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morallyinept · 7 months

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Writing For Ezra - An Overall Analysis Of Our Favourite Scoundrel’s Articulation.

I often see writers mention in their blog/fics that they’re worried or concerned about writing for Ezra because of his loquacious nature. As a fanfic writer it can be daunting to translate an already loved character into your works, without trying to alter their main personality trait. In this case, it’s Ezra’s way of talking that is his standout mannerism and the reason why so many have a soft spot for him.

So, I got to thinking and put together this, somewhat, deep dive into him and his talkative ways. I hope it proves useful for anyone tackling him for the first time (myself included), or even for the experienced Ezra writers already here, who are already killin' it. 🖤

If this is beneficial to you in any way, please kindly re-blog, and also tag me in any Ezra works you write because of it. I’d love to read your work and feature it on my Ezra fic recs list for others to enjoy too.

⚠️This will contain spoilers for Prospect, so if you haven’t watched it yet, then you might want to save this for later.

Ezra’s accent is Southern.

Ezra’s accent has been likened to a Texan accent with a side of ham. Ham meaning someone who enjoys performing or behaving in an exaggerated style. Not the pig meat. 🐷 And his accent and voice certainly does have that hamminess about it. Back in the day, approximately around 1882, the term ‘ham-fatter’ was used referring to a poor person who overacted. It was then shortened to just ham.

It was Pedro Pascal himself who gave this specific accent to Ezra. Although it is not confirmed in the film where exactly Ezra hails from, he is confirmed human. In the Prospect-verse there is no mention of Earth as we know it, but that’s not to say it doesn't exist or isn’t referred to by another name. The closest being Camrea or Lau in terms of similarities of planets with land and water. So there is a good chance that his accent stems as a direct result of his heritage from either Earth itself, or a planet just like it in The Fringe.

In the deleted scene with Ezra and Cee, Ezra reveals he has a brother. This is the only personal information we get from Ezra - and it was deleted.

Ezra says in the scene where he encounters Damon for the first time, "me and my partner feel we both deserve... satisfaction."

If you didn’t know already, the term ‘deserve satisfaction’ stems from the 17th century where duels were mostly single combats fought with swords. But then in the 18th century, the swords were commonly replaced with pistols. You’ve heard of the term ‘pistols at dawn’ right? Well to demand satisfaction means to restore one’s honour by demonstrating a will to risk one’s own life for it. Again, this originates from the Southern states of America, during such times where duels were prevalent.

Damon and Number Two actually have a duel-type shootout, which is how Damon dies (aside from Ezra putting him out of his misery).

So yes, Ezra is, in fact, a Texan space cowboy of sorts. 🤠

Edit: Whilst I can only find one source that states Ezra has a "Texan" accent (and it's a film review article, so not based in fact), many argue that he sounds Louisianan more than Texan. Either way, he's definitely Southern, so you can make your own mind up on where he hails from originally, as it's never actually confirmed. 👇🏻

Source of Article

Yes, Ezra is a rambler, but pay attention to the frequency of his actual rambling.

It would be easy to overdo it on the flowery language when writing for Ezra.

The fact that Ezra throws in some words that are not commonly used in everyday conversation, doesn't mean that he does it ALL the time. Try not to fall into the habit of writing paragraphs of archaic and wordy language, when sometimes a simple sentence is sufficient for him to get his point across.

Here are some examples where he speaks with simplicity in the film:

“How poetic.”

“The starter, if you don't mind.”

“Funny, I don’t see any mercs. Where are they?”

“This is so exciting.”

“You friendly with these fellas?”

“You got a field kit?”

“It seems I must.”

“Keep it creamy and it’ll be fine.”

See? Short and snappy sentences.

What’s in a name?

Names are important to Ezra; he uses names as a gentle threat. When he comes across Damon for the first time, he uses his name almost constantly:

“Nice to meet you, Damon. I'm Ezra.”

“Where’re you from, Damon?”

“Alright, Damon.”

“Damon, it has truly been a pleasure, but pleasantries pass, it’s time to get candid…”

“So how did you get here, Damon?”

“The starter, if you don't mind. Where is it? Don't make me root for it, Damon.”

“But Damon, if there is talk of the Queen’s lair, the excitement is momentary.”

“Damon, I have clearly underestimated you, I must stop doing that.”

“Damon… does this mean that the plan is off? You have me all hot and bothered up over the Queen’s lair, Damon.”

“It's a shame, Damon.”

Ezra uses Damon’s name 11 times in just the first few minutes of meeting him and his untimely death. A name is important for Ezra to gain the upper hand and to subtly manipulate and appear menacing, more so than he probably is. It’s also done to grab the attention of Damon constantly; to ensure that Damon’s focus is directly on him by mentioning his name continuously.

Later, when Cee won’t give Ezra her name despite him asking for it repeatedly, you can see the frustration this causes within him. Because he has no way of gaining influence over her without it.

He refers to her instead as “little bird, birdie, girl & oi, number 3.”

When he does eventually learn her real name, he uses it only once.

“Nice to meet you, Cee.”

He doesn’t use it again for the duration of the film as their relationship has evolved into an unspoken, mutual trust. Something he did not have with Damon and therefore used his name repeatedly as a way of asserting dominance over him.

☝🏻So, if you’re writing Ezra, don’t forget to use names in abundance, like he does. Especially if he doesn’t trust or like them.

Double Entendres.

Pay close attention to the possible hidden meanings inside Ezra’s words too. This might not be deliberate, but his face when he speaks and says certain things hints at a devilish playfulness about him.

A particular scene that stood out to me is when Ezra and Cee are at the Queen’s lair.

Ezra says, “somebody ought to give her a go… That's the price for a dry breach. My chem will calm the brine.”

Now, if you’ve a dirty mind like me, (😜 ha!) A dry breach could be interpreted as ‘a dry pussy’ and his chem is ‘his semen’ that will calm it, or moisten it up as it were. 😏 I like that he can speak with a double meaning, if you're looking for it, but of course this is subjective.

So, dirty talk from Ezra doesn’t always have to be directly on the nose.

Some more subtle examples are:

“Hello, sweetheart.”

“Hold it like you love it.”

“Slippery son of a bitch.”

His tone also changes when he wants to emphasise a point. When the Saters give him and Cee the juice in their tent, Ezra can sense Cee’s reluctance to drink it.

He knows it tastes bad, yet urges Cee to drink it, without insulting his hosts who he knows could be dangerous. His face changes; his features become sharper and serious as he says "it's good for you, cleanses the dust."

Only moments before he was smiling and jovial. 👇🏻

Cussing.

Ezra never swears, in the conventional sense, for just the sake of it. I get the impression he would find that kind of language lazy. Cussing/swears are saved purely to express his frustration or fear in the situation.

“Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh Shit. Oh Shit. Oh Shit.” - (Yes, 6 times he says it!) When he loses his arm. - Fear

“Slippery son of a bitch… No, no, no. Ah shit.” - When he's mining the Aurelac husks. - Frustration

When mining for the Aurelac where he can’t separate the gem from the blister due to his physical impairment of only having one arm, Ezra mumbles a long string of unintelligible words in frustration.

Despite listening to the audio over and over, I can’t fully decipher it, but some words I pulled out were: “cob spitters(?)... can fuck more nuggets(?)... in this sleep for snatch(?)…”

Who knows exactly what he is saying here, (if you know, lemme know) but he rambles quickly and incoherently when he swears; especially when frustrated.

He likes to fill the silence.

When walking with Damon, he keeps conversation flowing by questioning Damon about the corporate expeditions, and with Cee, he tells her about the channel rats. He seemingly can’t abide silence.

And this is prevalent when he first meets Damon, he says “I can't tell you how refreshing it is… hoo… to encounter another talker.”

It’s safe to say Ezra likes to talk. If you’ve not already grasped that yet. So make that ramblin' man chatter away.

Ezra's redemption shifts his language too.

Ezra fully admits he is not a good man to Cee. He does this first by blaming the way of life that they are thrust in.

“Why should I trust you? You stole from us. We did nothing to you.”

“That's The Fringe, girl.”

Later he confirms coldly he is indeed a killer when Cee tells him so.

“You’re a killer.

“I am. But are you?”

As time goes on, Ezra realises he is at fault for the death of Cee’s father.

“Well you can't... you can't think like that. If you go down that path. It's not good. If you need someone to blame, you blame me.”

You can see the shift in his language from being blunt and to the point in the beginning, to more accepting and gentler later on. Full character transition.

He also refers to Cee as his partner, rather than his daughter, when he is impersonating Damon to the mercs later on. His choice of words here is interesting.

This indicates he thinks more highly of her than he lets on; that she is equal to him. He soon thinks less of the Aurelac - the sole reason why he is on the moon - and more so of getting off the moon intact with Cee beside him. A complete metamorphosis from when we first meet him, and he's stealing Aurelac from Damon.

“You are not understanding me.”

“I say the terms have changed.”

“You’ll find a way if you want that buried treasure.”

“A ride for me and my partner on your handsome craft, or no deal.”

Actions speak louder than words.

Ezra’s movement is interesting, as too is the violence he engages in - it’s slick.

He slices the Achilles Heel first of the merc at the Queen's lair, thus rendering him unable to fight back or run for assistance from the others before ploughing him face first into the acidic hole.

Despite only having one arm, Ezra’s strength is still pretty impressive. He’s quick, experienced and brutal. And not opposed to fighting dirty to ensure his survival.

Ezra also has excellent aim with the thrower; he kills another merc with only one shot, and in the dark too. That’s pretty kick-ass when you think about it.

Describing not only his language, but also the way Ezra moves in your writing, will really make him leap off the page when you write him. Be that in an action sequence, or completely fucking you up between the sheets. 🫠

A man of few words in the end.

Ezra’s last words are for Cee:

“You grab the gun and you go. You can make it. Get outta here.”

He’s fully aware of his impending fate at this point and has accepted it. He doesn’t say anything else, not even when she comes back for him, suggesting their bond now doesn’t need a spoken word to cement it. It’s transcended verbal communication.

Even when in the safe confines of the pod ascending up to the sling back, Ezra doesn’t say anything, even though you can see he is awake.

☝🏻In the end, words are not always needed. Sometimes it's the things he doesn't say that has the most impact.

So there we have it, Prospectors. I hope this was helpful and insightful to you about writing for Ezra and how he talks.

He is my favourite Pedro Boy, and despite feeling that I know him pretty well as a character, the thought of writing him still brings me out in a cold sweat to some degree… 😬 So I can understand if you feel daunted by it too.

There are so many wonderful works already out there that are written fantastically and really captures the essence and the personality of Ezra. And if you’re thinking about writing for Ezra for the first time, please don’t be put off by it - he’s such a great character who can be thrust into so many different scenarios, and of course, you can also mould him to be your own creation.

That’s the great thing with fanfic and head canon - there are no rules. We all interpret characters differently. And that’s what makes reading about them so fun.

If you haven’t seen Prospect yet, I highly recommend it. Check out the Ezra deleted scene here too.

Also check out my Ezra specific fic rec list for further enjoyment of this dashing rogue from other writer’s points of view.

Ezra Thesaurus:

Loquacious. Flowery. Tincture. Drawl. Husk. Gravel. Gabble. Wordy. Babbling. Long-winded. Effusive. Droning. Garrulous. Gibberish. Multiloquous. Yakking. Muttering. Mumbling. Voluble. Cadence. Trib. Rambling. Glib. Clucking. Gregarious. Windy. Verbose. Prolix. Articulate. Fluent. Mouthy. Vocal. Opinionated. Drole. Gassy. Eloquent. Stylised. Chatterer. Logorrhoea. Word Vomit. Incessant. Spit-balling. Bleating. Clacking. Blabbermouth. Windbag. Motormouth. Harping On. Overzealous. Enthused. Mirthed. Crude. All Around The Houses. Effulgent. Airy-Fairy. Prattling. Harpsichord. Waxing Lyrical. Recounting. Din. Tone. Note. Music.

🖤

GIFS used by @uuuhshiny @perotovar @nicolethered @iamasaddie @pedgito 🖤

#ezra prospect #prospect ezra #pedro pascal characters #pedro pascal #ezra is my fav #writing ezra #hints & tips #ezra (prospect)#ezra x reader #ezra prospect x reader #writing advice #writing tips #helpful advice for writing #character writing #writing

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the-s1lly-corner · 6 months

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TADC X READER REQUESTS + RULES!

a modified list of rules for requesting for TADC! for the most part its the same as the original post, but with some important modifications! The inbox part is especially important as I will likely close and reopen requests several times depending on how many are sent in! While I did have loads of fun doing all the requests last week it was very overwhelming and extremely taxing on my mental and physical health <\3

That said, yahoo, I'm back!! Not sure how active I'll be today (11/4), since I'll be spending a lot of the day drawing and prepping for tonights dinner. But !!!

How to request!

sending in a request is simple! you can go into my inbox and send in the character(s) you want! you can describe what kind of reader you want, as well as put in any scenario you want! If you are unsure on whether or not my requests are open, you can refer to my bio, which i keep up to date with of the request status! What all you can request will be detailed below!

What you can request/What I will write!

Please note that if you send in a request while they are closed it will not be answered**, so its best to hold on to your requests until theyre opened or to find another blog !!

**anything sent in while requests are closed will not be answered even after they were reopened; otherwise there wouldn't. Really be much of a point of the open/close system, yk?

you can request most anything so long as it is not listed in the will not write section! if anything slips by and makes me uncomfortable i will let you know!

romantic, platonic, and familial hcs are all welcome here!

the reader is GN by default, you can request a gender if you want, however due to the style of my writing it wont make much of a difference

you can request anyone from the entire TADC cast (save for bubble and Kaufmo), however i will note that occasionally some characters will be left out of full cast lists due to the admin not having any worthwhile ideas for a character. this is less of a "dont request certain characters/less characters" and more of a "hey this is headsup and this is a case by case thing but overall i do do the entire cast"

readers that are similar to existing characters! just a headsup that if i dont know the character i will rely on a character wiki or a friend who knows about the character! So theres a solid chance I may do a disservice to the character in question, heed this warning (/lh)

im also down for character x character! again if the ship makes me uncomfortable i will let you know so you dont have to wait on a request/can move on to a different blog to answer for you,,, should note I rarely do character x character so quality on these will be especially shotty

What you cant request/What I will not write!

no NSFW or kink related asks, please. this blog is SFW, anything that is NSFW or kink-adjacent will immediately be denied

no yandere. while i do write for jealous partners and readers, full yandere stuff is where i draw the line as i am not personally comfortable with the trope/the romance stuff surrounding it

general no no stuff (ab^se of any kind, active** SH, ect ect)

SH is allowed so long as its about healed wounds rather than the act itself being written

Other!

full fanfics and oneshots

I have the right to deny any request for any reason, be it discomfort or feeling underqualified to write about a certain topic. It is nothing against you, there are some requests I simply may not be able to complete. I urge that you respect that and to not push me to answer a request I have already denied

please do not spam or try to push me to answer your request sooner, i tend to answer requests in the order they have been sent; so while it may look like im answering a bunch of people and ignoring you, it is likely not the case! as well as this, sometimes tumblr eats stuff so sometimes it could also be that and i am unaware that you have requested something

my posts tend to be a short paragraph per character or a list of bullet point hcs, i am not at all confident in my skills of writing actual. fanfics, so uh uh .. yeah

#tadc x reader #the amazing digital circus x reader #digital circus x reader #caine x reader #pomni x reader #jax x reader #ragatha x reader #kinger x reader #zooble x reader #gangle x reader

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chershare · 11 months

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AI BS because WTF guys

So like, I know I have a lot of WIP out there. A lot of fic I haven’t updated in a long time but have no plans of abandoning because I love all of my writing and I do have plans for all of my works. It’s just finding motivation that’s the issue, not the intent to finish them.

If I’d planned to never work on something again, I’d do what most people do these days and label it as Abandoned. Hell, if I hated it and decided to axe it completely, I’d just remove it.

There are plenty of fic I follow that haven’t been update in a long time - some over a decade, and that’s fine - and I love to reread and daydream about potential endings. A fun way to pass the time, because I can come up with the endings or continuations in my own way even if they never get finished.

I don’t, however, contemplate stealing them.

There are authors that I follow that have abandoned some of my fav of their works or left fandoms entirely, and that’s fine. I have never once thought while rereading a fic I know will never be continued “hey, what if I steal this and feed it into a capitalist machine for my own amusement?” because that’s not what decent people do. We don’t steal from people, even if they aren’t doing things in the fandoms or fic that we love, because why the fuck would we.

Who the fuck does that? No writer would thank you for it, and there is no doubt that you would know it’s wrong to take someone’s work like that.

Fandom isn’t perfect, but I want to think that the vast majority aren’t the kind of people who are so selfish and uncaring as this.

I haven’t removed Tsundoku from ffnet despite the many issues I have with the site, even though I haven’t updated it in an age, because someone who uses a text to voice app that works with ffnet better than Ao3 asked me not to. I could have done so despite the toxicity that I’ve known with the fandom on that site, but for someone else’s comfort I’ve left it up.

I haven’t stopped writing despite some truly unpleasant people trying to start shit in comments for their own petty, small minded amusement, even on Ao3. Where it is infinitely better than on ffnet, in my personal experience. I haven’t stopped updating and haven’t removed my works from the web even though trolls and shit stirrers exist.

But if I find out that someone has stolen my fics - no matter how long it’s been since I updated them - and fed them to a fucking AI of any kind, I will remove all my works and never post a goddamn thing again. I changed my settings on Ao3 to users only to potentially avoid the chance of being mined by some AI bullshit, and if I’m betrayed by even the fellow users of Ao3, I’ll just quit. I won’t like it, but I’ll fucking do it.

What else can I do? At that point? Where even real, live people in fandom just... steal from me to go expressly against my wishes? Who don’t respect my time, effort and creativity?

What would be the point of writing if someone doesn’t appreciate the time, effort and goddamn passion I’ve put into my works? Because feeding fic into an AI to get “an ending” - so fucking insulting - says that you don’t respect the authors writing and you don’t respect them as people. I’m sure there are some people - I can’t picture it, but I’m sure they might exist in some fictional universe - who don’t care.

I care. I really fucking care.

This isn’t about plagiarism or anything. I don’t make money from writing fanfic, I just have fun and like to play in sandboxes and share those ideas with my readers, hoping in good faith that they also enjoy and respect my efforts. There are plenty of fics and art that I’ve seen that are similar to my own works, and that’s fucking awesome. I’ve got some other authors who link me as inspired by, and so far I haven’t had any issues with people wholesale stealing my fics.

Who cares about a few similar lines or paragraphs in the grand scheme of things, because holy shit two cakes yaaaassss am I right? That’s just the way of things. If it’s like a whole chapter or more, then it’s like “hey bro, uh, nani the fuck” but I haven’t had the actual plagiarism issue. I’m flattered when someone has a style or idea that is similar to my own, because that means I’m at that point in my writing where someone is learning their own writing style based on mine.

That is nice. Flattering. Makes me feel like some kind of fandom parent or whatever, patting the little fandom babies on the back as they grow into themselves. You use that culture and world building I started - do it child! Expand! I’m so proud of those little shits.

This AI shit? That is not flattering.

That just makes me feel sick. Violated.

The thought that someone would just throw out that bridge - that trust - between writer and reader, just fucking burn it down, is so, so fucking horrifying. I don’t know how to express it, but my hands literally started to shake when I first learned that someone would steal work because it wasn’t finished and feed it to an AI without so much as a by-your-leave.

I have so many WIPs guys. So many beloved fic that I wanted to share even if they weren’t near done. I’d never thought I’d be afraid of posting something unfinished, but now I’m pretty fucking terrified.

And angry. So, so angry.

There are authors who stopped writing their fic for various reasons, who have disappeared from fandom, not because they don’t have inspiration or are experiencing burnout, but because they died. That’s right, you’re potentially whining about someone not finishing their WIP because their lives ended. I can’t even express how much writers not finishing their fics more than likely doesn’t have a thing to do with you.

Unless you harassed someone off a platform, then more often than not people don’t care about you when it comes to updating. Funnily enough, more often than not, it’s not about you.

If you’re upset about someone not finishing a fic - something that’s done for free and fun, shared without expectation - I would like you to think of that potential worst case scenario and take a goddamn chill pill. Sure, that’s not the result in some cases, thank all the gods, but it could be. It could be someone that didn’t just dip out of a fandom or abandoned a fic; it could be so much worse, and you’re stealing from them. They don’t even have a chance to consent - not that I think they would - and you stealing their hard work because “wah, I want to see the end boohoo” is just the epitome of being a giant, entitled piece of shit.

Why the fuck would you disrespect someone’s work by stealing it to give it to a machine that is literally built to be a capitalistic feeder? Why do you care so little about writers that you would do something like this?

If you don’t like that something isn’t finished, you can always ask to write a continuation. You can link as “inspired by” and write your own, if you’re that desperate. You don’t want to/think you can’t write? Live with it. Professional writers drop series or go on hiatus for decades all the time. And they get paid.

We don’t have to share our work with you. Honestly, I have plenty of people outside of wider fandom that I can share my work with privately and never worry about someone stealing my shit again. The fact that I’m contemplating that eventuality of someone going against my wishes, violating my contribution to fandom and the love I have of my work is just - awful.

It feels awful. Like, I have angry tears of frustration in my eyes as I’m writing this.

Writing for people who enjoy it is a joy! Interacting with people about my fics is one of the highlights of fandom! Getting comments - even the dreaded wall of emojis or “update soon” right after an update - is enough to brighten even the worst of days!

People who decide that their personal wants with an author’s work is more important than going on that journey with them? Deciding not to respect the author? That kills the joy.

The trust.

The drive.

I have less desire to write and post since learning about this, and I’m trying to fight back against that depressive wave of “what’s the point?” but it’s so fucking hard guys. If someone is going to decide to steal my shit anyway, what’s the fucking point in trying to continue or find inspiration?

I don’t want to have to leave fandom as a creator. I don’t want to take away my fic from the people who love it, who have been following my fics for years and respect that I can’t always wrap my soggy brain meat around a fic and leave it for a while - sometimes years - to work on other things. I don’t want to.

But I will.

To protect myself, my choices, my writing? To protect myself? I’ll leave.

It won’t be the first relationship that’s soured and gotten bad that I’ve needed to drop like hot coals, but it will be the longest lasting one. It’ll hurt, and maybe I’ll have regrets, but I’ll fucking do it because I won’t be disrespected and have my writing used like this.

Outside of fandom there’s already so much shit that I cannot stomach having to deal with this kind of fuckery here as well. Fandom isn’t necessarily a “safe space” but it has always been an escape and somewhere that I can have fun. That I can at least trust people to appreciate my writing when I manage to update someone after a while, even if it’s a small thing.

I don’t know what kind of asshole you have to be to decide to steal someone’s work, someone’s joy, and do something like this - at least outright plagiarism is almost flattering. I’m not the most popular writer out there, but I’ve been in fandom for a while, and it takes all kinds. All kinds does not include the AI that we’ve been suddenly having to defend ourselves against since they became a real problem.

This is just a slap in the face.

The fact that maybe there are people out there in fandom who are acting like the AI Trojan Horse, stealing our works - our time, effort, creative process and enjoyment - and doing things like this? It’s so fucking disheartening and hurtful and just downright cruel.

So yeah. Please don’t steal my shit. Don’t steal anyone’s work and do something like this. You’re doing more damage than you seem to think. Not that I’m sure you’re thinking at all.

Maybe you - the people who do this - don’t care. Maybe that’s why you did it in the first place. Maybe writers don’t count as real people to you, not when it comes to fanfic or anything. Maybe you are just that selfish that only your own wants matter.

Maybe you don’t care about how I, we, feel.

But I do.

#cher shares #fandom #ai bullshit #fanfic writing #My writing #fanfiction #stealing #be a decent human being

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perplexingluciddreams · 15 days

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Have you read any Merlin fanfiction? I really like Merlin fanfic. What kinds of fanfic do you like to read?

I have read a lot of Merlin fanfiction. But I have also always loved reading in general! Ever since I was very young.

I like to read lots of different types and tropes and fandoms and lengths and styles. I just love to read, always have. I make very general wide searches then just scroll scroll scroll and click on anything that looks interesting! (Which is a lot of the fics that show up, honestly!). As much as people praise ao3’s search tab, I quite like to stumble across new things in a more natural manner. So I start off with a very wide search (the tag for an entire TV programme, for example), then try things until I find something I like and then I may search for more of the same… then go back to my wider original search and continue scrolling and reading.

There is only a few things that make me click out of a fic. Usually it has to do with visual clutter and too big chunks of paragraphs that I can’t follow. Or if I am just utterly confused and don’t know what is going on (sometimes people write in a very poetic way which is very pretty but I can’t really follow). But also if it is very pretty words and nice rhythm to it (or just generally seems well written) I might read it anyway, even when I don’t know what is going on 🤷🏻‍♂️.

When I attempt to read much longer fics (like similar/same as a novel length, or longer, with many long chapters), I will usually have it open in one tab and switch between reading that and reading short “one-shots”, or re-reading my bookmarks. I often have about 3 or 4 ao3 tabs open at the same time!

I have always been a fast reader, in terms of how fast I visually recognise the words. But then I don’t process the meanings of most of it… my hyperlexic brain wants to skim read all of the words as fast as possible, but my level of comprehension and processing speed can’t keep up!! I end up re-reading most things because of this. I finish a short fic and immediately go back to the start and read slower again (sometimes several times - up to 10).

A longer fic (novel length or longer), I tend to take in sections, so I will read a few paragraphs and then go back over and over and over until I feel like I absorbed it and understand what is going on. I also often have to refer back to earlier chapters or sections to connect the pieces together in a linear fashion.

That is also how I have always read books^. And why I have always had groups of favourites (single books or series) that I go back to time and time again. I can’t really “take in” everything after only one read - even when read my way with the sections and the repetition and always going backwards before I can continue forwards - so I solve that by even more repetition of my process!

#ask #ezra reads #fanfiction #fanfic #merlin #bbc merlin #hyperlexia #hyperlexic

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chaifootsteps · 9 days

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Hello Starry Anon ✨ here! I would like to give a huge applause to that one anon sharing a Lackahazbin au (If I am correct-) This overall inspired me to write an idea that explodes my head in 1 sec per min, but this only like my au draft idea:

Warning this is whole long paragraph-

Probably would like to see someone making an idea putting Helluva boss cast into Lackadaisy and making to cats (That has better designs than Viv) And other people writing them interesting and overall many potentials stuffs, and MORE DEPTH TO THEIR PERSONALITY than Viv's writing.

But enough talking about Viv! Cause today I am sending Octavia (And Stella) to Lackadaisy, yep! Cause she deserves better, better parents than that crappy sack pathetic excuse of an owl Stolas!

I would make Octavia a scottish fold mixed with, cause well their folded ears look similar like other owls. I also had an weird idea to make her as Wick's niece, yes she's now half siamese, Idk to me everytime I look at Wick he reminds of dad friend not really but he could be a uncle. (And he does remind me of my uncle who's really nice, well expect the geology thing.)

As her design, not sure yet. But already imaging her wearing some alt goth outfits, formal or like Lolita, cause yes like cmon sprinkle the girl some goth style Viv! Seriously.. But I still needed to follow the 1920s accurate fashion style If I ever tried to reimagined her as a cat.

Also would maybe put Stella in Lackadaisy universe, I were a writer I would maybe give her a bit of a personality rather than one off mean mom. Stella will still have anger issues, but atleast not screaming all the time, and ain't stoopid cause look how they downgraded her to a idiot >:( , maybe sassy but is a caring mother to Octavia. Lmao I can imagine Stella and Wick being sibblings (Or like half sibblings- but I am all for sibblings dynamics, and yes I like the idea of Grumpy/Sassy big Sister and Clamn little brother.).

This is kinda a excuse wanting the urge to write a fanfic Wick being a uncle to Octavia, and maybe Stella reuniting with Wick again after she divorced Stolas (Who by is sucked by the blackhole cause I said so) , like he would write some letters and sends gifts to her when his too busy. Will visit Octavia and greet her, about the gifts parts since Octavia likes Astronomy stuffs Wick could show her telescope then the two outside star gazing, they could tag Stella along too, the same Stella would bring Wick in a shopping spree with Octavia. He would comfort Octavia when she's crying, or having a bad day and will give her the space she needed. And many more more, ideas.

As much I love to ramble I am afraid I have no idea what to say. But this isn't really my first idea, the first I had was Octavia being tired of living with her stooped owl Dad and founds out a book about reincarnated to another world, so she's like "screw you Dad I am leaving" and Boom she's in Lackadaisy bit doesn't remember her current life and maybe has a better childhood (If crime in there was practically avoided.).

Overall I am happy with this idea, but you'd only have to agree with if you don't like it, it's okay. I just happened to like sharing ideas in a essay paragraph. Well sorry about that, but that's it today and I hope you have a good day/Night!

-By Starry Anon ✨

Thanks for your ideas, Starry Anon! The owl --> Scottish fold concept is my favorite, and I love what you've done with Stella.

#Anonymous #Starry Anon #lackahazbin #viv stuff #actual blog post

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screadingchallenge · 2 years

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Behind the Keyboard-Volume 11

Behind the Keyboard is a series of interviews with different Schitt’s Creek fanfic authors. The series will last as long as there is interest (from authors) and capacity (from me). If you are an author from the Schitt’s Creek fandom who would like to participate, send a DM to this account.

Each author was given ten questions. The first five questions are the same for every author, the last five will vary.

Remember, this year’s Reading Challenge begins July 15, so polish up those MFL lists.

Let’s meet our next author:

@likerealpeopledo-on-ao3 / Likerealpeopledo

How many fics have you written?

49 that are posted on Ao3 but I was writing fics before I knew what they were, so conservatively, probably closer to 200 or 300.

When did you publish your first fic on AO3?

July 13, 2014 in another fandom.

Describe your writing process from “Oh, I have an idea” to pushing publish on AO3.

My writing process involves a lot of wailing, crying, and gnashing of teeth. But amongst that, once I have the premise, I usually start by deciding what my fic is really about. Not just plot (which is almost secondary) but what my theme is or what idea I’m trying to get across about the characters. I try to figure out POV, time period, canon vs AU, so I know what my foundation is. I brainstorm with my friends and betas as much as I can. Once I have all that in place, I make a playlist with songs/lyrics relating to my plot and theme. I listen to it while I’m driving mostly, because that is where I get a lot of my ideas.

My favorite stage of preparing to write a fic is research. If the fic is something simple, like about how Patrick came to own his mustard sweater (seriously, where did he get that and why; please see my first SC fic for reference), I’ll watch the episode or read the script for a refresher. Or at least the piece that is pertinent to my fic. I rewatch episodes less now because I feel like I have the voice down but if I’m struggling to get something going, I will always go back to the source material.

If I’m writing a fic that is more complex (like about kidney donation or chronic pain), I watch documentaries, I read books, articles, wiki-everything. If I’m writing an enemies-to-lovers (current WIP), I try to read or watch things that have similar themes or tropes. Not to steal from them, but to see what I can subvert. I have this fic-writing idiosyncrasy where I like to feel like I’m doing something new, which I know is madness because I’m using someone else’s characters and there are like, four kinds of stories in the world, but. Alas.

I write notes for every thought I have about the fic into my Notes app or a notebook. I sometimes outline, especially if it’s long, but usually I don’t outline until I have some ideas of scenes on paper. It’s a reverse outline, I guess, so I can see how I want to string things together.

If it’s a long fic, I do not write in order. It is my greatest strength and my biggest weakness I think. I write what excites me, what stands out in my head, snippets of conversations that I can cobble together to make a cohesive thing. It means that by the time I get toward the end of a draft, I’m left with the parts I think are boring, like exposition or transitions, and I spend a lot of time arranging and rearranging. Again, this has its advantages and disadvantages. With shorter pieces, I will sometimes write in order but even within scenes, I tend to write dialogue first and then flesh everything else out around it.

Sweet baby cheeses, my process is long and I’m not even done.

I usually write best in the morning. I do better without distractions but I can write anywhere. I write longhand when I get stuck. I try to write a little bit every day but honestly, I write the most when I feel like I have something to say. Those are the times when paragraphs sort of pop into my head, or I can visualize an entire scene. (If I feel like I can’t hear what the characters are saying, I close my eyes. This leads to some impromptu writing naps.) Some days I’ll write 5000 words and others it will be 50. After nine p.m., I hate everything.

Once I have the first draft done (as if that is a swift process), I send it to my betas. I have two. One of my betas likes to see a whole draft before she makes suggestions and one will beta in pieces. (As I’m writing my first draft, I am constantly harassing both betas and sending them snippets. If I get stuck, I’ll turn to discord or my betas for brainstorming.) Once the first draft is betaed by both, I’ll put together my second draft (this is hilarious because the way I edit, I feel like the second draft I send to beta is realistically the 39th draft, but) and send it in chapters. That way they can make final edits and tweaks and I can begin to post. With a long fic, I like to be a few chapters ahead in edits before I post. With a short fic, I will send it to beta once, but not necessarily a second time, depending on how clear I was in my own head about what worked and what didn’t. Sometimes I’ll just resend a section if I had to make big changes or if it’s a new piece I added.

If I tell you about the nerves and insecurity I feel when posting, we will be here until the end of days, so just know, pushing send is a fraught thing lol.

Tell me about your most recent fic? What do you love about it? Is there anything you think you could have done better?

My most recent fic was Such Great Heights, which I called AirPat. It took me a long time to write it (almost two years) and I kept writing other things because I felt stuck. I’m not great at loving my writing, but I think that with AirPat, I really leaned into the banter and the humor, and I love that they were both all in from the beginning. I also loved that I was able to show a more complicated, complex side of the Brewers while still keeping them who they are, and write an original character in Patrick’s cousin, Sam. I love exploring Patrick’s psyche and I think I did a good job of making it make sense for him and his situation. It was a fight in my own head, let me tell you. I am also very proud of the wedding crash and if you haven’t read it yet, that chapter is worth the price of admission.

I always think I could have done better, but I don’t know that there is anything I would change at this point. I have probably already changed it, ha. I am not precious about words or scenes, usually, and have a tendency to edit pretty mercilessly. I will kill a lot of darlings in service of a story, and in AirPat, I took out a whole chapter midway through edits because I felt like the story was getting bloated. I felt so much better afterward. I am always wishing I had chosen better words or a new way to say someone smiled, but it’s nitpicky stuff, not structural.

What advice would you give to someone who’s thinking about publishing their fic for the first time?

Write what you want to read and don’t worry about what other people will think. Writing is supposed to be fun (I have to repeat this to myself often) and there is always someone out there who will identify with what you have to say. I would also recommend having a beta, because there is nothing like immediate feedback and someone who can help you make the best story you can, because no one can do this alone. Paid writers have editors so why shouldn’t we? Also, if your writing is true to the character, you can’t go wrong.

How much of yourself do you put into your stories or characters?

Ugh, too much. I am writing David and Patrick, who have been invented by someone else and who are mostly fully formed already, but I steal liberally from my own life. Patrick, especially, is a blank slate I draw on with my own experiences. David is my more judgemental side. I think we all develop head canons based on our own experiences a bit, and sometimes that closeness helps, but sometimes it can hurt.

What parts of writing are easy for you? What parts are hard?

Dialogue is easiest for me. I think I had a lot of conversations with myself as a kid and that just carries on now. I think understanding emotionality and how we behave because of that is also a strength for me. I have always been good at balancing humor with tough things, and I credit my family and unfortunate Catholic upbringing for that, I guess. Putting myself out there is hard. Not getting engagement is hard. On a writing level, exposition is boring to me so it’s difficult. Also hard (pun intended), writing sex scenes. Bless the fade to black. I like writing kissing though.

What’s a fic (by any author) you love that you don’t think enough people know about?

Ack! It’s hard to know what people know and don’t know, but I’d say that if you haven’t read The Sidelines by wildhoneypie, or anything written by sullymygoodname or Nilolay, you’re missing out.

Tell me about a story that you wish you could write but that you’re not quite ready to tackle.

I am always envious of people with 1100 WIPs because I barely have one idea at a time. I do have a few things I’ve considered but never dove into, and usually it’s because I think it’s going to be too complicated for my little brain. I have always wanted to write Patrick as a robot, which involves maybe more science-fiction elements than I’m entirely comfortable with and a ton of research. I have also always wanted to write a military AU (a lot of research required) but theme-wise I don’t know if it would fit in the SC world.

What’s one question you would like to ask Dan Levy about writing?

How do you make sure you keep enjoying it? Also, are you hiring?

#behind the keyboard #meet the authors #sc reading challenge #sc fic reading challenge #sc fanfic #schitt’s creek #schitts creek

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dancingisdangerouss · 1 year

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I wasn't going to say anything because honestly I find conflict really overwhelming. This is a situation very similar to when artists say "this person is ripping off my art style", etc. If the person took entire paragraphs and pasted them into their fic I could understand why you would feel nervous. However most of the proof you listed (which i did read, as well as writing from yours and theirs) and it comes across completely different. Another argument you had was similar set ups and whatever. First of all its The Grabber, and a kidnapper fic. Where do you expect it to be extremely different? It's taking place in his house with a character who is set up a certain way. The lying thing is a character trait of his. The interaction, the need to punish the reader etc, that's all things he's shown as being capable of doing. Also the list of words you supplied i am genuinely stunned that you're gatekeeping so many words? They are words, again like if they copied your entire work thats one thing. You have also said numerous times you're irritated about not getting enough interaction on ur fics and its like ??? i can understand feeling jealous but going out of your way to dig through someones entire writing style and then say 'you ripped me off' when there is no proof. im sorry, words don't count. people use similar words i have read tons of fics containing all those words you put out there. especially keen and jarring, super common, sorry. You should honestly not have posted that callout post, being irritated and jealous is one thing but you went out of your way to try and tell people youre being ripped off when in reality , if anything there is a chance they couldve read your work and been inspired or even just happened to write similarly. people write similar all the time especially in 1st pov fanfics with the SAME character. this witch hunt is ridiculous and shame on all these people who are agreeing with you over writing. Cuz at the end of the day it is writing and meant for fun. youre jealous and i understand it but like, make a vague post and leave it at that, ask people to interact more, dont start accusing another human being of being a thief when you can't steal writing styles, dude. honestly this is so pitiful lol.

I’m beginning to think y’all the same person. Because you STILL ignored the exact lines stolen. How about you do what I did and give some real evidence to back it up? Just saying “no you’re wrong” isn’t a solid argument.

#hi yes I see that it’s you #you can come off anon #penny for your thots #asks #anon #into the black #the black phone #black acres #the grabber #the grabber x reader #black phone #grabber #Albert shaw #ethan hawke #x reader #ao3 #answers

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fyeahnix · 3 years

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My Editing Process

I've been asked to detail my editing process that I've been developing over the years. A bit of backstory overall—I've been writing fanfiction for 20 years as of this post, ever since I was 9. My first fanfics were godawful but I enjoyed how fun they were so I kept writing. I love worldbuilding and storytelling. The majority of my progress, however, has been made in the last 9 or so years.

Now as I've always said, I'm not the best writer at all nor will I ever claim to be, I've just been writing for a long time. My storytelling needs some serious work, and my lack of an attention span and ability to tell stories actually cripples me from writing longer, more fleshed out fics. Basically, I'm a short story writer. But with Apex Legends, I'm trying to inch my way into writing longer fics, and at the very least, fics with actual small plots.

In saying all that, my editing process has developed over the years as well, but the biggest overall was about a year ago when I started watching more YT videos of writer tips and content.

Kinda New Process (First major change)

My writing process for the longest time was just "read over fic, fix typos, done" which is...not very efficient lmao.

Last year during my YT video binge I learned about the different stages of editing and started incorporating that into my process. This was the first major edit I made to my process before my current iteration. I'll give a brief overview of what they these stages are, but keep in mind I'm not a professional writer:

Developmental. This is where I worry about the overall structure and plot of the fic. Does it make sense? Does it flow well? Is the pacing okay? How's the character development? These are usually the biggest changes I'll make to the fic overall and often times involve full on structural and paragraph changes.

Line Editing. What it sounds like. Editing lines line by line so the sentence sounds good and reads well. This is where I'll do the majority of the description editing and sentence restructuring. Making sure the sentence overall just isn't boring.

Typos/Grammar. What it says on the tin.

This worked pretty well for me. The first three fics I used this editing process on were the three fics I wrote for Apex Rarepair Week last year—"Rude Awakening", "Fairy Tales", and "I Got You". And honestly compared to the fics that came before these, I think they were a step up.

Current Editing Process

Sometime last year I got a copy of a Self-Editing book that broke down this process even further for...self-editing lol. There's a LOT of good info in there that I picked up and added to my process and it changed a little. This is what I currently do:

Highlighting Phase. This is where I read through the fic and highlight every line, paragraph, or section that I think needs some work. I also did this in my last process. The highlights are color-coded and correspond to each stage of editing I do. I will also add personal comments here. The comments are usually tied to a highlight and remind me of ideas I have to add, edit, or remove content. Or I just praise myself. Gotta pat yourself on the back too, ya know.

First-Pass Editing. The stages have slightly changed because of the info I got from the book. I'll repeat this stage as many times as it takes, especially if I've made seriously major structure changes (and this is partially why Mafia AU has been taking so long to finish). During this stage I will do Story-level, Scene-level, and Sentence-level editing. I'll describe those below. This is technically broken into three stages as I will only focus on Story or Scene or Sentence level only. Basically I knock out all the Story-level and associated comments first, then Scene, then Sentence.

Second-Pass Editing. This is after the first pass is complete. I will only do Sentence-level editing here. The purpose of this is to further tighten up my sentences after all the structure and story elements are set in stone.

Final Read-Through. The last time I will read the fic. I'll fix any lingering typos and oddities here.

(Optional) Beta Reading. I don't have a dedicated beta reader unfortunately, but my best friend enjoys reading my fics and she's a pretty good critic.

I also changed my editing stages a little:

Story-level. Similar to the previous Developmental stage. Worries about the overall structure of the fic, overall character development growth and change, makes sure the story overall makes sense. Again, this is where I'll make the biggest structural changes to the story.

Scene-level. This is somewhat similar to the previous step because most of my fics are one-shots. But slightly different. Here, I'll worry about scene versus summary (aka showing vs telling), description, pacing, dialogue and character action, etc.

Sentence-level. Basically line editing. I will worry about how well the sentence sounds and feels. Get rid of filtering ("he/she/they feels/sees/hears/touches/etc.) for stronger more visceral actions, fine-tune details, eliminate excessive stage direction (e.g. too much movement description, tho I'm still learning this), get rid of passive voice and ambiguity, and increasing specificity (instead of saying "she watered a plant", you can say "she watered a towering and wilting ficus.").

I can't remember what fic started the new process, but I'm pretty sure it was "Why I'm Here."

And that's about it! I am still in the process of figuring out ways to fine-tune this process and still digesting what aspects of writing I need to improve upon, but it's a process. This takes longer than editing used to, but I genuinely believe it's allowed me to output higher-quality content and stories. Read my first Voidstrike fic from last year compared to the most recent and I promise you you'll see a difference.

If you enjoyed this post and find it helpful, please reblog. If you want me to talk about something specific, I can do that too from my own perspective.

#Apex Legends #writing #writing advice #fanfic #fiction #fanfiction #editin #editing process #editing tips

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snarktheater · 3 years

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Ready Player Two — Opening Cutscene & Chapter 0

Hello again.

It’s been a while. I haven’t been active on this blog since, fittingly enough, Ready Player One. I was going to do this sooner—even had an alarm set up and everything—but then, it turns out, I’m feeling so much negativity about the world in general that a book just pales in comparison.

Seriously, I had to scrap this post’s entire intro because it’s not even 2020 anymore as I write this. And you know, maybe that’s for the best. I’m not really in the mood for doom and gloom and bitching anymore. I uninstalled Twitter from my phone a while back, I’ve been doing good at my daily writing sprints, my biggest fanfic project concluded on a positive note from people I didn’t even realize had been following it for years.

So I don’t know what this is going to be like. My commentary, I mean; I’ve heard echoes of what the book is like, so I’m not expecting a surprise there.

The book opens right after the end of Ready Player One, in a “Cutscene” where Wade recounts to us what happened after he won Halliday’s contest. It also assumes you remember exactly who the main characters of the book are, which is a bold move for a sequel that came out almost a decade after the original.

Technically, I could just look up the details I’m fuzzy about. But also, I think it’s more authentic if I don’t. I trust my memory enough that if I’m wrong, it’ll be in subtle enough ways that it’ll almost be a private jokes between all of us. An “if you know, you know” sort of error system. And I don’t think there’s anything more true to the spirit of this book than that.

Shoto had flown back home to Japan to take over operations at GSS’s Hokkaido division.

So Wade starts his tenure with nepotism. Wasn’t Shoto really young? Why is he qualified to run anything?

Aech was enjoying an extended vacation in Senegal, a country she’d dreamed of visiting her whole life, because her ancestors had come from there.

You know what, I’m not touching “send the token black character back to Africa.” This isn’t my lane.

And Samantha had flown back to Vancouver to pack up her belongings and say goodbye to her grandmother, Evelyn.

Why is she saying goodbye? Why, she’s moving to Columbus to be with Wade, of course! It’s not like there was anything else in her life. Was there? And why isn’t she referred to as Art3mis? I’m pretty sure Wade found out all of their offline names in the last book, and the inconsistency mildly bothers me.

These three sentences are back to back, by the way. Someone—I forget who—once described Ready Player One as a book that’s fun to write a wiki about, because it’s got fun concepts to summarize about until you realize that all the emotional connective tissue you need to turn a list of things into a story is missing, and that’s roughly how this first page feels.

Hell, the first line of the book is Wade telling us he remained offline for nine whole days after winning the contest, but by the end of the second paragraph we’re already to him logging back into the OASIS to "distract himself from [his and Samantha’s] reunion.

I’ll give Ernest Cline one thing: it feels like he wrote this opening nine days after the first book and did about as much maturing as a teenage boy would do between the two books.

Way more time is spent describing Wade’s OASIS rig, or the in-game planet where the climax of the last book happened, than anything else in this introduction. He is immediately greeted by a crowd of adoring fans who have been waiting over a week for him to come back in the game, because they’re all grateful that our protagonist and his friends restored their avatars after they were annihilated by the Sixers.

You’d think the adoring fans would serve some kind of purpose, or that something would happen, but no. Wade immediately goes “ew, people” and teleports away, since he essentially has ultimate powers within the game. With a caveat: the powers are actually coming from the Robes of Anorak he’s wearing, and I’m mentioning that in the hopes that it will pay off sometime in the book’s future, assuming Cline at least learned to do that. But still, let’s not skip too fast the fact that we introduced that crowd of adoring fans for no other purpose than to tell us they’re out there, because it fits right in with the last book’s attempts at saying as little as humanly possible in as many words as possible.

Anyway, Wade went back into Anorak’s study, where he arbitrarily checks out the Easter Egg he got at the end of the last book, and finds an inscription on it. I was dreading another riddle, but no, it’s just straight-up instructions to a vault in the GSS archives, so Wade logs off and goes to check it out.

Of course Halliday had put [the archives] [on the 13th floor]. In one of his favorite TV shows, Max Headroom, Network 23’s hidden research-and-development lab was located on the thirteenth floor. And The Thirteenth Floor was also the title of an old sci-fi film about virtual reality, released in 1999, right on the heels of both The Matrix and eXistenZ.

I’m equally shocked that it took two whole pages (on my ereader) to get to the first slew of references, and that one of these references is from 1999. I didn’t know we were allowed to think of anything that isn’t the 80s. Speaking of which, I’ll spare you the whole paragraph, but the book does feel the need to explain why it’s vault 42.

Inside the vault, there’s another egg containing a super-fancy and advanced OASIS headset. The egg also has a video monitor that plays a video message from James Halliday shortly before his death.

But despite his condition, he hadn’t used his OASIS avatar to record this message like he had with Anorak’s Invitation. For some reason, he’d chosen to appear in the flesh this time, under the brutal, unforgiving light of reality.

That oh-so-important message? An infodump about the headset’s working. He called it an OASIS Neural Interface, ONI for short. It basically lets you experience the OASIS through all your senses with sensory input just like the real thing, you know, that thing Wade had to get a fancy suit and massive rig to do in the first book. And yes, Wade does spend a paragraph or two comparing it to other works of science fiction. Of course he does.

More importantly, it also records all the sensory input into a separate file, which can then be replayed over to re-experience said sensations, or live someone else’s experiences. Halliday tries to frame it as a tool to generate communication and empathy, seemingly all without acknowledging the potential creepiness of that. But hey. Who knows. Maybe that’s because this is the setup stage, and it’ll pay off eventually.

I also wondered about the name Halliday had chosen for his invention. I’d seen enough anime to know that oni was also a Japanese word for a giant horned demon from the pits of hell.

Add “reducing Japan to anime” to the list of things the book has failed to improve upon. By the way, the narration insisted on spelling out ONI letter by letter earlier, so it’s weird to make that link now. It’s also just kind of inelegant to just tell us “this is the symbolism behind the name”, but that’s just the sort of thing I’ve come to expect from this book.

Anyway, the reason Halliday kept this for his successor to find is he wants Wade to test out the technology and decide if humanity is ready for it. Why Halliday thinks the most glorified pop culture trivia / video game competition qualifies you for such a decision should be a problem, but sadly, a lot of billionaires have said and done a lot of dumb and eerily similar things in the past few years since I read Ready Player One, so actually, I can’t fault the book for that one. Tragically, our fates really are in the hands of people who should rightfully be cartoon villains.

To his credit, Wade does question Halliday’s motives in keeping this under wraps at all rather than releasing it himself. So hey, maybe it really is setting something up.

Wade goes back to his office with the ONI, and we’re treated with this lovely piece of narration:

I was grateful that Samantha wasn’t there. I didn’t want to give her the opportunity to talk me out of testing the ONI. Because I was worried she might try to, and if she did, she would’ve succeeded. (I’d recently discovered that when you’re madly in love with someone they can persuade you to do pretty much anything.)

There’s a lot to unpack about the implications this has for their relationship, but it’s way too early in the book for me to editorialize when one character hasn’t even been on the page yet. So I’ll just leave it here for the record. Hopefully you see the problem without me needing to point it out anyway. If not, feel free to hit my inbox.

So Wade, confident in the fact that Halliday would have warned him if there were any risks to using the ONI, decides to try it out. Even though he immediately follows up that statement with this:

According to the ONI documentation, forcibly removing the headset while it was in operation could severely damage the wearer’s brain and/or leave them in a permanent coma. So the titanium-reinforced safety bands made certain this couldn’t happen. I found this little detail comforting instead of unsettling. Riding in an automobile was risky, too, if you didn’t wear your seatbelt…

Wade. My dude. What the fuck is this simile. And why don’t you see that maybe a machine where you’re forcibly trapping yourself inside a virtual reality might be dangerous? Hell, when I said this was setting something up, I was expecting something vaguely interesting about the potential breach of privacy, or how you don’t need to literally walk in someone’s shoes to feel empathy for them, or anything substantial, but now I’m worried it’ll just end up as “man, sometimes science fiction machines will scramble your brain, isn’t that weird”?

Like, I don’t know, to me “it will put you in a coma” sounds like a good reason for Halliday not to release the ONI. Maybe we can still make it into a commentary on how corporations will sell stuff they know is directly harmful if it can make them a profit. Who knows.

The book waffles on about more risks, and the mechanics of how the ONI activates, and the warning disclaimer when it does turn on. Specifically, there’s a time limit of twelve consecutive hours, after which you’ll be automatically logged out, because yes, using the thing for too long can also cause brain damage.

Gregarious Simulation Systems will not be held responsible for any injuries caused by improper use of the OASIS Neural Interface.

See, now there’s the sort of thing that could be a source for commentary, but no, instead it’s thrown in there like it’s nothing and Wade glosses over the entire warning, and instead keep wondering why Halliday didn’t just release the ONI if even the safety disclaimers were in place.

By the way: this whole system has apparently gone through several independent human trials already, so I’m finding it hard to imagine that it’s actually a secret Halliday took to the grave as Wade says. Unless he also had everyone involved in those trials killed afterwards. Or maybe they all ended up with brain damage which rendered them incapable of talking about it.

And before you think I’m being unfair and maybe we’re supposed to understand that ourselves even if the protagonist doesn’t, I’ll remind you that the book didn’t trust its reader to know what the number 42 is a reference to, or what an oni is, even though I don’t think anyone in the target audience wouldn’t know about these two things.

There’s also the fact that, since this book came out, a video game did release with a scene intentionally designed to cause seizures, and it had countless fans flocking to defend it over that fact. So you’ll have to excuse me if I’m not assuming this book’s stance on whether your video game console causes brain damage and possibly coma is actually a bad thing, or just an acceptable risk.

Wade certainly seems to think so, since he agrees to the terms of service.

As the timestamp faded away, it was replaced by a short message, just three words long—the last thing I would see before I left the real world and entered the virtual one. But they weren’t the three words I was used to seeing. I—like every other ONI user to come—was greeted by a new message Halliday had created, to welcome those visitors who had adopted his new technology: READY PLAYER TWO

Well now that’s just silly.

And that’s our opening cutscene. And while this post is already long enough, I feel like I have to go on to chapter 0, because it feels like barely anything has happened so far. We didn’t even introduce any new character motivation or conflict, or a mystery to set the plot into motion, unless I’m supposed to think “why didn’t Halliday release this?” counts.

So Wade is back into the OASIS, and tells us about how much more real it all feels thanks to the ONI. I especially have to question how he can smell or taste anything—both of which he tells us he can. Like, who coded that? Did Halliday implement every single smell and taste himself, without anyone noticing? I hope you don’t need me to tell you that’s not typically how features are added to a large-scale video game.

If it feels like I’m nitpicking at the logic of the book, even though I always say I’m not very interested in that and would rather talk themes, it’s because I am, because there isn’t much else to discuss so far. Wade is happy about tasting virtual fruit. That’s the scene.

He tests out if he can feel pain, but no, the ONI reduces pain (a gunshot is translated as “a hard pinch”). On one hand, good, it would be a nightmare otherwise. On the other hand, I sort of hope there’s a setting for that in there, because otherwise, you just lost an entire clientele of kinksters.

This was it—the final, inevitable step in the evolution of videogames and virtual reality. The simulation had now become indistinguishable from real life.

Ah, now we have some juicy themes. Because if you think this is the inevitable final step in the evolution of video games, I invite you to look at literally any other art form, and what happened to them once hyperrealism became easy. Hint: they didn’t stop evolving, because it turns out realism isn’t the only goal one can achieve with art.

The realism discussion is not a new one in video games, mind you. In case you’re out of the loop: most of the big-budget blockbuster games (“AAA” as they’re known) are aiming for hyperrealism nowadays, and it results in development teams being forced to work in horrible conditions (known with the equally horrible euphemism of “crunch”). And, because it turns out that 1) humans working themselves to the bones isn’t healthy and 2) racing for realism with little to no vision besides it makes for poor creativity, a lot of these games come out as disappointments. Oh, there are hordes of Gamers™ who will defend them to the bitter end, but inevitably, in the months following release, the defense cools off while the criticism keeps on going, because the defense was a knee-jerk reaction born of a mix of people hyping themselves up for a game they hadn’t seen that much of yet, then attaching a part of their identity to liking that thing.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that this throwaway line feels like it comes from someone who is so out of touch as to accidentally support a world view that has in fact resulted in the biggest part of the industry stagnating artistically while growing more toxic for the people working in it. All the while, more and more independent games come out every year, proving that that realism is nowhere near the most important thing to making a game good, and that you can achieve much better results with a small team.

What I’m trying to say is: watch Jim Sterling’s channel, they’ve been bleeding out subscribers since they came out as nonbinary and make much better commentary on this topic than I could, and play Hades.

Back to the book, which sadly hasn’t become any more interesting since I decided to go on a tangent. Wade tests the ONI functions some more, all the while musing on how he knows Samantha would disapprove but that he doesn’t care, because what loving relationship doesn’t consist of that?

Among the functions, he tries the ONI files, the aforementioned recordings of someone else’s experiences. Specifically, a woman, which Wade tells us by telling us he suddenly has breasts, I suppose because Ernest Cline saw that subreddit about men writing women and went “I want a piece of that”. Oh, and also, those sample files were recorded from real people, in the real world. And yes, this goes exactly where you think it does.

SEX-M-F.oni, SEX-F-F.oni, and SEX-Nonbinary.oni

Look, I actually started writing a complaint about the boobs thing, and I deleted it, but now Cline is doing it on purpose. So, here goes: I saw a quote from this book on Twitter that looked like Cline attempting to make up for Wade’s casual transphobia in the first book. It wasn’t good, but it at least sounded like he was trying. So to immediately get this is…a lot? Let’s go for a lot.

I can almost excuse the use of “M” and “F”. You gotta name your files and you could excuse a non-exhaustive list. But…nonbinary? On one hand, I want to know what Cline means. On the other hand, I don’t think he can come up with an answer I’ll find satisfactory.

We are thankfully spared from finding out because Wade has just lost his virginity to Samantha a few days ago and he’s 1) not ready for this and 2) pretty sure this counts as cheating. You could make a case that this is more like porn, but I can see that this is more of a personal distinction anyway, and I can respect that one. Plus, you know. I don’t want to find out.

Wade logs off, and he can’t tell the difference between the OASIS with the ONI, and decides this will change the world. And then it’s back to the “how did he do it and keep it a secret”, even though Wade now finds out in the documentation that this had been in development for twenty-five years, basically since the OASIS launched. So it’s not really that it’s a secret, so much as there are a lot of people under very strict NDAs out there. Or, again, they’re all dead and/or otherwise incapacitated.

The ONI is the product of the Accessibility Research Lab, and Wade tells us about other stuff that the lab has produced using similar technology, mostly for medical purposes.

GSS patented each of the Accessibility Research Lab’s inventions, but Halliday never made any effort to profit from them. Instead, he set up a program to give these neuroprosthetic implants away, to any OASIS users who could benefit from them. GSS even subsidized the cost of their implant surgery.

Look, it’s nice that you want Halliday to be the good guy through and through, but it’s kind of hard to take any social commentary seriously when you think this is how a billionaire is made. Hell, even when he shut down the lab and fired its entire staff, he gave them a big enough severance package to set them for life. You know. Capitalism!

Hey, remember when Samantha said she was going to end world hunger if she won the contest, a thing billionaires right now could be doing, but aren’t, and she is now the co-owner of GSS? Yeah, I kind of hope the book remembers that too.

Speaking of the co-owners, the book just completely skips over the debate that our four main characters have over whether or not to release the ONI to the world. All we know is that they voted, and the vote goes in favor of releasing it. I mean, why have characters who could have opinions and feelings that could create a discussion? That might make us care about them! And who wants to care about characters in a story?

We put them on sale at the lowest possible price, to make sure as many people as possible could experience the OASIS Neural Interface for themselves.

What exactly is “the lowest possible price” here? Your company literally owns money. Like, OASIS money is real money. There is literally nothing stopping you from giving them away, especially because what you’re giving away is access to the platform you’re already running for a profit.

It’s almost like, even trying to make “good billionaires” out of its protagonists, the book can’t stop and actually make them significantly good.

Oh, I should mention. If you thought my Ready Player One review was angry at capitalism, wait until you see what the past couple years have done to me.

Anyway, once they his 7,777,777 simultaneous ONI users, a new riddle shows up on Halliday’s website. Because yep: our plot is apparently not about the implications of releasing the ONI, or any of the potential ideological discussions associated with that, it’s another riddle. Oh boy, do I wish I’d known that.

Seek the Seven Shards of the Siren’s Soul On the seven worlds where the Siren once played a role For each fragment my heir must pay a toll To once again make the Siren whole

I cannot wait to have the book give me just not enough information to solve the riddle until it’s solved by the book itself. That was so much fun the other…what was it, five times? Six times? Something like that. Wade already tells us the Siren might be Kira Morrow, because her alias was named after one of the sirens of Greek myth, so I can’t wait for that plot point to stick around. It was so fun to hear all about this man pining for another man’s wife the first time!

So this is the “Shard Riddle”. People are apparently convinced it was made by Wade and his crew as a publicity stunt, but of course, they know that that isn’t the case, and they also don’t know what that riddle is supposed to lead to. So, that’s great. We have a puzzle, and we also don’t know what the stakes are. All we know is that Wade wants to solve the puzzle essentially because it’s a challenge.

We skip over a year, and Wade tells us about how IOI collapses and gets absorbed by GSS because of the ONI’s launch. Remember IOI? They were the bad guys, so I guess we have to cheer?

GSS absorbed IOI and all of its assets, transforming us into an unstoppable megacorporation with a global monopoly on the world’s most popular entertainment, education, and communications platform.To celebrate, we released all of IOI’s indentured servants and forgave their outstanding debts.

On one hand: good for the slave. On the other hand: not gonna cheer for a monopoly, you guys.

Another year’s skip, and now 99% of the OASIS users are using the ONI, and yes, that includes trading their experiences with one another too. And I guess we’re still hand-waving any possible problems associated with that technology, because the technology is made so that all recordings must be shared and played through the OASIS.

This allowed us to weed out unsavory or illegal recordings before they could be shared with other users.

How? Do you know any of the problems associated with content moderations on the current platforms? I don’t know if I want to point to Youtube’s extremely faulty algorithm, Twitter’s complete apathy towards its Nazis, or Facebook doing moderation by making underpaid staff watch all potentially problematic content, which resulted in serious psychological damage to said staff.

You can’t just say that as if it solved everything. The chapter later says this is handled by an AI called “CenSoft”, and as an AI engineer myself, let me tell you: this is not going to work. Again: Youtube is the way it is for a reason.

It also let us maintain our monopoly on what was rapidly becoming the most popular form of entertainment in the history of the world.

And again, monopolies are totally a good thing as long as it’s in the right hands!

When I’m implying that the book does not care for any of these potential problems, I mean it. These enormous ethical issues are sidestepped in cold narratin, and we just keep going on introducing new slang that I hate, but have to quote so help you keep up.

“Sims” were recordings made inside the OASIS, and “Recs” were ONI recordings made in reality. Except that most kids no longer referred to it as “reality.” They called it “the Earl.” (A term derived from the initialism IRL.) And “Ito” was slang for “in the OASIS.” So Recs were recorded in the Earl, and Sims were created Ito.

There. You have been infodumped.

In the midst of all this (still extremely dry) exposition about how this changed media, we also get this tidbit:

You could take any drug, eat any kind of food, and have any kind of sex, without worrying about addiction, calories, or consequences.

Now, I was going to rant about this, but then, a page later, this happens and spares me the trouble:

I’d struggled with OASIS addiction before the ONI was released. Now logging on to the simulation was like mainlining some sort of chemically engineered superheroin.

So, you are aware that addiction isn’t just possible, but extremely facilitated by this. But sure, no worries! It’s perfectly safe! Because our protagonists are good.

Also, remember how the last book ended on a weak attempt at having a moral that maybe the real world is good, actually? Yeah, Wade tells us the ONI helps poor people live enjoyable lives in the OASIS. So. Fuck that message, I guess. It only applies if you’re the literal wealthiest man on Earth.

And me? All my dreams had come true. I’d gotten stupidly rich and absurdly famous. I’d fallen in love with my dream girl and she had fallen in love with me. Surely I was happy, right? Not so much, as this account will show.

Aside from the aforementioned returning OASIS affiction, there’s the Shard riddle that Wade is now obsessed with, to the point of offering a billion-dollar reward to anyone with information about the riddle’s answer.

I announced this reward with a stylized short film that I modeled after Anorak’s Invitation. I hoped it would seem like a lighthearted play on Halliday’s contest instead of a desperate cry for help. It seemed to work.

On one hand: good, Wade finally has a character flaw that the book actually acknowledges as a character flaw. I can work with that. On the other hand: this is all told to me in such a dispassionate that I am dreading how the book will handle this character flaw. Which is to say, I’m not expecting it to be very good.

(For a brief time, some of the younger, more idealistic shard hunters referred to themselves as “shunters” to differentiate themselves from their elder counterparts. But when everyone began to call them “sharters” instead, they changed their minds and started to call themselves gunters too. The moniker still fit. The Seven Shards were Easter eggs hidden by Halliday, and we were all hunting for them.)

Especially when this is something the narration feels is more important to tell me about.

Anyway, skip another year, and a gunter finally leads Wade to the First Shard. Solved that riddle, I guess. And wait, wasn’t part of why IOI was ~evil~ in the first book that they were paying people to find the Easter Egg for them? How is this any different, Wade?

And when I picked it up, I set in motion a series of events that would drastically alter the fate of the human race. As one of the only eyewitnesses to these historic events, I feel obligated to give my own written account of what occurred. So that future generations—if there are any—will have all the facts at their disposal when they decide how to judge my actions.

And that is the end of our chapter 0. And can I just say: what a mess already. I don’t think my snark can properly convey how utterly devoid of emotion this book’s writing is, and that alone is honestly more of a turn-off than anything else in the book so far. Even, knowing that I railed about it in the first book, I still feel newly unprepared for it. And it’s not like this double-prologue is making me hopeful that the book will show an ounce more critical thinking—or decent fucking humanity towards marginalized groups—as its predecessor.

So, that’s a lot to look forward to! For the sake of my sanity and schedule, don’t expect me to do such big posts every time. I’ll probably do one chapter a week from now on, if that. We’re in for a long ride, but I hope it’s worth it, at least.

#ready player two #ernest cline #st: ready player two #book reviews

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not-me-simping-for-blasty · 3 years

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So, I wanted to ask for advice. How do you keep yourself motivated to write long stories? Like i can't ✨commit✨ to anything ever that's longer than a two shot and it's frustrating. Any tips will be greatly appreciated.

And again, let me just kiss your ass real quick bc I love your writings! Random gremlin hc are so cute. Thanks for making me feel violent love for the porcupine💘

omg firstly, ty so much!!! @i-need-air i see u interacting with my stuff all the time and i rlly appreciate it!!! ur so lovely!!

and, here’s some tips!! idk if they’ll 100% work for you but they really help me!!

-okay, so first. plan ur story out entirely. ik ik like, everyone says that, but really. i feel like it makes it 100% easier to start writing if u know what you’re gonna put in that chapter

-also, sorta on that note, when i write a chapter,, i always kinda make a skeleton first? like, throughout my day i’ll write little blurbs about what i want to happen in the chapter as i think about it. at the end it kind of gives me a draft similar to like, a list of hc’s, but i find it’s then super easy to go back and fill in those little ??”prompts”?? with real writing. idk if anyone else does that, but it rlly helps me !!

-also?? take spontanteous breaks when you feel tired. just do it. and don’t apologize for it. like, rn i’m on a week break from my on-going story literally just bc i felt just a bit burned out. and the thing is, nobody is stopping u from doing that too!!! writing should be a relaxing hobby so take a break the second it doesn’t start to feel that way anymore.

-,, okay. so this one is def weird, but i do it all the time n it helps me a lot. just keep a running list of your favorite tropes while you read other books/fanfic. try to incorporate as many as would believably fit in your story. i cant explain it but i find im 100% more likely to sit down and write if i have a baseline of exciting shit i’d like to include somehow

-ooo also, a lot of the time, i frame my chapters to almost be little stories by themselves?? so like, i’ll write it similar to how you’d write a one-shot,, with a problem introduced in the beginning and a solution/resolution by the end. to me it sorta makes the process feel like writing a bunch of connected short stories instead of a rlly laborous long one.

-pls this is my biggest advice,, if starting a bunch of chapters is what feels intimidating, bc it always does to me, i like to start with the conflict. skip the build-up, skip the description, and go straight into the yelling. fr fr bc dialogue feels 100% less intimidating to quickly write than paragraphs, and you can feel accomplished bc you wrote stuff down!!! plus, then you’ll feel more motivated to go back and write the more boring stuff bc u want readers to get to the fun part!!

anyways, i hope this helped somewhat!!! im not a professional or anything, but those are a few things ive picked up!! i hope they help you too!! :))))

#lmao i am not qualified to give advice but i also hope it helps #writing

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official-weasley · 3 years

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You sure do write amazing! Can you please give me some tips on how to write better?

Thanks!

Hi!

First of all, thank you, it means a lot! 🥰

Second of all thank you for the ask. This is my first one so I hope I am doing this properly.

Third of all READ. I would say everything but it's too broad. Read what you're writing. If you're writing fanfic read those. I have learned so much from reading other stories. Also, try and find your own style...if you think it sounds hard it is. I needed years. I was always writing in third person POV and I always felt like something was missing. I find something magical in the fact that you can read a story from first person POV, because you feel like you get to know them better and that you are friends and build a relationship with a character.

I read a few books (Divergent trilogy among them) with first-person POV and I was hooked. It's okay to love someone's writing or their style but while reading them think of WHY you love their style so much and try to implement those characteristics into your writing. Don't worry about sounding similar to someone else. You won't. Each writer's style is unique and at first, it might seem like copying but you will soon develop your own style which will be your own. Copying is learning but do give credit where needed. Also, don't be afraid to experiment with different styles. Nothing you write is wrong. If you keep saying to yourself that your writing can't be right because nobody else is doing it, meaning it isn't following the rules it means you created something entirely yours and I think that is BEAUTIFUL and smart not wrong.

Try to think about what is the most important thing you want to point out in your story. To me, I don't like to read long descriptions of how people and places look like. To me, it's redundant because I have a crazy imagination and I love to create all of that for the characters myself and I like the liberty that I think how a character I am reading about looks like. Think about what is important to you when you write. To me, it's relationships between characters and I tend to focus on that the most.

When it comes to vocabulary I can't be of much help. I suck at it. I am not a native English speaker and finding synonyms or describing a gesture or how a character's expression looks like I struggle every time and it takes the most of my time to do that. It helps to have websites that can help you find these. I have a dictionary for words that I want to translate from my native language. And I have Google always opened to search for word definitions and I saw someone post a website here on Tumblr which has honestly been a lifesaver: onelook.com/thesaurus

Also, one thing that I have noticed helps me a lot is that I write without stopping as much as possible so that the story stays on the original idea line as much as it possibly can. So if you sit down to write a chapter, just do it...no distractions. Don't write a paragraph and go on your phone and then return. Stick to it, it will be better trust me: learn from my mistakes. (Of course, if you have a heavy, emotion-filled chapter like someone dying and you cry while writing...then please do take a break. I needed a week to write Chapter 6 and 7 of Part 8 of the story I am posting now because I was a crying mess and I simply couldn't break my heart more than I did per day). Then I read it and change what I want quickly. Then I run it through Grammarly then I reread it a few more times. Within these times I mark the words or paragraphs which should have different words for what I am describing or where I feel something is missing. I come back to those parts and try searching for different words or instances that can relate to what I have written down.

I also triple-check that I don't have words that repeat. So if I had said said said a few times I will skip it and indicate who is speaking with a gesture they do while saying something. That helps me a lot because I like to repeat words I like a lot!

One thing that I learned is that it doesn't matter how you write as long as you enjoy it. If you write a chapter and you read through it and it makes you smile you have won no matter how it looks in the first draft. Learning to love everything you write is so important and until I had that I thought that my writing sucks and I will never get anywhere.

And yes, I will say it: JUST WRITE MORE. I know it's the biggest cliché but it's true. Also, be patient with yourself and give yourself credit. I always thought that I will never get any better and will always be stuck at the level of writing I have but if I read something I wrote like 7 years ago...even like a year ago, the difference is HUGE and it makes me proud and you should do that as well. Read that cringy story you wrote years ago because it gives a confidence boost when you compare it to your writing now and you see how much you progressed.

ALSO, one thing that helped me a lot and I wish I was doing this sooner (as I just started with the story I am posting now): when you're reading ANYTHING and you find a word or a phrase that intrigues you and you think you could use it at any time in your stories WRITE IT DOWN. If you don't know the meaning write the meaning next to it too. If you have examples where you could use it (your ideas) write that next to it. It has saved me so many times with the story I finished a few weeks ago (and will post it after the ongoing one is finished) because sometimes I see a character doing a gesture or making a certain face in my head and I struggle to describe what I see in my head and having phrases that I read elsewhere written down is so helpful because more you read and you get different ideas how to describe the same thing it's so nice when you find just the right one!

One of the last tips as this is getting too long (I don't know how to describe something in a short sentence): when you get an idea for a story don't just sit down and start writing the first chapter because (and I am talking from my own experience) sooner or later you will get lost, you will get the information wrong and it's just harder for you. What I tend to do is write down all the names of the main characters and write at least 3 things that stand out for them and you might use more than once in your story. For example, if a character gets a gift from someone; write it down WHEN AND WHAT AND FROM WHO. Because if you mention that gift again 20 chapters later you will get frustrated because you won't find that little detail that suddenly became so important and if you have notes and you can find it at once it makes things easier. I also write down chapter summaries. I know it might be hard to know exactly how many chapters you will have (it usually changes for me anyway: for example, the story I will post soon went from the original 10 to 20 chapters because the chapters were just too long and I needed to separate them) or to know at once how the story ends but it makes things 10 times easier and once you start writing chapters down the story just starts to flow and appear in front of you and knowing what you will write about next makes you more focused on the chapter at hand and everything seems more connected and you don't have gaps in your story and inconsistencies. At least for me, it's really easy because I like to push myself to write a chapter per day and I just take my notebook and check what I have to write for that day and then it's suddenly easier because I can just focus on writing the chapter instead of thinking of what to do next.

Of course, all that I just wrote is just an opinion. You should write as you see fit! Don't let anyone tell you that you CAN'T do this or that. It's YOUR writing. YOUR story. You can do whatever you want and write it in the way YOU want. Don't write by the rule book. Write in a way that will make you happy. I have to admit I needed a long time to learn that as I always wanted to follow the rules but I was unhappy and I didn't like what I wrote and I put that on myself thinking my writing is bad when it was just the fact that the style and the rules around it weren't my cup of tea.

Also if you have someone who can read through what you've written and you trust them; give them your story or chapters before you publish them because every story through someone else's eyes is better already. Also, don't be afraid of feedback and criticism. I have never learned more from anything else than criticism. And always take it as positive; a way to better your story and writing. But also know that you don't always have to apply everything someone tells you to do. If you are content with how it is, leave it. Perhaps remember the critique and maybe you'll be able to apply it to a different story. That's how you grow.

Push yourself to write as much as you can. Even if it's a paragraph per day it's something. And most importantly write what you like not what everyone else is doing. If you want to write 30 fics about the same character then do so as long as it brings you joy and makes you happy because no matter how cheesy it sounds it does show in your writing. ❤

I hope I answered your question at least to some degree. I am sorry it's so long I don't know how to write short stuff 🙈

If you have any other questions I would be happy to answer them 🥰

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ghostmartyr · 3 years

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/clears throat/ so, Immi, I hear you like the locked tomb, which is fantastic! from one person also escaping the snk series into TLT to another, what did you think of the characters and plot in HtN? are there any things you're most excited to see when Alecto comes out in 2022?

-pats lifeboat- This baby can fit so much trauma.

SPOILERS, naturally.

With another paragraph informing the curious that unspoiled is the way to go into HtN, since if you aren’t lost and confused, are you really reading Harrow the Ninth?

I read it all in one day, and that was a choice. It does mean my memory and understanding of what all went on is slightly dependent on someone else on the internet exploding over a particular set of paragraphs and explaining their significance to me, but I still enjoyed the hell out of it.

HtN disappointed me on one front in that I was hoping seeing more of Harrow 1.0 would help out any future fic endeavors. On everything else, like the first one, being told the story is such a good time that I’m willing to wait on a full comprehension of where it’s going.

I also really like second person.

What I loved most about HtN is how even without Gideon mentioned until very, very late in the book, you can feel her absence everywhere. In the wrong bubble flashbacks you’re commanded to examine the strangeness, but even in Harrow going about her day, the isolation and the wrongness of it decorate her every action. She’s alone, and she shouldn’t be, and the loss she’s unaware of bleeds into a constant echo of grief.

I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated absence as a narrative tool so much. Obviously griddlehark hours go hard once they start in HtN, but even before then, there is so much power to their connection that looking into a world where it never exists still manages to punch you in the heart with how much each one inhabits everything the other is.

The whole series is amping me up with a few thoughts on loneliness, honestly. Gideon and Harrow grow up alone on the Ninth, save for each other. It takes leaving for that to be any kind of good thing. The first book is tag team Among Us with everyone in their little clusters, slowly learning what other people are about as they all drop dead.

The second book has a different vibe and different plot things going on, but it’s similar in that the protagonist gets thrown into a world they don’t fit and have to put on a show. Only now there are even fewer people to familiarize with, with that number correlating directly to how they all killed the person closest to keeping them from being alone.

Lyctorhood is taking the person dearest to your heart and trapping them there forever while they’re stripped of everything that made them who they are.

...Also Ianthe is there.

Gideon, Mercy, and Augustine are the last Lyctors standing after 10,000 years. There were only seven, starting out. Sixteen acolytes who came to the First. The only pair who didn’t succeed in condensing themselves is separated from the pack and sent to live away from their peers on a tiny planet that no one has anything good to say about.

Alecto is John’s -- who even knows, past A Lot, and he puts her to sleep and locks her in a prison no one but he can get past.

God has seven friends. More if you want to count the people in the Cohort, but realistically, he has seven friends. Then they keep dying.

Harrow spends HtN in a spaceship with five people.

One is trying to kill her.

One ordered that one to try to kill her.

Two could not care less about the useless baby Lyctor.

One is Ianthe.

There is no real endgame. There is surviving life, and life has become a game of running as far away as possible so you don’t share your ruin upon your inevitable death.

It’s bleak and sad.

Harrow’s healthiest relationships are with dead people, and some of them she didn’t know at all in life.

Reiterating it, the most plot significant bit of the world is finding someone else in the world, swearing yourself to them, and smashing your souls together until you’ve lost the connection entirely.

My brain’s not in the best place so I can’t do more than gesture loudly at it, but a few people have mentioned that the series’ thesis is a counter to Ianthe’s statement that love is acquisitive.

Harrow tightens her hold around Gideon until Gideon would rather she just strangle her and get it over with, all things considered. It fucks them both up, and when they start working to get past it, circumstance wraps a chain around both their throats.

The necromancers who become imperfect Lyctors have all acquired their cavaliers, and besides the cav, it kills that bond.

Harrow’s rejection of that is why Gideon’s soul is still in the world of the living (and John blood).

She has spent her entire life eating pieces of Gideon to keep herself a horrid imitation of whole, and when she is finally offered that, she refuses.

Grief and how Harrow just can’t are active elements of the book, and Magnus gives her more therapy in five minutes talking about it than she has ever had in her life, but the reason why that isn’t the end of Gideon is because, unlike all the other Lyctors, Harrow turns the offer down.

With the exception of Babs and Ianthe, the relationship between cavaliers and necros about to do the Lyctor thing is cavaliers promising to burn for an eternity while their necromancer lives off the fumes.

Fuck that is Harrow’s response.

Cytherea says, in the aftermath, that they had the choice to stop.

Harrow stops.

A lifetime of doing exactly what Gideon is telling her to do with her death, and Harrow chooses to stop.

Harrow remembers Ortus’ poetry. She regularly sees her congregation off to their deaths. She keeps Gideon’s glasses. She views Palamedes, head exploded and all, as an infinitely better person than she is because of the quality of his exemplary character. She pulls Gideon the First from the incinerator on the night she plans to kill him.

Kiddo has so many fucking issues, but somewhere, she has learned to respect people for being people. That’s why she and Gideon are the heroes of the story, ultimately, and Ortus saying that they’re heroes worthy of the Ninth doesn’t fall flat. They’re actually trying.

Where that puts us for Alecto, I don’t pretend to know.

Since the first book is the temptation of an end to isolation, only to have it snatched away, the second book is the continuation of isolation with a few promising sparks of human connection that pave the way for hope...

That leaves the third book to shed the isolation and allow the connections to thrive.

With Gideon and Harrow MIA.

I know that the books kick things up into high gear in the final acts each time, but if they’re both gone for the majority of the book, no matter how much fun it is, I’m going to miss them. They’re the core leads, and I don’t want to be without them in the final part.

The 2022 release date has aged my soul. I deliberately planned my GtN read to land a month before HtN came out, then suffered when that was delayed. When really that was nothing at all. I hate waiting.

(Insert note that I’m very glad they aren’t forcing Muir to rush anything out. It’s been a rough time, but also, just in general authors should have the opportunity to create the best versions of their art they can, so the extra time hurts, but it’s obviously for the best.)

What I’m most excited for is probably the cover art. The first two have been awesome, and the artist said he’d likely do print sales for all three when the third’s revealed. My wallet cries but my heart does not.

What I dare not be excited for is the potential for Gideon and Harrow meeting again and perhaps hugging. In their own bodies.

I’d take other bodies, but ideally, y’know.

Also I would love for Harrow to finally meet her popsicle girlfriend.

I doubt it would be a wholly positive experience, but by golly I want it. Maybe they could hug too. It would probably kill Harrow again, but who doesn’t expect several people to die again in the third book?

However it plays out, I’m expecting to enjoy AtN. The writing’s the sort that I’ll happily follow wherever it goes. For everything else, there’s fanfic. The only real worry I have is the whole book will be narrated by Ianthe, and while I mentally groan at that, I actually find Ianthe’s commentary delightful, so even in the worst case scenario I’m having a good time.

Thank you so much for the ask.

#Harrow the Ninth #Gideon the Ninth #The Locked Tomb #asks #oh I don't have an ask tag for the tomb yet #should work on that #tl;dr #viva la pluto

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cowboypossume · 4 years

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so i reread keeper of the lost cities and here’s my fresh input:

a note before we begin: you know how people fake throw up at things on tik tok? this book is the reason i now unironically do that.

dex and fitz really have the enemies to lovers troupe going for them and i’m ok with it. i really am.

so do sophie and biana at the beginning but it fizzes out so a better description is enimies to friends to lovers

marhella and stina give me such power top energy i cannot express how much i think that contributes to people not liking them

speaking of stina i wish sophie didn’t just immediately hop onto the bandwagon of “oh she’s evil” without investing further, especially with how much she is written as a ‘good’ person (which i can and will defend to the day i die that good people don’t exist but that’s for a different day).

there’s way too much heteronormativity and Patriarchical Ideas mushed into the book. like three hole pages of a 488 page book of teenagers being like “oooooo girls like guys and guys like girls” only for della to join in. not to mention the amount of times keefe is the reason for those ideas because he’s teasing like “oh fitz has a girlfriend”

keefe and fitz didn’t have as many bonding moments™️ in this book as i remember, but they stil know each other really well, have comfortability around each other, and would make a 10/10 best friends to lovers troupe.

oh my god s o many crushes i swear. like two teenagers of the opposite gender really can’t not like each other apperantly

i miss read a line and really thought there was cannon sexism for me to do a whole ass rant about in the notes part of my analyzation but n o p e

but we do have classism, sexist stereotypes, and the fact that there’s been SO many characters who’ve spoken and ✨🌺far too many of them are white🌺✨

oh also: no ones disabled. which annoys me because their society is described as ‘euptopic’ almost implying that it’s something that makes people problematic, which,,,, no

ok a side note on the society, i understand that the story’s message (kinda) is that things that seem perfect are probably deeply flawed, but something tergan said stuck with me. on a page i can’t remember at the moment he says something like “[the black swan exists] in a society that doesn’t have rebels”, which it suck with me bc that’s boarderline dystopic if it’s not there already. it’s one thing for laws not to be broken, but when you think your society is so perfect despite it having obvious flaws and you think that no one rebels, then i really hate to break it to you, you have a massive rebellion about to occur; it’s just scented as foul under your resplendent nose.

please stop flirting. i get its part of teenagers being teens but i swear if i read “s/he realeased a breath” or “their heart fluttered” or literally ANYTHING like that god no.

yall. i missed dex. he actually has more role in this book than ‘you can gadget and we need one’ and oh boy i really missed him. he’s a BEAN and deserves better.

hole’s said everyone deserves better and i absolutely agree so we’re adding that note here.

if you do what i did and read this book out loud to one of your best friends who has no clue anything about this weird fandom and give fitz a really deep voice for no reason it’s comdy GOLD.

i really think i’m reading too much into this point but iggy seems,,,, symbolic to me?

like ok with humans, sophie didn’t ‘fit in’, right? like she grew up hearing things like “why can’t you be normal like your sister” (which i can do a whole other rant about how that will affect her for the rest of her life just a s k)

not to mention looking really different from her family and graduating high school at age twelve

but you know who never judged her?

m a r t y

so anyway sophie meets this teal-eyed, movie star smiled wonder boy who takes away her entire knowledge of everything she’s known while taking away her family too

and it turns out even in a place of weirdos she still manages to be the exception to everything

and she doesn’t have the comfort to hear what people are really thinking about her anymore (which as i said before say the word and i’ll deadass write a whole speech about how everything she heard will completely fuck up every relationship she has) which unfortunately means that she grew used to confirming people didn’t like her but now she doesn’t have that

she has to adapt to this new space and feel like she’s always felt, like an outcast in a place that was accepting, but yet again, she the exception to everything

but about halfway through the book she starts to become more comfortable around grady and edaline and that’s when iggy comes in

she finds him while cleaning garbage, and grady compliments her. they have a bonding moment and it’s because of this t h i n g. and then sophie actually feels proud not only does she take up a room, but she did something

and her new parents are proud of her

so she finally feels like she BELONGS because she helped out at the place where she lives/they work

to me it seems iggy is kinda a manifesto of the world building and character development that happens in this book

i think the plot/character arc is fixated a little too much on how different sophie is. like, i get it, she’s exception to everything, but the plot really didn’t need her to be that quirky. yes, she’s different, but there’s a lot more to the plot and her character than how different she is.

also, i had to reread pages a lot bc i needed an exact paragraph number and,,,, it’s really paced like a fanfic

some questions i have about the society is:

it’s established that they use books, physical papers, etc., and the only thing i remember about trees is the speech alden gave her about how she doesn’t know the name of their most popular tree, and the fact that people become trees when they die. even then i don’t think the second one is in this book. never o n c e do i remember something about planting trees that aren’t dead elf’s, so do they feel the affects of deforestation and that jazz?? like if they use trees, will they run out of them? can they??? and do they use the coffins of elf’s for paper??

this is more of a rant than a question, but here it goes anyway. in foxfire, students have a testing system very similar to the one in america: a huge test at the end of the year determines the future of a student. that in of itself doesn’t sound too drastic, right? well,,,,, not necessarily. several studies have shown that tests in general, but especially these types, don’t work. despite how good or bad of a teacher i think my past and current teachers have been, every single one of them hates this system that we have in place. they know it’s an unfair assessment that does it’s damnist to make you fail, and they’re trying so hard to denounce it. however, that doesn’t happen at all in the lost cities. in fact, most of the teachers pride themselves on failing students. so if elf’s are in such an advanced society, why do tests still exist? especially in an environment where the consequences are far greater than just staying back a grade.

so sophie’s figuring out that major problems exist in the world the elf’s created, right? i wonder if more society structured problems exist more than ‘oh bad people do things and the law justifies which is what’. like, as i’ve previously stated, there’s sexist stereotypes presented (like girls like dresses and guys don’t), but does sexism still exist? does racism exist? it’s established that poverty isn’t a thing because of the fund elf’s have at birth and their limited usage of money (which if you understand please explain bc i don’t really get how they buy stuff but still don’t use money) but if someone gets shipped off to exile, do they lose their money? is it possible for elf’s to starve to death because they can’t afford food? do they pay for food?? if they did starve who would they call? because someone on this website, who’s post i tried to find but i couldn’t so if y’all know what i’m talking about please link it, brought up a good point that elwin is a school physician, he shouldn’t be dealing with the near-death experiences sophie has, so who would they turn to? especially if they don’t have access to foxfire because they got exciled??

is therapy a thing in this world? sophie and dex could really benefit from it, yet mental health has only been brought up when someone went insane, which REALLY shows how little they think about it.

that perfectly transitions into my next point: sophie and dex’s trauma. i really don’t get the vibe that there was much thought going into their kidnapping, other than sophie needed something to trigger her inflecting ability and establish the black swan are on the good side, which really sucks because wow trauma doesn’t happen lightly. and the fact that it happened seems rushed to me, but i’ll come back to that. but anyway, their trauma doesn’t get developed that deeply in this book because it wasn’t given the space to. they were beaten, tortured, starved, gagged, and who even knows what else for t e n d a y s, only for them to find them again, repeat the process, but someone saves them and dumps them into an illegal city and they both nearly die from dehydration, coldness, and lack of concentration, and you’re telling me after three days of conscious of bed rest sophie wants to get her failing out of school over with? ma’am, it takes more time than that to adjust to THAT alone, not to mention the realization that “hey your entire life is fake because people genetically altered you to be their weapon in a war so much bigger than yourself” that was recently dumped on her. like,,,, you really expect me to think that three days is what made her feel prepared and CONFIDENT? no sir. i don’t buy it.

coming back to it being rushed: the book starts out slow and then really hits the ground running and doesn’t stop. so much more stuff happens in the second half of the book than the first and it never gets fully developed it feels like. in the first half sophie moves away but gets a new family and struggles a bit but adapts, fires maybe but hey don’t worry about it, dex hates fitz, fitz is ✨d r e a m y ✨ but our main girl doesn’t like him like that, right?, stina’s a bitch, and sophie is a quirky girl and telepath but can’t tell anyone. pretty basic stuff, not too plot intensive. the second half though: sophie almost fails her midterms but doesn’t, grady and elaine want to unadopt her (which that’s never really explained as to why they do that but ok) fires exist in san degio but they’re fine but they’re actually a rebel elf so..., sophie accidentally breaks a law but it was an accident so it’s fine, update on the fires: sophie burns herself trying to get the evidence that it’s a rebel elf and it works, she’s the moon lark and basically a weapon bc no one knows her well enough to evaluate her safety, sophie and dex get kidnapped but fitz can now transmit to her and she has two new abilities so it’s all good, trauma doesn’t exist except for nightmare you can fix with sedatives, sophie doesn’t fail out of school, and yayyy her family doesn’t want her remove their adoption. there’s probably a lot more that i missed, it’s just that’s a LOT of stuff crammed into a little bit further than the second half of the book that really could have been devolped or explore further instead of forcing into less than 244 pages, ya know?

fitz’s eyes are mentioned seven times, the first time being on page TWO of the novel

his smile is mentioned three times

alden says “no reason to worry” five times, he writes it once, and sophie points out he says it a lot so he chances it slightly to something like ‘don’t stress about it’ so i didn’t count those though i should have

speaking of alden, in this book he’s absolutely creepy, but something that stands out to me is how much he calls sophie girl. i didn’t count it, but he said “that’s a good girl” to sophie too many times for it to be normal especially when you consider how he doesn’t do it to anyone else.

i kinda forgot i was annotating for sophie’s anxious habit of pulling out her eyelashes so i got she did it twice, but i highly doubt that number

but i will keep adding to this when i actually do the words with my annotations.

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tsukikoayanosuke · 3 years

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7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 27, 35 & 39

[It’s a lot again 😅 hope you don’t mind :D]

I might be going way too far with these answers, so please bear with me ^^’

Sorry for the long rambles but these are my answers!

7. Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

Oof. This is hard. There’s actually a lot of paragraphs that I like throughout the writing process. I can re-read and just pick which is my favorite, it’ll be different every time.

But, I think the thing currently going on with TW:OPT can be summed up in this Once Upon a Time… (I was being dumb and I thought prose is just poetry without rhyme)

So, this drabble is written on the run. There’s not really deep thought and I can’t even remember why I wrote it in the first place. From the date I posted it on Tumblr it was in the middle of Octavinelle Arc.

But, in this small crappy prose-poetry, it has one of the themes in TW:OPT: happy vs sad ending. This is something that I want to build since in the early stage. The theme of TW:OPT is second chances for the reincarnated villains, giving them a happy ending, something way better than the original ones.

So, if you look for example the two lines about the Queen of Heart:

The Queen of Heart was forgotten by Alice like it was just a bad dream

The Queen of Heart will always be remembered by Alice as his dear friend and the greatest queen

The first line is what happens to the original Disney Alice’s Queen of Hearts, while the second line is what happens to Riddle, the current reincarnation of the Queen of Hearts. It’s a good change for Riddle’s life.

However, like everything, there has to be something to balance it.

After all, good endings cannot exist without bad endings.

Can the good guys really live with the bad guys in harmony? After all, all Disney movie always has “good wins, evil lose” theme. If the “evil side” wins, wouldn’t that mean the “good side” loses? Is that even a good thing or even possible?

After all, the One-Eyed Captain found his happy ending to sail away once again. What will happen to him in his next life?

This line becomes the question. What will happen to the already-set happy endings? Would they just disappear to change into bad endings to keep the balance?

8. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

I’m debating between many dialogues, but I think the one piece I’m most proud of is in Chapter 97. I'm cutting a lot of the narration and just focus on the dialogues because it becomes too long.

Riddle: What happens that day? The day when everything went downhill. Azul: Didn't anyone tell you already? Riddle: I want to hear it from your or Jonah's mouth. What happened that you must curse him? Azul: Pretty simple, really. I told him not to come here that day, and he did To make it worse, that boy was stupid enough to go back against our agreement. Riddle: Just that? Azul: Oh, please, dear Crimson Ruler. I don't want to hear that from you. Have you forgotten about your reign before? Riddle: I know what I did was tyrannical, but I want to be better. Azul: Because of the captain told you too? Riddle: No. This is my choice to change. Just like it was your choice to curse him. He trusts you, you know? He knows that you wouldn't go back against your own words, which was why he was willing to sign another contract with you. Azul: If he trusts me that much, why is he against me? If he trusts me, why did he choose to save his stupid friends than agreeing with me? Tell me, Riddle Rosehearts...Why does he choose you instead of me?

We all know what happened during Octavinelle Arc and I don't deny that this sounds cheesy or slightly ooc. And let me just say this, there's no intention of this become a love triangle or whatsoever.

There are two things I want to highlight in this exchange: Riddle's growth and Azul's decline.

Riddle, after everything happened in Heartslabyul and Savanclaw arc, finally putting his foot down on where he wants to stand. He wants to be a better person, more than just the feared Crimson Tyrant. That's why he's helping them. Not because the boys are breaking the rules, not because someone tells him to, but Riddle is willing to risk it all, even his unique magic (as we see at the end of this chapter and the next) to save his friends. Again, this might sound ooc and I apologize, but from my perspective, this is a logical step of development for Riddle.

Meanwhile, Azul is showing more and more decline from this until the end of Octavinelle Arc even Scarabia Arc. For Azul who knows how easy people can leave and mock when you have nothing, seeing Jonah leave him and siding with the anemones is basically a betrayal. He can't think rationally when it comes to the betrayal and we see how brash he can be with anything related to Jonah throughout the arc where all of their interaction nearly kills Jonah.

If Riddle-Jonah is a coming-of-age story, Azul-Jonah is a broken friendship story.

9. Which fic has been the hardest to write?

This is a hard one to write. You might think I’ll just answer with TW:OPT, but honestly, all multi chapters fanfic has their own difficulties, so I can’t choose which is the hardest.

For Twisted-Wonderland: Our Precious Treasure, where I do treat this as a novel-writing practice, keeping the consistency with the theme, plot points, and characterization.

For Private Tutor, Angel of Death, Philza Minecraft, actually coming up with new ideas is hard because I don’t based this on anything, and just write anything once a week. In addition that I’m still new in Dream SMP fandom so characterization won’t be the strongest thing.

For both TWST MC Hybrid AU and Magical Girl AU, giving the massive cast equal spotlight and actually not getting lost is quite a challenge. Both AU has seven main characters and I need to give them the same amount to screen time.

And don’t get me started with those smut. I won’t be talking about it because I’m keeping it family friendly. Those has their own problems XD

10. Which fic has been the easiest to write?

As I said, every fic has their own problems, even one shot. So, I’m looking through my works and trying to figure out which fic I wrote the fastest but had the most fun.

I think I’ll go with A Wish for a Proposal because the comfort in this fic with Ace going heads over heels for Deuce and being doki-doki all the time. And the kiss under a shooting star, AH! Poetic cinema~

I do enjoy when I wrote how Ace thought keeping a toy ring as childish but he ended up using it to confess to Deuce and thinking that it’s not as childish as he thought.

13. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?

There are good writing advice that I had head, one of them came from On Writing: Great Character Descriptions! by Hello Future Me. He has so many good advices in writing and I highly recommend him.

He said that “when describing characters it’s good to focus on their movements that can tell the readers of who the characters are”. As someone who has many troubles in writing physical description, this is actually a great alternative, especially when you want to go thought the “show don’t tell”.

After watching the video I tried to write something. I ended up writing Jonah’s father, Benjamin, in Chapter 137

The owner of the inn was an old man who, coincidentally, also shared the 'Argentum' surname. Benjamin Argentum was a man with slouched back from the burden of the world, white strands on his reddish-brown hair and tired, but kind, black eyes. He walked slowly with his walking stick, claiming that his knees were never that strong since a cart accident during his younger days. The way he speaks was gentle like everyone's favorite uncle/grandfather, along with the delicious appetizer that he had prepared a few minutes ago on the reception table. The spices he used reminiscent of the spices Jonah used in his Ramshackle Kitchen. There was no way all of these were coincidences. Crowley wouldn't doubt if Jonah Argentum ever grew old, he would be looking exactly like the warm innkeeper.

I want to highlight how Benjamin is a kind old man ("He walked slowly with his walking stick, claiming that his knees were never that strong since a cart accident during his younger days”, ”The way he speaks was gentle like everyone's favorite uncle/grandfather”) but has his own problems (”a man with slouched back from the burden of the world”), and very similar to Jonah (”The owner of the inn was an old man who, coincidentally, also shared the 'Argentum' surname”, ”The spices he used reminiscent of the spices Jonah used in his Ramshackle Kitchen”, “Crowley wouldn't doubt if Jonah Argentum ever grew old, he would be looking exactly like the warm innkeeper.”)

It’s not the best descriptions, because most of the example used highlight only one most recognizable feature while my description highlight nearly everything. I still need some practice.

14. What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever come across?

“Write what’s mainstream”.

Here’s my problem with it: sometimes anything that’s mainstream is not my thing. I like to challenge what we are given and give it a spin.

I mentioned before that growing up with Indonesian TV Series that only centers around love, riches, and cheating, I grew tired of it. That was why I once tried to make a script for a group of friends creating a classical music band and mental problems.

I’m not the first one to make an adaptation of TWST, but I think I’m one of the first, at least in AO3, that make an adaptation with Male MC. Among the Female MC or Female Readers story with a hint (or too much) of Romance, I want to give something for the small group who wants Male MC or something more platonic to read.

I always want to push slightly further, trying something that I haven’t seen at first glance, giving varieties. I will admit that would always doubt whether me writing something different is even worth it or not. But when I saw that yes, this is worth it, I gain more confidence and become bolder in my twist.

Going against the mainstream is risky, but we'll see whether it's worth it or not.

16. If you only could write one pairing for the rest of your life, which pairing would it be?

Oh no... Does it have to be a romantic pairing?

Okay. I don't really have an OTP. I mean, I like ROnah and JonAzul, but I don't think I can't live with writing only about them.

So, romantically, I don’t know. But, this doesn’t help with platonically either because I find enjoyment in writing all relationship. Just pushing the limit of my writing, you know?

So, I don’t think I can answer this because I’m a coward XD

27. How do you feel about collaborations?

A mixed bag.

So currently I'm in at least 2 collab projects: TWST MC Hybrid AU and Arisu in Alternate Wonderland. In the former, I'm the group leader, while in the latter, I'm just a writer.

Both sidea are different experiences. With AiAW, it's definitely lighter because this is basically retelling TWST but with seven Yuus. However because of this freedom and the possibilities of anything, I cannot predict whether my oc action will affects in the future or how they would interact with other ocs in the project.

With Hybrid AU, since this is a fantasy au, anything can happen. Plus as the main writer, I can see and plan clearly which event will be important and setting the characters' arc. It's definitely harder to organize because of the various idea that we want to write.

So, yeah. Collaboration can be two things for me: a scripted roleplay or a freestyle roleplay

35. Would you ever kill off a canon character?

*looking at draft for TW:OPT Book 2*

Maybe...?

39. Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?

I remember when I was a kid, I wrote a fanfiction where it only features OCs, and someone gave a review, ranting about the lack of canon characters. I, of course, sulked a bit but then just keep writing.

However, what I usually do when it comes to comments is take them into considerations. During Scarabia Arc I got a comment that the Jonah-Azul therapy moment is kinda weak, and rereading it, I can see that. Which was why the next part of the therapy Arc I tried to connect them further. So compare the JonAzul scene in the last part of Chapter 124 with the first part of Chapter 126. At least for me, I prefer the latter because there's more intimacy.

#40 Questions — Meme for Fic Writers #the captain is answering!#the captain's rambling

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mandrs-writes · 3 years

Text

My Writing Advice

Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a writer. I vividly remember writing stories about my dog way back when I was seven years old. And when I was eleven I was bold enough to think I could write my own novel and sent drafts to my older cousin for editing. Writing was my life, my escape, my passion. And it still is. But I haven’t always had a good relationship with it.

When I turned thirteen, I struggled severely with undiagnosed depression and anxiety. High school was terrible for me. All that passion I felt for writing? Gone. It wasn’t until I was older, that I was diagnosed with depression and began taking antidepressants. At the time, I was attending college to become a nurse, which was literally just a crapshoot because I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do with my life. Finally though, I came to the realization again that English, or writing, was more my passion. So I changed majors.

I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English literature with a focus in creative writing. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Wow! You probably wrote a lot during college!” Wrong. While I did write a lot of thesis papers, did a short stint in poetry, I think I wrote one short story for my fiction workshop. But other than that? Nothing. I don’t know when it happened, but I developed a severe fear of writing.

What is a fear of writing, you ask? Honestly, I don’t know. All I know is, I would write something and get literal anxiety over it because I hated it that much. I would agonize over every little detail until I was ripping my hair out. I despised my writing, something I used to be so passionate about, it was now something that caused me great distress.

Why am I sharing this with you? Well, as some of you know, I am now a very active fanfic writer for ereri. I update roughly two fics a week and sometimes I sprinkle a one shot in there if I’m feeling sassy. So how did someone like me, someone who used to agonize over my writing, go from hating every detail of it, to sometimes pumping out roughly 10k words a week and actually enjoy my writing?

While I am no expert on writing, I want to share my advice, regardless. I’ve come into contact with so many great writers who I know struggle with similar things that I once did, and sometimes still do (I’m far from perfect). Here are some tips I have when it comes to writing. I hope it helps:

Get in the right headspace. Clear your area of any and all distractions. Lock yourself out of social media, turn off your phone, kick your significant other out of the house— whatever that looks like for you, just create the perfect space for you to create. Any distractions could easily pull you out of your creative mindset and ruin your flow. I personally always work in my living room, away from my desktop because I just know I’ll play video games if I try to write in my office. I find the perfect playlist for the scene I’m writing (I seriously have so many playlists for writing. If you don’t have Spotify premium for playlist making, I seriously suggest you get it), sometimes put a Pinterest aesthetic board up in the background, and just get to it. My fiancé knows when I’m writing not to bother me and he stays in the other room. Make sure you establish clear boundaries with your housemates when you’re writing. Interruptions can sometimes not be pretty.

Once you’re in the right headspace, JUST WRITE! Seriously, I know it sounds like a no brainer, but it’s a lot easier said than done. Whatever is in your head, just write it out. It doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad, silly or irrelevant. Just write it. Writing and editing are two very different beasts, and when you’re in writing mode you need to focus ONLY on writing. Again, I know this sounds very obvious, but I know from experience that this is much harder than it sounds. My best suggestion is to find a writing partner to do sprints with. Set a timer for 20 minutes and see how much you can write in that time frame. When you’re writing with a friend, it becomes a challenge to see who can write the most in that 20 minute time. You’d be surprised what you can do in that short amount of time. And what you write might actually be amazing! I know I’ve surprised myself on more than one occasion writing like this.

Keep editing and writing separate. I mentioned this earlier but it’s so important that you do this. Our brains work differently when we edit and write. When we write, we put our heads into a creative mindset where we are inspired to create and expand on new ideas. However, when we edit, our brain slips into an analytical mindset which is great for critiquing and finding errors but TERRIBLE for creation! That’s why you MUST keep these two things separate. Believe me, I know this is hard to do. I used to be SO SO SO bad at this. I would write a paragraph, go back and read it, edit it, and rip it apart. My confidence would be shot, and I wouldn’t be able to write anything else for that session. Eventually, I forced myself out of this bad habit with lots and lots of practice (again, writing sprints are AMAZING for this!). You might think that what you’re writing isn’t any good and you might be itching to go back and read it and fix it. But I assure it, it’s probably A LOT better than you think it is. Leave it alone. Let it sit. And when you’ve finished writing your chapter, let it sit even longer. Don’t touch it for another 12 hours. I’m serious. When you have a fresh pair of eyes and your brain is in the analytical mindset, THAT’S when you should be editing.

Always carry something with you to write your ideas down. Whether it’s your phone or notebook and pen, always be ready to write down an idea! Sometimes a juicy idea or thought will come to you at an unexpected time like in the shower, while you’re driving, or while you’re trying to fall asleep. That idea WANTS to be written down! Whenever I’m laying in bed, thinking about my stories, I’ll grab my phone and write down a line or phrase or idea that pops into my head. It might not make sense, but my brain is trying to get it out on paper so that’s exactly what I do. I might not use it, but at least it’s there if it does end up being good!

Find a friend/beta reader to read your stuff. And I’m not just saying this for editing purposes. No, I’m saying this for confidence purposes. I’ve always struggled with self-doubt. Like I said before, I struggle severely with depression and anxiety, and sometimes I get into really bad slumps with my writing where I think I’m the worst writer there ever was. My imposter syndrome flares up and I wonder what the hell I’m even doing with myself. Luckily, I have a friend and beta reader who refuses to let me falter when times are hard. And maybe we don’t beta read each other’s works in a traditional sense (I don’t really know how a normal beta reader behaves, to be honest). What I do know is, my friend will leave interactive comments throughout my whole chapter, commenting on what she likes, what she thinks works really well or what could be better. Having her interact with my chapter and tell me what is good and what isn’t, significantly boosts my confidence and makes me feel loads better about my writing. Honestly, if it wasn’t for her, I probably would’ve given up on writing by now. But it’s reassuring knowing my number one fan is always rooting for me on the sidelines. Get yourself a fan that roots for you, too.

There’s no such thing as too many ideas. I always hear people say ‘I have too many ideas. I don’t know what to do with them’. I know what you can do with them… WRITE THEM DOWN, SILLY. If you have inspiration for an idea, WRITE IT. I know you might feel like you have too many projects and that might stress you out. And if you are stressed by the amount of wips you have then maybe you should set some aside. But if you feel a great amount of inspiration for a new idea when you already have another idea in the works, write it anyway. Whatever you do, do not squander that inspiration! That idea wants to be written. Even if you don’t think you’ll do anything with it, it’s great practice and if the inspiration is there, it should be relatively easy to get the idea out on paper. I’ve written multiple chapter fics before because I had so much inspiration for the idea and then never posted them. I was so overcome with inspiration that I just NEEDED to write them. So I did. Maybe I’ll go back to them and finish them one day when the inspiration strikes me. And if I don’t, that’s okay. It’s good practice to listen to your inspiration and use it as it comes. Stifling your inspiration will only hurt you in the long run.

That’s pretty much all the advice I’ve got. This might be a little rambly and I’m sorry for that. I literally was just thinking about this last night and wanted to get my thoughts out so that I could maybe help some people that are in similar situations that I once was a year ago. If you want to write, but you don’t think you can, just do it anyway. Writing takes practice. It’s not something you can master on the first go. It took me almost a year to find my writing voice and I’m still developing it as I go. Don’t get discouraged. If this is something you want, you can do it! Just write!

#writing #my writing #writing advice #text post #i hope this helps #advice

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