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sunder-soul · 3 years

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you make most of it up? That's amazing. Could you maybe share your method/thinking/resources for someone who also wants to write believable class stuff in the hp fandom? Thank u very much

Yayaya sure!

Short answer:

So I'll pull details from the HP wiki, and if I need a random plant name or potion ingredient and can't be fucked making one up (or I don't need it to be something symbolic etc) I often use this random generator and either use those names straight out, or tweak them a bit before using them.

Long answer:

Well I'm a huge fan of soft worldbuilding (where you don't outline all the rules and details and instead have a sort of immersive description that leaves a lot unsaid) because I feel it makes things more realistic, like you're glimpsing little parts of things that are utterly normal and therefore don't need explaining ya kno. So when I write classroom scenes or any kind of 'lore' I try not to explain it and rely instead on characters reacting to things to convey its importance, normalcy, or strangeness.

I do this alllll the time but I did it HEAPS in white dove. When Tom is in trial and he gets a 'tier nine' cell (which I made up) I don't bother writing something like "oh my gosh tier nine is the worst and most intense type of cell you can get and it has these rules and these horrifying conditions" bc I don't need to. The whole room reacts with gasps and horror and even Tom looks freaked out (tho that's mostly bc he was expecting a sentence of a specific amount of years and was confident he could just outlive it bc immortal and that's the moment that he's like oh fuck, but the point still stands).

So the emotions/reactions of the people tell you everything you need to know without me having to outright describe it. You don't need to know what a tier 9 cell is, you get that it's fucking baddddd. In fact, it's sort of even better than explaining it bc our imaginations find the unknown even scarier than something horrifying described in detail.

In the same chap a bit further down, I make reference to a 'peeping charm' which I made up on the spot. Same deal but different context, it makes sense that magic users have a spell that'll act like a peephole in their doors, there's no reason to say 'this spell will let me look through the door without the person on the other side noticing so I can see who it is before opening it' because this would be a totally normal thing. So I just wrote it like it wasn't a big deal bc to this character in this context, this wouldn't be a big deal.

On the other hand you can also totally introduce something new that DOES need some detail/exposition. At the beginning of this same chap I say that Tom's lips and cheeks are flushed, that this a tell-tale sign of veritaserum poisoning, and that they've obviously given him heaps of the stuff. I made this up just bc I wanted there to be something the MC could visually and easily see from across the room that would establish that Tom's been given a SHIT TON of truth potion so that for the rest of the scene, the audience in the room with him AND the audience reading the chapter knows he's being forced to tell the truth. It just added to the tension of the moment and made sense for the context (a trial lol). It also gives the scene some layers - Tom was fairly brief and controlled when he actually speaks in that scene, and I wanted it to be unclear if this is because he's being super self controlled by choice as he's normally prone to being, if he knows that he'll be unable to lie and doesn't want to let on any more of his secrets, or if he knows honesty will destroy the picture perfect tragic image the newspapers have made for him if he's TOO much of a monster.

I'm rambling but the point is, if you're going to introduce details or concepts it's really important to have an understanding of who would know that stuff already, who would find it commonplace and who might be totally unaware of it. Sometimes everyone in the scene would know about it already but the AUDIENCE doesn't, and that's when you can use like casual conversation/questions between characters to give more info whilst also showing that this is all very normal.

Having a character not know something is an easy way to have another character explain something to them but there has to be a solid reason as to WHY one would know it and the other doesn't.

An example of a time I've used this is in Mimicry when the MC knows troll blood will ruin Tom's potion but Tom doesn't. Normally we'd be like 'wait what, why would a nerd-ass know it all like Tom not know this,' but it makes sense to my understanding of the character that he's the sort of person who got a recommendation that 'Zoological Potions Ingredients' was the BEST textbook on ingredients and went off and fucking memorised the whole thing and didn't think that anything could have changed in the 70 years after it was published (Tom strikes me as the sort of person who chases 'the best' and doesn't think much past that is worth considering). Hence why he didn't know that the classification for trolls changed and that further research was done, since he also strikes me as the sort of person who would consider reading up on the social status of trolls to be a little pointless lol, but surprise bitch it wasn't.

So I made up most of that except for the existence of Bundimuns and trolls - I went hunting on the wiki for some obscure substance I could reference in passing for a potions ingredient (and found Bundimuns), and honestly I can't remember how much about them I made up and how much is canon (I think they're mentioned to be used in cleaning products canonically...?)

But the point is more that this scene doesn't just flesh out the world, it tells u stuff about the two characters and how they interact. It tells you that Tom is very studious but doesn't like to revise his opinions, it tells you that the MC knows their shit, it tells you that Tom is suspicious (he instantly challenges them by referencing the textbook not saying what they're telling him), and it tells you that MC is a good bitch who would help out a dick like Tom just bc it's the right thing to do. It also shows Tom's flaws - his disregard of learning about other creatures/beings/people and the way they're treated in society tracks with what we know of his character, and I always think it's important to demonstrate (either directly to him within a scene or to the readers) that this is a stupid thing to do. In this case, his lack of interest in the struggles of others nearly fucked his own potion, he's only saved because MC 1) cares enough to read up about it, 2) sees the importance of revising formally formed opinions/understandings, 3) steps in to help him even though he probably wouldn't have done the same.

So that's soft world building, ya know, using these things to tell you about the characters, using knowledge and lack of knowledge, reactions, etc etc. Most of the details I make up are there to serve a purpose for the plot, but honestly that's just bc I'm writing short super condensed stories that don't have a lot of space for proper world building. In Seven Devils (and Mimicry to a lesser extent) I have a lot more of these details there to create an emotion/sense of the scene just for the sake of setting that scene, but that's for bigger works with more room to breathe.

Hmu if you want to know more but damn I DID write an essay huh 😅

#Anon #Ask #Writing #Mimicry #White dove

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hanniba1 · 4 years

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i was tagged by @matthewbrown and @cannnibal for these super fun hannibal questions!! thank you both so much i always love gushing about this show as we know

Favourite episode and why: oh god okay, if i HAD to pick one it’s mizumono. it’s just such a Perfect episode, it’s so ridiculously beautiful down to the tiniest detail, like the ticking clock sound that plays through most the episode???? love it. my other top favorite episodes are secondo, primavera, shiizakana, dolce, naka choko, appertivo, tome wan, trou normand, the wrath of the lamb, the number of the beast is 666, contorno, mukōzuke and su-zakana.

Least favourite episode and why: uhhh, i honestly love them all?? i guess probably either hassun or takiawase?? just they feel the slowest to me i guess.

Favourite side character: jimmy price!!!! i love him so much. i’d say beverly but she’s not a side character in my eyes.

If you could bring back one character who died, who would it be?: abigail because she didn’t deserve to die. i know it held value for the story but i really wish she hadn’t, especially in that way. it’s beautifully tragic and painful but she as a person deserved better.

Dish prepared in the show that you would like to try eating/ making: all of it except the weird ass nietzschean trout and that disgusting jello with the fish in it because those look DISGUSTING. and the frois gras for the same reason as bella. everything else i would try, can’t promise i’d like it but i’d definitely try it.

Which side character would you kill off?: chilton just because for god’s sake just let the man DIE ALREADY poor guy

Was there any scene that you didn’t like to look at?: i’ve talked about it before but the intubation scene is by far the scene that causes me the most discomfort. it feels so much like a rape scene and the symbolism of it, it Is a rape scene, a violation of will’s body. the way hannibal strokes his face i just. yeah. also the lobotomy scene but i have a thing with eyes. other than that the gore never bothers me much, at least not anymore i’ve seen it some many times.

Biggest ship: hannigram obviously like..... why is this even a question

Why did you start watching Hannibal?: i have always been a big fan of the hannibal films, and red dragon was always my favorite so when i found out they were doing a show i was stoked! i watched the first two seasons when it first aired but i lost cable around the time season 3 aired so i didn’t end up finishing it until 2016. so yes, i ended on MIZUMONO and didn’t see any more for TWO YEARS. it was traumatic.

Favourite Hannibal fic if you’ve read any?: okay i went through a period of like 3 months where i just Binge read them and they were all good but they’ve sort of blurred together. but a few that really stuck out for me were

Blackbird

Two Solitudes

As soft, as wide as air

Of Putrefaction, Saccharine (lol this one fucked me UP and i CRIED)

I Didn’t Know It Could Be Like This (part 1) & If The World Burned to Ash, Still We Would Remain (part 2)

What We Talk About When We Talk About Blood (i never read the second part bc it’s not finished, and i REFUSE to start a incomplete fic)

Change Me (If You Dare)

Have you watched any of the Hannibal films?: yes!! i grew up watching red dragon, silence of the lambs and hannibal. i think i watched silence of the lambs for the first time when i was like 7 or 8 LMAO which explains a lot. the only ones i haven’t seen are hannibal rising and i really wanna watch manhunter!

Have you read the Thomas Harris books?: i’m in the process of reading red dragon, but i most definitely prefer the show.

Favourite murder tableau: in the whole show it’s the prisoner, because the significance it holds for will’s character arc. but if we’re talking about the more traditional murder tableau’s i’m gonna go with cassie boyle’s it’s visually very striking and beautiful in a horribly morbid way.

Favourite blood spill: oh god a lot of them but uhhh, obviously the slaying of the dragon, will imaging slitting hannibal’s throat in tome wan, and then i completely loose my damn mind over will imaging being randall tier in shiizakana when he’s covered in blood and has the antlers coming out of his back i— 👁👄👁

What’re some of your headcanons?: it’s not necessarily a headcanon and more of an analysis but i go absolutely FERAL when i read any meta talking about will holding a more traditionally feminine role in the story of the show, especially talking about him being a gothic heroine. it’s why i loose my mind over any comparisons of hannibal and dracula and will being mina i just [incoherent screaming]. i also obviously love any headcanon’s of dark will graham. it’s something i post about myself a lot because to me it’s not headcanon, it is canon supported throughout the show, that will is killer who wears a person suit the same as hannibal. he’s not just a righteous killer, he has the exact same capacity for violence as hannibal. he just had a harder time accepting it.

i tag (and once again if i double tag y’all i’m sorry!!) @aragima @arunima @horrorcupid @nietzscheantrout @honnibal @hughdancyx @marg0t-verger @serialcannibal @hotgirlhannibal @francisforever and anyone else who wants to do it obviously xx

#🦂#some of my answers are too long oops #tag games #hannibal #long post /

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revelingrexan · 5 years

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Flug thoughts before the ep

[inconsistent time stamps for links and stuff at bottom of post]

For fun, I want to share some ideas I’ve had centering around Dr. Flug before tonight’s episode airs. (Probably nothing of this will be touched on in the ep, but eh.) I want to learn more about what Dr. Flug’s deal is. He’s a terrifying villain but doesn’t seem to want to be at Black Hat Organization.

My main guess is Dr. Flug crashed into Black Hat Organization HQ — whether by Dr. Flug’s fault or by Black Hat’s intervention, who knows — and Black Hat threatened Dr. Flug to stay and pay off the expenses. But, instead of letting Dr. Flug leave after making the money for repairs, Black Hat is instead keeping him indefinitely, constantly threatening him with death. The “deadlines,” or most of them, all over Dr. Flug’s calendars might be written literally, although this may never be solidly confirmed and will have to just stay head canon.

However, Black Hat gives Dr. Flug access to many resources and probably indirectly offers protection, too, just by reputation, so Dr. Flug might be making the best of his situation.

How I came to this conclusion:

The airplane in the roof of Black Hat Organization and Dr. Flug saying he came to the organization “by plane”

In one episode, there’s a still image of Dr. Flug hastily throwing a bunch of books into a carnivorous plant to get rid of them. One of the books is labeled something like “The Complete Guide to Hijacking Planes.” (I unfortunately can’t find it now — I thought it was in the Q&A ep for some reason — and I’ve already spent much longer on this post than I intended, haha. I’ll edit and link if I find it.)

Dr. Flug’s changing motivational animal posters (“Hang in there,” “Hope is lost,” “Hope is restored”) plus the yellow “Don’t try to run -BH” sign in both the “worst nightmares” machine short and around the end of A Guide for an Evil Conquest

Obviously Dr. Flug doesn’t want to be working for Black Hat. Or, at least it’s hard for him to be there.

Dr. Flug’s diploma

He graduated as a mad scientist from an institution run by Black Hat. So, we know he went out of his way to basically be a certified villain. (I’m interested in what Black Hat teaching villainy in an organized fashion, such as an actual school, means for the dynamic of this show’s underworld. But I doubt that will ever be touched upon, haha. I’m probably thinking too sociologically for a Cartoon Network show, but jeeeeez I’d like to see some sociology student or someone write a fic with this thought at least in the background.)

Another side note, I wonder if we’ll ever find out who the other person who signed the diploma is. You can vaguely see “Dr. Flug” under Dr. Flug’s circular signature, but I can’t decipher the other one. (“President Dr. Black Hatter”? Hahahaha no the first name has too few symbols where's the double strikethrough when you need it)

Dr. Flug’s delight in the more evil aspects of his job

He seemed too smug and happy threatening the Delightful Kids from Down the Lane, and he got really into threatening the Kids Next Door. And we can’t forget his often-fanarted threat to Mojo Jojo, even if it doesn’t seem like the injection had the desired effect.

I genuinely wonder if 5.0.5.’s name is intended as a low-key S.O.S. cry for help since one of my friends pointed out that adding periods between the numbers changes the name to nonsense. It doesn’t stand for the number 505 anymore.

I really don’t know what to make of the 1921 photo, hahahaha, (Other than it being a reference to The Shining) and to what extent it works into the series’s lore. If it’s supposed to mean Demencia, Dr. Flug, and 5.0.5. have been with Black Hat for that long, then my idea falls apart because the plane in the roof of BHO isn’t of a design from that era. (But, then again, it wouldn’t be the first time a cartoon mismatches era designs for the sake of visual clarity or other reasons.) It really could be just a for-fun reference, but a lot of the “flashed for only one or a few frame” images seem to be important. Basically, I just don’t know, although it's so specific it seems most likely to just be a shout-out reference.

This was all just stuff I mentally put together and decided to finally write up in an organized manner. It will be fun to see what gets confirmed or disproven as I watch or read more theory stuff and more of the show is aired. I know I haven't caught everything from the show. (Like there's stuff about ones and zeroes from flag signals in the Boxmore episode, possibly a binary message, but I haven't looked into it. And Demencia's hidden message from Elmore doesn't seem directly relevant to this post, so I haven't discussed it here.)

Calendar with "DEADLINE"s at 0:27 above 5.0.5.'s drawing of him and everyone. There's also a still image of Dr. Flug in one episode panicking with his calendar in the background, also covered in deadlines.

"Don't try to run" sign at 9:15

Dr. Flug's diploma is in more than one episode, but I found it first in The Lost Cases of Elmore while making this post, first clearly visible at 1:56

Dr. Flug threatening the Delightful Children from Down the Lane at 10:05 and then the Kids Next Door at 11:35 Bonus, Black Hat's newspaper talking about the Kids Next Door going missing at 8:35 of the Q&A. WHAT DID YOU DO, DR. FLUG

Mojo Jojo trapped and getting threatened at 10:29, and someone asking about the effects of the injection at 4:36

The 1921 picture shows up around 0:58 during the static, after Black Hat pushes the Hat Bot back down and before the Cartoon Network logo shows up. It's only there for one frame or so.

The stuff with the ones and zeroes flags I've been too lazy to delve into is mentioned starting at 9:26 of this English fan video by Cartoon Universe

And one last thing lol: Dr. Flug is a mass kidnapper and I will not forget. (6:29 and confirmation that everyone is still inside at 10:48)

#villainous #villanos #dr. flug #head canon / fan theory #I have no idea if Dr. Flug needing to pay for damaging BHO HQ is me lifting the idea from One Piece.#At one point Luffy has to work as a busboy to pay for a place he damaged.#Either way it seems plausible for Dr. Flug’s situation.#*tells self i'll only work 10 minutes on this post*#*spends three hours making it*#*just*#*i just*#*how*#good thing it's a saturday and i have nothing important to do other than wait for the Villainous episode

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