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asherisawkward · 4 months

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I found Luz not caring about the demon realms history annoying. I get it. Some of it was made up, but most of it wasn't, just why the crusade was started. It seems a lot of the history she got was through word of mouth.

You figure a fan of fantasy would be excited to learn the history and culture of a magical realm, not just magic. I'm surprise a lot more demons and witches didn't get fed up with her. The only thing who seemed to have anything against it was Hunter, but I could be remembering it all wrong. Sorry if this comes off as a rant.

I absolutely get what you mean!! Luz, from what I remember of TOH, spent a lot of time trying to fit the Boiling Isles into her opinion of what a fantasy world should be. She doesn’t really listen to the laws or the cultural norms. I suppose that it makes sense to ignore the laws to a certain extent, considering they’re made by a witch hunter pretending to be a benevolent ruler, but she doesn’t even try to think about things critically. Especially in this day and age, you are supposed to research and analyze before you draw a conclusion, not just take the word of some criminal who doesn’t even off you any proof. I love Eda. She’s badass and creative, and I adore how she grows to care about others through the series. But she is a biased character to introduce a world through, and Luz doesn’t even question it. She hears Eda’s “oh, he just wants to control magic” and runs with it.

The biggest example of her complete dismissal of the Boiling Isles culture, laws, and norms would be when she continued to push to be in all classes. Not only does she lack the necessary knowledge to cast precise spells, but she is asking the principal, the teachers, and all the students to risk themselves for her fantasy. This isn’t some petty pickpocketing that she’s asking a few people to ignore. She asks to be allowed to violate one of the most important laws in the whole country—it has the death penalty, for fuck’s sake! Principal Bump could have been executed for allowing this; the teachers could have gone to prison! And the students who don’t turn her in, while unlikely to suffer so severely, are likely to be punished as well! How many people could have been hurt or killed by her thoughtless violation of the laws if Belos had been shown to be a bit more how Dana claims he was? (Because, all things considered, he’s not shown to be the harshest ruler ever.)

Additionally, it bothers me that she never bothers to explore any real cultures or traditions on the Isles. She “wants to be a witch,” but doesn’t focus on anything other than the magic of it. If it were Harry Potter world, where witches are exclusively humans with human culture but magic, I’d get that, but it isn’t. It is a whole other world where everything from childhood to the system of government is different. Her refusal to let go of her preconceived notions and just explore what the BIs is like comes off a little bit like a weeb in their mother’s basement saying “I want to be Japanese,” going to Japan, and then never exploring it beyond their notions of what Japan is like from anime. I love Luz, and it was incredibly impactful for me to see a fellow neurodivergent fantasy nerd on screen, but she has a tendency of treating the Boiling Isles like her escapist fantasies. It bothers me that it’s not really addressed.

Finally, this lack of exploration leads to limited knowledge on what the actual inhabitants of the Boiling Isles are like aside from a select handful. What beliefs aside from the Titan do people have? What rituals do they perform, holidays do they celebrate? What are the people of the Boiling Isles like? Part of what I love about Amphibia is the time it takes to world-build, to show us all the different ways that the world works, and how there are varied, diverse, and unique cultures that are a part of it. It makes Amphibia dynamic and alive. The Owl House doesn’t do that with the Boiling Isles, and I’m bummed about that.

I hope this is close enough to what you’re talking about, because this got me on a tangent.

#The Owl House #TOH #The Owl House critical #TOH critical #Luz Noceda #Luz Noceda critical #Ask

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aoxizu · 4 months

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day 81 of saving for jing yuan rerun: 326 wishes (this is the only jing yuan part of the post)

ok. so. somewhat long very rambly post beware, also spoilers probably

i have not yet completed the companion quest or any other side quests but i have done the main quest

i don't get firefly like i just do not care about her

we met her for 3 hours and i'm supposed to have developed a bond already? and i'm supposed to believe that she's dead? sure she's pretty and all but i just don't get it

i don't know maybe there's subtext i'm missing as a person who is pretty much allergic to romance i just don't understand why i'm supposed to care so much about her "death"

though i will say that sam's fight was pretty good. i liked that.

i also really want to trust aventurine and give him the benefit of the doubt but it seems like he's definitely a major driving force behind everything

why did you have a corpse in your bathtub, aventurine??

i really like aventurine and dr ratio's dynamic with dr ratio being one of the few people who can actually cut through aventurine and aventurine playing up the idiocy and mediocrity

i strongly believe as of right now that the dead people are not going to stay dead and some may even be killed again

i've never played honkai impact 3 but it appears that on the hsr subreddit there are memes of people starting to understand otto now that firefly is dead and i just still don't really get it

did we really manage to build that close of a relationship in those 3 hours of running around? personally i'd argue that i'm closer with black swan even though you were only a part of her contract

going on a different note here but i keep getting distracted whenever they bring up contracts and the fact that aventurine is a merchant

zhongli and liyue just float up from the recesses of my mind and i'm just there going "cOnTrAcT?? liyue reference???" in the middle of important dialogue

anyways image dump incoming

the architects just look like wizards and they just stand there with their arms outstretched

i like sam's boss fight but his animations feel a little off to me? somehow i don't know quite how to explain it and his model also feels a little weird

good music though

also there was the whole thing with robin's voice being off and after welt pointed it out i tried to listen for it and i couldn't tell the difference, but that seems to just be a me thing

the other question with robin is was she sparkle from the start? when you initially entered the dream and landed in a unique pose slightly reminiscent of other media and sunday and robin come up to you and robin helps you adjust to the dream, was she already sparkle then? if so then how did sparkle do that, isn't that like a xipe and fuli exclusive thing?

i've also seen people who play with the english dub talk about how sampo's voice is different now compared to his voice during belobog, though i don't know if that's a result of real life interfering or if it was specifically directed to sound that way by devs

i also don't play in en so i wouldn't know

i also feel like gallagher was not what i expected

he's the head of security and he just let firefly go because she was pretty? i don't know why gallagher would make that decision just based on appearances and i am growing increasingly concerned for the safety of penacony if the head of security can just let people go for looking like they're innocent

or am i just used to living in a part of the world where the police are almost never on your side? maybe elsewhere police do usually give people the benefit of the doubt, and i'm just used to police always being this force you have to be cautious of and the idea that in an encounter with them you need to be careful of the answers you give

anyways that was a plot point i didn't really like but who knows maybe his character will change in the future

i didn't expect that duke inferno would be playable but him dying is still a little sad. but i have seen so much of his relic set recently that it feels like i already have him (and his artifacts absolutely suck i got this really good hand piece with attack %, crit rate, and crit damage as the substats so there's no way it could go wrong right? no it went all into effect hit rate.)

my personal vendetta against duke inferno's artifact set aside, i still feel like firefly shouldn't have been killed this early

i feel like i had no chance to develop any sort of relationship with her and at most we were acquaintances when she died

and also the whole deal with acheron's red text is a little unsettling but i definitely felt safer with her around as she hasn't tried to kill me or use me yet while other characters have

i went into 2.0 thinking i wouldn't like black swan but i've come around to her and honestly she is nice when she doesn't have to be

i don't mind that she only brings you to aventurine to fulfill her part of a contract, though i wish literally all of the characters would explain their actions clearly for a person like me who has no ability to read subtext

and also her exploration mechanic is really nice

i don't like to play dot teams but i'm considering it now, though it will have to wait a while

what i really want is a character that works similar to the quake mechanic in the simulate universe and the captain dunn enemy kind of

like clara but preservation

basically i want a battle cleric but like a dps shielder

this guy might end up replacing gepard if i get him

i wish there was a way to rewatch cutscenes because there is probably so much foreshadowing hidden in the details that i couldn't catch the first time around

can galaxy rangers be emanators of the hunt? i think all the generals of the xianzhou ships are and so is the marshal, but i don't know if the galaxy rangers are also like officially endorsed by lan

they seem to be another group that also travels the path of the hunt but doesn't necessarily have lan's blessing in as much of a direct way as the xianzhou does, like how the luofu generals get lightning lord and stuff

i really hope we get to see more of the other xianzhou ships (i need more jing yuan content)

but personally i don't think acheron is an emanator of the hunt, far more likely to be destruction or finality

also i'm absolutely taking 仙舟旧纪 as canon despite the fact that it is entirely fanmade

it is my canon now

who killed the...

ominous title aside, i get the feeling that robin is more likely to stay dead than firefly

her death feels like something that the plot will revolve around at some point in the future, and it feels oddly fitting

so also fun fact there is a 10 images per post limit. sad

but i think that sums up most of my thoughts on the main quest so far, though there probably is more that i haven't touched on

at any rate, i am looking forward to 2.1 and aventurine's banner. i need to collect all the preservation characters or as many as i can with the welkin and not spending any additional money

there are 22 days left until jing yuan's rerun

#hsr #2.0 spoilers #i am so normal about this guy #jing yuan #i feel like i shouldn't tag him given that this post has literally nothing to do with jing yuan #but the post is part of a jing yuan centric series #so i guess i'm keeping the tag #hsr 2.0 #i could tag all the 2.0 characters but i'm too lazy to do that

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hanna-portfolio · 1 year

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THE GREAT DATING TALK WITH AMERICA'S #1 DATING ENTHUSIAST

Named “America’s Number 1 Dating Enthusiast” by Time Magazine, Brian Howie is one of the leading influencers in the dating world by furiously pushing the dialogue between men and women further. The 55 year-old, who is from New York, is currently living in Santa Monica, California and despite being named America’s Number 1 Dating Enthusiast by Time Magazine, Brian himself is still single!

However, his single-status does not make him any less of a dating enthusiast, quite the opposite really. He experienced great success with his book How to Find Love in 60 Seconds in 2014, a nationally renowned relationship phenomenon that teaches women a unique step-by-step approach on how to take control of their dating fate and find love...in just 60 seconds!

Ohh how we wish it was that easy…

When touching on his inspiration behind writing the book, Brian says: “I had worked with, and been around, a lot of women who either didn't recognize or didn't want the power I felt they had when it came to their dating fates.

“I felt that women act and men react, yet the women were going about it the opposite way. Which ultimately led me to write a book like How to Find Love in 60 Seconds.”

Following the release of his book in 2014, Brian and his team set up what was meant to be a one night, exclusive, promotional event after his agent suggested he raise some of the questions that the book raises in a public, town-hall theater style setting.

However, the event sold-out and was a massive hit, and soon after the Great Love Debate tour hit the road.

“It all blew up from there, we have now done 434 shows in 126 cities and 13 countries.

"And even though we might be traveling around to different cities and countries on tour, the aim always stays the same.

“And that is that the live conversations and questions we raise on love, sex, dating and relationships will make the audience learn and laugh, and who knows, might even make them fall in love.”

A year later, Brian released his first The Great Love Debate podcast episode, which has been the world’s Number 1 Dating and Relationship podcast since its debut in 2015.Each week, he is joined in-studio by Celebrity Guests and dynamic voices to have conversations and raise questions on love, dating, and relationships in an attempt to answer the question "Why is everyone still single?"

Despite his continuous efforts to help and inspire people worldwide to make positive change in their lives and take ownership of their personal growth, dating fate and long-term happiness through classes, courses, workshops, seminars, speaking engagements and live events, he is reluctant to call himself a “dating expert” and says there is “no such thing”.

He would rather call himself a “dating enthusiast”. “I believe the Times Magazine referred to me as America's number one dating enthusiast because I have pushed the conversation about dating and between men and women further and more often than just about anyone else.

“And I feel that dating enthusiast is the perfect way to describe me, as I would like to think of myself as someone who is enthusiastic about dating and building connections.”

When asked why the conversation of dating and men and women is so important he says: “it is because it never ends, and we continue to grow, learn, share, and come together as a result of having these conversations.

“Raising questions is just as important as finding answers, because the questions lead to the dialogue, and the dialogue leads to the connection.

“Through my experience with both the Great Love Debate tour and podcast I have learned so much of our dating experiences, and relationships, and decisions are rooted in fear and pain from the past.

“That, and realizing that almost all of our answers lie outside our comfort zone, and moving past that is where all the answers lie.”

Making an effort to step out of your comfort zone is one of Brian’s best pieces of advice for someone looking to enter the dating world, or for someone who is struggling with dating. “The answers almost always lie outside your comfort zone. Get rid of the words ‘Not my type. If you're still single, you have no type, because that type hasn't been working out for you!”.

A study by Pew Research Center shows that most daters say their dating lives are not going well and they find it difficult to find people to date. 67% say that dating is going “not too well” and “not at all well”, whilst 75% find dating to be “very/somewhat difficult”.

Brian encourages people to never stop searching for their true love or give up by saying “there is no one out there for me”. He says one of the biggest misconceptions about dating is that “it’s not worth the headache, or the effort or the pain”.

“Because it absolutely is. There is nothing that beats the excitement and the magic of clicking on a date, and exploring all the possibilities with a new partner.

In spite of the fact that it’s possible for your future wife to be the next person you swipe right on on tinder, Brian encourages people to seek love and connections the more-or-less “old-fashioned” way.

“Just get out of the house! Love is not going to come knocking on your door. Get comfortable being around people of the opposite and same sex in a social setting. Go to public places, go to networking events, pursue hobbies, try to take classes.

“There are so many people in the exact same boat as you...and all of them are outside your doors.”

However, he emphasizes on the fact that there are no essential rules to dating, one of the reasons why he doesn’t call himself a dating expert is because every situation and every relationship is different.

“The only rule is there shouldn't be any rules. Do whatever feels right, and comfortable, and empowering for you.”

Dating can be challenging for anyone. It could be especially challenging for people who have gone through a breakup to then re-enter the dating world again.

Research and studies have been conducted to nail down the timeline for how long it takes for people to move on. A 2017 study found that 71% of people who had recently broken up with their partners felt better after about three months, but a different survey from 2017 conducted on around 2,000 people found that the timeline was closer to six months. In the case of divorces, however, a study discovered that it takes approximately 18 months for people to move on.

Brian is one of many who thinks that such studies should be taken with a grain of salt. “There is no template for how long it takes someone to get over a breakup because everyone’s situation is different. There is no specific standard.”

He claims in terms of knowing whether or not you're over a breakup and ready to start dating again is “when you go 24 straight hours without thinking about the last person in any way that triggers emotions, good or bad, that’s when you are ready. If you can’t go one full day, wait until you can. It will be more fair to you, and then the next person.”

He further explains that relationships and break-ups can change a person, and that this could have an influence on how they approach dating post-breakup as well.

“Hopefully you learn from the relationship, and the experience, and you take lessons from it, and that you don’t carry the baggage or judgements into the next relationship.

“Every situation is different, give not only yourself but also the next person and the next situation, a fair shot at love.”

A recurring problem with some people looking to date and find their true love is according to Brian their overwhelming need to seek validation rather than love. “I think that people who are seeking validation from another person or from a relationship aren’t focused on what matters in the relationship, or in the other person.

Do we all want it and need it? Of course, but the validation needs to be in the success of the relationship, and the happiness it brings, not in the need to be needed.”

So for those who might think dating is hopeless, and that their true love is out-of-reach, America’s Number 1 Dating enthusiast has encouraging words for you that might give you the hope to find true love, back.

“Every day is a fresh start and a new opportunity. There are possibilities every single day, all around us, that you need to learn to recognize, act on, and don't overlook. It only takes one!”

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wordsnstuff · 3 years

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Guide to Creating Magic Systems

Patreon || Ko-Fi || Masterlist || Work In Progress

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Decide What is “Good” and “Evil”

This is a big decision, because it’s going to impact the way your characters use magic, and the overall theme/tone of the story. You must decide where the moral limitations of magic stand, in addition to the practical limitations. You must also decide who can/does overstep those moral or societal boundaries. This is a great place where you can find conflict and establish the themes of your story.

Establish Clear Limits

All quality magic systems have clear limits in their reality. Sometimes time travel is possible, sometimes it isn’t. More “powerful” spells, or spells with greater physical implications, will require greater sacrifices, like death, loss, or pain. Deciding these limits are a key task you must accomplish early in the process of designing a magic system, because it can impact the conflict, plot points, character motivations, and more.

Establish Consequences

Arguably, magic systems aren’t interesting or engaging unless the reader is aware that any use of magic will have some consequence. Not always an epic consequence, because some magic systems are designed to be fun and full of wonder, and therefore some magic should be available to serve that purpose without being overshadowed by impending consequence. However, if magic plays a major part in your conflict or conflict resolution, it would benefit your story to establish a system of consequences or effects that come as a result of using various amounts or levels or types of magic that exist in your universe.

Diversity in Magic (Powers & Users)

One of the more contemporary grievances about magic systems is that it’s very one-size-fits-all, or bland in terms of who can/does use magic and how they do so. It’s worth your time to explore the idea of including multiple groups or species who can use magic and determining how the way they use it can differ. Regional characteristics of magic users and habits/idiosyncrasies that differ depending on class/race/social status/location. It can also be an interesting point of contention in your story/world to think about how different groups or individuals influence the methodology or views on magic. Do some view it as a sacred gift that is only to be used according to ancient tradition? Does this conflict with more modern views of younger users who view it as a tool that should be used whenever to make life easier?

Establish a Source & Theory

On a lot of occasions, this development is mostly for your own sake as the writer. However, it’s immensely helpful to know where magic came from or how it came to be available/wielded, and how that affects its value or role in your world. This is typically the kind of information authors put a lot of thought into and then end up stuffing as much of it into the preliminary drafts as possible, only to cut 90% of it out later, but even if it’s never explicitly stated in the text, writing the story with that context in mind can considerably enrich the story.

Common Struggles

~ How do I establish magic is a thematic element as well as a world building one?... Make your magic mean something. Using magic systems as a decoration is a staple of the fantasy genre, so you must establish the intrigue of your magic system through who uses it, and how they choose to do so. Use magic as a tool to explore the themes of the story. It doesn’t have to be a metaphor itself, but it can do wonders in delivering subtle nudges toward the overall point of the story. Think of it as a thematic tool, instead of a plot ornament.

~ How do I depict the use of magic in an engaging way?... Big magic and small magic. Sure, there will probably be some epic battles or intense displays of incredible power, but if this ability is widespread and considered typical, show the little things as well. Characters usually have “stage business”, or mundane actions they accomplish to break up dialogue or make scenes more dynamic, and this stage business is a great opportunity to show everyday magic. Doing laundry, getting coffee, catching a bus, sorting paperwork, etc. are all tasks that would be more convenient with magic, so show it. Use these little moments to periodically inform/remind the reader of the breadth/limitations of magic and the diversity in who uses it and how.

~ How do I convey the intricacies of the magic system without info-dumping periodically throughout my story?... Find places in scenes that you wouldn’t necessarily assume magic would be a necessary part of and ask yourself how a character who has magic (and perhaps always has) would live that moment differently from you (a person who does not and never has had that ability). If they’re doing the dishes in this scene, would they be doing it manually or directing the objects to move with magic because they don’t like getting their hands wet? A lot of the charm in magical stories is the escapism; the idea that life could be so different, and probably more convenient, if one had magic. So, lean into this, use opportunities you find to inject some context or information about the rules/limitations/history/etc., and the magic will naturally integrate itself.

~ How do I achieve a magic system that adds to a reader’s enjoyment, rather than simply acting as a story garnish?... A lot of writers try to recapture the fascination readers have with magic systems in stories like Harry Potter, and it’s important to denote that what sets that magic system apart from the others is that it was built using various source materials that weren’t inherently magical. If you try to build a magic system based on one in another story, it’s unlikely you’ll come up with any original ideas. The magic in Harry Potter was constructed using Latin roots, global mythology, and various references to popular tropes in literature about witches, wizards, fictional creatures, etc. Additionally, a lot of the conflict regarding magic was derived from real world issues, such as prejudice. Magic for the sake of magic does little to interest a reader who is well versed in the genre, but magic created from scratch to serve a unique purpose will intrigue and entertain them.

–

Masterlist | WIP Blog

If you enjoy my blog and wish for it to continue being updated frequently and for me to continue putting my energy toward answering your questions, please consider Buying Me A Coffee, or pledging your support on Patreon, where I offer early access and exclusive benefits for only $5/month.

Shoutout to my $15+ patron, Douglas S.!

#writing #writeblr #writing advice #writing tips #writing resources #resources for writers #writing reference #writing help #writespo #writing inspiration #writing motivation #inspiration #motivation #magic #magic systems

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jypbae7 · 3 years

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Could you do a breakdown natal chart for Kun from Wayv?

QIAN KUN - NATAL CHART

Kun was one the most requested I got which was a pleasant surprise!!❤️❤️

(Not claiming to be an expert this is just for fun please don’t take anything too seriously!) Hope this is helpful and that you enjoy it 🥰❤️

Personality: Capricorn Sun, Leo Rising, Taurus Moon, Capricorn Mercury, Capricorn Mars

Clearly a LOT of Earth sign placements but nicely broken up by the fire sign rising

Capricorn Sun has serious and long term plans for the kind of future they want for themselves and once they set out for it they seldom give up. Stubborn to a fault, but also consistent enough to actually persevere. They want the perfect job, reputation, partner, house, family, etc.

Leo rising is a bright, warm and outgoing personality. Lots of energy, creativity and flair. They enjoy having a strong core of friends that they feel understand and enhance their experience and effect on the world. Leo’s are known for being hardworking and as a fixed sign it offers a lot of consistency and determination. They are extremely devoted and loyal once they develop a bond and trust with someone. Though the passion can fizzle out quickly if they aren’t feeling the kind of attention and passion they want.

Taurus Moon is a very grounded person with more social charisma and approachability than Capricorns are known for. They also have a tendency to like bold styles, they have big dreams and goals and you’ll be surprised at how well they can attain them if they’re focused enough (Kun is a Capricorn Stellium so yes this boy KNOWS how to get shit done when it needs to be done) Taurus is also a fixed sign which along with the stubbornness everyone knows about also comes with patience and consistency making them really good leaders when added with their natural friendliness and perseverance

Capricorn Mercury indicates a strong preference for structure, somebody who tends to follow rules and feels uncomfortable breaking them. They tend to have authoritative energy and demeanor. Big ambitions and determination to succeed and excel in their chosen career. Spend more time thinking than they show with a generally very logical mind which can sometimes lead to a black & white perspective

Capricorn Mars - responsible, organized, secretly a thrill seeker, can come off as aloof or guarded when they are around new people or people who they really want to make a good impression on.

Relationships:

Non-Romantic Relationships: Capricorn Sun, Taurus Moon, Leo Rising, Capricorn Mercury, Capricorn Mars

Trustworthy and dependable - the “dad” of the friend group who everyone calls when they have something serious to deal with

Platonic love languages: acts of service and quality time - he loves spending time with people with shared interests especially music. Also loves going out to different places such as different trendy cafes, movie theaters, museums - you name it.

Likes other thrill seekers who push and motivate him to get out of his comfort zone

Sense of humor is a lot more childlike and playful than one would expect from his serious and strict side

Capricorn energy is NOT to be crossed or messed with. These are the ones who are calm af and calculated when angry - this is when you know you are screwed. When Capricorn is calm and collected while enraged, ohhh boy, do they figure out ways to hurt you in the smoothest and most effective ways without so much as lifting their finger. Spare yourself the trauma and DO NOT LIE to him no matter what.

Romantic relationships and preferences : Aquarius Venus, Capricorn Mars, Capricorn Juno, Aries Eros

Aquarius Venus is outgoing, friendly and charismatic. They are attracted to interesting and unique people who stand out of the crowd. They like bold and spontaneous gestures and they will do them back for their partner as well.

Aquarians also dislike overly clingy/needy partners which Capricorn also isn’t a fan of either. These signs are all about independence, individuality, personal expression and achievement. Meaning that while they do yearn for a partner (especially Capricorn placements) they want a partner who is self sufficient and independent with their own hobbies, careers, dreams, goals, etc.

Capricorn Juno implies they’ll be a tough to nail down for very long because Capricorn wants only the best of everything and they’re always busy trying to excel at things and scoping out their options. So you’ll have to prove your worth to them before they are willing to commit because once they do it’s for the long haul

Capricorn likes natural ethereal beauty while Aquarius likes the bold - my guess is healthy mix of both. Natural looking and soft featured with some bold/unique traits like bright/bold hair or fashion style, a bit of spice/sass here and there is another secret pleasure

Be prepared for endless serenades and songs made and sent to you like love letters - whether he’s singing or composing a warm ethereal instrumental for you, his whole heart is in it

Love languages (most to least) - words of affirmation, gift giving, physical touch and quality time

Words of affirmation makes him feel really wanted and needed, he’s also really really good at giving it out to people he loves so if he’s doing it one sidedly it would hurt him and make him feel insecure.

Gives either unbelievably beautiful luxe gifts or unique/fun gifts and loves to surprise his partner with them often especially after time apart

Capricorns HATE wasting time they are hyper aware of how many hours in a day and how much can be done in a day. So, if he’s spending a lot of time with you, you’re very very special and important to him and he prioritizes this time very highly

Star gazing dates, beach dates, camping trips - this man will go out of his way to make sure every date is an experience. He is PREPARED, he has an itinerary in his mind, he’s looked up the travel routes and picked the best one. When you go camping he will FLEX with his efficiency and ability to handle the labor heavy tasks. This man will purposely wait till you’re looking to start chopping wood (not that ANYONE is complaining), put the tent up and have it filled with blankets and pillows galore in 2.00034 seconds because he practiced in the dorm living room with the others like a drill routine. (Lucas taught him how to chop the wood & still look hot while doing it)

Is the MOST polite and endearing person to your family and friends. Goes above and beyond to be the perfect partner around your family and they are unable not to LOVE him. Is especially soft and doting of any children or elderly relatives. And none of it is phony at all, he doesn’t know anyway else to even think. Respect, manners, and family are extremely important to Earth signs. They’ll probably end up liking him more than you but honestly you can’t even blame them

(None of y’all ungrateful people better ever slack on Zaddy Kun’s visuals ever again!! If I don’t get to see his happy trail during 2021 I’m burning the SM building down once and for all)

18+ Preferences:

Aries Eros ooof - passionate, possessive and steamy. Pick their partners off instinct and energy - once they really like you they become infatuated and want to STAY that way. If it’s not the “I need you so fucking bad I’m gonna lose my mind” type of love they DON’T want it.

Leo Rising is a possessive as fuck placement thankfully when they get riled up or jealous they have the confidence not to get angry with you or insecure about it. BUT.... you‘ll still be awakening a whole new type of beast and quite frankly he will let you know that it’s all your fault as he holds you down and uses you like the stupid toy you are till you remember who you belong to

If he sees you doing anything even remotely domestic his Taurus Moon and Capricorn Juno will have his mind go from soft and warm thoughts to bending you over the kitchen counter and taking you right there without a care or second thought spared

Positions where he feels in in control are his favorite - he likes being on top of you, behind you and if he can pick you up and carry you while ramming into you best believe he will.

His favorite is position is missionary - likes to feel big and dominant he also wants to be able to see as much of you as possible and kissing you as much as possible from your lips to just about anywhere else he can reach. Will be staring at you 99% of the time with big smoldering eyes that don’t waver in the slightest. In fact if you give him eye contact back he’ll just be even more turned on

Now...this might be controversial but... Capricorn Mars usually suggests power play/dynamic kink - think rich powerful CEO who secretly fantasizes about being tied up and blindfolded. Not to say that is exclusively his main kink bc it’s definitely not, he is 100% mostly dom BUT with the right person he’d be more than willing and very excited to try it out - probably because they are always in control so it’s an adrenaline rush for them to relinquish it to someone else. Doesn’t necessarily mean an extreme level of being submissive even just simple restraints can feel very extreme for a bossy and in-control Capricorn

Aquarius Venus also likes breaking relationship “norms” and trying out new things. They are super fun and bright when happy so when he’s in love he’s in LOVE. Wants to sing about it 24/7 but is too stubborn to be clingy or needy. The type to smile during sex, especially when he’s on top of you or drunk. Don’t even get me started on drunk handsy Kun whining in your ear about how he just wants to sneak out of the party early.....bc I will genuinely never recover

Very vocal in the bedroom - gives his partner tons of praise. Completely loses his mind and is loud af when you kiss your way from his neck down to below the hips

Most of the time sex with him is more passionate than kinky, not lightening fast jack rabbit thrusts instead hard and deep rhythmic ones that make your whole body shake - Hungry makeout sessions, sneaky little hickeys where no one else will see, massages than turn into hours of love making, takes his time to hit deep and hard inside you, handfuls of your hair, gaspy whispers

When he is feeling more kinky it’s usually spur of the moment. In the car in the middle of a rainy night during a cancelled schedule or after an especially steamy date night where he decides to take you to a hotel afterwards

KING OF AFTER CARE (NOT up for debate) - cooks you an amazing meal afterwords or orders up a feast if he’s too spent to get up too, cuddled up in blankets watching a movie for the rest of the night afterwards.

#wayv #weishen v #kun #qian kun #wayv smut #wayv scenarios #wayv imagines #wayv astrology #nct astrology #nct u #nct #nct imagines

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yurimother · 4 years

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LGBTQ Comic Review - Amongst Us Book 1

A masterful combination of comedy, subtle romance, and incredible sensuality

I make no attempts to hide my complete admiration and infatuation with Shilin Huang's Yuri webcomic Amongst Us. The slice of life AU featuring reimagined versions of the lead characters from fantasy series Carciphona as a lesbian couple has held a special place in my heart for a long time. I named the series one of the best Yuri works of the past one-hundred years, can frequently be found lurking in the author's Twitch streams, and even have a wall in my office dedicated to the artwork of the main couple (or I did before my office became a remote classroom). So, when a Kickstarter by Shilin and Hiveworks Comics launched promising a print version of the work, I was eager to support it financially and promote it with my humble platform. The Kickstarter took place in March, and books were initially estimated for release in May of 2020. However, as you have probably realized by the dates alone, the world went very South around this time. A combination of disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, a healthy amount of bad luck, and what I am inclined to believe, for various reasons, was some awful mismanagement by Hiveworks led to numerous delays. Indeed, by the time the book finally shipped, I had moved, so my copy arrived a little later as it had to be forwarded. But, at the end of this frustrating and anticipation-building event, I finally have the volume in my hands, and it was worth the wait. While I adore the webcomic, this gorgeous print volume completely enthralls me. The book is absolutely the preferred way to read this spectacular comic.

Before getting into the exquisite details of Amongst Us Book 1: Soulmates, I need to take a minute to praise how well this book is put together. The paperback binding is thick and features amazing spot glass that sparkles in the light. This feature only accentuates the fantastic and bright the cover illustration of main characters Veloce and Blackbird loving holding each other is. The back cover has a simpler but more imaginative illustration of the two flying through the sky, and the character's expressions tell you everything you need to know about this fantastic, odd couple. There are a few things you will notice upon opening the volume. The first is how well Amongst Us made the challenging transition from vertical webcomic to the page. The assembly and paneling are fantastic and clear, and chapters feature stylized illustrations and title cards. You will then see the inside cover, a powerful display that perfectly contrasts the front's glowing and tender love. Finally, there is Shilin's presents moving forward and dedication, where she lovingly dedicates the book to her partner, Kristen.

I assure you, as good as the book's presentation and assembly is, the contents within are even better. Amongst Us follows Veloce and Blackbird's bombastic relationship. The two women are eccentric and striking musicians in their early twenties, and I swear you will never forget them. The slice of life storylines are, per the genre's definition, mundane and include events like shopping at the mall, riding the train, and having lunch with a friend. The charming simplicity of the story serves well to the reactions of the characters. Shilin effortlessly transitions from adorable moments of affection to explosive and hilarious comedy and irresistible and delightful moments of sexual tension; Veloce's neck and jawline alone could topple a monarchy. Often, slice of life works can become dull or repetitive, but these stories and the frequent changes in tone help the reader stay engaged and excited.

Putting slice of life aside for a moment, it is also important to note that Amongst Us is also has an interesting place within the Yuri genre, or "Girl's Love/GL" as it is often called in webcomic circles (originally an analogous term of Boy's Love). Webcomics have often been a bit more adventurous with their storylines and styles than Japanese manga. While the genre rose to popularity in the space thanks to digital manhwa and manhua, some (not all) of the Yuri tropes did not carry over between the similar mediums. Many modern webcomics and webtoons take their inspiration more from manhwa and manhua GL, which has developed its own canon and tropes over the years. However, even for a webcomic, Shilin's work feels somewhat divorced from most other worlds of Yuri. This first volume exists mainly against the Yuri genre's expectations. However, the next book, which flashes back to the couple's origin, undoubtedly is more in line with convention, for better or worse. It feels like the author decided to screw the norms and write a work that she would enjoy, and I am so glad that she did. Veloce and Blackbird are young adults, out of school in an established relationship with no drama. This (sadly) unconventional setting is made all the more irregular because of just how distinctive, and unwonted Blackbird and Veloce are.

Blackbird and Veloce, originally from the fantasy world of Carciphona, take on a new life, literally, in this wonderful modern reimagining and homage. You do not need to be a fan of the original work to enjoy their bizarre and larger-than-life personalities. Indeed, when I read Amongst Us online for the first time, I had not ever even heard of Carciphona. Veloce is the quieter and more stoic of the two, although she is not afraid of showing a more relatable and human side as she reacts to Blackbirds wild antics. Veloce's (not)straight man approach is hilariously sobering. But, her best moments are in those when she lets loose a little bit, like when she is rendered drooling by the promise of her favorite smoothie or in her stoic yet alluring flirtations with Blackbird, only to get close enough to steal a healthy chomp of ice cream.

Blackbird, on her part, is completely insane. She continuously pulls of wild antics like jumping on Veloce to surprise her or singing an especially threatening song after a glorious battle over lunch. However, she is perfectly capable of showing her love and admiration for Veloce in her own cheeky way. However, true to form, each softer or more personal moment between the two is often immediately and perfectly juxtaposed with comedy, with the apparent exception of the book's touching and thoughtful finale. Veloce and Blackbird will both more than please readers individually, but you will fall in love with them as a couple. I must have read this at least a few dozen times between the webtoon and the book, and I am just as enchanted as ever by their loud and unapologetic love.

The ordinary misadventures of Blackbird and Veloce are accompanied by genuinely astounding artwork. No, that statement does not do Shilin's illustrations justice. Veloce and Blackbird lead from the page thanks to stunning, full-color illustrations that detail every moment of hilarity. Every movement from the slightest smirk to the over-the-top dramatizations of regular events thoughtfully and beautifully sprawl across the pages and invite you to stare for hours. Shilin is the only person possible who could make something as simple as someone softly singing Happy Birthday so epic and sultry. Speaking of which, my goddess of Yuri is this work titillating. No, there are no gratuitous scenes, but just the characters leaning over each other or touching the other's chin makes my hands shake. My only small complaint is that some early chapters show their age slightly with noticeably lower quality linework and flatter colors than the dazzling and dynamic work demonstrated towards the end. Still, even on its worst day, Amongst Us looks better than most of its peers and the entirety of its many inferiors.

Amongst Us is nearly the perfect work. It has a uniquely compelling and mirth-inducing way of displaying a young yet very unordinary couple's everyday life. Its characters, from design to personality, are instantly memorable and striking. Despite being ready to rip each other's heads off at the drop of a hat, or rather because of it, Blackbird and Veloce feel the perfect and natural couple we so rarely witness. Shilin's masterful combination of comedy, subtle romance, and incredible sensuality is astounding. This book is worth it for the outstanding and vibrant artwork alone, but its combination with excellent writing create a sonorous and majestic modern romance unlike any other. I believe that Shilin has created something genuinely special here, and I can confidently say that out of the hundreds of webcomics I have read, this one is the pinnacle of its kind and my absolute favorite.

You can purchase Amongst Us book 1: Soulmates exclusively on Shilin's online shop and read the webcomic now for free on Twitter, Webtoon and Tumblr @okolnir.

Ratings: Story – 9 Characters – 10 Art – 10 LGBTQ – 8 Sexual Content – 5 Final – 10

#yuri #reviews #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtq+#queer #gay #anime #manga #amongst us #shilin #lesbian #gl #wlw #girls love #comics #comic #webtoon #webcomic #cute #funny #lol

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instantbee · 3 years

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Ilia Amitola and Winter Schnee, the Summer and Winter Maidens

a.k.a. Instantbee's pet crack theory

Ilia art from: Petracore101 www.tumblr.com/blog/view/petracore101/639791009801306112

TL:DR:

Differences: Atlas Elite/Mantle Nobody, Human/Faunus, Oppressor /Freedom Fighter, Creation/Destruction, Winter/Summer

Similarities: Authoritarian Strongman that they betray, Sense of profound guilt over their role in their former organization, desire to make up for that, deep need for a path in life and a way to help people, connection to team RWBY

Winter/Summer, opposites but so, so, similar. Long version is under the cut

Okay to start off with, a foundational reason behind this theory actually doesn't have anything to do with Ilia or Winter directly, but rather who they relate to

Maidens and Team RWBY

All the maidens so far have personal connections to members of team RWBY.

Spring/Raven-Yang (Mother/Daughter)

Fall/Cinder-Ruby (Chosen Expys for leaders in a millennia long war)

Winter/Winter-Weiss (Sister/Sister)

It seems odd to leave Blake out. It seems really odd to leave Blake out actually. But who's a young woman who could assume the powers that has a connection to Blake Belladonna? A deep, personal connection that would make their interactions in some way resonant thematically or interpersonally?

Oh hey there

Ilia and Blake have the interpersonal connection required to make Blake's exclusion from the connections to Maidens that the rest of her team has go away. Ilia is also the only character that Blake has that level of connection to that also meets the requirements to be a Maiden. Sure they could introduce that and build it in Vacuo but, Ilia is already a character. Why make a new one?

Crack Theory Puzzle Piece #1 Complete

Maidens have a connection/relationship to one another that has nothing to do with team RWBY

Raven-Cinder (fought, used each other in plans)

Cinder-Winter (I "Killed" your sister, also Atlas Elite hang ups)

Winter needs to have a relationship with the Summer maiden in order to make them interesting as a dynamic on their own. Someone that would be interesting to pair with Winter. Someone that may have thematic similarities to Winter. While being different enough to create tension and explore some new ideas.

Oh hey there

Crack Theory Puzzle Piece #2 Complete

Shockingly similar lives

They both grew up in Atlas. Winter was the Schnee Heiress, Ilia's parents worked for the Schnees.

Both of those situations end in disaster and a girl without a family looks for somewhere to go.

Both flee their initial place in Atlas and take up with a strong, authoritarian leader. A charismatic man that told them he understood their hardships, that he got it and that he could help them find a new path.

Both of them put their faith in this man. Both of them believed this man's goals were for the greater good. Both of them stayed by this man's side long after it became obvious that the reasons they had initially joined him had been a lie, or at least had turned into one.

Both of them broke with a member of Team RWBY over this allegiance. Both of them eventually saw the error of their ways. Both of them eventually fought this man in the Finale of a season of RWBY. Both of them joined the other side after this conflict. Both of them were left with guilt in their role and a desire to make amends. Both could use the Maiden powers to do so.

Crack Theory Puzzle Piece #3 Complete

Opposites are cool actually

This isn't so much theory building on stuff in canon as it is wishful thinking and it's where we really start verging into crack theory land.

Obviously this is all highly dependent on who the Summer Maiden is, if Ilia is even in Vacuo at any point, and has like, zero, canon validation behind it at all. But nonetheless I continue on because I love the theory and I love Ilia and I wanna see the lil Lizard again, preferably with a role to play in the story

I think that a really cool way for CRWBY to take the Maidens is for the Summer and Winter Maidens to be like mirror images of one another. Opposites but also so incredibly similar.

The idea of playing with opposites is super interesting to me. Summer/Winter, Destruction/Creation, and possibly...

Faunus/Human?

The idea that the Summer Maiden should be a Faunus is hardly unique to this post. There hasn't been a Faunus Maiden yet and there really should be. Illa would fit that role and also provide a stark contrast to Winter Schnee as the Winter Maiden. Not just Human/Faunus but Schnee/Faunus

Creation/Destruction

Possibly more obvious but Winter and Summer's respective relics are opposites. Creation and destruction are opposite ideas but as RWBY has shown before not so opposite as one would think. One can create to destroy and destroy to create. If one were to build up the Winter and Summer maidens as opposites of one another that are really rather similar then Ilia and Winter fit that role.

Summer/Winter

I mean, come on, they're literally opposite seasons

Crack Theory Puzzle Piece #4 Complete

To sum up

I got nothing to sum up. This is a crack theory based around way too much speculation and a burning desire to have Ilia be super important to the show.

I want this

Even if it doesn't really make sense. But I think it kinda does

@shallitickleyournerdbutton I did the thing

#rwby #winter schnee #ilia amitola #rwby maidens #summer maiden ilia #rwby theory #rwby crack theory

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rainbowsky · 3 years

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Final round-up of fan fic asks

I've gotten a few more interesting responses to the fan fic discussion so I'm going to round them all up here. This will be my final post on the topic until/unless there's a dramatic new development, or a particularly notable response I want to highlight. Thanks to everyone who brought their thoughts and experiences to the topic. I hope everyone at least feels heard.

The biggest piece of advice that I would like to offer is for everyone to focus on what they love rather than what they hate. If we all did that, the world would be a better place. Alongside that, I'd like to remind everyone to please support authors whose work you like. It's so important. Give them a kudos, give them a nice comment, recommend their work to others. You never know what kind of grief and harassment they are dealing with to bring you these great stories, and our support means a lot.

This is in reference to previous posts here and here.

Anonymous asked:

With regard to fandom and fan fic issue, my years of experience being part of very large fandoms has led me to believe that big accounts are v important in facilitating and enforcing the general consensus of the whole fandom. Unless there will be big accs who'll remind everyone of being respectful & just not being a dick over other's preferences, nothing will change.

This is also the reason why I think certain solo fandoms have adapted weird and twisted narratives as their general fandom story because no big acc has tried to police them & and say hey pls be rational. Whether we like it or not, in a place where how far voices, ideas, tweets, posts get heard is based on the number of followers you have, big accs will have the power and influence in creating/curating/shifting the narratives.

So, if you want to know why your/our fandom thinks like this in general, look at what big accs are tweeting/posting, look at what ideas & values they follow, look at their preferences or how strongly they react to certain situations. it's taxing and toxic for big accs given the nature of social media these days, but it's also the reality of system, the more followers/audience you have, the more influence you will have.

So to anyone reading this I hope we all practice more restraint and reflection before we post anything. Remember that words, no matter what medium you write it in, will always carry weight.

So true. It is easy - even for myself who spends a fair chunk of time answering people's asks - to forget that people can sometimes be impressionable and what we say can influence people whether that's our intent or not. I get used to thinking of myself as a regular guy just doing my own thing when sometimes my thoughts and words go well beyond where I initially posted them.

I think it's important for us to be careful what we say, and it's equally important to be careful what we take from what other people say. Especially when it comes to big claims. Always get a second, third, fourth opinion and don't be afraid to ask for clarification if something doesn't sit right or sounds confusing.

It's also important to reflect on how our words and actions might affect other people's experience of fandom, and err on the side of 'live and let live' wherever possible. It's great to have our own preferences and to champion them, but we should try to do so in a way that leaves space for other people and perspectives.

The more unique perspectives and the more friendly, open dialog there is, the healthier the community will be as a whole.

There's nothing wrong with encouraging and guiding growth in the particular areas we are interested in, as long as it doesn't step on, oppress or attack those who are peacefully enjoying something different.

Anonymous 2 asked: bjyx fans attacking gdgdbaby for including zsww/lsfy dynamics in an event named bjyx then turning right around and attacking the zsww/lsfy event organizer for excluding bjyx? god, can you hear my facepalm and sigh of resignation and incredulity from over there? im genuinely not surprised that they're trying to drive an entire part of the fandom out by disgusting them (and me) with these immature tactics. i believe what im about to say next will sound quite bait-y and i respect your decision 1/?

should you choose not to post this. but i do know that it is not only me, in fact there are many out there, that is of this opinion. we just dont talk about it on twitter to avoid the potential mess it will bring lol. okay, here goes nothing. (do note that im talking about the majority here, not every single person is like this) so bjyx fans tend to be cishet females whereas zsww/lsfy fans are more diverse in terms of age and gender, and most of them are part of the queer community too 2/?

i would like to clarify that most of these zsww/lsfy fans are not dynamic exclusive (in the sense that they are friendly and interact with all ggdd fans) they just prefer to "identify" themselves as zsww/lsfy fans (on twitter specifically) just to form a distinction from bjyx fans who mostly are dynamic exclusive (as in; they do not consume non-bjyx content, and straightup refuse to interact with non-bjyx fans, often blocking them). as a result, id say that the zsww/lsfy communiy is way more 3/?

mature and respectful (after all, they're mostly queer people talking about a queer ship) whereas many problems in this fandom, such as the homophobia, adamantly insisting on "drawing lines" between dynamics, stem from the bjyx exclusive fans, comprised of cishet females who "may not know better". so, it is of no surprise to me that they're resorting to these immature tactics of calling gg unsavory names, and organizing retaliatory events with controversial topics in an attempt to "purify". 4/4

I trust that you have arrived at that theory through your own experience and observation. I haven't personally spent much time immersed in this stuff so I can't claim to have any real insight or expertise. If you say that's your experience of it, then at the very least that's how you've seen things up to this point.

I just want to say that I think we should always be careful about making assumptions about people's age, gender/gender identity, etc.

There are plenty of good reasons to avoid doing that; because those assumptions could be very wrong, because those assumptions are often laced with ageism, sexism, etc., because those assumptions - even when correct - might not be an accurate basis for the conclusions we draw.

But the primary reason I recommend avoiding those type of assumptions is because anything that enables us to clump a group of people together in our minds like that will tend to make them easier to demonize and dehumanize. They are no longer individuals who are each responsible for their own unique perspectives, they are now 'the X group' who is known for 'A B C series of easily attackable ideas or behaviors'.

If we attribute undesirable traits and behaviors to a group of people we feel opposed to in some way, that makes us feel more righteous and justified in behaving unfairly toward them, dismissing their humanity and warring with them. It's just risky behavior to engage in, even when it's well-intentioned.

There might actually be some truth to what you're saying. It could very well be that most of these people are young, inexperienced, heteronormative, etc. but if that's the case then we should try to use those traits to better understand and empathize rather than to better dismiss and discredit.

Just my two cents on that.

It can be really frustrating dealing with what feels like other people attacking us, trying to oppress us, etc. - especially when there are more of them than there are of us. In my experience the best solutions to that sort of problem are generally the ones that focus on what we are doing and want to do rather than what they are doing that we don't want them to do.

As I am always preaching, we can't control what other people say, do or think. The only thing we have any control over is what we say, do and think (and how we respond to what they say, do and think).

I have found in my experience that the moment I step out of a conflict mindset and instead step into a problem-solving mindset, everything starts to come together. I feel better, my outlook is more positive, I can begin to see solutions and allies rather than problems and enemies, and most of all, I become more focused on what I am doing than what others are doing.

So I would recommend everyone who is invested in resolving these conflicts focus on that. "How can we best showcase and encourage the types of stories we enjoy?" instead of "How can we stop these other people from doing things we dislike?"

Anonymous 3 asked:

Hello again! It’s anon #3 from the fanfic post. I really do appreciate reading your thoughts on various issues like this, so thank you for always taking time to write in depth. As for supporting without going to war, the simplest way has always been to just show appreciation for the creators, hype them up. Kudos are the easiest way on ao3 but comments in addition are great. This goes for all content—art, fics, vids..etc. Creators love to see and read how people react to their content. Sharing is also great, fic recs are very helpful, just be cautious with art and reposting though. Hope this helps a bit!

Thanks so much, Anon. I think this is excellent advice. And it's true that appreciation is great, but helping to expand the audience is also great. Recommending stories, pointing people to the pages/websites of artists we like (as opposed to reposting), sharing our own ideas and approaches, encouraging people to try new things... all of this helps build healthier communities.

And here's another one: WRITE! DRAW! CREATE!

I urge anyone with creative interests or talents to bring their voices to the community because we all can benefit from hearing from you.

Thanks again everyone for sharing your thoughts on this issue. I hope that over time we can all work in positive ways to improve the situation.

I think this subject has been well-covered now so I'm going to retire it for the time being. If anyone still feels they want to discuss it further please feel free to message me privately. Thanks.

#fan fiction #fandom reflections #ask

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dotthings · 4 years

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I recommend reading @occamshipper‘s post here [x] that does a whole lot to further unpack some spn fandom dynamics, beyond what I touched on myself earlier today, but more, discusses the evolving nature of SPN itself. Which got me thinking further (as you do).

With 6 episodes left of SPN left on the clock, it seems like a good time to talk more about my love for this series as a whole, and my perspective on the earliest seasons of SPN vs later seasons.

I’ve tried to articulate this on various platforms at different times, but it’s sometimes hard to explain, because it’s a dichotomy but not mutually exclusive.

People will make all kinds of assumptions just because I’m expanded cast friendly, because I’m a Cas fan, because I’m ride or die Team Free Will, because I ship Destiel. Some will think but of course I couldn’t possibly have loved S1-2 with a bone deep love, couldn’t possibly have internalized Sam and Dean and relate to them and see my own weaknesses and strengths reflected there, didn’t have 15 years of emotional roller coaster with SPN. Not just 15 seasons, 15 years. I did have to step away a few times and took breaks from it but not years-long, so I have witnessed every stage of fandom and every stage of canon as it unfolded.

Min brought up in her post how earliest SPN started with archetypes. While the characters were also layered characters, they mostly stayed in their archetypal boxes. Not just how they mirrored archetypes of other media SPN has always been a response to (Dean is Han, Sam is Luke and so on) but how they fell into archetypes established of themselves. Early SPN had a start on overturning those self-created archetypes and expectations, a beginning. Dean in particular very quickly turned out to be not what even the show’s creator expected and they ran with it. Kripke created a show he envisioned as being about monster hunts, like Kolchak, like X-Files, and it was Bob Singer who said no brah it’s about the emotional bonds, it’s about the emotional story, that’s our unique hand to play, and whatever issues I have with EP Bob Singer later on, I respect how right he was about that.

The irony of Dabb era constantly being ripped down and attacked for...being that, simply because it’s not only the brother bond any more.

One popular negative meme in spn fandom involves complaining SPN isn’t scary any more. True, the style of its horror changed, it changed visually, and I do appreciate the early visual style, but the flip side of that statement is that SPN started out relying on jump scares and mere style for its frights, when even in the earliest seasons it was clear the most horrifying or wrenching moments were going to be emotional. As I said on twitter, over time SPN became an increasingly complex study of its main characters, with escalating moral quandaries, and increasingly a rumination on emotional horror, conquering of inner demons, and most of all the importance of love of all kinds.

See, the thing is, I really really REALLY loved S1 and 2. No you really can’t even know how much I loved SPN in those seasons. It had a gestalt that cannot be recaptured, and I dove in head-first. The dusty back roads, the intense familial emotional storylines, the haunted houses, the monsters, the dilapidated or forgotten places, the cursed apple orchards, the abandoned buildings, the brothers, the tears. Yes, it’s gorgeous. Let’s light a candle and remember it fondly.

When I rewatch it holds up well enough...it also feels claustrophobic. Limited. Small. So small. Yes still beautiful. But much as I loved the Winchesters and their story and their family already then, a lot of that love is also bleedback because of learning so much more about them. So much more. After that.

When I rewatch anything before Carver era it feels like that, too small, and I miss the full breadth of what the characters became. I do have some issues with Carver, but he did a lot of great things too.

By S3 the magic was dwindling for me a little. S3 is when I started to think I was going to just get tired of the show and that was bewildering tbh, because S1-2 were just SO DAMN AMAZING to me. But that’s how it goes sometimes.

S4 banged the doors open and blew my mind. It wasn’t just Cas’s arrival, but Cas was a herald of it. Cas the most of any member of Sam and Dean’s extended family got the closest to them, could carry stories of his own, and most embodied some of SPN’s biggest themes. But it wasn’t about Cas’s arrival alone.

I thought I knew all SPN was capable of and S4 showed me otherwise and I was a giddy, proud SPN fan about S4. LOOK AT WHAT OUR LITTLE SHOW DID. The canvas got bigger, the character stories got even stronger, more powerful, and more painful. Let’s pedal to the metal and see what she can do.

Season after season and showrunner after showrunner. Even my least favorite showrunner had something more to show me about these characters, something more to learn. (There are a few arcs with every showrunner where I did feel like SPN was spinning its wheels, I’m talking in aggregate, by era, although I don’t love every era the same).

When I rewatch earliest SPN I miss the Sam and Dean I’ve gotten to know because of course they aren’t there yet, they are just beginning. I have a mirror to that with Cas. When I rewatch S4-6, even parts of Carver era. S4/5 Cas is still exciting. Those are his beginnings, like S1-2 are Sam and Dean’s. But I miss all Cas became. I miss how far he grew. Watching Sam, Dean, Cas on screen while also missing Sam, Dean, Cas. They also don’t feel complete to me without their earliest seasons in my mind to build forward from.

I don’t expect everyone to agree with me about the goodness of modern SPN, but they could at least admit that the SPN they loved left the building long ago, eons ago, instead of staying around season after season just to tear down, to hate, to attack. Everything from character development existing as a concept to the basic easy to grok idea that people can love more than one person to *insert repetitive wanking here on how Dabb ruined SPN by utilizing themes SPN has always always had there since the start and took them farther* to just being mad that S15 isn’t S1. Modern SPN gets torn to shreds for being SPN only stronger with more complexity, more character pov, more emotional unpacking, more and more about family and how family is constructed, and with a rich visual language and use of symbolism that can hold its own with earlier seasons, and it’s just plain fact, this vitriol was aimed at Carver as well as at Dabb, FYI, and I have my own issues with both of them.

Is it really REALLY necessary to hate on a show that has always been billed at being about family for being...about family. Really? Do people even go here?? What is UP with that. Season after season of hard core stans preaching “SPN is about family” and now they’re pissed that...SPN is about family. Upteen repetitions of whining about “too soap opera.” As others have pointed out, if you didn’t already figure out that SPN was and is a family soap opera with monsters, there isn’t much help to be had for you. Upteen repetitions of whining that SPN grants redemptive arcs. What show have folks even been watching all these years????? Upteen rages because on a 15 season show characters grow, things change, and S1 and S15 are not the same.

SPN has always been about the characters most of all, it’s always been about the emotions most of all, it’s always been about relationships most of all.

SPN is not eternally 2 boys in a car shooting monsters in the face on a back road dilapidated barn while those 2 boys repeat their first look archetypal roles, undisturbed in an endless loop. I can recognize how beautiful S1-2 were without discarding all that came after, and I’m realizing more and more how Dabb era is making me reflect over the whole series run, and giving me a new perspective on the long journey of the characters.

Speaking as a fan who has loved this show since September 2005, but is also intrigued by current storylines, that melding of old and new, of new light shed over the past, while bringing the story forward, moving the characters forward, is also beautiful to me.

#spn #supernatural #spn meta

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jenetica · 3 years

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A Brief Note from Our Sponsors: Us.

Greetings! If you’re here, it’s likely that you have questions or complaints about our decisions regarding the Calendar Girls series. An ominous start to this discussion, but truly, we welcome you! If you’re here, it means you have been emotionally impacted by our work and, even though this context isn’t the cheeriest, we are so, so grateful you (1) enjoyed our work enough to care about it, and (2) want to develop a better understanding of our process so that you can engage with Calendar Girl more.

First of all, we understand why you’d be upset with us! The cliffhanger at the end of AotM was a DOOZY and leaves a LOT of important questions unanswered, and we left you readers hanging for a LONG time. This post will, hopefully, assuage the worst of your fears without giving away too many plot points.

That being said, please note that there WILL be spoilers ahead. If you want to see the story unfold as we intended, do NOT read this post further. We will tell you now that the post addresses the Deadpool’s identity, our decisions regarding the construction of AotM and the final cliffhanger, our decisions regarding developing the sequel as a prequel, and our plans for future installments. And, naturally, the accusations of “queerbaiting.”

Let’s get started.

QUEERBAITING

It makes sense to open with the most serious issue, so let’s talk about queerbaiting. For anyone here who doesn’t know, queerbaiting is defined as the purposeful insinuation of a homosexual/queer relationship, only to backtrack/subvert that insinuation to avoid the queer relationship. For an example, see: Supernatural from Season 4 and on.

We have received accusations of queerbaiting for about four years, based exclusively on the reveal at the end of the final chapter. Similarly, we have received complaints that we duped readers into reading hetfic. So, to get things out of the way, yes, Deadpool is Gwen. No, it’s not a trick of the light, or a mistake, or some odd resemblance. They are one and the same. HOWEVER, that does NOT mean that we have queerbaited anyone.

First of all, the tags of the story are honest, and they always have been. AotM is tagged as a “Multi” fic, meaning that there are relationships of multiple orientations involved, and it is tagged with Peter/Gwen as well as Peter/Wade. Careless Whisper is tagged as F/M. We have never suggested or implied that the story would exclusively be slash fiction. We actually left multiple hints that Wade enjoyed femininity, at least as a practice, if not an identity. iFlail and I discussed this issue at length as we wrote/edited AotM and carefully crafted the story with queerbaiting in mind.

Peter is an unreliable narrator, he always has been, and he always will be. In AotM, Peter assumes Wade is a man and thus, for the purposes of the narrative, Wade is one. The truth, however, is less clean than that. We won’t get into the details here, but safe to say, gender is not binary, it is not permanent, and it is not inexorably linked to one’s biology. Wade has a complicated history and a complicated/unique sense of identity. We have always intended for him to be that way, just as we always intended for him to be notably, pointedly smaller than Peter.

The accusations of queerbaiting and/or conning readers into reading “het” fic are exclusionary of the greater conversation of gender identity. It was, frankly, disheartening to see so many people assume heterosexuality based exclusively on the last word of AotM. We hope that our work will challenge readers to be more mindful of the expansive world of gender, and to avoid assuming that a specific kind of pairing might involve specific kinds of body parts.

If you have any questions or reservations about our queerbaiting at this point, you are either welcome to keep reading future installments of this work to learn more, or you are welcome to stop altogether. The choice is yours.

CONSTRUCTING THE STORY ARC - PRESENT, PAST, AND FUTURE

With that hot-button topic out of the way, let’s talk about the greater concept of ending a story of a cliffhanger, our thoughts behind building this series, and our goals for future installments.

The second part of the Calendar Girl series, Careless Whisper, was written first, and it comes first chronologically. I (Jenetica) initially worked on the story by myself, as an exploration into the concept of “Gwen becoming Deadpool” to see how it might play out. I ended up writing a story I loved, so I moved onto the next part of the story, set four years later. This ended up becoming Angel of the Morning.

@iflailfic, a good IRL friend of mine from college, came onboard (after I wooed her with several stories worth of porn, as you can see through a jaunt through my posted works) to help me edit. She fell in love with AotM and, as we worked on first draft edits, she floated the idea of AotM coming before Careless Whisper. Honestly, I rejected the idea at first (not sure if she actually knows/remembers that part, lol), because I couldn’t fathom how we would be able to link the parts of the story together. But, eventually, I began to realize her point: AotM introduces our protagonists, develops the “current” world for the series, and has a more dynamic/engaging plot.

The cliffhanger was a joke at first. My idea. I think my exact words were something like, “LOLOL what if we just ended on ‘GWEN?’ OMG IMAGINE hahahahaha.” But, as we continued to edit… it became the perfect way to end things. Anything that came after that point felt like trash. If we’d expanded any further, we ran the risk of falling headfirst into Part 3 and doubling the size of AotM. Let’s be real, the ending is, all waiting aside, an absolute nuclear bomb on the rest of the story.

We talked about the likelihood of enraged readers. But we rationalized it by telling each other/ourselves that we had Careless Whisper written, so the wait wouldn’t be too killer.

Best laid plans.

I (Jenetica) take full responsibility for the time it took to start posting again. Over the last four years, I have gone through a number of experiences that challenged my sense of self and pushed me to become a different person, including moving halfway across the country, attending a relatively prestigious law school where I was no longer “the smart kid in the room,” and losing the relationship that I later learned was toxic and abusive. I lost my confidence in a number of ways, including my confidence as a writer. I became terrified that I would never produce anything that lived up to AotM, and that I would disappoint the many (many!) readers demanding answers. Luckily for me, through that adversity I found rewarding friendships, a beautiful partner who treats me the way I’d always fantasized/written about people like me getting treated, and an engaging career that leaves me with enough energy to write. My experiences are mirrored by iFlail, who went through a different, but similarly life-changing, series of events. But through this all, we never lost hope in this story, and we always planned to complete the series. We are wiser, stronger people now, and we both believe that the story will be richer for it.

Which brings us to now, and our plans for the future. We do NOT intend to wait another four years to post X Gon’ Give It To Ya, the third and final installment of the series. We have spent countless hours brainstorming the plot, and all that’s really left to do is put it to paper. But, for people who are afraid of being burned twice, we will warn you now that Careless Whisper is JUST a prequel. If you want to know what happens after the “Gwen?” reveal, you will not get any answers until XGGITY (which I have, as of just now, decided to pronounce as “Ziggity”). We hope you stick around to watch Careless Whisper unfold, but we will understand if you want to wait until XGGITY to start reading again.

IN CONCLUSION - FINAL THOUGHTS

The Calendar Girl series has received more attention than we’d ever dreamed, and regardless of whether you liked or disliked our work, we want to thank you for taking the time to read it. If you made it to the end of AotM, we did something right, and again, we are so grateful that so many people have stuck with us this far.

We encourage everyone, moving forward, to keep a close eye on the tags that we use for our stories. We may not tag everything relevant, for the sake of preserving mystery about the plot, but we will be sure to tag everything that may be triggering or concerning, like self-harm, violence, or expected brand of romantic/sexual interactions. We will be adding this warning to the beginning of each story in the series.

Additionally, we want to acknowledge that there is a stark difference between legitimate concerns about the story and unfounded attacks on our character. Our decision to make this post is our attempt to dissuade the latter: We are not queerbaiting, and we have no interest in “forcing” people to read content that is not to their taste. However, that doesn’t mean that our execution of AotM, Careless Whisper, and/or XGGITY will be beyond reproach. The conversation on gender politics has evolved tremendously over the years that we’ve been working on this series, and it will undoubtedly continue to evolve as we progress into the future. We encourage constructive (!!!) criticism and open conversation on ways that we can improve our story, even if it involves tweaking published work to avoid mishandling deeply personal issues.

That said, if, after reading this post, you are still upset and/or unconvinced about our intentions for this series, we encourage you to stop reading it. We are not compensated for this work, and we have spent hundreds (probably thousands, by now) of hours striving to make the Calendar Girl series the best that it can be, for our own benefit. We believe that it may be the best fanfiction we will ever produce, and our satisfaction with our work is our priority. We will continue to post with that priority at the forefront, and with the demands of our reader base playing second fiddle. Similarly, we expect our readers to prioritize their needs above all others. We ask for your patience and your kindness moving forward and, if you cannot give us that, you are welcome to close the tab and move on with your life to other ventures that suit your interests better.

For those of you that choose to stay: You are in for a hell of a ride. We are both anxious to get through Careless Whisper, because we are both SO excited to share XGGITY with you. We believe it’s going to knock your socks off. We hope to see you there.

Thanks, everyone, and happy reading!

#angel of the morning #calendar girl #spideypool #hashtags

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amachja-moved · 3 years

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SHIPPING INFO // answer the following for your muse(s) so people know how shipping works on your blog. REPOST. don’t reblog.

WHAT’S YOUR OTP FOR YOUR MUSE?: I don’t typically tend to have OTPs that are not canon; I don’t spontaneously ship characters on a show that are not an actual canon pairing, even less so when there is no sign of them being the possibility of a pairing. I would say there are fandom-made ships whose aesthetics and possible dynamics I gravitate towards, or that I can see making sense, more than proper OTPs (because part of me also appreciates seeing platonic relationships, blame my lil aroace heart that doesn’t see enough well-developed, important friendships, for instance - doesn’t stop me from loving fanarts and pairings I stumble upon or am introduced to, like Mikasasha or Berusasha!). For Sasha specifically, Sasha & Niccolo is the main one, precisely because it is canon and makes complete sense - there really is no better match for Sasha than a cook, and the fact that he is a Marleyan doubles down on the Braus’ themes of tolerance and open-mindedness. And of course, I have my ultimate BROTPs, namely the trio Sasha & Connie & Jean, and Mikasa & Sasha & Historia. Bffs and roommates Sasha & Mikasa. And since the train track episode, Sasha & Armin.

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO RP WHEN IT COMES TO SHIPPING?: Pretty much anything goes! Except non-consensual stuff, abuse, things such as incest, paedophilia etc - nobody can ever convince me to include that in any ship whatsoever. I rp to have a good time and be full of feels, I love me a good angst, but those things I would not consider good angst. What I’m willing to rp includes pretty much anything else: fluffy ships, angsty ships, soft ships, tragedy, fun stuff, evolution from friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, and all and any nuance that we can think of. I like variety in my ships! And I like to go deep into the development, so the upside is, if you choose to ship with me, you will always have a partner willing to discuss the relationship at length and imagine all the details of it all, and start ten different threads (note that this goes with platonic ships too - friendships, family, etc). The possible downside you may find, depending on your own preferences, is that it takes me a little while to find my footing, and I like to put in the time to find the right tone so that the ship doesn’t just... jump out of the blue, if that makes sense? And sometimes I wonder if it may deter people or make them think I’m not as enthusiastic or involved in the ship, when in reality it’s the opposite. Shipping on tumblr also feels very different from my experience of shipping on a forum, where it’s all about long-term development and commitment, and where I’ve had the same three ship partners for three years now, so maybe I need to adjust to the more ephemeral format of tumblr too. (what do you mean I completely derailed from the original question?)

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?: I absolutely will not rp a ship where one character is a minor and the other is not. When it comes to AoT, I also will not ship Sasha with anyone who is already an adult when she is still a Cadet, including post-timeskip - for instance, I will not ship Sasha with a Levi, even when she is an adult. It just doesn’t sit right with me.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?: Aye I am. I’ve never shipped a lot (I’m pretty sure this blog is where I’ve shipped the most, ever), partly due to being selective, partly due to not necessarily being very good at understanding the tumblr shipping etiquette because I’m a wee bit of a simpleton. But basically, I will not ship unless I have talked ooc with the mun of the other muse, and we’ve had a few interactions pointing towards compatibility of writing styles and personalities. I just want to get along with the people I ship with and enjoy their writing, and hopefully that they enjoy my writing too and want to interact regularly too! (what’s the point in shipping, otherwise) (or interacting at all, for that matter!)

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY’RE CONSIDERED NS.FW?: Eeeeeeh clothes go off and/or mentions are made of what happens below the belt? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ time to whip out that nsfw tag. WHO ARE OTHER MUSES YOU SHIP YOUR MUSE WITH?: As of the writing of this post, Sasha is shipped with free-us‘s Niccolo, gerichteter‘s Bertholdt, and libartes‘ Porco (you should check out their blogs, they’re awesome muns and muses). All three are very different ships in nature, which is always my main concern when shipping with multiple muses, so I am very grateful to them for writing those stories with me, building these relationships, and exploring very different dynamics that I find super compelling to write! DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?: Yes please, though I believe this has become common standard in the rp community, so, yay! HOW OFTEN DO YOU LIKE TO SHIP?: I love shipping, but I would rather have fewer ships that I have the chance to explore and develop in depth, through ooc talk and ic interactions and threads, than have many ships and not get to write them or very little. The interest of a ship, for me, lies in development. I also need balance with other kinds of ships (friendships etc), so all of you out there writing intricate friendships and other relationships with me, know that you have my love and gratitude and that you keep this blog going and my heart happy. ARE YOU SHIP OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?: See answer above. I don’t know that I’m ship-obsessed, but I would say I’m ship-committed (good lord I hope I’m not scaring anyone away with this). And that goes for all kinds of relationships, not just romance! I’m always happy to trade headcanons and tailor our muses’ relationships, regardless of nature, so that it feels unique and can develop over time. Or just gush about our characters because if we’re threading/interacting, it means that I love them. (also platonic ships are awesome) ARE YOU MULTISHIP?: Yessir I am - though I do tend to ship with only one iteration of any given muse, because of my preference for variety I already touched upon. I don’t know that I would be interested in shipping with another Bertholdt as long as I’m shipping with Lani’s, for instance. Just a preference on my end, that absolutely does not constitute a requirement for my shipping partners - unless of course we decide to be exclusives, but that’s a different matter of etiquette.

WHAT IS ( ARE ) YOUR FAVORITE SHIP(S) IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?: Aaaaahfgdh Sasha & Niccolo, Reiner & Bertholdt (yeah, remember what I said about not shipping pairings that are not official? They’re the exception), Annie & Armin. Also Reiner & a good therapist, this man needs help.

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?: Write with me, see if you like what you read, and shoot me a message so that we can discuss it :)

TAGGED BY: a friend on a different platform! TAGGING: if you want to do it, say I tagged you!

#ooc; potato mun #i've had this in my drafts for a week and completely forgot about it oops #this is a lot of fun to think about #and the questions are geared towards romantic ships but pretty much everything i say there applies to friendships and other relationships to #i guess i just really like character development mate

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mallowstep · 3 years

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What are the general Windclan thoughts on Tallstar never taking a mate? Is it considered odd in their clan culture?

welllll.....the short answer is, it's complicated.

there are two parts to this, and i'm going to start with the easier one: is it odd not to take a mate?

to which the answer is, yes and no.

it's odd in the sense that it's atypical, but it's not odd in the sense that no one looks strangely at him for not taking a mate.

overall, windclan basically understands that tallstar has a Special Someone out there that's not a clan cat, and that's that.

now, the harder part to answer is not a question you asked, so much as one i feel like tossing in.

first, i want to say, part of this is because tallstar is a tom. mousefur of thunderclan, on the other hand, is considered much more atypical. this is for a few reasons, but the shortest one is: she's not odd for taking a mate, but rather for not having a litter.

since she-cats can have a litter without having a mate, they're generally assumed to have an interest in it. c'est la vie. my au is not a better world, just a different one.

second, it's time to acknowledge the difference between mates and nestmates. and by that i mean, i'm going to (partially) answer a question i've talked around more than once: what does it mean to be a gay cat?

well, briefly: imo, mates connote children. i'm going to differentiate now between mates and nestmates, which i wasn't doing previously. mates = pair of cats with children, nestmates = pair of cats who sleep together platonically.

these two relationships are not mutually exclusive, but they do tend to be different cats. nestmates are often a more important relationship, but not always. cloudtail & brightheart are a good example of being nestmates and mates, and...frankly in my opinion/headcanons/etc, greystripe & firestar are nestmates and firestar & sandstorm are mates.

this is not unique to clan culture, but part of being cat. neither of these relationships are strictly monogamous, either. but we're not going into full cat relationship dynamics or this post would never end.

so. if mates connote children, gay cats cannot be mates. (yes, i know i acknowledge adoption and therefore they could have children, but we're putting that to one side for the purposes of reducing the concept of mates and gay to their bare essentials. i'll talk about this when i'm done with that.)

but! there's a fundamental difference in the relationship between greystripe & firestar and tallstar & jake. any cat could easily see this, even if they couldn't describe it.

so that's usually how being gay realizes itself: best friends plus.

okay. now. there are two problems with this that i, a gay person, would like to resolve. i think leaving it here would be fine for world building purposes, but i'm not done. cats who have human level intelligence also have intelligence to sort out identity. kind of.

right, so the first problem is adoption, and yes! gay cats adopt kits regularly. while they don't often have surrogates, orphans and strays are often sent to a gay couple. this is a thing that happens in the wild.

single mothers who want their kits to have a father might lean on a gay couple to do so, and a single father will probably be close with the queen that nursed his kit, and the queen's wife.

(side note: while i wasn't raised exactly like this, nor do i want to talk about my personal life on this blog, but i was raised in a non-nuclear family, and i have only good things to say about it.)

so okay, that's cool. there's a route to becoming mates via kits. and with that in mind, we can return to calling gay cats mates since they can hypothetically have kits.

right?

well, maybe.

see, i don't think cats have a good concept of romance.

(cw: going to get...not graphic or detailed, but going to talk about some pg-13 related topics for a moment.)

okay, to summarize, in the briefest possible terms, i think because of the anatomy and nature of cats, it's important to assume/remember/understand that cats are not having sex for pleasure. especially gay couples.

now, i basically always never think about this because...i don't want to, no thank you, but i just wanted to point that out. so really, cats have a sexual relationship and a platonic one.

why? well, to ask a question my aro friend asked of me: what is romantic love?

i'm not going to answer that, but my point here loops around to: while there is a fundamental difference between romantic and platonic relationships, in the absence of sex, i can't imagine cats would develop a robust understanding of what that difference is.

BACK TO FAMILY FRIENDLY CONTENT

right, as i was saying.

to return to my grey&fire vs tall&jake comparison, with the understanding that cats don't have a concept of romance, cats are really going to struggle to name the difference, even if they know there is one.

attempt to, if you will, explain the difference between cuddling with friends and cuddling with a romantic partner. it's not easy, even if you know that there is one.

so okay, what are tall&jake? i will continue to call them mates, continue to tag it as tall/jake, and so on. however, from the perspective of cats, i'm not really sure how this would all be realized.

and this is a line that i draw in "what i write" and "what i think," because as a gay person, i don't want to do that to my bbies. i don't like it.

ANYWAY.

this was a lot, and to summarize: tallstar has jake, and it's really not unusual to take a mate outside your clan. so he's not considered terribly odd for that, no.

cats have a bigger...problem? with ace/aro indivudals.

#ask #anon #gay cat talk #windclan #essay #long #tallstar #jake #mine #txt

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liam-93-productions · 5 years

Link

I remember meeting Liam Payne once before. I was writing the cover story on One Direction for this very magazine four years ago and, finally, after endless tail chasing and schedule clashes, I managed to pin all five members down backstage at the O2 shortly before they played to what seemed like a bazillion screaming teenagers. The air was heavy with the fug of Haribo Starmix and raging hormones; even at that point the band were already more popular than The Beatles in some circles. Or, as John Lennon would have put it, Jesus.

The band members were courteous and convivial. One certainly got the impression that their time wasn’t their own, although any cracks that would end up splintering the band some years later were kept well hidden. I remember Payne for being perhaps the most grounded out of all five of them. He seemed to have an ease with his status and fortune that kept his ego in check. He seemed genuinely bamboozled at the hysteria going on around them. He was a young, ambitious pop star caught in fame’s full beams.

Last week, in some respects, a very different man sat down for an exclusive chat with GQ Hype. He’s certainly more hench, as this exclusive shoot with fashion photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott prove. Whoa. We talked about his sizzling new underwear campaign with Hugo Boss, his first nude shoot (which may well be his last if his dear mother has anything to do with it) and we reminisced about his One Direction days, a period which he came out of shaken, sure, but not completely upside down or inside out.

He’s been through a great deal since the end of being one fifth of the biggest boy bands in history – drink problems, therapy, (...), anxiety – but at his core he’s still that same multi-talented, hard-working boy from Wolverhampton, honest about his faults and still excited to see where all this is taking him. Undoubtedly, he’s a man who wears his heart on his sleeve. Well, when he’s wearing any sleeves at all...

GQ: So how’s the build-up to the debut album, LP1?

Liam Payne: Good, can’t complain. Just rewriting a lot of things in my world at the moment. That’s why I was in with my top, top manager for a while just reconfiguring things towards the end of the year.

What are you reconfiguring?

Well, we just kind of ticked off album one. The writing process was interesting to say the least. I mean, it was almost like blind dating in LA with different writers, and when that happens it’s hard to get traction, or get to know anyone properly, or let your guard down in a way. You feel like you’re going into different rooms all the time, with different styles. There are so many things that can affect the writing unless you find that one person who can carry you all the way through a record. Post Malone has a producer called Louis Bell, whom he works with, and there's a common stitch throughout the whole thing that kind of puts it all together properly, whereas we never really found that.

How come that never materialised?

I was going through a bunch of stuff when we started writing the album – growing up and all sorts of different shit coming out of the band. So for me it wasn't the best entry into the writing side of it and making personal music rather than writing for a band. So it was difficult, but I mean the album is done and coming out and I absolutely love it and it's just interesting to see that my favourite is from when I was younger. The first albums I listened to actually helped create my first album, so super cool.

It sounds like it’s been a long process getting the debut album finished?

It’s been, since “Strip That Down” really, the best part of two maybe three years to get everything finished. And it was difficult. I mean, it's opening up at first and trying to figure out who you are and what people want to know from you. And what the sound is. Trying to find that medium point for all those things. It's just the most difficult thing, especially at a young age when you're constantly changing and you don't really know yourself yet. We spent the best part of five years in a band closed off from the world and I had to go through this really weird transition inside that band as the world, and then myself, came out of it. I mean, even in my therapy sessions, my therapist asked me, “What do you actually like to do?” And I'm like, “I don’t know what I like doing!”

Most people presumed you came out of One Direction fully formed. That wasn’t the case?

Everything changed. New teams, new managers, new labels. Building those working relationships can be tricky. You also become the boss of your own shit, and I was 21, 22 when I first started doing my own thing, so it’s all a bit scary and can be a bit lonely. That’s not a complaint; it's also a lot of fun as well. We have a great time. Now the band members have all worked our way through this first couple of years, you can kind of see everyone's finding their own feet. Take Harry [Styles] at the moment. You know, he's just found what I think is his sound and exactly where he wants to be, which took him a little minute to get into since he had his last album out. So, yeah, it just takes time.

Towards the end of One Direction, were you aware of everyone’s own tastes developing?

I think so. I mean, for me, someone like Louis [Tomlinson] always had a very specific taste – things like Green Day, that was the era he was from... also Oasis and old Robbie Williams. Harry always played an eclectic mix of stuff too. I can always remember the one time Harry put Rick Springfield’s “Jessie's Girl’ on and I had never really heard it before but it was an interesting choice. I liked it nevertheless. And then for me, I mean, when I wrote “Better Than Words” for the last 1D album, it had a different rhythm for us, something we hadn’t done before. So you could definitely see those unique tastes early on. I think funnily enough it was through fashion and style that our own perspectives could be seen most of all, all hints of what was to come for us. We would always wear black on stage, black skinny jeans and a black T-shirt, but maybe we’d add something else as individuals. I remember Harry having these cool rings, for example, and then he’d go crazy with his shirts as time went on. Saying that, I think Louis still dresses pretty much the same as he used to.

Was it competitive with the other band members?

I mean, for me personally, I don't think I ever really looked at it that way. I think the biggest question for all of us at the start was figuring out who the hell we were without each other around, which is a really weird thing because you’d found your dynamic and role within the band. But then when you started a solo thing it was almost like leaving like school or university and trying to find your place within the real world. So I think it was more the pressure of that than anything else, rather than us competing with each other on, like, dress sense or vibe or even the music.

You mentioned therapy. Was that while you were still in the band?

I went into therapy a couple years after leaving. I kind of went off the rails a little bit and just couldn't really figure out what was making me sad. So, you know, my team got somebody around to help me through a couple of different, difficult things that I was going through. I was just trying to figure myself out. It was just such a strange course through life, and then when the switch turns off you're left to your own devices...

Did it throw you off when the band’s scheduled just stopped? Going from having a two-year plan to not even having a two-day plan?

I mean, yeah, we went through a really weird retirement phase. It’s quite funny, when my dad retired, I was telling him what to expect: first off, you're not going to get out of bed for ages, and then all of a sudden you get an urge to get out of bed all the time and start trying to do stuff just to seem like you are doing things. But I think everyone in the band went through this really weird retirement phase and trying to switch off. For me, I remember standing in my garden at my house and just looking around thinking, “It's been a lot of fun, but what do I do now that’s done? What actually happens at this point? Who do I call? Who is the ‘point of’ person?” I just didn't really know what was going to happen; a very strange thing to be involved in. All of it is weird, but that was a real strange moment. But things pick up and slowly you start getting back into the groove again.

Were you worried about not being famous any more? Or making music? About it all just stopping?

Actually, no. I kind of always knew that something would happen. I just didn't know what the hell it was going to be. And that was the scariest part of it. You just didn't really want to make a fool of yourself at that point. I think after such a long legacy of your band being absolutely amazing, the most important thing was make sure you don’t step off that pedestal; don't embarrass yourself. The biggest worry was don't ruin the legacy.

Let's talk about the underwear campaign with Hugo Boss. These are some incredible photographs taken by Mert and Marcus…

It got very raunchy very quickly. I hadn’t been properly warned about the amount of nudity Mert and Marcus do in their work, let's say. Mert’s actually become a really good friend now. We were in his house to three in the morning the other day singing karaoke, which is so funny. Yeah, I mean, really great to work with. I think everyone was quite surprised early on that they wanted to work with me and it kind of gave us a little nod and an entry into working in fashion proper.

Had you always wanted to land an underwear campaign?

Before we landed the deal with Hugo Boss I’d gone into my gym and said, “I'm going to get an underwear commercial.” I just wanted to do it; I knew I could do it. And then it actually happened! And I worked my ass off and I'm still hitting the gym: I didn't realise once you get on that thing you can't really turn it off. You've got to keep it going. Like I said, it’s been a lot of training and being an athlete and working out – it became 90 per cent of my job for the best part of a year leading up to that shoot, which was crazy. Come 2019 everyone's a lot more open about body image and I wanted to get in shape. Not to show off my body to anyone else, I just knew that’s what would give the confidence on set. I didn’t want to arrive not ready and not looking like I’d worked hard to get there. But what a thing to do and then to go on to designing clothes for Hugo Boss too – an amazing experience. We actually had the first design meeting [for the clothing line] here and I remember in the car on the way to the meeting thinking, “What have you got yourself into?” That always seems to happen to me. I was lucky enough to spend some time with a friend of mine, Kim Jones [artistic director at Dior menswear], and he gave me some great advice: “It’s the same as music: once you’ve had a hit you know what people want from you.” And I took that with me into the design meeting and used that to help the whole process. Find the hit and make it work.

Have you done a nude shoot before?

No! Well, not a planned one, at least. There was a lot of tequila involved for this shoot. I mean, the first day we did most of the shots for the capsule collection and then the last shots were the box shots for the front of the underwear packaging – which was just like, “Wow, I get to be the guy on the box,” which was a real moment. I’d never take that for granted. And then like the next day, we set up again and the model, Stella Maxwell, she's in the shoot with me. And it just ended up being a lot more naked than I thought it was – and for her as well. She was also naked. And I was just, you know, “Don’t look!” She was naked behind me and I was thinking, “Liam, don’t look whatever you do.”

Talk to me about the curtain shot...

Wow. Yes, I mean it was just a room full of five or six people and a hell of a lot of tequila to get me to this level. I was standing there and all of a sudden it was, “Right, OK, take them off.” I'm like, “Really? Take them off? Off, off? Like on-the-floor off? Oh, my God.” And there was a real hollow moment afterwards where I was sitting outside smoking a cigarette thinking, “I have basically just shot soft-core porn.” For one, my mum is going to kill me. For another thing, I don’t know how far this is going to go... That was just the first shot! It was a lot of fun to shoot but my mum wasn’t best pleased. There’s this really raunchy shot of me and Stella, and I showed my mum. She took one look at it and gave me a clip round the ear. All I was thinking was, “I better not tell her about the London buses!”

Still, your parents must be very proud?

The One Direction thing was enough. Just to get to that level. I would have happily walked away at that point. But now with all the other things I have managed to achieve, not least this underwear campaign with Hugo Boss, it’s meant a lot to me personally. I think it’s got me closer to those men whom I respect so much, people like David Beckham and Brad Pitt, such icons in their own lifestyles. It’s a real pinch-me moment. I can’t believe it hasn’t all burnt down to the ground yet, to be honest.

You mentioned a bad patch, a depression of sorts?

There was a lot of stuff. I was drinking too much and getting into really bad, bad situations for quite some time actually. And I hit a peak moment where I knew the drinking was going to get me; I needed to do something about it. I spent a lot of time drinking to escape the crazy world that I had created for myself. I didn't know what I was doing. That first therapy session and being like, “I don't even know what I like or anything about myself” – it was pretty scary stuff. I was afraid of how far my career was going and that it might go even further. You can say, “Who is afraid of success?” But that’s what it entails sometimes. Success has got the better of me on more than one occasion. When I am losing I tend to concentrate more.

Did you stop drinking for a bit?

Yes, I got sober for about a year, cutting down so the only vice was cigarettes. I hadn't planned to go sober forever, it was more important for me to say I didn't actually didn't need to drink. I wanted to prove it. I did the whole year, no booze completely, and at that point I didn’t actually know being sober was making my life any better. Things went up, but things like my social life plummeted. I was the biggest recluse on the planet. I would get up at 5am and go running in the park, but at night I would be in bed by 7pm. Is that a way to live your life? And in a strange way I am trying to still figure all that out and get the balance right between being a party animal and being an animal in the gym – the latter not being fun at all. We are all at fault; we all need balance.

So, 12 December: Boris or Jeremy?

I think I will vote but I am always out of the country. We need a mobile app where we can vote with our thumbprint or something. I mean, in regards to Boris or Jeremy, I don't think we give people enough time. Same with West Brom football club. They always change their manager every week it seems and we never get time to gel with anybody. So it's like, if I was changing my manager every week, I'd probably be really shit too. We need to give someone a chance to at least have a proper go of it or it will never be fixed. Also, I don't think it's always the one person that's to blame. Take Winston Churchill, people hated him at first, thought he was a drunk, that he had no clue, [wondered] what’s he doing going to war. Maybe we should all just be more like Winston Churchill.

Zayn has been through his own difficulties with fame and anxiety...

I think for anybody entering into these talent shows we do them for specific reasons. And I've often asked myself this question a bunch of times because we all went through it. You know, for me, as I was younger, from my own experience, I entered the show because I wanted to make my dad proud. Fast forward ten years and here we are in his office, talking about an album and an underwear campaign – incredible. But here’s the thing: you just don't know until you get there whether you're built for this or not. For Zayn, he loves music and he's an amazing talent. He genuinely was the best singer in One Direction, hand on heart, out of all of us. But for him to get to a point where, you know, he can't step on a stage? It's a lot. I mean, he's doing great. His streaming numbers are ridiculous but I do think he misses out on the performance side a bit, you know. He can't seem to get past that part. We all have it. I mean, I have this, like, brain fart syndrome: I was on medication for a while, and it was something to do with epilepsy, but I was using it for something else. And it was to do with anxiety for me too, fully prescribed, but I didn't realise that [on the medication] certain lights made me forget, well, everything. I totally forgot who I was. And lyrics. It still happens. I have a fear of it now. It happens all the time. So we all have our little beasties in that sort of scenario. But this era of talent shows, it is dangerous and some people just don’t know what they are getting into.

Did you want to reach out to him?

I did, yeah. I didn’t want him to feel like he was going through this all alone in some ways, or that we were all out to get him. We're the only people who know what you're going through. The only five people who know what you are going through were all in a room together once, and you left – fair enough – but you don’t want anyone going through such evils for no reason. But it got to a point with me where I wouldn’t know where to begin with Zayn. I hope he has good people around him, but I don’t at this stage think it’s anything the rest of us can solve.

Are there still grudges between the five of you?

Definitely in some part, yeah. We had our differences throughout the whole experience with some things. I still think about some stuff that was said and done that now I would do differently, but then that's all part of growing up. Being in One Direction was such a schoolyard mentality somehow – the One Direction University, I call it. Everyone has stuff they’ve said at parties they wished they hadn’t but, for us, the difference was that it was all happening in front of the world. Now we are older, for me certainly there are things that I am just not as bothered about. I think with Zayn’s particular exit and the way he chose to go, we haven’t really heard from him since he left. He didn’t even say goodbye, if I am being honest. It was a really sordid scenario, from our side certainly. A bit strange. It’s difficult.

The Hugo x Liam Payne bodywear collection is available now. Payne’s debut album, LP1, is out 6 December and available to pre-order now.

#liam payne #british gq #hugo boss #hugo bodywear #lp1 #liam's interviews #04.11.2019

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blodreina-noumou · 4 years

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Hi! I hope you can help me understand ^^ what's all the drama with Bob Morley and the showrunner? I saw rumors and stuff but I'm not really sure I get the situation. Thanks!!

Oh goodness, okay. I’ll do my best to recap, but finding sources is gonna be impossible because it’s pretty much all rumors.

If anyone wants to jump in and fill in the gaps, please feel free!

Sometime last year, Bob Morley left a convention early. I don’t know why - I know he’s had some personal health issues (a knee injury, mental health struggles, etc,) and I think the con became overwhelming for him. Richard Harmon stepped in to fill the remainder of his slots.

Rumors started up that JRoth and Bob feuded over his early departure from the convention - that JRoth found it unprofessional and ripped Bob a new one. Bob lashed back. That’s allegedly where the bad blood starts. It has supposedly continued up ‘til now.

Before all of this happened, Bob Morley and Eliza Taylor got married. It was a big deal within the fandom, because many people made the connection that Bob and Eliza fell in love while portraying Bellamy and Clarke. For many, it was affirmation that there is a romantic connection between the two characters, that perhaps, it might even indicate that Bellamy and Clarke are endgame and will become canon.

Then, Bob tweeted this:

Many in the fandom suspected that this (very vague) tweet was in reference to the Bellamy/Clarke dynamic in The 100. It fits the timeline (the show had been in development for about six years at this point,) and JRoth has often poked at B/C shippers by saying they “misinterpret” the Bellarke dynamic as romantic.

From this point forward, Bob’s twitter becomes, almost exclusively, about his struggles with depression, and about connecting others in the same boat with resources. He mostly uses the platform to raise awareness about this, and other issues important to him, like the Australian bushfires from last December.

The next time we get anything like a subtweet about the show, it’s this:

Many fans saw this as Bob (1) asserting that he is, in fact, the lead of the show, despite potential pushback from JRoth and (2) he’s a unique lead on The CW, making him even more valuable. Fans begin to speculate that JRoth is no longer treating Bob as the lead, and has sidelined his storyline. (This is also around the time that the scripts for s7 were being written, hence people making the connection to BTS drama.)

The next big hint we get is in the promos. Bellamy is featured in the trailer even less than characters like Echo and Murphy, who were normally considered supporting characters, at least compared to him. Bellamy doesn’t even get a line in the trailer. Bellamy is missing from the poster. Bellamy isn’t featured in ANY of the countdown shots (maybe they’re reserving him for the Show Day picture, that remains to be seen.)

Edit: There was a huge cast and crew shot for the Show Day picture, and Bob was not in it.

Actors do get residuals from their likenesses being used in promo materials. So cutting Bob out of the promo material would be an effective and easy: “fuck you, you get less money” from JRoth.

Furthermore, both Bob and Eliza have been very, very quiet on social media about the end of the series. Given that this is the end of a seven-season show where they were both the leads, this is suspicious. Their silence indicates that they do not agree with the end of the show, they no longer feel an attachment to it, and they don’t care to do promotion for free. It implies that they’ve gone sour on the whole experience, and want to put it behind them. There are rumors that Eliza had a miscarriage (she might have said as much, Idk) sometime last year, and that Bob’s depression got a lot worse because of it. That alone could be enough to warrant some silence on social media, which is notoriously negative.

This is all heavy speculation. Maybe absolutely none of this is happening - maybe JRoth was super understanding to Bob when he left the con; maybe Bob’s tweets had nothing to do with Bellarke, or with his dissatisfaction behind-the-scenes; maybe the lack of Bellamy in the promo is a super intentional way to build buzz around the final season. After all, if he’d been in the promo, people would just see it and move on, like we usually do. Not including him has gotten a lot more people to talk about what might be going on with Bellamy. And maybe the only reason Bob and Eliza have been quiet about the show is because they’ve got some serious stuff going on in their personal lives, and can’t spare the energy to do the promo for free.

But... if you add it all up, and it starts to look quite a lot like Bob pissed off his showrunner, and JRoth severely cut his role down in the final season because of it.

I might be missing some things, but that’s the gist, as I remember it. It’s been going on for so long now, I almost forgot that there was a time when Bob and JRoth didn’t appear to hate each other, lmao. If anyone reading this has anything to add, feel free!

I hope this made things a lil clearer, sorry it’s so long!

#gossip #the 100 speculation #asks #nomattertheoceans #the 100 s7 #bob morley #jason rothenberg

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wordsnstuff · 4 years

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Guide to Writing The Hero

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Masterlist || Work In Progress

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Strong Motivations

The hero is usually unsuspecting of their part in the conflict until it hits them in the face, so it’s important that you build a believable motivation in them to take action against the antagonist in the short time between finding their place and embracing it.

Make The Reader Care About Them

The hero is the hero because the reader roots for them. If the reader has no motivation to give a damn what happens to them, they won’t, so you need to create a substantial reason why the hero deserves the role they’re in, or a reason they rise to the occasion.

Family Matters

A hero’s family history, family issues, or chosen family structure forms how they progress along their journey. Make the family one of the most interesting part of the hero’s story, because no hero is a hero without the guidance of people who care about them.

Flaws That Match Their Strengths

I have a post on this topic that goes into depth about this dynamic:

Flipping Character Traits On Their Head

Giving Characters Flaws

Giving Your Protagonists Negative Traits

Compelling Internal Conflict

The typical character archetype must include a sense of aversion to accepting their role in the conflict. There should be a conflict in their mind about whether it’s worth risking whatever it is in order to help the cause, and whether they feel it’s their responsibility to fight the antagonist.

Pump Them Full of Contradictions

Archetypes by themselves are boring. People are complicated and contradictory and shifty. The hero shouldn’t be one-dimensional simply because they do the right thing in the end.

Equally Compelling Villain

For every good hero, there needs to be an equally evil villain. Not just evil, but also complicated, rounded, and easy for the reader to (somewhat) empathize with. It’s not a story if it’s just some random person walking through the forest for 17 chapters to come upon an evil witch with no real motivation or backstory or traits that create conflict in the hero. If a hero is just there to kill the problem instead of holding onto some hope that the villain can be saved, they’re just an assassin.

Common Struggles

Hero versus antihero...

Hero: Virtuous individual who commits to doing the right thing and has traits such as routine honesty, bravery, and kindness.

Anti-Hero: actions of a hero but without the typical heroic traits. Might be conceited, dishonest, unkind, etc. but are ultimately the central character that is compelling and sympathetic.

Avoiding a Mary Sue... A Mary Sue typically occurs when an author sticks too closely to an archetype or creates more of a self-insert central character rather than a well-rounded, flawed, and complicated personality. In order to do this, you have to sprinkle in some contradictions and a pinch of unpredictability (though too much can just make their characterization inconsistent).

Not making the hero the center of the universe...The hero may be imperative to solving this conflict, but the sky will not open up before revealing the face of Jesus Christ himself when the antagonist is finally slain, so don’t treat the hero like he’s the most important thing to ever exist, because that destroys their relatibility to the reader and that delusion of grandeur can cheapen the conflict.

Hero versus Vigilante... These things can sometimes be one and the same, but it’s important to note the fact that vigilantes are defined as those individuals who take the law into their own hands. Superman and Spiderman, for example, both fall into the category of vigilantes, but not every vigilante is a hero. It’s about intent and outcome.

Heroine versus hero... Not to be controversial, but they’re the same thing. One is male, one is female. Yes, typical hero archetypes are notably masculine while heroine archetypes are notably feminine, but they truly are only separated by gender. It’s about how their gender affects their journey within their inner conflict and their actual handling of the main antagonist, and it’s up to you how relevant that is in your story.

Related Resources

Resources For Describing Characters

Resources For Describing Emotion

Alternative Method of Character Creation

Resources For Creating Characters

How To Fit Character Development Into Your Story

Making Characters Unpredictable

Connecting To Your Own Characters

Interview As Your Characters

Giving Your Protagonists Negative Traits

Writing Good Villains

Giving Characters Distinct Voices in Dialogue

Showing Vulnerability Without Death

How To Analyze A Character

Giving Characters Flaws

Conveying Emotions

Gradually Revealing Character’s Past

Making Characters More Unique

Tips on Introducing Characters

Creating Villains

Flipping Character Traits On Their Head

Keeping Characters Consistent

“Male characters are more relatable”

Designing A Character From Scratch

Calculating Emotional Reactions

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