#good choices of dialogue and everything with a corniness i love and appreciate in a final fantasy game

[thesunnyshow]

Name: Li

Age: 15

Writing Blog URL(s): @meraki-mark​

What fandom(s) do you write for? NCT! Formerly EXO.

Nationality: Chinese-American 

Languages: English and basic Chinese 

Star Sign: Virgo

MBTI: ISTJ

Favorite color: Black and blue

Favorite food: Ramen 

Favorite movie: Thoroughbreds or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Favorite ice cream flavor: Chocolate!

Favorite animal: Owls 

Coffee or tea? What are you ordering? 

Coffee and a Mocha Frappuccino 

Dream job (whether you have a job or not)

A realistic choice would be something to do with biochemistry writing/research, but something unconventional in my situation would be a fiction writer or a music producer.

Go-to karaoke song

Can’t sing, but if I do I usually sing anything from musicals with my friends. 

If you could have one superpower, what would you choose? 

Invisibility or time/space jumping. 

If you could visit a historical era, which would you choose? 

I would choose the Renaissance Era because of the explosion of creativity that occurred. 

If you could restart your life, knowing what you do now, would you? 

Maybe parts of it. I would find more creative outlets and grow as a musician and I would appreciate the effort my parents put into making sure I could learn guitar. 

Would you rather fight 100 chicken-sized horses or one horse-sized chicken? Um, I think I would rather fight 100 chicken-sized horses, because a big chicken could poke my eyes out. 

If you were a trope in a teen high school movie, what would you have been?

I would be a side character that had a strangely specific backstory that the movie doesn’t get into but it is clearly implied. I would probably be there to be the total cynic and judge everyone.

Do you believe in aliens/supernatural creatures? Of course! How could there just be us? Anything is possible in my mind. 

Fun fact about yourself that not everyone would know? 

I have owned an assorted collection of musical instruments. Currently I have three guitars. I used to have a keyboard, clarinet, and steel drum (of course a recorder since I feel like most people had one from elementary school.)

When did you post your first piece? 

End of December back in 2018.

Do you write fluff/angst/crack/general/smut, combo, etc? Why?

I write a combo of lots of different genres (fluff/angst/humor). For shorter works it’s usually only fluff or angst, but I find it hard to confine a work to one genre. If there are multiple genres it adds layers to a story and I like to try to make stories as dimensional as possible.

Do you write OCs, X Readers, Ships...etc? 

Currently only member x reader.

Why did you decide to write for Tumblr? 

I loved writing and I didn’t really have a “thing” to write about so fanfiction would combine writing and the groups/people I loved. I was on Quotev for a while and I figured there would be a wider audience on Tumblr.

What inspires you to write? 

I’m inspired by everyday things that happen to me, friends, or family. Movies and music also come in handy. I actually have two works that I’m working on based off of movies. 

What genres/AUs do you enjoy writing the most? 

I like writing angst the most and I swear I’m addicted to best friends and high school au’s probably because I can relate the most to it. 

What do you hope your readers take away from your work?

I hope they can feel something. I hope they can see the underlying themes of joy and heartache that some of my works have. As long as they feel like they got something out of the work then that is enough for me. 

What do you do when you hit a rough spot creatively? 

I take a break to clear my brain and just get away from it. I play guitar or read a book. If it lasts for more than a few days I just let it sit and come back to it when I feel like I have some good material to add to it, or if it’s just that one work I try to work on another one.

What is your favorite work and why? Your most successful? 

I like either “goodbye” or “too fast too slow” they’re both Mark works. I like “goodbye” since it was a concept of telling a story backwards and it was fun for me to write. I liked “too fast too slow” because I feel like I got the mutual feeling of love and caring between the characters right. My most successful is “catch me if i fall” another Mark work with the Spider-Man concept. The people love goofy Spider-Man!Mark. 

Who is your favorite person to write about? 

I like writing for all of them equally. Some come easier than others, but I enjoy writing for all of them since they all have different personalities I can try to portray. 

Do you think there’s a difference between writing fanfiction vs. completely original prose?

I think there are very minor differences because I know some writers write members exactly as they portray their personalities in public. So for fanfiction I guess you already have a personality to build off of while for originals you have to make your own personality from scratch. I personally like changing up the personalities, but I do have that blueprint if I wanted it. When I write original pieces the point of view is usually different and not in second person. Otherwise it’s still writing and building a story. 

What do you think makes a good story? 

I think it really depends on what the writer wants to get across to the reader. Whether it’s the emotional rollercoaster they wrote, character development throughout the work, the pacing to keep the reader interested, or even just the dialogue or descriptions keeping the reader engaged. Good is subjective and if the writer can get the right message or the message they wanted across to the reader I think that’s a “good” story. 

What is your writing process like? 

Spontaneous and sporadic. I can come up with ten ideas all at once and just let them sit there for ages. When I get into writing I do write in scene order. I don’t write down an outline, I just usually have one mapped out in my head beforehand. I do bare minimum proofreading, oops, but other than that very simple steps. 

Would you ever repurpose a fic into a completely original story? 

I have thought about it. I’m not sure though. I wouldn’t know which one to build upon.

What tropes do you love, and what tropes can’t you stand? 

I like most tropes if you hand me a work and it has some random trope I would probably read it. I’m not a fan of yandere, but other than that I would read any. 

How much would you say audience feedback/engagement means to you? 

I used to think it didn’t mean much, but when a couple of my works flopped (oof) I felt bad and missed the little tags in reblogs or at least a like or two. I saw a post about writers writing for them, but writers post it for others to enjoy reading it as much as they did writing it. I stand by that. I will always love writing, but I want to hear what others think of it and that’s why I post them.If someone just comments or reblogs and puts something in the tags saying that they loved it, that’s enough for me. I’m a minimalist that way. 

What has been one of the biggest factors of your success (of any size)? 

Just hearing people say they liked it or general encouragement from my mutuals. I love talking to other writers and getting to know them. 

Do you think fanfic writers get unfairly judged? 

Yes! Just because it’s about someone who is 2D in comic books or in real life like actors or singers doesn’t mean it’s any less of a piece of written work.

Do you think art can be a medium for change? 

Of course. Art, let it be music, paintings, dance, writings, so on and so forth, can open a person’s eyes to all the possibilities of the world. The way someone perceives a work of art can be different from another and I think that causes great discussions. Art will always expose people to new ways of thinking and new ways to see the world.

Do you ever feel there are times when you’re writing for others, rather than yourself? 

I used to. I’ve started a series, got through two chapters and then put it on hold and then discontinued it. While it was in limbo I felt bad because I knew people really liked it so I wanted to write it. Now, that same series is sitting discontinued until I can find motivation and feel like I’m writing it for me. So currently no, not anymore. 

Do you ever feel like people have misunderstood you or your writing at times? 

Well, maybe. I’m not sure. My works aren’t really that cryptic. Maybe with emotions that characters are feeling because I’m not very good at descriptions. Otherwise, I don’t think so. 

Do your offline friends/loved ones know you write for Tumblr? 

Oh no. I would rather die than them find out. They know I write, just not for Tumblr.

What is one thing you wish you could tell your followers? 

Thank you for putting up with my sporadic updates and random works. I’m very inconsistent so thank you for sticking around and having enough faith in my writing to follow me.

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers who might be too scared to put themselves out there? 

Just start writing whatever! It doesn’t have to be the next Charles Dickinson novel, as long as you like it then that’s enough! You may think it sounds corny or awkward at first but as you write more you’ll find a style and become comfortable. There are so many writers and most of them are always willing to help if you just ask! 

Are there any times when you regret joining Tumblr? 

So far no. I’ve met some pretty great people and I haven’t come across any problems yet. 

Do you have any mutuals who have been particularly formative/supportive in your Tumblr journey? 

Well there’s @jaemericano​​, Gigi, who was my first mutual and has stuck around for such a long time. @neowrld​​ who gives killer reviews of my works. Now I’ve met @jensungf​​, Leyna, the best person in the world to talk to. She reached out when I was struggling with tumblr tags and then the conversation picked up from there about everything and anything. @ohnoyoonoh​​, Cayla, for starting our own personal foreign swaggers and being so nice to me when you first reached out, and always being so understanding about everything. @neocitybynight​​, sunny, who I can yell about Meteor Garden about with and I love it when she bounces ideas off of me and then we discuss our favorite types of noodles. Then to the rest of my mutuals who I have met on servers and nets.

Pick a quote to end your interview with

“In a time of destruction, create something” - Maxime Hong Kingston 

BONUS: K-POP CONFIDENTIAL

#@meraki-mark #thesunnyshow #featured author #episode 20 #nct #exo

[cococrazies]

Lovestruck Series Review: Starship Promise (Season 1)

Personal playing order: Orion - Jaxon - Antares - Nova - Atlas

Warning! Minor spoilers ahead for Antares’s/Nova’s/Atlas’s routes, as well as CGs under the cut.

Orion: I’m torn on this one. I really enjoyed the story -- a lot more than I thought I would, given my lack of enthusiasm for the series concept -- and Orion himself. (If anyone ever wanted Shang from Mulan but in outer space, this is it.) The writing also had a very natural cadence and flow; it pulled me in easily, never getting too heavy-handed with sudden plot twists and cliffhangers... except for one instance, but more on that below.

And the MC! She was a pleasant surprise. I hadn’t been too impressed by her in the first-ep sneak peeks we get in each route, but she’s really cute -- she can be a bit of a space cadet at times (sorry, bad pun intended), but she isn’t dumb. Furthermore, she really develops over the course of the route, which is impressive given everything else stuffed into these mere 12 episodes.

So now to the things I didn’t like about this route: for one, the romantic development. It seemed really sudden and almost shoehorned-in as a result of the route length, which was jarring given how well-paced everything else had been up to that point. 

Also, the Antares plot twist; it felt cliché and gimmicky, especially since I could see it coming from a mile away. I think I would’ve preferred for it to be a Season 2 reveal, or at least presented to us right from the start -- as it was, it just seemed like it was there for the “shock factor” + to forcibly give us a reason to care about the antagonist if we didn’t already. But since this was a pilot season, I guess I can understand how they wanted to tease at an intriguing backstory as early as possible to get players invested.

Overall, they still did succeed with the latter, because now I’m pretty curious about where they’re going with this. And also because I need more Orion/MC in my life; rushed or not, those two are simply way too cute.

Jaxon: Whoa, this story was jam-packed with action scenes and chemistry between the OTP. The pace is hella fast, but you never get the sense that we’re skipping past important details; the writing makes the most of every episode it has got. Not a single scene is wasted or filler-like.

Jaxon himself is a bit of a harder sell. His gargantuan ego, jokester personality, and YOLO take on everything make him one of those characters that you either love or hate -- although for me, he fell somewhere near the middle of the spectrum. I like his concept and find him a refreshing addition to Lovestruck’s character lineup, but he’s not really my type as far as romance goes; and sometimes he toes the line for being near annoying.

(The fact that I constantly seemed to make the wrong choices -- at least judging by the sheer amount of weird looks or lukewarm responses he gave me after 90% of my choices -- didn’t help. Heads-up: don’t try to play it cool. This MC really, really can’t do cool. I had several near-death experiences from sheer secondhand embarrassment while playing this route.)

That aside, he makes a surprisingly good team with MC. Except from some cringey non-heart options (which were brutal this route, by the way), they naturally eased into working as a combo. I like how they both are able to pull each other out of their respective emotional ruts, as well as complement the other’s shortcomings. Jaxon’s character turnaround near the end felt a little sudden, but I like the teased insight on his past, and am looking forward to learn more about it.

Antares: Oh, MC. Trust me, I of all people totally understand crushing on the hot, mysterious, and possibly noble anti-hero holding you captive for unknown reasons, but even so. Being constantly unable to focus on anything but your attration to him -- and using it as a basis for your foundation to trust him almost straight away despite how he works for the Big Bad, and is literally using you as a tool(-fixer) for whatever evil purposes the Empire has in mind for the galaxy -- is like a whole new level of uncool.

(Also, how is a sheltered colony girl’s reaction to seeing a military leader telling his troops not to leave a single ship standing “swoon, he’s so charismatic” instead of “holy shit, he kills people”? Priorities, MC.)

Beyond that, Antares’s route was very intriguing to me. Out of Lovestruck’s villain routes so far this is the one that has done the least to paint the love interest as less of an antagonist, or the side he sympathizes with as more morally grey. I also appreciated seeing another side of Antares himself that actually knows the definition of the word chill  isn’t perpetually dressed in bunny-ear mecha armor  that’s not completely absorbed by his thirst for vengeance against his brother.

Similar to Orion’s route, the romantic development also dropped on us out of the blue here... but strangely, I didn’t mind. In a way, it seemed to make sense for Antares’s emotionally dysfunctional personality (to the point that it gave me Chance S1 in GiL flashbacks). I think I almost preferred this to him doing a sudden 180 and going all mushy on MC when any potential romantic build-up outside of premium choices has been minimal. I’m holding my thumbs now for a gradual turnaround -- much like Chance got -- in his future seasons.

Nova: I keep going back and forth re: how I feel about this route. To again start with the positive -- I’d been worried that Nova would be a Space Medusa 2.0, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that she wasn’t. For all the kuu in her kuudere demeanor, Nova still spends a fair amount of the route bonding with MC through actual conversation, and unlike Orion’s/Antares’s routes this season the romance didn’t even seem that rushed. Furthermore, I was intrigued by Nova’s backstory (not to mention that she’s hot as hell).

But to be entirely honest, this story is also the most formulaic, “typical otome”-esque route I’ve read so far in Lovestruck -- not so much in concept as in execution. It reminds me of one of those Voltage JP fantasy routes where we spend the first 1/3 of the route with semi-slice-of-life scenes interspersed with action, the middle 1/3 of this route discovering the LI’s angsty past and them distancing themselves to protect MC, and the final 1/3 with MC dissolving into hysterics/apocalyptic depression, stupidly running after LI alone, and declaring their undying love for them after having known them for a couple of days in the middle of a life-or-death situation.

Since I do play Voltage JP games I’m not saying it’s necessarily a terrible thing, just... jarring. I might seem like I’m awfully hard on Lovestruck’s writing a lot of the time, but that’s because I have high expectations of it. In a sea of near-identical mobile otome clones Lovestruck stands out with a more Westernized and creative take on standard otome tropes, hence often avoiding common pitfalls associated with the genre. The writing in general is a cut above what I expect from mobile games as well, hence all my criticisms; I don’t balk (as much) at LIs doing sudden 180s or MCs being stupid in a Solmare game, but I do with Lovestruck because I know -- and have seen firsthand -- that they can do better.

So this route was confusing to me. Because, if I were to go for my usual standard from what I would expect run-of-the-mill Voltage JP route, for example, or a Shall We Date? one -- then I’d think it’s fine. Or even good. But for Lovestruck? I don’t know. I wouldn’t say it’s bad, just not... good. (The GiL-esque Pokémon-battle narration for action scenes -- yes, this is my official pet peeve now -- didn’t help.)

With all that said though, I didn’t dislike Nova’s route. (Hence the confusion.) And definitely not Nova herself. I just don’t really know how I feel about its writing direction, and how it measures against my expectations of a Lovestruck route.

Atlas: I fell head over heels for this route. Seriously, this was Astraeus-in-season-3-of-AFK level instant love, except without the devastating angst and with a decent helping of fluffy feels on top. Not that it was all fluff -- we had our share of prospective angst here too, if less literally earth-shattering. And hell of a lot of action, character development, and tons of other goodies tightly stuffed in a 12-episode-package of awesome.

Similar to my review for Astraeus, I don’t even know where to begin talking about this route’s good points. The prose, for one -- there were just so many beautifully worded narrative transitions, and the dialogue didn’t lose out in that aspect, either. The sass, sarcasm, and the humor were well-timed, but didn’t go overboard/seem out of character for MC or the rest of the cast.

Then there’s Atlas himself. Breaking down tsunderes is one of my favorite otome pastimes, and doing exactly that to our resident grouchy pilot was no different. First of all, I love that he maintains a healthy balance between insults that are obviously all bark and no bite, and genuinely worded criticism that should logically be voiced. In fact, there’s so little unnecessary tsun here that he could almost pass for a kuudere. 

Regardless of whatever mold he’d better fit into, finally crumbling down that cranky demeanor of his and seeing him dere was a sweet, sweet reward. (I actually caved and went premium twice despite my agonizing wallet because I couldn’t resist seeing more of it.)

Or heck, even the platonic moments building up to that were great. Because the romance with Atlas was really well-paced; I love how we went from almost-hate (my favorite trope!) to begrudging respect, then to friendly equals/teammates, and finally something more -- all the while there was obvious chemistry between him and MC interlacing every interaction. I was kind of worried whether we’d get some last-minute romantic confession slapped on near the end, but thankfully we got a development that, for all its unrealistic corniness, still had me squealing. Especially with that cliffhanger; dammit, how am I even supposed to emotionally last until I get to his second season?

The main plot was really interesting, too -- probably my favorite premise out of the ones we’ve been offered so far. Even though it starts out similarly with MC on the run, I like how 1) we see the Union as evil right from the bat, avoiding having another MC-gets-out-of-her-naïve-colony-girl-mindset mini-arc; 2) rather than being perpetrated for some valuable information/artifact that the Starship crew might benefit from, MC is in a situation where they actually have no reason to keep her around, adding more tension to the intro; and 3) how all of this tied into Atlas’s own personal character arc. (Not that I minded how the other premises played out, it just made for a fresh change of pace.)

To wrap this gigantic word-vomit ramble up, I’d just like to conclude by gushing one last time how fantastic this route is -- I’d warmly recommend it to anyone interested in giving Starship a chance, because after this, the series personally had me hook, line, and sinker.

Final character ranking: Atlas > Orion > Jaxon > Antares > Nova

....This got a little longer than I intended it to be, oops. Kudos to anyone who has made it to the end of this season review. (I’ll try to be a little more concise in my next one, i.e. GiL S7.)  You can follow my tag #coco reviews lovestruck for more reviews of Lovestruck games, or check out the ones I’ve done so far on this list.

#coco reviews lovestruck #lovestruck #voltage usa #amemix #starship promise #orion akatsuki #jaxon silva #antares fairchild #nova #atlas molniya #oelvn #mobile otome #otome review