#the script the visual story-telling the characters

[chaoswillcalmusdown]

The Banshees of Inisherin / Polite Society / Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse / Summer of Soul/They Cloned Tyrone /The Godfather/Rye Lane / Bottoms / Die Hard

9 Favourite First Time Watches: 2023

Tagged by @thatidomagirl and tagging @cryptiddies @icedsodapop @polarcell @naslostcontrol @kutputli @fishbarconcept and anyone else who wants to do it

#idk about you guys but i find something deeply poetic in the fact that godfather and bottoms are like. in the same convo #rwrb got pushed to 10th place when i remembered that i did actually watch the godfather trilogy this summer #hate to give a coppola some credit but the godfather is a classic for a reason #it even kept my mum (the jane austen addict who hates blood and violence) invested and awake for the full run time #marry me with jlo and owen wilson got pushed down to 11 when i remembered die hard asdfghj #the ones who got away (2023 releases) are joy ride and scrapper. and aftersun. and past lives #if i have to pick a fave it's rye lane #it was just so iconic in every way #the script the visual story-telling the characters #the peckham of it all #also quite funny how obviously i gravitate towards a movie of colour #like. white people can make great art and i'll likely get to it #but i've spent a whole lifetime seeing those movies and now i'm gonna go out of my way #to make sure i watch all the movies of colour that interest me #polite society and they cloned tyrone and rye lane really just tick all the boxes for me #in terms of like. sci-fi/magical realism within the plot or the visual choices #i really mourn the lack of attention they got but i also know neither of them got a cinema release in sweden #and neither of them got any kind of substantial promo in sweden #so i can only assume it's a similar deal in other places #tragically enough

[thankskenpenders]

It's a bit late, but I figure I have to touch on the big news from today, which is that for an (early) April Fools celebration Sega went and released a free visual novel about Sonic getting murdered

Here's a thing you should know about me: I am deathly allergic to ironic visual novels, and the related trend of announcing dating sims (which are synonymous with the medium of visual novels as a whole to many people) on April Fools

Aside from an incredibly small selection of titles that have seen wider success, it feels like much of the game industry is only willing to acknowledge visual novels as a punchline. And said jokes about dating sim stereotypes have been done a million fucking times by now. They're parodies of parodies of parodies. Even when these prank dating sims actually go and get made rather than just being a few fake screenshots, it feels like it's just because VNs are seen as cheap, disposable entertainment compared to "real" games. Companies can afford to commission some bullshit like the KFC dating sim and write it off as a marketing stunt. And it works. These games will get widely reported on for being so ~wacky~, while devs pouring their hearts into doing sincere, interesting work with the medium of visual novels are usually out of fucking luck. It's so, so tiring. The fact that this happens like clockwork every year has made me come to dread April Fools Day

So imagine my surprise when The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog drops out of nowhere and it's actually one of my favorite Sonic games in years

Aside from the intentionally tongue-in-cheek, attention-grabbing title (and Sonic doing the Family Guy Death Pose), there isn't an ounce of irony here. It's just a straight up whodunnit VN set on a train, albeit a lighthearted and pretty easy one. It's still a Sonic game, after all, and Sonic games are for kids. But it's so clearly made out of a place of love, both for the characters and for murder mysteries, rather than being a parody that's constantly winking at the camera and going "haha, isn't this absurd that this even exists at all?" Forget that. This wants to tell a genuinely good little Sonic story. Not to mention how gorgeous all of the artwork is throughout, with character illustrations from IDW cover artist Min Ho Kim (AKA deegeemin)

Like, for real. I've wanted the Sonic games to explore the supporting cast more for years, and I can't believe the game to finally do it is a murder mystery visual novel released for April Fools. This might be one of the best showcases of the cast... ever, in the games? The script from Ian Mutchler is so, so great, with fun and cute moments for everyone involved. And, smartly, you see the cast through the eyes of a new character (I named them "Blorbo") who isn't necessarily familiar with things like Blaze being a princess from another dimension, making this a surprisingly valid way to introduce people to the supporting cast. I'd say more, but it's a short game, so I think everyone should just go out and play it if you haven't already

There is still part of me that wishes a Sonic visual novel like this could've been greenlit for release any other day of the year, rather than being yet another April Fools visual novel. But regardless of the excuse they used to make it, I'm extremely happy that this exists

#tkp post #other media

[radiodust-heart]

Out of pocket idea. Angel is promised an actual acting role by the studio. Angel is over the moon with the idea of staring in a real film. He gushes about it to husker and Al is surprised the hear about the up coming film.

Curious Alastor goes to the studio to see the productiin, a change to see Angel actually act. But when he gets there and blows off Val and Vox hes disapointed to hear from Angel that Valentino flipped the script and its just a porno. Not as disapointed as Angel, the man openly receding in himself.

Alastor teases Vox about the flipped script. That vox is to scared to branch out as usual and that he and Val dont know how to use a soul to its full potental. This invoks a bet/deal. That Angel cant direct and act a horror film thats better then anything Vox cpuld create.

Alastor tells Angel he'll give him whatever he needs for the film as long as he doesnt have to be in it. Angel thanks him.

Angel pulls in Cherri and a few people Val doesnt own to create the perfect mix of horror and porn (ie 'X') he plays Maxin as Cherri plays the blond co star. As asked Angel keeps Alastor out of the sex scenes but asks his opinion on the gory parts and the story line. If its compeling enough, if its accuret and satisfying enough.

Alastor is suprised when he sees the takes. Angels acting so belivable he really thought the man was stuck on the property with his camera crew. He cant get over the talent the man has for visuals, music, pacing, character development. He's in awe.

Needless to say Angel wins the bet. Instead of Val owning the peice Alastor own it as his only piece of visual media. Not liking that he basically helped produce a porno but the Vs irritation and Angels self pride over his creation makes it worth it.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin angel dust #hazbin alastor #radiodust

[splitting-infinities]

i love it when movies don’t allow the audience to be omniscient.

like, if a character isn’t in a scene, we usually assume they’re not present. but maybe they were there and we just didn’t see it.

what if the visuals were unreliable?

there is a common flexibility in interpreting the staging of live theater, even famously for shakespearean works. for instance, is this really a private soliloquy for hamlet alone, or is ophelia listening in behind a pillar? does the audience know if ophelia is there or not? the script doesn’t say what a production HAS to do, but the existence of that choice means there’s a HUGE difference in the story the audience gets depending on how it’s staged.

in contrast, movies don’t do this very often, so we as viewers get used to “what we see is what actually happened” when we watch them.

for example, if someone in a mystery movie witnesses a murder but then tells a different story of what actually happened, an audience is likely trust what we were shown first over than what’s said.

we trust the visual over words in movies. out of habit.

it’s so rare for a movie to use this against us. and yet it’s so satisfying to me when a movie only lets us think what it wants us to think until it’s relevant to change the perspective to the truth.

a limited, unreliable perspective audience is so underutilized in visual mediums. when was the last time a movie pulled a live theater move and let you interpret something? when was the last time you were allowed to draw a conclusion that was wrong and that was the point?

yes this is about the glass onion i’m still on about how good a job it did with this exact thing

#glass onion #glass onion spoilers #pOeTiC CinEmA

[windienine]

the best game of 2024 was an hour-long visual novel demo, and i can't tell you how it ends

attack and dethrone god.

okay. oh my god. soul of sovereignty by ggdg (of lady of the shard & deltarune fame) is discounted for only a few more days, so i need to get this one out while the iron's hot.

so: i'm inviting you along on another journey. we're following a polite gentleman of the wizardly inclination (loïc) who is approached by a sickly woman in dire need (ysmé). all she requests, in her plea, is an escort to guide her to the nearby temple. his decision to support her may turn out to be the most important choice he ever makes.

... have you ever enjoyed the kind of narrative that traps two people with heavily contrasting motives and personalities together in an unbreakable contract? do you like stories of absolute devotion?

i could look at this shot forever ngl

... are you compelled by immersive speculative fantasy worlds where the use and study of magic heavily influences the rhythm of people's day-to-day lives?

(really intriguing magical linguistics system going on here)

... do you ever promise too much of yourself to others, sometimes, even when it's a bad idea?

... if it was possible -- if you could -- would you abandon your humanity for the power to change your world forever?

and, whatever you may feel in your heart about the above...

do you want to see behind the eyes of a hot trans girl as she bullshits her way into a truly volatile level of power and influence and gets everything she wants?

(+ her pet dilf lovely assistant)

if even one of these elicited a "yes," i think you'll love this story.

i'll go out of a limb:

i think, if you open up your heart, you'll find yourself falling for both of the leads. It's a game that really wants you to look at it from every angle, take it apart, and ask questions about loïc, ysmé, their stories, and what they believe to be true about the world and one another. subtext -- especially the charged subtext this story throws at you and hopes you'll piece together -- is a beautiful thing.

the number of talksprites in this demo is kind of staggering

the jrpg-inspired world of the mosaic and its surroundings is as vibrant as it is profoundly lonely, color folded into every facet of its character as you move through it. appropriately, it's really invested in a lot of questions that arise not just from high fantasy as a genre, but from the modern fantasy sensibilities of jrpgs and the interrogation of what divinity even means in a world where the gods are forces you can interact with and draw power from, however indirectly.

what can i even say? that gg and toby fox's collab score for the prelude is downright heavenly and made it onto my work playlist right alongside the deltarune ost the day it came out on bandcamp? that gg's art, especially their use of light, conveys every scene with vivid beauty?

i wouldn't be posting so much of it if i didn't want to eat every CG. oh my god. he's so pretty. it's not even fair

beyond all of that, i think the game's main resonance point with people is that gg's writing is genuinely thoughtful. they use art detail and deft character writing to convey everything about the leads, using the limited time you get with it to paint layers and layers of information on who these people are and why they make the decisions they do. soulsov's roughly an-hour-and-change of text, expressive talksprites, and lush CGs is infused with so much heart and so much horror and so much intrigue that it leaves you feeling like you're a part of this world, carried along for the ride right alongside the two leads. gg clearly really adores these two, and that level of passion makes everything loïc and ysmé do shine even brighter. in spite of (or perhaps because of) all their friction and flaws, they're easy to love.

(it's really fun to read aloud as a script, too! ysmé's a hoot.)

i hope you experience it with high expectations and an open heart. i don't think it will disappoint. it is, perhaps, just a little bit magical.

i hope you see it through to the end!

#soulsov #soul of sovereignty #indie games #deltarune #long post #i'm not saying everything i want to say here but #i need you to discover the rest and leave a nice review #ok?? #i love it

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

When the twisted wonderland anime comes out what are the things you hope they do better then what they could do in the game?

To quickly clarify a few things (so new readers and anyone stumbling across this post doesn't get the wrong idea): firstly, we do not yet have any confirmation on what the Twisted Wonderland anime will be about. Secondly, I have previously expressed that I would prefer the TWST anime to be random slice of life rather than another main story adaptation. If we assume that the anime will be another adaptation of the main story, I don't think the anime staff has a ton of liberty in the alterations they can make to the source material. Book 2 is widely known to be the greatest example of Bad Writing in TWST, and it cannot exactly be swept under the rug since it's in the main story. I doubt anyone would be allowed to make massive rewrites to the script or to the series of events; the biggest changes we get are slightly compacted scenes in the manga and the light novel. For example:

Skipping lines that appear in the game. (Ex: in the Book of Heartslabyul, Ace does not joke about sharing a room with Yuuken.)

Combining scenes to save on time. (Ex: In the light novel, Yuuya and Deuce meet Leona for the first time not in the Botanical Garden, which is the case in the game. Instead, the mob student that broke the eggs meant for Ace's apology chestnut tart is a Savanaclaw kid that Leona shows up to reprimand.)

Adding slight details to fill in logical gaps. (Ex: Yuuya in the light novel is granted a NRC uniform by Crowley; the uniform is described to us, the readers. Yuu getting a uniform is never mentioned in the game.)

Continuing from the last point, new details can also serve to flesh out character motivations, backstories, and lore. (Ex: the Heartslabyul light novel informs us that Riddle faces social repercussions for his OB and almost got expelled from school; the Savanaclaw light novel sheds new light on Leona's motivations, and the same can be said of Riddle.)

So basically, the story (again, if the anime does end up following the plot of the main story) would be the same. What would make the anime different from the manga, game, and light novel is largely the medium in which it is presented. I have talked about this at length in a number of older posts, but here is one example of how the manga, uses visual storytelling (as it is primarily a visual medium). A manga chapter is usually limited in length due to it being physically printed and shared in a magazine alongside other manga; there is therefore a constraint on how long-winded it can be, and its limited pages must be used effectively. We need to think about the strengths and the weaknesses of each individual medium and how those strengths and weaknesses affect how it might slightly change how TWST I presented.

An anime is able to incorporate animation with sound in a 20ish minute time slot to tell a tale. It gets the same benefits of the game, but far more freedom of movement. There is, however, also a time constraint to be considered. One complaint TWST often gets is that despite half of its core gameplay (I'm not going to count reading as gameplay) being rhythm games, the music the game has is NOT memorable. While the anime most likely won't have a ton of original songs, I hope that it can at least creatively incorporate some of TWST's scores as background tracks to fun scenes and make them more enjoyable that way. The anime will also be able to... well, be animated!! We won't get just a static screen where a maximum of three characters are crammed onto the screen at once staring back at you. It's okay to have in the game to save on time and budget, but you have to admit it does get boring to look at after a while. But with an anime production, we can get exciting lighting and camera angles that result in cool animation! I hope that this will really help the TWST characters' stories come to life on the screen ^^ One scene in particular that I hope the anime will adapt well is the VDC/SDC performances of RSA and NRC. The game tells us that RSA's performance is clumsy and amateurish, but it still managed to capture people's hearts. The game also tells us that NRC was not able to perform at their maximum capacity because they were already physically worn down from dealing with OB Vil. I want to see these descriptions actually be realized on screen (the Rhythmic/Twistune alone isn't enough), as it could help us better judge and have an enhanced understanding of the situation. I know a lot of fans who, to this very day, still feel that NRC was cheated of the win and shouldn't have lost to such a lackluster performance from RSA, so I'm hoping that a fully animated version might give us more perspective.

#twst #twisted wonderland #twst anime #twisted wonderland anime #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #notes from the writing raven #question #twst light novel #twisted wonderland light novel #twst manga #twisted wonderland manga #episode of heartslabyul #episode of heartslabyul manga #Ace Trappola #Deuce Spade #Dire Crowley #Yuuya Kuroki #Kuroki Yuuya #Yuuken Enma #Enma Yuuken #Leona Kingscholar #Riddle Rosehearts #Vil Schoenheit

[twisted-tales-of-all]

ATEEZ Reacts to their Partner's Death Scene

Plot: You're an actor, and you've landed a role where your character ends up dying - a first in your career. You watch the movie with your boyfriend and gauge their reaction. Pairing: ATEEZ x gender-ambiguous!actor!Reader Total Word Count: 1.3K Tropes: idol!AU, actor!AU, reactions Contains: death of reader's character, cursing, pet names, lots of screaming/anger, some tears, hurt/comfort for some A/N: This is a bit of a rushed post, so there's no visuals to go with it, sorry! There's been a lot more happening in my life than I expected ;;

Hongjoong - Hongjoong was far too excited for you to have a main role in the movie that he forgot you were filming a horror film. The beaming smile fades as the movie nears its climax. As he watches some of the other characters meet their demise, he turns to you.

"They're not killing you off, are they? They better not."

Ignoring his question, you urge him to focus. As the camera switches to you hiding from the killer in the bushes, the music cuts out. Timed perfectly with the killer's approaching footsteps, your boyfriend chants, "No, no, no, no, NO!"

Your blood-curtling scream fades to nothingness as the camera focuses on the puddle of blood forming by your hand. Hongjoong stops the movie immediately, complaining that your character was doing everything right, and how dare you get killed off when you could've easily hid all night. Although you try to get him to continue watching, he refuses, claiming that they sacrificed plot for some of the extra gore.

Seonghwa - He'd been asking for spoilers ever since you got your script, but you cherry-picked spoilers that weren't crucial to the story, all so you could see his reactions at the finished piece. All he knows is that your character isn't who people think, so upon seeing your quiet character on screen, he begins rallying off ideas. The next scene stops him in his tracks with his mouth agape as he sees the police covering your bloodied corpse as the first death of the film shows on screen. He whines about your minimal screen time, but you kiss him and tell him to keep watching. When the villain reveals themselves at the end, he shakes you so hard and begs to rewatch so he can pay more attention to you acting as the murderer and thwarting the others with your fake death. He showers you with praise, jokingly begging you not to kill him as well. Although he's not quite used to seeing you like that, he compliments how well you were able to become your character.

Yunho - You warned him that your character doesn't last the whole movie, but you don't tell him any details. As the movie moves further and further along, you watch his leg twitch and his grip on your thigh tightens. Trying to hide your smile as the scene approaches, you eat more popcorn. As your character approaches the cliff with their trusted best friend, Yunho leans forward in anticipation, but he keeps his hand on your thigh. When the best friend casually pushes your character over the edge, the camera follows your face, showing the fear and betrayal on your face until you fade into the darkness. You expect his grip to tighten, so when it doesn't, you lean over to see him crying. Stopping the movie, you ask him if he's okay. 

"I just watched you get betrayed! By your best friend! He killed you for that stupid crown! Of course, I'm not okay!"

You spend the rest of the movie with his head in your lap until he learns that the best friend doesn't get what he wanted. Jumping back upright, he scolds, "That's what you get, you asshole! I hope my love haunts you forever, too!"

Yeosang - Although it's voice acting, yeosang insists he'd fall in love with your character regardless of how they look. When he sees that your character looks similar to him, he doesn't know how to react. When that character gets sacrificed to the cult's god, his eyes widen bigger than you've seen. He pauses the film to process the scene, as the themes prior to that felt very happy-go-lucky.

"What... was that? Did those cute, happy fairies just... sacrifice me -er, no, you to demons?"

Less concerned with your character's death, he tries to understand the plot. However, when the movie ends, he showers you in compliments, finding it adorable that you chose his character likeness despite the early death. He also urges you to do other roles, even suggesting moving to on-screen acting, as he thinks you can do well.

San - Since he insisted on coming with you for your first day of filming, he already knows that you play a major side character. Due to this, he's so excited to watch the finished product that he has everything ready by the time you arrive to his dorm. You almost feel bad knowing the effects of playing a major side character in a psychological thriller.

When San notices the pattern of those hanging beside the main character being driven violently insane and meeting the grim reaper, he gets antsy when your character is paired with the main character to guard the camp overnight. His leg bounces while his heart races, impatiently waiting as the main character gaslights your character about hearing sounds in the distance. As the camera follows you into the woods with your weapon at the ready, you watch San's reaction closely. When you get attacked by the enemy, you watch as your sweet boyfriend tries to contain his anger. However, he bursts into rage when the main character insults you the next morning. You spend a good ten minutes calming him down.

Mingi - Knowing that your boyfriend gets scared easily, you warn him of your character's death prior to starting the movie. Despite this, he still freaks out from the loud shing of the blade off-camera followed by the plop of your quickly dying character falling to the floor. Hiding his face in the pillow he clings to, he asks whether filming the scene hurt. You pause the film when the gorey scene changes and explain that everything was fake and even the floor was padded. He doesn't let you press play again until you fully convince him that you suffered no injuriees during filming. When the movie ends, he pouts about choosing happier scripts for next time, but claims he'll watch anything you star in at least once - even if it scares him half to death.

Wooyoung - Although he tries to convince you that he's excited to watch the movie because his idol friend is the male lead, you know he's excited to see you. The smile on his face during your first scene proves that to you. Little does he know that your character soon gets fatally shot while protecting that very same friend of his. And oh boy. His reaction to the scene is a movie all in its own right. He rewatches the clip of you taking your final breath in Yeonjun's arms in hopes that it'll change. After the third watch, he throws the remote down and begins pacing as he complains about your character's sacrifice, even suggesting that the writers should've let their main character get shot instead.

"I'm telling Yeonjun you said that."

"Go ahead. How dare he let you die in his arms without so much as attempting to stop the bleeding!"

Jongho - On the outside, you'd swear he's more excited that they made a movie based off of one of his beloved video games than the fact that you star in it, but you know he's excited nonetheless. In fact, he even beams seeing you on the starting screen; this is your first major role, after all. However, his gut feeling kicks in when they hold a funeral for one of the major characters - there's no respawning in this movie, and he's fearful that only the two main characters will survive. He begins holding out hope when your character makes it to the final round, but loses his mind when your near instant death is used to show the main characters how strong their enemies are. His silence is only broken by clearing his throat, which reveals to you that he's holding back tears. When the ending credits roll, you ask him what he thought.

"It felt like you were dead, for a second. You're scarily good at pretending to be dead. I'm sorry they killed you off for a plot point, love."

#cultofdionysusnet #kpop scenarios #kpop imagines #kpop reactions #ateez #ateez imagines #ateez scenarios #ateez reactions

[blissfullyecho]

more harsh truths about life that will prob hurt your feelings and get me cancelled lol

1. scripting, visualizing, using crystals, affirming, etc. all don’t work in the real world. do the work. we’re not anime characters or superheroes— using your “brain powers” while you sit there doing nothing to get what you want is a delusion. script, visualize, do whatever you wanna do but thinking that’s the secret sauce to what is gonna solve all your problems is insanity

2. no one is responsible for your triggers. getting mad at someone because they forgot to put “tw” in the title next to the LITERAL EXACT TOPIC that they’re going to discuss is your own fault that you read it. you knew what it was gonna be about. if you know you’ll be triggered, move on. getting mad at people for talking about things that they had no idea you’re having a hard time with is no one’s fault either. you’re never captive to stay somewhere. if it’s triggering, you make the decision and the choice to move on and get away.

3. attractive people have the advantage of making anything look cool. for example (and no offense because my brother loves this stuff) but if you like anime, a lot of people think it’s weird. but if you’re an attractive person that likes anime, then it becomes cool because an attractive person likes it. looks = status and anyone with status could make anything look cool and be a trend.

4. girls, it’s better not having hairy legs and armpits. sorry but someone had to say it and i’ll be that person. you’re not creating a movement, you’re not proving anything to anyone. everyone grows hair, we get it. but if your body hair makes a statement and expresses yourself, then maybe you need to develop a personality.

5. speaking of personality; some of you are too nice. the nice guy finishes last. always. they seek validation, temporary satisfaction, and it reeks desperation. being too nice makes you look weak and a target to manipulation and weirdness.

6. models, actors/actresses, singers, anyone in the public eye are MEANT to look good and MEANT to look like a fantasy/dream. these people are not meant to be role models and they didn’t sign up to be role models. they were good at their craft and all of you as regular everyday people forced them to be role models because they had a public image. these people are contracted to always look good, set trends, and stay relevant in the media. then you guys started pressing for “inclusivity” and ruined brands like victoria’s secret, hollister, abercrombie, etc. because it got your feelings hurt. those brands sell stories and fantasies. those models sold those brands. STOP TRYING TO MAKE HIGH STATUS PEOPLE INTO EVERYDAY PEOPLE. work on yourself if it bothers you. it’s show biz, baby.

7. if you want anything in life fast, then you either have to have money, good looks, or great manipulation/bribery/communication/people skills. being skilled is a good thing, but don’t expect results overnight like you would if you had money, looks, or people skills. again, this is if you want something FAST.

8. listening to subliminals is a waste of time. wanna change your subconscious mind? get your mind used to living and acting the way you wanna be. do that for 3-6 months and boom, you’re a new person. *high five*

9. it’s cool to gatekeep. why are we telling everyone our beauty secrets and where we bought our clothes? i’m not trying to have anyoneeeeee have anything i have because when people catch on to something, it becomes a trend, then it becomes basic. so no, i’m not telling you what perfume i’m wearing. “i forgot” or “it was a gift”. let me be me.

10. ladies, men want to do things for you. no, that doesn’t mean you don’t have the capability to do it yourself. stop with the equality mess because a man wanted to hold the door open for you. JUST BECAUSE A MAN OFFERS TO DO SOMETHING FOR YOU, DOES NOT MEAN YOU LACK THE MENTAL OR PHYSICAL CAPABILITY TO DO SO.

#harsh truth #wellness #wellness girl #that girl #that girl aesthetic #clean girl #clean girl aesthetic #leveling up #femininity #self care #green juice girl #self healing #self help #self care aesthetic #self improvement #self development #personal development #self growth #self love #high value woman #hypergamy #hyper feminine #hyperfemininity #hypergamous dating #hypergamous #advice

[anticmiscellaney]

I absolutely adore your work! What's your process been like for writing NewOldRare and developing Neil and Louis? Your art and character writing feel so genuine and realistic to me, so I'm really curious how you go about it!

Thank you! I've always been obsessed with character-driven stories and interaction, so I guess this is the result of years of practice and observation, and dismantling stories that do and don't work to see why.

Unfortunately, there isn't a clear way to explain it. It's one of those "you know when you get it right" things, requiring an eye developed over a long time. I will redraw things if I don't feel like I've captured the nuance I wanted to, and a few months later I'll look at it and see where I could have done better. Same with writing. I'm obsessed with pacing and page design, I had a moment of "that's how I think about it too" when Will Eisner described comic panels like music.

The technical approach is I make notes about stories I want to write, then I expand that into outlines, then scripts, then thumbnails, then I draw the comics and colour them and finalise the dialogue. At every stage I'm asking myself if it feels right, if I'm getting across what I want to. That's not to say there aren't surprises and things don't develop organically, but every stage is an attempt to solve as many problems as I can before the next stage. My thumbnails are quite detailed because it makes pencils easier, and I spend a while on them.

I have total aphantasia so I am operating off feeling rather than any mental images. I have no idea how it works and no idea why I pursue this when I'm missing what many visual artists describe as a crucial component. I just do it and I have better things to do (art) than wonder about something I can't change. I don't think it's made me a better or worse artist, though I think it has given me different ways of approaching/developing things. But also, literally everything about you makes your work different to everyone else's work.

You need to care. If your character is into music, listen to that music. If they have an old car that keeps breaking down, read up on common problems for that model. If they work as a film projectionist, watch a training film about using the machine. The characters care about things, have things in their lives that matter, have skills and interests and challenges. If I don't care enough to understand them, why should anyone reading it care, and also why am I writing it if I don't care?

So I do, and in caring I understand them better. This helps me develop characters/story but it also gives me so much more to write/draw. Understanding how things work and how they are done from a physical standpoint makes writing/drawing them easier too. The more you put into your head, the more you can get out later. I'll do way less for a 12 page short than for a 300 page graphic novel, obviously. Pick your battles, a little can go a long way.

They tell artists to collect visual references - solid advice - but you should collect substance too. If you pay attention, you will hear and see things you could never in a million years make up.

I find online socialising difficult, so I go out regularly and talk to people, or just hang around and observe. Chatting with strangers mostly involves listening to them. No one in gay spaces is interested in flirting with me (I'm rather homely and queer men assume I'm straight) but I think an audience is just as appealing sometimes, and maybe even harder to find. You'd be amazed what people will tell you if you're genuinely interested and listening. I once spent forty minutes at a sci-fi con talking to a guy who'd recently gotten into fisting. While I have zero personal desire to partake in that activity (and he had no interest in being fisted by me), I'm engaged, I'm invested, I'm asking questions, spare no detail.

I collect behavior and movement and the ways people interact too. Reading stories on reddit or whatever is one thing, but the words might not be as interesting as the way they're standing, the way their hands move, the way they respond. A guy in a bar once literally humped my leg like a dog because he felt I wasn't paying enough attention to him. I would never think of that as a response to that situation, but he did, and he followed through. Fortunately my friend had just tried to drunkenly sit down and missed the chair, otherwise I would never hear the end of it.

I see the leghumper around sometimes, he's got a boyfriend and avoids making eye contact with me, thank god.

#newoldrare #replied

[theskysungqueen]

to make things brief cause I suck at organizing what I have to say, the live action was definitely Something™.

Cast: 10/10 kinda biased personally but yall can't take this from me

Gordon as Aang and Dallas as Zuko were the standouts imo. Gordon needs some direction on line delivery and the angstier scenes but overall he's very charming and I'm so proud of him for getting so much exposure!

Ian as Sokka was great, I just wish he was allowed to be more...messy? like Sokka pretends to be chill and all that but he's actually dramatic so I hope that gets improved in the next season if there is one

speaking of improvement, Kiawentiio as Katara brought out a softer side to the character but sadly diminished her spark and passion. I like that Katara now actually feels like a younger sister, it makes sense within the context of the story that Sokka and Gran Gran would shelter her after what happened, but as someone said, her anger is so central to her character and I just wish that got shown more. It's more of a script and direction problem tbh, if you look at Kia's interviews she has the sass and feistiness Katara needs

Lizzy as Azula is great, the writing is a bit clunky though so she did the best she could with it. Can't really comment on Mai and Ty Lee yet because they're kinda just there but it's a nice setup

Maria as Suki? perfection show stopping never the same she is a queen and I love the tidbit of Suki backstory which she never really had in the og show. I love her being such a loser around her crush we love to see girlfailures girlfailing. I wish the writers didn't make them KISS though 😭 slowburn ftw

the adults were great

Writing: 6.5/10

There were genuinely good moments and I love the concept of mixing up certain plot points to condense the story

But they just suffered from too much Telling instead of Showing WRITERS PLEASE LISTEN TO THE CRITICISM YOU HAVE TIME TO IMPROVE PLEASE

Omashu, mechanist, and Jet plot mixing as a concept was fine, but it dragged on and my friends and I got bored of it. I like it in theory but if it was going to take THAT long couldn't they have just separated one of those storylines for a different episode?

I appreciate that they tried to develop the water siblings' relationship by making them the stars of the Secret Tunnels, but I would've changed the way they "conquered" the problem (really? badgermoles respond to love? cute in theory but like why). If anyone's watched Barbie: A Fairy Secret there's a part where Barbie and her frenemy accuse each other of why their friendship failed, and it helps them make up and breaks the curse put on them. So that's what I would've done, force them in a life or death situation in which they have to say the unsaid things, maybe hug it out and boom

The way they handled Koh and the Spirit World was a Mess™ but the effects were decent

Zhao meeting horrible ends in every incarnation is so deserved

Yue having more agency was a welcome change AND I LOVE THAT SHE WATERBENDS. Then waterbends even when the moon is gone. It's such a nice visual nod to the fact that she has the moon spirit within her

That said, the show could definitely use more visual storytelling, less weird dialogue. Like it's so strangely common for shows or adaptations these days to exposition dump. Like they did not have to make Yue say that the ocean spirit was angry, literally just show me the dead moon fish and I'll get the idea. Then Iroh says "That's Wrath" that's just redundant now isn't it

I like that they saved Katara bringing Aang out of the Avatar State until last even if it could've been done better

HOW DARE THEY MAKE ME LIKE HAHN HE WAS A JERK IN THE SHOW BUT THEY MADE HIM A GENUINELY GOOD CHARACTER. Yes to brown men not being portrayed as jerks but also in the original it was a nice contrast to how far Sokka had come because Hahn reflected who he used to be. But live action Hahn </3

I like that they showed the deaths and blood. I wanted a live action that was both lighthearted but more realistic when it came to the injuries and death, and that'd kind of what I got

Other thoughts + overall

You can tell they put so much heart into this show, watching the bts, the bending boot camp with the correct martial arts, the easter eggs, the nods to the comics, the beautiful adaptations of Cabbage Merchant and Secret Tunnel nomads, there's so much passion behind the show it's a shame it suffered in its writing

which is why if they read reviews and criticism from the bigger name fans (TheAvatarist, HelloFutureMe, etc.) it would really help them improve for future seasons! The cast is stunning already and they have great chemistry (hopefully gets improved too!)

The live action is just a different angle to the show. And I'm saying this as an Avatar fan–the original wasn't perfect, either. I had some problems w it but the overall show was genuinely so good and heartfelt, those problems weren't glaring enough to put me off (unlike The Dragon Prince, sorry). The live action definitely wasn't perfect, but it tried to give us a new look into Avatar. Again, no adaptation will ever be a 1:1 remake and none should be. Where's the fun in that? But while the show is so full of heart and with actual fans working behind the scenes, I doubt if they listen to any criticism that they can't pull this off better next season.

#atla #avatar the last airbender netflix #avatar netflix #netflix avatar #avatar the last airbender #netflix atla #avatar live action #aang #katara #sokka #zuko #iroh #azula

[campcampkirbykirbykirby]

Camp Camp Commentary Notes - Season 1, Episode 1: Escape from Camp Campbell

This is the first in a series of posts detailing the various nuggets of behind-the-scenes info found in the commentaries of the Camp Camp Seasons 1 and 2 Blu-Ray. I aim to cover both the writer commentary and cast & crew commentary of every episode in the set (except the holiday specials because they don't have commentaries GRRRR)

Writer’s Commentary

Writers went back to touch up this episode after completing the initial 10 episodes, before going on to the bonus 2 episodes that were greenlit following the positive reception

This episode went through about 12-14 drafts before it was finalized

Pilots are very hard because they both need to be very good and hook the audience so they will want to watch more, you have to juggle introducing all the necessary characters and telling a single solid story

Doubly so since this was the crew’s first shot at writing for an episodic series, all their other efforts had been story-driven up to that point

Irony in that the title of the first episode is about wanting to leave the camp (or show) entirely

Max and David’s dynamic is perfectly set up within 8 lines of dialogue

In older versions of the pilot, Mr. Campbell never showed up in person, only in the introductory video that was later repurposed into promotional material

Most of what was taken out of the pilot ended up being reused in some way, including the intro and the teaser trailer

One of the primary goals was to establish early on that this is not a kids show, like some people who saw the early promo material thought it was

This is why Max swears less than 40 seconds in, and why the rabbit gets swooped up by Timothy earlier (although I’d argue you could make that joke in a more family-friendly show)

First RT series produced in more of a writer’s room style akin to The Simpsons

The writers would come up with episode ideas, divy up who’d want what story, they’d write a first draft, come back to it, workshop the script several times, rinse and repeat until it devolved into Miles and Jordan doing final punch-ups and trimming

This pipeline allowed for lots of easter eggs and background details to be slipped in

Then they effectively do a table-read of the script which allows them to add more

Starting in Season 2, they started recording writer’s room conversations, so if something funny came up and they wanted to add it, they wouldn’t just have to go off of memory

Putting all the campers in the activities field doing their activities seemed like a good way to establish all of their respective camps.

Challenger II is Miles’ favorite visual gag (as of 2018, at least)

Working with Lee Eddy and Travis Willingham was great, Lee especially since they had previously worked with her for Red V.S. Blue

Travis was the first person who recorded for the show, as part of the aforementioned introductory video, and he was great at riffing and ad-lib

What exactly Camp Campbell was was foggy initially (whether or not it advertised that it was a camp of all camps), and the initial pilot didn’t explain it very well because they had built an internal understanding of what it was and didn’t do a very good job conveying it to the audience.

Mr. Campbell really likes the Quartermaster

Looking back on the first episodes is very interesting, especially when you have been working on the show for years at that point, for example, Max’s bond with Nikki hasn’t been established yet, so he has to ask why she’d help him.

Not enough time for the full theme song (hence why no intro), so they thought having Gwen interrupt it was funny

The scene where Max, Neil, and Nikki are running was seemingly the origin of Neil’s raptor arms (oh, excuse me, T-rex arms)

Ed, Edd ‘n’ Eddy was used as a reference for things like this because the Eds each had distinct walk cycles befitting their personality

First Day buttons were included so the campers would have a means to get away from the counselors

The music sting as the bus is driving away is a nod to the Back to the Future theme

Cast and Crew Commentary

Michael jokes about a sequel or prequel called “Max Max/Maximum Max”

The scream Miles did when David gets hit by the bus gets used quite a bit

The more Max’s parents push him away, the more he tries to cling to him, according to Maggie

Episode was supposedly recorded March 2016, ironically one of the last ones recorded

Recording for the series started November of 2015

Handheld camera movements in the mess hall scene were added by animator Gil Calceta

Lee Eddy was the only person who auditioned for Gwen, the crew saw it as perfect casting

Laserdisc player is not big enough for laserdisc

Campbell’s lazy wear (for lack of a better term) was only made for the one shot, though it would later comeback in Season 4

Michael initially auditioned for Camp Camp not really knowing what it was, and his script was just some typical Max phrases

Older episodes, Max was pitched up because Michael hadn’t quite perfected the voice yet

There was no helicopter assest created, it’s off screen and only implied by Campbell being pulled up by the ladder

The scene of Nikki throwing the button took 3 days to animate

The line “Go to bitch, jail” in the Camp Camp Rap Rap was an ad-lib/outtake

#camp camp #cc max #camp camp commentary #cc david #cc nikki #cc neil #cc gwen #cc campbell

[rileyclaw]

Hii! First off i just want to I'm such a big fan of your art and animatics! Your art is just so expressive and unique its addicting to look at 💞💞

I was wondering if you could go over how your process or tutorial in making an animatic? Whenever I try to start to make one, I get jumbled up and end up ditching it lol

I'm sorry if you get this question a lot 😭

So sorry it took me so long to answer this- I was in a Busy time (diseaseridden with covid and being punched by finals) when I got the ask and wanted to answer it with some stuff Im using for my next TOH animatic!!

I'll say one thing first: I get jumbled up and ditch so many animatics. For every one animatic I release, there are three to five more I have that have NEVER seen the light of day (yet). And that's okay!! It's fun just to make them for me, and I hope it is for you too!! Animatics are scary because if you're working on it alone, it can be really hard to be your own cheerleader to keep up the mojo to keep going. So that makes it really special when there is that project that makes it to the finish line- cuz you can look at it and go "holy crap I made this. holy crap i MADE that look how SICK that is dude!! all that work and look at the turnout!!"

The following stuffh is just my personal process and is by no means representative of a professional animation pipeline, but this works for me as a Lonely Artist! It all begins with the idea - whether it's a song, or just a story you wanna tell. In the case of the one I'm gonna demo here with , I wanted to animate Hunter's first day as Del's apprentice!

The first thing I did was write a script. Not fancy or AO3-quality, but enough that I understand the pacing and the visuals of each shot. I usually just put this in a doc or put it in a script format, if I feel fancy.

Then, I take that script and find music that I think would fit for it- and remix it (if needed) to fit the pacing/mood/etc! This is what this new animatic looked like before I began ANY artwork- this is a me thing because I'm super inspired by audio as opposed to visuals first. But you might be different- this is just how I like working personally!

Then begins the research! I find references for characters, background layouts, and create a style guide for the animatic that tells me how thick lines will be for characters, backgrounds, if there'll be tons of value or no. I make a turnaround for each character so I can refer to them because Im gonna be drawing them over and over a LOT and want to be consistent! Luckily TOH has no shortage of references, so I based my work off them.

THEN, I can begin drawing. I'm a little,,, (a lot) ADHD and may not always do this process, but if you're new to animatics or daunted by the task at hand, make beat boards of the entire project.

This is just a page of rough thumbnails that get your visual idea down - look how rough and quick these are!! I try not to spend over a minute on each beat board if I dont have to, unless it's a particularly complex shot.

When it gets to the stage where you're ready to begin the actual scenes, I personally tend to do backgrounds first because I like to set characters into backgrounds - and for every animatic, I have the Awkward Blue Sketch Stage which is basically my beat boards timed out as an animatic.

I used Storyboard Pro for this (Toonboom, not free ): icky), but the process can be replicated across most art platforms in whichever way you feel most comfy with! This is so I can time the drawings before I devote time cleaning them up-- which can make for some Pretty Funny looking little guys but theyre important!! trust!!

Once a big sequence of shots is cleaned up (I usually do 40-60 second chunks at a time), I export the .mov and send it to my editing program (which in this case is still Premiere Pro) - and then repeat this process again and again until.. it's done??

Here's like a TL;DR list of basically everything I said summed up:

• Make a loose script or bulletin of the idea! Do your research!

• Depending on what kind of animatic you're making, time it to music!

• Make a beat board of very loose gestures for your shots, and time them - then move on to refinement & cleanup!

• Combine all shots, refine music cues and timings, add any last needed VFX, and export!

There's no secret recipe or anything, it's just learning a pipeline that best suits you, whether it is for something professional or something you want to make for fun because you just love to make!!

#riley talks #long post #SORRY ITS LONG but i couldnt just put a bulletin list like “this is the ONLY method that works” bc thats not true!!! #everyone works diferently especially artists #and this is just my specific method of working #im very fortunate to have programs that make animatic-making a little easier #so i hope whoever wishes to make one in the future finds something that works well for them!! i have a blast making storyboards/animatics!! #text post #ask #tutorial #idk how to tag this lol

[warpyyy]

im a disabled game dev looking for artists to help bring my game to life. help a guy out during disability pride month

yes you'd be getting paid via share of the revenue once the game is out. im on disability income and cant pay upfront so i understand if you wanna scroll past now tbh LMAO

really though ive been working on my visual novel, The Deception of Paradise since 2018 and now that the script is done, i need a sprite artist and a backgrounds artist since i cant draw properly aside short , simple one-time art pieces due to a serious lifelong head injury

if you'd like to help out consider going here to post your portfolio and reading more about the project (its a casting club call link)

if you have any questions about the story, the characters, the game, anything really feel free to shoot me an ask! my inbox is open. however dont message me pls i dont have access to messages since this blog is a shared blog with an older account of mine

please consider reblogging so this post can reach more people, this is a passion project of mine and im just one disabled guy trying to make it come to life

game desc/blurb under the cut!

“Peace City- a city near the coast that’s loaded with all kinds of people. Named appropriately, I suppose; everything here seems perfect. Almost too perfect.

Anyway, within Peace City is The Society; A company that employs humans and Arkadias alike- ah, what is an Arkadia you ask? An Arkadia is a type of spirit that possesses inanimate objects. They appear human, and they only reveal their true form if needed- or, if damaged.

I work here in Peace City, along with my partner Ari. He’s a bit of an idiot, but he’s a good person… er, Arkadia. But there’s something off about this city, I’ve only been here a year and I can already tell. The people seem restless, and the abundance of clouds to the north… I wonder what’s up?” - Rin

[Main characters Rin and Ari work for The Society. Their first job was to investigate murders at a library, but then Ari gets attacked by the murderer! The two fall into a rabbit hole of more crime and mysteries as they try to sort things out- both in town, and between the two of them.]

#gamedev #game dev #actually disabled #disability pride month #tdop #the deception of paradise #help me pls i want this game to be finished so bad its my pride and joy

[lurkingshan]

So I finally watched Chains of Heart (yes, all the way to the end!) and let me tell you, despite many warnings I was not quite prepared for that level of incoherence, both from a plot standpoint and a character one. This show really waited until the end of episode 8 to "reveal" something that was obvious from the first episode. The gloves simply disappeared with no explanation! And while the show was a mess the whole way through, I actually couldn't believe it when I finished the finale. I rewound a couple times to see if I had missed something, because I expected the plot resolutions to be silly, but I did not expect there to be no resolution to the relationship or the main character's emotional arc whatsoever! Despite what MDL claims I believe the script was actually written by an AI, because surely a human brain would have made something in the story make sense.

And it's even weirder because the show is so visually stunning. I think this is probably the biggest disparity between production values and writing quality I have seen in all my years of drama watching. When I got to the big intimacy scene in episode 9 I described it as beautiful but emotionally incoherent, and I think that's kind of the bottom line with this show. Truly fascinating that this got made.

In conclusion:

#chains of heart #chains of heart the series #thai bl #shan shouts into the void

[rottenraccoons]

Do you have any tips for people writing their own visual novel/interactive fiction? I’d love to write something but I honestly have no idea where to start T-T

*leaves shiny pile of trash as thanks*

Start small! You're trying out a whole new format (and it's important to acknowledge that interactivity can radically change your writing process!) and so try it with a story you can tell briefly. I personally toyed with the kind of fairy tales I grew up as a way to tell a story in a contained space, but anything works as long as it's contained. Our first project as a team, Flamebait Dating Sim, is a 14k word game based on a funny joke.

Otherwise, it's a matter of looking at your interests and seeing what kind of story sparks joy for you. For us as a group, we worked together from the starting premise of "dark romance" since we like romancing 2D dudes and wanted more space to write dark and messed-up stuff. Then we started throwing ideas together and whenever an idea really excited us as a group, we kept following that trail. Literally underground marketplace? Cool! White-haired evil priest? YEs!!

So what kinds of ideas make you happy or excited to pursue? Maybe it's a setting, or a love interest/character trope, or a story twist? Do you want to retell your favourite public domain story, but with a twist? You're allowed to build a story around anything you like, for any reason that you like! Just keep it small to start with! As a very rough rule of thumb, about 10k words of script makes for about 1 hour of reading. Making a ten-hour experience is effectively writing two novels using that rule of thumb. It's a lot of work. A 30 minute romp through a short story, though? That's 5k words, which is a fair bit more manageable.

One thing that's a little more advanced but I think is super interesting is deciding what the choices mean for your story. In Obscura, they're a mix of a test (pass/fail questions that determine your final score: the ending), and expression (questions with no impact on the ending, just colouring the scene in question). You don't need a reason deeper than "this is what I like", but it's worth looking at the story you want to tell and asking what the choices are going to mean for the player. The second you put thought into something instead of just doing it automatically, your decision becomes stronger.

#obscura vn #rotten raccoons #asks #about us #(by which i mean our process)

[comicaurora]

As a writer for this comic, scripts for videos, or what have you, have you found writing ever gets easier? Like with visual art you can study references or practice and eventually see results but just throwing more words on a page doesn't feel like it has the same tangible improvements. There are clearly authors out there who can certainly fill pages and either could not or chose not to improve things my favorite examples being from "men writing women". So yeah part of it is knowing what not to write I guess, but is there a way of seeing writing improvement you know of?

I think it's certainly harder to see, but writing absolutely does get easier with practice. Like most art forms, it's a matter of figuring out how to translate what's in your head into a tangible thing on the page. That can be very difficult and counter-intuitive. For instance, because I think of storytelling in a very visual way, my first instinct on prose writing is to describe everything in terms of visual detail, but the problem is, this does not actually work in writing.

The greatest strength of prose writing is thoughts and feelings - to communicate exactly what is going on in a person's head, and to inspire the audience to internally craft an image that matches the feeling the story is communicating. This is something no other art form can communicate so readily, because every visual art form is on a certain level on the outside looking in at the characters. And frankly prose writing is not very well-equipped for detail-oriented visual description. If you try, you often end up with something that doesn't really paint the sort of word picture you might be looking for.

"I’m a goth (in case you couldn’t tell) and I wear mostly black. I love Hot Topic and I buy all my clothes from there. For example today I was wearing a black corset with matching lace around it and a black leather miniskirt, pink fishnets and black combat boots. I was wearing black lipstick, white foundation, black eyeliner and red eye shadow."

(from My Immortal, natch)

This, detail by detail, is very clear about what the character is wearing, except if you read it you have to mentally arrange all the pieces yourself. Black corset, okay. Black leather miniskirt - really? Okay. Pink fishnets - cool. Black combat boots, all right, great, that's the clothes done. Oh god there's more-

But the exact specifics of what this character is wearing really don't matter, do they? It matters more the feeling they're inspiring by their appearance - what their appearance communicates to the audience, what their character is. Compare to how Terry Pratchett characterizes a different goth-trending young woman in his Discworld novel Thief of Time:

"Miss Susan wore black, which the headmistress disapproved of but could do nothing about because black was, well, a respectable colour. She was young, but with an indefinable air of age about her. She wore her hair, which was blond-white with one black streak, in a tight bun. The headmistress disapproved of that, too — it suggested an Archaic Image of Teaching, she said, with the assurance of someone who could pronounce a capital letter. But she didn’t ever dare disapprove of the way Miss Susan moved, because Miss Susan moved like a tiger."

What exactly is Susan wearing? What is her makeup situation? What's her bone structure, her hair texture, her build? We don't know, and yet we can clearly visualize in our mind's eye exactly what she looks like. Except that visualization will be different for everyone, because it draws from the reader's internal knowledge of what these various things might mean. She wears black, she's young, she's a teacher, and she moves like a tiger. We don't need to picture it the exact way Terry Pratchett visualized it to know exactly what that means. And because she's being framed in the context of being disapproved of by a character in authority who nevertheless clearly can't do a damn thing about it, we learn a lot about this character just by the way the story narrates around her.

This is the kind of thing that a writer figures out with practice - what actually needs to be communicated to the audience for the story to have the impact it needs. And what doesn't need to be communicated, because the audience can be trusted to fill it in on their own. A writer doesn't need to spend three pages describing the luxurious embroidery on a beautiful ball gown if "she was wearing a gorgeous confection of satin and lace" or "she had been carefully zipped into a very impressive bodice" or "she was looking beautifully miserable in her ball gown" or "she sat with the grace and poise of an empress enthroned in her satin skirts" would do the trick in terms of helping an audience get the point.

And once a writer has gotten a feel for how to communicate what they want to communicate cleanly and simply, they can start figuring out how they might want to get weird with it.

"Arthur Dent was grappling with his consciousness the way one grapples with a lost bar of soap in the bath."

(From Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

There are so many ways to describe a character on the verge of unconsciousness, and this is a buckwild variation, because it doesn't feel like it should work except that it totally does. We don't need to know what that looks like because we know exactly what that feels like, and we're readily invited to extend that metaphor into Arthur Dent's slippery grasp on reality.

"Lady Ramkin’s bosom rose and fell like an empire."

(From Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards!)

What does that mean? What does that look like? It doesn't matter, we somehow absolutely get the point. This is a woman who moves with the power and gravitas of a battalion of soldiers and is often described in terms like "a galleon." We know how we're supposed to feel in this moment.

Words and language are incredibly precise and powerful tools, and what you need to use them for depends entirely on the kind of story you're telling, so the more you write, the better you'll get at using words for your specific purposes. This is why legalese is functionally its own dialect of English - lawyers try to use words to create completely precise, ironclad statements that cannot be misconstrued or manipulated, and it's pretty much incomprehensible to anyone who hasn't been trained in it because that is not what English is usually for.

The progress might not be as easily visible as art improvement, but it'll be there when you look for it, or when you revisit your older writing. You'll wonder with hindsight why you made certain decisions, or be frustrated with how inefficiently or blandly you communicated the point you wanted to make, or how much you undercut your own intentions because you weren't confident in your style. The more you write, the more easily you'll move through the medium of language and the better your work will become.

#asks #writing stuff