Is it such a bad thing for a white writer to work to be inclusive? Some people make it seem that way, and I don’t fucking get it.

Anyway …

@vyduan has a phenomenal essay about white washing in BTS fanfics. I’ve linked the excerpt on her blog but if you’re reading this, please click through and read the whole thing on her blog. It’s fucking important. Full stop.

@btssavedmylifeblr has a list she’d compiled of writing advice asks she’s answered and they’re all amazing. She’s where I first started learning about being more inclusive with regards to writing reader inserts, so I’d definitely give her blog a look.

There may come a time where I’ve got more resources on this topic but right now it’s all a bit sparse. Reader insert fics are still niche, all things considered, even if they’re a not insignificant part of the fan fiction in this fandom. At some point, I’ll be sure to put together a better resource sheet for new writers, because, well, someone has to. I have no problem with that being me.

Thank you so much for asking this question, Mills. I appreciate your patience, I know this is a little bit long and sprawling. I hope to have something clearer and more concise at some point in the future!!

posted: 6.18.2022

#asksss #joondiary #em talks insert characters

[puppyeared]

doodles of my fav sillies

anton belongs to @poicyss

#my brain is a barbie dreamhouse and theyre all just living in it #im especially fond of the second one because my mom used to hold me like that all the time <3 #im drawing them a lot lately because im being crushed by the horrors and have to compensate for it somehow #homemade comfort blorbos...... #watch me draw anton inconsistently bc i can never decide if i wanna draw him close to how he actually looks #or yassify him and give him soft fluffy hair and kind eyes and defined features. head in my hands #i dont really have a lot of drawing ideas for them bc they dont have like. a canon storyline or anything methinks #its just stuff me and bow toss around and giggle abt thru messages lol. maybe ill draw infant vincent one of these days #i just come up with stuff and draw them doing it. it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside #cuz like anton works for lobocorp as an abnormality BUT hes super duper chill and cute and does his funny little tasks so its fine #AND hes unkillable. auggie is an oc ive had since like 6th grade and i smushed them together. and vincent was for fun but i got attached #i dont have much of a read on anton either bc i think hes meant to be more of an insert character??? if im using that right #on one hand i dont think too hard abt anything being ooc since im not taking it seriously. on the other hand i just hold them in my hands #and stare into space until i can come up with something to draw since i dont have much to go off of. but its fun to build on small tidbits! #i think bow called it an au so i guess??? its an au????? im not really sure. bow if youre reading this im just willy nilly #the only thing i know for sure is that they boink like rabbits. im talking gomez and morticia levels of boinking #maybe ill go back and look at my old doodles for them and redraw em lol #myart #my art #my oc #oc #friend oc #augusta #anton #vincent #sillies family #doodles

[s0ckh3adstudios]

I TRY to make new OC designs, I have ideas and I really want to make designs for them, but I draw them and I'm like ehhhhhhh no something's wrong.

#which sucks because i want to add more TADC oc's to my belt #instead of just the baby #(no hate to pawno. i love my boy) #but i need someone i can ACTUALLY use my writing power on #and i SORT OF have done this #with a character with a design #but it's like me and Louie share custody over em that's our guy our weird son #i also drew a self-insert #i don't usually do those but meeting Chey changed everything /silly #anyway. I'm suffering #sock talk

[lem-argentum]

i realize now how easily i get attached to octopath side characters

#lem liveblogs #octo2 talk #CRICK. #hemfnmsd <33 me and my. theoretical self insert who is dating/close to . everyone #I FINISHED EVERYONES FIRST CHAPTERS i loooove. all of them <333 #the fact that!!!!! they let side characters fight with you is sooo :’] <3 #i like temenos so much more than i expected HES SO FUNNY #hikari’s my favorite aand also ochette.. #akalā started talking and i whfmjsmfd. <333 they remind me of the dnd companion ive had for like 9 years :’) #it’s gonna be so hard for me to subclass everyone because i’m very particular about outfits and colors.. it’s fun picking em up though :] #um um um. yeah c: video game *spinning around and around* <3333

[dreamersscape]

Does it feel like life is permanently set to extreme hard mode and I still feel super crappy greater than 90% of the time? Yup. But! Emboldened by our relative success with last year's tomatoes, we have given it another go and have added a little pepper plant friend for them. :)

(It may look like the peppers aren't doing as well as the tomatoes, but it cannot be overstated just how bananas this plant's growth chart has been; it's determined to escape the confines of its basket-cage; it has to be constantly rotated so it doesn't completely lose the battle with gravity; I only took this picture the other day and it already looks SO outdated. Can't stop, WON'T STOP.)

#anyways the plan for today is to make some good headway on my 'correspondence' so I guess we'll see how that goes *sheepish laughter* #don't worry I'm not guilting myself over my ridiculously sporadic ability to socially engage - #(not much anyhow I swear!) #- it's just you guys have no idea how much I've MISSED y'all! how I've YEARNED to be able to geek out with you'uns over the blorbos and #their fictional worlds. Like. Please picture me gazing longingly into the middle distance while sorrowfully belting: #🎶 I wanna beeee where the (tumblr) people are. I wanna see... wanna see 'em meta-iiiing! 🎶 #🎶 frolicking around in their - what're they called again? - oh right! plot bunnies! 🎶 #🎶 incrementally crawling your way through your backlog of content to consume and unexpectedly stumbling your way #into a few new hyper-fixations while the already-there ones continue to rage on you don't get too far... 🎶 #🎶 posts (and reblogs and messages and actually finishing a few of your fan creation projects and...) are required for jumping (into #fandoms); dancing (with your friends in gleeful delight over your shared headcanons)! 🎶 #🎶 [...] up where they talk (to each other at normal intervals)! up where they (don't) run (out of energy so fast)! 🎶 #🎶 up where they stay all day IN THE SUNNNNNNNNN 🎶 #🎶 wandering free. wish I could be. PART OF THAT WOOOORLD 🎶 #I could go on but I think you get the gist of it 😆 #and I definitely know I'm not along in this feeling; at the very least I'm sure that is a familiar tune #in many contexts for anyone else struggling with chronic fatigue/illness among other things #I just wish I could find a better way to intermingle extending kindness and patience to myself and rolling around in fictional character #feelings /together/ with my friends without having to insert such long gaps in between you know? #okay woebegone rambling aside thanks guys for not forgetting about me while I've been gone <3 #and let me assure you I haven't forgotten you all either 'cause boy do I need to SHARE SOME STUFF with you! #random musings of a personal nature #I JUST WANNA BE THRIVING HALF AS GOOD AS THOSE TOMATOES YA FEEL ME?

[sherwood-cabin]

oh story i’ve had in my mind only for nearly a year now we’re really in it now(thinking of actually drawing them but scared i’ll fuck up)

#sherwood talks #weird story where it’s original characters #but has some people i know irl. but it’s set around 2037??? but same world. as today #it’s weird n i don’t go over logistics #i don’t even really have a name for main character #he started as a self-insert but grew to be so so much more #like. SO much more. way different he’s also 30 #mmm. wanna draw but scared i’ll mess em up

[the-acid-pear]

I need to make an oc to ship with Travis Hackett or i will DIE

#luly talks #it has to be an oc i dont feel like doing the work myself tbh #will only be vaaaguely a self insert #only similar in personality looks will be different (i know revolutionary coming from me who makes all my OCS brown haired and eyed + #+ pale fat n short) #i wanna make em a redhead <333 idk why i just wanna #if i were to bang any character of that game myself it would be bobby no doubt JAGAKSGSJS

[ddollfface]

God, I love golden retriever men so much.

*Intensely staring at my fav athlete*

Now, that I have a brainrot~

1. Our lovely Athlete with a nerd darling.

- This would be funny. It is giving black cat × golden retriever. So hard.

- Darling has anemia? She's used to sitting around and reading? Can't walk too long to save her life? He's fucking carrying her everywhere.

- Can you imagine darling bringing a book about his sport (I don't know if you've mentioned what he plays) to the game and reading as they watch him play cuz they don't know crap about sports? He'd be so, "But you're supposed to be watching me." :Insert puppy eyes:

- He's isolating darling? Eh, Darling needs a 4 hour nap after every social gathering anyway.

Ok but-

2. Him with a nerd darling who's a childhood best friend, where darling has a childhood filled with emotional and physical abuse. (I'm finna design a whole ass character to ship him with. If you don't mind, of course.)

- This.

- Don't let me get started on this.

- They would be so power couple coded fr. (Darling knows Athlete is trying to manipulate her. Doesn't care as long as she's getting taken care of.)

- Darling is snarky with a S.

- Darling: "The cheerleader was flirting with you."

Athlete: "I know. :3"

Darling: "Go marry her."

Athlete: "But you're the love of my life. :("

Darling: "Oh, really? I could've sworn it was Cindy instead. Go to her, shoo."

Athlete: "No."

Darling: "Who's bestie are you?"

Athlete: "Yours."

Darling: "Exactly."

- Don't let this fool you, tho. He's def the dominant one in the relationship.

Athlete: "You're my baby :D."

Darling: "Mhmm. Don't say that infront of anyone else."

Athlete: "Why not?"

Darling: "I'll bite your head off, that's why."

(spoiler, he says it in front of everyone and darling does nothing but get shy.)

Darling: "Why would you say that?"

Athlete: "Becuz you're my baby?"

Darling: *cuddles closer to him.* *Whispering* "I'm his baby."

- 💗 anon (if I may) (also, he's my baby now, thank you. I'm keeping him in my head and heart.) (It's so late at night. I just keep thinking about this 😭 and I can't put my thoughts into proper words rn, bear with me on this)

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈

𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗦𝗶𝗰𝗸!𝗔𝘁𝗵𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲 𝘅 𝗮𝗳𝗮𝗯!𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿

Trigger Warnings; yandere behaviors, possessive behavior, talk about trauma bonding (both reader and yandere or mentally ill), yandere masking, bad writing, and me rambling (I'm so sorry 💗Nonny lol) If I missed anything, then please let me know ♡ I offically declare you 💗Nonny!! And I don't mind you coming up with your own interpertations of reader and LoveSick!Athlete! Just share 'em! Also, I may or may not have gone on a tiny, just tiny, tangent, so sorry 💗Nonny... Feel free to submit more asks if 'ya want

LoveSick!Athlete can really mold and mend well with most personalities and darlings, this is due to his manipulative personality. A little off-topic, but he really has a hard time understanding who he is because he's always pretending to be what others deem "acceptable". This causes him to have a multitude of identity crises, but when his darling, you, comes into the picture, it makes it easier for him to find himself. He feels like he's the real him whenever he's with you. You just feel so natural, he feels natural, too. It's just right.

And for that reason, I think LoveSick!Athlete would go really well with a childhood!reader, seeing as she's been with him since they were young. And, I'm not too sure if you've read my Yan!Alphabet for him, but I mention LoveSick!Athlete's childhood; let's just say it wasn't the best situation for a kid.

LoveSick!Athlete would feel a special bond with his darling now, seeing as they've been together threw thick and thin. He's trama bounded to you, and you to him. We'll run off the assumption that reader has also had a bad childhood, whether it be an absent parent, abusive sibling/family member/or parent, whatever it is allows you to feel a connection to LoveSick!Athlete, seeing as you have a mutual situation. You both have something to bond over, something that locks you together.

He has a bad home environment, you have a bad home environment. He doesn't feel at home, so you become his home, and he to you.

And I like to run on the assumption that reader is all talk, no bite. And if you've read any of my writing where the reader talks, you'll see that I prefer to write reader as more "real" (to me anyway) because I'm personally not the hugest fan of the "helpless" reader. I like to write a darling who has a mouth, someone who's bratty (but that's 'cause I'm a brat lol).

Anyway, I'm getting off-topic, back to LoveSick!Athlete.

To your idea about a snarky reader, I totally agree. Honestly, LoveSick!Athlete would eat that shit up, no joke. He would love it, as he enjoys the back-and-forth between you two. He loves to press your buttons, wanting to see what sarcastic reply you have ready for him.

The thing is, he knows your just talking shit, never willing to actually do anything. You just run your mouth, and he lets you, but whenever you step outta line, sometimes, he's gotta put you back. Though, you'll never think of it like that. No, no, he's too sweet for that. He's gotta keep that golden retriever vibe going, y'know?

He just swat you on the ass, telling you that you got such a dirty mouth, mamas? I thought you were my little princess, no? Girls with a face like yours shouldn't be speakin' that like-

He'll just move on, as if he didn't just grope your butt, nope, not at all. And you'll be standing there awestruck, face red, and biting your tongue as you try to not overheat in embarrassment!!

It never ceases to entertain him, watching your face widen with surprise whenever he refers to you as his girl, his cute little girlfriend. The way your face heats up when he wraps his strong arm around your waist, putting his cap on your head (a silent sign of possession over you, trying to get the guy in the back to keep his eyes to himself, but you don't need to know that ;)).

In your little monologue, you go over some cheerleader girl (named Cindy??). Though I would agree that chicks (and some dudes) practically flock around LoveSick!Athlete, I would say that he doesn't even pay them any mind, not even entertaining the thought. Don't get me wrong, he'll talk to them, but make it painstakingly clear that he's only got one girl on his mind, you.

Most of the time, the girl will just find it endearing, slapping his shoulder, and telling him that he'd make a great husband or some shit like that. Of course, the chicks joking, making some nice comments to leave the, now awkward, conversation, but LoveSick!Athlete will take it to heart. Now, he's imagining a pretty ring on your finger, something he paid for, he got you. Because he'd be such a good provider for you, don't you know?

Another thought, 'cause I'm on a role, but I'm not sure if I've directly said this or not, but LoveSick!Athlete is a hockey player. I've tried putting strickly hockey photos on all my posts (you should see my Pinterest feed, it's filled with hot guys lolol).

Hockey is an aggressive sport, I would know. I used to ice skate every day for an hour or two. And, trust me, I got to see a lot of hot guys, though I was always too nervous to say anything, that's beside the point.

I can imagine that reader would be the same, intimidated by these testastrone-filled, young men who just wanna get all sweaty and gross. And I prefer to think that reader also doesn't know how to skate, much to LoveSick!Athlete's enjoyment.

Just to torture you, he'll take you to his ice rink, partly wanting to show you off, and also wanting you to rely on him to move around. He won't even let you hold onto the side, nope, all you got is him, babes.

And anyone who's been to a rink before knows that if you're not on the wall, or smack in the middle of the rink, you're in traffic, especially if it's busy. And this means that you gotta go fast, keeping pace with everyone else. And there's always a handful of assholes (usually hockey players) who will purposefully do a hockey stop, flinging a shit tone of ice at newbies.

I imagine that this shit would happen all the time and LoveSick!Athete is enjoying it sm. He gets a rush every time you flinch, clinging onto him tighter, especially when the really fast skaters zoom by you, scaring the crap outta you.

And he won't let you go at your own pace, forcing you to follow his lead. This means you're going far too fast for comfort, leaning on him for support. You're arms wrapped around his bicep, which isn't recommended btw. Your cheek pressed against his arm, holding on for dear life.

You'll snap at him, telling him to shut up and stop enjoying this, you dork. I'm only clinging to 'cause I gotta!

And he'll just take it, giving you a lopsided smirk.

#𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙠!𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚 #𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙡'𝙨 𝙮𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙚'𝙨 #💗!𝙉𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙮 #lovesick #anon #ask away #yandere x reader #yandere x you #yandere oc x you #yandere oc #yandere male #yandere imagines #obsessive love #x reader #oc x reader

[fuh-saw-t]

How to Write Character Dialogue 

Like, in a realistic and engaging way. 

Edit: PART 2

Preemptive warning that this extremely long-winded and messy post is designed to be a vague guide to help or prompt beginners with methods they could use in writing, to help people avoid common mistakes, and to hopefully aid in developing unique methods of constructing and presenting dialogue. It's also opinionated, and heavily influenced by my own writing style.

This post will be split up into two posts detailing a macro and a micro view - macro being dialogue in general, and micro focusing on how individual characters and stories will have certain considerations. Reblog and say in the tags if you want Pt 2 on the micro-view.

The 'Macro-View'

Don't start googling that term. I made it up.

The key to making dialogue sound realistic (and, in turn, making your characters appear more like people - making them easier to empathise with) is to think about how real people talk. Very obvious, right? You'd be surprised.

-

Ellipsis 

And no, not the '...' kind. We'll get to that later.

Ellipsis is a term that refers to how words can be omitted from a sentence, yet it can still be understood. It's something we do all the time (though not often thinking about it). For example:

"Are you going home?"

"You going home?"

The latter is entirely understandable, but is not grammatically correct. However, most people do not speak in grammatically correct sentences, or even sentences. We speak in utterances and focus more on being understandable than eloquent. It's important to consider this when writing, as I've seen time and time again - even in published books - the writer focusing too much on making the dialogue grammatically correct. The characters sound dry, void of personality, and appear to be reading off of a script at every moment.

Ellipsis isn't going to be used in every sentence. You still have to think about which character will use it and when.

-

The Other Ellipsis

Gonna break every fanfic writer's heart in one statement: using ellipsis to convey pause is grammatically incorrect.

But, good news! Language is made up and I think it works well for dialogue, so it gets to stay.

Ellipsis (...) can be used to convey a pause - usually when a character is considering something, overthinking or too heartbroken to think straight. It can technically be used anywhere, but I'd advise against using it at the beginning of a sentence, like this:

He muttered, "...I can't believe it."

Because, honestly, it doesn't really convey much that you couldn't show through other methods. And, since a pause is silence, placing it at the start of a sentence conveys (in most cases) nothing, as of course there would be silence - the character hadn't started speaking yet.

However, when placed at the end of a sentence, like this:

He muttered, "I can't believe it…"

We report back to the primary purpose of an ellipsis - to convey something has been omitted. Here, the use of the points have created the impression that the character had more to say, but instead trailed off. This is something we do in speech all the time.

-

Dashes

To me, dashes are a near-essential part of constructing realistic dialogue; they can be used to present characters' spontaneity, the insertion of impromptu remarks, or a 'take it or leave it' comment that can be considered by the other characters or reader based on context (or what's remembered). For example:

"Well," he said, flipping idly through the pages, "we could go to the city and protest there—that might be too dangerous—or try to rally some support from the neighbouring villages."

That's the (largely) grammatically correct version, though. Since language is made up, punctuation is a lie and readers don't notice nor care, you can do whatever. There, I used the 'em dash' (as opposed to the 'en dash', which is '–', or the hyphen, which is '-'). This is what grammarians and dictionaries tell you to do, but you can totally change whatever you want to suit what you think looks best. Such as putting in an en dash or a hyphen instead, putting spaces between the words and the punctuation mark, or putting marks such as '?' or '!' within the subordinate clause (a relatively-new habit of mine).

As you can tell, I usually put a '-' in writing where I don't have to bother. Like here on this blog.

Overall, dashes are a great way of inserting side-comments and impromptu thoughts, making your characters seem much more natural and alive. Moreover, they can be used to give the effect of stuttering. And, as a bonus, they can also be used to show interruption or a stopped thought. For example:

"But you didn't tell me about—"

"I didn't have to tell you anything."

Personally, I use en dashes for interruptions and em dashes for self-obstructed speech (where the character stops themselves) to indicate the following silence. Punctuation can be used creatively to show whatever effect you want. Experiment and find your style!

-

Contractions

This is a short one, since I'll touch on it in part 2, but contractions such as 'don't' and 'I'm' do not necessarily indicate a character, for lack of a better term, isn't posh. I see people try to write characters that are intended to be posh or highly educated all the time and decide the best way to show that through their speech is to omit contractions. In fact, it just makes them sound a bit like a robot. People can still use contractions in speech if they're highly educated, especially in a context where their education or status is not relevant. There are better methods to show a character's personality or upbringing through dialogue, but we'll touch on that later.

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Dialogue Placement

I'm too lazy to think of, or look for, a better term. It's where you put the dialogue, and how much of it you have. Simple as.

Let's be blumt. Don't do this:

He said, "blah blah blah."

She replied, "blah blah blah."

He responded, "blah blah–"

She screamed, "blah blah blah!"

Riveting dialogue, am I right?

Instead, let's try jazz things up. Ensure that your speakers are clear to the reader, that the tone can be understood through either your punctuation, descriptions or dialogue, and you'll be absolutely fine.

Elliot was heartbroken. Taking Elena's hand, he told her, "I can be better, I promise."

"Seriously?" She snapped her hand out from his grip. "If you could be better, then why weren't you better before? Before all this, I– now I don't know what to think."

"But you don't have to think! I'm telling you, Elena, the life we can have–"

"I don't want to hear it!" She screamed, "We're over!"

Even if you replaced that with blahs, it'd probably be a bit more engaging. The content of your dialogue isn't the only thing that matters, it's how it's placed. Here, the placing is diversified; the dialogue is sometimes embedded within the sentence, more so than before, making the words seem a lot more related to the context; a better view of the situation is shown, and we aren't bothering the reader with a constant 'she said, he said' situation. Though, it should be noted that 'said' is your friend, not an enemy.

Also, you know how sometimes in TV you get characters go 'all right!', 'so cool!', 'let's go!, etc, and wonder how much they paid the voice actors to say the same generic one-liner ten times an episode? That happens in writing, too. If it's something generic and unimportant to the plot or adds nothing to the situation, you can describe it instead or leave it out entirely. 

Like how you can say 'he screamed in pain' instead of typing out "AUGSHAHSGEJAJAHHHHHHHAAAAAA!!!"

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Also, a few other, quick things because I am tired:

Every rule of punctuation and grammar, as well as every piece of advice you'll ever be given, can be broken in certain situations. Always take advise and grammar rules into consideration, but recognise when it may be best to break them.

Avoid empty adverbs. These are situational.

E.g. 'She whispered quietly' is empty - the verb 'whispered' already insinuates the action was quiet. Adverbs should add to a description or circumvent expectations, an example being if she 'whispered angrily'. Adverbs are not always necessary.

Please don't overuse dashes and overdo stuttering. I'm looking at you, My Hero Academia Fanfiction writers. This line is directed at you.

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Obligatory 'I'm not a professional, I just do things sometimes and have some education on this'.

Asks are open, and if anyone wants a Pt 2 where I cover considerations in writing dialogue for certain situations, personality traits, etc, feel free to either ask for that in the comments/tags or send an ask in about what specific thing you want covered!

#writing #creative writing #writing advice #fanfiction #fanfic #ask blog #language #fiction writing #fiction #letsdiscuss

[lazyneonrabbitt]

His girls

Daryl Dixon x Original female characters.

Two new girls find a dog, and their very handsome owner.

This is a 3rd person fic featuring my TWD self insert Sherry, and @murdadixon's Tabby. No xReader for this one.

🐺 🐺 🐺

Daryl couldn't find his dog.

No matter how he called or whistled around the street, the damn mutt would not show his face. So Daryl set out to find him by scent. He quickly caught on and followed his trail around the block, only to round the corner and find him in the front yard of the new arrivals. 

He was belly up on the grass, wagging his tail and being cuddled and scratched by the two girls that Aaron had brought in yesterday on a quick one-man scout trip. As his partner he had gotten updated on the fact but he hadn't seen them in person yet.

But they were good with Dog, so that was a bonus. Now he wouldn't have to always ask Carol to babysit him if he went out for too long.

Daryl stepped up to the girls and cleared his throat, having them both snap their heads up and quickly remove their hands from the animal. 

"We're sorry, sir!" The blonde one spoke fast, hands up in apology.

"Yeah. Didn't know he belonged to someone." The redhead added, mimicking the other's stance.

A low chuckle left the man before he spoke. "S'alrigh. He weren't respondin' but now I get why tha' is." He kept standing around with his hands in his pockets as he couldn't help but notice the way thw girls were staring him up and down. 

"Ya wanna babysit 'em when I go out huntin'?" The two quickly agreed. Having a dog around would surely make settling into the new community a lot easier. 

"Name's Daryl, by the way." They all exchanged names and Daryl gave them some more info on the community and names, together with descriptions of people to find in case they needed something and set off to prepare for his hunting trip. 

Back inside the house the two were talking, guessing and questioning things about their new home, but also happily gushing over the very handsome dog owner from earlier. 

Some time later a woman came by, offering to take them to the community's inventory space and let them pick out some clothes and necessities. "Hi, you're Carol, right?" The lady was happily greeted from the kitchen by the red haired woman, only for the other one to peek her head around the living room corner and chime in too. "Yeah! Daryl told us to find you if we needed anything."

Again, the duo was met with a kind smile but taken a little by surprise as one of them quipped. "He your husband?" 

Carol put a hand to her mouth as she laughed. "Oh, no dear. He's my best friend. He came by to make sure I'd check in on you. See if you were doing okay while you wait on Deanna's word." 

The girls ended up tagging along on a small tour of the community, being shown the larger important areas like the infirmary, inventory and the pantry. Before they went on their trek back to the house they went to pick up their needed items.

Later that day they were met by Deanna, who officially welcomed them into the community and would be assigning them both a job in the upcoming days. 

As the first week ended, Sherry, the blonde girl, had gotten a job at the inventory, repairing any damaged pieces of clothing that came in or patching up curtains, blankets and towels.

Tabby, the redhead had gotten a job at the pantry next door to help Olivia with her job that was becoming a little too much for just one person, making sure inventory was kept and no one took too much off the shelves. 

The girls stayed together that way and quickly became a part of the community.

Thanks to quickly becoming friends with Daryl by dogsitting so often, they were given the option to live with him, since after Carol moved to the Kingdom, his house was almost empty anyways. 

The three of them talked about it and agreed it'd work out fine and within the week after that they both moved in.

Two weeks in their new community and they were living with the gorgeous old man and his adorable dog. 

"Don't think hitting the jackpot was still a thing during the apocalypse." Tabby called from the stovetop. 

"Besides stumbling on a truckload of food, you mean." Sherry called back from the couch, where she was frankensteining a warm hoodie out of old scraps.

The two laughed around together until Daryl came home, announcing he'd be leaving on a multiple day hunting trip. Something about seeing better at night with the full moon up. 

The girls agreed to care for Dog while he was gone, and he brought back quite the amount of game. 

And the next full moon he left again, and brought back a nice haul.

The next moon, the same tale. 

They also learned he was allergic to chocolate. Carol brought cookies on her visits and made sure to tell them not to eat the ones without chocolate since they were specifically made for Daryl. 

"I'm pretty sure I saw him snack on a raw piece of squirrel when he was cutting one up last week." Tabby sat on the couch with her nose in a book. 

"I'm almost entirely convinced he's a werewolf." Sherry shoved a notepad over the book.

"Look, all signs are there." Her voice was a little too excited, but the redhead had to admit her friend had a very clear analysis written down and all points did come together to the same conclusion. 

"So, what now? You wanna sit him down and show him your notes?" 

The blonde shrugged. "I mean, why not?" 

The worst thing that could happen was her being wrong and things being awkward for a while. But she was so convinced she was being right that she couldn't see that happen. 

So the next time he got ready for his hunting trip Sherry spoke up. 

"You know you can just tell us you're a werewolf, right? No need to use weird excuses for your full moon runs." 

Daryl had stopped dead in his tracks at her words. Obsessively retracing his steps to figure out how they could have figured it out. But now his clearly panicked state gave him away, and sighed in defeat. "Aigh', how'dya figure it out?" 

Before Sherry could talk, Tabby had jumped up. "Wait, for real?" She let out an excited squeal. "Show us, pleasee?"

Daryl took a step back, still stuck being caught so off guard by two women who only knew him for a few months.

"She means we'd love to see you be your real self, no need to hide when we're around. Snack on squirrels if you're hungry, we don't care." A notepad covered in detailed writing was handed to him and he looked it over. His brows raising with how impressed he was she had managed to gather all this info before coming to the right conclusion. 

"M'still goin' on tha hunt. Talk after, yeah?" Two nods let him know it was all good, and he went out with a much more calm feeling this time around, knowing he'd have them waiting back at home no matter what. 

So he hunted in the surrounding forest, now feeling like he was being truly useful and not disgusting for once. 

Not that he had issues with being a werewolf, he just hated always having to be careful and hide it all the time. 

But now he could be home whenever he wanted, even when his mind howled at him and he had a hard time hiding his claws and fangs. 

He hunted more this run. Brought back two deer and a nice stash of rabbits and squirrels. He almost caught a boar too but he let it go to get a stray walker away from his deer.

Back home the two women had prepared him a nice meal as a peace offering. An apology for catching him so off guard before he left. 

Never in his life had he felt so welcome, but this was his home now. Him and his two girls. 

His girls.

No, the girls that he shared a home with. Not his girls. 

But they were his girls. His mind told him so. That night in bed he dreamt. He watched as they cuddled up with Dog, giving him head scratches and belly rubs as his vision slowly distorted and he saw his own shifted self in place of his canine companion. The blonde rubbed her tits against his muzzle as the other stroked his cock as she rubbed herself on his thigh.

He woke up panting, feeling like he was about to shift. From a goddamn wet dream..

He spent longer in his downstairs bedroom that morning. Although they said he'd be food to walk around how he wanted, he didn't want his fangs to be on display or his claws to be out but no matter what he tried it wouldn't fade. At least he wasn't painfully hard anymore.

He gave himself a pep talk before heading up to the main floor and praying the girls were out already. 

"Hey Dee, wow." Tabby gave the man a once over, seeing his clawed hand as he raked it through his messy hair and offering him the drink she had gotten for herself. "Rough night?" 

Daryl only grumbled in response before downing the drink and heading out to the back porch for a smoke. 

And of course there he ran into the other cause of his annoyance. Sherry happily cooing at his dog as she brushed out his tangled fur.

"You look like the full moon hasn't decided to leave just yet, dude. Why not sleep in?" She suggested as she followed his figure sitting down and lighting up a smoke and grumbling some more. He disliked speaking with his fangs out.

"You can always just shift all the way to let out the frustration. You know, like a reset button." It wasn't something he had thought of before, and was now contemplating to do so. 

"Just let us watch. Tabby'd be over the moon." 

Oh how he hated that they were getting what they wanted and it being good for him too.. But he agreed and led her back inside and calling Tabby over.

"S'yer lucky day I guess. Sit." And without question they sat. 

In front of them Daryl had dropped to his knees and let the change take over. Deep, growling breaths filled the room as he became more beast than man in mere seconds and eventually was fully transformed. He watched his housemates on the couch as they stared, wide eyed and squirming. Thighs rubbing together as they stared. Downward?

His cock stood at full attention thanks to the source of his frustration. 

But neither of the girls was staring in disgust.

No, the absolute opposite.

They were interested. Their arousal was clear as day and he wasn't entirely sure how to respond. 

"Want help with that, big boy?" 

"I'll go lock the doors." 

Both women were on their feet within seconds as Daryl sat there, processing the whole situation but not really getting to before he was being touched all over. "Just move us to where you want us, yeah?" A soft nod let them know he understood as he laid on his back. 

One large paw went to tug at Tabby's sweats as the other one pawed at Sherry's top. 

The hint was clear as they undressed and waited for his next order.

Within moments he had them both settled like he saw in his dreams. His thigh soaked as one grinded herself down on it and a wet pair of tits against his muzzle, his thick tongue lapping at her nipples and a rough paw pad rubbing at her clothed pussy.

Their combined moans and the feeling of their hands around his shaft were so good it didn't last long before he spilled all over his stomach. He helped them both over the edge as well before relaxing back onto the floor and pulling them both close to him. 

From that moment on his two housemates did become His girls. A mutual agreement between the three of them.

More fun was had whenever one of them had a bad day, or when they were all in the mood. In both human and shifted form neither of the girls backed down and had their fun with him. 

He really had hit the jackpot. 

He was almost done with the day, stepping onto his porch as he caught one of the girls' voice saying something very interesting.

He knew he shouldn't, bjt he couldn't help but eavesdrop

"Man.. I wish I could have his puppies." Tabby slumped on the couch, tired after a long workday. 

"I mean, if you want I can carry it for ya?" Sherry came in too, offering her a plate of food. "Would you do that? Thought that shit scared you so much." The redhead happily chowed down on the meal, offering thanks between spoonfuls.

"Babies? Never in my life. Puppies? No problem with those." She offered her friend a kind smile. "Besides, that's what friends do. Being surrogate moms for their besties? We'll have to go ask around for a breast pump and a bottle though. So you can at least bottle feed the furball."

Daryl had a hard time containing his excitement, but managed to calmly smoke another cigarette before going into the house, pretending he didn't hear any of that.

Between then and the day Daryl left for his next full moon hunting trip Tabby and Sherry puzzled together a list of needed items, from vitamins to the breast pump and bottle, to maybe some nice stretchy pants or maternity clothes.

All while Daryl waited for them to ask him about the one thing that had been screwing with his focus for over a week now. 

With his stuff packed and ready to leave he was stopped by a hand with a piece of paper smacked against his arm, a flushed Tabby beside him who hid her face behind her hair.

"W'sthis?" He took the paper and went to unfold but another smacked hand stopped him. "List for Sherry and me. Please open it when you're outside the walls, okay?" 

Daryl mumbled something about strange women and their words, but he agreed and pocketed the paper. He kissed her goodbye and set out to find Sherry at her workplace before leaving on his trip.

Sherry was easily found in her workplace and was informed of the secret little list he was given, said his goodbyes and now left for the gates.

As soon as Daryl was out on the main road he stopped his bike and took the small paper from his pocket. Its contents had been mulling around in his mind ever since he touched it.

But he wouldn't have guessed this was how his girls would have played their cards. 

The list was full of baby stuff. And underlined in red sat those two things he heard them talk about. 

His hunting would have to be delayed for a bit. His first stop was Hilltop. 

He thanked the baby doctor for his donation and caught up with Maggie before setting out again, leaving a large deer at their gate as a thanks that same night. He hunted and stashed his kills for the remainder of his time and took quick runs into nearby areas to scout for the listed items. 

He had a large backpack with his girls' items and a good amount of meat gathered at the edge of the woods near the Alexandria gates.

His excitement to return home was clear as he returned earlier than usual, dropping the animals that hadn't been retrieved yet off at the pantry and heading for his house immediately after.

Welcomed by his girls he dumped the bag on the coffee table, right in front of them. 

"Ya girls planned on askin' me nicely?" 

It was clear they weren't gonna say a word, so he was just gonna ask a million yes or no questions even though he knew the answers already.

He found it crazy how they could so openly talk about it with each other but as soon as he asked they'd be all flustered and shy about it.

"So ya want pups." A set of nods meant yes.

"And yer too scared ta ask?" More nodding.

He gave his next question some thought. He wasn't needed in the community for the next two days as those were his given resting days. And since they were both home it meant they had nowhere to be either. 

"Wanna head upstairs?" 

Sherry shrugged and got up to follow while Tabby stayed behind. 

"You too," Daryl stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "Yer as much part'a this as her." 

Daryl treated his girls equally. Always making sure they got just as many kisses and cuddles. Naptime was always shared and he always made sure both of them were all the way asleep and comfortable before passing out in between them at night.

But of course he also made sure they both came at least twice, three times each before finishing himself. Twice ofcourse. 

And that's how every moment they had together was spent for the next week. Up in the largest bedroom, round after round untill Tabby was too sore and fucked out, and Sherry was pregnant.

Daryl had permanently moved into the main house now, staying at their side whenever he wasn't out.

It was a known fact Daryl wasn't human, but that was all good as long as he stayed human within the walls and outside his home. And people had already started catching on about the two new girls being together with him as he never cared to hide  how he felt for them. Some found it weird and had their opinions, but they knew better than to voice them openly. 

But now one of them was pregnant, and people were concerned about her. 

Did she want it? Was it planned? Was it even healthy? Wasn't the other one jealous?

Those questions didn't last long, though. They faded quickly after a little incident at the pantry when Sherry, with her bump clearly visible by now, came to pick up some extra food and Tabby and her overheard whispers coming from others nearby.

Tabby was working so she could only kindly request they take their items and leave, but Sherry and her hormones weren't having it and snapped at them, making a bigger scene than necessary but not caring at all because someone dared to badmouth her family and she wasn't gonna let that slide.

She had rounded the shelf in seconds and snapped at the women. 

"How about you keep your nose out of our business and spend more time with it up your husband's ass so he won't have to grope a different girl each week huh?" 

Tabby hid a laugh behind her hands while the women loudly gasped at the insult. 

The offended one huffed. "Well." She puffed out her chest and stood tall. "You two sleep with nasty monsters." She scoffed at the two as the other middle aged, probably high class before, woman backed her up with an even less insulting remark. 

Now both of the girls laughed out loud. "Wow she really got us there." The sarcasm dripped off the words like venom. "Yeah, wow. Tabby, why didn't you tell me our man wasn't human?" Their laughs came from deep as they kept talking. "Our sweet, loyal beast." The emphasis on 'loyal' was strong, and a clear jab at the woman's cheating husband. 

Daryl had long made his entrance to the scene, staying back with a wide grin on his face as he watched his girls stand up for themselves and tear into the other women with nothing but truths and observations. 

Olivia had made her way into the pantry as well, now shooing both duos out of the door. At least Sherry got her items and Tabby now got the rest of the day off. 

Their happy giggles continued as they stepped onto the street, Daryl joining them only seconds later. "Yer insane, the both of ya." He fell into step in between them and moved to kiss both their cheeks. "Thanks fer defendin' me. Them old hags dun' like me very much."

It was a fun but tiring event, and the three of them called dog upstairs with them and piled on the bed for cuddles and some much needed rest.

The next month and a half passed quickly. And with some careful communication the trio had made a trip to Hilltop and get an ultrasound done and got the greatest news.

Although it did spike Sherry's anxiety, she was over the moon when the screen showed not one, but two little squirmy pups. "Look at that! One little nugget for both of us in one go!" Tabby happily but cautiously hugged her friend as Daryl shared encouraging words and praise. 

The way back home went by a lot quicker with the three all buzzing with excitement.

Luckily there wasn't much more waiting to be done as the last week approached fast. 

Bedrest sucked a little less with a dog always at her side and two adorably concerned people in the house making sure she was doing okay. All the time. Up to the second her water broke.

When her contractions had started Daryl had sent Tabby to fetch some items they'd need from the infirmary and got back as fast as possible to not miss anything. 

It took almost an entire day but eventually both pups were out and nursing. 

With both pups asleep, Sherry laid in bed. She kept nodding off while she tried to focus on pumping some more milk. She didn't want to keep nursing them both and risk them not imprinting on Tabby as their mother. 

Tabby, who laid next to her in bed, two pups snuggled against her bare skin. 

Daryl was all over the place, cleaning up the mess and making sure there'd be enough food prepped and up for grabs. No matter how bad he wanted to lay in bed with his girls and pups, he was going to make sure every needed task was done before resting. 

This went on for days. The girls spending all their time with the pups as Daryl made quick work of needed things and joined them afterwards.

He came from the kitchen with three bowls of stew balanced in his hands and set them out on the coffee table. They were still too hot to eat immediately so he took his time to settle down between his girls who were lovingly feeding their pups, both having picked their favorite momma. 

They had really hit the jackpot here in their home in Alexandria.

🐺 🐺 🐺

#sometimes i write #daryl dixon #daryl dixion imagine #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon x reader #daryl dixon x oc #daryl dixon x original character #twd #the walking dead #twd imagine #twd fanfiction #the walking dead oc #twd oc #werewolves #werewolf #monster x human #twd au

[diagonal-queen]

omg what if i requested...

okay okay imagine: [character] taking a bath with you and its all cute but GOD DAMN WHY DO YOU HAVE SO MANY RUBBER DUCKS? like yalls are taking a bath and you just pull out the rubber ducks and dump them in the bath djfbdjdj YES SFW I WE DONT TOLERATE NSFW HERE

characters: ranpo, dazai, chuuya, poe, atsushi, [your favorites] SEPARATE! if you dont wanna do em all you can just do poe and ranpo lol also you can insert blue lock characters if you want to 👍

i want isagi so bad frfr ALSO HONKAI STAR RAIL CAELUS WHY ISNT ANYONE TALKING ABOUT HIM LIKE HELLO??? TRASH CAN BOYFRIEND??? HES SO HOT TOO? I WANT HIM TOO FRFR

i hope youre having a good day i am indeed alive!!

- nia

A NIA REQUESTTTTTTTTTTTT OMG YES

Rubber duckie, you're the one~

♡ pairing: Ranpo Edogawa, Dazai Osamu, Chuuya Nakahara, Edgar Allan Poe, Atsushi Nakajima, Mykola Hohol, Tecchou Suehiro x gn!Reader

♡ synopsis: You bring rubber ducks into the bath.

♡ cw: Swearing, nudity I guess??? It's not NSFW lmao but gotta cover my bases

note: HELLO NIA. I want you to know that I AM gonna be doing a BLLK version of this some time after I've finished this one. Also I don't know much about Honkai Star Rail but isn't Caelus basically like that game's equivalent of Aether from Genshin? I'm uncultured T-T These are just crack hcs lol uh yeah apologies for errors and I hope you enjoy x

Ranpo:

Bold of you to assume this mf didn't bring his own rubber ducks

The bathtub is overcome with your shared aquatic fowl. You two are having an absolute field day in there (and not like a regular field day, but like a Magic School Bus field day)

Maybe they have a war or something. Or maybe they establish a peace agreement and the two leaders of your different duck nations get married to form a union

You guys end up staying in the tub until the water is freezing

Honestly though, you probably benefitted from having a little while to both just indulge in childish behaviour without any judgement or consequences. And it was super fun so no regrets

After the first time you guys decide to start having shared baths every now and then when things get too stressful at work, so you could blow off steam in a harmless and fun way

But you two don't tell anybody. I mean Ranpo still brings rubber ducks to public bathhouses because he's just like that but nobody else ever finds out the true extent of your duck-related shenanigans

10/10 would recommend bubble bath rubber duck therapy w/ autistic manchild 👍

Dazai:

He didn't expect it, but he likes it!

Dazai probably never washes himself ever so he was already quite on board with the idea of having a bath with you (he gets to see you nakey and have clean hair for once? Like what a win)

Also I reckon he's the kinda guy who really enjoys bubble baths and plays with them and gets the bathroom all messy with the bubbles (me too Dazai)

So he was pretty hyped for this. But then you dump like fifty rubber ducks into the bath and NOW IT'S TIME TO GET FUNKY

Dazai has definitely never played with them before. He's amused with the way they float, with the fact that they make noise when you squeeze them, their big stupid eyes and everything about them

He initially wants to question why you have so many of them or where you got them from but then he just as quickly decides that he doesn't really wanna know the answer

Is he as invested in the ducks as you are? No, but he's very curious about them and finds it nice that you enjoy them so much

Probably wraps one in bandages and gives it to you so you're always thinking of him or smth 💀 (it's cute though)

Chuuya:

If Chuuya has run you a bath he probably intended for it to be romantic and relaxing

And then you bringed in the duckies

After a quick discussion you two do compromise on a romantic bath. With rubber ducks. And it honestly ends up being more perfect than either of you expected

He'd have been willing to just let you do your thing though because he just wants you to be happy but mans works too hard to pass up an opportunity to relax in the bath with you

So what ends up happening is you two just cuddle in the bath and talk about life and romance and stuff, and there's also ducks floating there, entirely out of place

Like Chuuya would have pulled out all the stops. Candles and wine and stuff, so like a pretty mature scene that does not accommodate for rubber ducks, and yet there they are

But he thinks it's really cute how into the ducks you are so he lets you keep them around

He would definitely buy you more rubber ducks in the future just to see you smile. Chuuya is down so bad for you 😌

Poe:

He's probably never even seen a rubber duck in his 1800s gothic anxietycore life

You might honestly have to explain what they are. He's like 'and they don't do anything? You just have them there for company?' and you're like 'yeah!' and he's just like

Poe would find one singular duck of yours and latch onto it. That one is his duck now and he would keep it nearby because it reminds him of you

Overall though he doesn't really get on board with it. Like after the first two minutes when the novelty fades he's like '...can we please remove them' lol

If you say yes then the bath then continues on exactly as expected. It's nice but Poe's a little insecure and shy (cuddle him pls)

If you say no then he's just gonna learn to deal with them. This man doesn't have the balls to set boundaries with you (ME TOO POE)

That being said, if Karl likes the ducks? ...oh boy he's straight up going to purchase an avalanche of them

It's really up to you whether or not the ducks catch on or not, Poe's just along for the ride whether or not he wants to be

Atsushi:

Help him

They didn't have rubber ducks in the orphanage, and Atsushi probably hasn't had a proper nice long bath in years. He did not want nor expect a horde of rubber ducks

But Atsushi loves you so much that he's willing to look past it. And the duckies actually grow on him by the time you guys get out the bath

He's always seen bathing as just that. A way to clean. But you're determined to introduce him to the wonders of bathtime and make up for the childhood he wasn't allowed to have

He mostly just goes along with you and doesn't really match your energy, but he absolutely loves seeing you so excited about the ducks

He would definitely like the idea of baths being a cute couply thing for you guys to do though so whether or not you got your ducks with you is honestly irrelevant

But you do. And so he accepts them as a part of being with you. In sickness and health or whatever idk nobody loves me lmao

Just make sure that you give Atsushi as much attention as you give to the ducks okay?

Mykola:

Mykola has literally never been happier in his entire life

This was the moment when he realised that you were the one for him. His soulmate, his one and only

He doesn't care how many ducks there are, he just cares that there's ducks. And that you're the one who bought them into the bathtub.

The pair of you wreak havoc on the bathroom. Like with Ranpo, y'all were just being a little playful. You and Mykola straight up destroy the whole room

You two spend hours in there coming up with names, extended backstories and lore of each rubber duck and it gets so complicated so fast

He would also give each one of them a different voice while you guys are messing around. Theatre kid moment

You've now given him the idea to just randomly present you with rubber ducks at any time, regardless of the scenario. Your collection grows tenfold due to this bastard and Fyodor is not pleased about it. Not when Mykola is interrupting DOA meetings with fucking ducks

The poor repair guys you hire to fix the bathroom...they're so confused T-T

Tecchou:

Straight up just does not react. This shit is a regular Tuesday for him

LET'S NOT PRETEND THAT HE DOESN'T OWN RUBBER DUCKS BECAUSE HE LITERALLY DOES I SAID SO

And he just lets them float there in the bath and pays no mind to them. Doesn't play with them, talk to them or whatever. It's just nice to have some silent, non-judgemental company sometimes

Tecchou doesn't strike me as someone who would suggest that you two take a bath together, so it was most likely your idea. He went along with it because relaxing in a steamy room with you sounded nice, but in reality you just wanted to show him the ducks

And though he might have seemed disinterested he was so happy to know that you and him had a similar interest

You two are so good for each other that way <3 (good = autistic I guess, because Tecchou is canon autism I decided)

So while you play with the ducks or whatever he just sits there content and watches you do so with a little smile. Probably calls you cute at some point entirely catching you offguard

You two make it a regular thing, but Jouno probably finds out somehow and it's just a whole other can of worms I won't go into rn

Taglist~ ♡ @gettinshiggywithit, @fedyushka, @flower-of-darkness, @bejeweledgirl

#bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #fanfic #fanfiction #bsd fanfic #bsd fanfiction #crack fic #crack headcanons #bsd crack #crack fluff #bsd fluff #fluff headcanons #ranpo x reader #chuuya x reader #dazai x reader #atsushi x reader #poe x reader #mykola x reader #nikolai x reader #tecchou x reader #ranpo edogawa #chuuya nakahara #dazai osamu #atsushi nakajima #edgar allan poe #mykola hohol #nikolai gogol #tecchou suehiro

[miscelunaaa]

I was thinking about your repost of warnings and being more inclusive to a variety of bodies in ff. Something that pulls me out of a fic so often is hairstyle descriptions. This obviously isn't the same as not being inclusive of different body shapes/sizes or readers of color, but to me its often really gratingly pushes white cishet traditional gender presentation. Like...not all women have long hair (which is my thing) or can have white girl hairstyles. Like why do you have to write about long flowy hair and messy buns so much? This is already really irritating as a person with short hair which is a much smaller deal than physical things you can't change. And I keep thinking that a lot of this language is probably also really alienating to pocs with curly hair. So....ugh!

I really appreciate you being vocal on this topic and I love your blog and your writing so much!

Hair is another one I catch all the time!!! I'm a white woman with loose, wavy curls but I keep my hair short. It's actually short enough that I can't really put it up right now, and while I love the idea of having long beautiful hair, it's just never been something I've been able to achieve because the maintenance alone drives me nuts. And I still have enough hair that it could be grabbed or played with. This is not going to be the same experience a person of color with curls might have!!

It's something that is so frequently overlooked. It's one thing if it's just a line like "He noses at the nape of your neck and smells your hair," because even a person with with a tight textured curl at any length will still have hair to smell, right? And with smut scenes involving hair pulling as a warning, like, I can suspend my disbelief because there's likely an element of fantasy involved. And then there's the matter of reader-insert characters that are explicitly written as POC which!! That's amazing! These characters are written with these traits in mind and that representation is so incredibly important, especially in a fandom that celebrates Korean men while also having a huge issue with white washing.

When it comes to a reader-insert that's intended as neutral, it just seems disingenuous to assume that everyone has long white girl hair that is easily thrown up into a bun at the end of the day. It bothers me in the same way that descriptions of super skimpy clothing do; it's just clear that the writer doesn't really care to have an eye for inclusivity, whether by willful ignorance or by coincidence.

And again, there are points where I can suspend my disbelief! Sometimes the reading experience is immersive enough that I don't even notice, or maybe the character is very specific and those are moments where the character writing is strong enough that I'm just stepping into their experience of the story. But ... there's an intent there. Not every writer approaches things as such, and with that in mind I think we have to approach the convention of a reader-insert character in a different way.

I often feel like I'm talking to the air about this stuff, so I really appreciate you reaching out. Seriously. I think this really important and it doesn't get the attention it needs. Folks will talk openly about the problems, but I don't often see action or change taking place within work. Effecting these changes can be difficult for some writers because they can be so set in their ways, and that's frustrating. They want the fantasy of it all, rather than showing people that it's okay to be desired as they are. I think this is disingenuous; if you want feedback and praise, writing your "fantasies" with more people in mind would probably get more feedback, right? idk, I'm just rambling again at this point 🙃

Anyway, again, I'm really glad yall are reaching out about this!! I'm happy you're enjoying my stories and reading my thoughts :)

#anonymoose #asksss #em talks insert characters

[fortuneravine]

Tell me about each of your PMD teams!

OH BOY ok okok

starting off with team obsidian (explorers of sky)

Mistral is. complicated. for starters i have played as her in rescue team, explorers, And super because at the time they were kinda just. me. less of an oc and more just my self insert (i actually changed their name because her old name is. just my name now)

but lately i've wanted her to be her own character and not me in totodile form so i'm kinda in the process of redoing everything about them.

Cinder i can say more about! they are a disaster. an absolute mess. sopping wet kitten born in a cardboard box all alone. she's wanted to be an explorer since she was little, but being a huge coward kinda got in the way of that. they got that scar on their chest when they went into a dungeon alone and it scared them away from exploring for a long time. it wasn't until she met mistral that she started to get her confidence back and they're much calmer and less afraid of everything nowadays!

now rescue team. i played as mistral again in my first pmddx playthough along with a cubone partner but. i have kinda replaced them as my Main pmd1 team with these guys. oops.

campfire are much more developed characters anyways so im gonna talk about them!

fig (she/any) is very quiet, as are basically all of my heroes because my selectively mute ass keeps latching onto silent protagonists. she's definitely the one i've given the not talking trait to the most though. chive is extremely extroverted and chatty so she handles all the talking. others tend to see them as closed off or mysterious because they can't get a good read on her. they're really sweet though

chive's main gimmick is she likes cooking! will probably settle down and open a little cafe once she's done with the rescue team business. likes to experiment with random berries and nuts she finds (fig keeps joking she's going to poison herself, but she owns like 3 different foraging guides, she knows what she's doing.)

next is team hydra! their ref is old and i need to redo it so here's one of my heropartnerweek pieces badly cropped. their names are Ceru (she/xe) and Olivine (he/they)

it turns out i lied when i said all my heroes are quiet ceru is actually pretty outgoing. still the more introverted of the duo but mainly because olivine is a people pleaser extraordinaire. she actually had a pretty boring life as a human and is a lot happier as a pokemon. she was Devastated about returning to the human world, mostly because xe didn't want to leave xyr friends, partially because oh come on it's so much cooler here i don't wanna go back to working retail

olivine, as i said, is a people pleaser, often to his detriment. he's always prioritizing other pokemon's happiness, even when it's at the cost of his own. they get better at this over time (ceru helps him a lot with learning to say No). he and ceru are inseparable besties. they're like a comedy duo. 2 things have olivine's undying commitment, his friends and The Bit

finally. super. again i already talked about mistral so here is Basil.

honestly? i feel like they don't have much of my own spin. pmsd partner is already a perfect character. they are so full of love. they love making others smile and they're maybe a little too enthusiastic about it. they tend to come off as overly friendly at best or annoying at worst. before meeting mistral they were pretty lonely despite trying so hard to make friends. they're very happy to finally have a real close friend who likes them how they are

this ended up a little rambly!! oops!! but there's my guys hope you like em :)

#ask #uhh do i want to tag everyone. sure #(oc) mistral #(oc) cinder #(oc) fig #(oc) chive #(oc) ceru #(oc) olivine #(oc) basil

[xshybutdeadlyx]

Questions for the demiromantic and demisexuals out there

Ok, so I've recently found this term thanks to an aroace character from a show I watched. I knew of the sexuality but I didn't really know the specifics because I always thought I was bi but now looking into it I didn't know how aroace was like a literal umbrella and there was so much more to it then meets the eye. Which I'm 30 I feel like I should know more than what I do. But with doing research into it trying to understand it better, I learned about all the terms, and I learned about demiromantic and demisexual and it really resonated with me. But I wanted to ask for advice, I guess? Like I like romance I love reading it seeing art and what have you but when it comes to romance for myself I'm not a big fan? And maybe it's because I literally have to unlearn so much romance equals a, b, and c when that's not really true. I literally been in only one relationship in my life and it consisted of hand holding small kisses (no tongue, honestly I have an ick with spit and the only reason I "wanted" to do deeper kisses with the boyfriend I had at the time was because I felt like it was a requirement) but I honestly didn't feel attraction towards him until after getting to know him and being friends with him for months well into almost a year. And he's the only one I ever felt that way for I hardly ever had crushes or when I did I almost kinda forced myself into having them if that makes sense? It was "natural," and every kid was supposed to have crushes. Nothing ever came from the "crushes" though.

Now, like I said, I'm well into my 30s, and the relationship I just mentioned was the only relationship romantic wise I've ever had. I have had strong feelings for two of the friends I have but one friend is straight as they come and the other is married lol the one that is married though we have a strong bond that I wouldn't trade anything for. She tickles my hand, and she lets me cuddle her all the time, and we just spend nights just playing games together, just like when we were in high school. I love her so damn much, and I'll cherish what we have even when we are both dead and gone. She is my forever person.

Sorry, I went into a mini rant about my platonic love, but she's the best, and when I start talking about her, I have to gush lol, but anyways back to my sexuality crisis

So anyways, when there is even a chance of someone having an interest in me, I honestly kind of freak out. Or like if someone tries to set me up with someone, red neon flashing warning signs pop up for me. I don't know that person, and honestly, I get put off by big romantic gestures. Like, I appreciate it, but I don't think it's necessary? Can we just go get McDonald's, sit in the parking lot, and just shoot the shit? Play some games? We can watch movies or shows too.

I've also been on the dating websites and such as well, and I'm just always immediately put off. "Hello beautiful," ugh. "Insert pickup line here." please God why. "Unsolicited romantic or sexual advances right after a day of talking." Haha, no. There was literally one guy I thought was cool and we kinda flirted but it was really just talking everyday about the games we were playing I feel like if given time a connection could of been built but he ended up finding someone else immediately. Which honestly was fine I was kinda bummed but like if he wanted romance immediately, I wasn't gonna be giving that to him. I wanted to still be friends, but apparently, we had "too much history," so he ended up blocking me. lol oh well.

I've also literally only have had two "crushes" in like in a 5 year time span (only because this is what I can remember lol) one of em was so goofy and seemed so fun but then it seems like they turned out to be very self absorbed instantly done the other had baby mama drama wasn't into that. Honestly, those things seem to be things that could be worked through? Maybe? But once I just see something off-putting, it's all I see, which seems more like a personal thing because of past traumas.

As of now I'm honestly content with no romantic relationship but I feel like I do want one but I don't want one with just anyone and it just doesn't seem like many people out there are willing to wait or willing to be friends first and want to hop into relationships immediately when I very much don't. It takes me a while to be comfortable with people, and I want to get to know them as a person.

For a long time I felt like I just wasn't doing things right or that I had to actually change something that I was doing. I thought I was wrong or that I should just force myself into the uncomfortable situation of being someone's girlfriend immediately but then if it turns out I just don't have those romantic feelings then there the whole process of hurting them which is just anxiety inducting.

Also, with all that I'm saying, it does go into the demisexual portion, too. I've still never been with someone sexually because even in the one relationship I have had, I haven't met someone I've trusted to give myself to. The thought of one night stands or anything of the like just makes me wanna crawl into myself. I don't mind anything sexual but I want to be with someone sexually that I trust and care about with my whole being, not some dude Craig or some chick Wendy from Tinder. I'm content with that, but a lot of the times, I'm almost made to feel bad because I haven't done anything sexual. But boy, can I read all the smut on Ao3. Like it all in theory, but dunno about in practice lol I just don't have much of a drive in general, but I don't know if that's just because I've never been with anyone before? I keep getting told, "As soon as you're with someone, your sex drive changes," and like, does that shit really happen? Lol

All in all, I really feel connected to the terms demiromantic and demisexual. Even when I just said I'm bi, it just never felt right, but for once, I feel like I finally found something that I felt connected to and finally found me. But I guess I also wanna feel like I'm right in assuming so? I dunno I feel like it'd be disrespectful in using a label that isn't really you? Which doesn't sound right because everyone has the right to find themselves, and sometimes people go through a list until they finally find themselves, which is what's happening to me right now. But my feelings also just get jumbled up and I have a hard time distinguishing what's been conditioned in me, like how you date, you get into a relationship, ya do couple things, then you get married ect. When all I wanna do is get to know you, really know you, then actually date but even then I feel like a lot of my stuff is more on the platonic end? Like, I like cuddling and kissing, and I do like romance but on a more tame level? I kick my feet when reading "he bought her all these extravagant gifts then he swept her off her feet and dipped her into a kiss" so cute but like if I was actually in that situation like bro put me down for real and I'm so awkward when given gifts lol

I dunno I'd just would really like to discuss this with others who have found themselves because I don't really have anyone else to talk to about this. I've talked to my friends and they of course support me and love me but I feel like they don't really get it? And my family just chalks it up to " Ya just don't have a lot of experience it'll all change when ya get out there and mingle with people"

Thanks in advance for reading all this if ya made it this far I know it's a lot of word vomit as I like to call it but I don't have very organized thoughts and I just kinda write what I'm thinking in the moment lol

#aroace #demisexual #demiromantic

[pro-logue-epi-logue]

RANDOM DEVIL'S NIGHT THOUGHTS

~NUMBER 45~

Things that were not in NIGHTFALL but should have been

(There might be some ranting soo bear with it, you may or may not agree with them) ->

1. Emory and winter not even sharing one single sentence.

Are you telling me two bestest of buddies Damon and Will are married but their significant others did not even share 1 single sentence. NOTHING. ZERO. NADA. Yaaa right.

I am suppose to believe it?

But yeah sure Rika was always there. ALWAYS?? Why just why? Just once let banks and winter talk.

2. Two of the most awesome characters of the entire devil's night EMORY SOFIA SCOTT and NIVOKA SARAH BANKS are not best friends???

Let us all not live in a delusional and finally accept the fact that EMORY and BANKS are best buddies.

Like imagine the sarcasm, sass and obviously how they both are now going to humble the Horsemen and everyone else.

They LITERALLY have sooooo many topics to talk about.

They both definitely meet 2 or 3 times a week just these two and chat and be as awesome and cool as they are.

But yes we didn't got this either. I was soo excited when the two best girls em and banks were supposed to meet but did we got it no. Apparently alex was important. * insert eye roll* ( everyone have the same thoughts here lets not lie)

3. Will not explaining his tattoos

William aaron payne grayson III has been obsessed OBSESSED with Emory Scott, we all know that, its no secret.

It was mentioned in corrupt that he got tattoos while he was in jail, WHEN he didn't knew about what em and martin did. WHEN he was hopelessly in love with her.

So i don't believe that 90% of his tattoos are not related to her one way or other. NOPE JUST NOPE.

So we all deserved a chapter when he told her the meaning of his tattoos and what they signifies after they were married.

4. Emory not getting her own wedding

Emory has the most painful life, she was not at all happy when she was in high school. And after she went to Berkeley when her gazebo burned she didn't let herself be happy.

So just once ONCE in her life can this girl get something for her just for her only.

Don't get me wrong the wedding was cute( it wasn't).

But EMORY deserved a day just for her and will that she shouldn't share with anyone else.

After everything she went through all the pain and hardship, and all the things will and emmy together as a couple went through they deserved a day for just them.

5. Emory Scott smiling in the present chapters

In the entire present timeline all we got was will and emmy fighting, I just wanted 1 chapter just her smiling and finally being happy after all the things. It doesn't matter how, she can be alone with micah or rory or even will. Just her happy and smiling.

And i really think this and tattoo excerpt should have been there instead of AA.

6. More time between MICAH , RORY and EM

In the short time em was in blackchurch only micah was nice to her and rory was well him. But the scenes when Micah and Em dances together and when these two cuties stood up for her when the entire Horsemen clan was treating Emory so bad so so bad these 3 have my heart. They are the brothers she deserves.

I even like how she described them during the wedding.

So yes they should have had 1 or 2 more scenes together for example when they all went shopping after the engagement.

7. Emory's Backstory

There was a 9 years gap, 9 YEARS. So much can happen in that time. But we don't know anything, literally anything about her during that time. I genuinely wanted to know how she coped with the break up with the love of her life WILL, how did she survive in that 1 year when he was not there, how was her college life, how was her graduation, her ex-boyfriend ( she must have dated someone right),how is her job. Anything would have worked but no did we got anything, no we didn't. But what did we got, repeated reminder of will and alex( i get it they were together but why throw it in her face when she was already soo insecure). This novel should have focused on those years when will and emmy were apart and how her life was in California instead on ALEX( I said what i said she got way too much page space in a book that wasn't even hers ).

8. Will's reaction to when em told him about the coffee can and Damon's mom

I really wanted to know how will would react when he find out that emmy saved all these things and how they meant the world to her. And specifically how ther were just under the gazebo he burnt.😅. Just there away from him. Its a short distance.

I also wanted to knew what exactly happened that devil's night and did he or did he not put damon down. Did he freak out?

9. Way less of Alex and Aydin

It was a book of WILL GRAYSON and EMORY SCOTT then why was i reading about another couple who didn't even matter.

I am still bitter about how badly alex treated emory and how rude she was to her without knowing anything. And how both AA had more page space in present timeline than will and em themselves.

Because we all know how AMAZING, AWESOME and SUPERB past will and emory were they were everything, they were chef's kiss. So imagine how awesome they would have been if AA weren't there because now they both confessed their feelings and their is no martin( we were robbed big time).

10. Will's and emory's accomplishments

It wasn't mentioned but i know, i just know that will grayson was homecoming king and emory scott was the valedictorian and she even passed college with achievements.

This girl spent every minute of her wake hours for either school,gazebo or her grandma so yeah.

11. An apology

Emory deserved an apology from kai, Michael, ALEX and will also because they all every single one of them treated her as if she wasn't even a human. And i hated what kai said to her. Alex was rude and wanted to hit her( an abuse victim seriously), Alex was mean and kind of bitchy for no reason at all. Will did her wrong as well but i dont want to elaborate on this.

Soo yeah SHE DESERVED AN APOLOGY.

12. Emory and Will talking

Inwas waiting for will and Emory to talk to each other specially about Emory's abuse and Will's trauma. These two suffered the most and only had each other and they only showed their true selves to them only and yet They didn't talk! But yes tell us Rika's wedding dress color and how is it relevant.

13. Emory's parents

Why does the only thing we know about Emmy's parents is how they died? We should know a little more about them, where is their grave, how were they with emmy, their sweet moments together, them celebrating Emmy's birthday, playing with her in the park.

14. Will's emotion on his arrest day

We got to see everyone's pov when they git arrest but not will. He is the most ignored PD male at this point.

#the devil's night #the devils night #devil's night #devils night #the devil's night series #will grayson iii #emory scott #willemmy #the devils night series #devils night series #random devils night thoughts #rika fane #michael crist #damon torrance #winter ashby #kai mori #nikova mori #stupid alex palmer #alex palmer #aydin khadir

[justemockroach]

MEET ECYLLE!

a character I got recently from @hattiestgal ! As shown on the ref, they're a universe traveler hopping from one to the next giving all of my other characters advice. They made all of the universes they visit, so she always wants to see what's going on in all of em. Ecylle is basically my self insert mary sue oc that i put in all of my (his?) stories so that they can talk about what they do next. Almost none of their visits are canon (or are they?) Hope to make more of them soon!

#my art #furry art #furry #chubby #sheep #art #ecylle