#Director's Commentary | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

handwrittenhello · 1 year

Note

i think its kind of ridiculous to think that homestucks are seriously using bots in this poll because why the hell would they bot this poll instead of the tumblrwoman poll which was the poll EVERYBODY in the hs fandom was actually making a big deal out of . also because im going to be real but i dont think anyone cares about polls enough to rig one? even the bayonetta/miku poll turned out to actually not be vriska voter fraud (most people in the homestuck fandom voted miku anyway) i think people are just unable to comprehend that a lot of people are still dormantly into homestuck & probably just saw vriska serket at the front of the trending disco elysium tag and thought it was funny. like oh my godddd no one cares enough about the outcome of this poll to bot it . somebody with a lot of followers probably just posted about it on twitter or something mundane like that its not that deep . a lot of people on tumblr have read homestuck its not extraordinary that a lot of vriska voters exist. disco elysium fans im sorry your blorbo is losing you’ll probably be back in the lead in a couple hours anyway all of you need to chill out‼️‼️‼️

answering only this ask about the cheating/botting, and no others, because i'm getting a lot of asks about it. congratulations, this contest has officially had all the fun sucked out of it.

here's data i've been collecting for every poll i've run. it's organized by votes the character received per round, then the total number of votes on that poll, for all five rounds. then there are two columns for totals.

the next five columns, Notes 1-5, are the number of notes on each poll. i've highlighted two posts that were circulated with a greater-than-average frequency even after the poll ended (the loki/JC one because people were memeing on JC, and then HDB/Howl one because it gained popularity following a popular blogger reblogging it.)

V/N is the votes to notes ratio for each poll. it was taken by dividing the number of votes when the poll ended by the number of notes on each post. one limitation is that this was not taken at the same time each day, and so older posts will have slightly higher notes. however, i believe this uncertainty isn't enough to discount the conclusions i'll come to.

i've highlighted vriska's V:N ratio in red at the top. as you can see, round vriska's V:N ratio wasn't even the highest; she beat kaeya alberich easily, and the comments in the notes reflected that.

in round 2, things started to get interesting. this is where i and other people noticed a sudden flip, but i didn't think much of it. she was up against izzy hands. izzy was leading all day, and when i queued the next day's poll and went to bed, izzy was leading by 60%. when i woke up, it had flipped to 53/47 in vriska's favor. it's not a HUGEamount, but it is a NOTICEABLE amount.

keep in mind that every single day, there have been other, closer polls, that hovered around 49-50-51 all day, and which also flipped at the end of the day, or remained 50/50 and could only be determined by tumblr. in these cases, the notes also reflect the split. these polls also never swayed more than one or two percent.

in round 3, when vriska faced zuko, there was a clear and immediate lead for zuko, with him leading by 80%. keep in mind that by this point, all 28 other polls i ran, besides vriska's the day before, never swayed more than 1 or 2% once a clear lead had been established.

this poll went from 80/20 zuko to 59/41 vriska. that's RIDICULOUS. the only way that's possible is if an OVERWHELMING amount of people voted vriska and NO people voted zuko. for such a thing to happen, this post would need to spread really rapidly, right? surely this post had tens of thousands of notes and comments!

the V:N ratio for round 3 is TWENTY-SEVEN to one. that's the most out of any poll. the standard deviation for the round 3 polls is 9.0, compared to 4.8 and 4.9 the days before. not to mention reading those notes also does not get us an overwhelming amount of comments rooting for vriska.

today has also been highly suspicious. it started out with an 85/15 lead for harry. i wouldn't necessarily expect it to hold exactly at that percentage, but the flip was immediate and drastic. you can see the trend being tracked on this post. not at all suspicious, right? also note that the comments all day have been 95% rooting for harry and maybe 5% for vriska.

please also look at the GRAND TOTAL column, which has reliably predicted the winners of future polls each day. vriska has received 49,064 votes over the course of the whole contest. harry has received 64,644. that's 24% more votes. and yet the poll is locked at 50/50?

and if this isn't enough evidence for you, then remember the tumblr sexywoman poll. it is a FLAT FUCKING FACT that those polls were spammed by bots. out of respect for their privacy i won't go into detail, but they outright admitted it.

TO CONCLUDE,

it's pretty fucking obvious that something is up, and although i admit that there's simply no concrete way of proving it, there would have to be a really standout explanation for this.

and besides this being super lame, it's also removed all the fun from this contest. it's a stupid tumblr poll that wins literally nothing, congratulations!

also, to everyone making death threats in the notes, BOTH SIDES, you've failed my secret challenge of not being rude which means i'm judging you personally. be fucking nice.

#tumblr's plmm contest #to people campaigning lightheartedly: this post isn't about you you're great and fun #to people actually fighting and taking this way too seriously: what positive impact did you have?#and to people spamming bot votes: get fucked and get a life you're not funny #director's commentary #anon #yeah now i'm fucking mad #long post

1K notes · View notes

asofterutena · 1 year

Text

(You think Mary knew?)

#a softer world #revolutionary girl utena #shoujo kakumei utena #a softer world remix #rguedit #utena tenjou #utena and akio #akio ohtori #asw 827 #ep: the ends of the world #10 2022 #people's choice #director's commentary #caption = do you think if mary knew jesus would die in order to absolve humanity's sins she wouldve still wanted to carry him?#do you think child utena would still want to save anthy if she knew of akio's ulterior motives?

217 notes · View notes

wutheringmights · 4 months

Note

Has anyone asked for the commentary for the latest Ctb chapter yet? 👀👀👀

Originally, everything from Link’s conversation with Impa to Link finally leaving for Kakariko was going to be at the end of the last chapter; but as you may recall, I ended up punting it over to this one in a waterfall effect from having to deal with a different delayed scene in the last section.

Good news is that on all fronts, the pacing is finally back on schedule. Mostly. There’s a scene in the present day that I’ve kicked off to a later chapter, but we’ll get to that when we get to that.

Something I wasn’t able to quite talk about last chapter was why exactly I wanted this incident to be Link’s wake-up call; I wanted Link’s turning point to evolve around him realizing that his way of being a hero is messed up, not only for failing to save Kat but by being told that, politically, he saved the wrong person

Which will then tie into HOW Link saved her. I wanted Link to undoubtedly do the right thing, but I wanted his solution to be so extreme that it’s horrifying. Yes, he saved Kat. But he also brutally murdered three men-- and wanted to make them suffer in the process. Link can’t solve anything without taking extremes. These men have nothing redeemable to them, but in the context of Link’s history, I just wanted readers to sit there and go “huh” for at least a minute. Maybe two.

As previously posted, the men’s names were based off of things that have given me brain worms as of late.

This chapter made me realize that I really haven’t done enough with Impa; I’ve been relying too heavily on just telling you how Warriors feels as opposed to having her do things. Incredible work on my part. I will rectify that however I can.

Speaking of which, Impa’s speech about becoming your role was originally going to include some extra information about her history with Lincoln before she became Impa, but I ended up cutting it because it was just an awkward time to go over that info; I hope there will be a time I can include it later, but it’s not super pressing or relevant so don’t get your hopes up.

As previously mentioned, Kat’s disability is Broca’s Aphasia

I remember when I was finalizing Kat and Icarius’s characters, I wondered if anyone was going to think there’s a thematic meaning to so many characters losing the ability to communicate; whatever is there is unintentional on my part, but whatever meaning you derive is still valid

Also, out of everyone, Kat is the character I feel the worst about hurting.

And for everyone wondering: Kat was knocked out when she was first bludgeoned. She was not awake when the men were killed. I am both touched and somewhat caught in disbelief that so many of you were worried about this.

When writing the introductory imagery for Kakariko-- describing the streets, people, etc--I was really worried that I was just retreading information that I already gave you all; but it’s also been, like, two years since the first Kakariko chapter came out, so I figured it was worth revisiting.

Hello, Jakucho! It’s been so long since she was in the story that I forgot how fun she is to write. She really brings an incredible energy to the mix.

I’m trying to remember where exactly I got the idea for Link having to build his own house, especially since this is probably among the first ideas I had for the story. I think I came up with the idea of the house first and my brain immediately said, “Fine, but he built it while going through withdrawals.” O.K. Sounds cool.

When I was writing the chapter, I didn’t like how I introduced Ayane. I got really hung up on the idea that she deserved something grander. Looking back at it now, I think it’s perfect. I’m glad I didn’t change it.

There’s this through line I’ve been trying to maintain this entire story about Link feeling stuck in his role as a soldier, how inadequate he feels for not knowing a tradeskill (or really any skill outside of war-waging), and how jealous he is that Spirit can build nearly anything-- and this is the chapter where I finally feel the payoff of all those ideas.

I hadn’t watched Vinland Saga when I finalized this idea, but now that I have watched it, do you know what this chapter is giving? Thorfinn emotionally healing via a farm arc. Go read Vinland Saga. It’s better than anything I can do.

However, I did mean for that ending to be a little bit more ominous than it turned out. Sure, Link is deciding to move on and be happier, but he is doing so by ignoring all the things he has done. Surely, this isn’t going to bite him in the butt.

Now that all of the war stuff is over, the story is now shifting towards a Link homesteading plotline, which will hopefully be as interesting, if not more. It’s definitely going to be harder to write, if only because now I have to take Link and show how he becomes Warriors.

Speaking of which.... onto the present day--

That opening scene where they’re escaping from the Sheikah by running across the rope bridge? That was a certified Pain In The Neck to write. I wrote about three different versions before finding one I thought was half-way decent. Why? I kept getting too elaborate with it and the scene kept running away from me.

A part of the reason why that scene was such a pain is that it originally wasn’t going to happen! The last chapter was supposed to have a little transition scene about having to sneak away from the Sheikah before ending with the scene where Spirit helps Warriors with his arm.

But with the canoodling scene kicked over to this chapter, I figured it was about time I began paying off the whole We’re Being Hunted Down By the Sheikah thing.

The hard march stuff then effectively ruined my original concept for the chapter: a series of scene where Spirit interacts one on one with each member of the Chain, to varying degrees of success. That got tossed out the window and never returned.

But I think it was worth it? I like the hard marching stuff, and it helps with the blend the deep dark atmospheric stuff with the reunited Chain being absolute bozos

And I have missed all of the shenanigans. The exchange at the beginning where Warriors gets sarcastic about being told not to let go is very silly, but I like it. It makes me laugh.

Speaking of which, I have decided that I am a big fan of Spirit’s whip. That’s all. Just wanted to put that into the world.

Okay, let’s hop back to the canoodling stuff.

So that scene was what was supposed to be at the end of the previous chapter, if only to give you all the two-punch Spirit What The Fuck moments. Pacing-wise, the scene also acts as set-up for the house drama. Putting it at the end of last chapter would have made it seem like that plot point was more established.

Also, another shout-out to Legend for being the character who is constantly surprising me with how fun he is to write. I’m not a big fan of him normally, so I always end up forgetting this until I get to write him again. Then again, I am also convinced that Legend is at his best when he’s a member of the supporting cast. He’s not main character material.

And you guys have finally bullied me enough to convince me to make DILF Hunter Hyrule canon. You can’t say I don’t do anything for you guys.

Four and Spirit not having a good relationship just feels correct. Even if Spirit was capable of not fumbling a social interaction for more than 10 minutes, I still think these two would not like each other very much. We might be able to get them to coworkers status, but that’s if we’re lucky.

I finally got to do this scene with Warriors and Lana! Thank god! I think Lana scenes are among the first to get cut any time I need to make space, and this one has been getting pushed back for a awhile now. It’s good to finally get them to talk, if only to wrap up that little subplot about Warriors’s shittiness towards her while scratching the surface of my Sad Girl Lana agenda.

Actually, this chapter did so well with the Lana and Linkle content that I feel bad that Midna got barely anything to do. Granted, her big moment where Twilight is seeking comfort from her is one of my favorites. So actually, Midna stays winning.

The scene where Spirit equates dead monsters to dead people is the spiritual successor to that scene way back in the past when he and Link had their big fight. I mean, that’s obvious.

A lot of readers seemed really surprised when Spirit was ruthless on the battlefield during Twilight’s rescue, and I want this scene to help remind everyone that Spirit kills people as easily as he kills monsters because, to him, they aren’t different. That’s still shocking, but it’s not because Spirit is uniquely cruel.

The song that Spirit plays is the Song of Birds from his game, which functionally just summons a flock of birds. You need it to solve, like, one puzzle. I have decided that it’s actually an essential part of Lokomo burial rites.

I regret giving Hyrule the line about understanding Spirit better. On one hand, I do think this would be a reason Hyrule would soften towards him. On the other, Hyrule was not on the battlefield when Spirit was being a ruthless soldier. What is there for him to understand better?

Legend’s game is a silly scene I have been trying to include in this story for so long, if only to give Spirit a moment to explain in-story how his senses work (and to have an allergic reaction towards Legend). I am trying so hard to drive home that Spirit’s abilities are only the senses. This guy does not have any other weird magic about him. He just knows extra information about people.

Also, Wind robbing Spirit is extra funny when you remember that Spirit probably sensed him nearby and still somehow did not realize he was being pickpocketed.

I think the things Spirit senses off of the boys are fairly obvious, except for Wild-- that water stuck in the nose feeling refers to Wild being submerged in the Shrine of Resurrection

I feel bad that I keep giving Wind more problems to deal with, but unfortunately, head trauma causes so many lasting conditions. I haven’t even really milked his newfound half-deafness yet.

Also, thank you once more for everyone who gave me additional information on how signing with one hand works! You’re all the bomb!

The most painful cut this chapter was a scene where Spirit met Kat again. It's still gonna happen somehow, but the logistics didn't quite work (they're supposed to be on the run... what are they doing with meemaw???) and I just needed to focus on other things. It's such a shame, though. We almost had a perfect cohesive past and present chapter combo.

Initially, I was going to leave Toto in the well until the end of the story. He would act as extra motivation for Warriors to basically fix Hyrule-- if he doesn’t, Toto doesn’t go free. Then at least one person asked that he be rescued, and I crumbled.

Also, if I did my job right, this is the first time in the present day that Anders’s name is said out loud!

So you can probably guess that if I was willing to take as much time as needed to write the rest of CTB, I would have given saving Toto and burning the house down its own chapter. I’m not great at pacing (see: the fact that I wrote a whole chapter about characters traveling instead of skimming over that shit), but I figured I would take the risk and see if I could get away with having both off screen.

Was it effective? In some ways, yes. I think the shock when Warriors finds out is effective.

What really makes my cutting corners work is that Warriors got to do something else that was really important instead, which is talking with Icarius.

(By the way, I know most of you are doing a bit about being hardcore Warriors/Icarius shippers. But the few of you who are genuine, I need you all to wait until I actually show what the relationship is like before committing, if only because this is something I of all people would be writing).

What isn’t effective is how Cia’s drawing was meant to foreshadow the house burning. I always thought of it as a minor detail akin to Cia’s warnings while she was in the bush, but a lot of you clung to it like it was going to hold the key to final climax of the narrative. That’s probably my fault. Oops.

But Warriors and Spirit fighting... perfect. Love that scene. Honestly, I missed their violence.

But my god. Getting to elaborate on the house and how it's filled with his mother's things at the start of the chapter before having it ripped away? Priceless. Perfect. I am patting myself on the back for that one.

I kinda hate that Warriors and Wind moment. It’s good and everything I like until after Wind offers up his earring. I didn’t know where else to take the scene, but I didn’t want to end it there. What I ended up writing is just really cliche, and I really wish I gave myself more time to redo it.

And finally, that ending scene. Oh boy. Your honor, something is going on. If you guys are this stressed by a little cuddling, I cannot wait to see how next chapter is going to mess you up (pending on whether I chicken out or not)

Once more, I have to point out how insane everyone’s takes are making me. No one, and I mean no one, is on the same page about whatever is going on between Warriors and Spirit. There is no consensus. It’s driving me to insanity. I am still pushing myself to embrace different interpretations and to not view personal takeaways as a failing of the story.

But the more space I give everyone to draw their own conclusions, the more I get worried about alienating a reader, or writing a story with an ending that one person likes and everyone else hates.

But, again, this is a practice in ambiguity. Part of this story’s draw is how so many people are reading the same scenes and characters, and walking away with different perspectives. As nervous as it makes me, I love it.

#today's bonus fact is that i almost had spirit accidentally reveal wolfie this chapter but didn't cause it would have taken up too much time #me rambling #lu ctb #ask #linked universe #fallenleafofmapple #director's commentary #ctb lore #ctb spoilers

21 notes · View notes

indignantlemur · 6 months

Text

The Directory!

Emigre: link

Pairing(s): Original Andorian Character/Original Human Character (Dagmar/Shral), Andorian/Andorian, Andorian/Human/Andorian/Andorian

Rating: Explicit (as of chapter 44)

Status: In-Progress, available via AO3

A tear in the fabric of space and time has consequences that echo across ages; an unexpected arrival from the twenty-first century challenges a nation's perceptions and sets a most unlikely precedent. An exploration of Andorian culture from a Human's POV.

The Stars Keep Watch: link

Pairing(s): Va'Al Trask/Original Human Character (Va'Al/Mira)

Rating: Explicit

Status: In-Progress, available via AO3

Mira Vos signed up for Starfleet only to find herself posted to hell. Undersupplied and overstressed, the fighting on J'Gal threatens to wear her down. The arrival of a special forces unit led by a handsome Andorian promises a break in the routine... A classic wartime romance - but In Space.

🎄🎁❄️Deck the Halls (and Not the Vulcans): link

Pairings: Dagmar/Shral (background)

Rating: Teen

Status: Complete, available on AO3

It's winter time in San Francisco, and the Andorian embassy has just been challenged to participate in a friendly competition between the Federation's founding species' embassies. The objective? To see who can best decorate a Terran Christmas tree. The prize? Nothing less than deeply coveted bragging rights for the coming year.

Dagmar Gunnarssen has never been so ready for anything in her entire life.

Hoarfrost: 🚧🛠️

Pairing(s): Dagmar Gunnarssen & Ambassador Thoris th'Kor, Background relationships from Emigre

Rating: Teen

Status: In-Progress, not yet available via AO3. (Pssst! Sneak peak available: link)

An unusually powerful ion storm forces Ambassador Thoris and his retinue to abandon ship over a largely uninhabited planet. Some of the last to make it to the escape pods, Thoris and Dagmar wind up separated from the others. Together, they must navigate a frozen, eerily barren landscape - and survive.

Emigre Art:

Shral: in-progress 1, in-progress 2, in-progress update 3, in-progress update 4, FINISHED

Thelen: in-progress, in-progress 2, in-progress 3, finished with detail shots

Miraal: in-progress, in-progress update

Ambassador Thoris: in-progress & finished (tentative)

Vrath: in-progress 1, finished

'An Eventful Meeting' : in-progress, in-progress 2, in-progress 3, in-progress 4, finished

IndignantLemur's Very Serious & Accurate Antennae Expression Guide: here!

Dagmar's courting ring: here

Kelenthor the Clanless: here

Fancy Drinks and Fancy Duds: in-progress

Andorian Chitin Map Reference: Thelen, Thoris, Shral: here

Winter Holiday Series:

Dagmar/Shral: In-progress 1, in-progress 2, finished

CANON Fan Art:

Shran: here

Commissions/Gifts:

Serrin of Romulus: in-progress & finished (@bigblissandlove1 commission)

S'Talon of Romulus: in-progress (silly) & finished (@bigblissandlove1 commission)

Gift commission: in-progress & finished (@the-lady-general commission)

Emperor Georgiou: in-progress & finished (@the-lady-general commission)

Lt Hemmer: finished (@nichestartrekkie0-0 gift)

Cmdr Ophelia Zubira: finished (@unknownfacelessfanfictions)

Andorian Headcanons:

Andorians and Food

Andorians and the Sea

Andorian Governing Bodies & The Role of Nepotism

Andorian Marriage Dynamics & Divorce

Andorian Proposals

Andorian Religion & Spirituality (And horror stories)

The Andorian Imperial Clan

Andorian Hair

Andorian Holidays

Andorian Courtship Ring Metallurgy

Andorian Medical Professionals

Andorian Awards and Commendations

Andorians and Figure Skating

Andorians and Dancing

Andorians and Currency

The Andorian Facepalm?

Andorian-Vulcan relations pre-ST:ENT

Andorian Language and Conlang

Andorian Weddings and Funerals

Andorian Attitudes on Interspecies Relationships

Andorian-Human Hybridization

The Am Tal and The Andorian Incident

Andorian Clan Identification and Chitin Patterns

Andorian Names

Andorians and Adoption

Clanless Andorians

Andorians and Rites of Passage into Adulthood

The Code of the Ushaan and the Holmgang

Andorian Fairy Tales

Kelenthor the Clanless and Watercolours

Human-Andorian First Contact headcanons

Andorian Fashion and Fabrics

Emigre General Discussions:

Healing and Grief in Emigre

The Bulreeng Taal Beatdown

Author's Commentary: Chapter 41 - Grace and Poise

Author's Commentary: Chapter 37 - Connection

What Do The Andorians (and Dagmar) of Emigre Smell Like?

Author's Commentary: Chapter 43: The Star Thief

What Language Is Dagmar Speaking?

Author's Commentary: Chapter 46 - Face the Facts

Director's Cut - ask for a writer's commentary on a chapter, section, line, or scene in their work, or send a ⭐for free-range rambles!

Writer Ask Game - send an emoji, get an answer!

OC Emoji Ask Game - send an emoji, specify the OC, and get an answer!

Emigre Playlists:

Dagmar - I Don't Belong In This Club

Dagmar - All I Can Do Is Try

Dagmar/Shral - I Will Melt With You

Dagmar/Thelen - Shut Up & Dance

Anlenthoris th'Kor - The Old Warhawk

Emigre Atmospheric Mixes:

Dagmar At The Office

Hovercar Ride With Shral

Hoarfrost Atmospheric Mixes:

Walking Through A Blizzard

Waiting Out A Snowstorm In A Cave

Alien Aurora While Camping In The Snow

OFFICIAL TAG LIST

(You can always request to be added to the list!)

36 notes · View notes

more-better-words · 14 days

Note

So, we’re off and running! Anything extra you can impart to your loyal readers about Chapter 2: Priorities, of The Place We Call Home, the fourth and final part of your “Built to Last” series? Thank you!

And we're immediately back to table setting! 😆

Because this is the story of Trip and T'Pol and their kids, so I have to get them to a place where kids can happen! The career realignments they were both working towards What We Build Here are going to shift a bit - after all, we've had a war since then. So Trip's taking some well deserved time off, and T'Pol...well, we'll get to her trajectory soon.

I am particularly proud of Malcolm's multi-tasking here - getting a drink with his dear friend AND trying to satisfy his curiosity about the Coalition conference, all at once! It was a valiant effort, Malcolm. Too bad Trip (house husband extraordinaire) wasn't falling for it. Better luck next time.

I love getting to write the little cozy domestic moments with Trip and T'Pol like the one this chapter ends on. It's catnip for me - I need an excuse to just endlessly write about them coming home from work, having dinner, and just enjoying being together. It would probably bore anyone else to tears, but it makes me so happy to give them that.

And also to give them the kids they so dearly and desperately want. Enter our old friend V'Ryn! 😁

#thanks for the ask!#fic #built to last #director's commentary #trip x t'pol #star trek enterprise

9 notes · View notes

soapskneebrace · 1 year

Note

so why do you think price goes to bed in his briefs?

Answer #1:

Sleeping with as little clothing on as possible helps his body heat warm up the sheets around him faster, achieving maximum coze sooner, but sleeping completely naked leaves him very vulnerable. Sleeping in his underwear is a happy medium for Price, thus.

Answer #2:

I want him to

#hope that helps <3 #answered #director's commentary

83 notes · View notes

throttlegainwell · 2 days

Note

⭐️

Hi, Faith! Thanks for the director's commentary ask.

I think I want to talk about Lonnie's role in Blood, Wine, & Roses. It's a slightly different take from what I've seen (not that I've seen much--I'm lucky if I read one fic every couple of months), and it's different from anywhere else I've written him. And I've written a fair bit about him by this point. His function in this story is a little different as well, both for what he represents and for how he accomplishes this within the narrative. I also want to talk about how Jonathan sees and responds to him, which is a bit different here as well.

Cut for discussion of child abuse (and Lonnie's whole deal) and for length (a LOT of length, sorry!). Apologies if it's a little disjointed or I repeat myself--I've had to leave and come back to it a bunch of times.

I want to preface this by mentioning that the title isn't just for show; it's claiming to be a retrospective because it is. These aren't static feelings at discrete points in time. It's all sort of an amalgam of what Jonathan remembers thinking and feeling and how he recalls these events, which is why it jumps back and forth. So it's a little contradictory in parts and doesn't necessarily read like the thoughts of a child that young because that's not the perspective of the story. I tried to imply that in parts, but I didn't want to necessarily beat anyone over the head with the framing. The other thing is that, conceptually, it's roughly broken down into four parts to explore these three aspects of Jonathan's relationship to masculinity: gender and gender roles, sexuality, gender expression, and the synthesis of all of these things. There's overlap, of course, but that was the idea.

Anyway, onward!

Lonnie

The Lonnie of this story has somewhat different goals and engages a little differently with his family because of this. He's still an abusive, manipulative schemer who routinely degrades and torments his family. But I wanted to do two things: strip some of that power, on one level, and on another to elevate it to show the real estate he came to occupy in this kid's mind. Maybe highlight it like a dye tracer lighting up a scan. That contrast between the reality and the idea--the grip he has on Jonathan's view of the world, so I could show it loosening. There's a lot of imagery in the fic as Jonathan is turning over his feelings on Lonnie, trying to figure him out, and it builds into this kind of primal folktale horror of his subconsciousness (and by the end, Jonathan becomes aware of and confronts this as well). So it's two sides of the same coin for Jonathan: the way he synthesizes everything he learns to reach a very intellectual conclusion (stripping that power, seeing Lonnie for what he really is and what made him) and the way he still, on a very deep emotional level, viscerally responds to Lonnie as a kid with coulrophobia would upon encountering Pennywise.

So what does this incarnation of Lonnie want? He wants to basically have the freedom to do the dumb shit he's already doing, either for fun or for profit. He wants his son to not embarrass him by being human and for that son to reflect a very specific concept of masculinity that he feels benefits him. He wants to push when it's fun and to be obeyed when the game isn't fun anymore--to see what Jonathan will do and to toughen him up. He wants to have his way, and in some spheres (his family, over whom he has a lot of power), he gets this. None of that is necessarily different from how I normally write him, but I peeled back the overlay just a bit in this one.

Lonnie largely achieves these simple, mundane goals. But this isn't a happy guy. He's not unhappy, necessarily--he's not suffering by any means--but happiness is not the absence of sadness. That's the deal with the food, though. (I also don't see him as particularly interested in food generally--it's just not something he remembers or, frankly, thinks of at all; I just expanded on that here.) In this story, the food is kind of a metaphor and kind of a straightforward demonstration of his attitude toward a lot of things. It's a potential path to connection and joy and love. Lonnie wants none of these things; he's offered them and he rejects them. So he's rejecting these things conceptually, but he's also, on a very literal level, rejecting Jonathan's offering to his face--he's rejecting his love and affection, while Jonathan is still young enough to try to offer it. This is partly a practical matter because he doesn't want Jonathan cooking or performing care-taking duties or other stereotypical feminine or "weak" things, so he's not going to encourage it. But he also doesn't see the value in what those things represent. (He also mocks Joyce's cooking--in essence, he's mocking her care-taking and disparaging her efforts, but he thinks that's what she's supposed to be doing. So he devalues these things generally.)

This is not a guy who considers the well-being of his family when he makes his decisions or when he reacts. He's certainly not concerned with destroying them. But he's also not necessarily setting out to do so. They're really just... there. When he wants something, they're resources; when they're impediments, he treats them as such. Is there a cruel streak? Yeah, I think I showed that pretty heavily. But a lot of this disregard is entirely down to indifference, immaturity, and selfishness. So that's not necessarily a very different side of Lonnie, but... I'm getting there.

We know that Jonathan, in the show, hates his dad. He harbors a lot of anger toward him, (rightfully) thinks the worst of him (see also: checking the fucking trunk), and resents him. While I don't think he would admit to being afraid of Lonnie, he very much does have Lonnie-shaped fears--some complex and nuanced and some more like the simple childhood terror sparked by shadows passing under the door. This is not a relationship he values, nor a man he loves.

But here's the thing:

1) Jonathan freely refers to his father as Lonnie, on several occasions, and probably does so with some degree of intention--he's signaling his disdain for Lonnie and his refusal to recognize Lonnie's connection to him. So I think it's a choice, not a habit, and I'm torn on whether or not Lonnie would give a shit about this--maybe in certain contexts he would, but overall he's too indifferent to fatherhood to care about Jonathan's opinion or respect. But there's this moment in S1 that's haunted me since I first saw it. When Joyce picks up the phone, thinking Lonnie is calling her back, Jonathan says, kind of stunned and under his breath, "Dad?" And it's so… There's something so heartbreaking about it. It's nakedly vulnerable and piercingly hopeful. And I think it's the first and last moment we see something like that--this idea that maybe his dad could come through after all when they're most in need, that there's a connection there, that they matter to this man on some level. That it's not completely impossible. And that's also where it dies when it becomes clear that Lonnie hasn't called. But if Jonathan had never cared about that man the slightest bit--if all he felt was uncomplicated loathing and rage--then that moment wouldn't have happened. I'm sure that he felt mostly anger and loathing on a conscious level, but some part of that kid either held some closely guarded shred of hope or was so shocked by Lonnie's apparent heel-turn that he momentarily hated Lonnie a tiny bit less. Some part of him maybe even wanted to believe that Lonnie was capable of doing the right thing--the absolute bare minimum--for once in his fucking life. And I wanted to explore that here because I don't know if I've personally seen that aspect discussed.

2) He's a child. Even if Jonathan on the show were completely dead-set against Lonnie and had no complicated feelings toward him, Jonathan is reflecting on various points in time during this story, including some when he was very young. And I'm not saying that all children have to love their parents, but... most want to. He's young enough, during the darkest parts of the story, to still be searching for that love. He's not a hardened ten-year-old.

3) Most people aren't on their worst behavior 100% of the time. They usually have their decent moments at least occasionally. Lonnie is an asshole and he doesn't give a shit about being a father, but, again, he's not looking to make Jonathan suffer; that's just an incidental thing that he's kind of indifferent to, something that he perceives as a weakness on Jonathan's part that Jonathan should be able to prevent and for which Lonnie is, therefore, not responsible. Because his goals and Jonathan's do not align in any way, and one of them is wrong, and if Jonathan could get with the program, then he probably genuinely thinks they'd get along better. But it's kind of an "even a stopped clock is right twice a day" situation.

Lonnie's Brush with Decency

Again, Lonnie isn't specifically setting out to torture Jonathan; that's a side effect of his actual goals that's acceptable to him, if not preferable. He just doesn't particularly value Jonathan's feelings and thinks that he should be tough enough to deal with discomfort because Lonnie is wrapped up in a lot of toxic masculinity bullshit and it shapes his interactions.

Here's where I think this story probably diverges from mainstream Lonnie: when he perceives genuine threat, he steps in and actually makes a brief protective gesture in Jonathan's direction (in "Dodge and Burn"). But it's not a noble gesture and it's not because he's secretly a decent guy or really loves this kid deep down.

There are a few things going on here. It comes back to that sense of ownership, in some ways--he can do whatever he wants to this kid, but that doesn't necessarily extend to everyone else in all scenarios. What he generally wants is for Jonathan to stand up for himself and show some spine, so I don't think he'd take joy in all of these potentially fucked up scenarios--provided he's not the one enacting them--but he wouldn't defend Jonathan in most of them. Some of them, maybe. So why does he in this one?

Well, is he really protecting Jonathan in the first place, or does Jonathan just perceive it that way? Lonnie is probably thinking of his reputation here more than Jonathan's safety; I imagined him blocking Jonathan from sight more than shielding him, you know? He's saying "don't look at this kid--pretend he's not here." This venture hasn't worked out the way he'd hoped, and he's regretting bringing him. Lonnie doesn't like being wrong, doesn't like looking foolish, and doesn't really like some of the people he has to deal with (particularly the ones with power over him), so he unloads all of these frustrations and all of this unease onto Jonathan.

And there's maybe a small part of him that does feel some flicker of something adjacent to paternal obligation--because he doesn't necessarily care about Jonathan and thinks he should be able to look after himself (and doesn't have sympathy or compassion for people he considers weak or pitiful)--but he's not completely indifferent to him at all times. It's like... if Jonathan were about to walk into traffic, Lonnie would grab his collar. He wouldn't just watch him get smeared by a passing truck. But that's the extent of the obligation. If the threat is real and valid to Lonnie, then it's conceivable that he would respond to it as one. That doesn't negate all of his other bullshit.

And Jonathan is very aware of this. He does want something from his father, but that's not it, and so he distrusts and resents this turn of events--and he's right to do so.

This scene contrasts sharply with Jonathan protecting Will in a scene that occurs earlier in the story but chronologically after the pivotal events of "Dodge and Burn".

“Don’t listen to him,” he said, automatic as breathing was supposed to be. “It’s okay to cry when it hurts. But you’re okay. You’re all right.”

She iced his wrist. Said it was okay to cry when it hurt. Said the kind lie. She’d never tell him to quit being such a pussy. She’d never tell him that because Dad was wrong, and he knew it, he knew it, he knew it.

So this is something that he's absorbed from Joyce and chosen to pass on to Will. It's a direct rejection of what Lonnie is trying to instill in him. Lonnie performs no care-taking and disparages it the whole story, so it's clear to Jonathan by this point that that's not something he wants to emulate. More on that below.

As a side note, the placement of "Dodge and Burn" within the story was deliberate. It's the heaviest scene, so I wanted to build the tension throughout the story with these glimpses of Lonnie's cruelty, disdain, and priorities, but I was also trying to show Jonathan working through it on his own. He's peeking at these memories around the edges, and it all leads up to that day in the woods before the first section ends.

Jonathan and Masculinity

Masculinity is not one thing. But Jonathan is steeped in a very specific and violent form of it, and this is what he's working through during the story.

Lonnie is that specific form of masculinity in action. Lonnie directly causes the material harms that Jonathan comes to associate with socially expected performances of masculinity (direct violence that he endures as well as a generally unsafe environment illustrated by the imagery he conjures), and it's Lonnie against whom he positions himself when he rejects this brand of masculinity. So he's rejecting it because he's rejecting Lonnie, but the crucial thing here is that he's not just rebelling against his shitty father--he's recognizing the greater absurdity of these expectations being forced on him (represented by Lonnie), and although he doesn't buy into them, they're nonetheless harmful in ways he can see and ways he can't.

He has all these other sources of proof that, actually, this masculinity shit is a trap. You can play the game, but everyone is losing--even Lonnie, King Shit of Masculinity Mountain. Lonnie is squeezed by these chains, too. It's a shitty way to live, even though he'd probably say that he's pretty content. He just can't see beyond those bars the way Jonathan can.

But you know what else Jonathan has? He has Joyce. I don't for one moment subscribe to the belief that abuse is inherently cyclic, at least in the way that it's popularly understood. (The "cycle of abuse" narrative typically oversimplifies a very complex subject in problematic and often harmful ways.) But we do learn from our environments, and especially from our families. Lonnie does not really love Jonathan, as an action--if he feels some type of affection for him untainted by his sense of ownership over him, then I'm not sure I'd call it love. Maybe he feels something, but he does not demonstrate love.

So this relationship and what it represents (that toxic masculinity that governs so much of their dynamic) will never be a source of safety or a place of belonging for Jonathan. But he could play the game, if he wanted to. He'd do it badly, but he could probably be worn down enough, under the right circumstances, to find it necessary to his survival to try a little harder. It's certainly a strategy, if not a desirable one.

Which isn't to say that I think he'd have grown up to abuse others without Joyce's tempering influence. (Again, it's much more complex than "A abuses B, therefore B goes on to abuse C because they never learned differently, until C breaks the cycle and does not go on to abuse D.") I think Jonathan is an innately kind person. That's just his personality. But I think that he was given space to express and nurture that kindness--limited, and within particular contexts, but nonetheless real. Joyce showed him kindness and gentleness and encouraged it when she saw it in him, and he had Joyce and Will to pour it into. So when he was watching the effects of so much cruelty--from his father, his peers, the town, society at large--it was contrasted with what he knew to be possible. He probably never would have bought into what Lonnie was selling, but he also had evidence of a better way and examples of how to do it.

But that's the idea behind "Dodge And Burn". I went really heavy on photography as metaphor in this story. It was a way of showing Jonathan taking charge of his narrative and his life. He's very powerless for a good portion of this story. But he's actively processing and reframing his experiences and observations every step of the way, trying to understand. At his rock bottom, after Lonnie violently lashes out at him in his anger and embarrassment, Jonathan is tired and ashamed and wants to make sense of how he's been treated.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel.

So that's what I'm driving toward: he's a kid, and the urge to make sense of the world never goes away but it's bone-deep at that age, and when you don't feel love surrounding you, you go looking for it. This is a time when Joyce has already pulled away from him; she's busy, she's relying on him to look after Will, and she's fighting with Lonnie when they're home. And he basically has nothing outside of these two relationships because his prospects are limited (by several things).

Basically, Jonathan knows what love looks like, but it's cold in that house these days. So he comes very close to justifying and accepting Lonnie's behavior. Because from the outside--seeing how he treats Joyce and Will--that's terrible and infuriating. But for himself? … Well, maybe that's just how it is. Maybe he's uniquely bad and deserves this. Maybe his expectations are unrealistic--they're too high. Maybe there's something to cling to there between all the pain, if only he can just accept Lonnie's premise.

I worried a little about that bit because it's obviously quite disturbing. It may even be more disturbing than the assault itself, that low moment where Jonathan considers whether this treatment is an acceptable facsimile for love and whether it's all he's entitled to, before he rejects it and, in doing so, validates his own self-worth. But I kept it in because I think it's important and realistic, and it shows how much of Jonathan's identity and perspective is a choice--not just because he's a nonconformist but because it means that his kindness is deliberate.

We search for love, and when we don't find it, we'll often create it to make sense of poor treatment. It's very common. And he's a child. This is a time when the anger hasn't yet crystallized. He's a kid in pain who wants for his father's behavior to not mean what it means. But it's pretty huge to say, no, this is not who I want to be to the world, this is not how I want to treat people and I don't have to and I will find a way not to, and I deserve more than this, too.

Does Lonnie actually feel remorse for his extreme reaction? For terrorizing his barely ten-year-old son on the side of the fucking road for the crime of being visibly afraid in a scary situation? Probably not, no. But Jonathan wants to believe that he does--in that moment, he wants to believe that his father is capable of that remorse and cares enough about him to feel it--so he briefly lets himself believe it. But even then, he knows that hope is dangerous and he talks himself out of that indulgence because he's a pragmatic kid and because it'll just hurt more next time if he hangs onto it. And there will be a next time. So he lets it go. It's an act of self-preservation, in one way, and in another a very painful realization not dissimilar to that moment in S1 when he very briefly thinks that Lonnie has actually called, then learns the truth.

So. Lonnie is a little different in this story because I wanted to expand on that moment in S1, and because I wanted to honor the kid Jonathan was (the kid who maybe still hoped his dad could be decent to him just once), and because so much of their dynamic is rooted in toxic masculinity that there was no way I could run with a Jonathan and masculinity prompt without digging into Lonnie Byers.

Anyway, I am SO SORRY for the length. I don't know what came over me. But, uh, I hope it was interesting?

#answered asks #writing tag #ask game #lonnie byers #jonathan byers #blood wine & roses #director's commentary #child abuse cw #long post #very long post

10 notes · View notes

dogzcats · 9 months

Text

pride & prejudice (2005)

joe wright director's commentary

#joe wright #pride and prejudice #pride and prejudice 2005 #austenedit #p&p 2005 #director's commentary #perioddramaedit #edited for clarity he says more than that #directors commentary girlies rise up this one’s for you #pride and prejudice behind the scenes #behind the scenes #pride and prejudice directors commentary #anna attempts photoshop #1k+#3k

4K notes · View notes

lastontheboat · 7 months

Note

hi am i too late for director’s commentary on ‘what dreams may come’? 🌿

Never too late! I love thinking and talking about this stuff.

What Dreams May Come (Harry/Draco, E, 13k) was written as a gift for a friend where I had a list of tropes that they liked. One of the highest on that list was "memory loss/amnesia", and I knew this friend also liked explicit, smutty stories. These were both elements that I had never attempted before, and I remember talking to another friend and going "...can memory loss be sexy? Is that a thing I could write?"

(For a definitive answer to the first question, see The Four Doors by @fluxweeed)

I remember that it took me a bit of effort to find the main concept for the fic (memory loss manifesting inside of dreams), because a lot of my associations with memory loss/amnesia fics are related to angst and recovery and don't immediately lend themselves to sexy times. Additionally, the idea of writing one of the characters already having lost his memory left me feeling weird due to aforementioned sexy times—I can appreciate a good dubcon experience, but I couldn't find scenarios for this one that didn't leave me feeling icky.

I'm very fond of the movie Inception, and this fic is definitely influenced by that. The idea of a) going into someone's dream, b) influencing the dream by interacting with the dream self, and c) the risk of making the dreamer aware that they are dreaming are all key elements of the fic that are used effectively in the film. I don't recall if this was a conscious homage at the time, but it feels pretty obvious in hindsight.

I didn't hit upon the idea of magical email malware until I was nearly finished writing the fic. I had the idea of a malevolent cloud that was eating Harry's memories pretty much at the start, but I kept putting off figuring out how it was introduced into his memories for as long as I could. I had considered things like Harry being attacked in his office, or some kind of spell going wrong at Hogwarts, but the idea of Harry not following good computing hygiene felt particularly in-character. I will always take the opportunity to write Hermione being exasperated with Harry.

Some other fun facts:

I think my favourite bit is when dream!Harry informs Draco that Draco's son is named Albus Severus Malfoy and Draco bluescreens. My second favourite is when Harry is looking at a dream library shelf and it's just full of successive volumes of Hogwarts: A History. I crack myself up.

I was chuffed when one doctor friend read this fic and congratulated me on getting small details correct in the opening scene, such as the inexperienced learner with annoying habits. It appears that years of listening to the doctors in my life talk about their work has paid off.

It's been a while since I last re-read this, and I've really enjoyed going through it again while trying to remember how each section came to be. Thanks for the prompt for the behind-the-scenes tour, anon!

#my work #director's commentary #drarry

24 notes · View notes

handwrittenhello · 1 year

Note

There's a weird pattern with vriska votes surging whenever she's behind. I know there's really nothing you can do about people abusing the system this way, however they're doing it, but I would like it noted that we see it.

i definitely noticed this yesterday. which is why the tags on her poll today are fucked up, actually: i had the post ready for izzy's clear win made before i went to bed, but by the time i woke up vriska had gained thousands more notes somehow. the same thing happened today where zuko was clearly winning, and yet now it's 60/40 for her.

i'm not making accusations or anything lol but i do know for a fact that the tumblrwoman poll was rigged by cheaters who sent bots to spam vote. please, nobody cheat on these polls, it takes away the fun for everyone else. this is supposed to be a silly lighthearted honest competition! your meow meow is still valid even if they don't win.

but maybe vriska voters just gather at night, idk!

#that said if HDB doesn't win i WILL blow up the building <3 /j #tumblr's plmm contest #director's commentary #anon #can't believe i have to say this but yeah don't cheat pls

237 notes · View notes

asofterutena · 8 months

Text

(You learn to love the taste.)

#a softer world #revolutionary girl utena #shoujo kakumei utena #a softer world remix #rguedit #anthy himemiya #ep: unfulfilled juri #juri arisugawa #anthy and juri #asw 1034 #5 2023 #director's commentary #something about anthy becoming bitter & juri becoming cold. something about lashing out.#people's choice

105 notes · View notes

youhideastar · 3 months

Text

Concord: COMPLETE Director's Commentary

It's here! By popular demand (from at least a few people, okay 🤣), there is now a director's commentary for the entirety of Concord.

Come with me as we ask questions like, "Does Gusu Lan Sect have separation of powers?" "How many times can you get away with writing an eavesdropping scene in one fic?" and, yes, "What happens after the end of the story??"

Check out the director's commentary here!

#my fic #my writing #concord #director's commentary

19 notes · View notes

wutheringmights · 9 months

Note

Author's commentary for latest chapter???🥺🥺🥺 I am very invested

Of course!

(I really need to start writing these in advance lol)

I talked previously how this chapter was an overall Pain In My Ass to write. Now that the chapter is out, you can now better see why. This chapter establishes how both the past and the present are going to have completely different tensions than what they have had previously. It was vital that I sold the reader on the new narrative tensions, and that task turned out to be more daunting than I thought.

A big issue for me was feeling like I could write something that could live up to the hype. Don't get me wrong-- I love that you guys are all really excited for new chapters and there is no way I would have even made it this far without your support. But I did start to freak out and believe that nothing I could write could live up to hype.

In the end, I ended up powering through it. I'm feeling better now that the chapter is done and (surprise) I didn't die. But it was a little rough for a while there.

All that being said, can you believe I spent the more time on the past than I did on the present? It's such a short part of the chapter, but I got really overwhelmed with making sure that I nailed this last moment between Link and the engineer, plus Lincoln's lecture.

Normally, when I get stuck, I would have switched over to the other plot line, but I was convinced I needed to write the past first so that I had the full context for Spirit and Warriors during their scenes in the present day. If I had admitted defeat at any time, this chapter probably would have been done like 3 weeks earlier.

Lincoln is the undisputed MVP of this chapter. He finally came in and did what I said he would do like 10 chapters ago. And he finally got to yell at Warriors too. King shit.

Remember how I said that I originally intended for Lincoln to be an atheist? You can see some of the remains of that idea in how he talks about Farore.

Originally, I wanted Spirit to have no dialogue during the past. That way, the tension to finally hear Spirit talk to Warriors again in the present would start building up in the past. I ended up abandoning this idea for the sake of that tiny moment where Spirit initially refuses to go with Lincoln.

I almost included Orlanda as a member of Lincoln's rescue squad, but cut her for the sake of realism; only Gaudin was necessary and she would probably be better needed on the front lines

I almost ended this chapter with a line that would mirror the opener for the present day plot ("The engineer was gone, and Link swore he would get him back" vs "Spirit was here, and Warriors thought he would throw up") but as cool as that would have been, I wanted to emphasize to the reader what the past was going to be about now that both the engineer and the child were gone: Link alone and spiraling.

With that said, on to the present day:

Shout out to my lack of desire to work the actual job I am paid to do-- many scenes in the present day were written when I was at work, with Warriors's confession to the rest of the gang being the key one. I actually wrote that as a script, which I might share some day

Speaking of which, I initially didn't plan to write out Warriors's exact speech. I was going to say that Warriors "told them everything" and then fade to black. I realized that was stupid when I remembered how important it's going to be later to realize that there are a lot of things Warriors left out.

Was the solution for the coded documents satisfying or extremely stupid? I don't even know, man. I think it was very clever of me, but I am also so, SO dense.

The documents and the Nephus world-building was going to be solved way earlier in the story (like, back at the citadel) but I kept pushing off the scene in favor of other stuff. This was the very last chance I had to cover this stuff before it became absolutely necessary info. Good job, me!

I mean, doing this now also 100% killed the pacing of the chapter, but what can I girl do?

God, okay. We got to talk Spirit and Time now.

We've only scratched the surface of Spirit's whole deal. Issues-With-A-Captial-I, like I said. So I'll refrain from talking too depth about him for now.

I will say that when I was trying to figure out what to do with older Spirit, the word I kept coming back to was "unpleasant." I really liked the idea of him going from this caring and sweet kid to just being unpleasant to be around. He's not necessarily a bad person, but you might not want to get coffee with him.

You might recall a little snippet I wrote a year ago where I accidentally tested out an older Spirit concept. You can see that even back then he was going to have a smoking vice.

Speaking of which, Spirit striking his match on the ceiling of his train has a silly origin. A while back I watched "The Quiet Man," which stars John Wayne. I can't recommend either movie or actor, but I was enthralled with the way Wayne's character would strike the matches for his cigarettes on anything around him: from the ceiling of his home to the bottoms of his boots. After watching it, I immediately knew that I was going to give Spirit that habit.

Spirit wears a turtleneck under his jumpsuit because every time I see the open chest on the canon design, I cringe at the OSHA violation.

Okay, let's talk Time.

I joked in the author's note that Time's relationship with Spirit was a reflection of my mommy issues. From the start, I wanted TIme to embody the role of a child who's source of suffering is their parent's suffering and the complicated emotions that arise from that.

How do I put this? You can sit there and look at all the facts about your mother. You can lay out her history and understand where she was coming from, how every reaction was a response to a trauma that far surpasses you. Every bad moment was never about you. So you sit there and say that you can forgive your mother as a person. But at the same time... she's not a person. She's your mother. And she failed you.

So yeah. Apply all that to a 30 year old man lol.

I tried my best to make it clear that Time didn't hate either Spirit or Warriors from the start, but either I wasn't clear enough or readers didn't acknowledge what Time was saying.

For example, in chapter 10 when Warriors confronts Time about knowing everything, Time said that he "couldn't hate" Warriors. A lot of readers took that as Time choosing to work with Warriors out of necessity. I meant for it to show that Time's feelings were more complicated than just black-and-white forgiveness and hate.

(I also purposefully wrote that "I can't hate you" line two years ago with the intention of it being echoed again during this argument. Nice to finally get that one off the plate).

Speaking of which, I remember getting a few readers saying how cute it was that the child was trying to take care of Link and the engineer in the past; and I was sitting there like "oh my god no. a child taking care of his parental figures is a source of trauma. don't say something you'll regret i beg you."

Back on topic-- I won't blame anyone if they think this revelation about Time came out of left field. There was more that I could have done to make his view a bit clearer before this chapter, but I also won't lie and say that I didn't intend to keep Time's specific views a little fuzzy before this moment.

That being said, I think some readers assumed that Time's view of the whole situation would be more objective. Which, no. He was a child back then. There is no way in hell he would be anywhere close to objective on what happened.

We'll dig deeper in Time as the story goes, but in conclusion, if you think this wasn't done well, you're probably right.

Also, I think it's worth mentioning that my plan on a thematic level was to get the reader comfortable with how they think about Warriors on a moral level at this point so that introducing Spirit and Time's problems can re-complicate and challenge your ideas.

I'll talk more about this later when we get more in Spirit's side of things, but generally whether you are pro- or anti-Warriors, how Time and Spirit dealt with what happened is meant to make any reader searching for an absolute answer to the moral questions very, VERY frustrated

(Whether I can pull that off as a writer is a different matter entirely, though)

Fun fact: I originally wanted Warriors to play a bigger role in the argument so that it would be a three way Spirit vs TIme vs Warriors fight. Then I realized that Warriors wouldn't say anything if it seemed like it would help force Spirit out.

There were a lot of tiny moments I wanted to do with Spirit being introduced to the rest of the Chain that involved his sensing shenanigans that I cut for space; rest assured that they will still happen.

God, I don't even know what to say about that ending scene without spoiling something. Let's just say that Spirit and Warriors are going to get soooooooooooo [redacted]

#i feel like i had something to say about wind but by lord i cannot remember it #head empty. no thoughts. very sleepy #lu ctb #me rambling #ask #linked universe #anonymous #fallenleafofmaple #ctb spoilers #ctb lore #ctb commentary #director's commentary #can't remember which tag is the correct one

32 notes · View notes