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#how to write an unreliable narrator
unboundprompts · 4 months
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Could you maybe write some prompts for portraying an unreliable narrator?
How to Write an Unreliable Narrator
-> 8 Tips to Writing Unreliable Narrators - Writer's Digest
make them a liar. Have them commit their faults outright, contradict themselves in the narrative, prove them to be a liar by their actions, have them hint that they know more than they're telling, reveal the truth a little later than they should, or have gaps in their memory.
shift their motives. Give your character conflicting desires and changing drives. Keep your reader guessing about their true mindset. (Are they in love with Character B? Or are they obsessed with Character B? Do they want to help B, or do they want to harm B?)
make them more clever than they appear. Have your reader believe your character is innocent and incapable of cunning and calculating schemes. Maybe they appear innocent and naive to the reader, and only later it is revealed that their childish actions have purpose.
use your secondary characters. Have them catch your narrator in lie, reveal that they are a victim of your narrator's lie, reveal a truth that the narrator has yet to share with the reader. How they treat the narrator can also show their unreliability. Sharing personal histories with the narrator may expose a side to the narrator that the reader hasn't seen.
add an unpredictable act. When a calm, thoughtful, innocent character suddenly does something out of character and a little unhinged, they become unreliable. (ex: a grieving woman suddenly throws all of her husband's belongings in the lake.)
4 Types of Unreliable Narrators:
-> What Is an Unreliable Narrator? - MasterClass
Picaro. The picaro is a character who has a knack for exaggerating.
Madman. The madman is unreliable because they are mentally detached from reality.
Naif. The naif’s narrative abilities are impacted by inexperience or age.
Liar. The liar is the most deliberate of all the unreliable narrators. The character fabricates stories, often to paint a better picture of themselves or achieve a desired outcome.
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tumbleweed-run · 7 months
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A Perfect Date With Gale
@arachnethebard perhaps not what you intended but this is what happened
Since you got to Waterdeep with Gale he's been insistent that the two of you go on a 'perfect' first day... despite the fact that the two of you are already engaged.
Perfection is such a difficult thing to achieve.
1600 words because I'm physically incapable of brevity.
PG (for once)
Gale has been talking about giving you a “proper first date” for entire month you two have been in Waterdeep. Never mind the fact that you two are engaged. He’s been focusing on it near daily. Every time he brings it up you smile and nod. It’s not that you wouldn’t enjoy a nice night out exploring the city, but it’s not about that. 
“Tomorrow night,” he announces one night as he enters the study.  You’re petting Tara, tactfully ignoring a light smear of blood around her mouth… the tower is always miraculously free of rodents. 
You find new clothes draped over a bench in the bedroom the following afternoon. You admire them for a moment, almost hesitant to touch them. They’re finer than anything you’ve worn in years, possibly ever. But despite your mild apprehension over the likelihood of destroying them before you step foot out of the tower, you don them. Gale did go through the trouble, and expense, procuring them for you. 
Gale greets you outside the room, looking as though he’s been waiting the entire time you’ve been inside. You chuckle to yourself at the thought, given that it was once just his room. 
He’s wearing almost traditional wizard’s robes but these are new, a deep maroon with gold accents. He’s begun to stray from the purple he wore almost exclusively when you first met him. There might be something deeper behind that if you dared to think about it for a moment. You know there’s some meaning behind the gold and emerald earring he has in. Your hand instinctively goes to it’s other half, resting around your neck.
“Shall we?” He offers you his arm, eyes sweeping over your form. His smile tells you he’s pleased with the way you look in what he’s selected. 
You spend much of the walk taking in the city at dusk. Waterdeep is so different from Baldur’s Gate, and yet so very similar. Gale happily talks for the both of you. 
The building you stopped in front of was beautiful to say the least, all the street facing windows were stained glass in the shape of the city’s crest. The two large heavy doors were opened and a rather bored looking man in fine clothes stood just inside them. The braziers over the steps was brightly polished brass throwing the light far into the road as if beckoning people in. 
You were busy, once again, marvelling at the building you at first missed Gale’s eyebrows knitting together. He was speaking to the man in the door way, both in hushed tones. The man seemed simply uninterested in whatever Gale was telling him. 
“Now I’m positive I’ve reserved a table,” Gale’s voice had pitched upwards giving away his apparent distress. “I came down myself a tenday ago and booked it.”
You saw a light go on in the bored man’s eyes. “Ah,” he said nodding, “I see the error. The table you booked is for next year. All our bookings are.”
Gale’s mouth simply hands open, a light red brushing just above his beard on his cheeks. 
“Gale,” you say softly, hand going to his arm, “It’s fine we’ll find something else for tonight and come back… next year.”
You resolutely, do not laugh.
Gale, still flabbergasted into silence, looks between you and the other man. For a moment he looks like he wants to argue with one of you but wisely, wisely, nods to you instead. You lead this time as you turn away from the lovely building.
Gale seems over his shock sometime later and sighs heavily. “It’s unlikely we’ll find something worthy of our first date tonight.”
He sounds so put down your heart breaks for a moment. You don’t give into the feeling and instead hook your arm through his. “Whatever we find will be perfect,” you assure him.
He offers you a small, but doubtful smile. 
You two wander, arm in arm, in the cool evening air. Gale doesn’t really seem to be looking for a new option but you are. And it appears down a dirt-packed road, you grasp his arm and point. 
Gale sputters again, “The Yawning Portal?” 
He seems incredulous that you would even suggest it. 
“Well they’re not likely to turn us away,” you risk a tease, “and besides you’ve spoken if it dozens of times. Let’s go!”
Gale relents almost immediately when you turn to him with pleading eyes, and as soon as he does you nearly drag him down the road. You laugh, out loud this time, when Gale shuffles his coin purse further beneath his robes. 
The proprietor barely spares you an eye roll as you two enter in your finery, he’s too busy to care. You run directly up to the dry well first and peer down, you can’t see anything but darkness. Gale gently redirects you to a table in the corner with an exasperated smile. Once he deems you safely secured into a relatively unoccupied corner he disappears towards the bar. Immediately you love this tavern with its rowdy clientele and atmosphere similar to many you had frequented in Baldur’s Gate. 
Gale returns with two mugs full of ale. “Food will be out in a moment,” he assures you, near shouting to be heard over the noise. 
You beam at him and reluctantly, he grins widely back.
One thing for Waterdeep is even in it’s most questionable of places the food is mouthwatering, a testament to Waterdeep’s reputation for the finest food on the coast. The two of you huddle together to hear each other without yelling as you eat. Gale surreptitiously points out some of the notable patrons that are there tonight. He lets you watch in rapt interest as a few bold adventurers lower themselves into the dry well, making for the Undermountain. Only once they disappeared did he launch into an explanation of the dungeon they were entering. 
Seemingly too soon the food is gone and your mugs empty. You don’t want the evening out to end just yet, you realize you miss your own little adventure (perhaps not the constant near-death aspect) and this place helps easy some of the sadness. Besides, as Gale’s mugs drained he leaned closer to you, words breathed against your ear and neck as he filled you in on everything he knew. 
You offer to get another round, immediately missing the warmth of his body pressed to yours as you stand. 
As you return you spot him watching you. The look on his face is openly dreamy, even when he realizes your watching him. 
The widening of his eyes is the only warning you receive before you trip into a rather stout dwarf you had somehow missed in your path. Your stumble sends the ale spilling down your front and most unfortunately directly over the dwarf’s head. 
In an instant he’s got both hands wrapped around your arms, the mugs falling to the floor. “Now, what in the hell is wrong with you,” he snarls yanking you forward nearly bending you in half so you’re closer to his level. 
You haven’t even fully registered what’s happened when just as quickly as he’d grabbed you, the dwarf is gone. 
Not gone, you realize. Instead, he’s now pinned against a table by Gale. He’s got one hand on the dwarf’s collar holding him and in the other he has a small spark of flame dancing in his palm. His face is dark, both literally and figuratively. Hair loosed by his sudden movements, falling forward and shielding his eyes from you.
This…
is new.
“... made a mistake, no need to get rough,” Gale is speaking and you suddenly realize the room’s gone quiet enough that you can hear him perfectly well despite the distance between you. 
In opposition to what he’s saying, the flame grows against his palm. 
The smell of beer hits you first, your front completely soaked in it. Then the realization that the dwarf is similarly covered sinks in. Gale is more likely to accidentally set the man ablaze than he is to diffuse the situation. 
That is what he’s trying to do, you hope. 
“Gale,” you speak just above a whisper, hand coming to rest on his back gently. 
You don’t want to cause the flame to catch. 
“It’s alright,” You assure him, hand rubbing in a soothing pattern, “We’re alright. Right?” The last is aimed at the dwarf who is glancing nervously between the flame and you now.
“Yeah,” He nods almost imperceptibly, “no harm done.”
Whatever had come over him abruptly left Gale, in one movement he both released the dwarf and extinguished the flame. 
“Well then,” you nod with an over-enthusiastic smile, “a round for everyone!” The coin pouch you hold up is Gale’s. 
Everyone is instantly merry, the volume once again rising so you can no longer hear those around you. 
“That’s not how I wanted our first date to go,” Gale says much later in the evening as you two are in the bath. 
You’re seated between his legs, leaning back against his chest, hand lazily drawing patterns on his knee in the water. Your ruined clothes are discarded on the floor somewhere near. The scent of rosewater is diluted only slightly by the smell of a tavern 
The laughter that bursts out of you is unexpected but after a beat even Gale joins in, head dipping back against the edge as he does. 
“It was perfect,” you insist turning your head to look at him.
Both of his eyebrows go up. “For us,” you amend. You twist just far enough to press a kiss to his lips. 
He hums against your mouth. “You still smell like you bathed in ale,” he teases, nose wrinkling.
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add1ctedt0you · 5 months
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Really funny chengxian fics tags lol
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acotarfrustrations · 5 months
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FEYRE SAYING CLASS LINES ARE MORE BLURRED IN PRYTHIAN THAN IN THE MORTAL REALM WHEN SHE HAS QUITE LITERALLY ONLY SPENT TIME WITH THE FAE 1% IS FUCKING INSANE.
Like girl you have not even TRIED to see how common people live. "The mortal world only cares about money" RHYS HAS FIVE HOUSES AND AMREN IS QUITE LITERALLY HERE TO STEAL JEWELRY FROM THE SUMMER COURT
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constellationcore · 8 months
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The story of Jonah Marshall is one of rose colored glasses and loneliness, and it feels like the more we learn more about Adam and the formation of the modern iteration of BPS his story gets sadder.
It's easy (and fairly understandable) to typecast Jonah as the cowardly stoner, and that's largely to do with the way his character is framed by a primary character in the story. Much of what we know about Jonah is informed secondhand through Adam. It is also abundantly clear that Adam has a strained relationship with Jonah, and only seems to want to describe him as unserious, cowardly, and a stereotypical stoned slacker. And while I don't think any of that is necessarily wrong, there is potential for there to be more to his character than just a surface analysis.
I'd ask that you consider an alternate framing of Jonah, informed by some of the canon we learn from Adam's diary, Vol 2, and Vol 4.
Jonah gets a message from someone online asking for help with his ghost investigations, likely because of Jonah's interest in the paranormal or filming (probably the latter if we're considering his popularity on the BPS YouTube channel and his tendency to be the one operating the camera equipment). The opportunity is advertised as dangerous and potentially threatening, but at the intersection of living in your successful father's shadow and needing the chance to make something of yourself in a backwater town, any opportunity is a good one. This portion (to the next line break) is informed mostly from personal experience rather than canon, but this sort of willingness to take even the most dangerous opportunity with a complete stranger screams lonely, ignored teenager. The way he interacts with Adam in a potentially annoying, jokey sort of way is exactly how I tend to act when trying to make myself seem more fun while making friends, or how my siblings and I acted when we wanted our busy parents' attention.
Perhaps instead of just being a bored teenager who needed a way to pay for weed, Jonah used the new opportunity with BPS to make something for himself and to not be in the same lonely, isolated space as before. He tries to be friends with the person he works with, joking with Adam at any opportunity. For Adam, these investigations are extremely serious and has a lot of personal importance. But for Jonah, BPS doesn't have the same personal stake, rather it's an opportunity to do something he enjoys (to some degree) with people he's friends with. Specifically referencing a line from Vol 4, Jonah views himself and Adam as best friends, which is telling to how attached he is to Adam: even if the friendship is, in actuality, only one way. Jonah sticks with Adam during the more alternate-centric investigations because he truly wants to believe that Adam is his friend and the investigations will help him find/cope with the loss of his mother. It paints their Vol 2 argument in an entirely different light: instead of it being strictly about Jonah being cowardly during the entire investigation and not wanting to confront the truth/alternates (as Adam seemed to believe), it's Jonah's final attempt to reason with Adam. The rose colored glasses are off, and he's finally understanding that Adam will do whatever is necessary to know the nature of his mother's death and his own existence, and Jonah was just a stepping stone to get there.
Part of what made Jonah's character so effective to me is because he is such an everyman. Instead of staying and witnessing the existential horrors locked away in the basement, he does his best to convince his friend to choose self preservation and their friendship over a veritable death sentence. and when that doesn't work? He leaves. Presumably both with the intention of saving himself and to tell Sarah and any BPS associated party what happened, maybe to get help in some way and dying enroute (which is what occurs in Jonah's biblical counterpart's story). But what makes Jonah's death via M.A.D. so punchy is what he's torn up about: leaving his friend behind. This links directly back to what I mentioned about the argument as a last effort to get make his friend understand the danger he is in, but the way the alternate preys upon him? The most effective way to make Jonah succumb to madness, given the extent of existential terror a being like an alternate is capable of reaping on someone? The guilt of losing one of the only friends he had—and by extension one of the only things he cared about. That he would be all alone again through no fault other than his own.
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prince-liest · 14 days
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You inspired me to write! And I got up to 2k words for the first time ever when it comes to writing for myself... but I'm struggling a bit 😅 Do you have any advice about narrator POV and how you use your verb tenses? It's like I have no idea how you manage to "head-hop" while still being an omniscient narrator so smoothly & effortlessly. And verb tenses. if I write "was" one more time I might pop a gasket lol. any help is appreciated <3 have a good one!
First of all, that's freaking amazing! 2k is a lot, congratulations! That might sound weird coming from me considering how many words I put out, but I 100% remember the struggle of being newer to writing and hitting multiple thousands of words for the first time - I'm so happy for you!
Second of all: I actually write exclusively in third person limited POV, not third person omniscient! Even though I'm writing in third person, the narration is fully from the perspective of the point of view character, which I personally enjoy a lot because it allows for a lot of unreliable narration and also characterization through how their train of thought manifests (choppy, stressed, dreamy, etc). That's why when I'm writing from the point of view of character A, for example, any assumptions about character B's motivations are what character A is thinking, not an omniscient narrator informing you.
That said, you still have to head-hop specifically to write the actual visible actions and dialogue of the second character, and that's actually the most recent thing that I used to struggle with in writing specifically because I got most of my initial writing experience doing roleplay where I was only ever responsible for one character's thoughts and actions at a time.
Honestly, the main thing I can say is that it gets much, much easier with practice. When you start out, it will genuinely just take you longer to switch from the mindset of one character to another! I used to take character notes to put together little snapshot profiles of character headspaces to re-orient myself between the characters I was writing when I felt like I was getting lost. They included things like a few traits to keep in mind, behavior mindset, and snippets of dialogue that I thought were very representative. I don't use these anymore, but I do still do things like rewatch episodes or reread portions of books when I'm learning new characters to orient myself to their personality. It's like code-switching to me nowadays.
As for verb tense: I was a consummate Homestuck, so I started out writing in second person present tense, hahaha, and while I've adopted the third person POV (and believe me, this took adjusting), I've kept writing in present tense as a personal preference. I like it because it makes things feel more in-the-moment as they're happening, because there's less grammatical fuckery involved when describing the past vs the present, and just because I'm used to it. That said, past tense is more common and stands out less to people, and I think that you are finding all of your "was"s a lot more noticable than a reader would! People generally don't really notice the tense of what they're reading once they get into the flow of it.
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chaoslynx · 8 months
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Marvin in this panel makes me, like, more sick than Marvin usually makes me lmao
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One thing that I don't personally acknowledge as much as I probably should is that Ash was not just repeatedly assaulted, as we're all obviously aware, but he was specifically groomed as well. We see this a lot with Dino, of course, with his "You know I love you, sweetheart" and "I raised you" type language toward Ash.
We can also assume that Ash's coach did the same grooming tactics, considering that everyone in the town (including Ash) trusted him, and that he specifically had a position working with children. Ash was an especially vulnerable target even back then -- the only person who cared left for the war.
We see Marvin do the same thing here, even when Ash is seventeen. (Remember that Marvin and Ash had already had a very established relationship three years prior, during Private Opinion when Ash was fourteen. Ash was terrified of Marvin at the time.)
The point that I want to make with this is that I think this is key to understanding Ash's mindset. Yes, he was physically and sexually abused his whole life, which would have an impact on anyone's mindset. In addition to that, he was also mentally and emotionally manipulated his whole life.
Look at Marvin's words here: "I didn't mean to do that." First establishing that he's not at fault for hurting Ash. Then, "You know I didn't mean it?" Leading questions for Ash to agree that it wasn't Marvin's fault.
Then he takes it a step further: "All you gotta do is be good. Otherwise, sometimes you have to get rough." He moves from just pushing the blame away from himself, and places it fully on Ash.
Remember that Ash has heard messages like this his entire life. It's always that he wasn't good enough, that he did something wrong. It's always always always his fault.
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therizino-ao3 · 6 months
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Hermit Horror Week 2023
Day two: Environment
Summary: xB wants to support his friend, but there’s something about his base that feels wrong. He can’t bring himself to leave, no matter how much he knows he should.
Read on ao3
Contains: unreliable narrator, a character being non-consensually drugged (implied + in a magical way), loss of free will (strongly implied), panic attacks, fairy folklore, suffocation mention, weird time shenanigans
“So dude, have you seen my base yet?”
xB looks up from the diamonds he’d been counting, “Hmm? No, I haven’t. You’re doing like, mushrooms or something, right?” So far, his and Hypno’s business has been doing great. They’ve been getting quite a few sales lately, to say nothing of the IOU collection they’re racking up. They’re making bank.
“Yep! Like a mushroom forest, mystical land kinda thing,” Hypno takes the diamonds xB hands him, “You should totally see it! I’ve finished the main mushroom and a bunch of decoration around the place, it looks so cool.”
“I’ll take your word for it. I’m happy to head over now, if you want?”
They head over there by foot, instead of by elytra. It’s… a little weird, but xB doesn’t mind, he thinks Hypno wants to show off the custom lamps he’s made for the path. It’s quite atmospheric, he’ll admit, with the towering dark oaks letting only small puddles of sunshine hit the ground, and the glowing fungi beckoning them forward. It’s magical.
They seem to walk for ages, wandering down the twisting path. At one point, xB turns around, just to see what’s behind them. There’s nothing. It’s pure black, no sign of the pretty little lamps they just passed. xB swivels back to Hypno, about to voice his concerns, but Hypno starts talking about dye farms and making concrete and xB just kind of forgets about it. It’s not too much of a concern, anyway. The further in they go, the more xB realises how safe it is. Like, initially he was super concerned of a creeper crawling out from the forest, with how dark it was outside the path, but he actually hasn’t seen a single creature other than them. He can’t even hear the birds sing here. Hypno must have done some mad mob-proofing.
Eventually, the trees open out and he looks at Hypno’s hard work and instantly his stomach drops. His mind is screaming at him to get out. He needs to leave. His heart is thundering. His eyes squeeze closed. Then, he feels Hypno’s comforting hand on his shoulder and it’s all okay. He blinks a little and looks up at his friend.
“Is everything alright xB?” he’s frowning.
“Yeah, I’m just- I felt on the verge of a panic attack for a second there but, now it’s all gone,” his face feels a bit wet, is he crying?
“Are you sure? We can go back if you’d like, I don’t want to continue if you’re hurt,” Hypno looks concerned.
“No, no, it’s all fine. It might be like, hay fever from all these mushroom spores,” he says. As he says it, he knows it makes absolutely no sense, but he wants Hypno to stop worrying.
“Alright,” Hypno seems to buy it, his tone becoming more playful, “You know, you can just admit you’re jealous of how cool my base is, xB!”
“I am not jealous, we all know, out of the two of us, I got the cooler base. M’kay?” he smiles, feeling a bit better. They’ve crossed over a barrier of tiny mushrooms in front of the path, seeming to circle around the whole area. Inside, there’s a field of beautiful light green grass, home to all sorts of fungi Hypno’s been cultivating. They’re mainly red and white, with some brown, but they’re in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. Throughout the area, there are fairy lights and lanterns and fireflies and they all glow in the darkening dusk sky. When they left Horse Head Farms, it was mid-morning, xB remembers. It’s funny how fast time passes.
Most of the mushrooms seem decorative, but the larger ones have been made into buildings. There are cute little doors carved into the trunks and signs that say things like “Storage” or “Farms”. One particularly thick and pretty mushroom has been decorated a lot, he assumes it must have been Hypno’s starter base.
“I can’t believe you’re living in Smurf village, dude,” xB giggles.
Hypno punches his arm, “This is not a Smurf village! It’s a fairy realm. Get it right, xB.”
xB’s mouth feels dry. He knows that word. Fairy. Right now, he can’t think of what it means. He nods. He looks at the giant mushroom in the centre of the base.
It’s obviously the centrepiece, towering over every other mushroom. It’s incredibly beautiful. Hypno leads them to the front entrance. xB feels sick looking up at the gills of the mushroom. He can almost imagine the microscopic spores floating down, filling their mouths, suffocating them. Spore particles would probably be good to add, the movement would make the build more dynamic. He’ll tell Hypno later. Hypno drags xB into his home. The wooden staircase looks very nice, Hypno’s done a pretty good job on the spiral. They run up it together. The air smells sweet, almost sickly. After a very short tour, they come back outside - Hypno hasn’t finished the interiors yet. He’s surprised he was allowed to leave, he thought Hypno would trap him there forever, not that he’d mind.
Hypno is looking at him, “So what do you think of my base, xB?”
xB thinks. He thinks about the amazing lights and the vibrant colours and the magical aura. He thinks about Hypno, who’s one of his best friends, who has worked so hard on this base, who xB would do anything he asks him to do. That’s weird, he’s able to realise. He likes Hypno but Hypno is also sometimes very annoying, and other times, xB just likes to mess with him. He wouldn’t do everything Hypno wants. He thinks about all the people willingly signing their IOUs. Is xB willingly answering Hypno’s question? Not that he has any choice, he has to answer it regardless. He wonders if Hypno’s human. He always assumed he was, not having any visible non-human traits, but sometimes the signs are more subtle. He’s thinking too hard.
“Hmm, it’s alright,” he says, “My base is still better.”
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campbyler · 7 months
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if you waaaaaant. could you expound on “the current perception of everything is funny” (without spoilers ofc) because i’m not in any gc’s and haven’t really kept up with the commentary so i’m curious what’s being said!
scrolling through our asks tag might help a bit! but to sum up there's been a lot of Mike Favoritism that we simply did not expect! or at least not in a way that's unbalanced to will. i do think that's partly our fault for maybe not providing enough context, or spelling it out clearly enough -- i think it's important to remember that this is a will who spent most of his childhood without mike, and who spent his formative teenage years fighting with mike and influenced by max instead, which makes him a little harsher than he might be in canon, but not ooc in my opinion! he for suuuure is a brat, but so is mike! i just think it's funny to see the perception of likeee. mike being the nicer party when they are Both unreliable narrators. hopefully that makes sense!
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I love Monkie kid and the way they tell stories but oh my GODS this unreliable narrator stuff starting to stress me out
(Note: i've only seen up to ses 4 ep 8 no spoilers in the tags please)
#knox rambles#LOVE THE SHOW#BUT ALL THIS 'THIS IS WHAT HAPPENDED' BUT ITS NOT ACTUALLY WHAT HAPPENED IS STRESSING ME#CAN WE GET A STRAIGHT ANSWER FOR ONCE#ALL WE'VE GOT IS UNRELIABLE NARRATORS WHO TALK TRASH ABOUT MONKEY KING#EVERY TIME I TRY AND COME UP WITH A THEORY I HAVE TO CHECK WHO SAID THE THING IM BASING IT OFF OF TO SEE IF ITS PLAUSABLE OR NOT#AND HECK NO MATTER WHO SAYS IT YOU CANT TAKE IT SERIOUSLY#I JUST WANT A STRAIGHT ANSWERRRRRR#WE HAVE LIKE NEVER GOT ONE AND NOW THAT WE'RE INTO LORE ABOUT MONKEY KING ITS STRESSING MEEEEE#LIKE AZURE (spoilers for ep 8) MAKES IT SOUND LIKE WUKONG NEVER GOT THE MOUNTAIN OR RAN INTO BUDDAH#AND ITS POSSIBLE HE DOESNT KNOW BUT ITS ALSO POSSIBLE THEY JUST TOOK THOSE BITS OUT#BUT THERES NO WAY TO ACTUALLY TELL#AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA#i mean whatever the outcome im not gonna stop writing monkey king with his usual furnace buddah mountain stuff#just gotta add on him being low-key used by azure and fun stuff HDHDHFHHFG#also heck off topic suddenly but thinking suddenly about how Azure and Macaques perspectives of monkey king are opposites#FACINATING#mac: hes selfish he only cares about himself get out while you can he always wins and gets what he wants and leaves you behind#azure: hes selfless hes great he cares so much about his people and puts them before himself but he failed and keeps failing#azure: he doesnt know what hes doing#mac: he knows exactly what hes doing#SORRY SUCH A SIDE BAR THERE I MIGHT MAKE AN ACTUAL POST ABOUT IT LATER GOOD DAY
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froggywritessometims · 6 months
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ive been thinking about writing a story about a person in a psychiatrist hospital and it would be told from their journal entries and notes by doctors (like therapy notes and nurses observations) about psychiatric abuse and anti psychiatry
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can-of-pringles · 5 months
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I never understood the concept of "unreliable narrator" because I guess I just always assumed that we're following the main character's pov, and that pov may not always have the full information or is biased in some way
Tldr: I don't understand the specific label of unreliable narrator because I thought all main character povs were like that
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dangans-ur-ronpas · 6 days
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writing this damn trial like. how many times in one arc can i write a shocking development being revealed and surprising everyone. at this point is anyone really surprised anymore. do they still have that energy
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ahb-writes · 10 months
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Writing Problem: The Novel's Questions Are Left Unanswered
Problem: The Novel's Questions Are Left Unanswered
Solution: Conflicts require consequences, character arcs require a destination, and unresolved or unanswered questions have their own purpose. But having too many unanswered questions can make a novel's ending feel too foggy, if not outright incomplete. In short, loose threads can be frustrating.
Handled appropriately, loose threads may encourage the reader to hum and ponder how each character's life may evolve following the novel's events. Some readers adore the beauty of an imperfect story. However, handled poorly, loose threads speak to a poorly planned and disorganized narrative for which the writer was mistakenly more invested in drafting a kitschy or vulgar hook than a purposeful climax or dénouement.
Writing Resources:
Guide to Writing an Unreliable Narrator (Writing and Such)
Story Threads: Fixing Rips in Our Story (Writers Helping Writers)
Loose Threads Can Unravel a Novel (All Things Writing)
How to Pace a Story (Writing Questions Answered)
Figuring Out Where to End a Story (Writing Questions Answered)
Feeling Overwhelmed by Plot Points (Writing Questions Answered)
What Is the Dénouement of a Story? Your Guide (With Tips) (Jericho Writers)
How to End a Story Perfectly (Jericho Writers)
Suspense Definition Literature: Tips for Writing Suspense (Jericho Writers)
❯ ❯ Adapted from the writing masterpost series: 19 Things That Are Wrong With Your Novel (and How to Fix Them)
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thatgirlonstage · 3 months
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Yeah yeah “show don’t tell” get mis-explained and misinterpreted as writing advice a lot and yeah sometimes you SHOULD be telling the reader things however I am unwilling to discard this particular phrase given the number of stories I have encountered that make me want to slap the author across the face with it
#tal reads#this post brought to you by my current audiobook#telling me. REPEATEDLY. in conversation and internal narration#that the mc is this incredible rebel who never follows the rules and who everyone knows likes to live on the edge man#meanwhile in terms of his actual ACTIONS in the story#the most exciting thing this man has done is buy a coffee shop without his family’s approval#(there’s a LITTLE more weight behind this than I’m making it sound bc his family is politically important. but not much.)#there’s this whole conversation he has with one guy#to whom the mc mentions his family wanted him to take religious orders#and the next like. ten lines of dialogue#are all just the guy repeating how UTTERLY UNBELIEVABLE this is and how NO ONE is less suited to that than the mc#and I’m just sitting there like. this guy is neither a serial killer nor afaik a political atheist so like calm the fuck down perhaps#it’s not a bad book overall!!!#but the reputation the author wanted her mc to have is HILARIOUSLY out of step with the character she actually wanted to write him being#if it was all internal narration I might call it a brilliant bit of unreliable narrator of the self-aggrandizing flavor#and take it as an artistic choice#but it’s clear other people think of the mc how he thinks of himself#just with…zero justification in the actual story lmao#every time he gets close to actually doing something seriously risky he’s like ‘but I’m not stupid so I didn’t’#me: WHY DO YOU HAVE A REPUTATION FOR DOING STUPIDLY RISKY THINGS THEN???#anyway if you have to TELL your audience what kind of person your character is#rather than letting their actions speak for themselves#then it’s time to reassess if that character actually is the kind of person you’re describing
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wc-confessions · 1 year
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ykw i actually do not blame those who choose to see or genuinely believe nightheart is a unreliable narrator bc i can actually see. that. however its also so hard to really dig it because the erins keep backtracking then adding these weird comments that are bascially just 'sure hes unreliable but also you Should side with him look how sad he is and everyone just doesnt understand but also who knows maybe thats not true maybe it is'
like. i feel like its just hard to really say until we actually get a real conclusion so i think fighting over it is kinda dumb..bc rereading Everything it just seems like. even the erins arent quite so sure and are desperately trying to fight between babying their male protagonist and going with something unique and greatly altering for the series. cause certain scenes Do read like unreliable narration but then every other scene it feels like the world is kinda of justifying every occurance despite what we are supposed to trust does that make sense
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