#Best placeholder dialogue
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How To Fucking Write: a guide by fairyhaos
[masterlist]
this post details:
STARTING A STORY
PACING A STORY
hi gays and gals and welcome to "how to fucking write", a post (series) where i talk about how i brainstorm for writing, plan for writing, write the writing, and everything in between. nothing too serious here lmao, but i'm definitely planning on making at least a couple posts on this bc a) it's fun and b) i wanna help! so if you find this useful then pls lmk by reblogging + drop an ask if there are any specific things u want me to give my two cents on ^^
okok and now without further ado,,, let's look at the topics i'll talk about in today's post!
#1 - HOW TO START A STORY.
.. bullet point one : have an idea
the first big thing is that you need an idea. doesn't matter if you're a pantser and don't plan out your writing before you start. that's totally fine! but before you begin, you need at least an idea: maybe it's a vibe, a character personality, a specific journey you want the characters to go on. maybe it's a piece of dialogue. maybe it's the ending- the point you want to end up at after however many thousand words.
whatever it is, it's best to have some inspiration, some idea of what you wanna do. no point in writing if you don't know what you're writing, you know?
(of course, that brings up the issue of Having An Idea in the first place, but finding inspiration to write is a whole other can of worms we can open in another post.)
.. bullet point two : practice
okay, so now you have an idea. how do you put that idea to paper? how should you actually start your story?
it’s all to do with practice.
it’s the most annoying piece of advice in the world, but it helps so much. you just have to write lots and lots and lots, to find the way that works for you. whether you wanna start your stories with pretty scene descriptions, with dialogue, with dramatic one-liners. finding your voice, your style, what’s most comfortable for you, is really really important. and takes practice.
an example, though: for me, i prefer either a line of dialogue, or one-liners that a) help immediately establish a character’s personality or can b) introduce an interesting setting.
[chan + swingset] — one-liner example
[hoshi + silly] — dialogue example
but of course, everyone’s style is different. so i’d recommend playing around! find a list of one-word prompts and just write a few that inspire you, writing the beginnings. it’s important, also, that you’re having fun, because if you’re already struggling with starting to write, it’ll be even harder if you’re doing it while feeling stressed.
.. bullet point three (mostly just for longer fics)
maybe you don’t find a style, in the end. maybe you’re comfortable with all of them, which is totally fine! but then you look at your writing, and you think, “oh… this isn’t as good as i thought.”
and it makes you want to give up. what do you do, then? how do you carry on with your start?
just put words to paper. it doesn’t matter if the words are terrible, if you’re making up shit and using placeholders for description words or whatever. just carry on, get to a place you’re happy with, like the end of a scene, or maybe a dialogue exchange you really like.
because now, guess what? you’ve successfully created a first draft.
making first drafts is actually so important. seriously. first drafts allow you to fuck up, allow you to write terribly. they help you fumble and trip your way to the finish line (or at least a rest point) so that you can go back and do better.
even if your first draft is terrible, it’s helped you make your way to a point you’re happy with. now you have a vague idea of what you want, even if the description or characterisation or something is way off. because now, you can edit it, or even scrap it and use only a few words from that draft in your next one. or maybe, if you look back at it, maybe it’s even decent enough for you to use.
whatever it is, when you first start writing that story, think of it as ‘The Worst Draft’. because it probably won’t be as good as you want it, and it’s okay. just write, with no fears of it being bad, because that’s literally fine. it’s not set in stone. the backspace button exists. after your first draft is made, make another. and another, and another, because i promise, after that first draft, it only gets better from there.
#2 - PACING A STORY.
.. bullet point one : adding things
pacing is always really tricky. however, i do think that slowing a story down is easier than speeding it up, so here we go,,,,
finding out the exact way to slow down a story really depends on what type of story you're writing, but there are a few all-round things you can do which can help pretty much any setting.
if it's a scene with loads of dialogue, and things feel like they're jumping to the end topic too quickly, add descriptions. your readers are blind, writers, and they depend on you to be able to see what's going on. are your characters having a conversation on the street? take a break to describe what they see. are they in a coffee shop? maybe someone comes in with a huge noise, or their coffee arrives at their table. are they hanging in midair with nothing around them? well, describe the actions of the character they're talking to, then.
example: (from my seoksoo fic bc it's the only long fic i'm working on rn)
by adding character descriptions, movement, thoughts, instantly everything seems to have slowed down. it thickens time, allowing you to move at a more leisurely pace.
if it's a scene full of action, you can do the exact same thing. maybe there's a high-tension moment and something significant happens. slow down time there, describe something small in great detail. talk about the thoughts they're having.
and even if it's just an ordinary scene, describing is important. the setting, the characters' actions, their thoughts. it's okay to write too much. then you can delete things which make things feel like they're moving too slowly.
.. bullet point two : delete
not gonna lie, finding out how to speed up the pacing of the story can often be really specifically tailored to the setting of the story.
with stories that have loads of action (spy, apocalypse, etc) i'd recommend adjusting sentence length. you'll want short, punchy sentences, without loads of commas and clauses, but you'll also want to experiment with having those short sentences gradually get longer. it helps with tension and suspense.
it has to be short. running fast. something to elevate fear. quick, but also desperate, before they then spill over each other, picking up pace, all of the thoughts blurring together and going faster, and faster, and faster, and then-
then the penny drops.
people use the metaphor of music a lot, and it really does work that way. it needs to ascend to its climax: gently, cautiously, before sprinting upwards and only describing things like the barest emotions (the fear they feel, the panic, anger, anything) before everything reaches its peak and comes crashing down in a flurry of action descriptions.
but of course, the easiest way to speed up something is to delete. delete swathes of setting description. delete unnecessary dialogue. delete an entire scene and rewrite with only the things you remember (which can help make sure you only have the essentials in your scene, btw. very helpful).
it might take a bit of adjusting, rewriting, moving things around, but ultimately, quickening the pace of the story depends on the way in which you write things. be concise, be dramatic, and don't dawdle.
... and that's it ! if anyone has anything else they want advice on (how to structure, how to write dialogue, how to plan etc) then just shoot me an ask, because i'd love to help however i can :)
tagging: @selenicives who asked for this in the first place hehe ^^
#a guide by fairyhaos#ngl ive always wanted to try my hand as an advice giver soooo this is fun!#i really wanna help guys. like fr#fanfic#svt fanfic#svt fic#seventeen#txt#fanfiction#writing#creative writing#writers of tumblr#writing prompt#svt x reader#txt x reader#kpop writing#ao3#ao3 writer#ao3 fic
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Here's another long-winded post about me combing through BG3 early access files in search of Aylin and Isobel tidbits - rummaging that already resulted in this post right here. Let me just say I'm pleased to have brought Aylin Silverblood some attention because, again, I think it's a dope name.
Now, obviously, Isobel and Aylin are both Act 2 characters, and early access only covered Act 1. So anything related to them is partial stuff that wasn't scrubbed from the game files for whatever reason, and a lot of placeholders (these are usually indicated by |the text being in vertical lines|). This all means that sometimes (usually!) there are no nice voice lines indexed by UUID and parseable dialogue trees, and you have to trawl through a giant localisation XML of every bit of text in the game instead. An additional complication is all these stories were in flux, but older bits of writing from deprecated iterations didn't get immediately removed from the files, so it's sometimes hard to tell what belongs to which version.
The biggest luck I've had with regards to these two is the 24/11/2021 version of the game - EA Patch #6 Hotfix #19, aka game version v. 4.1.1.1356845, aka the source of Aylin Silverblood (my beloved). Here's a handy list of the patch and hotfix history, if you're like me and interested in this stuff. I'm actually wrangling files from 5 versions of the game right now, ranging from March 2021 to July 2022 - it's been a fun time. This old datamining post on reddit really helped narrow down the timeframe for me to look into.
Why am I doing this? I genuinely find it fun and interesting! There's some neat writing to be found! I crave more Isobel at all times! And I'm always into WIP and "how the sausage is made" type stuff. Also, tons of cool inspo for fics and headcanons.
Note, because I know that's a popular EA tidbit: this is all from after the Halsin killing Isobel variant was scrapped. This is, in fact, the version where she gets killed and soul trapped by Balthazar, and Aylin gets framed for it.
I'm going to start this off with my favourite part, and that is snippets of an early version of the Aylin/Isobel reunion from 2021. I've done my best to put them in order, but be aware a lot of this is still me speculating.
|[CINE: Nightsong teleports the party to the plaza in front of Last Light. As she looks around trying to familiarize herself, Isobel notices your arrival from the balcony. Her reaction is pure shock, followed by an immediate rush down the stairs.]|
|[CINE: Isobel dashes out of the front of the inn, wide-eyed and out of breath. Nightsong stares at her, stunned.]|
Aylin: |(distant, shocked) Isobel.|
Isobel: |Aylin...|
|[CINE: Nightsong takes an instinctive step towards her but stumbles, collapsing to her knees, eyes blown with pain and disbelief. Isobel closes the distance between them in hasty steps, trying to help Nightsong up, but Nightsong tightly grips at her arms - as if the contact makes everything real.]|
|[CINE: Isobel's eyes fill with tears as she drops down to the ground, throwing her arms around Nightsong's shoulders in a tight embrace. Shaking, almost fearful, Nightsong returns the embrace - the first kind touch she's had in a hundred years.]|
|[CINE: Nightsong draws back from the hug, looking Isobel in the eyes. Isobel helps Nightsong to her feet. As the two of them stand, they keep their hands linked.]|
Aylin: |A hundred years. Isobel, light of my heart, where were you? (choking up) I found your body, I....|
Isobel: |I was dead, Aylin. For so long. It was Balthazar - he trapped my soul, he-|
Player: |[Doesn'tKnowRelationship] You were lovers? Did Ketheric know?|
Aylin: |(jaw tightens) We were lovers. Her father was against it. He saw nothing but future misery. I'm immortal. I would never age, but she would.|
Isobel: |He didn't understand. It doesn't matter when... (fearful, as if worried Aylin's feelings might have changed) ... I still love you so much.|
Aylin: |(her first genuine smile) And I, you. No trial or pain could ever change that. (relaxes a touch) It is why I couldn't leave your body, even when they came. Balthazar and that Sharran witch told your father that I was to blame.|
|And he believed them over you?|
Aylin: |(frowns) He believed what he wanted to believe. Ketheric saw his daughter dead, and he saw someone he wanted to hurt. Shar took that cruel thread, that moment of mortal pain, and used it to corrupt him to the core.|
Aylin: |I was put on trial, and I had no defence. The moment it was over, I was taken down to the temple and... well, you saw what they had done.|
|Isobel presses against Nightsong's side, face tight with worry, running her fingers in slow strokes up and down Nightsong's arm.|
|[CINE: Nightsong tilts her head back towards the player.]|
Aylin: |These heroes saved me. Without them, I'd still be trapped in Balthazar's soul cage, with Ketheric gripping my heart like a leech.|
|[CINE: Isobel's face falls at the mention of her father's name.]|
Isobel: |A *soul cage*? Gods.|
Isobel: |I didn't know. Gods, he didn't say a word to me. I ran away because it was Balthazar that brought me back. As I ran, I heard my father shouting... but I'd seen enough. There was no saving him.|
Aylin: |You are not your father, Isobel. (sad, wry smile) You were the only thing that kept me alive in the dark. When hope began to fade, I simply thought of you.|
Isobel: |[To player] Thank you. (smiles wide) I... I can't possibly thank you enough, for bringing Aylin back to me.|
|Nightsong smiles too, but she's lost looking at Isobel, completely tuning out everyone else around them. Isobel leans in, resting her brow against Nightsong's and closing her eyes, Nightsong's hand clutched to her chest.|
Then, there is an option to press Isobel for details:
|You said the necromancer trapped your soul. Why?|
|Was Balthazar the one who killed you, Isobel?|
Isobel: |(hesitant, visibly guilty) I think Aylin would know better than I do. The last thing I remember is a blade in the dark. Too fast to feel pain. Then silence.|
Asking Isobel to go with you to Moonrise was possible at various points, leading to different responses:
Will you come with me to Moonrise? I could use your help.
If we're going to stop Ketheric, you have to come with me.
Until there is a way to keep Last Light safe, I cannot leave. All I can do is pray.
|Not if everyone is killed at Last Light in my absence. I'll do everything I can to help you from here, but I won't go with you.|
|Not if everyone is killed at Last Light in my absence. If someone else could take my place, I would go with you. I swear it.|
|Nightsong is here, she will protect Last Light - let's go to Moonrise, like you promised.|
|I want to spend the night with Aylin. Meet me at Moonrise tomorrow.|
|Nightsong will protect the people while together we can stop Ketheric.|
Isobel: I... we need to get close to him, don't we? And Aylin can protect Last Light in my absence.
Aylin: Isobel, I have just gotten you back. To put yourself in his hands again-
Looks like we would've had a flip of the current Act 2 boss fight, and Isobel would be the ally for the confrontation with Ketheric, not Aylin. Also, that one line right there that is our first indication of Succor™, gotta love it. Sadly, post-reunion I only have:
|TBD: Post Nightsong Reunion.|
|How are you and Aylin doing?|
To borrow release version Isobel's stock line: KEEPING VERY WELL, I HOPE? In any case, I'm putting the rest under a cut, featuring options for calling Isobel out on her parentage, Aylin being from Mt. Celestia, and Balthazar being gross - among many other things.
At one point quite early on, Isobel's protection from the shadow curse wasn't a spell, but an ointment:
|Ointment of Selûne| |Ointment Container PLACEHOLDER|
|Isobel filled this with precious doses of her sacred Ointment of Selûne.|
|First get the ointment from Isobel.|
Have you received Isobel's ointment yet?
What protection can her ointment offer, exactly?
You should see Isobel. If Marcus does crop up, I'd sooner you had her ointment to protect you.
Can use that cleric's ointment to get you on your way. But I have to move out - now.
Can I get some of your ointment?
No more theories! It's time for action. Our secret weapon needs to travel to Moonrise Towers, which means they'll need your ointment.
You have the ointment. You have the Gate Stone. Moonrise Towers awaits.
Are you sure the ointment will last long enough?
What is now Isobel's Ominous Cough was a gradual weakening that was remarked upon and seemed to be there to create more of a sense of urgency:
I won't claim to know Isobel's craft, but Selûne's light is bright in her.
Isobel's tough - though she was tougher at the start. I've rarely seen a cleric so in tune with her goddess, but the curse is taking its toll.
The light used to be stronger, Isobel. How much more of this curse can you take?
You look paler than death, Isobel. How much more of this curse can you take?
We have some nice concise infodumps on Ketheric:
After Ketheric turned to darkness, the Enclave joined with the Harpers to unseat him and his Sharran cohorts. We marched together, fought together, bled together... and in the end we prevailed.
Only it wasn't the end. Nothing seemed to kill Ketheric himself, so the Harpers decided to seal him in his own tomb, alive. They thought that would be enough. But they hadn't counted on Ketheric unleashing the shadow curse. We watched it drain all light and life away from this place, saw it twist people into abominations. The Harpers lost hope.
Ketheric wove the curse on this land. The moment he was sealed in that tomb, Shar's poison devoured everything in its path.
Fallen paladin. Champion of Shar. He was building an army bent on unholy conquest, but we stopped him. Killed him. Buried him.
It was not enough. General Thorm lives again. He's built a new army, and this time he marches under the banner of the Absolute.
November 2021 is the earliest mention of Aylin I found, mostly marked as not finalised and placeholder dialogue (and that reunion up there). The Nightsong as present in that patch is still very different from what we ended up getting - nobody was killing her, in fact people were coming to get her "kiss", and there was a whole thing where it seems like Shar would directly take control of her and you could help her overcome the curse, or abandon her to it - or kill her.
Embrace the Nightsong and be sworn to Eternal Shadow.
Anyway, here are her lines (all of these exist as voice files, which is rare for stuff I put in this post - but they're done by a voice actress who doesn't sound like Helen Keeley, our final Aylin VA, so I don't know what to make of it all tbh):
Shar is the Nightsinger, and I am her Nightsong.
I am her instrument, transforming the faithful into shadows.
I've been here for centuries. Do you know how many priests of Shar came here, full of faith, seeking my kiss?
I've been here for centuries. Thousands of Sharrans came here seeking my kiss.
I drink their sorrow, their loss, their grief. Then I vomit it back into the world.
All of them are shadows now. That is Shar's only reward.
But Ketheric returned for my kiss, over and over.
You're the first to survive my kiss intact. You're the only one who can help me.
Please, you have to help. No one's ever resisted the kiss before.
No one has ever resisted my kiss. But you are not merely *one*, are you?
That thing in your head must be incredibly powerful to resist a goddess.
Perhaps it's also divine in nature.
Because a mind can't survive two masters. It breaks us.
Shar's attention must be elsewhere. Speak quickly.
She's watching now. She's waiting to steal my voice.
But it won't last. Please - listen!
I was captured by Ketheric Thorm, Shar's chosen. He turned me into this creature.
I'm a slave of Shar. She owns me, just like that thing in your head owns you.
I want to sing my own song. Not Shar's. Not *Ketheric's*.
Find Ketheric. Kill him so I can be free!
Slay Ketheric. His wretched existence binds me to this temple.
Oh. That made her angry.
The Lady returns! She has me again! *Again!*
Stop! You've driven her away!
I am not your *spectacle*.
Turn away before I strike you blind.
Tell them to come and receive my kiss.
Some possible relevant tags, interactions, and outcomes include:
|The soul cage has greatly weakened Nightsong|
|Debug: click to save Nightsong (sets the flag to talk to Isobel)|
|We sided with Ketheric and doomed Nightsong.|
|Companion comment!||But if his power is linked to this Nightsong, there must be a way to unlink it.|
|You have taken control of Ketheric's Soul Cage|
|You are bound to Ketheric's soul cage, taking his regenerative powers for yourself|
|Bound to Soul Cage| |Soul Cage Key| |Soul Cage Research|
|The book details the necromancer's research on the soul cage|
|There is a glimpse of Isobel's ghost, as she takes her Father with her to the afterlife.|
|There is a glimpse of Isobel's ghost terrified and in agony. Both Isobel and Ketheric will disappear.|
At one point Isobel delivers her own, Ketheric's, and Aylin's backstory as "a story", but sadly I can find very little of it, just disjointed fragments:
You seem to know a lot about Ketheric.
He was a devout Selûnite who converted to Shar.
They say it was Ketheric's purity that drew an angel down from Celestia.
You're Isobel Thorm. The daughter who died in that story.
And there seem to be many options to question Isobel about her hiding the truth about her father:
Why are you lying to me, Isobel?
Everyone thinks you're dead, Isobel.
Tell me the truth, Isobel. Everything.
Still, Isobel might have saved us some time had she been honest from the beginning.
|Why didn't you tell me what happened from the start, Isobel?|
Ketheric. Don't you mean your father?
Ketheric is your father.
I know the truth. Ketheric told me at Moonrise. He wants me to bring you home.
I need your father to trust me. He wants you back.
You sent me after your father - Ketheric.
I think we should discuss Ketheric - your father - first.
For all you've said about Ketheric, you left out the part where he's your father.
To which I've found some responses:
And would you have trusted her? Ketheric's daughter?
Why didn't I tell you that I was murdered, that my soul was locked away for a hundred years?
What would I have told her? That my father murdered her fellow Harpers, but that I can surely be trusted?
[Attempt to read Isobel's thoughts.]
*You see Ketheric standing before Isobel, although the memory is hazy. His words are unclear, but his tone is not - he is pleading with her.*
Brought back by the same man that killed me. Balthazar. Standing next to my father with a smile on his face.
But I'm not sure it would have mattered. To stand with that man, my father has surrendered to deepest evil.
I would love to know what the whole pleading thing is about, and what Isobel "didn't know" that she claims didn't matter anyway.
My father. After a century, he somehow brought me back.
But I saw the monster he had become. I couldn't bear it... I ran.
I ran until I found Last Light. It was like a second home to me, once.
I've been studying the curse ever since, searching for answers.
Trying to restore the damage my father has wrought upon this land.
It's possible I may have to sacrifice myself. But this is my father's crime.
And then, there is this nugget I cannot place but that I like:
|Your father's due will come.|
There is also an option to tell her Nightsong is Aylin (who was, at this point, a full celestial - no mention of being connected to Selûne, though, and in fact, if she was indeed from Mount Celestia as mentioned in the "story", she would not have been):
Isobel: My father's curse still blackens this earth. Have you found anything?
Player: A celestial, chained to Ketheric's soul.
Player: They called her Nightsong, but she told me her name was Aylin.
Isobel: Aylin. She... she's alive. I knew she had to be, I…
Player: Ketheric's necromancer took her to Moonrise.
Isobel: His necromancer? Gods, you have to free her.
Isobel: You have to go to Moonrise and free Aylin. When Ketheric is weak, this can all be over.
Isobel: The truth is that I would give anything to see her again, and anything to stop my father. Free her, and you do both.
Isobel: At least, the shell of my father. There's nothing left of the man that championed Selûne.
Isobel: Find her. Free her. If Ketheric isn't stopped, all of us are doomed.
Player: |[Doesn'tKnowName] Aylin? Care to explain?|
Isobel: The angel in my story about Ketheric. That was Aylin.
Speaking of Balthazar. Some lines from him:
[Introductory note: please imagine everything Balthazar says spoken with a wheezy voice, as if he's permanently out of breath.]
[I need to retrieve the Nightsong, but the temple is haunted and my minions cannot make it past the trial grounds. I cannot go there until the ghosts have been dealt with. Now that you are here on behalf of Ketheric, you will do all this for me.]
I, Fodder, am here on behalf of General Ketheric Thorm. Down in the depths of this temple writhes his desire. I am to bring it to him.
I created the Nightsong for General Ketheric, many moons... HEAR THAT SHAR? Many moons ago.
*As you hold the necromancer's mocking gaze, you can tell how it starts to dawn on him you are not the mere minion he thought you were.*
Along the way I found some more recent Patch 8 (2022-ish) gross Balthazar lines, some bits of which have actually survived to release:
She was a unique specimen even before I began my work. Aasimar. A god's blood united with mortal flesh.
Such fine clay she was. We grew quite close as I… remoulded her. Now she is General Thorm's shield. Her strength is his to drink upon. His pains are hers to bear.
If I never exceed her, I will still die happy. If I ever do something as gauche as truly dying, that is.
Utterly revolting! Makes my skin crawl! Man deserves a yeeting into the Shadowfell a hundred times over! But in order to not end on a gross note, I leave you with:
Ketheric Thorm. Murderer. Oathbreaker.
Aylin Silverblood. My true name. Nightsong was only ever a curse.
#isobel thorm#dame aylin#baldur's gate 3#bg3#aylin x isobel#balthazar#datamine#early access#long post#i have more of this stuff actually but this post is already way too long#so stay tuned i guess
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Hollowed Minds Progress Update 8/13/23
Hi! I haven't been here for a while, I know, and I'm sorry for that! I've been going through a lot of changes lately -- new job and all that -- and have only finished moving today to another city :'))) I'd like to take a week for myself to set a proper pace and figure out a schedule that would work for my writing, so I'll probably post another progress update next week. For now, some progress below:
30k+ words usable content for the next update (usable meaning I had to cut a lot from what I wrote previously :(( and I might have to cut more from that depending on how it'll go.
Previous chapter edits - this includes making the passages more concise, the tension stronger, a lot more action-focused, and much easier to read and understand with strengthened dialogues.
There's a few changes I'm implementing with regards to the stats as well. It mostly goes like this as presented in the picture below 👀
Default means your Ripper starts that way from the beginning of the story, though you can still change this with your choices.
Fixed means you can immediately set that specific trait for Ripper and it stays that way for the rest of Book 1.
Fixed and variable just means you can set the initial trait but there'll still be a stat-style movement depending on your future choices.
Some of the terms I used for these opposed pairs are merely placeholders because I literally can't think of other words for some reason, but this system does open opportunities for comparisons and comments from other characters, so I'm eager to go through with that plan.
I know it's been several months since the last update, but rest assured that I'm doing my best!
Anyway, that's all for today, and see you next week 🥺if you have any suggestions/concerns about the current content HM has, my ask box is always open :'))))
#hollowed minds series#hollowed minds#interactive fiction#progress update#hollowed minds progress update#wip#writing#if wip#interactive novel#hollowed minds book one
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Okay, I'm going to talk about this on my main art account because I haven't seen this being addressed yet (there are obviously other pressing matters) but I believe it deserves to be acknowledged both by art appreciators and artists alike:
ANIMATIC ISN'T WHAT YOU MAY THINK IT IS. "Fan animation" IS NOT called "Animatic".
This is not me being a snob, it's what the words were created for, and using them wrong may be misleading at best and upsetting/unrealistic at worst. Allow me to explain in as much detail as I can right now, so watch out for a long post:
ANIMATION, ANIMATIC, AND WHY IT MATTERS: THE LONG POST
First of all, remember that every animation is a film or video. Even if it's an animation that is composed by mostly static images and it may few weird to call it "animation", it's still a realized video or film (or MV - music video -, student film, etc)
Very roughly put and with many caveats as every studio/person is different, once the pre-production stage of an animation moves into production the process goes like this:
STORYBOARD: A storyboard is a graphic portrayal of a narrative, concept, or script, divided into sequential scenes (panels). Usually, it is done based on a written or roughly drawn script, and it serves to translate the story visually so placement, movement, timing, and camera angles are better understood or articulated. It's often done even for live-action movies.
They can be as detailed or as general, as clean and shaded or as scribbly as they can. Their point is being a visual sequential reference to the script.
Examples (more here):
Batman: The Animated Series opening
This Batman storyboard puts a lot of effort in making the images very clean and readable and in high contrast, which is useful in a noir series.
Super Mario Odyssey cinematic sequence
Mario is a lively series where depth, character silhouette, and fluidity are favored, so it's okay if the storyboard is scribbled if it's coherent to the movement and characters.
ANIMATIC: An animatic is a string of storyboard images edited together with sound to illustrate how a sequence will flow in motion. (...) [It] is basically an animated storyboard. The same images you’ve already created as a storyboard are now put into a video and can include dialogue, sound effects, and music.
TL;DR it's a storyboard, that is, those static panels that can be as detailed or as rough as they must, put into motion and with added sound.
Animatics are useful to keep track of timing, placement, acting, etc, which you can't do very well with static images. They may contain placeholder images, stock photos, live-action acting frames, and even fully animated sequences that were previously done - whatever it's needed to help. Technically, some are animation. But they are, by definition, unfinished animation.
Examples:
Coco - "Un Poco Loco" finished animation vs animatic:
youtube
This is Pixar here and the animatic is scribbles. There is fluid, expressive animation there in order to communicate the livelihood of the sequence, but no more.
This wonderful thing:
youtube
Dan Harmon recorded a real court order discussion and drew the animatic on top of it, but he didn't intend to do a finished animation from this. Therefore, those are cleaned-up simple static drawings that still convey the absurdity of the video so it can be presented to the audience, like a sketch.
Mari Flexion's "Epiphany" , from the eponymous "fluff" extra from The Magnus Archives:
youtube
Like Harmon, Flexion never intended to fully animate this piece, but unlike Harmon - whose style is simpler and more cartoony - Flexion did this with time and in an elaborated style. There are moving parts and even simple animations in there, shadows and fully conveyed details like clothes and freckles. However, by the nature of being a sketch of an animation, it's an animatic.
ANIMATION: Once you have the storyboard and (if necessary) the animatic fully realized, the "animation" stage can start - this is the refining and production of what will become the final film. This stage is composed of many other stages that characterize how close to the final product something is. Stages will vary depending on the type of film you're doing, but Ill use some of my work to show some of the most common ones in 2D animation. (you'll notice that the timing changes from one place to another; that's because I'm only one person doing that on my pace and not a studio, and also I'm a gremlin)
Rough animation: The closest to animatic; some animatic can be considered rough animations:
Cleaned-up: Rough animation that has the final lineart/style that will be used in the end (sometimes static elements are already finished; animation can be weird)
Flat colors (or flats): Where the colors without effects/shadows/lights are added.
Final: With everything else (and here, because it's a video, it contains the music I timed everything on)
tumblr_video
Originally posted here (final video) and here (work in progress gifs)
AND THEREIN THE ISSUES BEGIN
I've been observing in the last years that a lot of people are calling near-finalized, very-into-production animations "animatics". Not only fans are saying that, but sometimes artists themselves seem to consider stuff such as the following as animatics:
Shandzii's "It's tough to be a god" (original characters)
youtube
It could be argued this is a very elaborated animatic, but the amount of finished animation, detail and cleanness would put it at rough/almost clean-up animation.
@twinkle-art 's and @worldformula `s "The Magnus Archives - villain(빌런)"
youtube
This is a finished video, despite the lack of "animation" mostly.
SprectroliteAAA's "Death by Glamour - Mettaton vs. Frisk Fight"
youtube
This one has been bothering me for years now - it's a fantastic, almost fully realized rendition of this sequence, it's called "rough animation" in the opening, but it's called "animatic" on the title hhh
"But Branca," I can almost hear you say, "why does it matter?"
Well... it's not something that is urgent, or pressing, like I said before. AI- generated stuff and N/F/T/s are actual problems, but that's beside the point. Still, it's a trend that is becoming stronger, and the immediate issues I see are:
For artists: you'll look like a fool: No one is born knowing stuff, but that's inadequate vocabulary in artistic circles - especially in animation ones. If you call an animation "animatic" because it's digital, fanart, or a music video, it may sit wrong with people in the industry. You want to know which words mean what.
For art appreciators: it may sound derogatory: If someone posts their finalized film and you call it an animatic, it may rub the artist the wrong way. What if you wrote a whole fiction book and someone called it "your notes"? It's finalized work - call it for what it is.
For people who make/hire artwork: "But that's not what I/you asked for": The idea that animatics are "supposed" to get to more and more polished levels cause potential conflict between art professionals and costumers. The terms are laid out for clarity, and if "animatic" has a double meaning, people can be upset for getting "less" of what they wanted to get. Worse, calling animation/film "animatic" creates unrealistic market expectations. "Well X artist did that kind of animatic, can't you do that?" is a very hard situation to be in, as an artist. We may sell our work for crumbs just so we get the job, being exploited to do work we're not really supposed to due to a fiction.
For everyone: it can generate confusion and conflict: "Animatic" a term from the film industry. Some terms from some places may be redefined into something better or more appropriate, but this one creates miscommunication for the reasons mentioned about. Worse, it can create miscommunication between groups of people, particularly in fandom. Knowing the right words is the most conducive course of action.
Anyway, I hope this long ramble helped! Go spread the love for animatics and animations and videos all around!
#animation#animatic#art#art resources#information#youtube#raposabranca#god i wrote this during class i hope i stayed on topic
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In Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, this is a sprite used for the blackmail in The Monstrous Turnabout (and for Phoenix's last will in the demo). It has text that I can somewhat read despite being pretty blurry. I thought that it was some dialogue copied over, but it's actually just funny placeholder text. Here is my best transcript:
"This is a blackmail letter. The purpose is to threaten you, so that you will do what I want. Feel threatened yet? If you don't [???] to my demands something bad will happen. That's the whole point of blackmail." I can't tell what the very last line is lol
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How do you usually outline your stories? Do you have a general idea of where you want to start and go with a plot, or do you outline what you want to write per chapter...? I've been curious, lol.
What a fun question that is making me consider how I actually do this, haha. Thanks for asking. Essentially, we consult the holy scriptures.
I brain dump (by hand - I am a 90s kid okay we were only allowed to type final drafts of things in the computer lab). I write an extremely generic list of ‘goals’ for what I want to occur in each fic - VERY general things at the start. Then I will start to figure out more specifics, develop any characters that don’t exist in canon as needed with a few specifics so I know about them before I start writing, work on settings and concepts that don’t exist in canon, etc. I will draw maps and blueprints and course schedules.
I probably spend a solid week on this handiwork before I move into writing a big fic like Chaos.
Once there, I will write a few scenes (likely not in order) to get a ‘feel’ for the mood/tone of the fic. I only write in third person passive voice, but I need to get to know the ‘voice’ a little bit. I doubt much of this makes it to the final edit but it’s an important part of setting tone and mood.
For a fic like Chaos, I then would outline about 3 chapters in advance of where I was writing, specific events and cliffhangers ;) to make sure we got to those points/would be ready to start off from them on the next chapter. I consult the scriptures as I do this, lol.
THEN, I go into very specific outline of the events of each chapter because I do not write scenes in order! If there is anything that has action sequences (fencing, fighting, dancing) I write them last because it involves me physically doing them or watching intense YouTube videos to know the correct diction. In a fic like Chaos where I had a few chunks of original poetry to write, those would also be last scenes as well. Tracey gets about 3-4 versions of each chapter, and as she gets them many have placeholder scenes. BLESS HER SWEET ANGEL SOUL for all the work s he does to understand my process (she’s been doing this since like 2010 or so though so she’s used to it haha).
I somehow also usually know how long each scene is going to be. I’ll send Tracey a text that says something like, “about 5k more of this scene and I’ll send you a chunk tonight.”
What does Tracey do for me? Well, for one - she does a big grammar and spelling sweep. I type so fast that Word doesn’t always catch it. And we’re not perfect at the actual editing process either, but we do our best haha. We ALWAYS find something after posting, but it’s REALLY not that serious. More importantly though, Tracey helps me adjust dialogue, take away innocuous sentences (she probably shaves off close to 500-1k each chapter if you can believe that) and helps things to flow better. She’ll also tell me if something REALLY isn’t working.
(I don’t always take this news well and she has very Courageous Conversations with me. She’s always right, of course, and sometimes, I am just stubborn.)
I talk things through with Tracey, too - a lot, on the phone and on FaceTime. She’s always helping me get plots in the right direction and helps me come up with a lot of tiny little details that I just hadn’t considered!
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What is your writing process? Do you go in one fell swoop? Do you leave and come back? Do you use a thesaurus? Do you re-read and swap out words? Do you try to match/beat your partner's length? Do you care about length at all? Do you look for fancier words? Do you get straight to the point? As artists, we only ever see your finished product. How do you craft your work?
My writing process tends to be messy. I finish smaller and banter-like replies in one go, but longer, plot-driven replies more often than not aren’t immediately completed. Usually, when I’m struggling with one reply in particular, I will write down whatever comes to my mind in a very messy and uncoordinated fashion ( dialogue first without actions, incomplete sentences, German words / phrases as placeholders for their English equivalents I couldn’t think of / remember at the time, etc. ), then come back to it later to re-write the mess into a cohesive whole. Blank page anxiety definitely used to be a thing for me. Sometimes it still is. This kind of process has helped me to overcome it for the most part though, since I don’t need to fret about meeting my self-standards anymore from the get-go. I just write junk and fix it later. RP is a hobby of course, but I do want my replies to read nicely.
As for reply length, I do try to match comparatively ( i.e. I won’t throw a whole novella at someone who’s written me one paragraph and vice versa ), but I don’t “fluff up” replies for the sake of length, nor do I cut them shorter. I write however much I’m inspired to, and if that’s a little more or a little less than my partner’s response, that’s okay for me. It’s the content that matters anyway. When I cared more about matching length, it definitely fed into my blank page anxiety. It’s kind of daunting to sit down and attempt to respond to a long plot reply if you’ve set out to match even though you don’t feel like you have as much to say, you know? So, I’m not doing that anymore.
I don’t ever look for fancier words; fancier doesn’t automatically mean better. In many cases, a fancier word will lead to a worse result overall ( side-eyeing people who write “orbs” in lieu of eyes, for example ). Instead, I care about using words which evoke the right feeling, which aid with characterization, or which sustain one of my character’s motifs. There's a lot of power behind simple, short words, too. I will use a thesaurus if I cannot come up with a word that quite carries the meaning / connotation I want it to. This is especially the case in the rare moments when I have to translate a word from German into English. You cannot trust online dictionaries; a lot of times they offer you translations that only work on a surface level, so it's always best to look up a few alternatives as well.
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Cater's Siblings and Grammar
In an infamous translation slip, EN-server Cater has two older sisters, but also has no siblings at all (corrected in a later updated).
How does a mistake like this happen? The likely culprit is grammar.
Cater’s original line is 「いやいや、男きょうだいはオレだけ」
The literal, word-for-word translation of this line is “Nope, I’m the only male sibling”.
(this graphic is just an example, "は" isn't the "be" verb; it is just serving as a visual placeholder)
This is an odd way to express such a sentiment in English. Why couldn’t he just say “I don’t have any brothers”?
Because the English language has something that the Japanese language doesn’t: the word “brother”.
If you’re familiar with anime/manga/video games from Japan, you might already know that referring to your siblings as their role in relation to yourself is not unusual.
On JPN-server, for example, Ortho is always referring to Idia as “Nii-san” (兄さん, for older brother), changed to him referring to Idia by name on EN.
Paradoxically, the twins refer to one another as “brother” or “bro” often on EN, but this was an addition made to the English version of the game: they do not do so on JP at all.
This is because, as we learn in Floyd’s labwear vignette, neither tweel is any older than the other.
The Japanese language just doesn’t have an age-neutral word for brother, so the twins refer to one another by their names, exclusively, in their original dialogue.
Does this mean that, if you want to tell someone you have a sibling in Japanese but don’t want to reveal whether they are older or younger than yourself, you just can’t? Kind of, yes.
We do have the word “sibling” as Cater uses above, which is age-neutral, but saying “my sibling is coming over this weekend” is just as awkward in Japanese as it is in English.
(I tried to write out an explanation of all the different ways there are to describe different siblings depending on how old they are in relation to yourself, how many of you there are, the gender-neutral vs gender-specific variations, etc., but it got very complex...it might be best to think of it like, if someone asks “Do you have any siblings?” then, grammatically, you are forced to say if you are the younger or older brother/sister if you’re speaking in Japanese.)
While there is no way for us to know what wires got crossed that ended up with Cater claiming he’s an only child in the main story, it is possible that the awkwardness of saying “I am the only male sibling” in English might have had something to do with it!
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Reposting my Stuck In Heaven rant here because that does not deserve to stay on Twitter. Will warn that I think the logic is a bit faulty and I’ve tried my best to clarify, but I still believe in the general concept of it.
Warning for major spoilers for Library of Ruina and Lobotomy Corporation. (It’s your favorite girl! Of course she does this.)
So like... Stuck in Heaven, that's the placeholder name we got for this guy, right? Since Burrowing Heaven is quite literally one of the Carmen abnormalities, I think it's safe to assume Stuck in Heaven is associated with her as well. That brings up the question: how?
Well, Burrowing Heaven is all about attention. Keep your eyes on me, listen to me, don't look away or you'll miss me- there's a reason Roland called Carmen a cult leader, and that's how it worked in Lobotomy Corp- keep it on the screen or else it'll leave you. From the MD dialogue, Stuck in Heaven is similar but in a more sinister way- at least in the fact that it can actively distort your sinners' perceptions.
"Meaning, you may only see what it wants you to see."
I wish to suggest that Stuck in Heaven is about Carmen's recruitment; specifically, Kali's. Stuck in Heaven is a LOT more personal about attention than Burrowing Heaven is.
"Heaven sometimes burrows; other times, it makes a home in the heart."
Please note that in Stuck in Heaven’s illustration, it specifically goes around where the heart is generally considered to be.
While Burrowing Heaven wants your attention in general, Stuck in Heaven wants your attention so it can use you.
"You are not what the eyes are looking at. It must be heaven somewhere behind me."
I know that sounds like a far stretch, and I haven't even brought up Gebura's dialogue on the matter at all yet; but I interpret this line in particular, especially with the context of how closing your eyes causes it to distort the senses, as the abnormality judging you. If you close your eyes, Stuck in Heaven believes you’re useful and clings onto you. If not, Stuck in Heaven finds you not worth its time. Stuck In Heaven is a parasite. It latches onto people for its own purposes and promises them that heaven is so close, that others can see it, it’s right behind you, why can't you see it?
And THIS is where I bring in Kali. Gebura has brought up the fact her trust has been betrayed before, and also that she trusted Carmen. While Gebura says she knew that Carmen was different, and she was, I was never able to shake off a strange feeling about it.
Carmen's goal as she explained it never came to fruition. That is a discussion in itself of whether or not that was the point, and one I won't get into. But what's important here is that others thought Kali as a legend; they saw her as having reached "heaven." Roland himself shows this with how he reacts to her.
Carmen promised to teach Kali about the Nests, and that all led to Kali helping her for essentially free. So, with all that said; let me explain the correlation. SiH is a parasite that does not care about its hosts; only what those hosts can bring it. The way Carmen treated Kali is akin to that; I don't believe Carmen cared for Kali nearly as much as Gebura thinks she did. But Carmen got into Kali's mind, at least for awhile. Don't forget that Carmen is the voice of the distortion, that she's the inverse of EGO. Whatever Carmen's plans are, as I do not believe we will ever understand completely, Kali was a safety net for her to get there.
And so, Carmen was able to convince her to come along. And so, Carmen was able to recruit her and latch onto her. Just like a parasite. And that's why I think Stuck in Heaven is about them.
Addendum: I don’t think Carmen is heartless- of course not, that goes against her entire character from how I understand her. I think she saw Kali as a friend, but I also think she was using her, if that makes sense. I think another interpretation is that it represents the Distortions and how Carmen chats with people about to distort. Something about how Stuck in Heaven takes over its victim.
#limbus company#library of ruina#lobotomy corporation#carmen#gebura#i really DO think it's about them#i just don't have the words to explain it.#this is your card to RIP it up#there is a girl in the narrative#tea with mul
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Plans for next update
First of all, thank you to everyone who's downloaded the mod! I'm extremely happy to be able to provide a continuation for one of the most beloved mods in Fire Emblem for all of you who have been waiting years for an update.
As you may know, the hug Lucina has in chapter 13 with her mother is only in the female animation set. I've set my sight on adding this hug to the male animation set for the next update, so I'll be trying my hand at getting rid of the placeholder dialogue in favor of proper written chapter 13 scenes while I'm at it. If you'd like to help write the scenes for each of Chrom's new spouses, I encourage you to do so! You don't have to be the person who wrote the original supports, and you writing it means the update will come that much faster.
Following the decision to work on chapter 13, I'd like to make this next update focus pretty heavily on family supports. Taking one look at the spreadsheet shows that there are VERY few PC/Sibling supports coded. Back in the original hack's heyday, it was difficult to code these, and very little incentive to write them because of this. I'd like to encourage people to write and code some more family supports! I will also be changing the submission guidelines to allow all kinds of supports- not just the ones that are UGA-exclusive. This means everything from S supports to platonic chains to the aforementioned family supports.
Several existing family supports that were written for the original GA have kids mentioning their sibling to their mom. This would make things a bit odd without any changes to the paralogue (if Noire mentions her brother in her support with Olivia, why would Olivia be shocked to have a son if you recruit Inigo second?) but I believe I've found a way to add just a bit of alternate text that will allow kids to freely mention their siblings to their mothers in their supports!
Seeing as I have big plans for this next update, I will be upfront and say not to expect it anytime soon. Uni is going to be starting back for me in just a couple weeks, and I don't know how often I'll be able to work on it when it does. As always, I encourage you to join our discord! Not only is it the best place to get live feedback on your support writing, but you'll get access to new supports sooner than everyone else and stay up to date with how the mod is progressing and how far away this update is.
I hope to see you there, and I encourage you to tell your friends!
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This isn't necessarily a question related to your lore, so feel free to ignore it! Or, if you do answer it, feel free to give some random lore as well. Or not!
I struggle with writing the hook and/or opening as a whole with any story I write, to the point that it has stopped me from finishing or even attempting to write some of my fanfic ideas.
Do you do anything special when you're writing the beginning of one of your stories, or just any tips to share in general regarding how you start your stories?
Thank you so much!
oh i absolutely get what you mean hjrntkmegr i used to struggle with this a lot, especially since i think it's hammered into our heads that our first sentence needs to be like. noble prize worthy. while i definitely don't want to downplay the importance of an interesting hook, i feel what helped me was using a placeholder and coming back to it later. i tend to write my stories in chronological order since that's just the flow i do the best with, so whenever i encounter an area that's giving me particular difficulty/frustrating me, i make a vague note of what i want then come back later.
another concept that's helped me is thinking of the first sentence/paragraph as a way to set the tones and themes of a story. in my humble opinion, i don't think it always needs to be super flashy.
one of my favorite openings in literature is the first paragraph from the haunting of hill house by shirley jackson:
No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under
conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are
supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself
against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty
years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued
upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were
sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of
Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.
while there's a lot to love about this introduction, what stands out to me in particular is how it perfectly establishes the tone for the rest of the novel. since you're the author of your work, there's no one better suited to lay out the themes you'll be expanding on than you. i'm not sure of that makes sense but . i mean it as in you're already capable of capturing the feeling you're going for, no matter how you decide to do so.
and this is just one of many methods! sometimes stories start with exposition, a line of dialogue that leads into a conversation, etc etc. if there's anything you takeaway from this, it's that you can experiment and play around with many different possibilities. i had to reframe how i look at writing the start of a story because of how much i used to go 😬 about it. when i looked at it as something i can play around with, i went from dreading to enjoying it.
anyway, i hope this helps, and as always whenever i try to give 'writing advice' (i feel pretentious calling it that because i am a silly little fanfic writer on tungle.com), so please take everything with a grain of salt.
#i also love the introduction to notes from underground but#you guys have probably heard me talk about dostoevsky enough for a bit GJKREM#answered#Anonymous
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also,,,top 5 writing tips for us mortals pls thank u 🙏
jkahsdkjghgdj you're funny
well. i do like my writing ngl. i don't think it's exceptional or above fandom average but i'm happy with it.
the only thing i do feel like i can brag about is my writing speed and capacity. when i do find the time, i can easily put out 2k words in an hour. i did nanowrimo this past november and i reached 150k (edited!) words in 30 days which was....i was really proud.
so take this more as tips for Writing A Lot rather than Writing Well:
Make. A bloody. Outline. so many people get scared of this word or avoid it because they have "the story in their head" and they severely underestimate just how much it helps. an outline does not have to be clean, mine are usually messy. its just a doc with all the ideas thrown in there, sorted by types and chronological order.
when i have time to write, i don't stare at a blank doc. i pull up one of the ideas/drafted scenes there and just write it. often times i take pre-made dialogue lines and just build the scene around it, add thoughts, actions, fillers etc. this way i can do up to 800+ words in a 20mins sprint, which you will NEVER achieve when writing in a blank doc.
Write down notes! you will NOT remember the flow of that dialogue in your head by the time you get home. trust me. write down literally EVERY SINGLE THING that comes to your head. random ideas. raw dialogues. random lines/paragraphs that pop up in your head. when you get home, add them to the outline and use that later when you write.
Don't edit while you write. this one is repeated all the time but i did not really get it until I got a typewriter (I use the FreeWrite Traveler typewriter), so to break down this advice more clearly:
1) do NOT go back to edit typos. TURN OFF spellcheck while you write! it is time consuming and you are going to go over this to edit anyway.
2) do NOT look up synonyms. already used "angry" 7 times? not quite the word you're looking for? just write "angry" and put a * next to it so you can look it up later. don't disturb the flow.
3) feeling stuck? don't have a filler between dialogue lines? feel like something is missing? do NOT get stuck on scenes. put a placeholder like [brief angsty internal monologue about x] and move. on.
Just start writing. again, very basic, but works. i don't feel like writing 90% of the times i start. usually, i start by re-typing the last thing i wrote and then i go from there according to the outline.
best advice i've ever heard that changed it for me is Stop writing like it's a movie. You are writing a book, not a script, use that advantage.
So, to elaborate: movies can't TELL us things, they have to SHOW. so they heavily rely on facial expressions and visuals. however, the whole point of writing is that you can describe things with words. you can tell the reader that someone looks hurt. offended. that the look in their eyes is pained. tormented.
it's a power that we often hesitate to use bc of that whole "show dont tell" bullshit advice - but that is the whole point of writing. use it to your advantage as much as you want.
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Oxi Changes and Ideas
(unrefined babbling warning. It’s going to be redundant because that is how I talk.)
I've been pondering where to go with Oxi. I've felt the story to portray an unflattering picture as opposed to what I know it could be at its best. I've decided to change some aspects of it! It's really not like anyone knows much about my stories anyway, but in the event anyone does—I shall regale.
The Many Layers of 'Doppelganger':
My intention after the first couple months after Oxi's initial recreation was for him to be a demon; then to be someone possessed. Shortly after that I decided altogether the demon idea was stupid. I split Oxi into two separate characters again and used that re-redesign to change the story entirely. But how was I to explain to the audience what Doppelganger Is? Doppelganger is his own thing. Not technically an actual doppelganger since that name is just a placeholder, not much alike to the folklore of demons and devils; not a changeling. I don't want the story to feel familiar in some senses, while the tale communicates that of a town, and its scenery just as ours; these characters are in a position that they themselves can't understand; just as the viewer should feel(? I hope).
Doppelganger is most like a parasite in numerous aspects. Birthed into this world by living inside the body of a man as an unwanted guest, and subsequently escaping from the man's optic canal; killing the man in the process, and has no purpose beyond latching itself into the lives of others; benefiting at the other's expense.
Oxi's Housing:
For a long time; Oxi's family, religion, and housing was incredibly secluded and limited. Intended for Oxi to live similarly to the Amish, as an example. I liked the idea of a secluded nightmare scenario, while also by belief intended to live 'strictly and simply' is enforced. I realized after an embarrassingly long time that this left for... Many plot holes, and also reinforced visuals to make Oxi look Christian—which, in prior times, he was. To deflect this, I decided for Oxi to remain heavily religious, his actions and thoughts reflecting his faith; but not so strictly. In fact, I hope to be able to lay grounds and establish that while yes, the religion holds many similarities to real life’s myriad of faiths; I’d hope to make it clear that it is more closely a fictional branch-off of any (pretend) religion. I plan to make this discoverable through the character's dialogue and subtle reveal of in-world history. Does any of this mean Oxi isn’t far away from any town? Of course not! I’ve been pondering this; I really do feel as though Oxi and his family have decided to celebrate their religion and make it far more open, far less strict as before, but still the worship takes place in a location in the middle of nowhere near a national park; as that’s where they and the historically founded themselves upon. They want to celebrate and share their unique religious history to the town. They are located miles out—accessible by a dirt road or a hiking trail in the middle of a national park. Oxi’s housing is on the very outskirts of said national park, living on a plain grassy field. They have several buildings on the property, one notably being a farmhouse consisting mostly of livestock; but they do have a decently stellar garden considering the harsh climate they live in. They reside on a cliff leading towards the ocean. Since part of their worship is smoke and flame, it would seem a bit silly to have set up habitations in such a wet and windy environment. But really, it isn’t, the explanation I have entirely made up was that it made the ceremonies far more special when there is the opportunity to do so outside. So much so; in fact, the family organizes and hosts little town get-togethers and little festivals on those days.
What the Hell is Oxi’s Religious title: I don’t know.
Oxis’ deal (cont):
The minimum I KNOW is that Oxi is a…Form(?) of preacher(???), and ironically does most of the public speaking…. It’s quite confusing at the moment. Goodbye…… More to say, sorry. Oxi; whilst being generally quiet and unapproachable with his strange gangling appearance, is undeniably gifted with his descriptions. Able to paint both beautiful and awe striking pictures with his words. He’s important! Has an important role that would be hard to fill…….. Is currently hard to fill.
Conclusion:
With the religion being far more open and willing to take in more people; and in doing a lot of public services such as historical tours, catering small parties and inviting public viewings of important ceremonies, is far more accessible to the towns near them for any one interested in converting. All this together adds a wonderful amount of drama and pressure into the plot related events! With any form of reputation the leading characters wish to uphold, finding themselves in a truly unexplainable, supernatural position, is definitely the last predicament they’d wish to be in.
#You can tell I got ridiculously bored by the end.#There's only so much one man can take...#inane babbling#oc talk#Oxi's story infuriates me the most because I hate it....#Like...This sucks I am sorry world...........#Really the best parts is the evil parasite furry
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17, 18, and 26 for the fic year in review
17. What were your go-to writing snacks?
Hmm, I don't really eat much while I'm writing. But I do consume ungodly amounts of caffeine. It's pretty much the only way I can get my brain to focus. Coffee, energy drinks, and Cherry Coke Zero are my best friends.
18. What was the hardest fic to title?
Of the ones that actually got posted, it was probably A Fine Way to Lose. As usual, I decided to go with a song lyric. I ended up going through SO many sad, drunk songs looking for just the right one, before finally landing on this deep cut from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. It's one of my favorites of theirs, and it really fit the mood of that fic perfectly. But yeah. Took me forever to decide on it.
That being said, there are several unfinished, unposted fics I worked on that are either still untitled or have placeholder titles, because I still can't come up with anything. "Dutch Sick Fic" has been sitting there without a title for going on two years now. 😂
26. If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year?
Am I allowed to say all the banter in 'Mojo Dojo Casa House'? Seriously, nothing is more satisfying to me as a writer than when the dialogue really starts to click. When I can clearly hear the actors voices in my head, saying the lines I'm writing? That's magic.
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okay i LOVED learning those most recent tidbits about your writing process, especially approx how long it can take you to write/edit! makes me feel so much better about my own wips lmao. especially with something as complex as iylo. i think it’s the easy-going kinda flow or vibe of your writing (though dgmw, you know how to make every line pack a serious punch) that made me assume you tend to bang this shit out hella quick… when in reality it sounds like it takes a pretty reasonable (“reasonable”) amt of time.
on this note i am so curious about your drafting process. like, how do you not get caught up fleshing out all the details in the moment? am i just terrible at writing outlines? feels like i’m always setting a hard goal to write short standalones but they always get out of hand
hahahah oh good, i'm glad it was interesting!!! i'd say my writing style on here is very casual, so. i like that that's the vibe i give off 😌
!! the drafting process! it's messy but it usually goes something like this (long post ahead!)
i start by writing dialogue or a specific moment from the scene i'm most excited to get to. i don't force myself to start at the beginning because who even knows where the beginning is.
dialogue can be a good place to start because it can lay out a whole dynamic in just a few exchanges (the best example i can think of this is when i wrote thirty days, because the first part i wrote was the "you should probably leave" - "why?" - "'cause i'm going to jerk off" - "i don't want to go" - "fine. stay." exchange which set up the whooole fic)
....and then i keep writing until i run out of steam lol. if i'm writing a scene and need to jump ahead because of an idea or whatnot, i just type // so i know i need to come back there (easy to search the doc for a symbol of some kind when it comes to editing). can't think of a specific word? i just pop a // in there as a placeholder.
once i've written out the meatier bit (ugh), i go back to the scene i started with, and then write backwards from there until i find a spot that feels like it could be the beginning (i mean i say that, but this is usually a lot of jumping around).
and that's the first draft!
i don't outline ahead of time, or write out plot points or anything. mostly because a) i have no idea what's gonna happen and b) i like character-driven stories and i find those motivations by writing them
that's the big reason i write dialogue without an end goal in mind - sometimes writing the lines or hearing them in my head takes the conversation in a different direction than i would've originally planned, and that can lead to some Good Moments
i’m always setting a hard goal to write short standalones but they always get out of hand
this happens to me too, for sure. i've found it's helpful to move away from the setup portions of a fic. and also being okay with things not being 100% clear (in terms of motivation, characters feelings, all that) and leaving some gaps for the reader to fill. and also being okay with your writing being misinterpreted.
idk if this is helpful at all!! my main thing is don't stop yourself from fleshing out the details. if there's a big scene you want to get to, don't force yourself to slog through the parts you don't want to write just to get there. i find it's almost easier to do it that way, because then you get to write the earlier parts with the question of: "what choices do they make to become the people in that scene?"
don't deprive yourself!! if you want to delve right into the details, do it.
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You said in a post that you were ok with asking about wrighting stuff so here I go-
How would someone go about improving their wrighting? Are there any exorcises to do that will help get better? People have told me that my wrighting is good but rarely tell me what I should do to improve on things im not good at and make the things I am good at even better
As for improvement, there are two main factors: practice and feedback.
For practice:
Make it a habit. Obviously, writing every single day is unrealistic. But it should be something you can get into a routine of doing if you enjoy writing! Some writers work on/update their projects sporadically, some churn out 50k words in a month, some focus on one project or smaller projects-- there's no way for me to tell you what works best for you personally, so developing a routine is a good way to teach you what does. The more often you write, the quicker you'll likely improve.
That said, if you're writing and find yourself stuck on a scene, don't be afraid to step away from it. If you have an idea for a scene that comes after what you're working on, there's no shame in giving yourself a little annotation or placeholder, and then just writing a scene that'll come later. Often, the transition comes as you work on the next scene!
I have favorite writing exercises I like to do when my writing feels stale. To me, it's the same as stretching your body to make sure you keep your body active and engaged, or warming up before going on a run; I do writing exercises that I never intend to necessarily "put" anywhere in my longer WIPs (or sometimes they turn into oneshots!). A few exercises I love:
Write your idea in a different genre, with a different point of view, or different tense than you're used to writing in. The drawback: sometimes it's hard to switch back. I typically write in past tense, but did an exercise in writing present tense a few months ago. When I went back to working on my WIP, I found myself switching and making constant tense changes by accident that I had to edit out later.
The classic "drabble." Take one idea and break it down as abstractly as you can. Then, write a story that is 100 words exactly. This is a fun one to test how clearly you can get your idea across concisely and eloquently.
My personal favorite is a sentence structure exercise. If your syntax sounds flat, grab a book and flip to a random page, and pick a random paragraph. Then, break up the sentences you read into chunks/clauses, and try to rewrite the sentence/paragraph you originally wrote in this new sentence structure. Obviously, don't copy phrases from the source material you're looking at to practice with, but trying to rewrite your style in a new voice often lets you branch out into writing in ways you'd never thought to try before! I'll give you an example of this exercise, actually, and walk through the steps as I'm working through it myself:
If you're writing a first draft, ignore this step, but sometimes I like to do this while editing. Pick a sentence (or a few) that you're not happy with. Here's the original sentence I wrote: “So why do we start the day with basic berry bowls?” The Lamb asked Narinder when they reached the cooking pot.
Pick a book and pick a sentence or two. "It's what Mom wants," his sister said again, and all three of them knew the depth and complexity of their mother's wishes, their mother's whimsy. (Source: Half Spent by Alice McDermott)
Break the sentence into chunks. This is a compound-complex sentence with an independent clause, a conjunction followed by another independent clause, then a dependent clause. "It's what Mom wants" is a declarative sentence spoken in dialogue. his sister said again is an action phrase. and all three of them knew the depth and complexity of their mother's wishes begins with a conjuction and goes on to describe internal reactions to the action phrase. their mother's whimsy is a dependent clause that makes use of repetition to emphasize the traits of a particular character. You don't have to get this specific when breaking down syntax, and you certainly don't have to write all this out, I'm explaining all the technical stuff for the sake of the example! So, we have: "Declarative dialogue" (subject) (verb phrase) (conjunction) (other subject) (verb) (objects) (repetition of object).
Now let's restructure the sentence I originally wrote, imitating the syntax from the example! "We start the day with basic berry bowls," the Lamb told Narinder, as if he didn't know what he had eaten over the past three years for every breakfast, every single morning.
The revised sentence doesn't have much narrative similarity with the sentence I'd used as a reference, but it reads with roughly the same syntax. If I fall into a habit of writing dialogue that reads all the same way, like this-- "Dialogue dialogue dialogue." Character said as they did some sort of action. -- then I can practice this exercise and get my flow back.
...Anyway. One last tip for practicing: please take regular breaks. It's tempting to get into the Writing Zone and go at it for five hours straight, only to realize afterwards that you're severely dehydrated and have skipped two meals and you're about to piss your pants like a racehorse if you take a step with a centimeter too long of a stride. This is especially important if you're writing on a computer; give your eyes a screen break! PLEASE.
And read!!! Not just other fanfics, but published stories as well!
For feedback:
Yeah, it's intimidating, but ask people for constructive criticism. Get a writing buddy who will cheer you on and be their hype buddy as well. (This may or may not be why like 75% of my friends I met through the cult of the lamb fandom are also fic writers: I see someone write with me and we are kids playing with barbies and I am inviting everyone to play our fun little game of pretend.) Work through edits with them and forgive yourself for not being perfect. Remember that you are doing this for your own enjoyment and it should not stress you out too much. It is okay to be frustrated with your own work, though, as it can be grounds for improvement!
Get a beta reader if you'd like to help you catch any errors. I know people who find them tremendously helpful, and I also know people who prefer not to have one because they feel it adds unnecessary pressure to a hobby that is for their enjoyment. It's up to you! I don't have an official beta reader but, uh, @surfdudeboy might as well be at this point.
If you find yourself having to explain your work (especially before you show it), that's probably a sign that you need to communicate more clearly in your work.
Take critique gracefully and respectfully when you receive it (as long as whomever is giving you genuine constructive criticism isn't being outright unkind). Thank them for their time but don't treat all reviews as if they have equal merit.
Also, learning how to critique and give feedback to other people's writing will make you a stronger writer as well, because you're practicing how to recognize what works and what doesn't work, and how to identify why a piece of writing has a particular effect.
Think of writers you admire or writers whose style inspires you. Think about what you appreciate about their works, and see if you can try it out. It's also worth a shot to go to them and ask for writing tips.
Look! You're already doing this step well, because you reached out for advice! Hooray!
Overall:
It's okay to make mistakes. You are allowed to love your work and be proud of it, as the writer you are now, while also seeking to improve.
Don't feel pressured to remove the parts of your writing that make it yours.
If you're working on a long-form project, indulge in some shorter projects along the way as well. Writing isn't an ultramarathon, it's a few miles max a day. While in the depths of the "enemies" stage of The Risen Lamb and the Fallen God, I suddenly had a massive craving to write the fluffiest cuddliest bullshit and later on some unabashed poetic yearning ( <- thanks to Sara for the hammer of a brainworm that made me write that poem). Keep your eye on the prize for the longer project, but don't burn yourself out trying to stick to one thing and one thing only!
Finally, leave yourself little notes while you write about your own symbolism, about your characters, and about your writing process. Watch your growth, so that when you doubt you've come as far as you have, you know where to go to prove your mean thoughts wrong.
Happy writing, and best wishes! You've GOT THIS <3 !!!!
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