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fwoosh-prompts · 26 days

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Prompt: The Avengers and the Disher

When Loki attacks the event in Germany, a character of your choice (oc or one from a different fandom) was working as a disher/waiter there, and they tries to defend the people there.

Do they attack him by throwing dishware at the god or will they use something else (eg a weapon or magic or an item)? Or will it be a combination?

If Loki can sense magic, how will he react to the little mortal (of they have any)?

What will the Avengers reaction to your character be?

Will they try and get out of there in panic or will they cooperate and follow the Avengers to the Helicarrier?

Does anybody in S.H.I.E.L.D. know about them?

What about eventual family? Are they in the picture? Were they even there? Were they killed by Loki perhaps?

#fanfiction prompt #crossover #marvel #avengers #disher #waiter #oc #modified prompt #fwoosheye #fwoosh prompts #reblogging a now modified prompt

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fwoosh-prompts · 27 days

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Prompt: Eavesdropping Shadow

Midna somehow ends up in a meeting with a bunch of antagonists. Luckily they don’t notice her and she hides in the shadow of a random person there, carefully listening in on the meeting. When they leave, Midna discovers that the person whose shadow she hid in is a spy and she decides to help in her own little mischievous ways until she figures out how to get back to the Twilight Realm.

How/why did Midna end up at that meeting?

What was the meeting about?

Does she eventually reveal her presence?

Is she in her normal or her imp form? Can she switch between them?

What kinds of magic can she use?

Does it take place before, during or after the Twilight Princess game?

If during: Where is Link?

#fanfiction prompt #crossover #legend of zelda #twilight princess #loz tp #loz #eavesdropping shadow #midna #modified prompt #fwoosheye #fwoosh prompts #reblogging a now modified prompt

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fwoosh-prompts · 28 days

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Prompt: Rincewind the… so called Wizzard

Rincewind from the Discworld books somehow ends up in Middle Earth. Will he accompany the Dwarrows and Bilbo? The Fellowship? Does he go on his own quest? Will he met Death again? Is Luggage accompanying him?

#fanfiction prompt #crossover #hobbit #lotr #discworld #rincewind #wizard #wizzard #rincewind the wizzard #modified prompt #fwoosheye #fwoosh prompts #reblogging a now modified prompt

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fwoosh-prompts · 4 months

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Oh this looks like a nice list of writing sources! Gotta remember to check out the listed stories too at some point

The Author Speaks: All My Original Writing Content

For your convenience, a masterpost of all (or most) of my original posts so far. It will obviously be updated as I create and add more!

Enjoy, and thank you for reading! <3

The Basics: Plotting, Descriptions, and More

The Dos and Don’ts of Beginning a Novel (9/27/2017)

How to Write Good Dialogue (7/27/2017)

Notes on Chapters (7/5/2020)

My Top Tips for Sticking to That Damn WIP (8/13/2020)

How to Avoid Purple Prose (7/14/2017)

The Objective Correlative (4/10/2019)

Tips for Visual Thinkers (6/29/2017)

5 Ways to Name Your Novel (8/11/2018)

Romance

How to Write a Kiss Scene (9/17/2017)

How to Write a (Healthy) Romance (6/17/2017)

Mythology

Irish Mythology Resources (4/4/2019)

Academia

Masterpost for Writing Academic Essays (9/25/2020)

Horror

My #1 Tip For Writing Horror (5/17/2019)

Monster of the Week

Werewolves (10/19/2020)

Vampires (10/7/2020)

The Undead (10/23/2020)

Characterization

How to Get to Know Your Characters (6/17/2017)

Male Protagonists to Avoid in Your Writing (5/28/2017)

Female Protagonists to Avoid in Your Writing (6/7/2017)

More Female Protagonists to Avoid in Your Writing (6/5/2019)

The Importance of Antiheroes (6/22/2020)

How to Write Strong Female Characters (3/24/2018)

The Many Faces of the Strong Female Character (7/10/2019)

The Traits of a Likable Hero (7/19/2017)

The Secret to a Relatable Villain (3/11/2018)

Types of Unreliable Narrators (7/1/2019)

How to Write (or Avoid) Abusive Parents (8/2/2017)

The Dos and Don’ts of Writing Smart Characters (1/20/2020)

Reference Masterposts

Depicting Deaf, Blind, or Mute Characters (4/21/18 but often updated with new resources that my followers recommend)

Depicting Amputees (10/21/18)

Depicting Wheelchair Users (8/7/2020)

Depicting Jewish Characters (9/17/2018)

Depicting Black Characters (9/22/2018)

Depicting ADHD (5/11/2019)

Depicting Autism (1/1/2020)

Depicting Trans Women (9/15/2020)

Depicting Trans Men (9/29/2020)

Depicting Nonbinary and Genderfluid Characters (10/16/2019)

Depicting Asexual Characters (10/11/2019)

Depicting Drug Addiction (10/23/2018)

Depicting Eating Disorders (1/19/2020)

Depicting Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (7/5/2019)

Depicting Schizophrenia (7/13/2020)

Worldbuilding Masterpost (7/3/2018)

Publishing Resources:

Places to Post Original Fiction (10/29/2019)

Marketing Masterpost (8/12/2018)

My Published Fiction:

Gentlefolk - A timid woman faces her deepest fears in order to try and reclaim her stolen child from charismatic local Nature Gods. Only to discover that everything she’s been taught about them might be wrong. Published August 10, 2020.

The New Gods - Society is populated by gods, new and old. Some are more frightening than others. Published February 11, 2020.

Gunpowder Sigil - In a windblown Western town, a young girl conducts a summoning ritual for a spectral gunslinger. Magical realism meets the Western. Published August 4, 2019.

The Undertaker’s Apprentice - A lovesick undertaker in training goes on a disastrous first date, with a corpse as a third wheel. Published December 6, 2018.

The Young Immortal - A relatively youthful member of the immortal community reflects on his first century of life and his relationship with his oft-reincarnated soulmate. Published December 21, 2018.

The Bear - An anxiety-ridden young man with a talent for avoiding his problems decides not to acknowledge the grizzly bear trapped in his bedroom during a busy a day. Published October 1, 2018.

Stitches - Featured in Volume Blue of the anthology series Dark Cheer: Cryptids Emerging. A son comes finds purpose outside of his father’s legacy. Published December 28, 2021.

Nemesis - The third story featured in the anthology, Things Improbable. A lovesick supervillain is confronted by what they will do for their beloved superhero. Publishing February 28, 2023.

Strange New Worlds Anthology - A compilation of my short fiction, including previously published and previously unseen works. Release date to be determined.

Happy writing, everybody!

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fwoosh-prompts · 5 months

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Was flipping through one of my sketchbooks the other day and since I had so many [X Character] as Fierce Deity doodles I got the urge to make a role swap where Majora is the Fierce Deity and Fierce is the evil heart-shaped mask. Yk, as a challenge and as a colour palette study and so on.

Anyway, since my brain can't just leave concepts as is, it got me thinking: what if other characters got role swapped too?

Like, the first ones that came to mind are Anju and Kafei. I don't remember if it was the reason in the game, but in the manga Skull Kid Majora turns Kafei into a child when Kafei left his bachelor party because he didn't want to play with him. In this kind of au, perhaps the Fierce Mask meets Anju leaving her bachlorette party, and because she is giggling and skipping he asks why she's acting so childish, and when she answers even adults need to let lose their inner child sometimes he says "then you can be a child" and *poof* now she's a little girl. Perhaps she is hidingfor the same reason Kafei did, or maybe she is worried about what rumors would be spread about him if he was seen with a child. Lots of potential.

Something that have even more angst potential is swapping Romani and Cremia, where Cremia is the one who is aware of the aliens and tries to protect her farm. Where failure results in Cremia being the one left in an almost vegetative state and little Romani doesn't understand what's going on with her big sister. Perhaps the dog lady sent Romani to the cucco guy to keep her distracted while she tries to take care of Cremia.

Perhaps the dancing sisters are juggling, and the juggling brothers are dancing.

Maybe, instead of Skull Kid stealing the Mask from the Happy Masks Salesman, the Skull Kid was guarding the Fierce Mask on the request of the Giants and the Salesman stole the Mask anyway only to get possed by it immediately.

Perhaps it was the Deku Butler who was turned into a tree instead of his son.

Perhaps Lulu goes after her eggs herself leaving Mikau the one alive.

... not sure what kind of swap could if be made with the Gorons though.

I guess one could swap Igos du Ikana and the Garo Master, but I'm unsure how much that would affect things other than the boss battles.

But hey speaking of stuff in the Ikana Canyon maybe Pamela would be the one who is partly turned into a gibdo – or a redead? Or a Garo? – instead of her father.

Like... sorry for the text wall but there's a lot of stuff one can do with this!

#ykw this is basically a prompt #on to the prompt blog with you #loz #majora's mask #fierce deity #fierce majora role swap #loz au #loz mm #fanfiction prompt #fwoosh prompts #fwoosheye

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fwoosh-prompts · 5 months

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Prompt: Too Much Is Still Not Enough

A magician/sorcerer/witch/etc gets so annoyed at something they end up taking an Anxiety Reducing or Temper Soothing Potion. And then another. And another. And another.

In other words, the Magic Chap of your choice ends up getting high on Potions.

Who is it? Is it someone from a fandom or is it an OC?

Who or what were they annoyed or upset at? An apprentice? A customer? A bespelled dishwasher breaking after the bespelled washing machine shrunk everything ten sizes? Was it a relationship perhaps? Life in general?

What are the general guidelines about the potions they’re taking? Are they aware of the risks of possibly overdosing on them?

Is it dangerous to overdose on the potions?

What are the potions made out of? Do the know or do they buy them?

Go as silly or as serious as you want with these!

#fanfiction prompt #general prompt #potions #potions mishap #fwoosheye #fwoosh prompts #modified prompt #reblogging a now modified prompt

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fwoosh-prompts · 5 months

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Prompt: Amestrian Flattail

There is a dragon that is considered to be nothing but a legend and appearing on a nation’s flag: The Amestrian Flattail. Two legged, wingless and with a long, flat tail, it’s supposed to be more magnificent and/or intelligent than any other dragon-breeds. Determined to find out once and for all if it’s real or not, a dragon trainer/scientist/etc heads to Amestris. If they have a dragon companion it may or may not accompany them.

The dragon specialist/fanatic and the Elric brothers ought to meet.

If they find the Amestrian Flattail, is it really a dragon, or is it Envy in disguise or a chimera?

Can be as silly or serious as you want!

If you wish you can write it from the Elrics’ POV and have them stumble upon the dragon [insert profession] by accident or because they’ve been sent to investigate him.

#fanfiction prompt #crossover #fullmetal alchemist #fma #fmab #dragons #fwoosheye #fwoosh prompts #modified prompt #reblogging a now modified prompt

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fwoosh-prompts · 5 months

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Prompt: Five Champions Chilling in a Hot Tub Very Close Together Because the Shrine of Resurrection Is Only So Big

Where the pilots of the Divine Beasts were ejected from the beasts as they fell to the Blights attacks and their people found them dying and for X reason had found out about the Shrine of Resurrection and took their Champion there only to discover all the others had the same idea. They decide to place all five in the shrine. It's barely enough to cover them but they make it work, and then all they got to do is wait...

Does it still "only" take 100 years or does it take longer?

What sort of clothing did they leave for the other champions? Do the other even get any clothes or is it only Link and Urbosa that get "new" clothes?

How will the remaining Champions handle the complete memory loss?

When/how do they regain their memories, if they do?

What about their powers? Will they have to reactive them somehow or is it rediscovered by muscle memory etc?

Do they get more than one paraglider?

If they only get one, how will they get down from the Great Platau? Will they try to climb?Will they craft their own? Send down Daruk and have him dig out the blocked part where water have collected? Something else?

How will the reunions with their people/family look like? Will there be people who are sceptic to believe they are who they say?

If any of the Age of Calamity plot is included:

Assuming Kogha and the Yiga have turned against Ganon like in AoC after having their own killed/severly wounded by the Calamity, what have the Yiga been up to the last 100 years?

Will Kogha have snuck in a dying Sooga into the shrine too after he got hurt by a Guardian/malice/etc?

How will an amnesiac Yiga handle recovering memories of trying to kill his companions? Is his first memory triggered by bananas or by meeting Yiga spies? Or is it something else? Maybe Link or Urbosa (the two he would've fought the most) handing him a fruit in a similar way to how Kogha did when he was starving in the dlc flashback?

How will Kogha handle Sooga not remembering him?

Do they still steal the Thunder Helm? If so, why? Is it to lure the group into their lair to see if they can jog Sooga's memory? Or are they worried Riju would try to go after Vah Nabooris herself and possibly get hurt?

#fanfiction prompt #legend of zelda #breath of the wild #loz botw #fwoosh prompts #fwoosheye #loz aoc #botw #aoc

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fwoosh-prompts · 8 months

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Writing Advice: Summaries

Summaries can be tricky, so here are my tips to improve on it:

Don’t write that you’re bad at summaries. That will definitely drive away your readers.

Don’t just write “Full summary inside” and nothing more. Most people will ignore that. If your summary is really long, it’s better to write a small part of it and then tell the full one is inside.

Remember that, in a way, a summary it’s the preview of the first change-triggering event, the thing that get’s the ball rolling.

One way is to think “if this was a short prompt, what would it look like” and then possibly replace the “what if” with “where” like in point 9.

You can also copy a small part of the dialogue or a scene in lieu of working together a summary, just remember that the chosen part must reflect the over all plot and/or tone of your story.

Look at your basic plot-line. If you remove all the subplots and stuff, what do you have left? This is probably what you should use in the summary.

If your story is very complex with many turns, focus on the main-plot of where things first start rolling. You don’t need to tell the reader what the midpoint or climax of your story will be (as a matter of fact, that should be probably be avoided). What you need to do is to lure them in with the promise of massive change early on.

If you feel your summary is too short, you can use a few key-word to compliment it with to give your reader an extra clue of what ahead, e.g. “kidnappings, sassy minions and a one-eyed dog”. Be careful with using too many however, as that might imply the story lacks a consistent red thread. 3-5 “points” is usually enough, if you make sure you pick carefully. Ask yourself this: Which important event(s)/unique vip character(s) can be written vaguely enough it won’t spoil the story yet still make the reader curious enough to pick it up and not be disappointed when they reach your baits?

Consider avoiding writing “What if” in the beginning. You might get a better reception if you instead write “Where” instead (with or without changing tempus). Just look at these comparisons:

What if Link thought Poison Ivy was a Great Fairy?

vs.

Where Link thinks Poison Ivy is a Great Fairy.

As you can see, the first ones look like a prompt, the second ones like a summary. But if you’re uploading it on a site that have more space for summaries (eg on ao3 instead of ffn) it’s easier to get away with the prompt-style because you can add on to it (eg What if Link thought Poison Ivy was a Great Fairy? After leaving Termina Link finds himself in Gotham, in a very special Greenhouse, filled with what looks like Deku Babas…). Also, if you don’t yet have loyal readers who are used to your style, writing “what if” can imply that the writer don’t have a clear idea as to where it’s going and will be dependent on the reader telling them where to take it, which sometimes might be a good thing, but other times might make the readers fear that the red line of the plot can be so destroyed it will force the writer to abandon or restart the project.

#writing advice #summary #summaries #fwoosheye #fwoosh prompts #srb

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fwoosh-prompts · 9 months

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Medical question!

I read a lot of fics (specifically a lot of angst), and one thing I’ve noticed a lot is people make infection set in to wounds really fast, like only an hour or two after being injured (in one case it was only a few minutes!)

My question is, how long does it actually take for infection to set into wounds? And what actually causes them? It doesn’t just spontaneously happen, right?

An infection usually takes at least a day, typically more than two days, to settle in. It’s primarily caused by bacteria getting into an open wound. This could be bacteria from the object that caused the wound, or bacteria from any contact with the wound after the fact. If you clean the wound and cover it pretty quickly, your chance of infection decreases greatly.

#writing advice #kinda #infection #medical #useful reblog #not my stuff #skyloftian nutcase

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fwoosh-prompts · 1 year

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Hi! I was wondering if you had any tips for increasing word count? I find after anytime I write that's it just short of 1k even though while I was writing it felt like a lot..

Never been properly able to answer this question as I myself am an overwriter. What I write before I trim is usually,

a brief description of every new setting and character

if the setting or character is important, longer description

how characters speak and behave described in addition to their dialogue

lots of dialogue, like if a character has feelings about a subject, let 'em rip

inner monologue goes on for ages

character building takes a lot of words, actually? I see people sacrificing this for plot a lot (or sacrificing plot for this), but you can fit it into a lot of places

stop writing "only plot relevant" stuff, there are other aspects of storytelling that can and should stay

world building can exist even if it's a world you think everyone knows

what is the weather like?

are there noises/smells in the area that can be used to worldbuild, influence dialogue, show character details, or otherwise affect the story/reader in some way?

have you considered all options for how the scene should go and answered all questions?

could you ask a new question within the story and answer it?

This is basically how I fill my stories. I tend to go overboard, but for you maybe these need to be addressed.

I've just reblogged two other posts on this from other writing blogs, so check their advice!

—

+ Please review my pinned Ask Policy before sending in your ask. Thank you.

+ If you benefit from my updates and replies, please consider sending a little thank you and Buy Me A Coffee!

#writing advice #useful reblog #not my stuff #word count

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fwoosh-prompts · 1 year

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Prompt: Pipit on (Wrong?) Surface

Due to an accident, Pipit falls from the sky and ends up on the surface. But it is the surface of his Hyrule or did he end up in a different universe/timeline too?

What will he do there?

What kind of accident was it?

Did he receive any injuries?

Did he travel in time or not?

Is his Loftwing there? Did it even survive?

Can he go home or will somebody come for him?

If it’s a different universe/timeline, which one? The Downfall Timeline maybe or in the Great Sea? A superhero universe? Maybe during LotR or the Hobbit? Midsummer or some other murder mystery universe? Undertale perhaps because the first thing he did was step into the hole on accident? The possibilities are limitless!

#fanfiction prompt #crossover #legend of zelda #skyward sword #loz ss #pipit #fwoosheye #fwoosh prompts #modified prompt #reblogging a now modified prompt

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fwoosh-prompts · 1 year

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Prompt: [Insert character] at Fort Briggs

Where a character of your choice was supposed to travel/teleport to somebody named Ford Riggs but ends up in Fort Briggs of Amestris instead. For whatever suitable reason your character of choice cannot leave the same way they came and are therefore temporarily stuck there.

How did they get there? Was it just one character or was it several?

Is the character of your choice an OC or a character from a different fandom? (It could for example be Blue from the Four Sword manga, or Frisk from Undertale)

If your character is from a different fandom, where in the respective timelines does this takes place? (Eg the Amestris timeline, is it before or after the Promised Day? Is it maybe on Olivier’s first day there or on one of the few days she isn’t there?)

Are there any language barriers?

Is your character a timid one or are they confident or crafty etc? How will their personality affect their time at Fort Briggs

Why were your character supposed to meet Ford Riggs? Does this person even exist or where they a set up? If they exist will they know what happened?

Does anyone in Fort Briggs know about magic/scifi tech/whatever that caused it?

Whether General Olivier Mira Armstrong knows about magic/etc or not is up to you. After all, the knowledge of it might have been passed down through the Armstrong-line for generations!

#fanfiction prompt #crossover #fullmetal alchemist #fma #fmab #fort briggs #general armstrong #olivier mira armstrong #fwoosheye #fwoosh prompts #modified prompt #insert character at fort briggs

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fwoosh-prompts · 1 year

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No no, this makes sense. Basically, if I understand your points correctly they boil down to this:

Even if you don't write out every characters development, you need to have a basic idea of what it is/will be

Pick a characteristic and push it to the extremes so it becomes a source for both their strength and their weakness

To use a different example than smart, let's say we have a character who is incredibly kind: they're probably very helpful and doting and supportive. But they might also struggle with saying no when needed – or staying quiet if their friend is threatened with torture, even if said friend want them to zip it because speaking would ruin all of their work or possibly cause more harm later

These things are spectrums and the characters' emotional journey often goes from one end to the other

High+High and Low+Low basically means that it might be a good idea to pair High-stake-plotpoints with High/intense emotions and Low-stake-plotpoints with Low/calm emotions

Let their emotions affect their decisions and therefore the plot

Figure out how they should get from point A to point B and throw trouble at them

while i'm making the building blocks of my next novel let me talk about character traits and emotional arcs and how i work with that.

every character needs a personal arc, but you don't have to write every single one, just know about them. but the protagonist, and usually the secondary characters (like the antagonist and love interest) need to evolve during the events of the story. character feeds plot which feeds character, ciiiiircle of life.

so, to figure out the emotional arc you need to see what characteristics you gave your character. pick one, and push it to extremes.

like, let's say a character is smart. if you push it to the best possible outcome, you can get a brilliant strategist, someone who wins only with their brains. You push it to the worst outcome, and you get someone who is paralyzed by reflexion and indecision, unable to chose and damaging themselves and their close ones with it. (oh wait I made Chidi.)

But you know what I mean. When picking the positive and negative traits of a character, they're often both extremes of the same spectrum.

And the emotional arc is often going to be going from one end of the spectrum to another.

and you weave this with the plot (highs with highs, lows with lows), how can the character's emotional journey influence their choices, how do the events influence the emotional journey.

so, in general, you pick an ending to your little guy (gender neutral), you pick a beginning, and you figure out how to bring them from B to A while throwing obstacles in their way. it's for their own good.

#writing advice #character arcs #wheeloffortune

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fwoosh-prompts · 1 year

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Prompt: Overheard

What if [Character A] overheard when [Character B] told the Antagonist some vital information and decided to act upon it?

Can be used with whichever fandom you’d like or with an original work

#fanfiction prompt #general prompt #crossover #overheard #fwoosh prompts #fwoosheye #modified prompt #reblogging a now modified prompt

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fwoosh-prompts · 1 year

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Prompt: The Armour and the “Cat”

Alphonse Elric picks up a cat again. Morgana is not amused and tries to figure out how to get out of the situation.

Can be as short or long as you’d like!

When does this happen? In the middle of the P5 plot where Morgana meets Haru or is it post game?

Are they even in Tokyo or are they in Amestris?

Does Morgana at first think he’s in the Metaverse?

Is Edward Elric and/or any of the Phantom Thieves there?

Will it turn out that having seen the Gate of Truth permits someone to understand Morgana? If so, have Al recovered his memories of the Gate so he will understand Morgana if he dropps an offhand comment etc?

Will Al (and Ed?) enter the Metaverse?

Can be used with some other fandom than Persona 5, as long as it has a character who either looks like a cat or can take the shape of one.

#fanfiction prompt #crossover #fullmetal alchemist #fma #fmab #persona 5 #persona 5 royal #armour #cat #alphonse elric #morgana #mona #fwoosheye #fwoosh prompts #modified prompt #reblogging a now modified prompt

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fwoosh-prompts · 1 year

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Writing advice: Romance

I am not a big fan of romance, but if it’s well written I can actually like it. It’s just very, very seldom, because my tolerance for it is very low. So what is it that marks the difference between good and bad romance (for me)? (And just to be clear this is not about fics exploring/dealing with the consequences of toxic/bad/“problematic” relationships, as I do not consider those to be of the romance genre in that way)

Good:

It’s a healthy relationship.

If it’s not a pre-existing relationship, that it’s a slow burn. Let us see how it grows from a little seed they don’t even know is there to a mighty tree that can brave any storms.

Complimentary personalities. E.g. Big and calm has a lithe and strict partner. They might be cold and dangerous when facing foes, and warm cinnamon buns with each others.

Relations that are wholesome all around

Smooth-flowing, consistent jargon. “I did it when I was their age.” “Please don’t compare yourself to normal people, honey.”

Couples talking through their problems and not just drawing conclusions (see “Bad #16”). Communication is key in any relationship.

When they’re supporting each other (in both ways! See Bad #21)

Bad:

Abusive relationships passed off as “romantic”. It’s not. I will only accept this if surrounding characters see it’s abusive and tries to help them.

Stalking as a romantic trait.

A “Plain Jane” (normally with a description which puts them near/on the pretty scale) who don’t know how fantastic they are until a boy tells them. In real life, they would either already know they look good, or their confidence is bad enough that Mr. Handsome’s words/actions alone won’t convince them otherwise.

Instalove. Can we please let this trope die?!

Soulmates. See the soulmate post for why.

The idea that sex=romance. That’s a lie.

That all love=romance. There are many kinds of love, such as those between friends or with a pet.

Rape that turns into romance. Just don’t. Please.

Claiming a rape-scene is BDSM. It’s not. I might not be into it myself, but I have friends who are and I’ve heard enough of their rants about Fifty Shades to know the difference. (And it’s supposedly not a very hard subject to research either.)

The “boy and girl are friends, therefore it must be romance” trope. It’s possible for people of different genders to be friends without being romantically involved.

The “bully and victim falls in love” trope. Sure, they often say “Oh, he only did it because he likes you”, but have it ever worked for anyone? I think not! It sure as hell didn’t work on me: I have no positive feelings for my ex-bullies (at best they are neutral). Nor do I know anyone, or have heard of any irl case where it worked. Can we please stop pretending that’s the case?

Love-triangles. In real life, if A can’t choose between B and C, they aren’t going to try and “prove their worth”. They might not even wait for A to make up their mind. The closest thing to an irl-triangle I’ve seen was when an old lady introduced another old lady to my mom, and then got jealous because they got along better with each other. That drama lasted one day and was only worthy one laugh for how silly it was.

“I’m not like other girls!” *Proceeds to be a stereotypical, flat-dimensioned version of a tomboy girl.* Can we please just accept that women aren’t all the same and let this specific scenario die? Don’t tell me they’re unique and then write a classic stereotype, just show me instead. Give her quirks! A rare hobby/profession! Give her real emotions and feelings! Use your stereotypes wisely so you don’t fall into a different stereotype when trying to avoid the first one.

When two characters are your average friendly with each other for several chapters with no hints what so ever there might be more going on and BAM, suddenly there’s heavy kissing and a heartfelt (and mutual) confession. All I can think when I see that is “Excuse me but where the hell did that come from?”. If you’re going to turn a friendship into a romance (which is fine! Encouraged even), you need to put in hints and clues bit by bit so we can see the change happening. This is necessary even if it’s two background characters and your protagonist is about as observant as a brick-wall. Let your reader enjoy spotting something way ahead of the MC if that’s the case.

The “Fixing the lack of attraction” trope. Now I don’t come across this trope so often, but when I do the character who lacks attraction is either asexual, aromantic and/or traumatized in some way. In the latters case, the only “fixing” I can accept is therapy because it might not be the attraction itself that’s the issue but the PTSD. But sadly most of the time that’s not how it’s written. And aces/aros don’t need fixing and to claim that is quite frankly insulting. If you really need to use this trope in some way, please please do proper research and understand the difference between various attractions, libdo/desires, traumas etc. etc.

Basing the plot on misunderstandings because they don’t talk to each other. Or lie to each other when the truth really wouldn’t have that bad consequences (and the times they do, they always end up together again instead of going different ways). If you’re gonna use this trope, could you at least consider having them break up and the not get back together in the end? Don’t get me wrong miscommunication can be really effective but you need to build up a good foundation for why it would be reasonable for that misunderstanding to even happen and that’s not something I see very often.

Romance for the sake of romance. I don’t know about you but I can in general spot right away when the author have squeezed in a romance just to have a romance in the story. One good example is Tauriel from the Hobbit movies. While she is a pretty decent character, I feel the only reason she was created (for those of you who’ve only seen the movies, she’s not canon) was to create romantic tension between her and Kili, with Legolas silently pining after her (he doesn’t even appear in the book). Like, I would have been fine with her if they had created her to have a bit more diversity, or to break the Bechdel test which they still failed at, but no. It was all for some smoochy romance that wasn’t even well written.

The Alpha-Omega trope. Particulary when it’s about werewolves (or other mythological creatures). This trope is based on the “scientific wolf-pack concept” wich says the leaders of the pack is the alpha and the rest beta or omega. The problem is, that observation was soon debunked by the man who “discovered” it in the first place. He realized after further observations that alphas just was their parents. But by then people wouldn’t listen so they still believe this shit. That’s it. So for me, not only is the entire A-O-trope unrealistic, annoying and poorly used, I only get the feeling of incest and manipulations and abuse and so on even if none of it appears, just because I know the “Alphas” just really are the parents.

Having characters become stupid because they’re in love. Especially common in books for 10-15 year old girls. Maybe it’s just my unromantic, ace ass that can’t understand it, but have anyone ever gotten that stupid just because someone (usually a boy) is cute and/or gives them attention? ‘Cause I’ve never seen that irl, and it’s just annoying.

The “naive=stupid” idea. Might not be a romance trope in itself, but it’s most often used on a virgin female character who has a “romantic” plot. Now, naive doesn’t mean stupid. Naive is defined as “showing a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgement” and “natural and unaffected; innocent”. The definition of stupid is “having or showing a great lack of intelligence or common sense”. So if the character is in a pickle because they lack the experience to anticipate the consequences, that’s being naive. Unless they have been warned about it before hand or heard tales of it and still does it, cause then it’s stupidity. And if you’re uncertain if it’s something your character should’ve learned about, try asking someone about it who has the experience. A good example of when this is poorly used is the “naive virgin trope”, when pretty little ladies gets “introduced” to the world of intercourse by Mr. Handsome who has to explain everything to her cause she’s a virgin and knows nothing. The problem with this trope is that unless she has lived a very, very isolated life and still not being told about stranger danger and all that jazz, she’s going to have heard/seen some stuff. Probably even experienced some of it. (No really, it doesn’t matter how “ugly” or whatever a woman is, I can almost garuantee she have been harassed in some way. I’ve been harassed, and all women I know and have talked with have also been it at least once, often more. Some even before they hit puberty. There’s a reason why #metoo got so big.) So sure, while it’s fine they don’t know all the terms and details etc., they will most likely be able to understand the gist of a lot of stuff.

When character A supports character B but B does nothing to support A. Support can take shape in a lot of different ways and people have different needs and different abilities to aid with, but even if it is in different ways I do think support should go both ways.

#srb #because i have made a few minor edits and additions #writing advice #romance #why i (often) avoid romance stories #tropes i like #tropes i hate #so many toxic things are labelled romantic #can we please stop that #fwoosheye #fwoosh prompts

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