#i have learnt that i'm not good at writing action scenes | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

atalienart · 3 months

Note

What are your tips on improving writing?

I don't think I'm at the level to give such tips. I myself try to read a lot of different books and learn from the authors that way. I watch youtube writing channels that talk about story structure, character development, or give advice how to improve prose and what to avoid. It's good to have someone who can look at your writing and give some feedback too. Also, I write. After some time, when I go back to my writing, I can see the mistakes better.

I can share some things that I've learnt from others and I think are good advice, for example:

use strong verbs (the person may walk but may also stroll, march or tiptoe);

there are more interesting verbs than to be;

weave description into action (The building was big. She walked towards it. ➜ She lifted her head as the stone walls grew before her. or He took the book in his hand nervously. He was tall, had brown hair and was wearing glasses. ➜ He reached for the high shelf without an effort. Book in hand, he pushed glasses up his nose to read the title - "Magic spells to improve writing." "This is it," he murmured, nervously running fingers through his brown hair.) (or some shit like that);

write sentences of different length so they don't sound monotonous;

If you want to write quick scenes. Short sentences. Actually. Make them slower. Why? Because periods. Are. Long. Pauses. xD

leave the most important words for the end of the sentence (He was thinking about the woman, while drinking his tea. ➜ He was drinking his tea, thinking about the woman.)

avoid filter words like hear, feel, see, etc. (She heard the noise that startled her. ➜ The noise startled her. or She was startled by the noise. or She jumped at the noise.)

be careful with time shifts (She noticed him behind the trees and smiled. Her beautiful monster. She runs to him and takes his hand and all of a sudden everything is all right. "Where is your hat?" she asks, but he just stares at her. He's always been a monster of few words, soft and quiet, but the lack of answer still surprised her. - is this present or past tense? confusion)

every scene should have a purpose - advance the plot, develop the character, add some conflict; ideally it will do all these things;

white room syndrom is bad - avoid;

use as many characters as you need; if one character can do the work of two, you need only one, scrap the other;

every character should want something!

give a character a desire, fear and misbelief;

Here are some of them. I hope they're useful. (They were useful for me even if I write in Polish :)) Of course some of these are optional but I think they make my writing better. I read somewhere that you should write only necessary words, so I'm trying to go by this rule. This is rather hard btw xD

#nat tries to write #writing tips #Sorry if grammar is wrong in those sentences - I write in Polish

250 notes · View notes

bunnyswritings · 1 year

Note

ur blog is soo helpful !!!! ive been looking into writing more lately and this is like a godsend <3 i was wondering if u could do some starter tips?? like stuff to avoid as a new writer :o ps. hope ur having a wonderful week!!!

ahhh, hello!! this is such a sweet message, and thank you, i hope you have a fruitful week ahead too ♡ i'm so glad you're writing more lately- i'll def do my best to provide some starter tips (though i'm really also a starter myself 😅 so i hope you like these, and feel free to let me know what you think!) also, just to put it out there that these are what i found helpful personally / what i think will be helpful, and may / may not resonate with everyone. Also, this topic is soooo broad and there are a million things that can be covered, but for now I'll just keep it short and go with stuff to avoid (or rather, approach differently) as per request. if you / anyone else would like another post for more specific writing tips, feel free to drop it in my ask box!

Some general writing tips — stuff to avoid; little things to not overdo

over-planning

overusing fancy vocabulary

over-describing

over-criticising your work

over-comparing

more details under the cut!

Over-planning — plan the general outline, direction of your plot, message of your story, characters and their rough personalities; yes, do all that well! good planning makes for a good story, but i think it's helpful to remember that sometimes things don't pan out the way we envision them to. and it's important to let certain things go, appropriately of course. if your initial storyline doesn't quite fit the characterisation of the protagonist etc (and vice versa), then perhaps it's time to rethink things — and NOT be too hard-up about it. [tldr: be flexible!]

Overusing bombastic vocabulary — i'm sure you've come across millions of writing advice pieces that aim to spruce up your vocabulary with bombastic phrases. by all means go ahead and pick a few that fit the mood and style of your writing. otherwise, i'd say that sometimes, less is more. throwing in fancy words for the sake of it may not be as helpful as you think. there should be a fine balance between using words that add flavour + help to illustrate nuances and using words to make your piece seem complex. simplicity goes a long way, as i've learnt. but having said that, building up a solid repertoire of vocabulary / good phrases is always helpful, the key thing is using those phrases in the right context. definitely easier said than done, so i suggest reading your favourite author's works couple of times through and pick up their way of using language to their advantage.

Over-describing — narration, descriptive language are great, and can really help to nudge your story in the right direction. it helps set the scene, the mood, and all these are critical in writing... BUT! not the same can be applied to describing actions. not every single action has to be written out explicitly — an example: she walks over to the kitchen, turns around, and opens the refrigerator. she then takes out a canned drink, and places the drink on the countertop... etc — you get the point. some things can be left implied, rather than explicit.

Over-criticising your work — ahh, the age-old piece of advice. i do it all the time, and you probably do too... sometimes, being harsh on yourself and on your work may seem like the only way to better yourself and push your limits, but often times, i personally find that this is counter-productive both on the physical and mental front. it wears you down, it is a nidus for dejection and negative vibes. i think the way i try to get round this is by taking pride in my own work; telling myself that 'this is something i wrote, these are my ideas put into prose, these are my thoughts written on paper'. the caveat here is that avoiding being over-critical of your work DOES NOT and should not mean avoiding proofreading. proofreading is extremely crucial to check for grammatical and structural errors (i recommend doing it once or twice yourself, and if possible, getting a fresh pair of eyes to do the same).

Over-comparing — this ties in nicely with the previous point. take pride in your work! this is something original from you and you only, written in your unique style. having authors/writers whom you look up to is essential in moulding your writing style and habits, but should not be the sole focus when you write. remember that every writer is different, every piece of writing is different; this goes even for pieces with similar plots / tropes / character personalities. nuances, subtleties and underlying messages can come through very differently when written by different people. after all, our life journeys are all personal, which is a factor influencing the way we convey messages across through the written word.

and... that's it for now! i really hope that this helps. honestly, i'm scratching the surface here, and there are lots more i can talk about when i have more braincells >_<

feel free to drop any other requests or questions in my ask if you'd like ♡

#writing tips #writing resources #writing inspo #writing inspiration #writing advice #creative writing #creative writing prompts #writing prompts #prompts #writerscommunity #writeblr #fanfiction prompts #new writer boost #writer #writing dialogue #bunnyswritings #bunnyrequests #bunnyrambles

181 notes · View notes

amewinterswriting · 4 months

Text

Things I've learnt from writing fanfiction

Done is better than perfect. We all love our ideas (at least at first) and want them to be as good as they can possibly be and we're brimming with excitement over the shiny new idea. But then we get bogged down in the weeds of actually writing the damn thing and practicality sets in. Fanfiction really taught me to lower my own personal standards and get the story out there. Even if that story is different to the original idea. And sometimes - not always, but often enough - it actually morphs into something I feel is better than the original idea, or at least different in a good way. All of my ideas respond to the characters and what they want to do, and that often winds up drastically different to the original expectation. Learning to embrace that and write it regardless helped me to actually make some progress in my ever expanding WIP folder.

Feedback will not always take the form you want/if you want to get a critique you're happy with, you might have to do it yourself. Fanfiction is great for getting eyes on your work - there is a pre-existing fandom waiting for content and if you throw it up online, especially on a platform like AO3, you will almost certainly have eyes on it within 24 hours. What you cannot guarantee is if someone will like it, kudos it, comment on it or give it any kind of meaningful feedback beyond "this is great, I really liked it". I know a lot of people throw fanfic up for external validation...I don't. It's always nice if I get feedback that points out an element that the reader loved, or gently points out a typo, but I don't actually expect engagement of any kind. Which makes every single kudos feel like a gift, and every single comment is a priceless treasure. If I want more detailed analysis, I purposely seek out my trusted friends in the fandom, with the idea that they know the level of feedback I'm after and know I'll take critiques in the spirit that they're intended. But that's a relationship built on trust and mutual respect and takes time to cultivate. If you want immediate analysis, you need to put on your critical hat and do it yourself. You are always going to be your own worst critic - you know what you intended and how you might have fallen short of the mark. So be kind with yourself and let yourself embrace the things you did do well, too. Look out for the happy accidents.

Taking risks and writing outside your comfort zone. When writing original fiction, you might shy away from writing styles or scenes you have never written before. Commonly, things like smut scenes, action scenes and experimental sentence structures feel too 'risky' to attempt for the first time with your own original ideas. But fanfiction can be a great vehicle for experimenting with unconventional writing choices in a lower stakes way. Fanfiction gave me the confidence to write smut (and I'm damn good at it, if I do say so myself) but also a reason to write a football match (never again, way too many moving parts and characters, would literally rather write an orgy). I wrote a first person descent into immortal madness that started eloquently and ended with the character only able to form single, simple words. I could experiment with writing in first person, in third person with an omniscient narrator and in third person with a close perspective and work out the pros and cons of each for the stories I wanted to tell.

Learning to analyse characters and subtext. One of my biggest strengths when writing preexisting characters (in my opinion) is being able to nail the character voice and motivations. I'd love to say there's a trick to it, but it's just a lot of analysis of the original media and reading between the lines. Working out what we actually know about the character, then what we can assume or guess based on the interpretation of that knowledge. An adult character who adopted a surrogate father figure in adulthood and never speaks of their birth family probably didn't have a great childhood, though the exact reason why might be conjecture (and a great idea for a fic!). A forgotten hero who willingly succumbs to a curse in order to go somewhere familiar must be quite lonely, and is simply seeking to return home, even if it destroys him. Once you understand why a character has done a thing, it's quite easy to find reasons why they might do any number of other things. As long as you can justify why, you can push a character quite a bit further than you might imagine.

Writing for an audience might surprise you. Most of my fics are in very small fandoms. Or a very small niche in a larger fandom. (I genuinely think I have one of the longest fics in a given fandom. Which admittedly only consists of about 30 people worldwide.) So I never really expect much attention and it's just a nice happy accident when I do get anything as simple as a kudos. That said, some of my fics get patterns of kudos that are really interesting. I will often get kudos out of the blue from the same person on everything I have written for a specific rare pair (so rare in fact that I believe I'm one of 2-3 people to ever publish anything for it) - likely a curiosity click that turned into 'wait, I actually ship this now, dammit'. I have a couple of stories with a specific pairing that consistently gets new attention every time there is a big bang or mini bang for that pairing, despite me not being involved in either of those events. Lately, I've had a single guest kudos per day on a little OT3 piece consistently for the last few weeks. Which probably either means someone keeps coming back with different IP addresses every day (which is really flattering) or that this fic is being shared around a friend group, one link at a time (which I love the idea of, someone reading it and then knowing exactly who else would love to read it and it continues to be passed around).

Formatting for ease of reading. Different mediums are read in different ways. Fanfiction is predominantly read on smartphone screens, in my experience. So learning best practices for formatting web text is useful: frequent line breaks, allow text to be dynamically readjusted by the web browser, if you are embedding images make sure they can also dynamically adjust otherwise readers are zoomed into the top corner of the image and have to scroll left and right to piece together the entire work, etc. But fanfiction (and web-based media as a whole) also lets you experiment with things that wouldn't be seen as acceptable in a novel. I've recently published fic that changes fonts to indicate the text written in a letter, and managed to assign different characters their own font to imply characteristics visually (if you do this, try to limit yourself to the most common webfonts around as these are only visible if the reader's browser has these fonts installed). I'm toying with the idea of a future fic - which is all entirely written via the medium of letters between characters - to be entirely visual renditions of the letters to include interesting environmental details like blood stains or scratched out words or torn edges, but I would definitely want to include image ID for people who use screenreaders or struggle with certain fonts.

Pst, if you enjoyed this and want to throw a few coins at my Ko-Fi, that would be very nice and would support me rambling on about other writing topics or getting more of the actual writing done!

#ame talks #writing advice #fanfiction #writing #writblr #fanfic #my writing

12 notes · View notes

cuubism · 1 year

Text

wip update

since I have a good number of actively-posting WIPs that some lovely people have been very kind about and invested in (and which I am very slow in updating), I figured it might be only polite to post a little update on where those are.

the melting press of the sun (dreamling) - Never intended this as a longfic, there may or may not be more than the 2 chapters it has now. I have a bit more written but it's disjointed and incomplete. I intentionally didn't leave any brutal cliffhangers on what I did post for this reason. We'll see if that one comes back.

Deja vu, Deja connu (dreamling) - The slowness in updating probably belies how deeply emotionally invested I actually am in this fic. Chapter three is just a major challenge--it's very long, covers a lot, has lots of fluff in the first part (fluff is kinda my Achilles heel, though not quite as much as wedding scenes, which this chapter also has) and a lot of heavy content later. But I have the whole fic outlined, a bunch of chapter 4 and 5 written in advance, and I'm super excited about the stuff that comes later, so it will definitely be finished, just... slowly. At least for this chapter.

In Waking Dreams (dreamling) - My current priority for an update. Chapter 4 just hit 10k and will probably hit 15k before its done (god help me), and I feel somewhat obliged to finish chapter 5 as well so I can post them in quick succession. Chapter 4 necessarily ends on a cliffhanger as it catches up to the events of chapter 3, but I feel bad about two cliffhangers in a row. But that one soon, I hope. (chapter 5 has a lot of the juiciest, long awaited scenes promised by the fic's premise, so I hope you will like that one when it's finally done 😅)

IRL (malec) - Fic that I have a tendency to get stuck on for 15 months, then write a ton of all at once, repeat. But I actually picked it up again the other day for the first time in ages, and I think I know all of the events of the chapter now, so who knows! Maybe I'll actually manage an update!

Subject: I Love You (malec) - Fic that I shamefully left with ONE CHAPTER remaining for a full year now. Honestly not sure why. Someday I will pick it up tho, I swear to god, or maybe I'll just cut the chapter short and make it an epilogue. (Actually maybe I do know why. It's another damn proposal/wedding scene. My absolute weakness and failure, I should stop writing them entirely)

mind & heart, body & soul (malec) - This fic haunts me, it follows me around 24/7 like a vengeful spirit that can't find rest. I can't wrangle it back into making any sense in my head, but for the sake of both my own sanity and the story's frankly frightening number of readers (I love you but you scare me), I've been trying to do one final chapter to offer some kind of wrap-up. Hopefully I can manage it.

Leviathan (malec) - My long held passion project that I have, in classic form, not touched in months. In fact I've been stuck on the same chapter I'm on now since probably 2020, when I first started writing the fic. This particular middle part of the fic is just vexing me to no end. At some point, I will decide on a course of action, inevitably flawed, and just power through that chapter (I say, for the 2nd year in a row). Why did I give this story two big villains again? Or think having a whole separate story arc in the middle of the fic was a good idea? Ah well.

in the palm of your hand (malec) - The one and only multichapter I finally caved and marked abandoned. I learnt my lesson with this fic about letting a oneshot expand into a completely unplanned longer fic. Boy did I...

----

I feel like I don't express it enough, but I really appreciate everyone who's ever read one of my fics, commented, kudos'd, chatted with me about them on tumblr, made podfics or art or translations, shared headcanons in my inbox or your own fics with me... I'm always blown away by the kindness and interest, and love getting to share little (or big!) stories with you and am so happy when you enjoy them ❤️ I love doing fandom with you.

#i'm bad at expressing emotion ack #my fics

47 notes · View notes

yuikomorii · 1 year

Note

As a fellow Ruki stan I'd love to know how you'd rank his routes 🌸

// Sure thing! ^^

1. More Blood

You probably didn't see this coming, but I really enjoyed his MB route! I'm aware of how hated it is because of the cat scene, and while I disagree with Ruki's actions, they didn't ruin him for me. I just love how SASSY Ruki can be, even if some of his roasts are really mean, but I'm sure they're just there to make the audience laugh. I think the funniest one was when he told Yui "Today we will go home on foot. Why? Because a person such as yourself who doesn’t know how to stop when eating is very prone to put on some pounds after all.�� He's so savage, and I love it, but I wouldn't want to deal with such a person in real life, lol. Aside from that, his last Ecstasy chapter was the first to make me cry, and his Vampire Ending was stunning, especially the kissing cg!

2. Chaos Lineage

Another unpopular choice because I've seen a lot of people complain about it being boring and lacking significant romantic interactions due to including his brothers too much, and while I can't say his route was very good, I still really like it! I'm glad Ruki was less obsessed with Karl there, and he seemed more relaxed and genuine overall. He even pouted at one point, which was so cuuute! I love the Mukamis, so I'm always up for family moments, and the romance was adequate, neither exaggerated nor non-existent.

3. Dark Fate

Would have given it a higher rating if Ruki hadn't been such a jerk in the first half, and what bothered me the most was how he treated his brothers. Kou had very good reasons to be mad at him, and it's already becoming frustrating because they're supposed to be best bros, yet Ruki and Kou always find a way to fight. What did I love about it? He got down on his knees and apologized to Yui for saying such horrible things. I was moved to tears by the scene in which he cried for her because I had not expected Ruki to do such a thing. Furthermore, his Vampire Ending is probably my favorite of all games; it's simply the best possible outcome for him and Yui.

4. Lunatic Parade

I don't remember much about LP, but his route was fun, and I think he was more flirty than usual there, which is a plus! Well, everyone had great LP routes in my opinion because that game was truly lighthearted!

5. Lost Eden

He was ideal in the first half of the route, but the second half irritated me greatly. Maybe I have high expectations, but are you really going to tell me that in the previous game, a "dummy" character only heard ONE thing about Karlheinz yet immediately connected all the dots about all his victims, realizing that he's truly the root of all evil because he was using everyone for his selfish desires and then… there's Ruki who 1) was told by Christa that Karl was Trismegiste aka the person who ruined his life, 2) went to Romania to read about the Revolution, where Trismegiste was mentioned, 3) had his ghoul-father tell him that Karl is Trismegiste and that he slaughtered a bunch of people to make ghouls out of them only to have Ruki say this "I'm sure Karlheinz-sama regretted his actions, that's why he gave our lives back". If he had regretted, he would have rewinded time long ago. I'm aware that different writers exist, but they should be more careful when writing these parallels because it can cast their own characters in a negative light, since one reaction will always be better than the other. Still really liked the lore and the fact Rejet learnt something about Romanian history.

6. Vandead Carnival

I enjoy VC as a game, but Ruki was a little too stiff for my liking. It wasn't bad, but I felt like Ruki was babysitting Yui for almost the entire route. :”)

#admin

56 notes · View notes

animehouse-moe · 1 year

Text

Chainsaw Man Chapter 128: Main Dish

Well, not every chapter can be deep and meaningful. Some of them just have to be as stupid as Denji can be, and be full up on action and comedy, and finally a big reveal.

⚠️Warning: Spoilers Ahead⚠️

There's not really a whole lot of stuff going on this chapter so it's gonna be short, but damn is it ever funny. Asa completely rains in Denji's parade as if she hasn't been faced with the same issue. A look in the mirror might be a little necessary for Asa, but that's also what makes her such an enjoyable character.

And then there's the comedy in this scene, which is absolutely priceless. Asa singlehandedly causes herself and Denji to fall up into Hell, because she couldn't keep her mouth shut. And that single panel of Denji's Chainsaw Head ties it together perfectly. There's not a single facial expression that crosses your mind when looking at it, but you can 100% tell what's going through Denji's mind (spoiler: it's nothing).

Now, I might be crazy, but for some reason I really feel like the door Asa and Denji fall through is familiar. Something about it just seems like I've seen it somewhere in the manga, but skimming part 2 I can't spot it anywhere. So, maybe there's something, maybe there's not, it just stands out to me as something I feel like I remember.

What I find interesting here though is that the Falling Devil is able to traverse and open and close doors to Hell at will. Are they working alongside the Hell Devil or do they exert that much power themselves? Hard to say. What I do find interesting though is that the Falling Devil has some form of respect or understanding of Chainsaw Man. Do they have prior experience with Pochita?

And finally, finally, we see the faux Chainsaw Man again! Damn well took long enough. So, so many questions. To me? It looks like it's a Devil Hunter given the black pants and white shirt. Even more interesting is the confirmation of the "style" of the Chainsaw. It's more like teeth than blades.

Now, for whatever reason, Yoshida's popped into my head. He's aware of Fami and was previously at a café with her, so the late entry would make sense. The only thing is how Yoshida can assume the form of Chainsaw Man. It's possible for an octopus to contort itself into different shapes and they can change colors, so it really is possible. But would that be the case? I don't know, it's hard to say because Yoshida is meant to protect Denji, and this Chainsaw Man imposter seems to know a good deal about the Falling Devil and their nature, which Yoshida could have learnt from Fami.

I don't know, the chapter itself didn't really do anything to create waves, but writing this out and thinking about it has really got the gears in my head turning. I'm incredibly curious to see who this Chainsaw Man is, or if they even reveal their identity in the next chapter.

#chainsaw man #csm pt 2 #chainsaw man manga #csm manga #chainsaw man part two #chainsaw man part 2 spoilers #csm part 2 #csm spoilers #csm denji #asa mitaka #falling devil #manga recommendation #manga review #anime and manga #manga

48 notes · View notes

avatarskywalker78 · 7 hours

Note

Which fic was the most difficult for you to write? What did you learn from writing it?

Definitely will i ever be the same (am i strong enough to change?); I struggled for some time to write it because Hawk was the cental character and while I wanted to give his redemption arc in S3 the breathing space it so desperately needed...I was incredibly nervous about writing Hawk as a character because he's one of the most complex ones of the series, and I didn't want to reduce him in any way. Even after asking @afurioushawk for advice - which ended up being extremely helpful - it was a while before I had the confidence to write it. But I learnt that I could, in fact, write Hawk well - the response I recieved was positive so clearly people thought he was in character, and while I probably won't write loads of fic from his POV (mainly because I don't have any other ideas right now), it's a reminder that I can, and that I should have faith in myself when writing characters for the first time, especially if they are as morally grey and conflicted as Hawk.

Another factor was the fact that I was writing in present tense for the very first time - I'd seen this in a lot of other fics but I'd never gone for it myself because I much preferred past tense, but I wanted to use it for this fic because it would get us inside Hawk's head better, let us see the action as it unfolded from his perspective...and it worked! And while I still prefer past tense, I have used present tense in at least one other fic, and I'm much more confident in doing so - it's a good way of writing.

(Also the fight scenes were a struggle, especially since I was changing how it played out in canon, but that's not specific to this particular fic.)

talk shop tuesday

#answering my asks #thanks for asking!#talk shop tuesday #fic: will i ever be the same (am i strong enough to change?)#eli hawk moskowitz #cobra kai

2 notes · View notes

miss0atae · 10 months

Text

The Jungle - 3rd Episode Review

I'm back with a review from this shit show. Really it is getting worse episode by episode. It is not engaging at all anymore. I'm still watching it because it's a series that's so bad it's good. You know what I mean ? I just want to see where they are going. I know many people already dropped the series for obvious reasons but I'll watch until the end and have fun writing those silly reviews full of spoilers. You've been warned.

So the episode stars with the flashback from last time where Bad Mom took her son and changed his name. We see that Pladao saw everything and heard everything. My question now is how can she remembers all that right now? This is so weird but anyway let's accept this because if you question too many things in a bad show, you can never watch the rest of it. So Bad mom is trying to convince her son to stop working with Gale because she is bad and has stupid reasons to do it. This guy is so manipulable. We don't know why he is always listening to her. I mean he is an actor so he must be rich. He is not underage anymore so he can probably access his money and now that he is famous he probably as connexion. He doesn't need do depend on his mom that much anymore. The show is trying desperatly to make us believe that Bad Mom has so much power that she controls all the entertainment business but Bad Mom is only an actress. They all act like she is producing the whole system.

Anyway we jump from the scene to another one with the Jungle minus Pite and Phethai. They are playing cards and drinking. Suddenly Phethai arrives and joins the game. The transition of scenes are always so bad it's freaking amazing to be this bad. It is always missing something. They jump too fast. Then, there is another cut to Pladao and Gale who are back to the Rendez-vous, the hidden bar so easy to find. Pladao wants to confront again Nannaman. She is forcing her friend to help her in her stupid plan. I don't understand their friendship. It's not healthy at all. Anyway they are playing the piano again to get in but of course the music is not right. They have no clue so it's a bit hard to enter. Why did Pladao not think about that before coming ? It's not like she didn't know how you have to enter the bar. The scene only exist so we get the story of Kaewta, her dead cousin. Pladao explained that it wasn't an accident and the responsible is Nannaman. We got a flashback where Pladao is back at home with food and discovered that her cousin took pills and died because of it. It's so bad ! The actress who played to cousin wasn't even doing anything and it looked terrible. The pills were aspirin and we learnt that the cousin was allergic to it but she took it anyway. Why would you do something like that? Didn't she know about her allergy ? We don't have more info. It's only, "Prayers, prayers, sorrow". Pladao checked her cousin's phone and found text messages where she was begging someone to come back to her because she couldn't live without them and that someone told her to die. Here a lesson for you all: Never go back to your ex. So the cousin had a boyfriend but no one knew him. This is the mystery! The cousin had a photo of herself with just the shoulder of a man and this picture screams "man with no intention of being in a relationship". I think Pladao jumps to conclusion a bit easily. She isn't even sure about Nannaman being the real culprit and also he hasn't really done something bad. It's the cousin who decided to take those pills because her "boyfriend" didn't want to get back to her and told her something really mean. Okay this behavior is not the best but the person can't be responsable for the actions of others. The guys from the Jungle never really made any girls felt like they are more than a one night stand. They are pretty honest with how they act towards the women they have intercourses with. The show litteraly presented them as womanizers so why would they be responsibles for that death. This is so stupid.

Irin apperead from nowhere and she guessed the song so they can all enter at the same time. Why does Irin act like she doesn't recognize Gale ? Why do people have memory loss all the time in this show. Anyway, Irin knows the guys pretty well so the girls join the Jungle. Remember they were playing card and drinking. Phethai is here and he shared an awkward moment with Gale. I just noticed that this bar is so empty. Hunter must starve to keep it at bay or maybe the production couldn't have any extras for this scene. The Jungle propose to play a drinking card game. The rule is simple: whoever finds the king figure becomes a king and the numerals get ordered around. Is it an actual game ? It's been a while that I haven't played drinking games. For the firt round, Pladao is the king. She asked a question to Naam and he has to answer. Her question is about her cousin and if he knows her. He said that he doesn't and she gets mad. Of course this reaction made him smile. At the same time, Phetai and Gale are still acting awkward around each other. Hack is the next one to get the king and Gale has to drink. Cut, we're back to Pine who is on the roof. Why do we have this scene now ? It doesn't make any sense for the narrative. He is imagining Irin joining him (I thought it was her, but someone on the comment told me it was August so first apparition for her I guess). Man, choose if you really want her or not. This is already boring. We are back with the Jungle and the girls. Pladao tried to help Gale because she is not good with alcohol, but all the men told her that she has to comply. Luckily, Pethai drinks it for her. Now, Pine is back and joins the game. Nannaman is the new king and he orders two people to kiss. It's Phethai and Irin. Gale is shocked and Pine doesn't seem to like it. Naam is really a little shit. I love this kind of characther. They always bring drama around them and I live for it to make this boring show a bit more funny. Gale can't watch this and leave the place. Pethai and Irin are uncomfortable. Fortunately, Hack saves the day and kiss Phethai. Hack is a good friend. His character isn't really compelling but we can still grant him the title of good friend. Pethai then run after Gale. They have some kind of fight but suddenly the crazy journalist is here and filming them. So, Pethai acts against her. This bar is so easy to find this is laughable. By the way, Pethai is a weather vane. Man choose who you like and go for it. Stop hesitating between Gale and Irin. It will only hurt both girls. Why do they find him interesting ? He has the personality of a wet sock. After getting rid of the journalist and her phone, He listed all his faults to Gale while she looked at him with heart eyes. Girl has no respect for herself. He is just a guy! Finally a kiss between them. Granted it's not the most alluring kiss but I take all the crumbs.

I can't believe, I'm still watching this. The story is all over the place. We got a Hunter cameo. Mix smile is really something. Can you believe that he is the reason why I'm watching this show ? Him and Aye but we still haven't seen her. Well, Naam is talking again to Pladao. She is making a face. They are arguing as always everytime they have a scene together. She is telling him that The Jungle men are despicable and that makes him smile. Dude is always smiling. I think I wrote that several time in my notes. Yes because I'm taking notes at the same time as I'm watching this show. Pladao again threatened the Jungle. We leave them to find again, Gale and Phetai in bed. Did they have sex ? They are wearing different clothes so I will say that they did it. For a series about playboys, it's not very sexy or spicy. Phethai is telling Gale that she is special because he stayed the night with her and felt more like he is Wayu with her. She answered that he is both men. Smile, smile again. They are in their bubble. How long will they stay in it until Bad Mom arrives again to burst it?

Gale at work finds her colleagues gossiping about Phethai. They recognize Gale on the video of the journalist. Bad Mom is not happy. Her adult son has a life on his own. Shocking ! It's so funny how those bad moms always think their sons will ruin their career because of a romance. One night stand is okay but a real relationship is a bad no no. What a load of bullshit. So now, he has to do a press conference to apologize to the journalist. Bad Mom and her son have a fight. Also, Bad mom wants to ruin the life of Gale. The rich really have nothing better to do with their life. I think the problem is that Bad Mom doesn't have a hobby. She should really find something better to do with her life than trying to control her son's life. Back to Pladao reading comments about Gale on internet and obviously they are not kind. Gale has no self esteem. She says that she is a nobody and that she shouln't be with Phetai. She is trying to avoid him now. Stupid move! I mean they were in bed kissing just two scenes ago. I don't understand this woman.

We then go back to the Rendez-vous where Gale is going to drink. How did she got the song this time ? Makes no sense. Well, Hunter is still cryptic for no reason and tells her not to drink if she wants to really express herself. However, she doesn't listen to him and wants courage so she drinks anyway. Useless scene except maybe to give a important message about how drinking is not good, I guess. Phethai and Gale found each other again and she tells him, she likes him and she likes being with him. They have been together for two days max. He laughs at her and crushes her little bubble. He is a dumbass. He probably thinks he is protecting her by being a jerk. This guy is so weak. Bad Mom could tell him to jump from a window and he would do it. Also why would Gale has a crush on him ? Girl you are beautiful and you have a career . You can find so much better. You don't need a guy with no willpower. Okay so now Pethai is drinking by himself. Was I right to say that he rejected her to protect her ? I'm sure I am. Hack and Nathee arrive at that moment and they talk with him. Cut to the Press conference. Bad Mom is here of course. Did I say that the actress is really bad ? She is always making the same weird face. We learn at this point that I was right. He broke up with Gale because she asked him to do it. Gale is sad and tries to have a day off but her boss is here and annouces that she will go to Paris. She doesn't understand because she hasn't been able to do her job. She thinks it's because Phethai asks for her to go. Back to press conference and the journalist pretends to have been shocked by the event when she filmed the private life of Phethai. Girl, your crocodile tears fool no one. You are not a great actress. This is painful to watch. Pethai says sorry to pacify everyone. I don't know why he has to do it. He just snatched the phone, he has not been violent to the journalist. Boundaries please ! This woman was following him and he deserves some private life. Despite this, the joournalists only care about Gale and not about the apologies. Bad Mom says that Gale is not her son's girlfriend. At the same time Gale arrive at the press conference but also Hack. We discover that he is a lawyer. So he is not working on education like I thought. It makes more sense. Lawyer are always useful in this kind of show. Anyway, He is saying that Phethai will sue the journalist. Naan is also here. Why is he here ? Well, Hack saved the day again. He saved Phethai twice in this episode. The journalist is exposed for her bad practices. She cries and this problem is solved easily like that. This is so bad, I can't.

Gale find Phethai at the end of it and they have yet another talk. She wants to know if what he said was true last time. Unfortunately for her, He does not answer and leave. We then have Naam talking with Pladao. Now, we know why he is here. She is back at it with her cousin. He of course doesn't answer her (that would be too easy) and invite her to the Rendez-Vous again by giving her the password. That's the end of the episode !

It's still pretty bad but tomorrow is episode 4 and maybe we'll have more answers. The trailer for the next episode is all over the place so it will be a fun silly watch again.

11 notes · View notes

sam-glade · 10 months

Note

Happy STS!

How does what you look for in your own writing vs someone else’s coincide? How does your writing influence your reading?

Hi Anna! Thank you for the questions💜

How does what you look for in your own writing vs someone else’s coincide?

There's definite overlap for the larger elements, like fleshed out characters, rich worldbuilding, etc.

But the parts where it diverges are:

I enjoy reading fast-paced plots, packed with action, but I can't seem to pull it off myself. I'll happily write action sequences, but they will be interspersed with downtime scenes, that explore the characters.

I also love seeing clever phrases that very concisely paint vivid images. The Lies of Locke Lamora does it brilliantly, but also want to give a shoutout to @winterandwords here. However, I don't have enough confidence to do it myself - I tend to worry it's not as great as I think.

On the other hand, I love leaving the tiniest hints and foreshadowing through the characters' word choice. E.g. you mostly see people talk about the Fate (single) in Days of Dusk, but some use plural 'Fates'. Similarly, only one character compares the colour of something to gold - everyone else would call it bronze or brass, since gold is reserved for the King, and they'd have either not seen gold, or considered the comparison blasphemous. And I enjoy noticing it when other people do it, but I don't deliberately look for it.

How does your writing influence your reading?

Oh that's a good question, because I usually get asked about it being the other way round - how reading impacts my writing.

But yes, my writing influences what I read even more so at this point. I'm a very slow reader, so I'm deliberately picky about what to read. Right now, I'm looking for book comps for Gifts of Fate, so I'm reading books in the same genre with similar story elements.

Also, my writing overall - what I've learnt about writing through experience or otherwise - started to affect what I enjoy especially in traditionally published books. There are some stylistic choices that I don't vibe with. E.g. in a book I picked up recently, whenever a new term is introduced, there's a couple sentences, up to a paragraph explaining what it is, and not letting me figure it out on my own. Just a personal preference.

#sts #ask and i shall answer

5 notes · View notes

randomjreader · 1 year

Text

Oh my god...I usually wait till I finish a series (or at least most of it) before I post my opinion about it, just so I don't eat my words later on, but this series, "Not Me" by GMMTV in particular is just too good, and I don't see how I could possibly grow to dislike it later on. Just look at these scene (SOMEWHAT SPOILERS AHEAD, BUT LIKE ALSO NOT REALLY):

I actually shed a tear at this scene, simply because of how overwhelmingly powerful it is. Especially in this part of the world, where it's relatively more conservative, these kinds of scenes are rarely, if ever, shown on Asian media. (In fact, I think this is the first time GMMTV (a company well known for making Thai BLs) has shown a pride flag being waved around like this.) Hell, even around the world you don't see this kind of thing in fictional media often. So it just makes me feel emotional to see Not Me, a Thai series, give us a scene that shows a group of people being so proud of what they stand for and what they are fighting for. It really hit me hard, and I know that this scene was incredibly impactful to many others too, especially those who live in countries that are strongly against the LGBTQ community.

But this series doesn't just give great representation to the queer community, it goes further than that. I'm only halfway through this show, and I feel like I've already learnt so much about socio-political issues. The way this show was written was so damn GOOD; every episode brought up a new societal issue that is prominent in not just Thailand, but other parts of the world too. They've touched on class privilege, police brutality, impunity, ect. And I just know that they'll continue to shine light on more important topics as the series goes on.

The way they've portrayed the fighting of injustice was so well done too. The world is complex, there's never a black and white when it comes to socio-political issues. The way they've shown the trade offs between the different ways of fighting back against a corrupt power is everything to me, because it shows just how complex these situations are, how the actions taken by the "rebels" fighting can have both terrible consequences as well as meaningful outcomes. Each character has layers, and different approaches to dealing with issues, and each time they do they always show both sides of the coin — so far everything that has been done doesn't give some optimistic end result. They've stayed realistic; they've shown the good and the bad, and I think that that's something that's so important to express in a show that addresses real world issues, because in real life not everything is sunshine and rainbows. Actions have consequences, and you can tell through the writing and acting that the characters, in particular the main character, are constantly struggling with this, between wanting to make change and not wanting innocent people to get caught in the crossfire, which is near impossible when it comes to situations like these, because there will always be victims who lose out. It's just all very realistic, and shines light on just how messed up our society is, and I think that's so important for everyone to know.

Honestly, at this point, I'm just kinda rambling because I have wayy to many thoughts about this whole damn show, and I haven't sorted them out properly yet. I just needed to get them all out before I continue because there's just way too much I'm in awe of. Seriously, props to the actors, the writers, the directors, just basically everyone who was involved in creating this series, because it's just so damn meaningful and impactful. The balls they had to push for this project and release it, especially at a time where there was quite a bit of political unrest, is truly remarkable.

If there was ever a show I wanted to suggest to everyone to watch, it'd be this one. If you're into learning more about socio-political issues, and want to watch an exciting drama that tackles these issues head on and do it hella well, watch it. It has already hooked me from the start and I'm so confident that it's good that I'm releasing my opinion before I even start the second half.

5 notes · View notes

hopeischord · 1 year

Text

*MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR FUTA'S SECOND TRIAL SONG BACKDRAFT - LISTEN TO THAT FIRST THEN COME BACK HERE*

Note; I ramble a lot. I thought I might upload my thinking here if that's okay.

Okay but like, genuinely. I'm re watching Backdraft and it's genuinely such a good way to reach further into Futa's character. (And I'm not even a giant Futa fan, but his songs are possibly the best with the individual prisoner songs imo)

Although my two favourite scenes that really seem to get my little brain thinking is the 'You and You throwing around rules for fun' and the last note. I was not expecting ES to pop out of nowhere, it made my jaw DROP. Although while writing this, I think I get why. We as the audience are ES, we're the one that caused him to get viciously attacked by Kotoko and become a shell of his former self. While I haven't listened to all of the voice drama yet. It's not exactly the same as the initial first VD. In fact, Futa doesn't seem to be like himself. It's more like, he's uncomfortable, scared. He doesn't even seem to address ES, it's the opposite. He's scared of ES, and in turn, of us. He won't forgive us for voting him guilty, although admittedly, he kind of is guilty but I think he's learnt his lesson, but voting him innocent might cause a whole, I dunno but it doesn't seem good. When I think about it, I just get reminded of what Jackalope said after the first trial. We are the ones that decide their fate, and well, Futa might go batshit if we vote him innocent, but may go even more batshit if we vote him guilty. This kind of feels similar to a few other characters, like if we vote Kotoko guilty after she was voted innocent. She's obviously going to lose her shit, or if we vote Aname innocent and Shidou is guilty then... yeah...

Another thing about that scene though. While I get that Futa is most likely melting into ash and holding himself together. Another thing I initially thought was about Medusa. I can't exactly explain why? Although ES being the so called Medusa, it kind of makes sense? At least in my head? Medusa can turn people into stone if they look at her in the eye, but, in this MV. ES didn't have eyes. In fact, all there was to ES was their clothing. I think this is again another nod to us as the audience. Kind of like Yunos mv in which she directly told us she didn't want to be perceived as innocent even though out of the entire cast she is the most innocent. I think she is anyway in my personal opinion. Please don't cancel me.

And the throwing around rules for fun? Again, that's another nod. I think Futa was referring to how we were the ones to let him get hurt because of Kotoko. I remember initially when I first got into the fandom, I was so confused about how Kotoko was deemed innocent and Futa was deemed guilty. Although why I do get it now. (Futa targeted someone without evidence or when they did nothing wrong and directly was the reason they committed... you know what while Kotoko just bet up really awful people to the point they died) it still left me a little confused because Kotoko, while she is a vigilante and she did do something for the right reason. The actions she took, both before and during Milgram (I joined the fandom May this year during the hiatus between season 1 and 2) but then kind of destroyed that by beating up 3 out of the 4 guilty parties. I don't know, I'm not really partial to the ones she beat up but it kind of rubbed me wrong. Maybe because she literally almost killed Mahiru? I dunno. It's weird to explain but I recall thinking that Futa and Kotoko were two sides of the same coin? Even though I'm now aware that it's Fuuta and Muu, Kotoko and Mikoto that are the two sides of the same coin. I still think that Futa and Kotoko are similar in their actions or that they have the hero complex and all. But I think while writing this, I get why I prefer Futa. He genuinely seems to get that he's done fucked up. Although he realised this after he caused someone's death while in Kotokos case, and because we voted her innocent. She's not going to get the same treatment, which I guess makes sense. Both had different targets and stuff. And if Kotoko gets voted guilty this season, its just going to cause more mayhem.

But the one thing that stuck out. God, it made my stomach crawl when I realised. While I don't tend to read much into what people were saying, I have a feeling its referring to how cancel culture works and now he's had a taste of what he's dished out. Like what my dad would say, he has a glass jaw. Especially with the succumb line, that made me feel sick because he's finally understanding and is getting it right back where it hurts.

Although; I genuinely don't know what to think. Like I jokingly mentioned in my last post. I'm just dumbstruck. I looked at the official site in which people are voting him innocent which makes some amount of sense. Its really hard to come to a conclusion because of this video, and of course. This is the first time we've seen a guilty person sing. This genuinely makes me curious about how Mahiru, Aname and Mikotos MV are going to go. And of course, there's no translation to his VD yet although knowing how quick this fandom works it's going to be up in maybe another hour.

All in all; its a hella good song, and I like it. Still very excited for The Purge March though. Sorry about my rambling, I thought it might be good to share my opinion and all, if that's okay ofc.

Keep in mind this is just a rambling of all of my thoughts. I really love this MV, but I have no concrete idea on what to think. Hence why I'm writing this and hoping I can have a discussion with others to form more ideas. Although I get its mostly about remorse and all.

ALSO THE BEAT DIDNT HAVE TO DROP THAT HARD LIKE SHEEEEESH

#milgram #fuuta kajiyama #backdraft #ramblings #i hope this makes sense

17 notes · View notes

indecisivepsyche · 2 years

Text

Murray Mysteries Thoughts

Alright, I made a post noting that I don't really like Murray Mysteries, so I thought I should expand on that. I'll go ahead and note that if you've just learnt of the podcast, don't let this discourage you from giving it a try. There are quite a few good moments in the podcast, and it's cool seeing how they've adapted Stoker's plot to modern times. From here, there's going to be a few spoilers for the podcast.

For me, it really came down to the fact that there were many times where I had the thought that I'd rather be reading Dracula or listening to Cryptic Canticles' adaptation instead. The innovations in Murray Mysteries with the format and characters weren't enough to prevent me from yearning to hear the lines they were adapting, not the modernized and simplified versions of them. I missed Stoker's prose.

I did have some fun listening to it! The podcast was at its best for me in the first season, when the characters were intentionally working together to create a podcast rather than leaving the recorder on for events and uploading them as a record of occurrences. Mina and Lucy's interactions were great, and it was enjoyable to learn how their backstories differed from their book counterparts. Diversifying the team by introducing Jane Seward and Lucy's nonbinary partner Art made sense for a modern adaptation. Later on, the Christmas Special and the developing relationship between Art and Jane (scenes without precedents in Stoker's work) were great listens.

I also have to commend the start of Jonathan Harker's travel segment! His love for Mina is evident, and his enthusiasm really filled me with the "my good friend Jonathan Harker!" joy. Drac was also so funny. I'm not 100% on board with what they did to him. He ends up lacking menace, which is very evident in #32 - they didn't even try to adapt what Dracula said to Mina when he attacked her on October 3rd. Still, there are many delightful moments from him, like his justifications for the off-the-grid nature of Castle Dracula and the mocking message he sent to the party to make it clear he was listening to their podcast.

Ah, the podcast. There are moments where the conceit of the show works against it for me. This is most egregious for me in all of Jane's segments discussing R's case. Jane, despite the fact that you're censoring the dude's name and I'm not sure if you're violating any privacy laws, this rubs me the wrong way. And what's up with them killing him off with a phone call after he received medical care in the hospital? Seemed unnecessary.

One last thing: their writing for Quincey rubbed me the wrong way. In Dracula, Quincey demonstrates with his courting of Lucy that he's quite willing to play the fool for his friends. It's clear he has depth beyond that, however, like with his comparison of Lucy's situation to vampire bats as well as Jack and Arthur looking to him for a plan of action. In Murray Mysteries, however, it really felt like his main purpose was comedic relief. Also, what's up with Van Helsing mentioning sacred bullets in Episode 28 and that never coming into play? The stake bullets don't count.

I could speak more and go into my complicated feelings over their Van Helsing, but I honestly need to get to sleep. Here's my current ranking of Dracula adaptations:

#1. Dracula (1931)

#2. Murray Mysteries

#3. Horror of Dracula (1958) (apologies to Van Helsing's amazing fur coat)

I have around 30 minutes of Nosferatu left, and I think it might claim #1.

#murray mysteries #dracula #spoilers

2 notes · View notes

aquaburst3 · 1 year

Text

So I'm reading a novelization of the live action Aladdin movie in my spare time as research for the Jamil/Jasmine crossover story. Oh, my God. Comparing Jasmine's internal monologue in this book to what we're writing is a fucking trip.

In the story that me and @stormkitty97 are writing, Jasmine acts realistically and how she would if she didn't have to fawn over Aladdin for plot reasons. She thinks Aladdin is an idiot and finds him annoying.

Take the jam scene and the "Prince Ali" song bit. In the novel, Jasmine finds his bumbling in that scene charming and it isn't until his "buy her" comment that she scoffs at him. However, that seems rather OOC with how she was set up. In both versions of the story, and especially the live action movie, she's set up as finding the suitors annoying and stupid, so why would Prince Ali be any different? Jasmine not being even a little sus about Aladdin during that scene was also strange. You'd think she would recgonize him even a little.

In ours, she wonders what's wrong with this weirdo and questions how the hell they learnt the dance and song for the "Prince Ali" bit, thinking Aladdin put him through boot camp. (It's because they aren't real, my dude. xD) After Aladdin fails to win her heart thanks to his bumbling and says that he wants to buy her, she and Jamil both go off to her room and laugh at the absurdity of what just happened. Honestly, what we wrote makes more sense and how a real woman would act in that situation. Her internal narration is a lot sassier too. She definitely recognizes Aladdin, especially near the end.

Plus, the fact that she doesn't question Prince Ander's intelligence is also rather strange. That guy seemed like he wasn't all there. You think she would. In ours, while that bit is in Jamil's POV, you still get a good idea that she thinks he's dumb and strange.

While I enjoy the animated one more and like bits from the live action version like the jam scene, I'm starting to like what we're writing more than either. Jasmine just seems more real, we have more breathing room in the story so we can develop character dynamics more and Jamil suits her better as a love interest. But that's just me.

(Also, the novelization mentioning Aladdin having "bright red cheeks" whenever he blushed made no sense. Aladdin has dark skin, so no one would be able to tell. Moments like that you can tell a white woman wrote this.)

#aqua rambles #Aladdin's internal monologue centring around constantly simping for Jasmine and saying his own insecurities is also suspect #Dude stop saying she's pretty constantly and focus on other shit!

1 note · View note

emcscared-whumps · 2 years

Note

7 for the ask game!

From this post!

Ty for the ask ^-^

7 - What books have shaped the way you think about writing the most? Why?

Hmmm... the way I think about my writing...

Well, the first series of novels that I read, which weren't specifically targeted at kid kids, was 'Warriors' by Erin Hunter. I was about 11 at the time, and that shaped my writing style, because I learnt to write by example. I proceeded to ace all of the writing related assignments at school in English class ^-^'

Monkey see, monkey do.

In terms of the way I think of my writing, well, I only ever worry about how my prose is because I'm fairly sure my grip on combat and action scenes is already pretty decent.

At the moment, I'm reading 'The Obernewtyn Chronicles' by Isobelle Carmody, and I have been since 2015 >.>

It's looooong reading, (I'm partway through 'The Sending'), with lots of prose, it's good, but sometimes it gets a bit slow, so I can either read half a book in a day, or half a chapter in 3 months lol

((People with mental abilities try to make themselves a place in a healing world full of hostile beliefs))

But that's the main book I'm consciously learning prose from, and also how to incorporate in-character knowledge of their world and circumstances.

It will be very fun and informative to see where I stand when I write more different parts of Shifting Phases :)

Generally though, aside from assessing the quality, I don't tend to think about my writing, I daydream the tastiest scenes, the blorbos, and AUs ^-^'

And then I go and enjoy the bits I have already written lmaooo

Because above everything else, I write for me :3c

#emc answers asks #ask game #ask #answered ask #Warriors by Erin Hunter #The Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody #Shifting Phases

1 note · View note

serological · 3 years

Text

Serological - ‘The Final Word’

It ends, how it began.

--------

Izuku Midoriya, Quirkless, is watching a television. On the screen is a Hero, defying the odds as a wicked and deranged Villain spouts some nonsense speech.

However, things have changed.

Midoriya has tasted the power that Quirks can bring- he’s stepped into the Pro-Hero world, and hopefully changed it for the better. He had finally, permanently defeated the villain that almost killed his idol All-Might. All-For-One was beaten and powerless, and so was Midoriya. Even as he sits in his hospital bed, covered in bandages and stitches, Izuku isn’t sad that One-For-All is destroyed. It gave him the chance that he never would have ‘had- for a brief, glorious moment, Izuku was the Number-One Hero. It makes sense- the metaphorical scales have been balanced, and Quirks of that potential are far too dangerous and chaotic for society to have access to.

The villain on the screen, however, is Tomura Shigaraki. His League of Villains has dissolved. The PLF was utterly routed and ‘crushed between the defenders of U.A, and the Pro-Heroes led by Endeavour. Tomura’s own mentor is now as Quirkless as Midoriya himself now-is, and all of his dreams of overthrowing modern society lies in tatters. He might have lost the All-For-One Quirk (as a consequence of his mentor’s defeat), but Shigaraki incredible control over his innate Decay still made him a terrifying threat.

On the television, broadcasting all across Japan, Shigaraki is making one final gamble. In his arms, so close to disintegration, he holds the trembling form of Eri. Scared, helpless, and vulnerable. No Mirio to save her, no Aizawa to protect her. She’s back to the way she was, with Overhaul, and something resembling unbridled rage ‘stirs in Izuku’s battered body.

“If Izuku Midoriya does not present himself to my agents, I’ll-” “-You’ll what?”

The cameraman ‘swung-around to the sudden sound of the intruder’s voice, and to the horror of the onlookers from Class 1-A, stands Hanta Sero, helmet-less. His gaze is firmly set upon Tomura, and it doesn’t shift; like a Wild-West gunslinger spying his rival, it’s like seeing Hanta’s entire world become focussed to the ‘eye of a needle. Midoriya knows that look well- he felt the same ‘way, when he faced All-For-One.

Tomura narrows his eyes, and tosses Eri away. The villain looks the hero up-and-down, and chews at the cracked skin of his lip.

“...You aren’t Izuku Midoriya. How did you find this location?” “You spot an unmarked van without a license plate ‘snatch a little girl away from her guardian? You give-chase.” Shigaraki steps down from his makeshift stage, and moves in-front of Sero, about a few ‘feet away from . “You’re that tape guy, right? I expected Bakugo, or All-Might, or Eraserhead might try and stop me. I don’t even know who you are.” Sero smirks, and spreads his hands wide. He’s feigning cockiness, trying to get under the villain’s skin. “Disappointed?” Shigaraki’s eyes ‘flash with irritation. “...You bringing any other Pro-Hero’s, tape guy? You wouldn’t be stupid enough to face me alone, surely. You know what I’m capable of.”

Sero knows, Midoriya thinks. They all did. They knew all about his hate, his malice, his cunning, his power. Shigaraki might not have All-For-One’s experience, but he had the fury and destructive potential to back it ‘up.

Shigaraki’s face twists into a psychotic grin, as he tear’s away the hand covering his face. “I mean, seriously?! Of all the Heroes that this wasted, crumbling, toothless society has-left, they send a mere NOBODY to deal with the greatest Villain to-?!”

Suddenly, a laugh interrupts Tomura’s speech. The camera moves back, and sure enough, Hanta Sero is laughing like a child on live national television. This moment of horror, of tension, and of fear, is totally overshadowed by this sudden outburst of hilarity from the ‘Hero’ of this strange broadcast.

“Are you kidding me?! Pfffft, hahaha! Oh, you must be some kind of comedian, man-!” Tomura blinks, and stops smiling. “...W-What are you talking about? Stop that. Stop laughing- what-?” Hanta’s familiar, broad-tooth grin returns, at-last, and points at Shigaraki as he continues to laugh like a ‘fool.

“Ha-Ha! Do you really think, that YOU are the greatest Villain of all-time?!”

Shigaraki’s confusion is replaced by rage, and the villain grits his teeth as Sero continues to laugh his ‘ass off, before turning his joy to the camera.

“Hey, guys at home- can you believe this guy? He should try standup or something-!” “Stop it... what are you-” “Nah, I think that Stain guy was the scariest, don’t you? Man, that guy was crazy, but he sure-was a great villain, huh? Ha, hey, do you all at home remember that ‘Dabi’ character? Y’know, I think he had the makings of a REAL villain...!”

Something instantly clicks in Izuku’s mind, even as his confused classmates look with concern at the televison. Sero knows he can’t beat Shigaraki in a one-on-one fight. If they fought on equal footing, he’d lose to the villain. No... this whole ‘mocking’ gambit is an act. The one ‘thing that nobody ever did to Shigaraki’s face, is the one thing that’s working on both confusing and dislodging him. After all, Tomura thinks that he’s the one on the top. The destined villain, bred to destroy the society raised by All-Might’s earliest work.

A smile breaks-out across Izuku’s bruised face, remembered how entranced he was as a kid whenever he saw All-Might smiling on the television. A Hero’s smile can go a long-way for the scared masses watching at home... and if there’s one thing that Sero has over everyone else in 1-A, it’s that he’s always smiling about something.

Shigaraki finally sees that he’s being upstaged on his own twisted television show, and lunges towards Sero, but the student just ‘dances out of the way. The cameraman struggles to follow this strange dance around the room: Tomura lunges, Hanta dodges. Tomura dives forward, and Hanta flips backwards.

Eventually, Sero spies a pattern through these wild and aimless lunges, and begins to put on a show for the struggling cameraman: a ballerina’s prancing-pirouette ‘here, or a series of backflips ‘there. In one instance, he manages to slap some ultra-smooth tape on the soles of his feet, and proceeds to skate around the room like a figure-skater.

“Man, come on, Shiggie, I thought you were meant to be good at chasing Heroes!” “COME BACK HERE AND LET ME KILL YOU!” “Oh, that’s not very sporting! The audience at home would be heartbroken if I made things easier for you~” “GAHHH, BE QUIET YOU WORTHLESS INSECT-!” “Man, for someone who’s appearing on national TV, your scriptwriter is so generic. I’ve heard better ‘lines from Dynamight! Here, let me help you out-!”

Suddenly, a line of tape launches up towards the ceiling, and Sero begins to swing around the large warehouse, with the same level of ‘showmanship he had shown beforehand. He then ‘arcs in middair, increases his speed, and slams both of his feet ‘downwards into Shigaraki’s face. Tomura lets out a gasp of pain, and tries to grab for Sero’s ankles, but the hero is too-fast, already swinging back into the air!

“Anyway, Shigaraki, I have to be honest with you...”

Hanta swings down towards the ground, and onto the raised dais that previously served as the villain’s makeshift ‘stage’ for his televised address. A broad arm wraps around Eri’s midsection, scooping the girl up before he soars back-up into the ‘rafters. Shigaraki grits his teeth, glaring-up at Sero’s still-smiling face as the hero holds Eri against his chest. With his spare hand, Sero reaches into his back-pocket, and pulls out his mobile phone.

“...You aren’t the ‘Number One Villain’, anymore. Heh, if anything, I think this little fight of ours have proven one-thing: that the fear you once projected, is now only an act. You’re no more terrifying than a mugger, or a common crook. After all, if a ‘nobody’ like me can mock you, outmanoeuvre you, save your hostage and ruin your broadcast-”

One of the warehouse walls explodes, and Izuku smiles as he sees the battle-worn but imposing figures of Eraserhead, Endeavour, Snipe and Thirteen standing in the smouldering hole.

“-Imagine what they can do to you?” Hanta finishes. He fires a line of tape at the camera, dragging it’s focus away from the enraged Shigaraki and the advancing Pro-Heroes. Sero then stares into the camera-lense for a moment, and his gaze shifts over the floor for a moment, as Eri shivers against his shoulder.

Izuku holds his breath, and the pause is unbearable.

Then, the young man on the screen gives another toothy grin to the watching audience, and a sly, oh-so-familiar ‘wink.

“Have No Fear.”

The feed then cuts-out, and is reduced to static. Normal programming resumes, as the newscaster scrambles to retain some facet of professionalism on-air.

But Izuku had seen enough. He leans back into his hospital bed, closes his eyes, and finally allows himself to take a breath.

Eri is safe, Shigaraki will be placed into Tartarus, and Sero saved the day. Down the hall, the cheers of the doctors and nurses could be heard, but Izuku only sighed with relief, and rolls his head back against the cushion.

His mind wanders-back, to when he was never ‘Deku’, but the Quirkless and shunned Izuku Midoriya. He remembers one of the first questions he ever asked All-Might. At the time, he couldn’t even imagine how much it would change his fate.

‘Can someone without a Quirk, become a Hero?’

--------

It ends, how it began.

15 notes · View notes

cazimagines · 3 years

Text

After seeing @toobruhlforschool post the article, I had to translate it!

English translation by google translate below the cut

Daniel Brühl tried for the first time as a director - and he succeeds very well. His debut “next door” (in theaters July 15th) is full of black humor about how embarrassing, tricky and exhausting it can be to be a famous actor. Especially when you meet a neighbor in the corner bar in a Berlin neighborhood, played by Peter Kurth , who obviously hates you. The story is based on Brühl's idea, and very vaguely on his own experiences, from which the writer Daniel Kehlmann draws("Measuring the World") has made a script in which the price of fame is demonstrated with relish. In addition, allusions to Daniel Brühl himself are hidden in the film, who not only directed the film, but also plays the protagonist, a famous actor, in “next door”. Brühl, who last worked in the international Marvel series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” , speaks in an interview about what made him decide to make this story into a film and how to approach such a project.

Interview with Daniel Brühl: About the price of being in public and the success of projects

Mr. Brühl, in your directorial debut you investigate the price a successful actor pays for being in public. Why did you want to do this film?

One topic I've always been interested in is gentrification. The initial spark was an observation I made in Barcelona. That was about ten years ago. I moved to the city for a while. That made me very proud, because I've always felt very connected to Barcelona, I was born there and finally wanted to say: “I'm a Barcelonian now”.

Instead, did you attract attention because the actor Daniel Brühl was recognized?

No, I just acted very silly, always walking through the streets with my key fob to show that I don't live in a hotel, I'm from here now, then I always talked loudly to the people in the market where Street, via FC Barcelona et cetera. Then I always enjoyed going to such a lunch spot and one day there was a crusher in front of me, such a real edge, and looked at me piercingly without blinking. Forever long. Like Clint Eastwood.

Just like in your film a man from the neighborhood, played by Peter Kurth, who takes on an actor who is very similar to you.

Yes, with the man in Barcelona back then, I immediately felt that he couldn't take me. As I sit there with my trolley suitcase, just flown in from Berlin. The jet set that somehow rattles around loudly with the waiters, makes each other mean and wants to please. That totally exposed me. Then my imagination started. I thought it was a scaffolding builder who had been able to look into our apartment from a construction site for months and now wants to confront me with everything he knows about me.

How do you relate this story to gentrification?

There is such a constant feeling that you are not to blame for gentrification but are part of the process. I've been dealing with this since I've lived in Berlin and I noticed it again in Barcelona. Then the mind game started that an actor, someone who is in public, offers a completely different surface to attack.

How do you translate that feeling into a project?

I enjoyed the way such a person was approached in a masochistic way. As he is told, “I found your film poop. I think you shit as an actor. " Then I moved the story to Berlin, the East-West topic was added, but at some point I realized that I couldn't write it alone and approached Daniel Kehlmann. He could do something with it immediately. While we were writing we noticed how much more was there. That was around the time some public careers were collapsing. That was an interesting component, people who outwardly have perfect lives, whose careers are ruined by rumors that come out about them.

Which personalities are you thinking of?

Well, of course the case of Kevin Spacey, the very different case of Harvey Weinstein. There have been many cases, some of them based on real crimes. It became an interesting topic for me because I wanted to play someone who would completely lose himself in his career and then be held up in the mirror.

If so much of you went into the script, why is Daniel Kehlmann the only one who has the credit and you don't?

There are so many Daniels. At some point I just felt uncomfortable reading my name so often. In addition, Daniel Kehlmann did the most on the script. I couldn't have made the film without him. That a Kammerspiel (From what I learnt in my film studies, Kammerspiel is a certain type of German cinema) remains exciting for over 90 minutes depends on the dialogues and they mainly come from him. I was a sparring partner who fed him ideas.

You have had a veritable career as an actor for over 25 years, appearing in blockbusters and playing a leading role in an international Netflix series. Then that's a fundamental step in deciding whether to direct. How do you manage to take such a new path?

You can't take a quick shot. I've been waiting for the right time, but you can't let it pass. That's what happens when you're too scared, too respectful. At some point you have to trust yourself. Now that I've done it for the first time, my humility towards directing is even greater. I consciously wanted to do something small. I would not have believed myself capable of certain other substances. Then I would have the feeling that I am falling out.

How do you know that you are on the right track and that you can get started with a project?

If an idea remains interesting for you after long deliberation and reflection, and does not suddenly become stupid or boring, you can ask yourself whether this idea is reasonable, i.e. whether you trust yourself to implement it. I knew this was a world and that there were characters - I just know my way around that. If you are also lucky enough to be able to set up a good team, then you are on the right track. It is of course a total luxury that someone like Daniel Kehlmann has promised me to write this. Peter Kurth replied with a handwritten letter within 24 hours. We met and hugged in his local pub.

The role actors and actresses play in public is not only the topic of your film, but was also discussed in the course of the #allesdichtmachen campaign, a campaign against the measures taken by the federal government to contain the corona pandemic. Were you also asked about this?

I was actually not asked, but I know many of those involved. I wanted to stay out of this heated Shitstorm number and clarified that privately with those I know. I not only found the action unsuccessful, but also the counter-action excessive and absurd. I can see that in many areas at the moment, how quickly such a thermal rises, which is toxic. That's a bit of the theme of the film.

Then again quickly an easier topic: What is the most absurd thing that has ever happened to you as a public person?

Haha, a scene that also made it into the movie. In Barcelona a couple came up to me in a park, two blondes, with a camera in their hand. It was immediately clear to me that they were Germans and they wanted a photo with me. I instinctively put my arm around the woman. They were Swedes, of course, who didn't recognize me at all, but wanted me to take a photo of them. It was so embarrassing and even more terrible than in the film because then I started to explain in English “You know, I'm a famous actor…” The way they looked at me! Haha, that was one of those moments when you notice how you blush. Well then I think I could tell you about embarrassment for an hour.

#daniel bruehl #daniel bruhl #daniel brühl

33 notes · View notes