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evankinard · 1 year

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Buddie Secret Relationship Conspiracy Manifesto

Hello. Welcome to possibly the most delusional buddie theory yet. This is a collaboration with @swiftiebuckleys, and as such I would like to cite our sources accordingly: dude, trust us.

Okay so I know a lot of people have talked about the theory of buddie possibly being in a secret relationship that is even a secret from the audience during season 6. For me, this started during 6A. It started because I was thinking about how 601 started with such a poignant and domestic Buckley-Diaz family scene that, as a part of a premier that was meant to establish where the characters are after four months of hiatus, told us Buck, Eddie and Christopher are living in each other's pockets as their own little family at the start of the season (I even wrote about this in this meta I posted while 6a was airing lmao).

But then for the rest of 6A there really wasn't any significant on-screen buddie or Buckley-Diaz moments, even though there was plenty that was implied at, including: Buck and Eddie planning to go to Marisol's house to help with repairs without the rest of the firefam, Buck and Chris hanging out so Chris potentially telling Buck the secret about skipping school even though he didn't tell Eddie, Buck and Eddie sitting in the back of the waiting room together separate from the rest of the firefam while they waited for news about Karen, and Eddie giving Hoover to Buck and convincing him to keep him even though his building doesn't allow dogs. What do all but one of these moments have in common? They're moments where Buck and Eddie were either alone or away from anyone who would know them from the rest of the gang and wouldn't feel the need to hide their relationship. When at work, Buck and Eddie had a reasonably normal amount of on-screen interactions, but it was only their moments happening outside of work that was pushed to the off-screen. (Bonus: one on-screen 6A moment that lives in my head rent-free and screams of secret relationship is that shot of them stepping into frame together and holding eye contact while the song lyrics in the bg go "I want your sex and your affection when I'm holding you close" in 609.)

However, while this^ is all well and good, it's 6B that really gives the secret relationship theory its wings.

Episode 10 gave us the lightning strike with a sequence that was shot almost entirely from the perspective of Eddie. While in the initial aftermath of the strike we see the shock on Hen, Chimney, and Bobby's faces, the scene is in slow-motion and muted until Eddie realizes what's going on and we watch every minute facial expression on his face as the horror dawns and he snaps into action. Eddie's reaction is what sparks everyone else's movement and then we see him completely forgo his own injuries and his own safety to save Buck. In the secret relationship trope, the near-death experience is a lot of the time what forces the couple to blow their cover and reveal their relationship. That didn't happen here as buddie were already close enough to warrant the strength of Eddie's reaction and Buck was unresponsive and there wasn't any time to lose. HOWEVER, episode 11 and the absence of a scene with Eddie alone at Buck's bedside can be explained by the fact that he couldn't be shone there or his bedside confessions would have given them away to the audience. As it is, other than Margaret and Maddie, Buck's mother and sister, he's the only one dressed in all black, his composure crumbling and unable to make eye contact with Buck's body in the hospital bed, the perfect picture of a grieving widow.

Episode 12 has the infamous couch scene which is meant to signal to the audience that Eddie is the couch Buck has been searching for, even if Buck himself doesn't know it. However, in the context of the secret relationship theory, what if the total lack of reaction from Eddie about Buck falling asleep on his couch is because they already know this?

Episode 13 has the infamous poker scene and this is where the theory actually diverges for a lot of people. Going with the original theory that buddie have been together since before 6A, this would explain Buck's lack of reaction to Eddie telling him to get dressed up and taking him out on what is essentially a date - he wasn't surprised or suspicious because it wasn't unusual. If you go back and watch the scene, you'll notice that it opens right when Buck and Eddie are approaching the door and about to be in the presence of other firefighters, but initially they're walking away from a dark alley while fixing their clothes - why would they need to fix their clothes unless they got messed up in the first place? Why wouldn't they show us the before or after of the poker scene, why only the parts where they're in the presence of other people from the department? Plus, Eddie really was looking TOO blatantly hungry in that entire scene, and he wasn't really hiding it from Buck - maybe because he's allowed, and expected, to look. This isn't even to mention the scenes of Buck, Eddie, and Christopher being a family, but I will go back to those later.

Where this episode splits this theory is the alternate potential for them to have gotten together after the poker game (my initial post after the episode first came out.) This would have been the perfect opportunity because there's really no way that if they weren't already together, the thought that this might be a date hadn't crossed Buck's mind (and, again, Eddie really did look too fucking horny in that scene it wasn't something you could ignore.) The next outside of work scene we see the Buckley-Diaz' in is the baking scene with Buck and Christopher. Eddie's location is completely unknown - he could be on shift, he could be running errands, he could be with Pepa - but the fact that Buck and Chris are together and baking for his class and planning dinner really drives home the fact that they are a family once again. However, the easy confidence of Buck parenting Christopher and the way he glowed with happiness in that moment would make even more sense if he had had his place in the Diaz family as Eddie's partner and Christopher's other parent confirmed to him.

One way to possibly combine the two theories is if we assume that Buck and Eddie were actually fwb throughout 6A (an idea given to me by @captainragtag) but actually got together after the poker scene. ANOTHER way is if we assume they've only been fwb, even after the poker scene. Them being fwb would potentially explain some holes in the theory, moments where they should have had a bigger reaction to something or known something beforehand if they were in a relationship (kind of the sperm donor arc and Eddie's reaction, but that could also be explained by Eddie's lack of reaction being because he already knew and was just pretending to be finding out for the first time with everyone else.)

Going into episode 14, all of these theories could explain the *gestures vaguely* everything about Eddie's storyline in the episode. If they're hiding a relationship, the absence of any mentions of Buck when talking about Eddie (and Christopher) being alone would make sense, especially after how pointedly the previous episode showed that Eddie is always spending his free time with Buck, with or without Christopher. It would also explain Buck's extremely unsubtle date-ruining advice - either they're together and Buck just doesn't want Eddie to go on the date because he doesn't want to share even to keep up pretenses, or they're fwb and Buck is jealous and afraid to lose Eddie and their relationship if Eddie starts actually dating. Also, considering how many pure fanfic tropes the writers have used before, it's safe to assume they have at least a baseline knowledge of how buddie are written by fans and what's the first trope every fanfic reader in this fandom learns about? Christopher's first and foremost wingman duty is to pack his stuff and go to a sleepover so his dads can do unholy things to each other. Christopher being at a sleepover when Pepa told Eddie to come over and him insisting that he was alone at home when just last episode we saw buddie spending all their time off shift together is just a little too sus if you ask me. Another secret relationship moment in the episode is Eddie going for the wrong gear shift in his own car. He initially reached for the gear shift on the center console when that's not where it is in his truck. But do you know where the gear shift is in a jeep? I'll give you one guess. Do we know anyone who owns a jeep? I'll give you another guess. This would make total sense since we know Eddie is a passenger princess and Buck would be driving them everywhere if they were in a relationship. Even when Buck isn't the one driving, Eddie would be much more likely to borrow his car more often if they were in a relationship and basically living together.

If this all doesn't convince you, I would like to leave you with the reminder of a moment that I'm sure has haunted all of us since 614 came out:

Actors are always aware when they're on camera and even if they aren't, the dozens of production people, including the director, would be. Do with that what you will.

(If anyone has anything they'd like to add to this feel free to message me or send me an ask and I'll make edits! And, I mean, this is all just for fun not to be taken seriously, but if there is a point that you think really brings the theory down also feel free to send me an ask about that lets see if I can provide a suitable explanation.)

edit: another thing to keep in mind as pointed out by the brilliant @swiftiebuckleys is the precedent set by 606 "Tomorrow" for flashbacks showing the start of a relationship.

#I said dont raise your expectations too high and I stand by that but here it is #my web of conspiracy with the help support and delusions of friends #did i promise this yesterday? yes. did I also keep getting distracted and procrastinating it? you betcha.#911 fox #911 spoilers #buddie #evan buckley #eddie diaz #weewoo brainrot #that last tag really fits this one i cant defend myself here

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respectthepetty · 3 months

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Non is either dead, he's dead and now an evil spirit terrorizing the boys or he is alive and the main killer. Thai horror films leans heavily on ghosts and supernatural but the creators of DFF seemed to have also taken inspiration from western horror/slasher films like I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Blair Witch Project, Scream and Friday the 13th.

If they are following western horror tropes then the obvious killer(s) or accomplice(s) would be Phee, Tan or both. If that is the case then Jin is clearly the classic final girl.

White has no personal stakes at this point or role in the story. He would be a pretty underwhelming final girl because I think hes boring so far. He's either cannon fodder to be slashed or he only survives because the killer is defeated. I would love if they changed my mind but we are already on episode 8. So unless we get more backstory on White that seems to be where his storyline is headed. Tee has been the more interesting character of that duo.

If they actually want to "surprise" the audience then revealing White as the killer or an accomplice would be a cool twist.

Anon, have you realized that I'm being UNREASONABLE about Dead Friend Forever? You've seen my Wild Ass Theories, so you must know I'm losing my mind with my little whiteboard and red string trying to connect the dots, right?

I'm prepared for all outcomes because I'm unhinged about his show, but . . .

"I think [White's] boring so far"

White slander? In my inbox? On a Tuesday?!

White is either an innocent bystander like his name implies caught up in this fuckery because his boyfriend Tee SUCKS, or he is a killer whose big doe eyes and kind demeanor tricked all these boys into believing he was there for love and not for *murder*, but either way, White will survive.

White realized there was no cell service.

White found the walkie-talkie.

White got the walkie-talkie working.

White found the knife.

White found the gun.

White saw part of the video.

White keeps dragging Tee's ass back when Tee wants to run.

White saw a rash on his skin.

White didn't know Tee's uncle was going to jail.

White wasn't supposed to be there.

The boy is propelling this plot forward, and it could very well be because he is Non's brother and is lying about not knowing anything about Non or Tee's uncle, which is why he swindled his way onto this trip so he would be the least suspicious and take Tee's ass down!

But what keeps me stuck is he is actively dating Tee. White is having shower sex with a man who roped his brother into money laundering, watched him get beat up, and possibly left him for dead?! Is Non's brother actually that crazy?!

In my mind, Jin could be a killer before White! But Jin is being extra creepy about Non, and I think it is being easily dismissed. Too easily.

Jin keeps touching Non. Jin keeps staring at Non. Jin convinced Non to stay with his bullies. Jin took a video of Non and planned to upload it, so regardless if the upload happened or not, the boy is still not Final Gay status.

I have not liked Jin or Tee since the first episode. Tee told White he was being disobedient and Jin had too much attitude to be on a trip with his buddies. In the words of Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz, "if yo ass wanna act, then you can keep your ass where you at."

So if Jin was sooooo upset to be on this trip, why did he come? As a killer? Possibly. But as the past as shown us, Jin does what the group does. He might protest and make side comments, but Jin is always going to do what the group wants. That's not Final Gay behavior.

This is Jin's going away celebration, so he really could be a killer and planned this entire ordeal to get everyone back together before he kills them all and peaces out to America.

But at this point, I'm completely biased.

Jin is my #1 enemy

Tee needs to die by White's hands

Tan and Phi are in this together

Non is alive

White will be the Final Gay because Phi and Tan wouldn't take out an innocent boy who wasn't even supposed to be there

And I'm quickly losing my mind

White lives.

Or else.

#dead friend forever #dead friend forever the series #Wild Theories #I have theories for days #and they only get wilder #but why do y'all keep asking me about them #I'm being unreasonable #I cannot see the light #because I don't want to #White will live #or else!

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angellic-critique · 4 months

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Honestly my biggest fear is to end up writing my characters the same way vivzie does, I feel like she doesn't even try on certain characters(female characters and literally any other that isn't her "uwu baby boi must be protected at all costs" characters like stolas, angel dust). Like imagine completely missing the point of your own character/srs

to everyone pre-release worries and anxieties just as much as I have-- Please take this time to read or explore different interests of books or authors of subjects and genres you like ! In the era of internet where the golden age of information is rusting into brainrot, the less time online anymore the better. I've been taking javascript/python tutorials for myself attempting to make a dating simulator for literal years at this point and its bounced around to the point of where I branched off to develop my own murder mystery 2-d sidescroller !

I wish for this to be a farewell letter to the crushed hopes and dreams I had for the original hazbin pilot and crew has moved on to other things whereas viv attempted to spitefully keep a story she clearly doesn't have any passion over- it is very evident over her lack of care for her own characters purely for the monetary gains of attempting and sadly wriggling her way into industry the way she did is so abhorrent to the world of genuine art and animation I grew up with.

Has Vivzie ever read a Felix the Cat comic strip or Dilbert even Hägar The Horrible? Does she even know about the history and strive of depth that animation has been at for hundreds of years? Does she even like comics, clearly not if she doesn't even have the patience to write her own and horribly rush whichever story she's interested in that day. I've never seen a careless writer be this selfishly unashamed to write literal garbage and surface level 'intrigue' of design and then falling flat face first at EVERY step. Hope she becomes as unbearable of a director as John K. is because honestly even though I'm cringing making that comparison, it's pretty fair in my book considering the outright ABUSE she has always trying to talk or hoard artists into her 'pet project' I recommend above anything else to watch Dan Stamanolous' 'Moral Orel' if you want an actually funny dark comedy or Christy Karacas' fast paced dark horror comic-come-to-life Superjail! for good animattion that doesn't belittle its audience... *[Trigger Warnings for Adult Swim-esque outdated 2007 humor and light transphobia, read for your own triggers if you dont want to though, please!]

The fact that Stollitz is written so flimsily like a wattpad fanficiton of tropes rolled into one is astounding to me, I used to like the dynamic pre-season 2 as I've mentioned on here and @tired-hellowl so I really don't want to get a headache going into how I USED to like it-Realizing the problematic consent issues all of STOLASS is, I physically cannot watch another Helluva or Hazbin promo anymore without rolling my eyes into the back of my head.

To the anons and people who used to also enjoy vivs work, there are other artists and there are other stories to tell. If you wish to be inspired from Dante's Inferno/Hell or WESTERN CHRISTIAN BASED RELIGION keep in mind what source material you're doing because I don't even think vivzie has picked up the bible once in her life.... And I say this as a drifter in the world who believes in reincarnation I don't really vibe with the athiest stereotypes however, I don't believe in most religion but more power to people that do get hope and love from their teachings and cultures.

She entirely missed the mark for several years, nearly a decade. Viv has had time and time again chance and opportunity to give a chance of storytelling with demons and what does she do? Adult Cartoon that has the demons scream 'FUCK SHIT DAMNIT DAMNIT LOOK IM SO HORNY AND SILLY AND WACKY WOAHH THE SCREEN IS CONSTANTLY MOVING YOU CAN NEVER HAVE A SECOND TO BREATH IN ANY AMOUNT OF WORLBUILDING OR SETTING BECAUSE FUCK. YOU.'--

I have said this time and time again- there is no substance or worth about Helluva Bosses or Hazbins writing, even without the show not being released because Amazon seems ashamed about it, I know it'll be a shitshow.

Honestly at this point I agree with the redesign community, take any character you used to like and rewrite them until it's unrecognizable from the original source material, let those fuckers in space fight alien pirates or hell take them out of the heaven and hell trope and just flip it on it's head entirely out of earth or wherever you want to set your story! I'm personally redesigning angel to be a slight aid to my addiction help via rewriting him into my murder mystery heheh while keeping the sexual abuse and recovery in mind because woah that shit happened to me too man !!!

I wish the best to any future writers, animators, programmers, lovers of animation or art, you can do what you put your mind and hands to! Spread more positivity and love then hate in this world please guys, this'll be the last time I pop in I promise I'm trying to get a better job and hopefully get accepted in a community college that i've been on the fence over trying to do more online coding ! The sky is the limit!<3

#anti vivziepop #trash askbox #helluva critical #i dont want to be mean in the tags and overtag like i usually do #however #vivziepop critical #please stop supporting spindlehorse #please stop supporting vivziepop #anti helluva boss #genuine art criticism #genuine art tip box #<3 signing off #!!! <3 #my.silley.art

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unexpectedgeese · 1 year

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I’ve been thinking about how ORV is like, 100% made to help teenagers like KDJ cope with the Horrors. The prose, the tropes in the beginning, the length of it, the themes– All of it!

Those first three are simple, and I already lost a draft of this to the Tumblr gods, so I’ll keep it quick.

PROSE: as @kimdokja pointed out in a post a while back, ORV sits firmly at the reading level of your average high schooler. This is intentional; It’s a story for those highschoolers, so it stays simple so it doesn’t alienate anyone.

TROPES: I’m pretty sure someone’s already talked about how ORV sets the stage up in the beginning so it can subvert itself later– that’s not what I’m here to say. I’m here to point out how ORV HARDCORE presents itself as a power fantasy. In the beginning, Kim Dokja’s the archetypal power fantasy self-insert character. He’s got a purposefully vague appearance, a cold and ruthless demeanor in the early scenarios (don’t say otherwise, I’ve SEEN the comments on the webtoon), and the world’s most overpowered cheat of knowing everything ever.

The length, too, plays a big part in this. By giving us 500-some odd chapters of story, Sing-Shong is letting the reader engage with ORV’s themes over time, cloaking them in Cool Scenes to make the experience fun as well as helpful– and they’re giving their audience an escape from the real world, which!! Is both what KDJ had in WoS, and!!! When paired with the book’s later conclusion of ‘books great, but real world also great’, is a really gentle way of getting the audience to not Kim Dokja themselves into inexistance!

The Prose, the Tropes, and the Length are all the ‘how’ of it: ORV uses them to attract their target audience and keep that audience engaged.

But… What’s that? It’s the Themes, coming in wiTH A STEEL CHAIR?!?!??!

That’s right! The themes of ORV. We’ve talked about these a LOT in the ORV community. But today, I have a different thesis on them:

*Almost every single one of ORV’s themes is hand-tailored to help struggling teenagers.*

(read more, bc this post boutta be LONG.)

If you try, you can point out a lot of examples of this!

The idea of people being able to do bad things without being a bad person, for example, is something I personally really needed to hear when I was younger. And KDJ’s character development from being this closed off non-character to letting down his walls, making friends, and giving a shit about his own life is a really strong argument for the reader doing the same, made all the stronger by its focus on what was originally an emotionless self-insert for the reader. The importance of reaching out across boundaries is a big argument for asking people for help/making friends, etc. etc– I could do this all day.

But my favorite example of this is KDJ’s relationship with WoS. Because it manages to stress the importance of livin through more than just stories without, in any way, vilifying the readers who use them to cope, by portraying stories as both important (you can understand things from new angles, feel new things, cope with reality) and ultimately limiting (you can’t understand someone fully from just reading about them, in order to be loved you need to be seen, reading together > reading alone, KDJ taking down his walls, etc.).

And it’s just like… MAN. This really is a story written for just that one reader (you)...

#orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #hope this makes sense..#and that nobody's already made this post #my posts #i could talk abt this soo much more too

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shepherds-of-haven · 9 months

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Hi Lena! I hope your week has been pleasant thus far!

I’m not sure if this question has already been asked yet, but what kind of characters would the ROs be in a horror movie? Like, who’s the cynical character that doesn’t believe the monster is real, the cocky guy who is all like “yeah I can beat this idiot no problem”, the “survivor” character that shows up later in the movie to help the main cast, etc.

Sorry if this question doesn’t really make any sense, feel free to ignore this is you want! 😅

Hi there, I sort of answered this question in various different ways--I'd recommend checking out the Halloween horror masterpost, which has a few different horror AUs!--but I didn't really specify what "tropes" the characters might fall into, so here goes!

Blade: I'd think he's the leader character who tries to give everyone the best chances of survival by directing them to defend themselves and makes you feel safe with his presence (you know, like the older brother who was in the military or the super strong athlete boyfriend or the hyper-competent neighbor with a mysterious set of skills or what have you), but then he has to leave the group because he stands the best chance of getting help (thus removing the comfort of his presence and rocketing up the anxiety of the film); he probably gets "killed" by the killer in a jumpscare and is knocked out and left for dead for most of the movie, then shows up all bloodied to stab the killer in the back at the last minute when the audience thought he was dead! So he survives, but he's pretty heavily injured and the rest of the group has to help him make it out

Trouble: he's full of confident bravado, like "you know what? *grabs kitchen knife* fuck this guy, I can take him! he can't get all of us!!" *immediately gets killed* or *power goes out* *in an effort to reassure the group* "don't worry guys, I'll go out there by myself to check the circuit box, nothing could go wrong!" Or he's the guy who "sacrifices" himself so the rest of the group can get away, potentially with the surprise ending of coming back with the police to arrest the killer and finding him alive after all! So he has a very low chance of survival, but he might live depending on how things shake out!

Tallys: she has final girl energy for sure, she's the one hearing Trouble offering to go outside in the storm alone and is savvy enough to be like "mm-mm. nope. we're not doing that. not today!" She's the one who doesn't seem like she's doing much throughout the movie as all the people are getting picked off, but then you see her doing really clever things like rigging booby traps or hiding under a bed so she can stab the killer in a foot or something crazy like that. Her self-preservation instincts and cunning definitely means she's going to make it through to the end: whether she's the lone survivor or if her skills guided the group to safety after Blade and Trouble got taken out just depends on what type of movie we're watching, lol!

Shery: sadly, she has helpless victim energy where she's so terrified and unskilled that someone (like Trouble) might first die defending her, making the audience frustrated, and then she might end up dying as well! Or she might end up just hiding away somewhere, not able to contribute but not dying, either! ...But yeah, she has sweet, innocent, sacrificial lamb energy, so she might die just to show the audience how wicked the villain truly is 😭

Riel: he's the skeptic of the group, he's the one who refuses to believe that anything supernatural is going on, he's the logician who flatly says, "this can't be happening. there has to be some other explanation." I feel like those types of people generally die in horror movies, so he's probably dead, but if we're not going by horror movie rules, he's probably smart enough to outwit the killer/supernatural threat if he can break through his own disbelief and actually start scheming against it! If it's like a monster or something like that, he stands a good chance, but if it's a demon or a ghost, he's probably dead 😵

Chase: he's the comic relief, he's the one keeping the morale group high, he's the clown who seems largely unfazed by what's happening but is skilled and capable enough to help defend the group. I feel like those types stand a solid 50/50 chance in most horror movies, where if they're minor characters, they'll definitely die, but if they're major members of the cast, they end up being one of the heroes of the story because the audience is fond of and rooting for them. Given Chase's uncanny ability to survive most things life throws at him, however improbable, I think he's one of the last ones standing, kind of like in Cabin in the Woods!

Red: he's the source of information, the smart one who's providing everyone with the backstory/information/mythology of the killer/threat. The guy who's been researching local anthropology in the area and just happens to have extensive knowledge of "that one serial killer in the 80s who [insert backstory] here." He might lack the common sense or hard survival instincts of a Tallys or a Blade, but he stands a good chance of surviving so long as no one sends him off by himself! If he's caught out alone, he's 100% a goner 😔

Ayla: she has like "batshit final girl" energy, the member of the group who seems sullen and withdrawn at a party and strangers are like, "what's her deal?" and there's some backstory or implied allusion to her dark past where she survived being kidnapped by Jigsaw or her parents were killed by a serial killer or something like that, and you think it's all speculation until someone starts killing people off and she's already in the corner sticking nails in a bat or busting out the chainsaw saying grimly, "Not like this. Not again." She stands a very good chance of survival so long as her trauma doesn't make her act reckless and the killer doesn't outsmart her by digging a booby trap or something!

Briony: I feel like she either has badass final girl energy or the energy of someone who vastly underestimates her opponent, like I could see her taking charge after some of the others get taken out and is like, "Don't worry guys, I've taken tae kwon do for ten years!" and she just is like not really processing the level of depravity that is going on and just gets annihilated, or she's the one keeping the group together and like plows the killer down with a car in the chaos or something like that. If Shery causes anyone to die to protect her, though, it's definitely going to be her BFF Briony 😭

Lavinet: this is not who Lavinet is in real life, but in a horror movie AU I could definitely see her being cast as the pretty, popular, spoiled rich girl who gets gruesomely murdered first lol... realistically in her "real life" persona I definitely think she'd be a final girl, almost to the point of prioritizing her own survival over someone else's, but in horror movie trope standards I think she'd be the one making out with some random jock in the car outside before the killer pops up in the backseat and then you cut to the characters walking outside and finding the car on, idling, with the windows covered in blood 😭

Halek: he is absent/sleeps through the majority of the spooky stuff (or, like, he's the guy you see at the beginning of the movie who can't go on the trip to the haunted cabin because he has to work or some bullshit and you sort of forget he's a part of the cast but then he shows up to save the day at the end because he felt like something was off when no one was answering his text messages)! He's sort of baffled when everyone piles into his car screaming bloody murder and can't relate to their ✨ trauma ✨ but at least he saved them!

#Shepherds of Haven #horror #horror movie AU #AU #all characters #Caine is someone's little brother and should be kept far away from these events unless it's a paranormal thing #and he's the one who keeps talking to his “imaginary friend” lol #but those kids pretty much always live so he's okay!

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moonlightpeddler · 4 days

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Demo out

Demo

[Current word count without code: 11465 with two branches]

Life is unpredictable.

You have just been to your first party, with hope for a different, better, and more social future, but instead of waking up with a hangover, you wake up 13 months of coma later, severely ill and with no chance to build the life you wanted to live.

Confined at home, confined to the night by your medication, deprived of outside contact to keep stress away from you, and with food that tastes like iron, all you have is your loving family and the small village they have moved to during your long sleep.

The house is old, dilapidated, the neighbours unfriendly and distant, looking at you with strange eyes, whispering whenever you see them, treating you like your illness is contagious.

But why has your family never taken you to the hospital for a checkup? Since when do hospital doctors make frequent home visits, and only when their patient isn’t conscious?

What would happen if you open the curtains they tell you to keep closed?

The game is intended for a mature audience.

Blood

Violence

Self-harm (for a reason)

Murder

Assault

Brainwashing

Dysfunctional relationships

Co-dependency

Death

And many more.

Depending on the route you take, Cailean, your character, can not be said to be an innocent or good person, please make sure that you are okay with playing a non-human MC who might act accordingly.

Mending Yesterday pairs folk believes, old elements, and lore from different media, with Vampyr lifestyle to create a modern portrayal of vampires that retains the classic feel yet gives it a more down-to-earth presentation.

You take the place of an established character and turn the tale into your very own, form the adventure and how the protagonist faces his new reality.

Will you change Cailean’s behaviour over the course of the story, develop a new personality for your new life, or will you cling to your old self despite the consequences it could have?

Will you keep to yourself and your loved ones, build something new to spend your long life, or get involved in a struggle that isn’t yours? How will others see you, who are your friends and foes? Do you stick to those who are seemingly safe, or will you place your own judgement?

The game doesn’t give you an overpowered protagonist, you aren’t the chosen one, won’t save the world or change it in any meaningful way.

You are just a 19-year-old young man being in the wrong place at the wrong time, all you can do is live your own life that, in the grand scheme of eternity, is nothing but a fleeting picture.

Taking place in a fictional village in Ireland, the game takes a step away from the Urban-Vampire trope and focuses on dynamics commonly found in, very, rural places.

While I have abstained from using phonetics to make it easier for people not familiar with the country, selected sayings and use of words have been kept to preserve the feeling.

Mending Yesterday is most and foremost a horror-drama, character-driven and story-heavy, not a dating game. The only romantic candidate (male) is a central character and the relationship with him greatly influences the plot instead of being flavour or a sidenote; you can stay distant, friendly, close or even loving, all four options significantly shape your personal story.

Being a family-person, you will have to keep an eye on your parents and brother, how you react to the changes in your life, respond to situations, and how you treat them has a direct impact on how your adventure will go.

A character and relationship focused narrative requires you to think twice about how you interact with others, pay attention not only to yourself but those you meet, decide wisely about how to treat them and with whom you want to be close with.

There are relationship-stats you can and should check regularly, for they keep track not only of your bonds but could give you valuable information, yet they won’t ever tell you clearly what they mean.

Just like in real life, people aren’t open books.

Every choice you have to make is meaningful, it either changes or determines something important; you won’t be continuously prompted to make decisions. The game doesn’t bother with flavour.

Routes are roughly equally long, with several endings dedicated players can try to find.

Prologue

Cailean Morrison, whose place you take, is a 19-year-old geriatric-psychology freshman. Calm, quiet, and slightly distant, he was never good at making connections and even worse at maintaining them. He loves his family above all else, has a good heart, and is very fond of older folks.

James Morrison, Cailean’s father, 46 years old, family lawyer. He’s a sensible, somewhat emotional person, bad at dealing with negative experiences, and generally a kind soul.

Aileen Morrison, Cailean’s mother, 44 years old, elementary school teacher. While she loves her family and students, she can be very strict and vengeful, knows how to stay calm in difficult situations, and often keeps her emotions to herself.

Alfred Morrison, Cailean’s brother, 24 years old, investment banker. Although he was wild in his youth, he’s hardworking and cunning, and while usually perceived as friendly, he has well-hidden sharp edges and a ruthless nature.

Choices will determine which talent you are proficient in, while some increases might be obvious, others are hidden behind story-progression.

You can’t fail skill-checks, instead they will change the story depending either on which talent you are most versed in, or if you are generally lacking - and they might have an impact on how other characters feel about you.

The game is in active development. Planed additions include more visual elements, incidental music, and a compendium that tracks information the player has found (coming in the Chapter 1 update). As a solo dev who does everything by himself, music and visuals are not my priority and will be included only in major updates.

#twine game #interactive fiction #twine wip #twine if #Mending Yesterday

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talenlee · 5 months

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So I hear that you have some things to say about the whole “it was all a dream” trope. I’ve received some additional context on it from other people but I would also like to hear your opinion.

On their own they're not inherently bad things. But the problem they represent tends to be one about them being unsatisfying explanations for the story up to that point.

See, we know dreams are nonsense and we know stories are fictional, but stories are much harder to make than dreams, because dreams don't have to make sense. A dream can make a lot of sense of a story (check out Jacob's Ladder for a generally-praised version of the trope), but a story in most cases works on establishing premises then demonstrating them later; that's how characters can surprise you, because they establish the way they are at one point, and then do something you weren't expecting based on that establishment, but because they are meant to represent people with whole inner lives, the difference in behaviour makes you ask 'hey, why did they do things differently?'

If it's a dream, the answer to everything is just ''cos it's a dream.'

Dreams are also used as a common 'get out' clause for horror or disaster scenarios, where a story presents a terrible situation and the narrative then abruptly ends with 'don't worry about all of that, though' which can make it feel like the author didn't know how or didn't care about how they could resolve that story or what it says. It was a super common thing in fanfiction the early 00s, by my memory, where authors would make these long serialised stories, get criticised for how bad they were or what wasn't making sense, and then in the last 'chapter' reveal it was All Just A Dream, so don't you look silly for thinking it was bad, audience?

It's not like you can't use dreams well! It's just there are lots and lots of ways they can be used badly, and 'all just a dream' stories often don't use the dreamness to express anything as much as they build up to 'nuh uh'.

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authoralexharvey · 1 year

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INTERVIEW WITH A WRITEBLR — @red-the-dragon-writes

Who You Are:

Red Dragon || Ne/nem/nir

I'm a 22-year-old Queer writer who loves horror. I've been writing stories since I was a little kid and come from a family of aspiring authors (all the way up through my grandparents!) I enjoy working in a deliberately stripped-down style featuring a narratively close third person limited point of view featuring an opinionated narrator, untrustworthy characters, and limited description.

What You Write:

What genres do you write in? What age ranges do you write for?

Action, comedy, fanfic, fantasy, horror, psychological, sci-fi, thriller, tragedy. New adult and adult.

What genre would you write in for the rest of your life, if you could? What about that genre appeals to you?

Can I say "horror fusion" haha? It would have to be horror. I really love getting to pull reactions out of my readers, and horror also lets me push the boundaries of what I've ever seen in fiction before without shying away from how what is new or unusual can also be uniquely unsettling. Plus- no one ever expects horror protagonists to be smart, and I like the lack of pressure required to just write characters being stupid, whereas in a traditional mystery or action story usually the main cast is intended to be smarter and cooler than the reader. I delight in using dramatic irony to build reveals up in such a way that the audience knows before the main characters do, and that works best in horror where it allows me to drive up the tension as well. However, in my actual writing, I like to fuse horror with comedy or mystery or some other genre to make it a little more fun. Horror- in my experience, at least- hits hardest when you can get the reader to laugh a couple times.

What genre/s will you not write unless you HAVE to? What about that genre turns you off?

I definitely don't like "genre"/happily-ever-after romance. I'm pretty firmly aromantic, and at this point in my life I find romance to be almost painfully boring. I find it really hard to write a romance as my central driver of plot, and even moreso when it's a normal romance without either action-adventure or horror elements.

Who is your target audience? Do you think anyone outside of that would get anything out of your works?

I'm not sure I have a "real" target audience. I primarily write fanfiction at the moment while I overhaul my original work ideas, so that's a start- people who like Transformers. A lot of my work deals with adult topics like sex and abuse or coercion, so my audience is also above the age of 18 and comfortable reading about that, or at least interested in some way. And from there... I'm not sure. Fans of black comedy who like to watch characters experience awful torment, I suppose. I find that a lot of stories in the same general vein as what I do tend to "shy away" from the edge or otherwise try to soften what they're writing about somewhat, and I'd rather lean into whatever I'm writing. Like a car crash, or something. If other people are talking about fenderbenders, I'm going to go the full nine yards and write about totalling both vehicles demolition-derby style. In conclusion, I guess I'm aiming for a specific part of the Transformers fandom, wherein instead of reading light-hearted stories they want something worse, but at the same time hardcore angst where the character never gets a break and it's all very miserable just isn't striking a believable chord, or they want the characters involved to have a little more agency over their life than just being the Character Things Happen To.

What kind of themes do you tend to focus on? What kinds of tropes? What about them appeals to you?

I like themes of power, coercion and control, as well as themes of petty rebellion slowly shaking off the yoke of someone else's coercion or control. I think nearly everyone in their life has experience with some authority figure that wanted them to do things that would have either been harmful or counterproductive, and I'm no different. While I typically turn this up to eleven in my writing, it's definitely coming from a place of personal experience- if not with the topic, then at least with the concept. I also really like themes of family - not necessarily good or bad, but always flawed in some kind of way. And I really enjoy playing with ideas that violate "the sanctity of the mind" in some way, whether it be mind-reading, spells or coding tricks to get into your mind and force you to behave differently, or having to share a body and essentially just be a mind working with multiple people to do anything. I just really like making characters work around problems that real people only vaguely experience, but are close enough to real life that the reader can have a frame of reference for it, and I think that shines through with all my favorite things.

What themes or tropes can you not stand? What about them turn you off?

My least favorite trope is probably bodice-ripper-style "rape as seduction" like you find in classic romance novels and/or a "perfect victim" character that is only ever acted on and never gets a chance to stand up for themself. I understand it's something other people like or want to see, but defiance runs in my veins, and it always comes over as hugely unrealistic to me. At the end of the day, I want to watch characters struggle up toward the light, even if they fail in the end; if they just sit down and die- or, worse, decide they're okay with this after all- I'm always going to walk away unsatisfied. I'm also not fond of fantasy creatures that are inherently evil. From my pen name and username it's pretty clear I like dragons; I'm also fond of snakes, spiders, centipedes, jackals, and wasps. Animals are never inherently evil and people are even less inherently evil, because you're able to much more easily communicate with them. If the fantasy creatures are on the other side of an ideological divide, sure, but I really am not fond of "ogre instead of human" as shorthand for "100% evil villain we can never ever make peace with." If a character is being given the kind of intelligence you'd find on a human and some grasp of speech, I find it really frustrating when they're just Super Evil in search not of some goal that can be discussed but just because Ooh Evil Monster. It feels both lazy and really frustrating to me, and has been the number-one reason I put down fantasy novels since I was ten.

What are you currently working on? How long have you been working on it?

My current original fiction project is technically a genre romance (I know, I said I'd never write those!) that deals more with poisonous ideology, religious intolerance, and genocide than actual romance. I've been working on it since roughly 2017, and at the moment I'm reworking the plot to try to zero in more effectively on what I want to say with it. For a little background context, my whole family is Jewish, and I came up with the idea for this one during the Trump Administration while I was slowly coming to be more aware of politics than I'd been previously. This story deals a lot with the anxieties of being Jewish in a world like today's, so I really want to make sure that the point comes across despite the many layers of abstraction and fantasy I'm filtering it through. It's a story that's close to my heart despite the fact that, frankly, what I -have- written of it not being very good because I wrote it when I was sixteen.

Why do you write? What keeps you writing?

That's a tough question. A large part of what gets me writing is that I have ideas in my head that I desperately want to communicate to other people, but I don't know how to make it work if I only describe them outside of a narrative context. But what definitely keeps me writing is the response I get from other people. I have been working on detangling this for years, but like many other writers on the internet these days, attention really keeps me going. When I was younger I used to print my short stories and show them to all of my relatives; now I post them on Tumblr and ArchiveOfOurOwn and show as many of my online friends as want to read it.

How long have you been writing? What do you think first drew you to it?

I started writing when I was five or six, shortly after I learned to read. I mentioned that I come from a long line of other aspiring authors; my father has been writing novels since before I can even remember. I learned to write because I fell in love with reading and wanted to make my own stories that were nicer to dragons, since I was a little kid and really liked dragons and hadn't yet found anything where they were the real main characters. Both of my parents were very supportive of this, which helped a lot, because otherwise I don't think I would have kept writing my whole life the way I have.

Where do you get your inspiration from? Is that how you got your inspiration for your current project? If not, where did the inspiration come from?

A lot of my inspiration comes from seeing other people fumble some part of a story and being convinced that I can do it better. I don't think this is terribly unusual, but it is a little bit annoying when I'm trying to identify influences or inspiration and all I can point out is things that I think weren't very good, or were good -except- for this one element that I'm actually riffing off of. Outside that... A lot of my more ambitious works in progress actually come from weird dreams with narratively interesting setups that I decide to run with, or random bolts of inspiration that hit when I see some random image and get a "vibe" to capture. For example, the inspiration for my long original project that I'm working on came from a dream; but the inspiration for the Valentine's Day project that I'm currently writing comes from my friend mentioning the movie "My Bloody Valentine 3D" one too many times when I was in a bad mood and making me want to write the worst valentine ever because I thought it would be funny and it had an interesting"vibe" to it.

What works of yours are you most proud of? Why?

Last year, I decided to just write a lot rather than writing things that were good. Turns out that this is a very effective way to write things that are good, but as a result it's all Transformers fanfiction. Regardless, I think the work that I'm actually most proud of is a fairly long epistolary horror told through emails about a character being brought to an alien planet and rapidly discovering that things are not as they should be and the planet is a lot more alive than it seems. It was a really lightweight project that I intended to kind of just take up space while I worked on a different thing, which didn't work out, but it wound up doing a lot of things that I think were, in retrospect, really interesting, and the character writing in it is some of the best I think I've ever done. At the end of the day I think that unusual formats have a lot of potential when it comes to creating stories that have some kind of unusual flavor to them, and I'm always chasing after that feeling of "this is the first time I've ever seen this".

Have you published anything? Do you want to?

I've never professionally published anything, but I would like to.

What part of the publishing process most appeals to you? What part least appeals to you? Why?

To be honest, the part of publishing that most appeals to me is the part where I get paid and can go to my relatives and tell them that I got published by an actual publisher and now I have a real book out. The part that least appeals to me is every other part of publishing. It's always sounded like a major hassle and a giant pain in the ass to me (when I was growing up, my father was constantly sending his books out to publishers, and so far has still never been published) but, at the same time, I'd love to be the first person in my family to have a book published by Tor or Hachette or some other real-deal imprint.

What part of the writing process most appeals to you? What part is least appealing?

The part of the writing process that most appeals to me is the part where I've written something cool and I can show it to other people. I also really like getting to write horror sequences or fight scenes, but my favorite part is basically just asking for a beta or getting to share the finished work. The least appealing part of writing for me is definitely editing. In order to get around my dislike for editing, I've gotten to the point where instead of actually doing regular edits, I literally just rewrite the entire story using the first draft as an outline. This takes forever and it's not very fun either, but it's better than going through line by line and trying to figure out which parts are good and which ones aren't. I have never gotten the chance to work with a professional editor before, and I imagine the experience is different when somebody else is doing the editing for you, but as it stands I hate editing my own work.

Do you have a writing process? Do you have an ideal setup? Do you write in pure chaos? Talk about your process a bit.

I absolutely write in pure chaos. The only thing I need to make sure that I can write is a warm drink - tea or coffee- and music I like playing. I've discovered that one of my favorite places to write is outdoors in the middle of the night over the summer, but I can and will write anywhere. I'll be writing in my college classes later today. Then I'll come home and sit on my bed and write some more. And then, historically speaking, I'll go out and I'll write on my phone while sitting in the back of a bar or something, and I'll come home and write in the kitchen while my dinner's cooking. I pretty much never stop writing when I've got an idea in my head. I write on vacation, while at the grocery store, when I'm supposed to be working, and every other time besides.

Your Thoughts on Writeblr:

How long have you been a writeblr? What inspired you to join the community?

I've been a writeblr for about three or four years these days. I really joined the community around 2020, when during quarantine lockdowns I decided to write an alternate universe take on the backstory of one of the characters that I have in my long-term novel project because I didn't want to work on that. I wound up joining regular so that I had some kind of community to talk about that wip in, and I've stuck around ever since. I've been tangential to writeblr since well before that, though- I love seeing writing on tumblr and I really enjoy original fiction.

Shout out some of your favorite writeblrs. How did you find them and what made you want to follow them?

Natalie Ironside - @natalieironside - writes a lot of trans-focused action stories that appeal to me both as a trans individual and a person who likes action. Her protagonists are often characters who don't necessarily wield a ton of institutional power but fight for what they want and what they deserve regardless. Ezra - @doikayt - another Jewish writer, which I appreciate, but also every part of their writing I've seen is really cool. Speculative fiction is a favorite genre for me, even though it's one I don't often write in myself. Jax Wolff - @blind-the-winds - a writeblr I'm newer to following but really like, they post some really interesting snippets and do a lot of tag games.

What is your favorite part about writeblr?

Definitely the interactive aspect. If you interact with writeblr, writeblr will interact with you. I love attention and I love getting to see other people's writing, so this is perfect for me.

What do you think writeblr could improve on? How do you think we can go about doing so?

Writeblr has a bigotry issue. It happens. In any community where people are showing up to share their creations without someone at the door vetting them when they come through, there will be people who are bigoted or who have biases that they have not vetted. It's something that most marginalized individuals, myself included, have already come to expect from most online communities. However, because writeblr is an interconnected and highly interactive community, when issues of antisemitism or Islamophobia or racism or sexism or homophobia come up, it's almost impossible to avoid seeing it and it's very frustrating that everyone seems to feel the need to jump in and defend their friends if they believe that the bigotry wasn't poorly intended or it was accidental. I don't want to be trapped in and on ending chamber of "hey, look how antisemitic/Islamophobic/racist/homophobic/otherwise hateful this writer is" for however long the issue is being brought up- it's emotionally taxing- and I know that other marginalized writeblrs who do the hard work and speak out against people who are being bigoted tend to see much more aggressive and, frankly, bigoted backlash than the people they're speaking to or about. I don't know how to fix this, because it's an issue basically everywhere, and if there was a fix for it I'm sure someone would have mentioned it already. But I would like to see more support for a: marginalized writers in the writeblr space, and b: those of us who would like to disengage from the topic after a short period of time. At the end of the day, I'd like writeblr to be a space where writers of all stripes can spend their time- not only cis, straight, white, Christian, abled writers. A lot of how people pitched writeblr to me when I was thinking about joining in was on the idea that Tumblr is a place with less of the traditional barriers of entry than traditional publishing, but if the bigotry issue runs unchecked, eventually it will just be a space with the same kind of demographics as traditional publishing.

How do you contribute to the writeblr community? Do you think you could be doing more?

I don't really contribute much. I play tag games sometimes and I occasionally make advice posts after I found something that works for myself. I could certainly be doing more, but honestly, I'm kind of lazy and I don't really have that much to say, so on the advice front I've kind of made all the posts I have to make already, and I'm not terribly well suited for running events or communities. I'm much more happy to be a person in the background and a leader in the forefront here.

What kinds of posts do you most like to interact with?

I like reading short snippets- in the range of 100-1000 words- and I enjoy interacting with interactive games, like a tag games or ask games. I think my favorite kind of post would have to be tag games where we share short snippets of our wips- the best of both worlds.

What kind of posts do you most like to make?

I like to share snippets of my work. This is probably the easiest for me to do, because all I have to do is copy blocks of text and paste them into tumblr.

Finally, anywhere else online we may be able to find you?

My main Tumblr is @bitegore :D

Questions For Fun:

What is your favorite dragon-related story? What makes it your favorite?

For my favorite dragon-related story I had to split this question into two parts, because I read so many books with dragons in it that I can't help but differentiate between stories where dragons are people and stories where dragons are very intelligent and scary animals. The first dragon story i want to talk about is the Heartstrikers series by Rachel Aaron, an urban fantasy novel following the Only Nice Dragon after he gets kicked out of his home for being too nice and therefore disappointing the family. It's been a big inspiration for how I write since I first read it when I was fifteen; the idea of a protagonist not taking the two options set out for them but making their own choice, the idea of a world where magic and modern society and technology blend and interact, and different social modes of interaction and how they might not seem as useful as they wind up being (aka; the power of friendship, treated more seriously, lol) all really compel me and I enjoy Aaron's storytelling a lot. The only reason I wouldn't necessarily consider this a "final" answer is because, like a lot of other urban fantasy novels, the dragons in this are shapeshifters and the protagonist spends most of his time in a human form. The other one I could probably talk about would be the Dragonriders of Pern series, which I'm really due for a reread of. Pern is one of those series that I read as a kid that rocked my whole world. Not only is it about dragons, which I love- but it's also one of the early sci-fi fantasy stories where the genre was still finding its feet, and much like other stories in the same vein from the same time, the slow reveal of the sci-fi elements underpinning the fantasy absolutely fascinated me when I was a kid and still do for me now. The things I like about both series are different, but one of my favorite things is when dragons are treated as neutral parts of the world or positive ones, rather than uniquely evil monsters. I think I mentioned that that was a trope I don't like very much, and while it can be done well- Maur from The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley is a great example of a dragon so evil that even killing him doesn't solve the problem, and that's another favorite book of mine- it really delights me when instead dragons are just there, for better or worse. And while the worldbuilding in both books is very different, with enormously different styles and aesthetic trappings and social structures, both put a lot of work into crafting a world that feels believable, which is another thing I really enjoy in my stories and which makes these two beat out a lot of other narratives where dragons are more of a unique rarity or an aberration upon the face of the world they're in. And, finally… I just think they're cool. They're stories that both do things that, at least when I read them, I hadn't seen before. The stylistic trappings of fantasy and science fiction from the late 60s and early 70s, like Pern is, are very different from modern genre conventions, which makes the experience fun and novel for me as someone who was born in the early 2000s, and Heartstrikers- an urban fantasy speculative-fiction novel set in Detroit with an unusual spin on a "standard" magic system and very interesting legal setup- also felt like a breath of fresh air when I first read it.

Who is your favorite Transformer?

My favorite Transformer would have to be Vortex. He's interesting- a violent bad guy character who also manages to be nonchalant and amused almost every time he's on-screen. And, of course, it doesn't hurt that I think his design is really cool. A big robot with swords on his back that he uses to fly with? That's cool and I love it.

What is your favorite piece of horror-flavored media? Why?

It's hard for me to answer this question. My default is to answer with the horror movie I like best- Us by Jordan Peele, a movie so incredibly well-paced I have genuinely never seen the like before or since- but that's just straight-away horror. Down The Rabbit Hole by hypnoticwriter, a work referencing the Mystery Flesh Pit project by Trevor Roberts, is also really good, but the line between thriller and horror is indistinct at best, and usually when I say "horror-flavored", I mean that horror elements have been thrown in for seasoning and spice rather than consuming the tone of the work and changing the genre entirely. I think for this question I'm going to go with Transformers, actually. In terms of genre, the All Hail Megatron story is closer to a disaster survival story with action elements than horror. It tells a story about the Autobots being nearly defeated and the Earth being taken over by the Decepticons. But many scenes are paced and written like horror. Dangerous monsters are hunting the surviving Autobots, fuel is running out... and on Earth, the Decepticons see humans as vermin or playthings. It's a really fun series and one I really enjoy.

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alltimefail-sims · 1 year

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Do you have any tips for getting into/making sims stories? (Idk what to call them lol, but like your strangersville story), and tips for taking posed screenshots because I’m struggling-

Hello, friend! 🤗

I am so genuinely flattered that you would ask me for advice. I'll admit, I've only been officially on simblr for a little over a year and I'm just getting a groove in posting, so I'm still learning about the storytelling format and posing aspect, too. Here are some really great posts that helped me:

@seaslugsims: Storytelling Resources Part 1

and Storytelling Resources Part 2

Storytelling Tips and Tricks thread started by @citylighten (Check the reblogs on this one - so many amazing, experienced creators have weighed in on their personal tips and tricks)

I hate posing sims, but I've found that it just takes practice and patience. @ts4-poses is a great resource blog for finding poses because it is organized into categories, making finding a specific pose less overwhelming. Put all the sims you need for a story post in the same household so you have full control of them all. Ravasheen's ISO Camera for in-game photos is what dreams are made of because the photos always come out perfect and no one has to be behind the camera to take the picture. When taking photos using the tab key, take them from multiple angles so you have a lot of options when editing your posts.

I also would say don't be afraid to just keep asking for advice! If you see a post you like, don't be afraid to ask someone how they did it! I've learned so much just by going to creators like "Hey, this post you made was so great... what editing do you use? Do you use a reshade/gshade shader? Do you resize photos?" You can learn a lot from others, and over time with practice (and a lot of trial and error) you will gain your footing and develop a style of your own!

Now, onto where I have personal experience: getting into stories and making stories! For me personally, a good story is all about characters and world building. Because simblr stories give you an opportunity to show varying perspectives and focus on more than one character's viewpoint (kind of like a comic or TV show), you can best take advantage of that by writing in-depth characters you love (or love to hate, lol). Knowing the setting and how the characters fit into that setting is really the backbone of any good story, and if you care about the details and you care about those characters, your audience will feel that! Also knowing what you like to write helps, too! I like sci-fi, fantasy, and coming of age; I like mysteries and love stories are my lifeblood (I'm a hopeless romantic); and I am a sucker for a good found family trope... so that's what I write! You'll never catch me writing horror stories full of loss, or adult romance stories, nor am I gonna pop out a teen drama (yk like Degrassi-esque or Disney Channel) or something cutting-edge/dark/with a strong visual aesthetic (like Euphoria) because I know that's not my thing (and editing is not my strength - I would HATE spending hours editing posts where some others might love that part of the process. I don't write or create something because I think it will be popular or on-trend or garner viewership (even though wanting validation is not a bad thing imo) I just create to create. I create using my strengths first, and I would recommend you write to your strengths and don't feel like you have to rush the process.

My biggest piece of advice is that if you have a story to tell, tell it! Trust me, someone (or a lot of someones) will love it. You may only get a few views at first, or it may take off right from the jump, but regardless your story is worth telling. Start by just opening a google doc and jotting down ideas as they come to you until one sticks. Don't be afraid to shelf what doesn't work or what you're not feeling any more. My Strangerville story was not my first venture on simblr, but it is the only one I have loved enough to keep up with.

Lastly, please let me know when you do put your story out there. You've already got one fan!!! 📣💕

#editing #story building #atfs ask #anon #sorry it took me a minute to respond - I wanted to give you links to resources I've seen floating around and that took a second haha!#Thank you for your ask!!! I hope I was helpful in some way!#Always feel free to ask me absolutely anything. I'm happy to help!!

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samglyph · 6 months

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If you want a space to rant about ST season 4 and its horror flaws I would love to hear your thoughts---i just rewatched seasons 1 and 2 so I'm in the thinking about it mode

Ohhhh I’m vibrating with all I have to say but I’m going to stick to the horror flaw theme and leave out most of my other non horror related thoughts. Ok so starting off: I actually like most of the first three seasons of Stranger Things. I think season 3 is flawed in a lot of ways but there’s enough that I like there that it’s watchable for me. I know a lot of people feel differently so I’m just putting that out there first.

Season 4 starts strong. The first episode? Good! The dnd/basketball scene? Fantastic! The scene with Eddie and Chrissy? Adorable, great character building. I think one of the strengths of this show has always been the acting, especially from the younger actors, and I think that remains true. And in terms of horror, Chrissy’s death scene is super spooky.

Episode 2 is where it falls apart. The reason I said ‘horror rule number 1’ is because while it might not be a general hard and fast rule (there are plenty of things that don’t do it and are still good and scary), it’s generally accepted, especially in creature features (which ST TECHNICALLY IS) that you shouldn’t show off your creature right away. Jaws? You don’t see the shark until the climax. The Thing? You see people transform and mutate early enough, but you don’t see the full spider body horror monstrosity until well through the film. And Stranger Things season 1 does this perfectly; people are taken/killed left and right, but aside from a blurry photo we don’t see the demigorgon until the LAST EPISODE. Now, yes this is often done for budget reasons, but it’s a good technique! Not being able to see what you’re running from makes it scarier. Showing us Vecna in the second episode? His whole body? With his tentacles? It’s a cool shot sure, but it’s unnecessary and immediately makes him less scary. He’s just a weird dude! They’re trying to do like. Power scaling. But it doesn’t connect well to prior seasons and the world building is really finicky at best.

I know it’s season four and they’re trying to explain stuff because we’re coming to the end of the show and they want to wrap up the mystery, but here’s a thought: sometimes things…. Should stay mysteries. The upside down, as a concept, is very cool and scary, and in trying to explain it they just opened more cans of worms and it’s still a mystery but now it’s almost more fantasy/eldritch sci fi then the grounded sci fi that it was and so some of the believability falls away. Also adding magic glowing dust is a retcon and ridiculous we know that’s not how the lights work. And I LIKE alien eldritch horror ok you know that but that’s not what stranger things IS it shouldn’t BE HERE. Also making your villain just the “weird spooky probably neurodivergent child” trope? Don’t like it, I think they could have had Henry find a small portal to the (already existing I don’t think El should’ve made it) upside down and that corrupted him and mind controlled him and given him some base power (kinda like Will in season 2) would’ve worked just as well, but that’s just an idea.

Another issue with the horror: it’s rushed! Why is Max’s Possession scene in episode 4! It shouldn’t be there! It’s a great scene, but it’s WAY to great and climactic to be happening BEFORE THE MIDPOINT OF THE SEASON? There’s another climax with max but it almost feels less important despite the fact that she basically dies. AND WITH BARELY ANY OF THE CAST THERE? That’s a separate issue but really quick: horror partially comes from the awareness of the characters, and then the audience being aware of the characters awareness. Either the character is aware of the horror which can create stress, (ie. Watching Will in season 1 as he tries to avoid the monster in episode 1) or the character is unaware (shouting ‘he’s right behind you! In scream) which can also create stress. But in the latter section, the film/tv show/whatever has to emphasize that lack of awareness. Meaning if for instance, one of your best friends is about to die, and you’re a MAIN CHARACTER and you have NO IDEA, it might behoove the writers to nod to that somehow to twist the knife a bit. Like El is so important in the second Max climax but isn’t even remotely important in the first scene. Cmon. But that’s just my opinion and a little off topic anyway also the Russia stuff slows down the plot and I don’t care about it and they used a nazi prison and then tried to monetize it as a hotel experience Ls all the way down.

Tldr a lot of the horror was ruined because things were rushed/shown to early and overcomplicated. Something needed to be cut so that other things could flourish.

This is no where close to all my thoughts on season 4, trust me I’ve got a whole like. PowerPoint/video essay locked in here and also I have a head cold right now so apologies if this isn’t coherent. Or if I’m wrong I’m not watching the season again to check.

#there is so much more I have to say. agh #notice how I haven’t mentioned Eddie. that’s because I have restraint but also because his story issues aren’t horror issues but instead #just issues of poor writing in general #and laziness and not wanting to pay an actor for two seasons #stranger things #long post #ask #submitwittyblognamehere

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quietwingsinthesky · 1 month

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7, 12, 17, 37 !!

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

I definitely don't get to claim all, or even most, of it, but I'm always going to love the little world we all put together for the apartmentverse. It's so silly and soft and sweet. I think we made a good life for them, and I really have to return to finish some fics for it. I'm also quite proud of the... not exactly worldbuilding as such, since most of the world is already there from the show, but world-supports to make things more stable, if that makes sense, that I brainstorm up to make stories about Even work better.

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

Still no redemption for the coffee shop AU askldjadklj. And I've only mildly softened on Modern AUs as a whole because of the Apartmentverse stuff, which has some of the domestic elements of that. Other than that, I know what I like pretty well. Most of the tropes I dislike are outright negatives, like that weirdly common thing where the canon love interest gets turned into a pos for no reason to make the preferred ship get together, and if i ever start showing favor to those kinds of tropes, please know: I have been hacked, or perhaps hypnotized.

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

.....doctorcest human au for real this time. i take my supernatural-taught sense for incest horror and obsession, and i put it in the doccy who. and then i shake it real hard. and we end up with an insular traumatized family of wandering siblings who can never hold onto anyone as long as they can each other, who have constructed a personal mythology so pervasive that it eclipsed any chance to form their own identities outside of each other. and if the only intended audience is me, i can get as weird about it as i'd like. (which i say as if i don't get weird about everything i write, audience or not.)

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

You know, since I'm playing it again, I'm gonna throw out my singular Skyrim fic, In High Esteem. It's a love letter to a character that no one likes, including me and I wrote it, but more so, my own little homage to all the stuff left on the cutting room floor of Skyrim that will never be restored, no matter how many rereleases they give it, and the gaping holes that missing content leaves behind. or, as i put it in my tags: "why is Nazeem such an asshole? discuss"

#ask #tw incest #look away dev

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therealnotta · 5 months

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one day i'm planning on making a full video but there's something i can't get out of my head and it's the Lucky Roomba with a Knife trope

It's playing on the "sexy lamp" deal, but it does have a use!! if your serial killer could be replaced by a SUPER lucky roomba that happens to have a knife strapped to it, then you don't have to worry about a motive, really. Like, the point of the serial killer isn't the serial killer, it's a threat to move the rest of the story along, and it's super common I've found! The second your serial killer has ANY sort of development, is connected to the plot in ANY way, though, you can't replace them with a lucky roomba anymore; they're a person now, and they should probably have some motivation.

Now! I'm sure there are also ways to have them NOT have motivation, but by and large it's a little disappointing to have a character that has a family or a business or friends or literally any connection and is also, for literally no reason, a serial killer. If they're the main character and it's a comedy then sure! I could see that working! But if it's a horror franchise and they're the villain, it gets weird.

What I'm getting at is a lot of people WANT William Afton of fnaf fame to be a lucky roomba with a knife. He was killing kids for no reason. He's scary to be scary. He's a threat to move the story along, and that's all there is to it. But canonically, he has several children, and ALL of them die at some point or another--and not by his hand (directly). He has a friend and business partner. He has his own robotics company. The first time we heard his voice, he was giving a sales pitch at a board meeting. Like, he's developed to the point where it's weird that this successful businessman and father of three would start inexplicably killing children. Maybe his motive is something small! But he's outgrown the "roomba with a knife" characterization, and honestly? I think he had by the time Foxy Go Go Go was a thing, when he sat back and waited to see how Foxy would react to an audience of dead children with a smile on his face. That was already different, already characterization. He wasn't just a threat to move the story along, he was a character in his own right.

Lots of villains can and should be roombas with knives!! They aren't the focus, they're the threat that pushes the plot along, no matter how recognizable they may be. I just don't think that works well for Afton at all.

#fnaf #william afton #mayhaps a little controversial but i would be sorely disappointed if he had no motive or plan and just killed because he could #doesn't have to be huge and grandiose but just something lol

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nitrateglow · 7 months

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Halloween 2023 marathon: 9-11

The Slumber Party Massacre (dir. Amy Holden Jones, 1982)

A serial killer breaks free from jail, but the local high school population could not care less. There's sex to be had and joints to be smoked at the latest slumber party. Anyone not invited to the party either aims to crash it (the horny high school boys) or stay at home trying not to think about how uncool they are (the new girl who's better at basketball than her catty peers). All will be drawn together once the killer makes his way into town with a handy power drill that totally won't be used inappropriately.

I saw this movie for the first time earlier this year and immediately fell in love with its goofy charm. Apparently, it was written to be a parody of slasher tropes. The movie isn't played for broad comedy, but the humor is ever present in both overt and subtle ways. There's also a blend of cattiness and affection between the female characters that reminds me of the sorority house dynamics of Black Christmas, and the dialogue is often hilarious.

However, for all the humor, there are some creepy moments. The Driller Killer's "love" monologue is skin-crawling-- even if it is followed by a glorious parody of "the killer should be dead but isn't" trope.

This is one I love showing to other people. Everyone usually falls over laughing by the end, so it's a great group movie, but even alone, it's a fabulous time. You can currently catch it on Tubi for free.

Eyes of Laura Mars (dir. Irvin Kershner, 1978)

Controversial fashion photographer Laura Mars starts having psychic visions of the murders of her associates right as the crimes are being committed. She and everyone she knows become suspects of the slayings. The police find it particularly interesting that Laura's photos, which pair high fashion with images of murder and violence, resemble the subsequent crime scenes. Confused and feeling guilty, Laura teams up with cynical investigator John Neville, hoping to track down the killer before she or anyone else she loves becomes the next target.

This is a new-to-me horror film I caught on Tubi. All I knew about Eyes of Laura Mars is that it was directed by Irvin Kershner, a journeyman filmmaker best known for The Empire Strikes Back, and written by John Carpenter (though tampered with by many before shooting began). The movie is essentially an American spin on the Italian giallo genre. You have the familiar setting of the fashion world, sexy models who become murder victims, a hapless protagonist drawn into the mystery, and some very nasty kills.

There's a lot I like about this film, but in the end it didn't completely work for me. Maybe it's because unlike the best giallo, the movie doesn't have that otherworldly, psychedelic vibe that makes an audience able to swallow the sillier parts of the story. This is a very grounded, gritty presentation of New York City, making the more outrageous things in the film (like the unexplained psychic powers) stand out and not in a good way. Faye Dunaway's performance also verges into unintentional camp, with her wailing like she's in a 1940s melodrama much of the time. And I love melodramatic 1940s movies with appropriately overheated performances, but when the rest of your story is trying to be more realistic, that approach just takes me out of it because it doesn't gel. (Don't even get me started on the final twist, which I can't decide if I find laughable or clever.)

And yet, this is hardly a bad film. What frustrates me so much about it is that there's a lot that's pretty great. The supporting characters aren't the deepest in the world, but they are likable, so when they got picked off, I actually felt something. The movie also has an appealing time capsule element in its presentation of NYC during the height of the disco era. The fashions and the music are dated in the best way.

Despite my complaint about Dunaway's campy moments, Laura Mars is an interesting protagonist. She takes her art very seriously despite the derision she receives from her critics. She doesn't allow anyone to push her around, be it her boozy ex-husband, hostile reporters, or the police. She clearly loves the models, make-up artists, and other associates who work with her, and Dunaway does well lending a genuine sense of bereavement to the character as her social circle gets picked off one by one. However, I feel like the movie doesn't do much with her and she doesn't really have an arc.

I just really wish this film were a better version of itself. However, I can definitely see myself rewatching it someday, so maybe knowing the twists will make me better appreciate what is there. I don't know.

The Curse of Frankenstein (dir. Terence Fisher, 1957)

From adolescence, Baron Victor Frankenstein has had one dream: to cheat death. He and his research partner Paul Krempe delve into the mysteries of life, managing to reanimate a dead dog. Paul is satisfied with this achievement, but like a Disney Princess, Victor wants more. Like, creating a superbeing from bits and pieces of corpses more. This does not end well. At all.

It isn't spooky season without some Hammer Horror. I really have a hard time picking a favorite Hammer film, but The Curse of Frankenstein is definitely up there. Peter Cushing is so perfectly amoral and charming as Victor Frankenstein. I love Colin Clive in the Universal movies, but Cushing is my favorite in the part.

I've always admired how this movie sets itself apart from the Universal series without overdoing the opposition. The Universal movies were influenced by 1920s German expressionism, whereas the Hammer films go for more of a Victorian gothic meets explicit (by 1950s standards) sex and gore vibe. The sets and costumes are always wonderful in these films. I really love Cushing's glorious jackets, particularly the emerald green one.

Curse is also interesting for its frame narrative with Frankenstein telling the story from prison the hour before he is to be guillotined for his crimes. No one believes there was ever a creature and Victor wants everyone to know that, hey, he didn't commit ALL the murders. What's most fascinating about the frame story is the way it presents Paul, Victor's former tutor and research partner. Throughout the story, Paul is an unheeded voice of conscience tormented by the crimes Victor commits to achieve his goals. It's also implied Paul is in love with Victor's fiancee Elizabeth, and that this passion ignites further resentment against Victor on Paul's part because Victor clearly does not care about Elizabeth at all but is going to marry her anyway.

The film ends with Victor begging Paul to tell the authorities about the Creature, but Paul acts as though Victor is insane or just making it all up. He doesn't want to save Victor-- but is that because he wants to see justice done? Or is he also tight-lipped because he wants to secure Elizabeth for himself and knows she'll feel too duty-bound toward Victor (who supported her and her destitute aunt during Elizabeth's childhood) to break off the engagement unless the groom-to-be is, well, headless? It's a wonderfully ambiguous touch and it makes Paul more than just a nagging moral center.

Anyways, this is a perfect Halloween movie. Don't miss it if you've never seen it!

#the curse of frankenstein #slumber party massacre #eyes of laura mars #thoughts #halloween 2023 marathon

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aboutdragons · 8 months

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Hello, thank you for answering my questions. If you are open to sharing, do you have any tips to write an isekai in the Asoiaf universe and to write an interesting oc?

Hi, you're welcome!

As for tips... When you're looking for inspiration, it's good to reach for works of the genre that interests you. If you want to write isekai, go read some isekai (japanese mangas and korean manhwas are the best for this) and see which of the tropes you like, which you dislike, and which you think are most interesting to tackle. Then you pick the one you like best/think would suit the story you want to tell best/both, and roll with it.

Personally, I write isekai as pure escapism, so I heavily stray away from giving my MCs any possibility of returning to their original world, or having them have a good enough reason to try. Ability to physically cross between worlds could be interesting, but really isn't my cup of tea. I prefer leaving 21st century reality behind me in the burning dumpster where it rightfully belongs.

When it comes to ASOIAF specifically, the setting has its own magic and stuff, so you can take that (take an existing concept, make shit up, or go somewhere in-between like I have) to make the transition between worlds plausible and ta-dah! Valyrian Gods are a good go-to if you want to be fucking around with the Valyrians, but I think R'hllor and his whole rebirth shtick or even the Drowned God could be an interesting option. Opens a way for interesting worldbuilding & making the MC particularly attuned to the magical side of the world.

Or something Eldritch! Damn, I love eldritch fuckery so much, unspeakable cosmic horror and all.

Beware! Ramble ahead!

As for writing an interesting OC... Honestly, gonna sound super basic as everyone will probably say the same, but make them as close to a person as you can. Give them multiple personality traits, flaws and all - conflicting personality traits are fun, too. Give them quirks and ticks and interests and hangups and make them consistent, but also allow them to grow. We all live through character arcs, and your characters should too. Their views can be changed or reinforced, they can be forced to go against those views for the sake of themselves or others. They can (and should) hold grudges, even about the silliest things. Give them a pet or a hobby (or both), show us how they interact with those things, how they care, how they grieve, and how they seethe. Who are their friends, what kind of people do they gravitate towards, how do they interact with those people? How do those people view them? How close are they to the truth?

Does the character show a different them to the world than they truly are? Why? Why not? Do they exaggerate their traits? Why? Why not? What are their limitations, social and physical, and how do they get around them?

How do they influence others? Do they stay on the sidelines or make a menace of themselves, or something in-between? What motivates them? Are there lines they will never cross? If so, what are those, and why? Make them react realistically, based on the information they have and the things they feel. Make them face the consequences of their actions, the good, the bad, the entertaining!

It's also very important - essential - to decide where your character will end before you even begin. You as the writer need to have an end goal with them. Who they are at the start, and who they will become by the end, and that's where you need to gradually take them. Having the points in the middle down helps too.

Their journey is important, but so is their relationship with the world and others. Don't overdo it, but make the audience care. Put them in a situation and ask yourself, what would I most likely do here? Would they do the same, or would they do something different?

There's many facets to writing characters, but the baseline always is; make them human. A little fucked up, a little weird, trying their best. Or utter fucking menaces. Or both! Or something else!

Also give them demons. Give them issues! And then make them deal with them! I give a lot of my OCs depression because I suffer from it myself, and then I have them slowly work through it in lieu of therapy. It helps me, and it makes for a compelling internal struggle that many can identify with. Or imposter syndrome. Or mommy issues.

Explore themes with them, those that interest you, those that pertain to them.

Of course, adapt character traits accordingly to how you want the characters to be perceived, too. Don't give them too much of a trait of which perception you don't want; save being judgmental or hateful for the antagonists, don't overdo on chivalry, don't overdo on badassery. Let them fuck up. Let them fall down. Let them need help. Let them succeed too, of course. Few like misery porn, but fewer like the feeling of emptiness that comes from unearned victories.

And that goes without saying: don't make them right all the time, or successful all the time, or infallible. Kick their ass sometimes! It's for their own good, I promise!

But ultimately write the character that brings you joy. It's easier to write a compelling character when you, too, want to know what happens next, what kind of trouble they get into, how do they get out of it.

Most of all, have fun with it. If you do, others will, too.

#ttad #ask #ttad answers

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